Joining the Sect and Testing Talent
The five of them shook their heads.
Li Yunjing put a hand to his forehead.
"Then have you heard of the Luozhen Sect?"
The five shook their heads again.
Li Yunjing immediately turned to Zhang Hanpeng.
Where did you find these five oddballs!?
Zhang Hanpeng just chuckled foolishly.
Behind Li Yunjing, Mo Xuan and Shui Yao were even more speechless.
The five did not even know the Luozhen Sect's current situation.
Could it be that they weren't from Xunxian Town?
Li Yunjing considered his words, then said to the five:
"Come with me. I'll show you what the Luozhen Sect is like."
Li Yunjing intended to explain the Luozhen Sect's current situation to all five of them in detail.
As for whether they would decide to join the Luozhen Sect afterward,
that was not for Li Yunjing to decide.
Li Yunjing was no great villain.
He would not insist on tying people up and forcing them to join the Luozhen Sect.
Only those who knew the Luozhen Sect's true circumstances and were still willing to join
were the people Li Yunjing needed.
They entered Serene Valley and arrived at the Luozhen Sect.
The five looked at the few buildings within the Luozhen Sect.
The boy who had been so excited at the start was instantly puzzled.
"This is the Luozhen Sect? Where are the spirit peaks? Where are the experts? This..."
Clearly, he was just like Zhang Hanpeng had been at first.
His entire impression of immortal sects came from storybooks.
The other four, by contrast, remained calm.
"Everyone, this is the Luozhen Sect. As you can see, the Luozhen Sect has fallen on hard times.
I won't force anyone. If you're willing to join, you'll have to help build up the Luozhen Sect.
If you don't want to join, I understand. You may leave now.
But let me make this clear upfront: once you join the Luozhen Sect, if you try to defect, the Luozhen Sect will show no mercy," Li Yunjing said.
The boy's expression shifted again and again.
He was nowhere near as calm as the other four.
Li Yunjing gave the four plenty of time to consider.
Only after a quarter of an hour had passed did Li Yunjing speak again.
"Well? Have you decided?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the boy bowed to Li Yunjing.
"Immortal Master Li, I..."
The boy stopped halfway through and closed his mouth.
Li Yunjing looked at him.
Clearly, the boy did not want to join the Luozhen Sect.
But he could not find an excuse.
He was also afraid of offending Li Yunjing if he said it outright.
Li Yunjing smiled. "You don't want to join the Luozhen Sect?"
The boy was nervous, but he nodded lightly.
"All right, you may go. I won't force you," Li Yunjing said.
The boy was somewhat doubtful.
Would he really let me go?
Still doubtful, the boy cautiously walked toward the edge of Serene Valley.
He looked back three times with every step, but Li Yunjing showed no reaction.
The boy grew bolder,
then took three steps in two and ran straight out of the valley.
Once the boy had left, Li Yunjing looked at the other four.
"What about you? Are you willing to join the Luozhen Sect?" Li Yunjing asked.
The old man asked, "Immortal Master Li, I've heard that joining a sect requires an examination. What is the Luozhen Sect's examination?"
Li Yunjing shook his head. "There isn't one at present."
"Then can all of us join the Luozhen Sect directly? If our talent is lacking, will the Luozhen Sect still accept us?"
The old man was astonished.
Li Yunjing said, "That's right. The Luozhen Sect has no talent requirement."
Then Li Yunjing pointed at Zhang Hanpeng.
"This lad has the poorest talent, with a first-grade Root Bone. Didn't the Luozhen Sect accept him?
No matter how poor your talent is, it can only be as poor as his. The Luozhen Sect doesn't care."
"In that case, I'm willing to join the Luozhen Sect."
After hearing that, the old man agreed on the spot.
At that moment, Mo Xuan sent Li Yunjing a Divine Sense transmission.
"Senior brother, are we really going to accept him? Won't this make us a laughingstock?"
None of the surrounding sects had ever accepted a seventy-year-old man.
Not even those unorthodox sects had done such a thing.
If the Luozhen Sect really accepted this old man, the other sects would likely ridicule it.
Li Yunjing replied, "Junior brother, I know what I'm doing. Don't worry."
The Luozhen Sect was short of people at present, so Li Yunjing could only do this.
In the future, unless the circumstances were special, Li Yunjing naturally would not do the same.
Li Yunjing looked at the other three.
The middle-aged man with cultivation rubbed the back of his head.
"Do you provide meals?"
Li Yunjing was speechless, but he nodded.
The middle-aged man added, "I eat a lot. As long as you can feed me until I'm full, I'm willing to join the Luozhen Sect."
Li Yunjing frowned.
He's worried he won't get enough to eat?
Could this fellow have some special talent?
Li Yunjing set his doubts aside for the moment. "We'll make sure you have enough to eat."
With that, the middle-aged man was willing to join the Luozhen Sect.
That left the two children.
One was a boy and the other a girl, and they looked alike.
They were probably twins.
Li Yunjing asked, and sure enough, they were twins, an older sister and younger brother.
The two had no particular requests.
They stated outright that they were willing to join the Luozhen Sect.
That saved Li Yunjing a great deal of talking.
Since they were all willing to join the Luozhen Sect,
Li Yunjing led the four to the Patriarch Hall.
On the way, Li Yunjing asked about their backgrounds.
Of the twins, the older sister was named Hu Ruizhu, and the younger brother was Hu Ruiyang.
They came from the Annan Kingdom.
Li Yunjing was surprised to learn that the two came from the Annan Kingdom.
The Annan Kingdom was also in Flying Immortal Prefecture.
But it was a great distance from Serene Valley.
Serene Valley lay toward the east of southern Flying Immortal Prefecture.
The Annan Kingdom, on the other hand, lay toward the west of the prefecture's north.
To travel from Serene Valley to the Annan Kingdom, even a Qi Refining Completion cultivator racing at full speed, without regard for Law Power expenditure, would need a month.
If they had to stop and replenish their Law Power, it would take even longer.
Moreover, vast stretches of dangerous terrain lay between Serene Valley and the Annan Kingdom.
To cross those dangerous stretches, one's cultivation could not be too low.
If one did not cross them, one would have to take a detour, which would take even longer.
Thus, taking a teleportation array was the best option.
But these two were mortals. How had they used a teleportation array?
Li Yunjing was puzzled.
That was probably their secret.
Li Yunjing did not ask further.
The middle-aged man was named Lü Hong.
He had come from the north and had only recently arrived in Xunxian Town.
The old man was Ge Shuyuan, the head of a small mortal village near Xunxian Town.
He had devoted himself to seeking the Dao since he was young.
Unfortunately, trivial matters had always troubled him then,
and he had been reluctant to leave his loved ones, so he had never acted on that desire.
Now his wife had died, and his children and grandchildren had all left the small village and were living well.
With nothing left to hold him back, Ge Shuyuan's desire to seek the Dao had resurfaced.
And so he had left the small village.
Li Yunjing was astonished. Ge Shuyuan had lived near Xunxian Town, yet had never heard of the Luozhen Sect?
Ge Shuyuan was helpless too; he truly had never heard of it.
Upon arriving at the Patriarch Hall,
Li Yunjing told Mo Xuan and Shui Yao to offer incense to the patriarch.
As soon as they finished, both sensed, from some unseen source, that their bodies had been granted a peculiar power.
Their perception of Spiritual Qi became sharper.
The speed at which they absorbed it also increased.
They exchanged a glance, both deeply shocked.
Together, they looked at Li Yunjing.
Li Yunjing smiled. This was not the time to explain.
Stepping forward, Li Yunjing bowed to the patriarchs.
"Patriarch Luozhen above, today Hu Ruizhu, Hu Ruiyang, Lü Hong, and Ge Shuyuan sincerely join the Luozhen Sect to enter the Dao and cultivate.
May Patriarch Luozhen watch over them, that they may abide by the sect rules, cultivate diligently without cease, and bring glory to the sect."
After reciting those words, Li Yunjing looked at the four.
"Pay your respects to Patriarch Luozhen. From this day on, you are outer disciples of the Luozhen Sect."
The four did as instructed and bowed together to Patriarch Luozhen.
[Number of outer disciples increased to five. Prosperity +2.]
A notification box appeared before Li Yunjing's eyes.
Seeing it, Li Yunjing thought, As expected, increasing the number of people can raise the sect's prosperity.
Li Yunjing had now confirmed this.
If he continued recruiting disciples, the sect's prosperity would continue to rise.
After the four finished paying their respects,
Li Yunjing took out a treasure shaped like a ruler.
"This is the Root Bone Ruler. It can measure your Root Bones. Hu Ruizhu, you'll go first."
After a brief introduction, Li Yunjing looked at Hu Ruizhu.
A little nervous, Hu Ruizhu stepped forward.
Following Li Yunjing's instructions, she placed her hand on the Root Bone Ruler.
In an instant, dazzling spiritual light burst from the Root Bone Ruler.
Then a column of light appeared on it.
It began to climb slowly along the ruler.
Characters were marked along the edge of the ruler at intervals of about three inches.
They read first grade, second grade... all the way to ninth grade.
Wherever the column of light reached indicated the grade of the Root Bone.
Now, the column of light rose straight past first grade and climbed higher...