Apprenticeship Arrangements

Ma Changlong had lived for half his life without ever imagining that he would one day set foot on the path of cultivation.

Though, to be fair, he had been waiting three years for this opportunity.

Now that it had finally come true, it still felt somewhat unreal.

But none of that mattered!

Holding the meal box in his hands, he shook his head in amazement as he ate, thinking to himself:

Who would have thought the food inside this immortal sect would taste even better than the dishes at the Lingxian Restaurant down the mountain?

Thank goodness he had made it in.

Otherwise, if he had missed out on such delicious food, he would have regretted it for the rest of his life!

Besides, his eldest son was already grown. Over the past three years, Ma Changlong had trained him thoroughly, and he had smoothly taken over the family business.

With his eldest son looking after the whole family from now on, there was nothing left for Ma Changlong to worry about.

He could devote himself to sampling delicacies at the mountain gate. How wonderful, how wonderful.

If only the immortal who made such delicious food would take him as a disciple…

More than a hundred people sat together beneath the night sky, eating identical boxed meals while each indulged in their own hopes, worries, and expectations.

“Oh? There are still two meals left in here.”

The last person to retrieve a meal from the vegetable basket noticed the two remaining boxes. He looked puzzled, then turned and called out:

“Is there anyone who hasn’t come to collect their meal?”

After waiting for two breaths, he received no reply.

Someone in the crowd suggested:

“Why not take them out and leave them aside for now? Perhaps someone went somewhere else. It wouldn’t do for them to come back later and find nothing to eat. If no one claims them by tomorrow, we can give them to Elder Liu.”

The person beside the basket thought that made sense. He took out the last two meals and placed them on a nearby stone table.

Then he turned back and called out to everyone:

“If any of you see someone returning from outside who hasn’t eaten, remember to let them know.”

With that, he carried his own meal to the side and began eating happily.

Once the new disciples had removed all the meal boxes from the vegetable basket, it floated up from the ground again. After swaying twice, it flew off in the direction from which it had come.

At the same time, on Yaoguang Floating Island, Jiang Youfu and Liu Shengsheng were still busy at work.

Not long after sending out dinner for the new disciples, he prepared two more elaborate dishes.

He had made a great deal of food earlier while preparing the new disciples’ meals, and the extra portions were now arranged on serving plates.

Once the two main dishes were ready, Liu Shengsheng began using a voice-transmission talisman to notify the older members of Lingxian Sect that dinner was served.

Normally, Jiang Youfu prepared dinner for everyone at the Spirit Food Hall at the same time every evening, so there was no need for a special announcement.

Today, however, they had delayed the older disciples’ meal in order to take care of the hungry newcomers.

Although practically none of them needed to eat every day anymore, and they occasionally skipped dinner when something came up, Jiang Youfu certainly wasn’t going to omit tonight’s meal.

After all, today was the important day when Brother Xiao emerged from seclusion!

Naturally, he had to prepare a sumptuous feast so everyone could celebrate together.

When Mo Yuanjiao received the dinner announcement, he had just returned from Xiushui Village and delivered Han Weishu and Tong Jialiang to their residence area.

The moment he heard that dinner was finally ready, he immediately used his movement technique and hurried toward the Spirit Food Hall at top speed.

Nearly everyone who had been occupied with their own affairs throughout the sect did the same.

Thus, in no time at all, every seat at the large tables outside the Spirit Food Hall was filled.

Gu Yuxiao and the brothers Fang Mancang and Fang Manliang, who had recently been traveling outside the sect because of the recruitment of new disciples, had also returned.

Their respective subordinates were temporarily handling matters in their absence.

Now that everyone was present, they watched happily as Liu Shengsheng guided one dish after another through the air and placed them on each table.

Little Luan, Da Tao, and Fang Tuantuan were also seated in chairs specially made to fit them, waiting to dine together with everyone else.

Once all the dishes had been served, everyone turned their eyes toward Lin Xiao.

The banquet would not officially begin until he announced that they could start eating.

Qin Jianghe raised his cup of spirit wine toward Lin Xiao and said:

“Brother Xiao, congratulations on successfully reaching the Nascent Soul realm!”

“Congratulations, Brother Xiao!”

“Congratulations, Sect Master!”

“Cluck, cluck!”

“…Meow.”

…

After spending a year in seclusion, Lin Xiao was delighted to see everyone gathered together like this.

He tilted his head back and drank the cup of spirit wine in one go. A rich, mellow sweetness filled his mouth, leaving an endless aftertaste.

Jiang Youfu had brewed this spirit wine last year after a bumper harvest of spirit grain, using a small portion of the spirit rice. There wasn’t much of it, and on ordinary days, even Liao Pantu couldn’t get a taste.

Only today had Jiang Youfu been willing to bring it out and let everyone drink their fill.

After finishing his wine, Lin Xiao smiled warmly at the others.

“Thank you.”

Only after everyone had eaten and drunk their fill did they move on to the long-awaited proper conversation.

Lin Xiao thought of the hundred or so new names added to the sect’s disciple panel and asked about the arrangements for accepting disciples.

“Who plans to take on disciples tomorrow? How many will you accept? Have you all discussed it?”

At once, Liu Yunan pulled a small notebook from his storage bag.

“We’ve discussed it. Aside from you, Brother Xiao, since we weren’t sure whether you would have emerged from seclusion in time, the ones confirmed to be accepting disciples are: Yigao will teach alchemy, Yuanjiao will teach formations, Fuzi will teach spirit cooking, Tietou will teach artifact crafting, and Senior Liao will accept disciples in every field except alchemy.”

In fact, what Liao Pantu had said was that he already had the best disciple for alchemy and did not wish to take on anyone else.

The real reason, however, was obvious to everyone who knew the situation.

Liu Yunan continued:

“Liu Chun said he can accept disciples for talisman crafting. It’s just inconvenient for him to return at the moment. However, his younger sister’s condition has improved somewhat, so he can make time to come back regularly and teach his disciples.”

“As for the numbers, everyone originally had a limit on how many disciples they could take. But since far fewer disciples joined this time than expected, we decided not to impose strict limits. We only agreed that if the numbers become too uneven, we’ll make some minor adjustments.”

Lin Xiao was somewhat surprised to hear that this was how they had arranged things.

“If that’s the case, how will the disciples’ cultivation be organized?”

At that, Liu Yunan tucked the first notebook back into his storage bag and pulled out another one.

“As for their cultivation, I plan to hold lessons in their cultivation hall every morning and arrange instructors on a rotating schedule to teach them the fundamentals of cultivation.”

As he spoke, he opened the notebook and handed it to Lin Xiao.

“This contains the list of instructors I selected based on everyone’s current cultivation levels and their degree of mastery over the various cultivation methods, along with the order of their teaching rotations.”

“Of course, if an instructor has something urgent to attend to, they can report it to the Affairs Hall. The Affairs Hall will coordinate with the schedules of the other instructors. If something exceptional happens and none of the instructors are available to teach, the cultivation hall will temporarily suspend lessons, and the new disciples will study on their own.”