"Purification Technique"

The sect status field was different.

It had only four clear, straightforward categories,

namely: outer disciple, inner disciple, elite disciple, and personal disciple.

Lin Xiao promptly changed Jiang Youfu's status from outer disciple to personal disciple.

What a joke. He, Lin Xiao, had taught him to recognize every character one by one. They might be brothers, but when it was time to be the junior, they couldn't disregard the rules.

So Lin Xiao opened his eyes and told Jiang Youfu the good news.

"Fuzi, from now on, you'll be my chief personal disciple in our sect. Well? Are you happy?"

Jiang Youfu had just finished his steamed bun. He let out a burp and pursed his lips.

"Huh? Does that mean you'll be my master from now on, Brother Xiao? Won't we be brothers anymore?"

Lin Xiao flicked him on the forehead.

"We'll still be brothers, but aren't we master and disciple too? Look, I even taught you the cultivation method character by character."

Jiang Youfu instantly brightened.

"As long as we're still brothers! But Brother Xiao, do I have to call you Master from now on?"

Lin Xiao waved a hand. "We'll stick to the old way. We can talk about it when we meet outsiders."

After breakfast, the two of them began cultivating in earnest.

Strictly speaking, Jiang Youfu was the one who began cultivating in earnest. After going home last night, he had gone over the part of the cultivation method about drawing Qi into the body several more times and seemed to have gained some insights.

Today, he had already begun to sense Qi, so he cultivated with great enthusiasm.

Lin, on the other hand, who had reached the Qi Refinement Second Layer in less than twenty-four hours, was much more relaxed.

He leisurely opened the System Store.

Perhaps because he had no particular needs at the moment, the store's recommendations were all things like Heaven Rank Law Treasures and Heaven Rank pills.

Never mind whether they could use them; they couldn't afford them in the first place.

Leaving the number aside, the Spirit Stones required were all Supreme-Grade Spirit Stones.

Lin Xiao had no choice but to look at the categories below.

One glance was enough to make Lin Xiao give up on looking any further.

There were no fewer than a hundred categories alone.

Heh.

Rather than waste time going through that whole pile of categories one by one, he might as well see whether this was a "whatever your heart desires" store.

Whatever he thought of would appear.

Lin Xiao remembered the five Mist Spring Grass seeds in his private storage.

Tsk, I wonder if these "never-seen-grass" seeds need special soil to grow? I also wonder if they have any requirements for their growing environment or tools...

He immediately opened the store again.

Sure enough.

The recommendations had changed from a pile of extravagant Heaven Rank items to the [Spirit Herb Cultivation Soil Synthesizer], the [Spirit Herb Cultivation Tool Synthesizer], and the "Elementary Spirit Herb Cultivation Manual."

It really was a "whatever your heart desires" store.

Lin Xiao was thoroughly satisfied.

But each of the two synthesizers and the cultivation manual cost one Spirit Stone.

He only had four left. If he bought them, he would have just one Spirit Stone left, enough to idle for another twenty-four hours.

Where was the system? He wanted a mission!

[Ding-system mission issued: Host, please raise the sect's reputation to 5 within ten days. Once the deadline passes, the mission and its reward will be void.]

Seeing the mission, Lin Xiao opened the sect panel to check.

[Sect reputation: 3]

It wasn't zero.

Lin Xiao rubbed his smooth chin.

At present, aside from himself, the people who knew about the Lingxian Sect were Fuzi, his father, and his older brother. Exactly three people.

So was sect reputation the number of people who knew about his sect?

If that was the case, didn't it mean he only had to go down the mountain and tell two of his closer friends, so they knew about it?

But as for whether he could lure them into the sect... Alas, few young people had as much freedom at home as he and Fuzi. Their childhood friends who were the same age had all been dragged off to work by their families.

If he went to their homes and told them, "Stop working and come up the mountain to cultivate immortality with me," their families would surely chase him out with big sticks.

But simply letting them know his sect existed should be fine. They probably wouldn't take it to heart anyway.

He would try before going home today.

Now that he had a mission, he didn't have to worry about Spirit Stones.

After all, the previous missions had all rewarded him with Spirit Stones, so he figured this one wouldn't be short of them either.

Even so, Lin Xiao didn't buy the three items.

There was something else he had been thinking about all along.

The [Law Technique Creation Function] he had unlocked last night!

There wasn't much paper mulberry bark left in the thatched shelter, so Lin Xiao picked up a machete and headed up the mountain.

By now, it was broad daylight.

Dewdrops hung from the blades of grass and leaves on the mountain, glittering in the sunlight.

Lin Xiao was happily stripping bark when he suddenly sensed a powerful, utterly unfamiliar presence flash through the mountain forest nearby.

He didn't think he had sensed it wrong.

He had always been highly sensitive to the presences around him. Whenever a stranger approached, he could sense them immediately.

All the more so now that he had become a genuine cultivator.

Lin Xiao didn't stop what he was doing. Instead, he pretended he hadn't noticed anything and continued stripping the bark.

After that presence flashed past, it didn't appear again.

It seemed to have merely been passing through.

Only after a good while did Lin Xiao stop. He put the paper mulberry bark into his private storage and returned to the sect.

It seemed that in this world where people could cultivate immortality, even a small, remote place like Xiushui Village wasn't entirely peaceful.

He hoped the presence he had encountered today really had just happened to pass by, and wasn't some kind of danger...

Back at the sect grounds, Lin Xiao once again sat down beneath the Ten-Li Peach Blossom Tree.

Without hesitation, he opened the Law Technique Creation Function.

Then he placed the paper mulberry bark and pine-soot ink into the first and second slots, respectively.

He then tentatively placed a Spirit Stone in the third slot.

It turned green!

Lin Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.

Good. It only needed one Spirit Stone. He could afford that.

He then turned his gaze to the final slot.

The Law Technique concept...

He thought it over for a while, but in the end decided against entering some outrageously impressive concept.

Leaving aside what those concepts would ultimately create,

he was worried that if the resulting Law Technique was too damn powerful,

it would be awkward if he couldn't use it at only the Qi Refinement Second Layer.

He hoped the Law Technique he created would have room to develop, so he could use a corresponding technique at every stage of cultivation.

He actually had a few ideas about a Law Technique like that.

Lin Xiao went over his ideas in his head and, seeing no problems, tapped the last slot.

He began entering the Law Technique concept.

[Beginning Law Technique concept input. Twenty seconds remaining, nineteen, eighteen...

...three, two, one. Input complete.]

[Creating Law Technique. Please wait.]

With his earlier experience creating a cultivation method, Lin Xiao sat calmly beneath the tree and waited.

[Ding-"Purification Technique" created. Host, please check it.]

This time seemed to have been a little faster than the "Peach Blossom Spring Myriad Void Instruction."