A Tiny, Insignificant Sect

[Leave behind a zombie and eat your brain.]

Quiet Valley,

In front of the dilapidated mountain gate,

"Sect Master... is this really the mountain gate of our Luozhen Sect?"

A tall, sturdy young man dressed in a neat white short robe looked up at the decaying mountain gate before him. The three characters "Luozhen Sect" were still faintly visible on its plaque.

He stared blankly, his face full of astonishment.

Li Yunjing remained expressionless. "You're still young. You don't understand anything."

"The mountain need not be tall; with an immortal, it becomes famous. You'll slowly come to understand this principle.

"Come with this Sect Master into the mountain and enter the Luozhen Sect."

Li Yunjing strode forward.

Zhang Hanpeng watched Li Yunjing's retreating figure.

He fell into deep thought.

"'The mountain need not be tall; with an immortal, it becomes famous'..."

Zhang Hanpeng pondered those words.

Seeing that Li Yunjing had already crossed the mountain gate and entered the valley,

Zhang Hanpeng finally came back to himself and hurried after him.

After passing through the mountain gate, they continued along the path for a while.

The view suddenly opened up, and the sight inside the valley appeared before Zhang Hanpeng.

"This..."

Zhang Hanpeng was even more astonished.

The valley was quite large, and a stream ran through it.

A few buildings stood in the distance.

It was just that these buildings were already quite old.

Zhang Hanpeng's sharp eyes even spotted one of the larger buildings, where more than half the roof tiles were missing.

"Sect Master... is this the Luozhen Sect?"

Li Yunjing's expression was calm. "Of course. Come with this Sect Master. Today, I'll hold your initiation ceremony."

Li Yunjing walked forward.

Zhang Hanpeng hesitated.

This scene was completely different from what he had imagined.

Didn't those storybooks all say that immortal sects sat high among the clouds, with palaces standing in clusters?

How was the Luozhen Sect so different from the way it was described in the storybooks?

Zhang Hanpeng felt he had been cheated.

He had spent his entire family's savings to find an agent,

and only then had he managed to find Li Yunjing, the Sect Master of the Luozhen Sect.

Up ahead, Li Yunjing noticed that Zhang Hanpeng still hadn't caught up.

He felt nervous.

You'd better not regret this, kid.

Li Yunjing thought to himself.

Fortunately, after hesitating for a while, Zhang Hanpeng still followed.

They came to the front of several buildings.

Each building had a plaque displaying its name.

Li Yunjing stood in front of a building called the Patriarch Hall, waiting for Zhang Hanpeng.

When Zhang Hanpeng walked up,

Li Yunjing's expression remained calm as he spoke:

"Think it through. Once you've met the ancestors of the Luozhen Sect, you'll be a disciple of the Luozhen Sect.

"If you want to go back on your word, you'll be a traitor. The Luozhen Sect will show no mercy to traitors."

Zhang Hanpeng had been hesitant at first, but his expression gradually grew resolute.

"Reporting to the Sect Master, I've thought it through. If I go back, I'll be farming. I don't want to farm. I'm willing to become a disciple of the Luozhen Sect."

Li Yunjing raised an eyebrow and glanced at Zhang Hanpeng.

You don't want to farm?

That's not up to you.

They entered the Patriarch Hall.

The interior of the Patriarch Hall was desolate.

Several spirit tablets, each damaged to a different degree, rested on the tablet stand.

Some had a corner missing, while others had only half left...

A layer of dust had already settled on the tablet stand.

The few portraits of the patriarchs hanging up were all too blurred to make out.

One corner of the offering table in front was crooked, propped up by a stone.

The incense burner on the offering table was the best-preserved item.

It was golden-yellow and looked fairly new.

Li Yunjing took three sticks of incense.

After lighting them, he placed them in the incense burner.

"Ancestors of the Luozhen Sect, your disciple Zhang Hanpeng is sincere in joining the Luozhen Sect and entering the Dao to cultivate the truth.

"We ask the ancestors of the Luozhen Sect to bless him, so that he may abide by the sect rules, cultivate diligently without pause, and bring glory to the sect."

Li Yunjing bowed three times, then turned to look at Zhang Hanpeng.

"Kneel and kowtow."

Zhang Hanpeng immediately did as he was told.

He knelt on both knees and kowtowed several times to the spirit tablets and portraits.

"Mm. From this day forward, you are an outer sect disciple of the Luozhen Sect."

Li Yunjing gestured for Zhang Hanpeng to get up.

Zhang Hanpeng stood, delight appearing in his eyes.

Now, he had finally joined a sect, and had hope of attaining immortality.

"First, take a look around the Luozhen Sect and familiarize yourself with the place. After that, this Sect Master will teach you the way of cultivation."

Li Yunjing waved at Zhang Hanpeng.

Zhang Hanpeng nodded and saluted. "Yes, Sect Master."

After Zhang Hanpeng left,

Li Yunjing shouted in his heart:

"The sect's prosperity has finally reached one!!!"

Li Yunjing clenched his fists, extremely excited.

At the thought, a light screen panel appeared before his eyes.

The light screen displayed the current basic information of the Luozhen Sect.

[ Sect: Luozhen Sect ]

[ Grade: First-Rank Sect ]

[ Sect Master: Li Yunjing (Qi Refining Perfection) ]

[ Number of Disciples: Outer Sect Disciple *1 ]

[ Reputation: Tiny, Insignificant Sect ]

[ Resources: Low-Grade Spirit Stones (43), First-Rank Spirit Rice (5 jin)... ]

[ Prosperity: One ]

[ Sect Buildings: Sect Grand Hall (lv0), Spirit Field (lv0), Chicken Coop (lv0), Mountain Gate (lv0), Patriarch Hall (lv0) ]

The information was simple, but it made Li Yunjing's eyes burn with excitement.

Three years ago, Li Yunjing had transmigrated to this world called Tianyuan.

He had become one of the three True Disciples of the Luozhen Sect.

From the very beginning, Li Yunjing had activated this light screen panel.

But at the time, Li Yunjing wasn't the Sect Master of the Luozhen Sect,

so he couldn't use this golden finger.

It wasn't until a year ago that Li Yunjing's master, the previous Sect Master, passed away from illness.

Li Yunjing took over the mantle and became Sect Master.

But then he discovered that the sect's prosperity was zero.

The cheat was still unusable.

For the sect's prosperity to reach one,

Luozhen Sect needed new disciples to join.

With no other choice, Li Yunjing could only search for new disciples little by little.

Luozhen Sect had no particular requirements for those who wanted to join.

They only needed to have a Spirit Root and be able to cultivate.

He had thought it would be easy.

But he never expected Luozhen Sect's reputation to precede it.

No one was willing to join Luozhen Sect at all.

Luozhen Sect was simply too down on its luck.

Even when the previous Sect Master was still alive,

Luozhen Sect had only a few disciples, barely enough to count.

Its full sect structure was nowhere near complete.

Apart from the Sect Master, there were only three True Disciples.

Strictly speaking, it could not even be called a sect.

It only had the name of one.

After the previous Sect Master died of illness,

Li Yunjing was the only one willing to stay at Luozhen Sect.

Li Yunjing's junior brother and junior sister had both left Luozhen Sect to seek other paths elsewhere.

Luozhen Sect, already down on its luck, had suffered yet another blow.

Only Zhang Hanpeng, who knew nothing about any of this,

had been talked into coming to Luozhen Sect by Li Yunjing.

Looking at the somewhat shabby light-screen panel,

Li Yunjing felt no trace of heartache or disappointment.

Instead, his heart was filled with hope.

All this was only temporary.

Sooner or later, Luozhen Sect would grow stronger.

When that time came, Li Yunjing would be able to keep Luozhen Sect's place and remain a member of the Immortal Alliance.

The Immortal Alliance was one of Tianyuan's top sects,

with branches established throughout the various regions.

It focused on maintaining peace and stability in the cultivation world.

Many sects and cultivators in different regions joined the Immortal Alliance and willingly cooperated with its work.

In return, the Immortal Alliance regularly issued benefits to these sects and cultivators.

It also protected its members.

Luozhen Sect had once been prosperous and had joined the Immortal Alliance.

But by now, Luozhen Sect had fallen into decline.

If, after some more time, Luozhen Sect still had no Foundation Establishment cultivator,

then it would be stripped of its Immortal Alliance membership.

When that time came, not only would its benefits be gone, but danger would follow as well.

Without the Immortal Alliance's protection,

Luozhen Sect would soon be devoured whole by those Rogue Cultivators.

Other cultivators would occupy this valley, and it would no longer belong to Luozhen Sect.

Li Yunjing might even be in danger of losing his life.

Li Yunjing didn't want that.

Putting aside his distracting thoughts, Li Yunjing focused his mind on [Sect Grand Hall].

The information on the panel soon changed.

[Sect Grand Hall (lv0)]

[lv1 Spiritual Effect: Gathers 10 units of pure Spiritual Qi each month; disciples' chances of breaking through a minor stage increase by 10%.]

[Upgrade Requirements: Replace the missing roof tiles, 5 low-grade Spirit Stones]

[Spirit Field (lv0)]

[lv1 Spiritual Effect: Crop growth cycle -30%; while cultivating a wood- or earth-attribute Cultivation Method within a radius of three zhang, Spiritual Qi absorption speed +15%.]

[Upgrade Requirements: Turn the soil, kill pests, and pull weeds; 20 jin of ordinary plant ash]

[Chicken Coop (lv0)]

[lv1 Spiritual Effect: Produces 3 spirit eggs per day; +20% chance of producing twice the daily number of spirit eggs.]

[Upgrade Requirements: 10 wooden planks, 5 bundles of ordinary straw, 30 jin of ordinary rice]

[Mountain Gate (lv0)]

[lv1 Spiritual Effect: Forms a weak warning barrier. When non-sect members intrude, it triggers an alert and keeps mortals out; releases a faint spiritual glow, making the "Luozhen Sect" sign clearly perceptible to passersby and increasing its recognition among them.]

[Upgrade Requirements: 6 sturdy logs, 1 jin of ordinary iron nails]

[Patriarch Hall (lv0)]

[lv1 Spiritual Effect: Produces one unit of ancestral incense each month; after paying respects to the patriarch, disciples receive the patriarch's protection, increasing their Spiritual Qi absorption speed by 10% for one day. This effect takes place once every three days.]

[Upgrade Requirements: Clean and arrange the patriarch's spirit tablets, 2 jin of tung oil, 20 sticks of first-grade incense, 15 low-grade Spirit Stones]