There are no difficult tasks, only brave handymen

"Shishu?"

Not only Zhang Shun, but Xiao Ran was also dumbfounded.

Only then did he recall the theoretical knowledge that he had painstakingly gathered and meticulously organized, thinking he would never need it again.

It was about seniority.

The world of cultivation was strict with hierarchy, where strength reigned supreme. If strangers met, they usually determined seniority based on their power.

However, within a cultivation sect, seniority was not determined by cultivation level but by status.

Generally speaking, a sect was divided into three generations.

The sect leader and elders were the top tier of the sect.

The personal disciples of the sect leader and elders, along with ordinary instructors, were the middle tier of the sect.

Inner and outer disciples, including outer sect instructors, were the bottom tier of the sect.

In other words, Xiao Ran, as a personal disciple of an elder, was the...

Senior to ordinary outer disciple Zhang Shun and even outer sect instructor Lin Yunzi.

The so-called outer disciples were basically just servants, and very few of them could achieve Qi Refining in their lifetime.

Even Lin Yunzi, who achieved Qi Refining in his old age, held the prestigious title of outer sect instructor but did not have the qualifications to enter the inner sect.

Xiao Ran had been chosen as a personal disciple and had not yet started Qi Refining, so he would definitely have a lot of time to interact with the outer sect.

How could Lin Yunzi let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?

Pa! He slapped Zhang Shun on the back of the head with his withered arm, his movements surprisingly spry for an old man.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and greet your Shishu!"

The slap woke him up from his dream...

Zhang Shun recovered from his daze and suddenly realized, you're not just a shixiong, you're actually a shishu! Even the old instructor was calling him Shishu, what could he do?

"Shi... Shishu."

Lin Yunzi slapped him again.

"State your name!"

Zhang Shun's face was ashen, and he said in a lifeless voice:

"Disciple Zhang Shun... greets Xiao Shishu."

Xiao Ran nodded slightly, with no intention of continuing to embarrass him.

How could he not know that the reason Zhang Shun dared to be so tough and unyielding in front of him was not just because of the sect's freedom.

Zhang Shun knew that his status was far above his, and he would definitely not bother with him.

What kind of status does a personal disciple have? To argue with a servant disciple would only make the entire sect laugh!

At the peak of the sword, I reign supreme. With me, the Sword Immortal, there is heaven. We cultivators respect neither ghosts nor gods, nor do we kneel to the Heavenly Dao...

But in front of the head instructor, he still had to admit defeat in minutes.

The Heavenly Dao would not bother with you, but the instructor could really make you kneel.

Li Yunlong was not afraid of even the Heavenly King, but he still had to nod and bow when he saw the Brigade Commander.

You could donate a million to the country, but you wouldn't donate a cow because you actually had a cow.

Now, Lin Yunzi, the outer sect instructor who could make Zhang Shun admit defeat in minutes, was now admitting defeat in seconds in front of Xiao Ran.

His life instantly became less tough.

Xiao Ran could also see that Lin Yunzi was deliberately promoting and protecting this supervisor, urging him to admit his mistake quickly to avoid affecting his future.

If it were anyone else, he would avoid this kind of stupid person who disrespected a personal disciple like the plague.

"Shishu has condescended to come here, may I ask what your instructions are?"

Xiao Ran looked at the tall, thin, and spry old man.

"It's not really an order, I want to build a disciple's residence on Sword-Wielding Mountain, preferably using the best bamboo and wood..."

Before he could finish, Lin Yunzi immediately responded:

"Understood, this disciple will arrange it immediately. The wood and bamboo will be sent to Sword-Wielding Mountain in a while, and the construction will be done by the handyman disciples."

Xiao Ran shook his head.

"No, Master is resting. I want to assemble the house here in advance, and then transport it to the top of the mountain to set the foundation."

Lin Yunzi complimented:

"With Uncle-Master's filial piety, the Elder will surely love you even more."

Xiao Ran remained noncommittal, and instead focused his mind to open the system store, finding the max-level construction skill.

[Life Skill: Max-Level Construction - This skill will consume 3 points of host's filial piety value. Confirm purchase?]

"Confirm."

[Congratulations, Host, for learning the life skill: Max-Level Construction!]

Xiao Ran's mind buzzed, instantly sublimating.

His mind was filled with feng shui spiritual veins, wood and stone materials, load-bearing structures... and other professional architectural concepts, all integrated and mastered to perfection.

His sea of consciousness was as clear as the starry sky.

He instinctively glanced at the stone building covered with vines.

Although this place was located at the end of the Zongzhi Mountain spiritual vein, and the stone building's material was also top-grade, its design structure was too poor, failing to absorb much of the spiritual vein.

On the other hand, Master's thatched cottage seemed simple, but its location was excellent. Coupled with a special formation, it was a masterpiece. No wonder Master wanted him to build the disciple's residence according to the thatched cottage...

However, there was still room for improvement in Master's thatched cottage, especially in terms of comfort and convenience.

This was also one of Xiao Ran's motivations for building the disciple's residence.

Meanwhile.

Lin Yunzi quickly found twelve of the strongest handyman disciples and distributed the logging task, requiring everyone to prepare all the building materials within an hour.

Zhang Shun was among them.

Although he was unhappy, seeing that Xiao Ran did not have a condescending attitude, nor did he come to retaliate against him, he suddenly felt that he was a bit boring and his perspective was too small.

So he reluctantly accepted the order and turned to lead everyone into the depths of the forest...

Xiao Ran came to the hall of the outer gate management office.

He asked Lin Yunzi to fetch paper and pen and began to draw the design of the disciple's residence.

A two-story structure, two bedrooms and two living rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom, plus some furniture...

He wielded the pen like flying, like cursive script, but what he drew was as neat and clear as a printed structural drawing.

The overall design seemed complex in structure, but it contained some indescribable beauty and Dao rhythm.

Lin Yunzi stood aside, sometimes stopping to stare, sometimes pacing and pondering.

He had quite a bit of knowledge in architecture, and many buildings in the sect were built by him leading handyman disciples.

Carefully studying Xiao Ran's design, he marveled at the overall structure, but was confused by the details.

Especially the eight ingeniously designed detachable foundations, which strongly gathered spiritual veins, were truly ingenious...

After a long thought, Lin Yunzi suddenly had an epiphany, as if he had understood the Great Dao.

He was completely immersed in shock, so much so that he forgot the important matter of taking the opportunity to flatter.

After looking at Xiao Ran for a long time, he came to a conclusion—

It was no accident that the Sword-Wielding Elder chose him as his personal disciple!

Before long.

To be precise, it wasn't even an hour.

The logging team returned fully loaded.

In front of the stone building, the plaza was piled high with impressively sized Dalbergia, ebony, purple elm, and Zongzhi Mountain's specialty, blue bamboo.

Although these materials were ordinary items without any grade, they were all valuable and precious species.

Moreover, they were much taller and of better quality than their counterparts in the mortal world. If they were placed on Earth in my previous life, they would cost tens of millions.

Xiao Ran cupped his hands in a fist salute.

"Thank you, everyone."

Next, construction would begin.

Xiao Ran had expended too much energy on his master and was unable to build it himself, so he had to ask these handyman disciples for help.

He took out the construction design drawings he had prepared.

"This is the blueprint for the disciple's residence, with all the details noted. Assemble the house here in advance and transport it up the mountain before dark. Can you all do it?"

Zhang Shun perked up at the sound of this and took the lead, answering with the other handyman disciples:

"We will respectfully follow your orders, Martial Uncle!"

Under Lin Yunzi's direction, the group removed branches, peeled bark, sawed trunks, planed wood, and dug mortises... They were extremely fast, methodical, and looked very professional.

After all, most of the buildings within the sect were their creations.

Xiao Ran couldn't help but marvel at how young, strong, and motivated these handyman disciples were.

There is no difficult work, only brave handymen! As evening approached.

The setting sun dyed the mountains red.

A beautiful two-story disciple's residence rose from the ground in the plaza.

Although it was an unpainted, pure wood structure, it gave off a delicate sense of flying pavilions, painted rafters, carved beams, and embroidered pillars.

At the same time, it was also towering and majestic, as if it were a work of art, carved by gods and ghosts, giving people a sense of the great Dao's simplicity!

Especially when the roof was bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun...

It was too beautiful.

All the handyman disciples were stunned. Did I really create this with my own hands?

Looking at Xiao Ran again, the gazes of the crowd had changed.

There was never any accident in becoming a direct disciple!

Xiao Ran didn't plan to freeload off the handyman disciples' labor, so he took out a spirit stone from the system storage grid.

During the entry procedures, he had specifically asked the guiding senior brother to take his spirit stones out of the spatial ring and keep them in his pocket for easy access.

After awakening the system, he had placed the spirit stones and spatial ring into the storage grid.

He threw the spirit stone to the handyman disciples and said to them, "Thank you, everyone. This spirit stone is for your hard work."

In the Age of Law's End, spirit stones were priceless.

In a famous sect like Zongzhi Mountain, the monthly stipend for inner disciples was only one spirit stone, and the handyman disciples' stipend was even less, only silver.

It was rare to see a whole spirit stone, and the eyes of the handyman disciples lit up, thinking only about how to cut it up, with no intention of refusing.

"Thank you, Martial Uncle!"

Lin Yunzi couldn't bear to watch and hurriedly shouted, "Nonsense!"

Xiao Ran stopped him, after all, mutual benefit was the basis for lasting cooperation.

So he took out two more spirit stones from the system storage grid.

"These two spirit stones are for you."

Lin Yunzi didn't dare to accept something for nothing.

"This disciple is unworthy..."

Xiao Ran smiled:

"I still need you to help me transport the house to Sword-Wielding Mountain."

"That's still too much of a courtesy."

"I still need some time for Qi Refining, so going up and down the mountain is inconvenient..."

Before Xiao Ran could finish speaking, Lin Yunzi took out ten yellow paper talismans from his space ring. They were engraved with complex spiritual patterns and shimmered with a faint cyan light.

"Here are ten Flying Talismans. Although they are low-grade, they come with a small amount of spiritual power. You only need to drip blood on them to activate them. Martial Uncle can use them without worry."

Civilian-grade talismans? Xiao Ran nodded.

He could tell that the value of these ten Flying Talismans was clearly more than two spirit stones.

It seemed this old man was very perceptive.

Before Xiao Ran could respond, Lin Yunzi took out a black iron ring.

"Martial Uncle might also need this."

Xiao Ran was slightly stunned, as he seemed to have seen similar rings in European and American adult films.

"What is this?"

Lin Yunzi said:

"This is a blood-activated ring that can open the space ring. It will only work a few times before it runs out of spiritual power, so Martial Uncle must use it sparingly."

Xiao Ran was surprised and thought that he could now put the spiritual sword and other items from the space ring into the system space, so he could take them out at any time.

"You're very thoughtful."

Lin Yunzi smiled with narrowed eyes.

"It's what I should do."

Following the control method taught by Lin Yunzi, Xiao Ran took out a talisman, bit his fingertip, and dripped blood into the spiritual patterns.

In an instant, the talisman swelled up upon seeing blood, and expanded in the wind, turning into a huge bright yellow kite in the blink of an eye.

Then, twelve muscular Body Tempering Realm handyman disciples worked together to lift the house onto the kite.

Sure enough, spirit stones provided too strong of a power boost to the handyman disciples.

Lin Yunzi cupped his fist in a farewell gesture and said, "Since Elder Ling Zhouyue is resting, this disciple will not disturb her."

"..."

Aren't you going to see me off? Xiao Ran suddenly felt a little flustered.

After hesitating for a moment, he had to bravely step onto the kite, sit cross-legged in front of the house, and begin to remotely control the kite's flight with his bloodline sense.

With a creak...

The kite took off shakily, flying towards Sword-Wielding Mountain between the mountains and the setting sun.