Zhang Yang looked at the few people in the square, somewhat surprised that the little fatty had arrived first.
What a nimble fat man!
He took out a sheet of paper and a pen, handed them to the little fatty, and instructed, "I have a task for you. Register everyone's names in the order they arrived at the square. Once everyone is here, I'll explain the matters concerning entry into the sect. By the way, what's your name?"
The little fatty grinned. "Reporting to Eldest Senior Brother, my name is Wang Baole! I was also the first to arrive!"
"Very good!" Zhang Yang nodded and handed the paper and pen to Wang Baole.
Then, he took out the Azure Cloud Sect's account book and began examining it.
His foremost task, naturally, was to figure out exactly how many assets the Azure Cloud Sect still possessed.
Wang Baole, meanwhile, took the paper and pen, asked everyone's names in order of arrival, and began registering them.
The moment Zhang Yang opened the account book, his expression changed.
"The patriarchs of every generation really were useless!" Zhang Yang muttered inwardly, shaking his head again and again.
He had always thought that the Azure Cloud Sect was so poor that all it had left were a few mountains.
Yet he had never expected the very first sentence in the ledger to leave him stunned.
"Taking Azure Cloud Peak as its center, all land within a radius of three hundred li belongs to the Azure Cloud Sect."
Zhang Yang of the past understood better than anyone what a radius of three hundred li meant.
That was the size of an entire major province!
With such a vast territory, they had no money? They were so poor they did not even dare accept disciples? How incompetent did one have to be to achieve that?
Most importantly, there was not a single record of the enterprises within those three hundred li.
Zhang Yang clearly remembered that Azure Cloud Market was only a few li from the Azure Cloud Sect and also lay within its territory. That was an Azure Cloud Sect enterprise.
What was even more outrageous was that he had visited Azure Cloud Market, and the restaurants, pharmacies, and other businesses there were actually paying taxes.
Where had all those taxes gone?
The more Zhang Yang read the account book, the angrier he became. Had these Immortal Cultivators used all their brains on cultivation and understood nothing else at all?
When he reached the end of the ledger and saw one hundred and three Spirit Stones lying there all alone as the remaining balance, Zhang Yang completely lost it.
The mighty Azure Cloud Sect, a sect with a five-thousand-year legacy, had only one hundred and three Spirit Stones left...
No wonder whenever he wanted to buy Pills for cultivation, Seventh Martial Uncle would earnestly persuade him, "Zhang Yang, using Pills to cultivate is an inferior path. Moreover, the spiritual energy cultivated that way is impure, and it also leaves impurities in the body. That is extremely detrimental to us cultivators. The highest form of cultivation is refining the spiritual energy of heaven and earth..."
What inferior path? They were simply broke!
After all, even the cheapest Qi-Nourishing Pill cost two hundred Spirit Stones!
Other than Spirit Stones, they had no weapon-refining materials, no spiritual herbs for alchemy... they had nothing of any kind!
Across all of Azure Cloud Peak, Azure Cloud Master and his six fellow disciples would enter seclusion at the drop of a hat.
As for Zhang Yang himself, he could indeed search the Azure Cloud Seven Peaks for medicinal herbs to sell, but how much could one person possibly find?
Was he supposed to cultivate or not?
Thus, Zhang Yang had lived in misery for the past ten years and had long wanted to reform things.
But to be fair, several of his elders had treated him quite well.
Ever since they had brought him up the mountain ten years ago, they had immediately outfitted him with a complete set of gear, including premium goods like a Spatial Ring.
That entire set could not have been acquired without spending hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones.
From that alone, the Azure Cloud Seven Sons had indeed spared no effort in raising their disciple. They were several responsible, good elders.
Of course, this was also why Azure Cloud Master and the others had reacted as though the world were ending the moment they heard Zhang Yang had accepted dozens of sect members.
"Eldest Senior Brother, registration is complete. There are eighty-seven people in total!" Wang Baole presented the list before Zhang Yang. "Please instruct us, Eldest Senior Brother. What should we do next?"
Zhang Yang closed the account book, took the list from Wang Baole, glanced over it, and put it away.
He rose to his feet and looked toward the eighty-seven youths in the square.
The many youths also unconsciously straightened their backs, waiting for Zhang Yang to announce what came next.
They were already members of the Azure Cloud Sect. Naturally, they would have to follow the Azure Cloud Sect's rules from now on.
Zhang Yang swept his gaze across the crowd and said, "First, congratulations to all of you for entering the Azure Cloud Sect!
"Our Azure Cloud Sect was founded more than five thousand years ago. Throughout its history, as many as seventeen people have successfully ascended to the Immortal Realm. Therefore, joining the Azure Cloud Sect is an honor for all of you.
"But have you noticed a problem?
"Where will all of you live from now on?"
The crowd could not help looking around. Apart from the great hall before them, there were only a few tower buildings.
Everything else was mountain forests. There were no houses at all.
But they had already joined the sect. Shouldn't the matter of lodging be solved by the sect?
Zhang Yang's expression grew solemn as he continued, "You should have heard that, over the past several decades, our Azure Cloud Sect accepted only one person—that was me. According to our usual customs, this time we would also have selected disciples strictly.
"However, our sect has encountered a great upheaval unseen in a hundred years.
"This upheaval is closely tied to every single one of us here.
"That is precisely why I opened the gates wide and guided all of you fellow sect members up the mountain, so that we could face this great upheaval unseen in a hundred years together.
"If we handle it well, there will be a place for us in the Future world. There may even be some among us who ascend to the Immortal Realm.
"If we do not handle it well, then we will be doomed beyond redemption.
"My fellow sect members, do not think of running away. This is something you simply cannot escape.
"I want to ask you: are you willing to face it together with me?"
The people in the square looked at one another.
From Zhang Yang's words, they could sense the gravity of the situation.
But what exactly had happened?
Wang Baole swallowed and asked, "Eldest Senior Brother, what should we do?"
Zhang Yang said slowly, "As for what to do, we can discuss it gradually later. Right now, the first thing you need to do is hurry and build yourselves somewhere to live. The seven mountain peaks behind the great hall already have sect elders at their summits. Aside from the summits, you may choose suitable locations on the mountains to build houses. Get moving, everyone, and solve the lodging problem as quickly as possible. I'll give you two days. Two days from now, gather here again, and I will teach you the methods of cultivation."
After a pause, Zhang Yang's tone turned cold. "Remember, you are already fellow sect members. Fellow sect members should care for one another. If anyone dares bully another, the consequences will not be something you can bear."
After saying that, he leaped into the air and flew away.
The people in the square were somewhat bewildered.
They felt that something was off, but this was their first time joining a sect after all, and they had no idea what other sects were like.
After standing around in confusion for a while, everyone decided to build themselves a place to live.
After all, they were already here. They could not exactly sleep on the ground, could they?
At the summit of Azure Cloud Peak, Azure Cloud Master, who had claimed he was entering seclusion, sat together with the other six.
Through a precious mirror, they observed the situation before the great hall.
"Eldest Senior Brother, what do we do now?" Third Junior Brother Danchენzi frowned tightly as he looked at Azure Cloud Master. "I can say with certainty that more than half of these eighty-seven disciples are spies sent by other sects. Now Zhang Yang has admitted them all. How should we deal with this?"
Azure Cloud Master snapped irritably, "Would this situation have happened if you had not been lazy?"
Danchენzi gave a bitter smile. "I never expected Zhang Yang to pull something like this... We were not supposed to leave the sect casually to begin with, and all the sect's Spirit Stones have been used on the grand formation... Feeding this group of disciples is already a problem, let alone the fact that there are spies among them. Why not just find an excuse and drive them all down the mountain?"
"Nonsense! We accepted them onto the mountain and immediately drive them back down? Does the Azure Cloud Sect not care about its reputation anymore?" Azure Cloud Master glared at Danchენzi. "Even if we were going to do that, we would have to wait for a while!"
Azure Cloud Master's face was full of worry. They had already accepted these people onto the mountain. If the Azure Cloud Sect could not feed its disciples and starved them to death, its reputation of thousands of years would be utterly ruined!
What were they to do?
Suddenly, Second Martial Uncle Ling Yunzi's expression changed. "Oh no, that brat Zhang Yang is coming to find me!"
At a time like this, could anything good come from him showing up?
The others all looked toward Second Martial Uncle, their faces full of schadenfreude.
"Go on, hurry up! Don't drag us down with you!" they urged one after another.
Second Senior Brother flew back to his own mountain summit with a miserable expression.
Before you continue