“Starting today, we’ll establish a threshold for taking disciples. Anyone whose cultivation has reached the Golden Core stage, or who has received a sect rating of at least second grade in any cultivation-related skill, may accept disciples.”
The reason he had set the skill requirement at second grade was that one of the sect’s missions was to cultivate specialized talents, and that mission required a skill rank of at least first grade.
At present, only Liu Chun, Sun Yigao, and Liao Pantu met that requirement within the entire sect.
Liu Chun had been rated a fourth-grade talisman master.
Aside from alchemy, Liao Pantu’s other skills were all at least third grade.
As for Sun Yigao, after more than a year of instruction from Senior Liao, he had already advanced to become a second-grade alchemist.
Considering Sun Yigao’s learning speed and his current alchemical abilities, Lin Xiao felt that setting the sect’s disciple-taking threshold at second grade was appropriate for now.
If the sect acquired more talented people in the future and everyone’s skill ranks improved, they could make further adjustments then.
In the end, Lin Xiao summed up, “So, if any of you want to take disciples in the future, you’d better work hard to improve both your cultivation and your abilities.”
And with that, the second Sect Assembly came to a successful close.
The crowd gradually filed out of the sect’s main hall, intending to work harder at improving their cultivation and skills.
Lin Xiao found Tietou and patted him on the shoulder.
“Tietou, don’t take it personally that I gave the Enforcement Hall to Aunt Yang. Although you were previously in charge of the patrols, I’ve always intended to leave the position of Hall Master of the Artifact Refinement Hall for you. That’s why I didn’t put you in charge of the Enforcement Hall.”
Hearing this, Tietou clenched his fist, his face full of fighting spirit.
“Brother Xiao, I understand! Besides, I’m fine when it comes to patrols. But if you asked me to handle conflicts between sect members, that would be far too difficult for me. Don’t worry—I’ll work hard at studying artifact refinement and take over the Artifact Refinement Hall as soon as possible!”
Liao Pantu happened to be passing by. After hearing this, he gave Tietou a thumbs-up.
“Good ambition, Tietou. If there’s anything you don’t understand, come ask me. I’ll give you some guidance!”
After more than a year together, Liao Pantu had grown much closer to everyone else. He also went to the cultivation chamber from time to time to give lessons.
The morning after the second Sect Assembly, Qin Jianghe finished taking inventory of the goods that needed to be transported to the capital and prepared to set out.
Lin Xiao saw him off. Looking at this brother of his, who had come to resemble a mature adult in just over a year, he was filled with emotion—and deeply moved.
Without Qin Jianghe and his other brothers’ help, building the sect would certainly have been far more difficult and lonely, even with the system.
“Be careful on the road. Once you get there, quickly arrange everything that needs handling outside and come back as soon as you can. The Finance Hall is still waiting for you to take charge.”
Qin Jianghe accepted the storage pouch filled with food that Jiang Youfu handed him and smiled.
“Alright. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the chance to properly cultivate with everyone at the sect.”
Over the past year or so, aside from the period when the sect had first been established, he had rarely had the opportunity to share in everyone’s daily cultivation and life.
Looking back now, it seemed he had done a great deal over the past year. His life had truly undergone earth-shaking changes compared with the past.
After bidding farewell to the family members and brothers who had come to see him off, he set out once more, carrying the goods to be delivered, identity tokens for the others, and the items that everyone at the sect had prepared for him and for the people in the capital.
Things were much better now than they had been before.
At the very least, whenever something happened, they could contact one another immediately through communication talismans, even when they were separated by great distances, instead of having to rely on slow, human-delivered messages.
Over the past two days, after the private school at the foot of the mountain had finished expanding, it had also begun preparing to recruit more students.
Since this year’s imperial examinations were not yet over, most of the educated people were still preparing for the exams rather than coming in for interviews.
Although becoming a tutor at the foot of Immortal Mountain was certainly an excellent opportunity, those with firm ambitions would not casually abandon the imperial examinations they had spent years preparing for, nor the official careers they had long dreamed of.
Most of those who came for interviews were tongsheng scholars with little hope of passing the examinations, or xiucai scholars who were unlikely to make any further progress.
As for the level of provincial graduates, there was no one besides Pei the Provincial Graduate.
That was because next year would be the year of the major examinations, held once every three years.
In a major examination year, xiucai scholars would take the examination to become provincial graduates, provincial graduates would compete to become metropolitan scholars, and metropolitan scholars would take the final examination to become presented scholars.
Everyone was preparing for the moment when ten years of hard study would finally allow them to leap over the dragon gate.
Since there were currently only three tutors, the private school would not admit too many students all at once, even though enrollment was about to begin.
To avoid lowering the quality of instruction, Sun Yigao ultimately decided to double the number of students based on the current number of tutors.
Once additional tutors were hired, they would consider increasing enrollment again.
After the library was completed, Sun Yigao donated many of his own books to it and began spending whatever free time he had there, curled up with a book.
He did more than simply read. He also excerpted some of the more interesting material, including ideas from various cultivation methods and all kinds of personal insights. He planned to compile them into a miscellany and place it in the private school for the students to browse during their free time.
After all, although these materials came from different sects, they still shared certain common principles and could inspire people to think.
At first, the students at the private school had been somewhat downcast because two new tutors had been added and Teacher Sun’s teaching schedule had been reduced, meaning they saw him less often.
Recently, however, they had discovered that the small library in the school was gaining new books every day.
Many of the strange and fantastical subjects contained within were fascinating, while some of the moral principles discussed prompted them to think in broad and imaginative ways.
Gradually, they forgot their sadness at no longer being able to spend every day with Teacher Sun and began immersing themselves in the library. They often stayed at the private school for more than an hour after classes ended before finally going home.
Yang Jinshu had never expected the position of Hall Master of the Enforcement Hall to fall to her. Although she had gained a general understanding of such matters while Liu Yunan was handling the sect’s various affairs, she had still felt somewhat at a loss when suddenly asked to take over the Enforcement Hall and arrange the patrols.
Fortunately, such matters were not beyond her abilities.
Although she had lived for many years as a village woman in Xiushui Village, she had once been carefully educated by her parents at home.
For a woman from a prominent family, the most important ability was naturally managing a household.
One should not underestimate this skill. In the great households of this era, the management techniques a lady of the house had to master were extraordinarily sophisticated.
Thus, after a brief period of uncertainty upon taking over the unfamiliar duties of the Enforcement Hall, Yang Jinshu quickly became proficient in her work.
She arranged patrols, observed everyone’s conduct in their daily lives, and formulated various sect rules in accordance with the sect’s requirements.
Before long, she had brought the Enforcement Hall into perfect order.
Even her entire bearing seemed quite different from before. Whenever her face was expressionless, she possessed an imposing air of authority.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
