I Want to Work with Them

Xu Sheng had thought he would probably be very nervous about meeting Bibi Dong.

Only after he actually walked in did he realize he had underestimated it.

In the vast hall, even footsteps sounded clearer than usual. Yue Guan walked ahead, with Xu Sheng following behind. The few pleasantries he had prepared on the way suddenly became useless when they reached his lips.

A woman seated up high was reading a document.

She wore an extravagant robe and a crown, and her expression was calm when she looked up. Her face was more vivid than in any image Xu Sheng remembered seeing, and it made him even less inclined to stare at her.

"Greetings, Your Holiness."

Xu Sheng followed suit and bowed.

Bibi Dong closed the document and looked at him.

"Xu Sheng."

"Yes."

"I've read the records sent from Soto. Were you involved in all of them?"

Xu Sheng hesitated. "Which ones do you mean?"

"The medicine cart, South Gully, and the stone quarry."

"Then yes."

After answering, he added, "At the quarry, if Leader Shen hadn't arrived in time, we wouldn't have gotten out so easily. Deacon Du and Juechen were both injured."

Bibi Dong did not respond to the polite remark. She opened one of the pages.

"Those people at South Gully thought you were there to assist them the whole time?"

"They did at the time."

"You told them you were at South Gully, but you took people around from the other side."

For some reason, Xu Sheng felt as though she were digging up an old score.

He cautiously glanced at Bibi Dong's expression, but could tell neither joy nor anger, so he answered honestly. "They believed me, and it wasn't easy for me to remind them otherwise."

Standing to the side, Yue Guan's lips twitched.

Bibi Dong did not smile. She only asked, "Is that how otherworlders communicate with one another?"

"Most of them can. People who know each other well have an easier time getting in touch, and some deliberately spread false information. If they're far apart, they might not see the same things."

Spirit Hall already had plenty of records on the subject, so Xu Sheng was not surprised that Bibi Dong asked. She went on to ask about cultivation after descent, the changes after death, and how ordinary otherworlders viewed Spirit Hall.

Xu Sheng answered what he knew and did not make things up when he was unsure.

When she reached the last question, he could not help saying a little more.

"Some people want to enter an academy, and some want to find a sect. Others heard that Spirit Hall helps with awakening and registration, so they came to have a look first. But after registering, they still aren't quite sure whether they count as members of the hall."

"What about you?"

"I want to stay in Spirit Hall."

Xu Sheng gave that answer without hesitation.

Bibi Dong looked at him. "Yue Guan said you have plans of your own."

Xu Sheng's heart skipped a beat.

She finally asked!

He had turned it over in his mind several times on the way there. As far as cultivation went, having an elder willing to guide him would naturally be good. But if they put him in another courtyard, found him a few teachers, and shut him inside every day to study from morning till night, that would still be a far cry from what he wanted to do.

It was not that he did not want to grow stronger.

He also wanted to keep hold of the people and opportunities at hand.

"Your Holiness, I want to keep working with the people I have now."

"Doing what?"

"Field assignments, patrols, and assisting Soul Hunting teams. When it comes to certain matters involving otherworlders, they're willing to speak to otherworlders first, which makes things easier for us."

Xu Sheng paused, then voiced what he really wanted.

"Preferably, we could have a permanent place."

Yue Guan turned his head and glanced at him.

He had only taken two swords yesterday, and today he already had his eye on a courtyard.

"Didn't Soto give you a place?" Bibi Dong asked.

"It was borrowed. Once we leave, we have to return the key."

"So you want a place of your own?"

Xu Sheng did not deny it.

"Only with a place of our own can we get people to stay. They can start training when they arrive, and we can gradually pick those who can work with us for the team. If we stay here today and move somewhere else tomorrow, we'll even have to discuss who cooks all over again."

By this point, he was already making plans.

Wen Zhao, Cen Zhao, and Bai Ji, the one who used smoke.

If even two of them stayed, his team would gain a few more ways to fight. Not to mention that more people would keep coming to Spirit City in the future.

The pavilion closest to the water was the first to catch the moon.

Once he had a place and hung up a sign, would he have to worry about not finding people to pick?

Bibi Dong asked, "Aren't you afraid of raising people for someone else?"

"Of course I am."

The words popped out of Xu Sheng's mouth. "If they eat my food and use my things, then run off to risk their lives for someone else, wouldn't I have fed them for nothing?"

Only after he said it did he realize who was standing before him.

The hall fell silent for a moment.

Bibi Dong finally showed a hint of a smile.

"So what do you plan to do?"

"First, let the willing ones come. If they really don't want to stay, they can say so early, and neither side will hold the other up."

After speaking, Xu Sheng thought for a moment and added another sentence.

"As for those who stay, as long as following me benefits them, that'll do more to keep them than words ever could."

It was not a particularly elegant thing to say.

But coming from Xu Sheng, it sounded more like what he truly wanted to do than those proper answers he had given earlier.

Bibi Dong glanced at Yue Guan.

Yue Guan stepped half a pace forward. "Red Pine Courtyard in the west was originally used to assist Soul Hunting teams sent out on missions. Some days ago, a deacon mentioned that there were more and more otherworlders nearby, and that it would be best to put it back into use. The buildings and open ground are still there. A few repairs would make it fit to live in."

"Who is in charge of it now?"

"A caretaker was left to watch the courtyard. The Field Operations Office handles its day-to-day affairs."

Bibi Dong considered briefly, then turned her gaze back to Xu Sheng.

"Take your people there first. The courtyard will still belong to Spirit Hall, but you may use it. The Field Operations Office will also arrange your field assignments."

Xu Sheng's eyes lit up.

"For now, no more than ten people may be enrolled. Choose them yourself and submit their names for review."

Ten!

His original five-person team now had twice as many slots!

Xu Sheng had already begun assigning rooms in his head.

Living quarters, open ground for martial practice, a room for supplies. Ideally, he would also set aside a room with a door that could be securely shut. He could hardly keep hiding in a bedroom borrowed from someone else every time he used something like a recruitment order.

And there was Juechen. He would have to put him close to the open ground, so he would not wake everyone next door when he got up to practice swordsmanship in the middle of the night.

At that thought, he suddenly realized he did not even know which way the gates of Red Pine Courtyard faced, yet he had already arranged everything in his head.

Seeing that he had not spoken for some time, Bibi Dong asked, "Is there a problem?"

"No!"

Xu Sheng hurriedly pulled himself out of his thoughts. "It's just that this is my first time leading so many people. I'm afraid I'll make grand promises now, and when you ask later, I still won't have filled the team."

"The slots are yours. That doesn't mean you have to fill them all today."

"That's good, then."

Xu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief. What he feared most was recruiting just anyone to make up the numbers. Whether they could improve through training was another matter; angering himself to death first simply would not be worth it.

Bibi Dong handed the document to an attendant beside her and instructed them to make the arrangements they had just discussed. As each matter was settled, Xu Sheng finally realized that the little wooden sign he had brought from Soto could at last stay hanging in Spirit City.

Xu Sheng was about to give his thanks when he suddenly remembered something else.

"Your Holiness, can people who haven't been enrolled stay at the courtyard temporarily? Some of them haven't decided which faction to join yet, but they can't keep putting off cultivation and going out to hunt for rings."

Bibi Dong looked at him for a while.

"If they're willing to follow the rules there, they may stay temporarily. Whether they join the hall is a separate matter. You must not count temporary guests among your people."

"Understood!"

This time, Xu Sheng's delight truly showed on his face.

Now that was more like it!

He needed to choose people for the slots carefully, but he could get to know them first. If they had a chance to move in, they had a chance to stay. Training with him every day and eating from the same pot, who would still insist on running elsewhere once enough time had passed?

Bibi Dong glanced at him again but did not expose that little thought of his.

A young man willing to get things done and take the initiative to bring otherworlders together was worth giving a place to try.

As for how far he could go, that depended on him.

When Xu Sheng left the hall, his steps were much lighter than when he had entered.

Walking beside him, Yue Guan suddenly asked, "Satisfied?"

"Satisfied!"

"What else do you want?"

Xu Sheng nearly opened his mouth.

Fortunately, his last shred of clearheadedness stopped him.

Yue Guan watched him swallow his words and gave a soft snort.

"The courtyard isn't new. Don't go complaining when you get there."

"I won't, I won't. As long as it has walls and a roof, that's enough!"

Once he had the place, he could add everything else bit by bit.

Xu Sheng hurried all the way back to the guest courtyard and called out as soon as he entered.

"Lu Song! Mo Yifan! Pack your things!"

Several people poked their heads out of the rooms.

Wen Zhao happened to be there as well. He froze when he heard that. "So soon? You weren't chosen?"

Xu Sheng pulled the old Blood Angels wooden sign from inside his robes and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

"Come on, I'll show you my new place!"