The Official Start

At another table nearby, a woman wearing a veil glanced at the bustling scene outside and lowered her veil even further.

She took a sip of her tea and muttered softly to herself:

"Hmph, I'm coming, you just wait..."

Today, Xiushui Village is destined to be a day that many people will never forget.

As the morning sun began to shine brightly, Liu Yunan, Sun Yigao, Qin Jianghe, and others appeared in front of the Heart-Questioning Road and announced to everyone that the Lingxian Sect Sect's recruitment of new members had officially begun!

The people gathered at the foot of North Mountain were all eager to try their luck. If they could successfully pass through the beautiful and legendary Peach Blossom Mountain Path behind them, they could truly join the Lingxian Sect, become disciples of the immortals, and embark on a path they had never known before!

"Because there are so many people today, please don't push or shove. Rest assured, we guarantee that everyone will be able to smoothly enter the Heart-Questioning Road for the assessment. Alright, without further ado, the Lingxian Sect disciple entrance assessment will now begin!"

"We will await your arrival at the end of the path of Heart-Questioning Road."

Liu Yunan's voice echoed throughout every corner of Xiushui Village.

Upon hearing this, the previously somewhat crowded crowd instantly calmed down.

As Liu Yunan companions left, the seal on the Heart-Questioning Road was officially broken, and those aspiring to join the Lingxian Sect entered in an orderly fashion.

Liu Yunan and the others returned to the sect and finally breathed a sigh of relief. They sat loosely under the Ten-Li Peach Blossom Tree.

"Well, we've finally made it this far!" Liu Yunan tilted his head back and looked up at the clear sky, letting out a long sigh of relief.

Qin Jianghe smiled and patted him on the shoulder:

"Our Hall Master Liu has been working himself to the bone these past few days, thank you for your hard work."

Sun Yigao nodded in agreement with a smile:

"You've certainly worked hard. Heart-Questioning Road."

"Yes, leave these next few days to us. You can go and rest," Qin Jianghe said.

"Hey~ I've been waiting for you to say that!" With that, Liu Yunan jumped up from the ground.

"I'm leaving this place to you! I'm off!"

Go ahead, go ahead.

However, Liu Yunan hadn't gone far when the identity token at his waist lit up.

He slowed down, picked up his identification token, and saw that there was a situation in the control room.

"Strange, isn't it only Brother Xiao and I who have access to the control room? Could it be that Brother Xiao has come out of seclusion?" He muttered to himself, without stopping, and immediately turned his feet from the General Affairs Hall toward Yaoguang Floating Island.

Before going into seclusion, Lin Xiao, in order to prevent any problems from arising that could not be resolved in time if he had not yet emerged from seclusion when recruiting disciples, transferred a portion of the main control permissions in the system to the newly built main control room on Yaoguang Floating Island, and granted Liu Yunan separate operating permissions, allowing him, as the main person in charge of recruiting new disciples, to act expediently.

Upon arriving outside the main control room, the door appeared to be tightly shut, suggesting that no one was inside.

Liu Yunan was puzzled, so he used his identity token to open the door and went inside.

As soon as he stepped inside, lines of text appeared on the white jade control panel.

[It has been detected that three-quarters of the capacity of the Heart-Questioning Road is currently occupied, and the remaining capacity is still decreasing. The Heart-Questioning Road is about to reach its capacity limit. Do you need to upgrade the Heart-Questioning Road? Friendly reminder: Each upgrade of the Heart-Questioning Road will increase its capacity by 1000, and the upgrade will not affect the entry and exit of the Heart-Questioning Road.]

Below are two more options: [Yes] and [No].

Because the system detected that Lin Xiao, the host, was in seclusion, it directly sent the upgrade notification to the main control room he had set up.

Seeing the display on the control panel, Liu Yunan thought of the densely packed crowd in Xiushui Village at the foot of the mountain today, and also remembered what Brother Xiao had told him to make all the decisions, to operate boldly, and not to be timid. Without hesitation, he selected "Yes".

[This upgrade will consume one thousand ordinary Spirit Stone from our sect's Spirit Stone mine. Confirm the upgrade?]

Looking at the number of Spirit Stone consumed, Liu Yunan breathed a sigh of relief.

A thousand Spirit Stone is alright; even if there are any problems, my salary will cover it.

So he clicked "Yes".

In the blink of an eye, the text displayed on the control panel changed to:

[The upgrade to the Heart-Questioning Road is complete.]

Then the control panel went silent.

Seeing this, he decided to return to the General Affairs Hall to handle some remaining matters.

However, as soon as Liu Yunan left the control room and stepped into the General Affairs Hall, his identity token lit up again.

It's still the main control room.

So he had no choice but to turn back.

Then he saw the same text he had seen not long ago on the main control panel inside the room.

[It has been detected that three-quarters of the capacity of the Heart-Questioning Road is currently occupied, and the remaining capacity is still decreasing. The Heart-Questioning Road is about to reach its capacity limit. Do you need to upgrade the Heart-Questioning Road?]

A capacity of 1,000 people is being used up way too quickly...

So many people want to join their sect; it makes me feel a little proud.

Liu Yunan naturally chose "yes".

[This upgrade will consume 1,500 ordinary Spirit Stone from our sect's Spirit Stone mine. Confirm the upgrade?]

He noticed that this time the required Spirit Stone were no longer one thousand, but one thousand five hundred.

But after thinking about it, an extra 500 was still acceptable, and I had enough savings, so I chose to continue upgrading.

[The upgrade to the Heart-Questioning Road is complete.]

This time, however, Liu Yunan didn't leave; instead, he waited right beside him.

Sure enough, not long after, the upgrade notification popped up again.

So he clicked "Yes".

And unsurprisingly, the number of Spirit Stone required for this upgrade has increased by 500, now totaling 2,000.

When his hand touched the [yes] sign, he was thinking: It's okay, Jianghe's savings should be enough, after all, their Spirit Stone are not used for anything other than cultivation.

And so, he clicked "yes" countless times, and mentally planned out all the salaries and savings of his brothers, including Lin Xiao, Jiang Youfu, and Sun Yigao, for the "what if we need to cover the shortfall" scenario. Finally, the control panel stopped displaying any new notifications for a very long time.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It's finally over. If it hadn't ended soon, the brothers' savings over the years wouldn't have been enough.

Because each upgrade requires an additional 500 Spirit Stone Spirit Stone compared to the previous upgrade, even though they have worked hard and earned a lot over the past few years, they can't keep up with this snowballing effect.

Fortunately, the disciple recruitment is only for today, and the number of people who can make it today is limited.

Reassured, Liu Yunan left the control room and returned to the General Affairs Hall to finish his remaining work.