Chapter 84: Recruitment Drive

Winter passed and spring arrived. Flying Blossoms Mountain turned green and hundreds of flowers dotted it with colors.

Sun Zhong carried the large tank filled with water and returned to the Daoist temple, and placed the water tank in the courtyard outside the kitchen, where Mother Wu was cooking with Widow Jiang.

There were not many people in Mini Frostcloud Sect, only seven including Sun Zhong. In addition to practicing, Sun Zhong would also do some chores every day. He didn’t expect to adapt to the current peaceful and regular life so quickly. On the mountain, it seemed that the soul was baptized, becoming pure and peaceful.

Nowadays, with the sect leader’s guidance and the abundant spiritual energy on Flying Blossoms Mountain, his cultivation base progressed very quickly. A few days ago, he broke through the inception level and entered level-4 Qi Refining stage.

Sun Zhong splayed his hand open and a seal gradually floated in his palm. Compared with the past, he could now clearly feel the connection between this seal and him.

Soon after he returned to the mountain with the sect leader, Jing Yue returned the dharma seal to him and told him that the seal spirit had been dispersed and re-sealed into the seal. Perhaps after thousands of years of purification, the seal spirit could be reawakened in a pure and unsullied state. At the same time, the sect leader also taught him to force a drop of his blood essence to completely control the dharma seal, and make the seal his natal magic weapon.

The sect leader also said that the dharma seal was his chance encounter, but he believed that meeting the sect leader was the biggest chance encounter of his life.

Suddenly, a messenger talisman floated in front of him. It turned out that the sect leader was calling for him.

Sun Zhong hurried to the hall and saw the sect leader sitting on the main seat. He smiled at him and said, “Sun Zhong, I want to ask you to do something.”

Four days later, noon.

Lights and festivities could be seen everywhere on Vermillion Street in the capital city of Chen Kingdom, and it was crowded with people. It turned out that it was time for the spring examination results to be released.

Amid sounds of firecrackers, an official walked in the forefront with an imperial edict in his hand, followed by people beating drums and carrying banners. A young man on a white horse and golden saddle aroused cheers from the crowd wherever he passed.

Onlookers said, “This imperial scholar was not well-known before but he shot to stardom overnight!”

“My uncle’s cousin’s son’s classmate also took part in the exams this year. He said that the original examiner always preferred magnificent essays, but due to the unexpected changes in the government, the state preceptor was dismissed and the chief examiner was changed at the last minute. The new chief examiner tended to be pragmatic, and when he saw that the scholar's policy question was exquisitely written and the suggestions were ingenious, he recommended him.”

Another person said, “I heard that the new imperial scholar received guidance from an immortal.”

“Yes, that’s right! He met an incredibly good-looking Daoist priest before, and the priest praised him for his rosy hue and excellent spirit, and said that he’d definitely make the top spot. Now, his words came true, didn’t it?”

At this time, Sun Zhong was mixed in the crowd in a simple Daoist robe. No one knew that he was the state preceptor of Chen Kingdom who once held a lot of power. After listening to other people's comments, Sun Zhong guessed that the Daoist priest was probably the sect leader. The corners of his lips curled in an unconscious smile and he quietly stepped away.

He returned to the old haunt but his mood was completely different now. This time, he carried the burden of the sect’s mission on his shoulders—to recruit followers.

Earlier, the sect leader found him and said that if Mini Frostcloud were to develop in the future, they had to accept more disciples. But in the west continent, apart from the Tiangang Sect, which was one of the five great immortal gates, there were also some smaller clans, and the talents were almost taken. Fortunately, Chen Kingdom and the neighboring Xiang and Qi were quite remote, and with not much interaction with the outside world, there may be some leftover talents for the pickings.

And what Sun Zhong had to do was to find these people and bring them back to Flying Blossoms Mountain.

Sun Zhong thought about it. Since Mini Frostcloud Sect was already the state religion of Chen, he could ask the emperor to issue a notice. With the help of local officials, it would be much easier to recruit followers.

He slowly walked towards the palace. At the same time, in the Daoist temple of Flying Blossoms Mountain, Jing Yue was thinking of ways to make money.

Of course, money did not refer to the wealth of the world, but spirit stones. For the sect to develop, what could be done without spirit stones?

In the Haotian Realm, there were also sword cultivation, magic cultivation, and Buddhist cultivation. However, other practices were not as defined. According to Jing Yue's understanding, except for Tianshui Palace being well-known for pill-making, none of the other four immortal gates had any specialties. To avoid attracting the hostility of Tianshui Palace, Jing Yue certainly wouldn’t be selling pills. In that case, the other ability that he was quite familiar with, and could make him some money at the same time, would be none other than talisman-making.

It just so happened that the cultivators in this world seemed to be very incompetent with talismans. Even the daily-use talisman only had very few varieties. If he wanted to sell talismans, he would face absolutely no hindrance.

“Jing-jing! Jing-jing!” A little blue chicken suddenly flew into his arms, interrupting Jing Yue's thoughts.

“Jing-jing, Ji-ji has mastered the leaf blade! Ji-ji will show you right away!” Blue phoenix was so excited that its entire body trembled all over. It happened to see Qin Yanzhi coming to look for Jing Yue. Darting its eyes around, it hopped and skipped right in front of Qin Yanzhi.

Qin Yanzhi: ??? He couldn’t help feeling that something was off.

In the next moment, blue phoenix raised its head, the mouth bulged like a pufferfish, held its breath with difficulty, and roared with all its might!

The spiritual energy in the air moved slightly. Qin Yanzhi only felt the wind blowing around him, the fragrance of leaves lingered in his nose, and then a chill on his chest.

He lowered his head subconsciously and found a cut in his robe. Just at the position of his right chest, the piece of cloth drooped down, revealing the inner white shirt.

Little Qin Yanzhi stared at blue phoenix blankly with an inexplicable sense of rejection in his heart. That feeling was neither annoying nor fearful, but for some reason, he wanted to pluck every single feather from that bird.

He stared at blue phoenix flapping its wings and noticed a vindictive pleasure on that expression? Only heaven would know how he saw gloating and joy in a chicken’s face.

Qin Yanzhi looked at Jing Yue reproachfully and saw the other party pursing his lips, with an indistinguishable but complicated expression on his face.

Of course Jing Yue was in a dilemma!

When blue phoenix released the leaf blade, he almost burst into tears, even though the power was really…

In an unexpected twist, the plot took a turn for the worse, and the scene of blue phoenix attacking Qin-zhenjun years ago reappeared in his mind. All those emotions and gratification disappeared in an instant. Jing Yue just wanted to bury Ji-ji in the ground and light it on fire!

On the contrary, blue phoenix was oblivious and even jumped up beside him, its chest puffed up and a triumphant expression of ‘praise me quickly!’

Jing Yue restrained his itchy hands and finally rubbed its furry little head.

As for Sun Zhong who was far away in the capital, he was currently being welcomed into the purple hall of the imperial palace, and conveyed Jing Yue’s intentions to the emperor.

No doubt the emperor had suffered greatly the last time. Although he was cured by Jing Yue, he was still a little afraid when he saw Sun Zhong again. But after he understood what Sun Zhong meant, he immediately looked at him with starry eyes. “State, no, Sun-xianzhang, what do you think of me? I heard from my royal mother that when I was born, purple Qi exploded in the sky, the gold dragon danced, and my cries could be heard all over the palace.”

Sun Zhong was silent. If that was true, see if the previous emperor would not have drowned you immediately!

Before he could say a word, another person spoke, “Sun-xianzhang, my consort mother said that when I was born, they saw a giant python circling in the house. It was still winter but the gardens of Zhongcui Palace started to bloom…”

Prince Ning was still talking when he was interrupted by a minister, “Xianzhang, when I was born, many butterflies gathered around me. I started speaking in half a year, recite poems when I’m a year old…”

“I can write essays when I was three!”

“I produced books when I was six!”

For a while, which high-ranking officials in the hall still remembered that they were courtiers? They couldn’t wait to push the emperor aside and learn the immortal Dao with Sun Zhong.

Seeing that the emperor’s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot and about to get angry, Sun Zhong said hurriedly, “Don’t worry, I have a test gourd. If you are destined, this gourd should react.”

Unfortunately, after the test, almost everyone in the palace hall had no spiritual roots. The only exception was the new imperial scholar.

His spiritual root was not that good, just the most inferior five-element spiritual root, but it was better than nothing, so Sun Zhong asked, “Would you like to follow me to Flying Blossoms Mountain?”

The imperial scholar could hardly contain his excitement. He had seen the golden statue of the sect leader of Mini Frostcloud Sect, and knew that it was the immortal who guided him!

He didn’t see the immortal again that day, but he developed a high fever when he returned to his residence, and it didn’t get any better. Unexpectedly, he suddenly recovered from his illness just before he entered the exam hall. The next few tests also felt as if he had received divine help, and this result naturally coincided with what the immortal said. Although there were twists and turns, he was bound to take the top spot.

He couldn’t help shuddering at the thought of being able to join the immortal gate. His heart almost jumped out of his throat and was about to express his attitude when he suddenly remembered the conversation with the immortal. Then, he thought of his ambitions and also the purpose of his hard work over the past 20 years.

The two thoughts tangled in his head, almost tearing him in two. After a long time, he said hoarsely, “I still have a wish to fulfill, so I can't go up the mountain with the immortal.”

Sun Zhong was stunned, not expecting someone to refuse, and asked, “What is your wish?”

Imperial scholar, “For the people to prosper and the Chen Kingdom is well.”

Sun Zhong was slightly moved, and after a moment said, “Very well.”

The hall resounded with sighs of regret, and even the emperor looked reproachful, but when he glanced at the petite scholar, only to feel that the whole person was glowing at the moment.

After that, the emperor sent out the notice that Mini Frostcloud Sect was accepting disciples to all the prefectures and counties. This news was like a huge boulder thrown into the lake and caused an uproar in Chen Kingdom.

The weather gradually became hot and the new grass in spring was already green.

After Chen, Sun Zhong visited Xiang and Qi, and finally returned to Flying Blossoms Mountain with more than 100 newly accepted disciples.

These disciples were of different ages, the oldest already past the age of maturity, while the youngest was still a finger-gnawing baby, crying and fussing all the way.

Most of them were four or five-element spiritual roots, while very few had three elements, one of which was the Princess of Qi. Despite that, able to find so many mortals with spiritual roots in the three remote kingdoms, they could be considered outstanding people.

What surprised Jing Yue the most was that Sun Zhong also discovered one with two-element spiritual roots! This was a highly talented person that even Frostcloud Sect would hold in high regard!

He couldn't help but look at the other party for a while. The child was round and chubby, said to be the grandson of a certain county magistrate, but also the youngest of this group of disciples, only three years old, called Song Xiaobao.

Song Xiaobao was leaning on Sun Zhong’s thigh, looking straight at Jing Yue—, or rather, Qin Yanzhi next to him. He didn’t even notice that his snot was dripping. His brain with limited capacity only had one thought—that little Jiejie was so, so, so pretty…

Jing Yue didn’t know his thoughts, but looking at his silly appearance, he couldn’t help laughing. Just as he wanted to call out to the other party, he felt his sleeve tightened. He turned and saw Qin Yanzhi’s unhappy little face. Jing Yue interpreted that based on Qin Yanzhi’s daily awkward behavior, and wondered if he was jealous because Jing Yue smiled at Song Xiaobao?

He pretended not to notice and said to Sun Zhong, “It’s been hard on you for the past few months. You have done a good job. Take them down to rest. Zhongchun has made arrangements.”

When there was no one else in the room, Jing Yue pulled Qin Yanzhi in front of him and asked, “Is the little fusspot being jealous now?”

Qin Yanzhi went red and smiled with embarrassment. But he immediately thought of Jing-gege’s attention toward Song Xiaobao just now and was still flustered. That snot-bug was even younger than him… so he asked worriedly, “Does Gege want another Didi?”

Jing Yue, “…” He simply couldn’t understand Qin Yanzhi’s way of thinking.

But he still comforted, “What Didi are you talking about? These disciples will be cultivating with me in the future, growing and strengthening the sect together with us. You can regard them as juniors and be more generous to them, understand?”

Qin Yanzhi was a little disgruntled but still nodded reluctantly.

Jing Yue, “You’re already six years old, a man now. You can’t be willful anymore. Remember, only when the sect becomes stronger can we return to our hometown.”

When Qin Yanzhi heard this, his expression instantly glowed. The hometown that Jing-gege always spoke of was his longing. He yearned for the powerful beings there, yearned for the mighty sword that could break through all laws!

Thus, he puffed his chest and said stoically, “Don’t worry, Gege, I’m better than all of them and I’ll guide them well!”

His display not only amused Jing Yue in front of him but also made Jing Yue in the big world laugh out loud. Mini Canglan sword felt its master’s joy and trembled with excitement. Not to mention blue phoenix, who always watched the excitement and was not afraid of causing trouble, jumped on Qin Yanzhi’s legs and rolled around laughing and stumbling about.

Qin Yanzhi polished the broken sword in his hand indifferently. Daoyi was already shattered and could not be repaired but he knew Daoyi’s sword spirit was still in the dantian of that foolish boy in Haotian Realm.

At this moment, he seemed calm, but the hand holding the sword couldn't help tightening.

Author’s Notes:

Ji-ji rolls on Rouge’s legs laughing.

Rouge: Get off.

Ji-ji sprawled and refused to move.

Rouge: Get off x 2

Ji-ji: Hmph, I’m not. Don’t try to trick me, I know you now!



Song Xiaobao staggered and ran like a goose: Little Jiejie, pretty little Jiejie, wait for me.

Lil Yanzhi: You’re the little Jiejie, your whole family is little Jiejie.

Song Xiaobao: Well then, Little Meimei…

Lil Yanzhi: … Get lost!



Mm, Rouge looked a little like a girl when he was a kid. Second stage, recruit disciples!