By the time Lin Feng returned to the Evergreen Sect, the sky had already darkened.
Leading a hundred people through the air on the wind had slowed his flight considerably.
Tie Dali and Liu Yurou, who had received Lin Feng's voice transmission, had long since brought all the sect's disciples outside to wait.
When they saw that Lin Feng had actually brought back so many people this time, delighted surprise spread across their faces.
Their Evergreen Sect was no longer a little sect with only twenty-odd members. With such a force joining them, the Evergreen Sect would surely undergo another burst of explosive growth in a short time.
As soon as they entered the sect's territory, time began flowing at the rate within the sect.
Lin Feng led everyone straight down onto the flat ground outside the External Affairs Hall.
Taking advantage of today's large gathering, Lin Feng decided to explain the Evergreen Sect's rules to these newly recruited disciples, while also painting them a grand pie in the sky.
The new disciples who had followed Lin Feng felt a yearning arise in their hearts upon seeing the Evergreen Sect's main hall. Such was the appeal of a C-grade main hall.
The Evergreen Sect's four halls also made the newly arrived disciples feel that it was a sect of grand proportions, and that as its new disciples, they would surely achieve something in the future.
Lin Feng looked at the people before him. This time, he had brought back a total of 104 disciples.
Adding the Evergreen Sect's original twenty-six disciples, its membership had now soared straight to 130, making it a medium-sized Foundation Establishment sect in every sense.
Upon learning that Lin Feng was about to hold the sect's first assembly, the original twenty-six disciples took their places at the very front first.
The other newly admitted disciples followed close behind these veteran disciples. Quite a few stole glances at them, hoping to sense a trace of spiritual power fluctuations from them.
But they soon discovered, to their surprise, that apart from the menial disciples, all the other disciples had some degree of spiritual power fluctuations about them, bringing delighted surprise to their faces.
Lin Feng beckoned lightly, signaling all the disciples to quiet down, then began the Evergreen Sect's first address:
"Everyone, welcome to the Evergreen Sect."
"Once you join the Evergreen Sect, you will discover that this was the best decision you ever made."
"At present, besides the main hall, our Evergreen Sect also has the External Affairs Hall to handle matters great and small, the Pill Hall to refine pills, and the Equipment Hall to forge magical artifacts and spiritual artifacts. In the future, our Evergreen Sect will have still more sect halls."
"Next, let me introduce our Evergreen Sect's two personal disciples to the new disciples."
"The first is your senior brother Tie Dali, who was also the first disciple to join our Evergreen Sect. His cultivation has now reached late Foundation Establishment."
At his words, Tie Dali walked to the front of the crowd and rose into the air, unleashing a strike of Fierce Tiger Roaring at the Mountain Fist toward the sky. Its tremendous momentum made countless newly admitted disciples feel an overwhelming pressure.
Their expressions as they looked at Tie Dali instantly turned to solemn respect. So this unremarkable-looking older man was actually their eldest senior brother.
After Tie Dali returned to his place, Lin Feng introduced Liu Yurou:
"This is our Evergreen Sect's second personal disciple, your senior sister Yurou. Her cultivation has now reached early Foundation Establishment."
Holding a low-grade magical artifact longsword, Liu Yurou briefly demonstrated a passage of the low-grade Profound-tier sword technique, Clear Breeze Returning Spirit Sword Art, inspiring awe in countless onlookers.
After introducing the Evergreen Sect's two Foundation Establishment disciples, Lin Feng did not introduce the others one by one. Instead, he proceeded to assign ranks to the newly admitted disciples.
First were Li Jishi, the proprietor of the Life-Saving Medical Clinic, and Lu Daxi, who had the makings of a God of Cooking. Lin Feng invited the two to step forward first and introduced them to everyone else:
"These two are the new personal disciples I, your sect master, have decided to accept."
Both Li Jishi and Lu Daxi looked astonished upon hearing that Lin Feng intended to accept them as personal disciples, but even more than that, they were excited.
The Evergreen Sect was at least a Foundation Establishment sect, and this sect master's strength was even more unfathomable. By becoming his personal disciples, they had already reaped an enormous windfall from joining the Evergreen Sect on this trip.
Lin Feng did not explain why he had accepted these two as personal disciples, nor did anyone dare ask him at this moment why they could become personal disciples.
Next, Lin Feng looked at the two new disciples in the crowd with high-grade spirit root aptitude and said:
"From today onward, these two will become inner disciples of our Evergreen Sect. Anyone with a high-grade spirit root may become an inner disciple of the Evergreen Sect."
At Lin Feng's words, all the remaining disciples looked enviously at the two disciples with high-grade spirit roots.
Once they became inner disciples, their status would be far above the others'.
Among those remaining, twelve had middle-grade spirit roots, twenty-one had low-grade spirit roots, and thirty-seven had five-element mixed spiritual roots.
The last thirty all possessed four traits and lacked the aptitude to cultivate, but quite a few of them had traits related to tending spiritual herbs or planting spirit seeds.
Lin Feng continued his announcement. "Anyone with a middle-grade spirit root may directly become an outer disciple of the Evergreen Sect."
"The others with low-grade spirit roots and five-element mixed spiritual roots will first be designated as menial disciples for assessment. Those who pass may be promoted to outer disciples of the Evergreen Sect."
At these words, a trace of pride rose in the hearts of the disciples with low-grade spirit roots and five-element mixed spiritual roots who had joined the Evergreen Sect earlier.
They had joined when the Evergreen Sect was founded and had already made many contributions to it. Naturally, these later arrivals could not compare directly to them, even if their aptitudes were much the same.
Although the newly admitted disciples with low-grade spirit roots and five-element mixed spiritual roots looked with some dissatisfaction at the senior brothers and sisters who shared their aptitude yet were already outer disciples, they also understood that, having only just joined, their status naturally could not match these senior brothers and sisters who had joined before them.
After assigning ranks to the newly admitted disciples, Lin Feng called two more people out of the crowd.
The first was Zhao Qingyan, who was also among the first few disciples with low-grade spirit roots to join the Evergreen Sect.
He had also discovered the sect's hidden ruins while patrolling the back mountain, but had never been given a specific reward for it.
Today, Lin Feng decided to take the opportunity of these new disciples joining the sect to reward him.
Thus, Lin Feng called Zhao Qingyan forward and addressed everyone:
"Your senior brother Zhao Qingyan has made an outstanding contribution to the sect. Today, I will bestow upon Qingyan a piece of High-Grade Marrow-Cleansing Jade that the sect obtained previously, to help him break through the limitations of his original spirit root."
With that, Lin Feng took the piece of High-Grade Marrow-Cleansing Jade he had obtained long ago from his storage pouch and handed it to Zhao Qingyan.
His face filled with excitement, Zhao Qingyan respectfully accepted the piece of High-Grade Marrow-Cleansing Jade with both hands, then kowtowed heavily against the ground.
Lin Feng continued:
"From today onward, Zhao Qingyan is promoted to an inner disciple of the sect."
At Lin Feng's words, fervor appeared on the faces of every outer and menial disciple below.
As long as they made sufficient contributions, they too would have a chance to set foot on the path of immortality or gain better cultivation aptitude in the future.
Finally, Lin Feng called out another person from among the original menial disciples. This person had been responsible for tending the sect's spirit seeds over the past few years.
Lin Feng directly bestowed the low-grade spirit root he had drawn not long ago upon this menial disciple, giving him a low-grade spirit root and formally granting him the aptitude to cultivate.
This scene brought an even more fanatical look to the faces of countless menial disciples who lacked cultivation aptitude. This was the opportunity they had dreamed of.