Recruitment: Becoming a Branch?

Li Yunjing smiled faintly and released a little of his presence.

"Gasp! You actually broke through to Foundation Establishment behind my back!"

Sensing the Foundation Establishment presence coming from Li Yunjing,

Jiang Chuan sucked in a sharp breath.

He remembered that he and Li Yunjing had both been at Late Qi Refining.

He had even reached Late Qi Refining before Li Yunjing.

Yet he was still at Late Qi Refining,

while Li Yunjing had already reached Foundation Establishment.

Jiang Chuan looked at Li Yunjing resentfully.

"You rascal, you didn't say a word. You came here to show off this time, didn't you?"

Li Yunjing laughed. "Half right. Besides showing off, I have something to ask you."

Li Yunjing took out the Yin-Yang Primordial Magnet Stone.

"Take a look at this and see if there's anything wrong with it."

The Yin-Yang Primordial Magnet Stone was one of the gifts the Li Household had sent as an apology.

Because of what had happened at Seven Ingenuities Mountain,

Li Yunjing was worried that there might be something wrong with the stone.

So he had come to ask Jiang Chuan to examine it.

As an artifact refiner, Jiang Chuan was sure to know more about the various artifact-refining materials than Li Yunjing.

"Oh, a second-grade Yin-Yang Primordial Magnet Stone. Where did you get it?"

Jiang Chuan picked up the stone and ran his hand over it as he asked.

"Never mind where I got it," Li Yunjing said.

After examining it carefully, Jiang Chuan shook his head at Li Yunjing.

"There's nothing wrong with it. It's an ordinary Yin-Yang Primordial Magnet Stone."

Hearing that, Li Yunjing breathed a small sigh of relief.

"In that case, help me forge it into a second-grade magic sword."

"Wow, look who's rolling in Spirit Stones!"

Jiang Chuan was surprised to hear that.

Before this, Li Yunjing had never used a Law Artifact.

He had been too poor to afford one.

And he had refused to accept Jiang Chuan's kindness.

Even when Jiang Chuan offered him a Law Artifact, Li Yunjing had refused it.

Now, here he was, ordering a custom-made Law Artifact.

That wouldn't come cheap.

"Spirit Stones aren't a problem. I need a good second-grade magic sword," Li Yunjing said.

"Any other requirements?" Jiang Chuan asked.

Li Yunjing thought carefully. "Add some fire-attribute materials, so it matches the Cultivation Method I practice.

As for the rest, use your judgment. You know me, after all."

Jiang Chuan burst out laughing.

"You rascal."

Putting away the Yin-Yang Primordial Magnet Stone, Jiang Chuan said,

"Wait a month. Come back then to collect your magic sword.

As for the Spirit Stones, I'll give you a friendly price. Let's call it three hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

Li Yunjing nodded, took out three Spirit Stone notes worth a hundred each, and handed them to Jiang Chuan.

Then Li Yunjing said to Jiang Chuan, "Thank you."

Three hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones was a very low price.

To commission a good second-grade Spirit Artifact,

one would have to pay at least five hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, if not more.

Even an ordinary first-grade Law Artifact cost dozens, if not a hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

"Speaking of which, now that you've reached Foundation Establishment, aren't you going to hold a Foundation Establishment banquet?" Jiang Chuan asked curiously.

"I was just about to tell you about that," Li Yunjing said with a smile.

"On the ninth of December, the day after tomorrow, the Luozhen Sect plans to hold a Foundation Establishment banquet to celebrate my breakthrough, as well as my junior brother and junior sister's."

"Wait, your junior brother and junior sister reached Foundation Establishment too?"

Jiang Chuan's eyes widened. He wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him.

Li Yunjing smiled and nodded.

Jiang Chuan sprang to his feet.

"Good brother, dear brother, how did you all reach Foundation Establishment? Do you have any cultivation secrets you can teach me?"

Jiang Chuan came over to Li Yunjing, seized his hand, and gazed at him "tenderly."

Jiang Chuan's cultivation had been stagnant for a long time.

Let alone Foundation Establishment, he didn't even know when he would reach Qi Refining Completion.

It wasn't that Jiang Chuan lacked talent.

Jiang Chuan had a fourth-grade Root Bone.

In a place like Xunxian Town, that was no meager talent.

Yet Jiang Chuan had been unable to reach Qi Refining Completion.

According to Jiang Chuan's master, he had encountered a bottleneck.

Jiang Chuan also knew Mo Xuan and Shui Yao.

Their Root Bones were inferior to Jiang Chuan's,

yet they had reached Foundation Establishment before him.

Jiang Chuan was eager to know what cultivation methods they used.

Unlike him, they hadn't encountered a bottleneck.

Li Yunjing smiled helplessly.

There were no cultivation secrets.

If anything deserved the credit, aside from the spirit pills, it was the buildings in the Luozhen Sect.

If Jiang Chuan wanted to reach Foundation Establishment sooner, joining the Luozhen Sect was the best way.

"Why don't you join the Luozhen Sect?" Li Yunjing said.

The Luozhen Sect happened to need an artifact refiner, and Jiang Chuan was just the man for the job.

Hearing this, Jiang Chuan laughed and scolded him.

"You rascal, are you making fun of me on purpose? I'm already the successor of the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion. Why would I join the Luozhen Sect?"

"Don't you want to reach Foundation Establishment sooner? Join the Luozhen Sect, and I guarantee you'll reach it soon," Li Yunjing said with a smile.

Jiang Chuan looked suspicious.

But Li Yunjing didn't look as though he were lying.

"What's going on with the Luozhen Sect?" Jiang Chuan couldn't contain his curiosity.

Li Yunjing shook his head. "I can't tell you. You'll have to come to the Luozhen Sect and experience it for yourself."

Jiang Chuan's face fell. "Good brother, you're putting me in a difficult position. As the successor of the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion, I can't just betray it."

Li Yunjing, however, said with a grin, "Simple. Why not bring the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion into the Luozhen Sect with you?

From then on, the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion could become a branch of the Luozhen Sect, responsible for refining..."

Before he could finish, Jiang Chuan clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Do you have a death wish? How dare you say that here? If my master hears you, you'll be in for it."

Li Yunjing pulled Jiang Chuan's hand away.

"What's there to be afraid of? I'd say the same thing with your master here."

"You..." Jiang Chuan grew anxious.

Just then, a voice suddenly sounded outside the room.

"Oh? Is that so?"

The next moment, the door was pushed open.

A man wearing nothing but shorts, his upper body bare, walked into the room.

Li Yunjing immediately stood up and saluted him. "Senior."

Jiang Chuan hurriedly saluted as well. "Master."

Gu Lin ignored Jiang Chuan and stared straight at Li Yunjing.

"You've got some nerve. Now that I'm here, do you still dare say it?"

Li Yunjing raised his head, his expression calm. "I do, Senior. I want the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion to become a branch of the Luozhen Sect."

Jiang Chuan was extremely anxious.

Li Yunjing really wasn't afraid of death.

The Hundred Artifacts Pavilion was his master's life's work. How could he possibly hand it over to someone else?

Especially to a tiny, insignificant sect like the Luozhen Sect.

If the Luozhen Sect were a third-grade sect like the Clear Wind Sect,

that would be another matter.

Gu Lin looked at Li Yunjing and suddenly laughed.

"If the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion became a branch of the Luozhen Sect, what benefits could the Luozhen Sect offer it?"

Li Yunjing was taken aback.

There were some benefits he couldn't speak of.

For example, the effects of the artifact-refining room.

Even if he told him, Gu Lin probably wouldn't believe him.

As for other benefits,

such as Spirit Stones and spirit iron,

Li Yunjing could only make empty promises for the time being.

Nevertheless, Li Yunjing said confidently,

"There will be many benefits, but if I told you about them now, Senior, I'm afraid you wouldn't believe me.

I didn't come here for that today, but to invite you, Senior, to the Foundation Establishment banquet the Luozhen Sect is holding the day after tomorrow.

But I won't give up on what I just proposed. Time will show you, Senior, that joining the Luozhen Sect will do the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion no harm."

Gu Lin looked at Li Yunjing with a smile.

"I look forward to it."

With that, Gu Lin turned and left.

Jiang Chuan breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yunjing, you really are..."

Jiang Chuan pointed at Li Yunjing, wanting to scold him but not knowing what to say.

Li Yunjing patted Jiang Chuan on the shoulder. "I told you not to worry."

"Do a good job forging my magic sword. I have other things to do, so I'm off."

Li Yunjing strode toward the door.

Jiang Chuan hurried after him.

He then saw Li Yunjing out of the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion.

After leaving the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion, Li Yunjing looked back at its sign.

"One step at a time. Sooner or later, the words 'Luozhen Sect' will be added to it."

Making the Hundred Artifacts Pavilion a branch of the Luozhen Sect had been a spur-of-the-moment idea.

It was both to lend his good friend a hand

and to strengthen the Luozhen Sect.