Can You Use the Back Door

Mo Yuanjiao was just about to turn around and head back to the sect when he suddenly noticed a figure in the distance, coming from the direction of Xiushui Village. The person was running toward the Way of Inquiry with great caution.

The newcomer was dressed as a man, wearing a large straw hat pulled low over their face. A faint aura of spiritual energy surrounded them. Though weak, it was fairly stable.

Even so, Mo Yuanjiao recognized the person at a glance.

“Why are you here, Han—”

Before he could finish, the person spotted him as well and immediately rushed over.

“Young Master Mo! These are the congratulatory gifts from the Clear River Sect. We wish the Lingxian Sect every success in accepting disciples!” As she spoke, she held out a storage pouch to Mo Yuanjiao.

Looking at Han Weishu, who was wrapped up so thoroughly that not even her face could be seen, Mo Yuanjiao had no idea what she was up to. Seeing the congratulatory gift, he assumed she had come to deliver it on behalf of the Clear River Sect, so he thanked her and accepted it.

Because he had previously been carrying the sword, Mo Yuanjiao often visited the Lin family’s little courtyard. As a result, Han Weishu was fairly familiar with him. After seeing him accept the sect’s gift, she leaned closer and asked in a low voice, “Hey, Mo Yuanjiao, could you bend the rules a little and let me take the disciple recruitment test early?”

Mo Yuanjiao did not answer. Instead, he asked her in return, “Weren’t you never particularly interested in cultivation? You kept saying that it would be best to remain an ordinary person and live a carefree life.”

Han Weishu scratched her cheek awkwardly.

“I heard that Mr. Sun plans to let Ah Liang enter the Way of Inquiry for treatment… And actually, I’ve been thinking for a long time about becoming Mr. Sun’s disciple and learning medicine from him. That way, perhaps I might be able to help with Ah Liang’s illness. It just so happens that I heard the Lingxian Sect is preparing to recruit disciples this time.”

What she did not mention was that she had actually sneaked out.

Recently, she had heard that her father was preparing to send someone to the Lingxian Sect with congratulatory gifts. That gave her an idea. Later, with Qiuqiu’s help, she quietly knocked out the Qi Condensation disciple assigned to deliver the gifts and came in his place.

Originally, Han Weishu had intended to use the delivery as an excuse to come and visit Tong Jialiang, then see whether she could successfully join the Lingxian Sect. If she succeeded, that would be ideal. If not, she would obediently return home.

She had not intended to cause trouble for her fellow disciple, either. She had left him a letter explaining everything so that he could return and report back.

However, Han Weishu felt that her father, as the Clear River Sect’s leader, would certainly refuse to let his daughter join another sect. Thus, she had decided to act first and explain later.

After hearing her explanation, Mo Yuanjiao could only spread his hands helplessly.

“If you had asked a year ago, it might have been possible. But now there’s nothing I can do. Senior Brother Sect Master has locked the Way of Inquiry. It won’t be opened to outsiders again until the official day of disciple recruitment.”

He was merely explaining why he could not let her take the test early. He did not mention that Lin Xiao was in secluded cultivation.

Senior Liao had previously told them that whenever the highest-ranking elder or the sect master of a sect entered secluded cultivation, it was generally considered a sect secret and was not to be revealed casually. In the future, once the sect had more members, even such matters might not be disclosed to everyone within the sect.

Although Han Weishu was an acquaintance, she was not a member of the Lingxian Sect. On this matter, Mo Yuanjiao was very clear about where to draw the line.

After hearing this, Han Weishu realized that her plan to take the test early was hopeless. She did not say anything else. Somewhat disappointed, she thanked Mo Yuanjiao and returned to the Lin family’s little courtyard, intending to stay there for the time being and wait for the Lingxian Sect’s official recruitment.

All she could do was pray that her sect-master father would stay busy and not come to drag her home too soon.

Han Weishu was praying away in Xiushui Village, completely unaware that the Clear River Sect’s leader, Han Shangyi, had already learned of her escape to the Lingxian Sect from the disciple who had returned with the letter she left behind.

After reading the letter, and combining it with the fact that the Clear River Sect and the Lingxian Sect had exchanged gifts so many times before yet she had chosen this particular occasion to sneak away—along with the recent uproar surrounding the Lingxian Sect’s disciple recruitment—Han Shangyi immediately guessed what his daughter was planning.

Yet, contrary to Han Weishu’s expectations, Han Shangyi did not try to stop her upon learning that she wanted to join another sect. He merely put the letter away in silence.

His eldest disciple, Yu Jie, who stood below him, asked, “Master, shall I go bring Junior Sister back?”

Han Shangyi glanced at him, then sighed and shook his head.

“No need. Even if she comes back, she won’t cultivate properly. Since she wants to try joining the Lingxian Sect of her own accord, let her go. If she really succeeds in joining and works diligently at her cultivation from then on, that will still be better than staying at home and doing nothing but living as an idle mortal.”

Early the next morning, Hu Liang carried a bucket of water drawn from the small spring beside Guiyuan Mountain Retreat to the peach tree beside the Ten-Mile Peach Blossom Tree at the mountain road’s entrance. He carefully watered the tree, then took out a spirit stone and fed it to the tree.

For the past three years, Lin Xiao had watered the Ten-Mile Peach Blossom Tree and fed it a spirit stone every morning. Whenever he was unavailable, he would instruct someone else to do it in his place.

Perhaps it was the result of being tended day after day. The Ten-Mile Peach Blossom Tree no longer looked as slender as it had when it rescued Mo Yuanjiao and the others during Wei Hai’s attack. Instead, it was now even sturdier than when it had first been planted three years ago.

Moreover, Lin Xiao had taken care not to pluck its flowers and leaves as he had in the beginning. The tree now looked even more lush, its branches thick with bright pink blossoms.

After admiring the peach tree swaying in the breeze for a moment, Hu Liang hurried toward the valley that Liu Yunan had assigned them the previous night.

When he arrived at the spacious valley, he found that several people were already hard at work.

They had discussed their assignments, divided themselves into teams, and decided what needed to be built the night before. After three years of working together, they had developed an excellent rapport. Consequently, no one wasted time with unnecessary talk. Everyone began focusing on their assigned tasks as soon as they arrived, speaking only in occasional hushed exchanges.

Liao Pantu had come to help as well.

Although he was busy researching how to fuse cultivation techniques, such a task could not be completed in a single day. Whenever there was an important matter involving the construction of the sect, he would participate if he could.

With Liao Pantu’s Golden Core cultivation as a spirit body, and with most of the others at the Foundation Establishment stage or the late Qi Condensation stage, the group made extremely rapid progress in building the sect plaza.

By late afternoon, the rough outline of the plaza had already taken shape. A broad stretch of flat, smooth ground now lay amid the dense forest.

Viewed from above, the place looked as though a square section had been shaved clean from the forest.

But an imposing sect plaza obviously could not consist of nothing more than that. They still needed to build a high platform, as well as install a sound-transmission system capable of ensuring that people with lower cultivation levels could clearly hear whoever was speaking on the platform, regardless of the speaker’s cultivation.

In addition, there were various decorations needed to display the grandeur of the sect, but those details could be set aside for now.

Under Liao Pantu’s guidance, all of these features would be completed through the cooperation of the Artifact Refining Hall and the Formation Hall.