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Chapter 45 – Mingxin
TL: Patrol Guard Hall → Patrol Enforcement Hall.
Liu Xiangji’s expression didn’t change throughout all of this. He simply turned a blind eye to it and said, “I’ll be leaving now that the disciple assignments are done.” He turned around and left the hall, taking Zhou Xin and Liu Jiangwu with him. He then waved his hand and summoned a Spirit Cloud that was much larger than the one that Daoist Lord Shangyuan had, and flew off into the skies.
Li Daoming didn’t mind in the slightest. He commanded the people in the hall below him. “Junior Martial Brother Zhou, dispatch several disciples and have them bring these people to their respective places. Each assignment should be recorded in detail into the jade slip, then a copy should be sent to both the Chief Peaks of the Affairs Hall and the Directory Hall.”
“Understood, Senior Martial Brother Li.” A servant disciple immediately stepped out from the ranks below, then addressed Xu Disheng and the rest. “Come with me.”
He took the dozen or so people along with him as he left the main hall. There were several early Sea of Qi stage disciples waiting outside. When one of them saw the servant disciple coming out, he approached him with an ingratiating smile. “Senior Martial Brother Zhou, were there any orders?”
The servant disciple who happened to be surnamed Zhou had an aloof expression, but he didn’t bother to respond to them. He turned towards the crowd of people following him and asked, “Who is the one called Xu Disheng?”
Xu Disheng replied, “Reporting to Senior Martial Brother, that would be me.”
Servant disciple Zhou didn’t stare at Xu Disheng, and just pointed at him and Chu Qing’er while addressing the several early Sea of Qi stage disciples. “Take these two to the Outer Region of Mingxin Mountain. As for the other 10 or so people, take them to the Outer Region of Zhuri Mountain. No mistakes will be permitted.”
“Understood, Senior Martial Brother Zhou.” They immediately left to carry out the order.
Clouds and hazy mists filled the skies. From time to time, there would be rays of light passing by, flying over their heads or below them. But most of the people were like them, riding upon pure white Spirit Clouds, which were low-grade flying-type Spirit Tools.
Xu Disheng and Chu Qing’er were atop one of the Spirit Clouds, which belonged to an ordinary servant disciple, who was at the early Sea of Qi stage. Xu Disheng roughly felt him out using his perception, and detected that his cultivation and Daoist Lord Shangyuan’s cultivation were roughly similar.
Seeing that this servant disciple wasn’t nearly as cold as the rest, Chu Qing’er approached him with a salute. She smiled and said, “Senior Martial Brother, this is my first time in the Human Realm, and there are many things I don’t know. I was wondering whether or not Senior Martial Brother could help me answer some questions?”
The servant disciple was in the middle of controlling the Spirit Cloud, which slowly sped up when he heard this. He didn’t turn around, and he just stood there by the edge of the cloud as he spoke. “I know that you have a lot of questions, but I don’t have that much free time to answer you. Wait until you get to the Outer Region of Mingxin Mountain. There will be people there who can help explain things to you.”
After that, he didn’t say anything more, and just silently urged the Spirit Cloud onward. He clearly didn’t want to be stuck with overseeing these ‘primitives’ from the Mortal Secret Realm.
Xu Disheng was in the back of the Spirit Cloud, but he didn’t say anything. He was just watching the scenery as they passed by, silently calculating the route they were taking. They had already traveled several hundred li and passed by several dozen Peaks since leaving Cangming Peak of Wenyuan Mountain, but they had only just left the Wenyuan Mountain Range. From this alone, it was easy to see how enormous the Shangqing Sacred Sect was.
Along the way, there were all kinds of passing rays of light, which belonged to various flying-type Spirit Tools, and he had already seen so many that he became somewhat numb to it. With how vast the Wenyuan Mountain Range was, it was still only the Third Mountain out of the Eight Mountains of the Shangqing Sacred Sect.
The name ‘Mingxin Mountain’ meant seeing through the nature of the mind. An unknown number of years ago, a Saint Lord of the Shangqing Sacred Sect had established it. Over time, it had developed into the exceedingly prosperous state it was now, and became known as the Sixth Mountain Range. It had two great Mountain Lords, several hundred Peak Masters, and several tens of thousands of disciples.
Inside the Outer Region of Mingxin Mountain, there was an extremely massive, broad mountain peak standing at a height of more than 2600 meters. This mountain was used as a temporary place for the new disciples to stay. Most of the disciples were recruited from the Human Realm. There were very few who were from the 27 Mortal Secret Realms, where most of them were ordinary mortals, a few were profound cultivators, and even fewer who were like Xu Disheng, who were already at the Cleansed Meridians stage at the time they entered the sect.
Once the new disciples cultivated to the Sea of Qi stage, they could apply for the Mountain Entry Examination at one of the Eight Mountains. If they passed, they would be considered to have genuinely become a part of the Shangqing Sacred Sect and join the Mountain they applied to.
At that time, they could report to their Mountain’s branch of the Affairs Hall, who would then assign them to one of the Peaks amongst the hundreds or so belonging to that Mountain Range. From then on, they would be considered officially initiated, and the treatment and resources they would receive would be completely different from when they were in the Outer Region.
The Affairs Hall was equally as famous as the Mountain of Law’s Disciplinary Hall and Patrol Enforcement Hall, and in the Shangqing Sacred Sect, these three were known as the Three Great Halls, since they had the most authority.
The Chief Branch of the Affairs Hall was on Wenyuan Mountain. Since they were in charge of overseeing all kinds of miscellaneous proceedings, the movement of personnel, the distribution of resources, and so on, they possessed an incredible amount of power. The Three Great Halls had branches at each of the Eight Mountains, and at this moment, the servant disciple was bringing Xu Disheng and Chu Qing’er to the branch of the Affairs Hall on Mingxin Mountain.
The Spirit Cloud slowly landed atop a colossal mountain peak. The servant disciple seemed a bit impatient as he brought the two of them off the Spirit Cloud. Several disciples who were part of the Affairs Hall branch had come forward long ago to welcome them. With a smile, one of them said, “Greetings, Senior Martial Brother.”
The servant disciple said, “These two people are new disciples from the Mortal Secret Realm. One of them is Rank 6 Spiritual Root and one of them has Grade 1 Profound Meridians. Distribute the first month’s resources to them and arrange a place for them to stay in the Outer Region. Quickly.”
He didn’t even wait for the several disciples to nod their heads in agreement. He tossed the recording jade slip to them and immediately returned to his Spirit Cloud, urging it back into the skies with the navigation spell.
Xu Disheng probed the several Affairs Hall disciples in front of him. Most of them were at the Cleansed Meridians stage, and only two of them were at the Sea of Qi stage.
The Sea of Qi stage disciple who was leading them, Liu Dian, had received the jade slip from thata servant disciple. He sent a strand of his consciousness into it, and after a short while, he raised his head to look at the two people in front of him. “Come with me to receive your robes, spirit stones, and medicinal pills,” he said.
This peak was called Mountain Affairs Peak. Even though it was situated on the edge of the Mingxin Mountain Range, it was an exceedingly flourishing and prosperous location because the Mingxin branch of the Affairs Hall was located here.
There were four main palace halls located atop the peak, namely the Spirit Origin Hall, Sect Affairs Hall, Examination Hall, and the Human Resources Hall. Every one of these halls was extremely grand, each one towering at hundreds of meters in height. From time to time, beams of light of all different colors and descriptions would fly out from the Mountain Range, landing in the Sect Affairs Hall where these disciples would enter the grand halls.
Liu Dian brought Xu Disheng and Chu Qing’er directly into the Spirit Origin Hall. It was only when they entered the hall that they discovered what kind of universe lay within. From the outside, it only looked like it was several hundred meters tall, but the space inside was immeasurably vast.
There was an endless stream of disciples going in and out of the hall, all looking like they were in a hurry. Spirit Origin Hall was the place on Mingxin Mountain where the sect kept the resources. The palace hall was further split up into the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion, the Spirit Weapons Pavilion, Cultivation Method Pavilion, and so on. Almost everything that could be thought of was here, categorized in an all-encompassing manner.
Liu Dian brought Xu Disheng and Chu Qing’er into the Spirit Weapons Pavilion, and he sent in the jade slip. He bowed respectfully from outside and said, “Lord Deacon, I have brought two new disciples to receive their robes and weapons. I sent in the record jade slip already.”
After a short while, the jade slip flew back out from within the door, and an indifferent voice rang out. “Come in.”
The three of them entered, and a middle-aged Daoist was seated on high with several disciples below him. As it turned out, the Deacon of Spirit Weapons Hall was a Dao Foundation stage powerhouse.
The middle-aged Daoist glanced at Xu Disheng and Chu Qing’er and instructed the several disciples below him. “In accordance with the record in the jade slip, give the Rank 6 Spiritual Root a low-grade protective Daoist robe Spirit Tool. As for the rest, proceed as usual.”
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“Understood, Lord Deacon.” A disciple immediately received the order and went into the pavilion’s treasury.
After about half the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the disciple came back out. When he reached the main lobby, he said respectfully, “Lord Deacon, I have brought the items.” He waited for the middle-aged Daoist to nod his head, then gave the things he was carrying to Xu Disheng and Chu Qing’er one by one.
Xu Disheng was given a high-grade Martial Treasure sword, just like his Autumn Water Sword, as well as a light green Daoist robe, which was faintly emitting a magical, halo-like glow. Chu Qing’er didn’t receive such an item. Instead, she received an ordinary Martial Treasure Daoist robe.
Chu Qing’er stared at the low-grade Daoist robe Spirit Tool in Xu Disheng’s hands, not concealing the envy in her eyes in the slightest.
Seeing that the matter was completed, Liu Dian saluted and said, “Then we will withdraw for now, Lord Deacon.” He took Xu Disheng and Chu Qing’er along with him to exit Spirit Weapons Pavilion before saying, “Since you two are disciples recruited from those Secret Realms, have you already cultivated the Shangqing Profound Laws? If that’s the case, then for now you don’t need to pick a cultivation method straight away. You can wait several days and find a place to stay first, then come back to the Spirit Origin Hall to pick a cultivation method at Cultivation Method Pavilion. We will first go to Human Resources Hall to pick up your identity jade slips and spirit stones, and then I will drop you two off at the Outer Region.”
Xu Disheng and Chu Qing’er nodded their heads in agreement.
Liu Dian brought the two of them out of Spirit Origin Hall, seeming to be in a hurry as he walked quickly towards Human Resources Hall. On Mountain Affairs Peak, flying was prohibited. Once they landed on the peak, they could only walk. There was not a single person who dared to violate this rule.
The fact that even a place as small as the Spirit Weapons Pavilion in the Spirit Origin Hall of Mountain Affairs Peak was being guarded by a Dao Foundation stage powerhouse made Xu Disheng realize all over again the enormity of the behemoth that was the Shangqing Sacred Sect.
From Human Resources Hall, Xu Disheng received an identity jade slip and 3 spirit stones, while Chu Qing’er only received 2.
Liu Dian said, “These spirit stones are only the amount given to you at the start. After this, outer disciples who haven’t yet reached the Sea of Qi stage will only be able to receive 1 spirit stone per month, regardless of whether they belong to the low class Spiritual Root or middle class Spiritual Root. As for spiritual medicines, medicinal pills, and so on, those are something that you new disciples won’t be able to afford, so don’t even bother thinking about it.”
Xu Disheng saluted and said, “Sorry for all the trouble. Thank you, Senior Martial Brother.”
Liu Dian gave a wry smile and replied, “No problem. This is my duty after all, so I have no choice.” It was clear that he didn’t really like having to help with leading around new disciples. He turned around and continued, “To finish up this matter, I will be bringing you two to the Outer Region where you will stay.”
The two of them nodded and boarded Liu Dian’s Spirit Cloud, which began to head in the direction of the massive mountain peak that was known as the Outer Region of Mingxin Mountain.