Being a Sect Master Isn't Easy

"Huh? This game was kind of interesting."

Lin Fan clicked his tongue in amazement. "You start with a down-and-out sect, struggling to keep going, held together entirely by a few old-timers. The disciples are all money pits—either mediocre in talent or short-lived. The sect's resources are nearly squandered away, and it's already on the verge of destruction."

"The player takes on the role of the new sect master and saves the sect from peril."

"And slacking off isn't an option. There's a minor 'test' every year and a major 'test' every ten years? The assessments might involve invading enemies, old foes coming to the door, Outer-Realm Demons, or even a falling meteor. Those who fail to make it through... croak?"

After reading the game introduction and getting a rough idea of how it worked, Lin Fan found it increasingly interesting.

"A game like this should have players as long as it got even a little promotion. Why had it been online for a whole year with every single statistic still at zero?"

"Did they go bankrupt and have no money for advertising?"

"Then let me be the first one to try it. If the game's decent, I'll definitely help you promote it~"

Lin Fan was a gaming content creator.

He had played no fewer than eight thousand games, cleared over three thousand of them, and thanks to his witty, humorous video style, he had amassed more than three million followers. He was doing quite well in this circle.

His only flaw was that he had once publicly and loudly declared that he would never do sponsored sales.

Now, he regretted it a little...

Other content creators with only a few hundred thousand followers already had luxury homes, fancy cars, beautiful women, and young models. His own income, meanwhile, barely qualified as comfortably middle-class.

Ding.

Download complete. Installation complete.

Lin Fan opened the game, and the next second, everything went black before his eyes.

"Fuck, this game is cursed!!!"

"I haven't deleted my browsing history or study materials yet!!!"

"..."

"Sect Master? Sect Master?"

"..."

Swish!

Lin Fan rolled over and climbed to his feet, cursing, "Damn it... huh?!"

He froze.

"What was this?"

Everything around him was utterly unfamiliar.

And what was with this old man standing beside his bed, with snow-white hair and beard but a ruddy complexion?!

Suddenly, his head throbbed as if it were splitting apart.

Memories flooded into his mind.

Lin Fan stood there dumbfounded.

"Fuck!"

He cursed.

It seemed that he had... transmigrated!

This was the Moon Embracing Sect. It had once been a first-rate sect in the Southwest Region of the Immortal Martial Continent, but in recent years, it had suffered from a lack of promising successors. Now, it had fallen into a third-rate force.

At its peak, it had over ten million disciples and more than ten thousand Spirit Mountains. What glorious days those had been?!

It had even competed with sacred lands, though it had nearly been instantly crushed...

Still, it had once stood tall!

But now, only one mountain remained. Less than one ten-thousandth of its former territory was left, while the rest had long been seized by others.

Even this was only because the few old-timers still around had some ability. Otherwise, they would not have been able to protect even this last bit of foundation. Forget being a third-rate sect—their entire lineage might have already been destroyed!

The unlucky fellow whose body he had transmigrated into was also named Lin Fan, and he had just taken over as the Moon Embracing Sect's sect master yesterday.

His cultivation was nothing special, and neither was his talent.

The only reason he had become sect master was that none of the old-timers wanted to take the blame.

As Lin Fan had overheard them say, "The Moon Embracing Sect's decline is already set in stone. It is nearly impossible to change. If I become sect master and the Moon Embracing Sect is destroyed in my hands, how could I face the sect's ancestors in the afterlife?"

"So even if the Moon Embracing Sect's lineage is extinguished, it cannot be extinguished in my hands..."

There were five elders—five old-timers. All of them were cultivators of the Fourth Realm, the Cave Heaven Realm. Their cultivation was not weak; at the very least, they were fairly impressive among third-rate sects. Yet their way of thinking was astonishingly unanimous.

It made Lin Fan's mouth twitch wildly.

The cultivation realms of the Immortal Martial Continent were divided into: Open Profound, Core Condensation, Profound Origin, Cave Heaven, Finger Profound, Fate Knowing, Dao Integration, Void Breaking, and Immortal Ascension.

One first opened the Mystic Gates of the body, condensed the heaven and earth's origin energy, transformed it into Profound Origin Qi, and gathered it within the Mystic Gates. Then one opened the Cave Heavens of the five internal organs. Going further meant comprehending the laws of the Dao, allowing all manner of profound mysteries to gather at one's fingertips. This was the Finger Profound Realm.

After that came knowing one's fate, integrating with the Great Dao, shattering the void, and finally ascending into immortality.

Each realm was further divided into nine minor stages, often referred to as nine layers. Some preferred calling them the nth something, such as the Eighth Mystic Gate or Ninth Cave Heaven.

As the memories continued pouring in, Lin Fan became more and more speechless.

He was just a little nobody in the Core Condensation Realm, and he had only just entered it.

Any one of those old Cave Heaven Realm geezers could poke him to death with a single finger, and every one of them was from the Ancestor Master generation!

Yet they refused to be sect master and made him do it instead?

Could anything be more screwed up than that?!

What was even more screwed up was that... he was actually the most talented among the current generation—no, the most talented among the last three generations of disciples!

A handsome twenty-year-old in the Core Condensation Realm. His talent was not exactly extraordinary, but it was decent enough. Yet that already made him the best among three generations???

Oh, right. The previous two generations did have disciples more talented than him, but they were all dead.

Not a single one remained.

Lin Fan: "..."

As for the current generation of disciples... there were only seven left. Other than himself, they all seemed to be complete trash. The kind of trash that might not even be able to manage their own lives properly.

Making them sect master really would be asking too much of them.

Only now did Lin Fan finally realize just how thorough this so-called lack of promising successors truly was.

Pick any insignificant sect at random, and it would have more disciples than the Moon Embracing Sect—and stronger ones too!

Lin Fan's thoughts churned.

But in the eyes of First Elder Su Xinghai, he was simply spacing out. The elder could not help but remind him, "Sect Master, the sun is already high in the sky. Shouldn't you hurry and think of a way to recruit disciples far and wide, strengthen our Moon Embracing Sect, and restore its former glory?"

"Young people must not be lazy!"

A thousand alpacas immediately stampeded through Lin Fan's heart. In the end, he could only sigh helplessly. "Fine. First Elder, you may leave for now. Let me think of a solution first."

"Time waits for no one, Sect Master. We all believe in you!"

"You will surely lead us to restore our former glory!!"

"When that day comes, our Moon Embracing Sect will have ten million disciples and ten thousand Spirit Mountains. Sect Master, you will become a great figure of the Immortal Martial Continent! Who would dare show you anything but utmost respect? And all the fairy maidens of every land—so long as one catches your eye, who would dare refuse?"

The First Elder left, his face filled with an expression that practically screamed, "You can do it!"

It made Lin Fan roll his eyes.

He was selling him a fantasy!!!

And brainwashing him too!

Most importantly, the old bastard was completely shameless!

Su Xinghai left.

Lin Fan rubbed his brow, feeling like his head had doubled in size.

"I transmigrated, and it happens to match the game's introduction exactly. Was there something wrong with the game that forcibly transmigrated me, or did I get electrocuted and turn into a vegetable or something? Was all of this just a dream and fantasy?"

He tried pinching his thigh. It hurt.

"..."

"Forget it. No matter what's really going on, I'd better treat this as an actual transmigration. Otherwise, things could get ugly."

Lin Fan let out a long sigh.

What if it was real? If he slacked off, would he not truly croak?

He still remembered the game introduction. There was at least one minor crisis every year, a major crisis every decade, and supposedly a world-ending crisis every century. As for every thousand years... there had only been an ellipsis, but anyone could figure out it had to be worse than the centennial crisis.

"Who the fuck would want to transmigrate to a place like this? I was living so comfortably on Earth. At worst, I could swallow my pride and start selling products. Even if I didn't, with my current wealth, I could save poorly clothed, impoverished young ladies every day until I was eighty—and never have the same one twice!"

"And now I'm in this godforsaken place, starting directly on hell difficulty. Seriously..."

"Sigh. The only benefit might be that my maximum lifespan has gotten longer?"

The Immortal Martial Continent was rich in spiritual energy. Even ordinary people could live beyond two hundred years, while those in the Core Condensation Realm could live around five hundred.

"That was assuming I can live that long. There's a crisis every year."

Lin Fan furrowed his brow and began considering how to break out of this situation.

As the old saying went, life was like being raped. If you could not resist, then try to enjoy it.

"So, I have only one goal: survive."

"And the prerequisite for surviving is making the sect stronger while making myself stronger."

"System?!"

Lin Fan tried calling for his Golden Finger, but it was useless. After messing around for quite a while, nothing happened.

"Still, I remember the game introduction saying that as long as I develop the sect, I can become stronger. Especially when recruiting disciples—if a disciple's talent is rated A-Grade or above, I can share their talent and strength..."

"So whether I've transmigrated into a 'game' might be determined through this. I can recruit a disciple with A-Grade talent or higher and see whether my own talent and strength change. If they do..."

"Damn it!"

Having finally sorted out his thoughts, Lin Fan could not help complaining again. "Without a system, how am I supposed to know whose talent is A-Grade or above?"

He clutched his head, nearly tearing out all his hair.

A long, long time passed.

At last, he calmed down. After carefully working through the clues, relying on his professional knowledge and the countless fantasy novels he had read in middle school, he came to a certain conclusion...

"Since this is a xianxia fantasy world with countless cultivators, there must be chosen ones of fate or people with Protagonist Templates, right?"

"I have no way of judging what grade their talent is, but I refuse to believe that someone with a Protagonist Template—or even the destiny of a chosen one—would have poor talent!"

"So I'll screen them from that angle."

Lin Fan found some paper and a brush, then began writing furiously.

"I remember that three days from now is the Moon Embracing Sect's annual Grand Opening of Mountain Gate, when we recruit disciples. First, I'll revise the sect rules!"

By evening.

Lin Fan finally walked out of Moon Embracing Palace—the place where the sect master cultivated and lived.

Looking at the vast... tiny sect, Lin Fan's face darkened again.

The sight before him was far too different from the immortal cultivation sect he had imagined.

A run-down mountaintop, a handful of old, shabby little buildings, and a deserted sect plaza...

Just then, the five elders approached together.

Lin Fan turned toward the sound, but his gaze lingered a little longer on Second Elder Wu Xingyun.

Among the five elders, three were men and two were women. The male elders all looked like old men, but the women appeared young and beautiful, every bit the mature, elegant beauties. Second Elder Wu Xingyun in particular was not only beautiful, but also exceptionally well-endowed.

"Sect Master."

"Have you thought of a method to strengthen our Moon Embracing Sect and restore its glory?"

Su Xinghai cupped his hands and asked.

Seeing the man's "sincere" gaze, Lin Fan's mouth twitched.

He wanted to curse!

It was bad enough that they refused to be sect master and shoved the job onto him, but they kept rushing him too?!

"Ahem."

He cleared his throat. "I believe the reason our Moon Embracing Sect has lacked promising successors and grown increasingly miserable is largely due to problems with our systems and sect rules."

"With disciple recruitment taking place in three days, I have drafted a set of new rules. Take a look."

With a flick of Lin Fan's hand, the densely written "new rules" floated before the five elders.

They exchanged glances, then all focused intently on reading them.

Ironclad Rules for Taking Disciples:

1. Those surnamed Xiao, Ye, Shi, or Lin shall be given priority admission.

2. Those who like talking to themselves while holding rings or other artifacts shall be given priority admission.

3. Those who have survived more than three great calamities, or whose fiancées have mysterious backgrounds, shall be given priority admission.

4. Those whose engagements were broken, fallen geniuses, or those whose parents have mysteriously disappeared shall be given priority admission.

5. Those targeted or deliberately humiliated the moment they arrive outside the mountain gate shall be given priority admission.

6. Those who like to wear mysterious smiles, whose enemies also like to cackle sinisterly, shall be directly designated as Personal Disciples.

7. Those whose bones have been dug out and whose lives hang by a thread shall be directly designated as Personal Disciples.

8. Those timid as mice, extraordinarily cautious, and constantly shouting that they are doomed shall be directly designated as Personal Disciples.

9. Those with ever-changing personalities, even switching between male and female, shall be directly designated as Personal Disciples.

10. ...