After quietly sitting and digesting the last two Enlightenment Pills, Lu Bei took a deep breath and slowly stood up. He walked around for a bit to get his stiff body moving, then tossed a few more logs into the fire.
A quilt had been spread out in front of the offering table, but Bai Jin was nowhere to be seen. Feeling no need to stand on ceremony, Lu Bei crawled straight under the covers.
There was nothing to feel awkward about. Given his Senior Sister's cultivation level and strength, she must have long since transcended the low-level pleasure of sleeping under a quilt. He, on the other hand, was weak, helpless, and pathetic; without the protection of a quilt, there was little guarantee he wouldn't catch a cold tomorrow.
"Oh, it smells so good!"
...
Early the next morning, Lu Bei was woken up by a commotion. He sat up and saw some twenty sturdy men gathered in the front courtyard, scaring him so much that he hurriedly rolled up his bedding, scooped up the small box containing Mo Buxiu, and fled to the back courtyard.
Bai Jin was in the back courtyard, her face veiled in white gauze, followed by a middle-aged man dressed like a merchant. Every time Bai Jin pointed and gestured, the middle-aged man would pull out an account book and make a tick.
"Senior Sister, what's going on?"
"Junior Brother Lu, you've come at just the right time. Let me make an introduction. This is Sect Master Ding of the Emei Sect on Sijing Peak..."
"Sect Master Ding?"
"This poor Taoist is Ding Lei. Greetings, Sect Master Lu."
"???"
Sijing Peak and Sanqing Peak both belonged to the Nine Bamboo Mountain lineage. The Emei Sect's territory could practically be considered the Feathering Sect's next-door neighbor.
This Emei was not that Emei; it was a name that sounded impressive, but in terms of strength, it was just another uninfluential little minnow like the Feathering Sect. One look at Ding Lei's worldly attire made it clear that his true intentions went far beyond mere socializing. He cultivated immortality simply to maintain a healthy physique, and only with a healthy physique could he make money more effectively.
Last night, Bai Jin had broken into the Emei Sect in the dead of night, held a friendly meeting with Sect Master Ding, and signed an order regarding the renovation and remodeling of the Feathering Sect.
Logically speaking, when you were sound asleep in the middle of the night, only to have your mountain gate smashed open by an uninvited female demonic cultivator and be forced to sign a humiliating labor contract, any Emei Sect member with a shred of manhood would find it intolerable, but...
She paid money.
It was true that the agreement had been signed under coercion, but the hard cash was equally real. Ding Lei knew very well that even if he took this matter to the Huangji Sect's stronghold at Dasheng Pass, the authorities probably wouldn't even care, and the ultimate outcome would just be a private settlement between the two parties.
Considering how readily Bai Jin shelled out cash—and how even more readily she drew her sword—Ding Lei swallowed his pride, bit the bullet, and rushed over to Sanqing Peak at the crack of dawn.
As for the rest of his disciples, half had been summoned along to bolster his courage, while the rest had been sent to Langyu County to recruit laborers.
When Ding Lei saw Lu Bei, he was extremely polite, though his tone carried a hint of sourness, clearly taking him for a kept man living off a woman.
He looked down on him, yet was envious all the same—the two weren't mutually exclusive.
Lu Bei felt thoroughly uncomfortable under Ding Lei's sour gaze. Once he figured out the general situation, he tugged on Bai Jin's sleeve and led her beneath the old tree. "Senior Sister Bai, why is this happening so suddenly?"
"It's not sudden. For those on the path of cultivation, wealth, companions, Dharma, and land are all indispensable. Since Uncle-Master Mo entrusted you to me, I must see it through to the end."
Bai Jin frowned. "Junior Brother Lu, I strolled around the surrounding peaks last night, and Sanqing Peak, where the Feathering Sect is located, is the most destitute of them all. It's not a suitable site for a Daoist sanctuary."
Last night, Bai Jin had taken a night tour of all nine peaks of Nine Bamboo Mountain and discovered that Sanqing Peak truly lived up to its name: no people, no money, no spiritual Qi, and not even a single stalk of the spiritual bamboo that Nine Bamboo Mountain was famous for could be found on Sanqing Peak.
A poverty so absolute you could see right through it to the bottom—Sanqing Peak had earned its reputation.
Having no people or money was easy enough to resolve, and a lack of spiritual Qi wasn't a major issue either. Since the neighbors had better ones, they could all sit down and talk things over, debating the Dao through martial arts. It wouldn't take long to reach a result that satisfied both sides.
Catching the underlying meaning in Bai Jin's words, the corner of Lu Bei's eye twitched slightly. *As expected of a cultivator from the Sword Sect,* he thought to himself, *concise and entirely devoid of tact.*
I like it!
However...
"Senior Sister, harmony is most precious. I've only just taken over the position of sect master, and I'm already offending my neighbors. How am I supposed to bring glory and prosperity to the Feathering Sect in the future? How am I supposed to fulfill the dying wish of our honored Master?"
Lu Bei earnestly reasoned, "Besides, Master possessed profound skills and great abilities. Since he chose Sanqing Peak, he must have had his reasons. As his disciple, how could I go against his wishes?"
Bai Jin frowned slightly and was about to say something when Lu Bei cut her off: "I know that with you looking out for me, offending the neighbors on Nine Bamboo Mountain is nothing. But you won't be able to look after me for the rest of my life; sooner or later, you'll have to return to the Lingxiao Sword Sect, wouldn't you say?"
Bai Jin nodded, silently conceding Lu Bei's point, and dropped the idea of finding another peak.
"Oh, and Senior Sister Bai, the next time something like this happens..."
Lu Bei pointed at Ding Lei, who was currently busy measuring dimensions, and lowered his voice. "Could you discuss it with me first?"
"Is something wrong with that?"
"I'm still young, and I still want to work hard on my own."
"What?"
"Nothing. I'm just rambling again."
...
By midday, the recruitment party had arrived, bringing several dozen men up the mountain.
Bai Jin didn't mention the cost of rebuilding the Feathering Sect, and Lu Bei didn't ask either. Asking was pointless—even if he sold himself, he couldn't afford it.
Watching the mountain gate gradually bustling with activity, Lu Bei secretly reveled in the pointed glances from the onlookers, marveling at his potential to be a kept man, while simultaneously feeling a sense of shame for enjoying it.
Senior Sister was treating him so well; he ought to show her proper respect.
Thus, he resolved to respect Bai Jin from the bottom of his heart, letting any gossipy rumors about him being a kept man go in one ear and out the other, without the slightest urge to offer any explanation.
Explaining felt too deliberate, and surface-level respect was something he disdained.
Bai Jin had also caught wind of some of the idle gossip, but with her tranquil state of mind, she remained completely unfazed. She led Lu Bei to the deep pool at the back mountain to kick off the very first step of his cultivation.
Reading.
Three sets comprising twelve volumes of Daoist scriptures were laid out before Lu Bei, and his task was to read them repeatedly until the spiritual Qi within his body reacted, completing the initial stage of "opening the apertures."
The bad news was that stacked together, the twelve volumes were about half a meter high, making them rather intimidating; the good news was that this was the actual text, not just a table of contents.
So this was how NPCs "opened their apertures"! It wasn't anything like how players did it.
Opening the apertures meant choosing a main class for players. An account could only make this choice once; once selected, it could not be changed. Players who regretted choosing the wrong path could only delete their characters and start over.
In Jiuzhou World, there were four major main classes: Daoist Cultivator, demonic cultivator, demon cultivator, and Buddhist cultivator. Each focused on different things in the early stages, while offering distinct characteristics in the later stages, and every class possessed an irreplaceable charm.
In Jiuzhou World, Daoist Cultivators, demon cultivators, and Buddhist cultivators were officially recognized orthodox paths of cultivation across various nations. Demonic cultivators were considered taking a unorthodox shortcut; because the reputation of most demonic cultivators was utterly atrocious, they occupied ninety percent of the slots on various nations' wanted lists and were not recognized as mainstream.
That was how things looked on the surface, but behind closed doors...
To put it simply, whether one was a Daoist Cultivator or a demon cultivator, all paths of cultivation ultimately led to the same destination. Absorbing the strengths of all schools was the true path to supremacy. If you didn't know a couple of demonic cultivation techniques, you'd hardly have the nerve to say you were cultivating immortality.
By the same token, as a demonic cultivator, having a few sarira relics to protect oneself was entirely reasonable and made perfect logical sense.
Among the four major main classes, Daoist Cultivators had the greatest compatibility. Their philosophy embraced all rivers just as the sea embraced a hundred streams, and the operational flexibility in choosing cultivation techniques was also the greatest.
Demonic cultivators were true to their emotions and nature, emphasizing that without destruction there could be no construction, forging ever onward without retreat. Consequently, fools and ruthless hardliners gathered in their ranks, producing all sorts of eccentric figures.
Demon cultivators had the most restrictions, as only members of the demon race and humans with demon bloodlines could cultivate them. Their essence lay in refining the bloodline, tracing backward from acquired traits to the Innate—similar to a green caterpillar evolving into Rayquaza—awakening the hidden power within their bloodline. Demon cultivators with formidable bloodlines could even awaken innate divine abilities, making the suppression of peers of the same rank effortless.
Compared to these three flashy hussies, Buddhist cultivators were far more traditional, holding steadfastly to their core principles without getting caught up in fancy bells and whistles.
In the early stages, Buddhist cultivators had the lowest combat effectiveness, but by the later stages, a formidable Buddhist cultivator could achieve all-around perfection—competing with Daoist Cultivators in spells, going toe-to-toe with stubborn demonic cultivators in mental fortitude, and wrestling with demon cultivators in close-quarters combat.
Of course, all of the above happened before the players logged in. Once the Fourth Calamity descended, those fearless fellows went all out with their wild antics, leaving the native NPC cultivators crying out that they had never seen anything like this in all their years, marveling at the fact that immortality could even be cultivated this way.