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May, early summer.

Summer this year was no different from the previous ones and probably even hotter, as if the recovery of the spiritual essence had finally reached its peak after over a decade, and was ready to release all the energy stored.

It was bad news and good news at the same time.

The bad news was that the scorching heat would bring great difficulty to all the ongoing projects in the country. The good news, though, was that once they rode out this storm, the breakout of the spiritual essence would enter a buffering period before gradually quieting down.

By then, the new environment would mostly stabilize, giving rise to a country that was changed beyond recognition, but filled with the vitality of nature.

For now, the general public was not holding too much grudge against the unbearable heat, for their attention was drawn by the more pressing and exciting news that had spread to every corner of the country in a single day.

Phoenix Mountain was setting up an altar to give lectures!

“LOL! Ancestor of the Great Balance ¹ himself is descending to the mortal world! The praying mats in Zixiao Palace are on a first come, first serve basis! Don’t give your seats to those two bastards from the west ²

“I only have one question. Is it true? Can it be a rumor?”

“I was at the foot of the mountain that day and heard it myself. You’ll be the one abandoning your luck if you don’t go. The regret will be all yours!”

“Forgive my ignorance, but exactly when is the beginning of month of Gao?”

“Month of Gao is May, so early May.”

“Mate, get your facts straight. Ancient people used the traditional calendar. Month of Gao is the fifth month of the year on that calendar, so it’s June on the one we use now. It’s happening early next month!”

All of a sudden, people from all walks of life were discussing it. Even the government employees were talking about it in private, and some were so tempted that they were thinking about sending the youngsters of their own families to Phoenix Mountain.

Wouldn’t life be wonderful if they were picked and got to hang out with immortals every day?

However the discussion went, the news had gotten around. Whether they chose to believe it or not, no one wanted miss the chance. Hence, the authorities were once more having a headache: how was a small town like Bai Town ever going to take in so many people?

It was especially the case for that mountain road connecting Shengtian with Bai Town. It had been completely jammed since the second day after Gu Yu’s words got around. In the end, the government had to set up check posts in every city nearby to control the number of people going into Shengtian.

This was no longer an ancient society, after all, when people had to travel for tens of thousands of miles on horseback for an recruitment advertisement of a big sect, and only arrived months later to find a hundred fellow candidates there.

It was a modern information society we were talking about here, and the audience numbered billions!

***

“Why, isn’t it like having the car windows tinted?” Up on Phoenix Mountain, all the 36 beams of light had disappeared, and everything was back to normal. Watching the cloudless sky and the brand-new view of the mountain, Xiaojin said happily, “They can’t see a thing from outside, and we can see everything from here. I like it! Car sex will be so much safer now.”

“I like it too. The spiritual essence is even denser now, and our cultivation can speed up again.” Xiao Qiu giggled along. She then asked, “By the way, Brother, does the formation need a lot of spiritual stones? Do we have enough?”

“When I set up the formation yesterday, all 108 stones were almost drained the moment I activated the formation, so I replaced them with 108 new ones at once. Now that the formation is running smoothly, it is not very energy-consuming. These 108 stones will be more than enough to sustain the formation for a year.” After the brief explanation, Gu Yu instructed, “Xiao Qiu, I’m leaving you in charge of the daily maintenance of the formation from now on. I’ll teach you the formation map and the working theories later.”

“Yes, no problem!” Long Qiu nodded.

By now, the division of labor was gradually taking shape on the mountain. Long Qiu was patient and attentive, so she was in charge of running the library, formation, farmlands, production of talisman paper, and the animal farm (where the mutated boars and Sand-walking Spider were kept).

Xiaojin was all over the place and good at socializing, which made her suitable for managing the construction projects, development of the market town, recruiting of new talents, etc.

It was obvious that the two would be the respective heads of internal and external affairs in the future. As for their heartless “parents”, well, they were the happy freeloaders.

While that was settled, Xiaozhai—who had kept her silence the entire time—suddenly spoke, “Old Gu, since we’re setting up a sect and recruiting pupils, we need to set out the orthodox first. You have the essence-consuming method and the sword manual; are you going to put them together or teach them separately?”

“The essence-consuming method doesn’t have much power on its own, but putting them together seems unfair to the sword manual.” Gu Yu gave it a thought and said, “How about this? The essence-consuming method will be the basis. I’ll decide whether or not to teach them the sword manual later if I find pupils with a talent in the sword.”

“That’ll do. So, we’ll have two schools of teaching: the essence-consuming method and the Thunder Technique.” Xiaozhai gave him a wink and chuckled. “You know what? We might have to compete for pupils some day.”

“I wouldn’t be competing with you under normal circumstances, but not this one. Of course, in the end, it’s still up to the pupils.” Old Gu held his ground this time, which was very rare.

‘Wow!’

The two younger ones could not take part in the conversation, but the expressions on their faces were no less excited. ‘So, we’re moving up in seniority! We’re mothers-in-law… I mean, we’re Uncle Masters now!’

However, something seemed to dawn on Long Qiu after that, and she asked in a serious tone, “Brother, Sister, what about Kaixin and the others?”

“…”

Gu Yu and Xiaozhai exchanged a look. It was a cruel decision, but rules were rules. “Among them, only Kaixin has the right endowment. Li Dong has yet to show it. Old Shui, Yan Han, and the others will only be outer disciples.”

“Oh, then I should explain to them. It’ll be better if they hear it from me.” Xiao Qiu was as kind as she always was.

Xiaojin’s focus was on something completely different. She asked eagerly, “Brother-in-law, you said there would be trials. Have you decided what to use yet?”

“Not yet. Got any ideas?” Gu Yu chuckled.

“Neither do I, but that’s right up my alley! You know, kicking their a*sses and giving them a hard time. Just leave it to m— ouch!”

She buried her head between her hands. Xiaozhai slowly retrieved her hand, reprimanding, “Recruiting pupils is no laughing matter, but it shouldn’t be too serious, either. At the end of the day, what we are testing is nothing but their endowment and temperament. We’ll each think of a test and discuss them.”

All right, the head of the household had spoken, and the tune was set.

They chatted for some more, then Long Qiu and Xiaojin went to prepare their own tasks. Sitting under the old tree, Xiaozhai watched the spiritual essence, which had grown inches taller within hours—thanks to the energy feeding back on it from the formation. She couldn’t help but be amazed. “Is this fellow taking a human form soon?”

“How can it be? It’s absorbing the spiritual essence on instinct, and has no cultivation method whatsoever. If nothing spectacular falls into its laps, it’ll take a human form in about, well… a hundred years?”

“In that case, don’t let happen too soon. There will be another kid if it transforms, and I don’t want to watch it running wildly in the mountain.” Xiaozhai paused there, then switched to a completely unrelated subject. “You haven’t prepared for what you’re going to talk about in the lecture, have you?”

“It’s not something that can be decided by Phoenix Mountain alone. I’m still waiting for the other parties to reply.”

“If you ask me, we’d better have the monastery join in on this. They’re much more knowledgeable on theories of Dan and talisman skills. Having them on board will benefit so many more people, be it an internal communication, or a lecture to the public.”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking, but we can’t be the one initiating this. Let’s wait.”

“Sir!”

They were still talking when Li Dong ran towards them.

Having been cultivating for the past six month, and with the amply supply of spiritual rice and spiritual tea, Li Dong had obtained a physical strength far superior to any ordinary person’s. The Technical Sword he was practicing had a corresponding breathing method, and right now, he was staggering towards them in long strides using the Rising Manual that he had not mastered yet.

“There are greeting letters for you!”

Li Dong handed him two letters. Gu Yu took them over and glanced at the senders: one was from the monastery, and the other from the BIMAUP. He was slightly surprised, for they had met enough times before this. He couldn’t see why were they so formal all of a sudden.

He opened the envelopes, while Xiaozhai stuck her head over his shoulder to read the letter. She broke into a laughter at the first words.

“Honorable Perfected Man Gu…”