Shangyang Gate

Lin Xiao also packed up his small folding stool, while Lin Dayou carried the saddlebag full of copper coins in his hand, ready to leave.

Lin Xiao tugged at the hem of his clothes and whispered, Dad, Dad, Dad, wait a moment, come over here, come over here.

Lin Dayou was puzzled. What is it?

But he still followed his son's pulling force into a small alley.

He saw Lin Xiao looking around with great vigilance, unaccustomedly sensing whether there was the aura of any strangers approaching nearby.

After confirming that there was no one around, Lin Dayou saw him take out a small, tattered pouch.

Dad, quick, put the money in here. Lin Xiao opened the mouth of the tattered pouch and handed it toward Lin Dayou.

Lin Dayou looked at him in disbelief, then at the saddlebag in his hand bulging with copper coins, and then at the tattered pouch that was not even the size of his palm.

It seemed his son had gone stupid. Could he still keep him?

But then he suddenly remembered his son's current status as an Immortal Cultivator.

Forget it, if he says to put it in, then put it in.

So Lin Dayou doubtfully stuffed the saddlebag in his hand directly toward the mouth of the pouch.

It actually went in!

Lin Dayou widened his eyes in astonishment.

Immediately after, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart: immortal cultivation really made things a lot more convenient!

Meanwhile, Lin Dashan and Madam Qin, who were packing things up outside, saw the father and son sneakily walk into the side alley just now, and now sneakily walk out.

Mainly, it was that kid Lin Xiao who looked sneaky.

As for Lin Dayou, he was full of confusion before going in, but when he came out, he looked quite elated.

Lin Dashan and Madam Qin found it a bit strange.

Lin Dashan looked at Lin Dayou. For a moment, he felt that his younger brother seemed a bit different, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

Lin Xiao didn't do something like patting his chest and telling everyone, Let's go! Let's hit the restaurant! My treat!

One reason was that he knew if he said that, he would definitely be lectured by Lin Dayou: You earned a couple of coins and now you don't even know your own surname, do you!

He could completely imagine what his dad would say.

And the other reason was that this town was truly quite impoverished.

In the middle of the day, as they walked along, he didn't even smell any appetizing aromas.

It was all just the smell of steamed dry rations mixed with steamed vegetables.

He could smell that every day in the village.

So in the end, the few of them squatted by the corner of a wall and gnawed on the dry rations they had brought to make do for a meal.

Taking advantage of the time Lin Dayou and the others were eating, Lin Xiao slipped away to a nearby grocery store and bought some things.

Lin Xiao bought several common pigments.

Don't be fooled by the fact that they were just a few common pigments and not much in quantity, but they cost Lin Xiao a full three hundred copper coins!

When it was time to pay, the grocery store boss had to use a tremendous amount of effort to pry those three hundred copper coins out of his hands.

Lin Xiao was extremely reluctant to part with them; this was what he had earned from cleaning the teeth of six people!

Don't think that cleaning teeth didn't take much effort, as if he could easily earn fifty big coins in a short while.

But those were mouths that had only been rinsed with clear water for over a decade, or even decades!

Moreover, many of them were full of cavities!

You must know, a mouth with cavities, combined with years of brushing teeth with willow branches and plain water, the breath could well be imagined!

So the money Lin Xiao earned was truly hard-earned money!

And it could basically be considered a one-time deal.

After all, in the entire town and the nearby villages, there were only so many families who could afford to pay for teeth cleaning, and once their teeth were white, they wouldn't just come back to waste money for no reason.

So for every copper coin spent, his heart would ache.

But thinking about how the sect hall was going to be built, they couldn't just throw together a mud-brick house and be done with it.

A sect hall, for better or worse, had to have a different level of prestige.

Walking to a corner, he carefully put the pigments he had spent three hundred big coins on into his pouch and stored them away securely, before going back to meet up with his dad and the others, ready to return to the village.

But just as they reached the main road leading to the town gates, they noticed many people lingering around.

There was also a small squad of official runners walking over from the town gates.

The runners walked up to a notice board at the end of the street.

The one in the lead took a sheet from a runner holding a stack of papers next to him and pasted it onto the notice board.

Before he even finished pasting it, the other runners had already continued walking forward, preparing to post notices at the next spot.

Then, the runner who stayed behind turned around, pointed at the newly posted notice behind him, and said to the crowd gathering around:

It's a tremendous piece of good news. Everyone, listen carefully, so you don't blame me later for not informing you.

Listen up—our provincial capital's immortal sect, the Shangyang Sect! They are recruiting new disciples! This is a great event that only happens once every thirty years! In the past, they only recruited in the prefectural city, or at most the county town; it had absolutely nothing to do with our rural town. But this time is different!

This time, the immortal sect is merciful and has expanded the recruitment scope to our town!

Of course—there are conditions for this recruitment! It must be children under the age of twelve! Both boys and girls are fine! Folks, if you have children of the right age at home, hurry back and get them spruced up.

Ten days from now! Over at our town's market! Remember that!

Hearing this, the bystanders immediately started asking questions all at once.

Sir, what exactly is an immortal sect?

Yeah, yeah, we don't know what an immortal sect is! What kind of good thing is this really?

Sir, please explain it to us!

The runner put on an expression of 'I can't believe you don't even know this,' and then chattered away, explaining to the crowd:

This immortal sect, let me tell you, tsk, it's incredibly powerful! Did you know, there really are immortals in this world! And this immortal sect is the place that cultivates immortals!

If any of your children are chosen by the immortal sect, tsk tsk tsk, that would truly be a case of 'when one person achieves the Dao, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven'! Just think about it, if your child is favored, they will be taken directly back to the immortal sect, keeping company with immortals every day, receiving their guidance. Who knows, one day your child might also learn those heaven-defying abilities!

Immediately, a voice of doubt rang out from the crowd:

Sir, is what you're saying true? Are there really immortals in this world? The immensely capable immortals from the operas are actually real?

Seeing that someone actually doubted him, the runner immediately slapped his thigh and said:

Who's lying to you! I inherited this official post from my grandfather! My grandfather used to serve in the county! Thirty years ago, the county runners were all transferred to the prefectural city to help out!

My grandfather saw it clearly with his own eyes! The immortal who went to the prefectural city to recruit disciples just casually waved his hand, and a ship flew over and floated in the midair! He waved his hand again, and those children who were chosen directly flew up one by one, landing right onto that ship!

Tell me, if that's not an immortal, what is!

Hearing this, the crowd nodded in awe and admiration.