Chapter 64

San San Zhenren came out of his room and threw six introductory cultivation manuals to Lin Fan: "Distribute them later and let them practice on their own."

"Okay." Lin Fan waited for the people in the main hall to come out, then threw a book to one of them: "Go wash the kitchen, read the book slowly, and if you don’t understand anything, don’t ask; figure it out yourself." This was the treatment Lin Fan received back then. After copying the gate rules and sect rules, he went to wash the kitchen and then read the book. At that time, it was Old Zhang who cooked...

Five disciples came out and went to clean the kitchen. When someone fell and started bleeding, they cried, but Lin Fan pretended not to hear. After waiting for half an hour, the girl named Yingying still hadn’t come out. Lin Fan was puzzled. Could it be that she had found a way to be lazy as soon as she entered the Zhengyi Sect?

He got up and entered the main hall. He saw Yingying, drenched in sweat, holding a brush and writing with great effort. Lin Fan walked over and watched for a while, then asked, "Can’t you read?" The characters were not written but drawn, stroke by stroke, following the characters on the wall.

Yingying nodded, tears streaming down her face: "I will definitely finish copying."

"Okay, hurry up." Lin Fan left and went to San San Zhenren: "The one called Yingying can’t read."

San San Zhenren was meditating and asked, "Is she copying?"

"Yes."

"Not bad." San San Zhenren was somewhat satisfied.

Speaking of which, six disciples arrived at Zhengyi Mountain. They were assigned to the Zhengyi Sect and were three married couples. These three couples had average talent and were older. They usually did miscellaneous tasks in the sect, so Qian Yu Zhenren sent them to Zhengyi Mountain to help take care of these children.

The Yunqing Sect did not primarily select disciples based on their innate talent. The first source of disciples was children who had suffered family tragedies and had no relatives to rely on. The second source was children from nearby villages and towns who were incurable and were brought to the mountain for treatment. The third source was the children born from the union of sect members. Therefore, most of the disciples in the Yunqing Sect did not have good talent, which was one of the reasons why the Yunqing Sect, despite its deep roots, had never ranked in the top three among the righteous sects. However, none of the successive sect leaders had ambitions to dominate the world, so they did not overly demand high talent from their disciples, preferring to go with the flow.

In just one day, the originally quiet Zhengyi Mountain became quite lively. The helping disciples registered the children, informed them of some taboos, and then opened a private school to teach the illiterate disciples to read. The helping disciples were affiliated disciples of the Zhengyi Sect. If they wished to stay, they could remain in the Zhengyi Sect unless they were assigned elsewhere.

The affiliated disciples were very polite to Lin Fan. Although there was no strict distinction, they knew the difference between elite disciples and ordinary disciples. Disciples like Gu Yan and Bai Mu were considered elite disciples and were not assigned to do miscellaneous tasks. Similarly, Lin Fan was polite to them, as they were several decades older. Overall, although the tranquility was gone, the interactions were still harmonious.

Lin Fan also moved. He and the sect leader moved to two side rooms on the mountaintop. The mountaintop was about fifty zhang (a traditional Chinese unit of length) above the main hall, making it easy to go up and down when needed, and quiet when not. Besides, if they were bored and threw soil bombs or sewing needles at each other, they wouldn’t hurt anyone.

The next day, the main hall sent Daoist robes, and all the disciples who had entered the sect changed into them. Some disciples had already started practicing the Yunqing Heart Method, while others like Yingying were learning to read in the private school.

A few days later, Lin Fan and San San Zhenren were playing chess outside the sect hall. Yingying was obediently boiling water and making tea for them. They had come to the sect hall today to assign duties. Since they now had disciples, they needed to assign people to patrol the mountain and guard the hall, to avoid the awkward situation of not knowing who to find when orders were given.

San San Zhenren looked around at the nearby children and sighed inwardly. Just as he was about to speak, a white rainbow appeared from the west, breaking through the air with great momentum. The nearby disciples were all amazed. San San Zhenren said, "A flying sword message!"

"I recognize this sword," Lin Fan replied. "It’s from the Zixiao Hall."

"What could it be about?"

"Showing off!" Lin Fan thought of Zhang Tongyuan, who was quite the show-off.

Soon, the white rainbow sword returned the same way. After half an hour, a disciple on duty in the main hall brought a message, and San San Zhenren went to the main hall. When he returned, his expression was uncertain. Lin Fan asked, "Did their sect leader die again?"

San San Zhenren laughed. He knew that Lin Fan didn’t like the current leader of the Zixiao Hall, Ziyun Zhenren. He shook his head and said, "The leader of the Li Huo Divine Sect in the Cangmang Desolate Land personally went to the Zixiao Hall and offered to submit to the Zixiao Hall."

"Ah, a merger?" Lin Fan was surprised. This was recorded in historical documents, but it was mostly about sects that had split from the same lineage merging again.

"They want the Zixiao Hall to remove their evil sect name. In theory, the Li Huo Sect is not really an evil sect; they haven’t done anything out of line in the past few hundred years. But their leader, Li Huo Laozu, is not an ordinary person. The Li Huo Sect has risen in the Cangmang Desolate Land over the past two hundred years and dominated Flame Mountain..."

Lin Fan asked, "What does the Zixiao Hall think?"

"The Li Huo Sect is willing to become a subordinate sect of the Zixiao Hall, change its name to the Li Huo Sect, be under the control of the leader, hand over the Li Huo Body Splitting Technique, and give up the position of sect leader, to be appointed by Ziyun Zhenren."

"Better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. The Li Huo Sect and the Zixiao Hall had a bloody battle seven hundred years ago. How did they submit? And they are even willing to give up the position of sect leader?"

San San Zhenren said, "The condition is that the Zixiao Hall removes their evil sect name, and they leave the Cangmang Desolate Land to establish a sect in Central Continent."

"Did Ziyun Zhenren agree?"

"Yes. Ziyun Zhenren not only lacks the demeanor of a sect leader but also has a penchant for grand achievements. The Zixiao Hall now has nine subordinate sects, and the other eight only follow orders but not summons. Ziyun Zhenren is somewhat dissatisfied with this, but he dares not break the rules left by his predecessors. Now that the Li Huo Sect is willing to become a direct subordinate, how could he not agree?" San San Zhenren said, "Ziyun Zhenren, in the name of the sect leader, has invited the righteous and demonic sects to attend the Dao and Demon Conference at the Zixiao Hall in three months, where he will propose to remove the evil name of the Li Huo Sect."

Lin Fan was disdainful: "Although the Li Huo Sect hasn’t committed too many misdeeds, I have fought with their young expert, Xiefengzi, and he’s not a good person. What is their reason for submitting?"

San San Zhenren said, "The flying sword message didn’t say, but Qian Yu Zhenren speculates that it has something to do with the Li Huo Sect dominating Flame Mountain. The Li Huo Sect expelled six small sects and took over Flame Mountain. Two of these sects were related to the Wanxie Sect, and one was a vassal of the Xueying Sect. The Xueying Sect and the Wanxie Sect might have made some moves that made the Li Huo Sect uneasy. The Wanxie Sect is the largest sect in the Cangmang Desolate Land, and the Xueying Sect is at the height of its power. If these two sects join forces, the Li Huo Sect would be no match. Seeing this crisis, Li Huo Laozu had no choice but to submit to the righteous sects."

Lin Fan said, "It’s also possible that Li Huo Laozu thinks the new leader of the Zixiao Hall is a fool and has some ulterior motives."

"Ulterior motives are hard to achieve. No matter how powerful the Li Huo Sect is, they will have to move to the heart of the Twelve Continents. With the alliance of the righteous and demonic sects, if they attack the Zixiao Hall, they will be caught like fish in a jar." San San Zhenren said, "I think Ziyun Zhenren has also considered this. If the Li Huo Sect has ulterior motives, they will only bring about their own destruction."