The Second Sect Conference Concluded Successfully

“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.