Time flew like an arrow, the sun and moon flashed past like a shuttle, and several years passed before anyone knew it. The Incense Accumulation Sect's pool of talent had changed greatly.
This was a crucial period, with the Incense Accumulation Sect approaching its fiftieth year. Allowing twenty-odd years for one generation to grow up, then another twenty-odd years for them to raise children, was enough to develop several social strata, a population at different levels, and a solid foundation at the grassroots.
A smooth ladder encompassing late-stage Qi Refining, mid-stage Qi Refining, early-stage Qi Refining, and even ordinary mortal people had successfully taken shape.
Within the Incense Accumulation Sect, besides fortunate lineages such as the Shu Household that had seized an early advantage, a growing number of native sect families had emerged.
These households consisted of anywhere from a few people to a dozen or more. Some had cultivators among their ancestors but mortal descendants; others were precisely the reverse, with children of mortals becoming cultivators. Their rises and falls, successes and failures, all differed.
What they shared, however, was their identity as people of the Incense Accumulation Sect.
The ancestors of most disciples within the sect had come from elsewhere, but their parents had put down roots here. Having been born after the sect's founding, they possessed sect membership from birth.
Once grown, whether they became subordinate laborers, Incense Market stewards, or inner disciples, they, too, would become part of sect life.
Later, they had children of their own and carried on their family lines, becoming parents and even grandparents.
The newest generation of disciples could thus claim three generations of sect members among their ancestors. They were wholly native-born.
As this new generation grew up, the first generation of immigrants, apart from Foundation Establishment elders such as