Innate Sword Maniac

"Starting today, you are the master of Qingxiao Sect. From now on, take good care of your junior brothers and junior sisters."

After leaving those words behind, Lin Xunfeng, the former master of Qingxiao Sect, left without a backward glance. With his back to his disciples, his face—which looked barely over thirty—was set with grim resolve.

He walked down the mountain path, his blue robes fluttering in the wind, every inch the carefree wanderer of the martial world.

Dusk had fallen. Crimson clouds filled the sky, and the distant ridgelines seemed to be covered in streaks of flame. The setting sun was achingly beautiful.

Standing before the sect gate, Li Qingqiu wore an indignant expression. He had tried everything to persuade his master, but Lin Xunfeng had refused to listen and insisted on descending the mountain to seek immortality.

As the eldest disciple of Qingxiao Sect, Li Qingqiu was only sixteen. His six junior brothers and junior sisters were even younger; the youngest was barely over ten.

He was supposed to raise them all? Wasn't that as good as ruining his life?

He wanted to roam the world with a sword at his side and live freely. He'd had more than enough of the peaceful days on this mountain. He even missed his past life, when he'd spent his days playing intense shooter games at home, then flopping onto the sofa to scroll through short videos once he got tired.

"Master, if I ruin Qingxiao Sect, don't blame me!"

Li Qingqiu shouted. His still-youthful voice echoed through the mountains. Lin Xunfeng had already reached the edge of the woods. He merely raised a hand without turning around.

A small hand reached out from behind and tugged gently at Li Qingqiu's sleeve. He turned his head and saw his ten-year-old junior sister, Li Sijin, gazing at him timidly.

"Eldest Senior Brother, will you abandon us too?"

The anger in Li Qingqiu's heart vanished in an instant. He glanced around. Apart from his annoying Third Junior Brother, Jiang Zhaoxia, the other five junior brothers and junior sisters were watching him anxiously or with worry in their eyes.

He felt the weight of responsibility settle heavily on his shoulders.

But this wasn't the life I'd wanted after transmigrating!

Just then, lines of text suddenly appeared before Li Qingqiu's eyes:

[You have become the master of a sect for the first time. The sect system has been activated. Beginning inspection of Qingxiao Sect]

[Inspection successful. Beginning assessment of Qingxiao Sect]

[Assessment successful. Rank: Unranked]

[As this is your first time becoming a sect master, you have received one Fate selection and one sect inheritance]

Li Qingqiu froze at the prompts before him, thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him. But after rubbing them, the text was still there.

He looked at the other disciples. His junior brothers and junior sisters didn't seem to have noticed anything.

Was his cheat finally activating?

Li Qingqiu's heart began to race. He wondered how he could hide the prompts for now, and the moment the thought crossed his mind, the text vanished. When he wanted to see it again, the prompts reappeared before his eyes.

That convinced him even more that he wasn't hallucinating.

Having lived two lives, Li Qingqiu had a maturity beyond that of an ordinary sixteen-year-old. He immediately said, "I was just venting at Master. Since he wants to leave, let him. From now on, we'll depend on one another."

At his words, his junior brothers and junior sisters all brightened. They depended on Li Qingqiu more than they did on Lin Xunfeng. Lin Xunfeng spent most of his time away, and Qingxiao Sect was usually under Li Qingqiu's care. Aside from Third Junior Brother Jiang Zhaoxia, all the others were always clinging to him.

After comforting them for a while, Li Qingqiu could hardly wait to return to his room and investigate the sect prompts he'd just received.

"Yuchun, go make dinner. Dongyue, keep an eye on Man'er, Sifeng, and Sijin."

After quickly assigning their tasks, Li Qingqiu turned and headed back into the courtyard.

Qingxiao Sect sounded impressive, but in truth, it had only eight people. After today, there would be just seven. The sect had only three courtyards: one where Lin Xunfeng practiced, one where the disciples lived, and one for storing odds and ends.

As the eldest disciple, Li Qingqiu had a room of his own, much to his junior brothers' and junior sisters' envy.

Li Qingqiu sat on his bed, wondering how to check the sect system. Just then, a translucent panel appeared before his eyes, displaying lines of text:

[Sect: Qingxiao Sect (rename available)]

[Master: Li Qingqiu]

[Number of disciples (click to view details): 7]

[Rank: Unranked (click to view development details)]

[Protective formation: None]

[Guardian beast: None]

[Available Fate selections: 1]

[Available inheritance rewards: 1]

Looking at the panel, Li Qingqiu felt as if he were playing a game. Come to think of it, he'd enjoyed playing cultivation mobile games in his previous life, which made him all the more interested in the sect system.

He first thought about opening the disciple list. The panel changed, showing seven portraits, each with a name beside it—including his own.

They were arranged in order of seniority: Li Qingqiu, Zhang Yuchun, Jiang Zhaoxia, Li Dongyue, Wu Man'er, Li Sifeng, and Li Sijin.

All seven of them had been orphans whom their master, Lin Xunfeng, had brought up the mountain. They came from different backgrounds, and Lin Xunfeng had never talked to them about where they came from. But Li Qingqiu had lived two lives, and he'd been conscious from the moment he was born in this one. He knew what his own background was.

Even now that Lin Xunfeng had left, he had no desire to look for his birth parents. To him, those family ties had already been severed.

Li Qingqiu focused on Zhang Yuchun's portrait, and Zhang Yuchun's information popped up:

[Name: Zhang Yuchun]

[Gender: Male]

[Age: 15]

[Loyalty (master/sect): 89/23 (maximum: 100)]

[Cultivation aptitude: Mediocre]

[Comprehension: Good]

[Fates: Political Comet, Forbearance]

Li Qingqiu raised an eyebrow. His Second Junior Brother's loyalty to him was 89, but his loyalty to Qingxiao Sect was only 23?

Didn't that mean Zhang Yuchun might leave Qingxiao Sect once he grew up?

He focused on Zhang Yuchun's Fates again, and explanations for Political Comet and Forbearance appeared.

The descriptions were easy enough to understand. Political Comet meant Zhang Yuchun had a natural knack for administration; Forbearance meant he could endure hardship.

Li Qingqiu suddenly realized how impressive the sect system was. With these status panels, he could see every disciple's potential, talents, and loyalty. With the system's help, winning people over and training disciples would be easy.

He turned his attention to his Third Junior Brother, Jiang Zhaoxia.

When Jiang Zhaoxia was little, he used to cling to Li Qingqiu. But over the past two years, he'd become extremely rebellious and often went against him, which had really gotten on Li Qingqiu's nerves.

However, Jiang Zhaoxia's loyalty surprised him.

Jiang Zhaoxia's loyalty to him was actually 96, higher than Zhang Yuchun's. But his loyalty to Qingxiao Sect was only 1. He could defect at any moment.

What was wrong with this kid?

He liked me so much, yet he was always going against me?

Li Qingqiu continued reading and was delighted by what he saw.

[Cultivation aptitude: Excellent]

[Comprehension: Exceptional]

[Fates: Innate Sword Maniac, Hidden Dragon in the Mortal World]

[Innate Sword Maniac: Born to cultivate the sword, with exceptional insight into swordsmanship and peerless control of the sword]

[Hidden Dragon in the Mortal World: A turbulent past. Overcome the tribulations fated for you, and you can transform into a flying dragon, your fortune unstoppable]

Good heavens!

He was that impressive?

Li Qingqiu suddenly understood. No wonder Jiang Zhaoxia had been annoyed with him for the past two years. Two years ago, Lin Xunfeng had given Li Qingqiu a treasured sword. There were only two swords in all of Qingxiao Sect. At the time, Jiang Zhaoxia had asked for that sword, but Li Qingqiu had refused.

He'd refused because he thought Jiang Zhaoxia couldn't handle it. After all, Jiang Zhaoxia had only been twelve, and a sharp weapon in his hands could easily hurt someone.

A born sword fanatic had found a sword but couldn't have it. No wonder Jiang Zhaoxia was annoyed with him. If they hadn't been close, Jiang Zhaoxia might have tried anything to get his sword.

Li Qingqiu's dissatisfaction with Jiang Zhaoxia vanished, replaced by sympathy.

Third Junior Brother, Senior Brother misunderstood you. Don't worry. Someday, Senior Brother will give you a fine sword and let you shine for Qingxiao Sect.

With the sect system in place, Li Qingqiu had already started thinking of himself as a sect master. He considered everything from a long-term perspective.

He continued looking through the list. Li Dongyue, Wu Man'er, Li Sifeng, and Li Sijin all had high loyalty to him, though Jiang Zhaoxia's was still the highest. Their aptitudes and comprehension were better than Zhang Yuchun's, but not as good as Jiang Zhaoxia's.

Their Fates weren't as dazzling as Jiang Zhaoxia's either; they mostly highlighted their personalities.

One of Wu Man'er's Fates was pretty good, though: Tiger Physique Elephant Strength. The kid had been strong since he was little, but unfortunately, he wasn't very mature.

The only one who worried Li Qingqiu was his Sixth Junior Brother, Li Sifeng.

Li Sifeng and his Seventh Junior Sister, Li Sijin, had been brought back by Lin Xunfeng together. They were biological siblings, and Li Sifeng was two years older. Neither of them had originally been surnamed Li; Lin Xunfeng had had them take Li Qingqiu's surname.

Li Sifeng was only twelve, lively and mischievous. Li Qingqiu was very fond of him and liked to bring him along wherever he went.

But Li Sifeng's Fate entries were Wolf Cub Ambition and Ruthless Means.

Just like their names suggested, these two Fates meant he was prone to ambition and never satisfied. He would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

If this kid ever set his sights on my position as sect master, wouldn't we end up as enemies?

Li Qingqiu looked at Li Sifeng's loyalty and decided he'd probably been overthinking it.

Li Sifeng's loyalty to him was 92, while his loyalty to Qingxiao Sect was only 40. He'd just have to keep an eye on him in the future.

After checking the status panels for his junior brothers and junior sisters, Li Qingqiu felt that Qingxiao Sect had plenty of potential. The only disappointing thing was that he couldn't check his own cultivation aptitude or comprehension.

Jiang Zhaoxia could be trained into their top enforcer, while Zhang Yuchun could handle administration. They had their civil and military pillars in place.

He had to admit, Lin Xunfeng had a knack for choosing disciples. Lin Xunfeng had encountered plenty of orphans while traveling the martial world, yet he'd brought back only these seven. That meant he'd been selective.

In their daily lives, Lin Xunfeng had also taught them a few fighting techniques. But in Li Qingqiu's eyes, they were all third-rate tricks.

Li Qingqiu continued to check the sect's development details. There wasn't much worth looking at. He didn't even have to think about it to know Qingxiao Sect had no foundation to speak of.

He kept scrolling and checked the Fate selection and sect inheritance opportunities he'd received.

[Fate selection: Choose one Fate from a sect disciple and copy it as your own]

[Inheritance reward: Randomly obtain an inheritance, such as a cultivation method, spell, divine ability, secret art, formation, miscellaneous knowledge, and so on]

Li Qingqiu was overjoyed. He had talented people now, but nothing to teach them. How was Qingxiao Sect supposed to grow? Thankfully, the sect system came with inheritances.

He now had one Fate selection and one inheritance reward. That was enough to get him started.

Without hesitation, he selected Jiang Zhaoxia's portrait again and focused on his Fates.

Junior Brother, you're incredibly gifted—and now, those gifts are mine!