On the Eve of Construction

Although he didn't know exactly what kind of sect this would be, as an otaku with rich life experience in his previous life, he figured it definitely wouldn't be a bad thing.

So, he immediately laid his cards on the table with his good brother Jiang Youfu, telling him that he was about to establish a sect and asking if he wanted to join.

As Lin Xiao's lackey of many years, upon hearing this, Jiang Youfu naturally agreed without even asking any questions.

Arriving at the place in the mountain forest where the two of them had set a trap yesterday, they indeed saw a small wild pheasant slumped on the ground, struggling a couple of times every now and then.

The two of them immediately got to work.

Once everything was taken care of, the two sat in front of the campfire, roasting the pheasant.

While adding firewood to the fire, Jiang Youfu asked:

"Brother Xiao, what kind of sect is our sect?"

Lin Xiao thought to himself, I told you about this days ago, and you're only just now remembering to ask. It's a good thing you're lucky enough to have met me, brother; if it were anyone else, you'd be helping them count the money after they sold you out without even realizing it.

Then he looked at Jiang Youfu with an unfathomable expression: "You'll know tomorrow once the thatched hut is built."

As they spoke, the pheasant was finished roasting. Lin Xiao quickly tore off a large drumstick and stuffed it into his hands.

"Quick, quick, eat it while it's hot!" Just don't ask him anymore; the system hadn't even activated yet, so he himself didn't know what kind of sect this was either.

Jiang Youfu immediately took the drumstick and ate until his mouth was covered in grease and his forehead was sweating.

After finishing their secret meal, Lin Xiao used a lotus leaf to wrap up the whole drumstick left over from his own half of the roasted pheasant. He told Jiang Youfu to wait at home for his news tomorrow, and then headed toward his grandfather's house.

It was already around three or four o'clock in the afternoon. Even after being here for so many years, he was still not used to calculating time using the twelve two-hour periods.

He guessed that his older brother, Lin Yun, was probably still at their grandfather's house learning carpentry from him.

Although Lin Xiao's grandfather was a genuine old farmer, in his youth he had spent a long time learning carpentry from an old master in town. Because the old master didn't have a son, he treated Old Man Lin like half a son and taught him carefully. Grandma Lin was that old master's only daughter.

Back then, there were quite a few people who wanted to take her father as their master, but Grandma Lin took a liking to Old Man Lin at first glance. For no other reason than the fact that Old Man Lin was good-looking.

So, naturally, the old master chose the young man his daughter fancied to be his disciple.

Therefore, Old Man Lin's carpentry skills were quite famous, if not across the whole region, then at least in the several neighboring villages. Whenever Master Lin was mentioned, everyone knew it was him.

However, Old Man Lin's two sons were quite capable at farming, but when it came to carpentry, they were completely clueless. Thus, Old Man Lin gave up hope of passing his craft down to his two foolish sons and instead placed high hopes on his grandsons.

So, whenever there was free time from the busy farming seasons, Lin Lei, the eldest son of the Lin family's first branch, and Lin Yun, the eldest son of the second branch, would follow Old Man Lin to learn carpentry.

Arriving at his grandfather's house, Lin Xiao glanced into the courtyard. Just as he expected.

His older brother and eldest cousin were following their grandfather, shaving bamboo splints.

"Grandpa, I came to see you!" After greeting Old Man Lin, Lin Xiao turned his head and greeted his two older brothers.

Upon hearing the voice, Old Man Lin knew it was his youngest grandson. He leaned the bamboo splint in his hand against the nearby table, tapped off the dust, and said,

"Where did you go running wild again, kid? It's spring and the family is so busy, yet you don't even know to help out. All day long you just know how to tease cats and dogs... This morning in the fields, I heard your dad say you asked him for a thatched hut. What are you going to build that for?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiao quickly took out the drumstick from his chest, placed it on the long bench in the courtyard, turned around, and slipped away.

"This is a drumstick to show my filial respect to you. Heat it up before you eat it, otherwise it's too greasy! Oh my, the fire on the stove at home seems to still be burning, I'll go back first. See you later, Grandpa!"

Old Man Lin flicked the bamboo splint in his hand and shook his head.

"This kid..."

Lin Xiao returned home, looked around, and saw there wasn't much work to do. So he pulled a thin wooden stick from the firewood pile, squatted in the courtyard, and started writing and drawing on the ground.

"Since it's called the Myriad Worlds Sect Construction System... the focus must be on construction. I just don't know what kind of sect it is... Myriad Worlds... Could it be, immortal cultivation? But I don't think I've ever heard anything about immortal cultivation in this world..."

Lin Xiao scratched his head with the wooden stick.

Xiushui Village was too isolated.

Aside from weddings, funerals, and going to the big market once a month, the villagers rarely left the village.

Moreover, the villagers didn't go to the market every single time. They would only go if their family needed to restock many necessities, and if they had a bit of spare money or surplus goods to trade.

Because of this, Lin Xiao had absolutely no sources of information.

He didn't even know what the prefectural city was called.

He only knew that the town their village belonged to was called Cuifeng Town, and the county seemed to be called Anqun County.

Lin Xiao shook his head and continued thinking.

"It could also be a martial arts sect or something similar, but no matter what kind of sect it is, some fixed basic infrastructure will be pretty much the same.

Just having a sect headquarters definitely isn't enough, especially since it's just a thatched hut... So there will definitely be many more facilities added later. Therefore, the required area definitely can't be too narrow. I have to choose a good location; if the headquarters can't be relocated, it'll be a real hassle.

The houses in the village are packed quite densely, so putting it in the village definitely won't work..."

Lin Xiao glanced at the continuous mountain range to the north of the village.

This mountain range was huge. Normally, the villagers only gathered mountain products on the outskirts, and very few people went deep inside except for professional hunters. If he set the headquarters halfway up the mountain closest to the village, he should be able to convince his dad... right?

"Then, the most important thing for a sect is definitely people. People to manage and people to execute tasks. A sect definitely needs disciples and the like, so I need to start scouting for talent..."

Thinking of this, Lin Xiao felt a bit worried. The people of his age in the village were either idlers who teased cats and dogs all day without doing any real work, looking completely unreliable at first glance, or they were diligent, hardworking good boys who worked at home every day and would probably have zero interest in his olive branch—they might even try to drag him into working with them.

He wondered if his older brother would be interested...

And Fuzi's second older brother...

He'd tentatively set these two as his targets for recruiting sect members for now.

Everything was just waiting for the thatched hut to be built tomorrow!

Before dawn the next day, in an unprecedented first, Lin Dayou was woken up by his youngest son.

In the pitch-black room, Lin Dayou was still bleary-eyed. Relying on the voice, he recognized that the one waking him up was his youngest son, Lin Xiao. He squinted and looked at the color of the sky outside the window.

Good heavens, the moon was still hanging there, not having fully set yet.

This foolish boy, who normally wouldn't open his eyes until the sun was high in the sky, was actually waking him up today?

"Not sleeping in the middle of the night, have you been possessed by a ghost?"

In the pitch-black room, only Lin Xiao's energetic eyes could be seen. He pulled back Lin Dayou's thin quilt in one swift motion and said:

"Dad! My thatched hut!"

"Hey!" Lin Dayou's anger flared up instantly upon hearing this. "Normally when I call you to work, you absolutely refuse to get up, but you sure are diligent when it comes to thinking about your thatched hut, aren't you! Believe it or not, I'll whip you right into a thatched hut!"