Sect Main Hall

By the time they returned to Xiushui Village, it was already around three or four in the afternoon.

As Lin Xiao walked through the village, he suddenly felt two furtive gazes on him.

He looked in their direction and saw Boss Liu's wife, Eldest Aunt Liu, and Third Aunt Liu working in a field, stealing glances at him with shifty eyes.

A few villagers on a nearby ridge between the fields were also whispering about them.

With Lin Xiao's hearing these days, he could easily hear every word.

"Tsk, tsk, the Liu Household has finally gotten its comeuppance."

"Hasn't it? Boss Liu's wife and Third Liu's wife used to rely on their men's bullying ways and look down their noses at everyone in the village all day long. But now, hmph."

"Now that Boss Liu's crippled, Third Liu's got no balls. He only threw his weight around because he had his brother Boss Liu behind him. Before, Boss Liu made him at least pretend to work in the fields, but now that Boss Liu's crippled, only the women of the Liu Household come out to work."

"If you ask me, Third Liu's wife wasn't like this when she first married into the family a few years ago. My daughter used to get along quite well with her. Who'd have thought the Liu Household's crooked ways would rub off on her over these past few years? Sigh."

"If you ask me, the root of it lies with Old Master Liu and Old Madam Liu. As the saying goes, when the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams will be askew..."

A little while later, Lin Xiao and the others had passed the field.

Lin Xiao paid the Liu Household no more attention.

Now that Boss Liu was crippled, he trusted that Liu Yunan could handle the rest of the family. The Liu Household couldn't stir up much trouble.

What concerned him more now was where Qin Jianghe had gone. They had agreed to meet at the market yesterday.

He hoped nothing had happened...

When they reached the fork in the village road that led to North Mountain, Lin Xiao said to Lin Dayou and the others,

"Dad, Uncle, Auntie, I'll head up the mountain and take a look first."

Lin Dayou waved a big hand.

"Go on, go on. Remember to eat at your grandpa's tonight, so come down early. Oh, right, give me that money pouch. Your uncle, auntie, and I have to take the money back and settle accounts!"

Lin Xiao took the pouch full of copper coins out of his bag and handed it to his father.

"Dad, some of the money in here is my sect's funds. Don't go pocketing it."

"Hey!" Lin Dayou took the pouch, and his palm started itching the moment he heard that. "You think your dad would covet that little bit of money? Get going, get going! Just looking at you annoys me."

Seeing his father's big hand itching for action, Lin Xiao promptly greased the soles of his feet and slipped away.

When he reached the mountain, everyone was diligently cultivating, just as he had expected.

But Qin Jianghe was nowhere to be seen.

Lin Xiao didn't disturb everyone, nor did he hurry down the mountain to look for Qin Jianghe.

After all, if something had happened to the Qin Household, the villagers' love of watching a commotion and spreading gossip meant that word would surely have traveled all over Xiushui Village by now.

Besides, he had checked Qin Jianghe's character panel and found nothing amiss.

So there probably wasn't much to worry about.

Lin Xiao decided to build the sect main hall first!

His stock of Spirit Stones had run dry again, and he had to replenish it at once, or his idle cultivation would be interrupted!

A huge pile of mud lay on the mountain not far from the grass shelter.

Clearly, Tietou had led the others who had stayed behind at the sect to dig it up that day.

The mud Lin Xiao had stored in his private inventory from before, together with what had been dug up today, was more than enough to synthesize the sect main hall.

As for timber.

Lin Xiao decisively took out the axe he had brought from home and stored in his private inventory.

In a flash, he charged into the dense woods on the back of the mountain.

Now that he was at the Fourth Layer of Qi Refinement, his physique had undergone a qualitative leap compared to before, and even more so compared to an ordinary person!

He raised his axe and chopped trees as if he were chopping sugarcane. A few quick chops, and down came a tree!

He had calculated that he needed about fifteen logs, and before long, he had cut enough.

Since he would need more to build cultivation rooms later anyway, as well as any other buildings he might need afterward, Lin Xiao cut down many more.

But he didn't strip one small patch of trees bare. He spaced out his cuts, since a completely bald patch on the sect's back mountain wouldn't look good.

That was right. Since hardly anyone ever came to this area halfway up North Mountain, and the villagers rarely climbed this high, Lin Xiao already regarded it as the sect's private territory.

After all, their village was in a remote location.

And in this era, imperial authority didn't reach the villages.

Basically, aside from the farmland registered on the books, the imperial court really had little control over the stretches of desolate mountain forest near these remote villages.

Generally, when a village household built a house, as long as it wasn't on good farmland, they could build it as big as they could afford. So long as it didn't block the road or someone else's courtyard gate, no one would stop them.

So Lin Xiao wasn't worried at all that anyone would accuse him of building illegally.

Once he had cut enough trees, Lin Xiao returned to the front of the mountain.

He sat down in front of the Ten-Li Peach Blossom Tree and opened the [Building Synthesizer].

Then he put most of the mud in his private inventory, about sixty-five cubic meters, into the [Brick Material] slot, and placed sixteen logs in the [Beam Material] slot.

He added a little extra of each material.

Then he put in the pigments he had bought in town earlier.

He didn't know what effect they would have, but surely it couldn't be worse than an utterly plain mud-brick house, could it?

Lin Xiao hesitated for a moment, then tapped the plus sign at the end and added another slot.

Then he took his very last Spirit Stone out of his private inventory.

Gritting his teeth, he tossed the Spirit Stone in.

Then he promptly squeezed his eyes shut and tapped to confirm synthesis.

[Beginning building synthesis-sect main hall. Please wait.]

Lin Xiao rubbed his hands together like a fly, feeling a little excited.

The days when their immortal cultivation sect had nothing but a grass shelter were finally coming to an end!

Once the sect main hall was built, and the cultivation rooms after that, no one would need to squeeze into the tiny grass shelter to cultivate anymore!

Still, he didn't intend to tear the grass shelter down.

His father had worked hard to build it for him.

It was also where their Lingxian Sect had first begun!

Someday it would all be written into the sect's history and would be required knowledge for anyone seeking to join!

Lin Xiao couldn't help imagining the future: a flourishing immortal sect with disciples beyond counting, all riding clouds and flying on swords.

[Ding-sect main hall successfully synthesized. Please select a location for placement.]

Then Lin Xiao saw a massive structure appear in the air before him.

It was a building about six meters tall, with a footprint of roughly sixty square meters.

Lin Xiao couldn't help marveling. It certainly lived up to its origins in the synthesizer!

Although the building was made of mud bricks, the seams between them were almost invisible across the entire wall!

And whether it was because of the pigments Lin Xiao had put in, or how the synthesizer had mixed them, a faint, almost imperceptible layer of dark red had been painted over the walls!

The roof was covered in simple, old-fashioned clay tiles, and it even had upturned eaves!

Shimmering colors drifted continually from the tips of the upturned eaves, faintly visible as they fell and dispersed in the air.