The First Sect Member

The eldest nephew he spoke of was Jiang Youfu's eldest brother's son.

Jiang Youfu was the same age as Lin Xiao, twelve this year. He was the third child in his family, with two older brothers.

His eldest brother, Jiang Youliang, was already twenty-two this year, and his son, Jiang Chengtian, was five.

Every time Jiang Chengtian called him Uncle, Lin Xiao found it amazing.

He was only twelve, yet he was already an uncle.

As Jiang Youfu swept, he winked at Lin Xiao beside him, then leaned closer and asked in a low voice:

"Brother Xiao, how is it? How is it?"

After a pause, he lowered his voice even further.

"Can we really cultivate and become immortals, just like you said?"

Lin Xiao smiled smugly.

"The great path of immortal cultivation has opened. It's waiting for you at our sect's base halfway up the mountain."

At that, Jiang Youfu's face lit up with excitement, and he swept so fast his broom might as well have left afterimages.

"Brother Xiao, do you think there really are immortals in this world? Can we ascend and become immortals too, like the old immortal who gave you that fortuitous opportunity?"

Lin Xiao freed a hand and flicked him on the forehead.

"Would I lie to you?"

Jiang Youfu rubbed his reddened forehead, but he wasn't upset. He just chuckled foolishly.

He kept thinking back to a few days ago, when Brother Xiao had come running over early the morning after his birthday and told him he had dreamed of an old immortal and received a great fortuitous opportunity, quite possibly the path to immortality.

Brother Xiao had always kept his word, so he surely wouldn't lie to him.

Jiang Youfu was already imagining how, once he became an immortal, he could clean the entire rabbit hutch with a casual wave of his hand and never have to struggle with sweeping it every day again.

After cleaning the rabbit hutch and saying goodbye to Grandma Jiang, the two raced excitedly toward the halfway point of North Mountain.

When he saw the Ten-Li Peach Blossom Tree at the entrance to the mountain path, Jiang Youfu was astonished.

There had never been a peach tree on North Mountain!

Much less one so thick and beautiful.

He couldn't quite say what made it beautiful, but this peach tree looked different from every other tree around the village.

Every branch, every leaf, and every flower on the peach tree seemed to Jiang Youfu as though it had been carefully arranged by the heavens. It was so beautiful he felt he could never get his fill of looking at it.

When Lin Xiao told him the peach tree had been given to him through the immortal's fortuitous opportunity, Jiang Youfu was even more convinced he had a good eye: he had seen at a glance that the immortal tree was different.

Walking onward, Jiang Youfu saw a large stone stele standing beside a brand-new thatched shelter.

Three characters were carved on it, but he didn't recognize them.

Jiang Youfu scratched his head awkwardly.

"Brother Xiao, what does it say on this stone?"

Lin Xiao's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Oh no, he had forgotten that Fuzi couldn't read.

In fact, aside from Landlord Sun's youngest son, everyone in the village was blind with their eyes open.

Lin Xiao, a soul living his second life, didn't count, of course.

The writing here was much like the traditional characters of ancient China, so he had no trouble with basic reading.

Lin Xiao sighed inwardly at his miscalculation as he answered:

"Ahem, these three characters read 'Lingxian Sect.' Lingxian Sect is the name of our sect! Once you learn to read, you'll know what they mean."

Jiang Youfu felt a little apprehensive and a little excited. "Brother Xiao, you can read! Did the old immortal teach you?"

Lin Xiao had no choice but to nod.

He was wondering what to do about recruiting sect members in the future.

Forget Xiushui Village; there were hardly any literate people in all the surrounding villages.

Was he going to have to shoulder the great task of teaching the sect members to read on top of managing the sect's daily affairs...?

No, no. He had to find a way to lure a literate person over to serve as a teacher.

"Come on, let's go inside first."

With that, Lin Xiao lifted the curtain of the thatched shelter and led Jiang Youfu toward the entrance.

But just as Jiang Youfu was about to step inside, he seemed to run into something and was knocked back several steps.

"Ah! Brother Xiao, I ran into something!"

At the same time, the system appeared in Lin Xiao's mind at just the right moment.

[Ding-sect defense function successfully activated. Anyone who is not a member or disciple of this sect may not enter the sect base without permission. The host may change entry permissions for non-members at will.]

[Initial sect defense range: within a radius of ten meters centered on the sect base. The sect defense range can expand as the sect base's level increases.]

[Sect base level: 1]

Lin Xiao immediately turned to Jiang Youfu.

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

"Huh?" Jiang Youfu didn't understand.

Lin Xiao didn't waste words and asked directly:

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

Jiang Youfu felt as though something had been kindled in his heart, and he immediately nodded in excitement.

"I'm willing, I'm willing!"

[Task: recruit the first sect member. Completed. Task reward has been issued. Host, please check it.]

Lin Xiao smiled faintly. "Here's to us both ascending soon."

Jiang Youfu stepped into the base without a hitch.

After the two had settled down on the dirt floor of the sect base-the thatched shelter-Jiang Youfu let out a long sigh, imitating his father when he bought land.

"From today on, we're people with a sect!"

Then he eagerly asked Lin Xiao:

"Brother Xiao, when do we start cultivating?"

Lin Xiao looked at Jiang Youfu with an unreadable expression. Without a word, he silently pulled out the Peach Blossom Spring Myriad Void Instruction and handed it to him.

Only then did he say, "This is our sect's first cultivation method."

Jiang Youfu looked at the book in his hands and opened it, utterly bewildered.

Lin Xiao reached over and turned the book around in his hands.

"It was upside down."

Jiang Youfu silently took it back and continued opening it.

Sure enough, just as expected, there were no surprises.

He couldn't read a single character.

Jiang Youfu looked at Lin Xiao, on the verge of tears.

"Brother Xiao, is there a cultivation method you can understand without knowing how to read?"

Lin Xiao fell silent for a moment.

Suddenly, he remembered the shop he hadn't looked at yet. He wondered whether it might have a solution.

After telling Jiang Youfu, "Let me have a look," he opened the shop.

The shop had a vast variety of goods.

At the top were some recommended products.

Whether the system was trying to ease his worries or not, the very first item in the recommended products section was a [Cultivation Method Simplifier].

Lin Xiao read the product description.

The simplifier converted the more complicated contents of a cultivation method into a form combining pictures and text, making it easier for people to understand.

Although it still used both pictures and text rather than pictures alone, it was much better than the original! Even someone as literate as Lin Xiao found the original somewhat difficult to read.

With this simplifier, he could turn cultivation methods into a combination of pictures and text, greatly reducing the difficulty Jiang Youfu and future illiterate sect members and disciples would have understanding them.

Lin Xiao immediately decided to buy the simplifier.

Then he looked at the purchase requirements. Spirit Stones again!

Moreover, cultivation methods of different grades required corresponding grades of simplifier, and the prices differed by grade.

An A-grade cultivation method actually required five Spirit Stones!

A B-grade cultivation method, on the other hand, required only one Spirit Stone.

An S-grade one required fifty Spirit Stones.

That was quite a difference.

But there were no simplifiers for C-grade cultivation methods for sale below that.

Lin Xiao wondered, was that because this world had no C-grade cultivation methods and B-grade was the lowest, or because C-grade cultivation methods were already so simple that they didn't need simplifying?