The First Disciple

The "eldest nephew" he mentioned referred to the child of Jiang Youfu's eldest brother.

Jiang Youfu was the same age as Lin Xiao, twelve this year. He was the third child in his family, with two older brothers above him.

His eldest brother, Jiang Youliang, was already twenty-two this year, and his child, Jiang Chengtian, was already five years old.

Every time Jiang Chengtian called him "uncle," Lin Xiao found it quite surreal.

He was clearly only twelve years old, yet he was already of the uncle generation.

Jiang Youfu winked at Lin Xiao beside him while sweeping, then leaned in close and asked in a low voice,

"Brother Xiao, how is it? How is it?"

Pausing for a moment, he lowered his voice even further and said,

"Can we really become immortals, just like you said?"

Lin Xiao smiled proudly,

"The great path of immortal cultivation has already been opened. It's waiting for you halfway up the mountain at our sect's residence."

Hearing this, Jiang Youfu's face lit up with joy, and he swept so vigorously that his broom nearly became a blur.

"Brother Xiao, do you think there really are immortals in this world? Can we also ascend to immortality like that old immortal who gave you the fortuitous encounter?"

Lin Xiao freed a hand and flicked him on the forehead.

"Would I ever lie to you?"

Jiang Youfu rubbed his reddened forehead without getting angry, just chuckling foolishly.

In his mind, he kept recalling a few days ago, early on the morning after Brother Xiao's birthday. Brother Xiao had run over to tell him that he had dreamed of an old immortal and received a great fortuitous encounter, which was very likely the path to immortality.

Brother Xiao always kept his word; he definitely wouldn't lie to him.

At this moment, he was already fantasizing in his heart that once he became an immortal, he could clean the entire rabbit hutch with a casual wave of his hand, and he would never have to painstakingly clean it every day again.

The two of them finished cleaning the rabbit hutch, said goodbye to Granny Jiang, and ran excitedly towards the halfway point of the North Mountain.

When he saw the ten miles of peach blossom trees at the entrance to the mountain path, Jiang Youfu was utterly astonished.

There had never been peach trees on the North Mountain!

Let alone such thick and beautiful peach trees.

Although he couldn't exactly describe how beautiful they were, this peach tree looked completely different from all the trees around the village.

Jiang Youfu only felt that every branch, every leaf, and every flower of this peach tree seemed to have been meticulously arranged by the heavens. It was so beautiful that he felt he could never get enough of looking at it.

When he heard Lin Xiao say that this peach tree was a gift from the fortuitous encounter given by the immortal, he felt even more that he had a great eye for spotting the uniqueness of the immortal tree at first glance.

Walking forward, Jiang Youfu saw a large stone stele standing next to a brand-new thatched hut.

Three characters were carved on it, but he didn't recognize them.

Jiang Youfu awkwardly scratched his head.

"Brother Xiao, what's written on this stone?"

Lin Xiao's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Oh no, he had forgotten that Fuzi was illiterate.

It should be said that apart from Landlord Sun's youngest son, everyone in the village was completely illiterate.

Of course, Lin Xiao, who had a reincarnated soul, didn't count.

The writing here was similar to ancient traditional Chinese characters, so he had no problem with basic reading.

Lin Xiao secretly sighed at his miscalculation while replying,

"Ahem, these three characters are pronounced 'Lingxian Sect'. Lingxian Sect is the name of our sect! Once you learn how to read later on, you'll know what it means."

Jiang Youfu felt a bit nervous yet excited. "Brother Xiao, you actually know how to read! Did the old immortal teach you?"

Lin Xiao could only nod.

In his mind, he was calculating what to do when recruiting sect members in the future.

Let alone Xiushui Village, there were hardly any literate people in the surrounding eight villages.

Could it be that, aside from managing the daily affairs of the sect, he would also have to shoulder the heavy responsibility of eradicating illiteracy among his sect members...

No, no, he had to find a way to trick a literate person into coming and acting as a teacher.

"Come, come, come, let's head inside first."

Saying that, Lin Xiao lifted the curtain of the thatched hut and guided Jiang Youfu inside.

Who would have thought that just as Jiang Youfu was about to step inside, he was knocked back a few steps as if he had run into something.

"Ah! Brother Xiao, I bumped into something!"

At the same time, the system in Lin Xiao's mind appeared right on cue.

[Ding—Sect defense function successfully activated. Non-sect members and disciples are not allowed to enter the sect residence without permission. The host can independently change the entry permissions for non-sect members.]

[Initial sect defense range: Within a ten-meter radius centered on the sect residence. The sect defense range can expand as the sect residence level increases.]

[Sect Residence Level: 1]

Lin Xiao immediately turned his head and said to Jiang Youfu,

"Fuzi, come, let's go through a procedure first."

"Huh?" Jiang Youfu didn't understand.

Lin Xiao didn't waste words and asked directly,

"Jiang Youfu, are you willing to join my Lingxian Sect, become a member of the sect, and devote yourself to cultivation?"

Jiang Youfu only felt as if something had been ignited in his heart, and he immediately nodded excitedly.

"I am willing, I am willing!"

[Mission: Recruit the first sect member. Completed. Mission rewards have been issued. Please check them, Host.]

Lin Xiao smiled faintly. "May we ascend together soon."

Jiang Youfu smoothly stepped inside the residence.

Once the two of them sat down on the dirt floor inside the sect residence (the thatched hut), Jiang Youfu let out a long sigh, imitating the way his father acted when buying land.

"From today onwards, we are people with a sect—"

Then he asked Lin Xiao with great enthusiasm,

"Brother Xiao, when do we start cultivating?"

Lin Xiao looked at Jiang Youfu with an indescribable expression, didn't say anything, and silently pulled out the "Taoyuan Myriad Emptiness Incantation" and handed it to him.

Only then did he say, "This is our sect's first cultivation mental technique."

Jiang Youfu looked at the book in his hands and opened it with a bewildered expression.

Lin Xiao reached over and turned the book in his hands around.

"You're holding it upside down."

Jiang Youfu silently took it back and continued to flip through it.

As expected, there were no surprises.

He couldn't understand a single word.

Jiang Youfu looked at Lin Xiao with an expression like he wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Brother Xiao, are there any mental techniques that you can understand without knowing how to read?"

Lin Xiao fell silent for a moment.

Suddenly, he remembered the shop that he hadn't checked yet. He wondered if there would be any solutions in there.

He immediately said to Jiang Youfu, "Let me check," and then opened the shop.

There was a vast variety of items in the shop.

At the very top were some recommended products.

Perhaps the system was trying to share his burden, because the first item in the recommended products column was impressively a [Mental Technique Simplifier].

Lin Xiao looked at the product details.

This simplifier converted the rather complex content of mental techniques into an illustrated format, making it easier for people to understand.

Although it was still an illustrated text format rather than a purely pictorial one, it was still much better than the original! Even he, a highly literate person, found the original a bit strenuous to read.

If he had this simplifier and simplified the mental technique into an illustrated format, it would greatly reduce the difficulty for Jiang Youfu and future illiterate sect members and disciples to understand the mental technique.

Lin Xiao immediately decided to buy this simplifier.

Upon looking at the purchase condition, it was spirit stones again!

Moreover, different levels of mental techniques also required the purchase of corresponding levels of simplifiers, and the prices varied for different levels.

An A-rank mental technique unexpectedly required five spirit stones!

While a B-rank mental technique only required one spirit stone.

An S-rank required fifty spirit stones.

The difference was quite significant.

However, there were no simplifiers for C-rank mental techniques sold further down.

Lin Xiao wondered, was this because C-rank cultivation methods did not exist in this world and B-rank was the lowest, or was it because C-rank methods were inherently so simple that they required no further simplification?