The recruitment of disciples ended.
The new disciples would have a month's leave.
Those who lived nearby could return home.
Those who lived far away would remain on the mountain.
This month was meant both for bidding farewell to their elders at home and for adapting to life on the mountain.
A single mountain divided two worlds.
Whatever their status outside the mountain, within it they were merely disciples of the Truth-Seeking Abbey. There were no servants or attendants, no maids to summon. They had to do everything themselves, including chopping firewood, carrying water, sweeping and dusting, ringing bells and reciting scriptures, washing clothes and tending fires.
Those who could endure could remain at the Truth-Seeking Abbey; those who could not would have to leave. Only after weathering these trials and successfully achieving foundation establishment would they qualify to become Inner Disciples and study profound Daoist arts and wondrous divine abilities.
Taking advantage of his free time, Li Zizai descended the mountain and returned home with the other fifth-generation disciples from Floating Cloud County.
Dao-Treasuring Peak, Path-Seeking Courtyard.
Xuanming entered seclusion to comprehend the laws within the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
Half a month later, Li Zizai returned to the mountain.
Two months later, the blazing sun beat down and summer heat steamed through the air. The luxuriant branches of the Spirit Pine screened out the sunlight and cast cool shade below. Having emerged from seclusion, Xuanming lay gently rocking in a bamboo rocking chair, his thoughts wandering.
His attainment had improved slightly during this seclusion. In the Spirit Refining Realm, every advance was difficult, dozens or even a hundred times harder than during qi refining. This had given Xuanming a deeper understanding of artifact refining.
No wonder only great cultivators at the Spirit Refining Realm or above could forge Dharma