Chapter 5: The First Disciple

The "nephew" he mentioned was the child of Jiang Youfu's eldest brother.

Jiang Youfu, the same age as Lin Xiao at twelve, was the third son in his family, with two older brothers.

His eldest brother, Jiang Youliang, was already twenty-two years old, and his son, Jiang Chengtian, was five years old.

Every time Jiang Chengtian called him "uncle," Lin Xiao found it fascinating.

At only twelve years old, he was already considered an uncle.

As they cleaned, Jiang Youfu gave Lin Xiao a playful wink, then leaned closer and whispered, "Xiao-ge, how's it going?"

After a brief pause, he lowered his voice even more and asked, "Can we really, like you said, cultivate and become immortals?"

Lin Xiao smirked proudly, "The path to immortality is open, waiting for you at our sect base on the mountainside."

Hearing this, Jiang Youfu's face lit up with excitement, and he swept the broom so fast it seemed to blur.

"Xiao-ge, do you think immortals really exist? Could we really ascend and become immortals, just like that old immortal who gave you this opportunity?"

Lin Xiao playfully flicked his forehead, "Do you think I would lie to you?"

Jiang Youfu rubbed his forehead where he'd been flicked but didn't get angry, just chuckling foolishly.

He kept thinking about how, a few days ago, Lin Xiao had come to him early in the morning, the day after his birthday, and said he had dreamed of an old immortal who had given him a great opportunity—possibly the path to immortality.

Lin Xiao had never lied to him, so it must be true.

At this moment, he was already imagining himself as an immortal, effortlessly cleaning the rabbit hutches with a wave of his hand, never having to struggle with the chore again.

Once they finished cleaning the rabbit hutches and bid farewell to Grandma Jiang, they eagerly ran towards the mountainside of North Mountain.

When they reached the entrance of the mountain path and saw the Ten Miles Peach Blossom Tree, Jiang Youfu was astonished.

There had never been a peach tree on North Mountain!

And this one was not only robust but also incredibly beautiful.

Although he couldn't pinpoint what made it so special, this peach tree looked different from all the other trees around the village.

Jiang Youfu felt that every branch, every leaf, and every blossom on this peach tree seemed meticulously arranged by the heavens, so beautiful that he couldn't get enough of it.

When Lin Xiao told him that the tree was a gift from the immortal's opportunity, Jiang Youfu felt proud of his keen eye, recognizing the uniqueness of the celestial tree at a glance.

As they walked further, Jiang Youfu noticed a large stone tablet standing next to the newly built grass hut.

There were three characters inscribed on it, but he couldn't read them.

Scratching his head in embarrassment, Jiang Youfu asked, "Xiao-ge, what does this stone say?"

Lin Xiao suddenly had a sinking feeling in his chest.

Oh no, he had forgotten that Jiang Youfu couldn't read.

In fact, aside from the landlord's son, no one in the village could read.

Of course, Lin Xiao, with his previous life's knowledge, didn't count.

The characters here were similar to traditional Chinese characters, so he could still read them fairly well.

Silently chastising himself for his oversight, Lin Xiao explained, "Ahem, these three characters read 'Lingxian Sect.' Lingxian Sect is the name of our sect! Once you learn to read, you'll understand what it means."

Jiang Youfu felt a mix of anxiety and excitement. "Xiao-ge, you can read! Did the old immortal teach you?"

Lin Xiao could only nod.

Meanwhile, he was already thinking about how to handle this issue when recruiting more disciples in the future.

Not just Xiushui Village, but even in the surrounding villages, there weren't many literate people.

Would he have to handle the sect's daily affairs and be responsible for teaching his disciples to read?

No, no, he needed to find a way to recruit someone literate to serve as a teacher.

"Come on, let's go inside first."

With that, Lin Xiao lifted the curtain of the grass hut and led Jiang Youfu inside.

But just as Jiang Youfu was about to step in, it was as if he hit an invisible barrier, and he stumbled back a few steps.

"Ah! Xiao-ge, I hit something!"

At the same time, the system's prompt echoed in Lin Xiao's mind:

[Ding—Sect defense function successfully activated. Non-sect members are prohibited from entering the sect base. The host may adjust entry permissions for non-members.]

[Initial sect defense range: A ten-meter radius centered on the sect base. The defense range will expand as the sect base level increases.]

[Sect base level: 1]

Lin Xiao immediately turned to Jiang Youfu and said, "Fuzi, let's go through the process first."

"Huh?" Jiang Youfu didn't understand.

Lin Xiao didn't waste any words and directly asked, "Jiang Youfu, are you willing to join Lingxian Sect, become a member of our sect, and devote yourself to cultivation?"

Jiang Youfu felt something ignite within him, and he nodded excitedly, "I'm willing, I'm willing!"

[Mission: Recruit your first disciple. Completed. The mission reward has been issued. Please check your inventory.]

Lin Xiao smiled slightly, "May we ascend together soon."

With that, Jiang Youfu smoothly stepped into the sect base.

Once they sat down on the dirt floor inside the sect base (grass hut), Jiang Youfu, imitating the way his father acted when buying land, sighed dramatically, "From today on, we're sect members!"

Then, brimming with enthusiasm, he asked, "Xiao-ge, when do we start cultivating?"

Lin Xiao gave Jiang Youfu a strange look, said nothing, and silently took out the "Peach Blossom Void Technique," handing it to him.

Then he said, "This is our sect's first cultivation technique."

Jiang Youfu looked at the book in his hands, opened it with a bewildered expression.

Lin Xiao reached over and flipped the book right side up for him.

"You're holding it upside down."

Jiang Youfu silently accepted it and continued flipping through it.

As expected, no surprises.

He couldn't understand a single word.

With a face full of despair, Jiang Youfu looked at Lin Xiao, "Xiao-ge, is there a cultivation technique that doesn't require reading?"

Lin Xiao was silent for a moment.

Suddenly, he remembered that he hadn't yet checked the system shop. Perhaps there might be a solution there.

He told Jiang Youfu to wait while he opened the shop.

The shop had a wide variety of items.

At the top were some recommended products.

Whether by coincidence or the system anticipating his needs, the first recommended item was a "Cultivation Technique Simplifier."

Lin Xiao read the product description.

The simplifier would convert the complex content of a cultivation technique into a more understandable format, using a combination of text and images.

Although it was still a mix of text and images rather than purely images, it was much better than the original! Even Lin Xiao, who was quite literate, found the original somewhat challenging.

With the simplifier, the simplified technique would greatly reduce the difficulty for Jiang Youfu and future illiterate disciples in understanding the technique.

Lin Xiao immediately decided to buy the simplifier.

However, when he checked the purchase requirements, it required spirit stones!

Moreover, different levels of cultivation techniques required corresponding levels of simplifiers, with varying prices.

An A-grade technique required five spirit stones!

A B-grade technique only required one spirit stone.

An S-grade technique required a whopping fifty spirit stones.

The price difference was quite substantial.

But beyond that, there were no simplifiers available for C-grade techniques.

Lin Xiao wondered if this was because there were no C-grade techniques in this world, with B-grade being the lowest, or if C-grade techniques were already simple enough not to need simplification.