Sect Uniforms

At his question, Qin Jianghe abandoned his plans to enter the cultivation room. He pulled Lin Xiao aside and began pouring out his troubles:

"Brother Xiao, tell me, what's going on with this girl?

"When we met a few days ago to see if we were a match, everything was fine. But when she saw me today, her nose was out of joint and her face was twisted, like she didn't think much of me.

"Even her parents were the same. My family brought gifts over, and they accepted them, but they were very cold to me and my parents. Tell me, why would that be?"

Lin Xiao: You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask...?

But judging by Qin Jianghe's appearance, he clearly wasn't really asking him for an answer. He just wanted someone to talk to.

So Lin Xiao chimed in:

"Exactly! What's wrong with that family? You don't do things like that. The matchmaker's already been involved and the gifts have been exchanged, so the marriage is as good as settled. How can they treat their future in-laws like that?"

Qin Jianghe nodded.

"My mother was right after all. Arranging a marriage really isn't easy-"

Seeing that he looked ready to go on lamenting spring and mourning autumn, Lin Xiao decisively cut him off, grabbed his arm, and dragged him toward the cultivation room.

"Come on, let's cultivate. Forget about women! Today I'll explain the cultivation method to you..."

And so Qin Jianghe was dragged into the cultivation room and plunged into the joyful sea of cultivation.

That same day, Lin Xiao finally advanced to the Qi Refining Fifth Layer without a hitch.

Two more days passed.

There were two days left before the Shangyang Sect began recruiting disciples.

Lin Xiao's ten spirit silkworms had finally spun their cocoons.

Lin Xiao had specifically asked Old Master Lin to make him several cages to hold the spirit silkworms.

To avoid disturbing everyone's cultivation in the cultivation room, Lin Xiao had to go to the sect hall instead.

He was now sitting on the floor of the sect hall, preparing to put the cocoons directly into the Item Synthesizer.

After all, he didn't know how to reel silk.

Lin Xiao took a jin of cotton from his private storehouse, which he had previously bought from a cotton-growing family in the village.

That single jin of cotton had cost him twenty copper coins!

Taking a deep breath, Lin Xiao opened the Item Synthesizer and put in five Spirit Stones, ten spirit silkworm cocoons, and a jin of cotton.

Then he began entering his ideas for the sect uniform, one after another.

He wanted it white!

After all, white was what made someone look like an immortal cultivator!

As for the sect's emblem, he envisioned the two characters for Lingxian in a highly stylized design, placed on the cuffs and the inside of the collar.

[Materials input complete. Item synthesis beginning. Please wait.]

Before long, the synthesizer finished its work.

Lin Xiao received ten sets of sect uniforms that felt silky smooth to the touch.

He unfolded one.

Though the uniform was all white, hints of muted color seemed to flow across its surface.

The collar was dark green, and a faint layer of green bamboo leaves decorated the edges of the collar and sleeves. On closer inspection, their outlines formed the two characters for Lingxian.

The belt was white, with a hidden pattern in dark green.

At a glance, it was exceptionally elegant.

Lin Xiao was very satisfied and immediately put one on to try it.

He had initially thought it might be a little too big.

To his surprise, the clothes automatically changed size to fit the wearer's figure!

Lin Xiao was immensely pleased.

At lunch, he handed out the sect uniforms to everyone.

Unexpectedly, after happily trying them on, everyone put them away in their Storage Bags as if by prior agreement.

Lin Xiao asked:

"Aren't you going to wear them?"

Jiang Youfu was the first to answer:

"Hehe, Brother Xiao, these clothes are too nice. I'm saving them for an important occasion."

The others nodded one after another, looking as though they completely agreed with him.

Sun Yigao was no exception.

The clothes' incomparably silky feel alone made them much finer than what the rich families' children he had seen at the private school used to wear.

Although his family were minor landowners, he had never worn such luxurious clothes either.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, another two days had passed.

It wasn't market day, but some people with time on their hands remembered hearing at the market ten days ago that some immortal sect was recruiting disciples, and planned to go to town to see the excitement.

Lin Xiao, who also had time on his hands, naturally planned to see what was going on and quietly get a glimpse of this world's true immortal cultivation world.

Of course, he wasn't the only one with time on his hands.

Everyone in the Lingxian Sect was actually quite free.

Lin Xiao naturally couldn't let his sect disciples miss this chance to see other cultivators.

And so, with a grand wave of his hand, Lin Xiao declared that everyone in the sect except Xiaoluan would go and see the excitement!

Xiaoluan had no objection.

Xiaoluan didn't want to go to town at all. There were no mountains, no plants, and no Spiritual Qi there, only people.

The sect was much better: peaceful and comfortable, with abundant Spiritual Qi for cultivation.

Xiaoluan didn't quite understand why the sect master and the others looked so happy.

But who cared about them? Once they were gone, the entire cultivation room would belong to one chicken alone!

And so, as an overjoyed Xiaoluan watched them leave, the group charged down the mountain in a mighty procession.

They were all spirited young men, and all of them had already entered the Qi Refining Stage.

So even when Landlord Sun offered them an ox cart, everyone turned him down.

"Let's run there! The last one there is a puppy and has to bark three times! Brother Xiao can be the judge!"

They had just reached the village entrance when someone called that out. In a flash, everyone bolted like wild horses freed from their reins!

Lin Xiao kept pace beside the group, acting as their judge in all seriousness.

"Hey, hey, hey, Jianghe, you can't grab at people. That's against the rules."

"Oh, Fuzi, not bad! You're actually not in last place!"

"Tietou, what's the matter with you? Look, even Fuzi's running faster than you, and he's so fat."

Half a shichen later, a group of youths stood outside the gates of the overcrowded town, panting heavily.

And Jiang Youfu, still gasping for breath, went "woof, woof," barking like a dog three times.

Although Jiang Youfu had stayed ahead of Tietou at first thanks to his cultivation, the Qi Refining First Layer clearly wasn't enough to let him disregard his physical fitness.

So before long, Jiang Youfu inevitably slowed down.

Tietou, who was in excellent physical condition, went whooshing past Jiang Youfu, overtaking Liu Yunan, whose physique wasn't very good, along the way.

Perhaps because of cultivation, Liu Yunan's injuries, which should have taken a hundred days to heal, had now almost completely recovered.

In his daily life, he no longer felt any discomfort when fetching water or doing other chores.

Once they had caught their breath, the seven youths strode into Emerald Peak Town, chests out and heads high.

They came to the marketplace and saw that, though it was usually empty on days like this, today it was packed with people.

Many elders had several youngsters no older than twelve at their sides, all craning their necks toward the very center of the marketplace.

Lin Xiao and his companions had come to watch the excitement, so naturally they needed a spot with a good view.

The group put their crowd-weaving skills to use, squeezing forward through every gap they could find.

Lin Xiao pulled the novice Sun Yigao along, and he joined everyone in squeezing through the gaps between people.