Do All You Can and Leave the Rest to Fate

If there were only a handful of disciples, along with the five elders and himself as sect master...

Anyone coming to become a disciple would probably take one look and turn tail.

Who would dare join a sect like this?

With seven disciples around, regardless of their talent or strength, at least the number of disciples outnumbered the management. It looked somewhat more "healthy."

And to those who had yet to join a sect or set foot on the path of cultivation, they were still cultivators who had entered the path and opened several Mystic Gates.

They might be weak, but at least they did not seem quite so pathetic to ordinary people.

"Three days from now."

Just as the five elders thought, Lin Fan also believed that three days from now would be the Moon Embracing Sect's last chance.

The Grand Opening of Mountain Gate, when disciples were recruited, happened only once a year.

All major sects did the same, and the dates had long since been fixed.

Thus, whenever this time came around, those wishing to seek immortality, pursue the Dao, and step into the Mystic Gate would come to register. As for which sect they chose, that was up to them.

Change the date? Open the mountain gates every day?

It could be done, but who would come?

Those who intended to come would come that day. If they did not want to come, what use was keeping the gates open?

Besides, if he really had transmigrated into a game, or a fantasy world based on a game's setting, then at most a year from now, the sect would face a calamity that would destroy it.

If they could not recruit reliable disciples this time and develop the sect a little, then this day next year would most likely be the anniversary of his death.

As for the small remaining possibility, he might die before next year even arrived.

"We really need to prepare properly."

"And besides..."

"Sigh. It depends on luck."

"But don't games usually come with beginner gift packs? I'm not asking you to give me an SSR Hero, but at least let me pull a guaranteed A-Grade one, okay? Otherwise, there's no way I can survive!"

Lin Fan prayed like this.

But he did not believe in gods or Buddhas.

Because gods and Buddhas had never helped him.

His so-called prayer was merely an attempt to find some psychological comfort.

"Waiting to die isn't my style. I changed the sect rules, but that isn't enough. I need to think of other methods!" he pondered.

Even if one left things to fate, there had to be a prerequisite—do all you could first!

After much thought.

Lin Fan could only go a step further and bring in as many people as possible to seek entry into the sect.

Black cat or white cat, get them up the mountain first!

If they were unsuitable, send them away. If they were suitable, take them in and nurture them properly!

"Advertisements."

In the end, Lin Fan decided to advertise.

Of course, this era had no Internet, television, or anything of the sort, but that did not mean there was no way to do it.

At the very least, they could hang banners, right?!

If they did not even have money to buy banners, they could carve words into stones, could they not?

The elders were all in the Cave Heaven Realm. They should still be able to handle something this simple.

It would just mean making them work hard and descend the mountain to get it done.

Afterward, he found the five elders and told them all of his ideas.

The five looked at each other after hearing him out. In the end, the First Elder said, "Sect Master, we do not mean to refute you, nor do we intend to disobey. However, there is something we must inform you of."

"Please speak, First Elder."

"To be frank, our sect's resources are scarce."

He gave a bitter smile. "Mainly because we have almost no industries, and the sect's territory has dwindled to this one mountain. Many years ago, this mountain was merely one of the outer sect mountains of the Moon Embracing Sect. There was never much of value here to begin with."

"After meeting our current expenses, nurturing ten new disciples would already be our limit."

"So..."

"I see."

Lin Fan's expression did not change. "I had roughly guessed as much."

How many resources could a fallen sect like this possess?

He had long been mentally prepared.

"But rest assured, elders. My goal is simply to bring more people here to seek entry. With a larger pool, the odds of finding geniuses will naturally be higher."

"Besides, have the elders forgotten the new rules I established?"

Only then did the First Elder relax. "It is good that the Sect Master understands. Then we shall descend the mountain at once."

Before leaving, he handed Lin Fan a jade token. "If anything urgent happens, Sect Master, you may destroy this jade token. We will sense it and return immediately."

"Alright. Thank you for your hard work, everyone."

Lin Fan accepted it and nodded with a smile.

Not long after, the five elders all turned into streaks of light and vanished, each heading in a different direction.

The Southwest Region contained over ten million Spirit Mountains!

Most of them were scattered far apart.

Yet in the area where the Moon Embracing Sect was located, more than a hundred thousand Spirit Mountains gathered together. The Moon Embracing Sect had once occupied ten thousand of them, standing unrivaled in this region as its undisputed local tyrant.

But times had changed...

Now, more than ten thousand sects of varying sizes gathered here.

The small ones, like the Moon Embracing Sect, possessed only a single unremarkable mountain.

There were also quite a few large sects occupying thousands of Spirit Mountains.

And there was one super sect that occupied more than twenty thousand Spirit Mountains—the Bright Moon Sect.

Speaking of which, the Bright Moon Sect had originally been the Moon Embracing Sect's rival. It had been suppressed by the Moon Embracing Sect for many years, until the latter gradually declined and ran short of successors. Then the Bright Moon Sect suddenly began to rise!

Over the years, it seized most of the Moon Embracing Sect's territory, while the rest was divided among other sects...

By now, the Bright Moon Sect was more than twice as powerful as the Moon Embracing Sect had been at its peak.

Standing atop the mountain in the cold wind, Lin Fan could not help sighing.

"Bright Moon, Moon Embracing."

"Both names have moon in them. Their Bright Moon is in the Sky, while ours is Moon in One's Embrace. No wonder we were sworn enemies..."

"But now, they probably would not even spare us a glance, would they?"

"Still, there is another possibility. The reason the Moon Embracing Sect has become more miserable with each passing year may have something to do with the Bright Moon Sect."

"Perhaps their leader is a pervert who does not seek instant destruction, but prefers watching others suffer torment and despair?"

It was not impossible, but it was still too early to think about such things.

What Lin Fan needed to do was have the elders advertise along the roads that led to the various sects...

Whether they hung banners, wrote on the ground, carved into stones, or marked tree trunks.

In short, they had to snatch as many people as possible.

Given the Moon Embracing Sect's current pitiful state, however, Lin Fan did not dare be too blatant. Therefore, the advertising slogans were rather restrained.

Peach Blossom Valley, one of the necessary routes to the Peach Blossom Sect.

Mortals and low-level cultivators coming from the northwest to seek entry into sects would all pass through this place.

At this moment, quite a few people were traveling along the road.

But halfway through, they suddenly stopped.

"What is this?"

"So many words!"

"Could it be a cultivation technique? A secret art?! Hiss!!!"

"Pfft. You cannot even read, and you want to join the Mystic Gate and become a cultivator? What a joke!"

"So what if I cannot read? Where there's a will, there's a way!"

"Ahem, stop arguing. Can someone tell me what this says?"

The crowd argued noisily. After all, they were all competitors, so naturally none of them spoke very kindly.

"It's something written by the Moon Embracing Sect."

"Moon Embracing Sect? What kind of sect is that? Never heard of it."

"They wrote..."

"What did they write?" The illiterate people nearby all pricked up their ears.

"Is this true?!" the man muttered, stirring the illiterate people around him into a rage, and they nearly attacked him.