As the saying goes: the world has too many failed crush heroines, and people have suffered under the "childhood friend loses to the new arrival" trope for far too long.
As the junior brother, blessed with every halo and fully stacked with buffs, Mo Buxiu had actually failed to win the senior sister—what a disappointment.
A textbook negative example of the "new arrival" trope +1.
Lu Bei muttered to himself that his cheap master was incompetent. If he had been more capable back then, defeating the senior brother and seizing both the position of sect master and the senior sister, what he would be inheriting right now wouldn't be this "spiritual yet desolate" Feathering Sect, but the Lingxiao Sword Sect.
Lu Bei knew nothing about the situation at the Lingxiao Sword Sect—how many people there were, how many fields they owned, how many senior sisters were waiting to be married, or how many senior brothers stayed out all night—he knew none of it. But he had a lot of confidence in the Feathering Sect: looking across the entire world, it was undeniably one of the worst.
Guarding this mountain gate was far worse than farming experience at the Lingxiao Sword Sect.
True, he could currently hug Bai Jin's thigh to survive the beginner phase, but what about afterward? He couldn't possibly let Bai Jin support him for the rest of his life!
Thinking of this, Lu Bei was utterly baffled. Judging by what Bai Jin said, Mo Buxiu indeed had the epic feat of heavily injuring his own senior brother and sect master. Regardless of whether it was an accident or done with all his might, at least in terms of strength, the junior brother was stronger than the elder brother.
So the question arose: with all-around superiority, why had Mo Buxiu lost the senior sister?
"No, wait, it looks like he didn't really lose."
Lu Bei narrowed his eyes slightly, sensing something was amiss. Mo Buxiu hadn't returned to the Lingxiao Sword Sect for many years, yet a single message of his could summon Bai Jin, and Bai Jin also placed great expectations on Mo Buxiu's last words, as if some unnamed sect master's wife had instructed something.
Sure enough, their relationship wasn't that simple.
"Junior Brother Lu, what were you saying about losing?" Seeing Lu Bei deep in thought, Bai Jin asked.
"It's nothing, I was just rambling. People get lonely and often do that, Senior Sister Bai, please forgive me." Lu Bei brushed it off, changing the subject: "Where is the Lingxiao Sword Sect? Thank you for your hard work coming such a long way, Senior Sister Bai."
"The Lingxiao Sword Sect is located in Yue Province, east of Ning Province, spanning across seven prefectures..."
Seeing that Lu Bei did not press further about the gossip among the three elders, Bai Jin looked slightly disappointed and briefly filled him in on Mo Buxiu's hometown, the Lingxiao Sword Sect.
"So it's Yue Province."
Lu Bei nodded repeatedly as he listened. He knew nothing about the Lingxiao Sword Sect, but he had heard of Yue Province.
Yue Province was located at the easternmost border of the Wu Zhou nation, bordering a neighboring country. When Version 2.0 triggered the national war, Yue Province bore the brunt and became one of the main battlegrounds. Nine out of ten local immortal cultivation sects perished, with cultivators either killed or fleeing.
By the time Version 3.0 arrived, the immortal mountains and spiritual veins within Yue Province were seized by various major guilds. After a wave of fierce internal competition, the surviving NPC cultivators packed up and got lost.
From then on, whether Yue Province was chaotic or not was up to the players to decide.
The time when Lu Bei was doing quests on behalf of his superior started precisely from Version 3.0. He had long heard of Yue Province's fierce reputation, but intimidated by the wolves and tigers of internal competition, he had only ever watched from afar and never dared to play close.
By now, Lu Bei could roughly guess the fate of the Lingxiao Sword Sect: either it perished in the national war, or it was squeezed out by players. Since he started playing from Version 3.0, it was no wonder he had never heard of the Lingxiao Sword Sect.
After finishing the chat about the Lingxiao Sword Sect, Bai Jin briefly introduced Yue Province as well. Seeing that Lu Bei showed little interest, she simply stopped talking.
Lu Bei didn't mention going to the Lingxiao Sword Sect, and Bai Jin didn't bring up taking Mo Buxiu's ashes back either—neither of them had the final say on this matter; it depended on the sect master's wishes.
Considering the experience of having been heavily injured by Mo Buxiu, and considering his wife's lingering ties with Mo Buxiu over the years, the sect master would probably smile faintly to indicate bygones were bygones, and then secretly send someone to scatter Mo Buxiu's ashes.
It was very likely—and most probable—that the person would be none other than himself.
"Junior Brother Lu, did Uncle-Master Mo leave any belongings behind?"
"There is a Qiankun Pouch, and the Feathering Sect's sect master seal is inside, but I can't open it." Lu Bei pulled out the Qiankun Pouch, hiding nothing else about it.
Based on the current situation, Bai Jin and the sect master's wife were on his side; they were his own people and could be trusted.
Bai Jin nodded. Taking the Qiankun Pouch, she retrieved the sect master seal, the land deeds, and the official permits. The sect master seal was a palm-sized, unadorned token. The front was engraved with the two characters for "Feathering" in demonic script, and the back was carved with a flying bird pattern. Looking at it, it was utterly ordinary with nothing distinctive to speak of.
Bai Jin put away the sect master token, and then pulled out a bag of mantou and some cooked meat wrapped in lotus leaves from the Qiankun Pouch, handing them together to Lu Bei: "Uncle-Master Mo passed the position to you too hastily, so it definitely hasn't been registered and recorded at the Huangji Sect yet. Leave this matter to me to handle. This shouldn't be delayed, and since the day is still early, I'll set out now and can make it back by tonight."
Lu Bei suddenly understood. No wonder his wealth and faction status were completely blank—it turned out the official authorities hadn't stamped his documents yet.
The Huangji Sect was the number one immortal cultivation sect in Wu Zhou, founded even earlier than the establishment of the Wu Zhou nation. It is fair to say that the reason Wu Zhou was able to conquer vast territories and stand unshaken for eight hundred years down to the present day was largely thanks to the indispensable contributions of the Huangji Sect.
There was a saying among the common folk: as long as the Huangji Sect does not fall, Wu Zhou will never perish!
Lu Bei scoffed at this phrase and even chuckled derisively. Having lived through Version 3.0, he was well aware of the harm the Huangji Sect posed to Wu Zhou.
If the Huangji Sect did not fall, Wu Zhou was bound to perish—at worst, they would go down together.
In the early days of the nation's founding, the Huangji Sect wasn't called the Huangji Sect; it was a legitimate, upright immortal cultivation sect. It wasn't until the Huangji Sect helped the Zhu Clan of Wu Zhou seize the empire that large batches of Zhu family members entered the Huangji Sect, eventually seizing control from the guests and turning the Huangji Sect into a mouthpiece for the Zhu family. From then on, this immortal sect became thoroughly officialized.
Wu Zhou relied on immortal sects to win the empire, which was why it remained extremely wary of the cultivation sects within its borders. As the official representative, the Huangji Sect held nominal jurisdiction, requiring all immortal sect disciples within the territory to register and file records. A succession of sect masters required official permits; otherwise, it would lack legitimacy and be treated as completely invalid across the board.
It sounded incredible—people of the immortal path were accustomed to freedom and leisure, and by no means looked like masters willing to be constrained—yet that was simply the way things were. Not just Wu Zhou, but countries big and small across the entire world all operated this way.
The first step of immortal cultivation: get certified.
To return to the matter at hand, back then, the Huangji Sect helping the Zhu Clan stabilize the Wu Zhou regime was a good thing for both the country and the people.
As time went on, however, problems arose. There were simply too many people surnamed Zhu, and since everyone also practiced immortal cultivation, with thousands upon thousands of princes and royalty, the Huangji Sect involuntarily tilted its loyalties and began interfering in Wu Zhou's internal politics.
Interestingly enough, among the twelve provinces and eighty-four prefectures of Wu Zhou, a majority of the provincial governors and prefectural magistrates were Zhu clan members or imperial relatives. The appointment and dismissal of local officials were handled by the central government, so the Huangji Sect's interference in internal affairs directly infringed upon these people's interests.
The Huangji Sect, which assisted the central imperial power of Wu Zhou, ended up locked in a covert struggle with that very same central imperial power. Back at the founding of the nation, probably no one could have anticipated such a turn of events.
Yet, looking on the bright side, no matter who won or lost, the empire still remained firmly in the hands of the old Zhu family.
Laugh!
"Hee hee hee..."
"Junior Brother Lu, what are you laughing at?"
"Nothing, I was just rambling again. I often do that, Senior Sister Bai, please don't mind."
Lu Bei waved his hand, picked up a mantou, and ate as he asked: "Do I not need to accompany you for the Feathering Sect sect master succession permit?"
"No need, I'll be faster alone."
Bai Jin explained that within the borders of Wu Zhou, the Feathering Sect was considered a minor, unranked sect. For administrative convenience, it had been assigned to the Nine Bamboo Mountain lineage, and by convention, its records had to be filed at the Ning Province Prefecture. She had acquaintances at the Huangji Sect's outpost "Dasheng Pass" in Ning Province Prefecture, making the bureaucratic process fast and convenient. Whether Lu Bei himself was present or not made no real difference.
Out of trust for his senior sister—and primarily out of trust for the ambiguous relationship between his cheap master and the sect master's wife—Lu Bei nodded and said no more, shoving another mantou into his mouth.
Compared to cultivating immortality, filling his stomach was far more important.
"Junior Brother Lu, Uncle-Master Mo has entrusted you to me, so from now on, all matters concerning your cultivation will be arranged by me."
"Only right, I'll have to trouble Senior Sister Bai."
"Good."
Bai Jin nodded, had Lu Bei sit cross-legged on the ground, and flipped her hand to reveal a small porcelain-white bottle: "The spiritual Qi on this peak is far too thin. Here are some Enlightenment Pills; you are to take two every single hour until I return. While I travel back and forth to Dasheng Pass, I will leave behind a formation diagram to protect you. I hope you will properly temper your foundation and not slack off."
Impressive! You didn't even need to wait for three hundred years; a thirty-year-old woman could just hand out immortal pills.
"Many thanks, Senior Sister."
Lu Bei quickly swallowed the last bite of mantou, took two Enlightenment Pills, and waited for the medicinal power to digest, letting the spiritual Qi naturally diffuse into his internal organs and limbs.
Seeing this, Bai Jin said no more. She tossed out a formation diagram that enveloped a two-meter radius around Lu Bei, left behind a bundle, and turned to head toward Dasheng Pass.