Spirit Field

Night fell.

A small oil lamp burned in the Lin Household's little courtyard.

Lin Dayou sat on a low stool, wiping each of the farming tools he had used that day with a lightly oiled rag to keep them from rusting.

Lin Yun was weaving a bamboo basket by the dim lamplight.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao was using the Dust Removal Technique on a pile of clothes, socks, and shoes.

After cleaning the clothes, socks, and shoes, Lin Xiao looked at the busy father and son, stroked his chin, and suddenly asked:

"Dad, big brother, do you want to cultivate with me?"

Lin Dayou glanced up at him, then lowered his head and continued his work.

"Hmph, I don't have the patience to play this pretend immortal cultivation game with you. If your brother wants to play with you, go cultivate together. Leave me out of it."

Lin Yun looked at his father, then at Lin Xiao. After a pause, he said:

"I... I'll go up the mountain and take a look when I have time after finishing my work each day."

Lin Dayou said:

"All right, Dalang. From now on, go up the mountain with your brother every morning, then go learn carpentry from your grandpa in the afternoon."

Lin Yun immediately said:

"Dad, that won't do. You'd be all alone in the fields..."

Lin Dayou cut him off at once and settled the matter:

"That's enough! It's settled! You're just a kid; the work in the fields isn't yours to worry about. Once you two get good at cultivation, you can help me then just as well."

Lin Yun lowered his head, feeling somewhat ashamed.

But he could not resist the temptation of immortal cultivation.

Watching Erlang cast spells with a wave of his hand filled him with envy and longing.

He could only resolve that once he had made some progress in cultivation, he would be sure to lighten his father's burden!

Just then, Lin Xiao said to Lin Dayou:

"Dad, you have to cultivate with us too! Immortal cultivation can extend your life, and you might even live forever without growing old! You can't expect big brother and me to just focus on extending our own lives and watch you grow old like this, can you? Think how much that would hurt us!"

Lin Dayou looked at him with great disdain and said:

"Go on, get out of here. I don't want to live forever without growing old. Wouldn't that make me an old monster? Besides, if I lived forever, wouldn't your mother be stuck waiting down there for me to join her?"

Lin Xiao immediately retorted:

"Dad, I hate to say it, but who says Mom is still waiting for you down there? In your dreams! Mom was such a good person, the King of Hell must have arranged for her to reincarnate ages ago!"

At that, blue veins throbbed at Lin Dayou's temples.

"Hey! You little rascal! Go a day without a whipping and your hide starts itching, does it?"

And so.

Early the next morning.

Lin Xiao limped out of the house alongside Lin Yun.

Jiang Youfu was long accustomed to seeing him like this.

Growing up, Brother Xiao had taken plenty of beatings from Uncle Lin, and Jiang Youfu was used to seeing it.

The three of them went up to the mountainside together.

Lin Yun saw that a small plot of land had appeared on the mountainside, where there had originally been only a grass shelter and a peach tree.

He asked:

"What's this plot for?"

He walked over, squatted down, and pinched the dark soil between his fingers.

It was top-quality soil, too.

Jiang Youfu had only just noticed the plot himself. The light had been dim the previous evening, and he had been hungry and thinking only of hurrying home to eat, so he had paid no attention to anything else.

He let out a "Wow!" and walked over to circle the plot.

"Brother Xiao, you're amazing! You actually managed to put together a plot like this in just one afternoon!"

Lin Xiao lay down on the grass mat beneath the peach tree and called to the two of them nearby:

"Water it when you have time in a bit! I planted spirit herbs in there-"

There were no buckets on the mountain, so Lin Yun and Jiang Youfu took the bamboo tubes they used to carry water to the little mountain spring and brought back water for the plot.

Fortunately, the plot was not very big, and they finished watering it in no time.

Lin Xiao walked over to Lin Yun.

"Brother, come on, let's go through the formalities."

Lin Yun did not yet know what he meant when Lin Xiao spoke:

"Lin Yun, are you willing to join my Lingxian Sect, become a member of the sect, and devote yourself to cultivation?"

Hearing his younger brother ask him this, Lin Yun smiled from the heart and said:

"I am."

[Ding-Congratulations, host. You have successfully recruited a sect member. Member details can be viewed in the member panel.]

Lin Xiao checked it without hesitation.

[Name: Lin Yun]

[Sex: male]

[Bone age: 15]

[Aptitude: outstanding]

[Cultivation: mortal]

[Sect status: outer disciple (changeable)]

[Sect position: none (changeable)]

After speaking with his own elder brother, Lin Xiao changed Lin Yun's sect status and sect position to personal disciple and sect elder respectively.

So the Lingxian Sect now had three people in all.

One sect master and two elders.

Perfect.

Just then, a system notification sounded in Lin Xiao's mind.

[Ding-The three-day beginner period has ended. To urge the host to accelerate the construction of the sect, the system will increase the number of sect construction missions issued. Please check them and complete them as soon as possible.]

Immediately afterward, notifications sounded one after another in Lin Xiao's mind.

[Sect construction-Recruit members (2): Basic infrastructure alone is far from enough for an outstanding sect. Most importantly, a sect must, of course, have many outstanding members! Please recruit ten members for the sect as soon as possible. Current progress: 3/10]

[Sect construction-Sect hall: An outstanding sect cannot do without a sect hall that gives its members and disciples a sense of belonging and a place to discuss matters. Please upgrade the sect grounds as soon as possible. After a successful upgrade, the sect grounds will become a sect hall.]

[Sect construction-Sect facilities (1): An outstanding sect naturally needs various facilities with clearly defined functions. The most basic of these is a place to cultivate. Please build a cultivation room as soon as possible for the members to use.]

Good grief, three missions in a row.

Lin Xiao immediately felt a mountain of pressure bearing down on him.

One recruitment mission and two building missions.

Lin Xiao was a little worried.

Leaving recruitment aside for the moment.

Just putting up buildings cost money.

And his pockets were cleaner than his face: he did not have a single copper coin.

Lin Xiao first entered the grass shelter with Jiang Youfu and Lin Yun.

Using paper mulberry bark and a portion of pine-soot ink, he made Lin Yun a copy of the simplified version of the Peach Blossom Spring Myriad Void Instruction.

Come to think of it, the synthesizer was quite convenient. It had a copying function, and all it needed was the original cultivation manual, paper material, and ink; no other materials were required.

Lin Xiao patiently taught Lin Yun the Drawing Qi into the Body section bit by bit, then left the grass shelter and huddled beneath the Ten-Li Peach Blossom Tree to worry.

He was considering the possibility of building the houses himself.

Now that his cultivation had reached the Third Layer of Qi Refining, he could clearly feel that his physique had grown much stronger.

Cutting down trees should not be a problem.

Making rammed-earth bricks should not be a problem either.

The problem was, he did not know how to build houses.

But that would take far too much time.

If he had to do every task like this himself, bit by bit, then he should not be called the sect master. He should be called the Lingxian Sect's hired hand.