Three's Company

The people of the Lingxian Sect soon discovered the Zhengxin Mirrors placed in the two locations.

Although the Lingxian Sect was no longer short of money, and mirrors were hardly unaffordable, aside from the women of the sect, who each had one, no one else had ever thought of getting one.

So when they suddenly found such a large mirror in the sect, everyone gathered around it in fascination, taking turns to look at their reflections.

The only strange thing was that the mirror’s reflection was not particularly clear.

Moreover, it seemed to produce different results for different people.

Some felt that they could just barely make out their reflection, while others could see only a vague outline.

Fortunately, no one found the mirror completely useless or saw nothing but an indistinct blur.

Apart from that, there was nothing especially unusual about it.

After looking into the mirror for a while, everyone lost interest and returned to their respective work and cultivation.

The concentration of spiritual energy on Qingyun Peak had risen, and the disciples’ enthusiasm for cultivation was running high. Now that their residences had also been built, everyone devoted most of each day to cultivation.

However, not all of the Qingyun Peak disciples were like that.

After finishing their morning lessons, most of the disciples remained in their spots in the Cultivation Hall and continued meditating with complete focus.

Now that they no longer needed to build houses, their afternoons were free.

They had only arranged to gather for half an hour before dinner each evening, using that time to tidy up and beautify Qingyun Peak.

After all, this would be the place where they lived for a long time to come.

Baizhu had just finished reviewing the notes he had taken during class when he looked up and saw Liang Zhonghuai, seated at the desk in front of him, gathering up his cultivation manual and notes in preparation to leave.

“Brother Liang, aren’t you going to cultivate a little longer?” Baizhu asked softly, curiosity in his voice.

Over the past twenty-odd days, everyone had spent their time together building houses, and their relationship had grown much closer. Baizhu and Liang Zhonghuai had also become more familiar with each other because they were both part of the five-person group responsible for making decisions. Thus, the question did not seem intrusive.

Liang Zhonghuai turned around and replied in an equally quiet voice, “Cultivation is not something that can be accomplished in a single day. I’m afraid that if I try to bite off more than I can chew, I’ll only hinder myself, so I don’t want to cultivate too intensively. I plan to spend the free time this afternoon looking around the sect to see whether there’s any suitable work I can do and earn some cultivation resources.”

After all, Liang Zhonghuai was a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the cultivation world, and he understood very well how important cultivation resources were.

He had always earned the resources for his own cultivation by taking on various tasks, so now he was the first to think of working to earn more.

Baizhu, who had only just set foot on the path of cultivation, clearly had not considered the issue of accumulating cultivation resources. But he knew that Brother Liang was very capable and had come from the cultivation world, so there had to be a reason for his decision.

Aunt Yang had already told him several days ago that she would be working at the Law Enforcement Hall from then on. Knowing that she was doing so to spend more time with her daughter, and since Liang Zhonghuai had never intended to work at the Law Enforcement Hall anyway, he had not gone with Aunt Yang.

Upon hearing Liang Zhonghuai’s answer, Baizhu hesitated for only a moment before making up his mind.

He closed the notebook and books spread open before him and asked Liang Zhonghuai, “Brother Liang, may I go with you?”

He felt that Brother Liang’s words made sense.

Liang Zhonghuai nodded. “Of course.”

Thus, without disturbing the others, who were concentrating on their cultivation, the two companions descended Qingyun Peak together.

Although all the cultivation manuals within the sect were high-grade techniques, before joining the Lingxian Sect, if someone had told Liang Zhonghuai that a sect in the mortal world possessed so many high-grade cultivation manuals—manuals that were rarely found even in the major sects of the cultivation world—he would never have believed them.

But no matter how excellent the cultivation techniques were, Liang Zhonghuai knew that maintaining steady progress in cultivation required sufficient resources.

Thus, earning cultivation resources would certainly be something that accompanied one’s cultivation for a very long time.

With that in mind, he felt that establishing a daily routine as soon as possible was more important than rushing into cultivation.

Of course, not everyone thought the same way.

Yuan Jinsheng, whose cultivation had already reached the Core Formation Realm, had become completely immersed in cultivation.

The cultivation techniques within the sect were simply too far beyond anything he had seen or practiced before!

Unlike Liang Zhonghuai, who had lived in the cultivation world and worked for a long time at Wanwantong, even the most inferior cultivation techniques in the mortal world were precious and exceedingly rare.

Therefore, upon suddenly gaining access to the Lingxian Sect’s high-grade techniques, Yuan Jinsheng felt as though he had fallen into a jar of honey and could not bear to leave it for even a moment.

Most of the other disciples were the same. After suddenly coming into contact with all sorts of profound techniques during this period, they were similarly captivated.

That was why Baizhu and Liang Zhonghuai had tacitly refrained from rashly asking whether anyone else wanted to accompany them.

After all, working within the sect was not a matter of limited quotas. Elder Liu had already said that anyone who wanted to go only needed to register with the responsible elder and have their identity token updated.

Although they did not take the initiative to ask anyone, someone came looking for them instead.

Feng Xuanbie, who had been keeping an eye on Liang Zhonghuai despite not sitting with them, immediately packed up and followed when he saw the two of them rise to leave.

Once they exited the cultivation hall, most of the noise was cut off. Only then did Feng Xuanbie call out at the two rapidly receding figures ahead of him at the top of his voice:

“Brother Liang! Brother Bai! Wait for me!”

The two stopped when they heard him.

Feng Xuanbie quickly caught up and reached them.

“Where are you two going? Count me in!”

And so, what had begun as two people traveling together became a party of three.

“As for the various types of work available in our sect, do you two have anything in mind?” Baizhu asked the other two as they walked along the path leading down Qingyun Peak.

“Actually, I’m most interested in the Four Arts Hall,” Liang Zhonghuai said frankly.

The Four Arts Hall was the name the disciples of Qingyun Peak used collectively for the four departments devoted to talismans, artifacts, formations, and alchemy.

He continued, addressing Baizhu and Feng Xuanbie, “In the cultivation world, if you possess even one of these four skills, your path of cultivation will be far steadier than other people’s.”

“But didn’t Elder Liu say that everyone would later be specially assigned a master to teach them these skills?” Feng Xuanbie asked.

Liang Zhonghuai smiled.

“That’s right. So I plan to first see whether the Four Arts Hall needs anyone to do odd jobs. I’ll start as a miscellaneous laborer. Once I formally take a master and begin studying, I won’t have to change places.”

Feng Xuanbie then turned to Baizhu.

“What about you, Brother Bai?”

Baizhu, caught off guard by the question, scratched the side of his face somewhat sheepishly.

“I want to work at the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall under Elder Liu.”

Feng Xuanbie nodded with an expression that said he had expected as much.

“I knew it. But look at Elder Liu—he’s an elder, yet he’s busy every single day. That means the work at the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall certainly won’t be easy. You’d better think it through carefully. Don’t let it interfere with your cultivation.”

“Mm. I’ll do my best to manage my time.”

In truth, Baizhu rather liked being kept as busy as Elder Liu. Lately, the tasks Elder Liu assigned him had come one after another, and that gave him a comforting sense of stability.