Jiang Ling paid no mind to the petty squabbles within the sect.
He could see that Jincancan had even stronger a sense of responsibility than he did—its constant frustration with the disciples' slow progress led it to badger them into working harder every day.
A senior brother ought to act like one: caring for junior brothers and sisters, pushing them to strive for more.
Jincancan did this perfectly, and it filled Jiang Ling with satisfaction.
Hua Yuntian: "..."
A thousand curses bubbled in his chest, unspoken.
Days passed in a flurry of chaos, and the sect's numbers swelled, with newcomers flocking from a thousand li around, drawn by its fame.
There were mortals, and loose cultivators alike.
They were only ten disciples short of the hundred required to upgrade to an Eighth-Rank sect.
Glancing at the system quest on his panel, Jiang Ling was unruffled—he had no worries at all.
The Primordial Beginning Sect had annihilated a Seventh-Rank great sect guarded by a Nascent Soul ancestor, catapulting it to unparalleled fame. It had directly replaced the former Jade Sword Sect as the undisputed ruler of the thousand li radius.
Hitting that headcount would be a breeze.
Before the Primordial Beginning Sect's mountain gate, the hundred white jade steps of the Jade Capital Platform glowed with a warm, moist luster in the sun, like a colossal touchstone.
Jiang Ling's voice rang out clearly, carrying across the mountains and plains:
"From this day forth, all who wish to join my Primordial Beginning Sect must climb this Jade Capital Heavenly Stairway! Sincerity and resolve shall reveal the path of the Dao!"
"Climb sixty steps, and you shall be an outer disciple! Upon entry, you shall receive: one basic sect cultivation technique, a set of magical robes, one hundred Peiyuan Pills, one hundred Bigu Pills, one hundred low-grade spirit stones, and a monthly stipend of ten taels of silver!"
"Climb seventy steps, and you shall be an ordinary disciple! Upon entry, you shall receive: one basic sect cultivation technique, a set of magical robes, two hundred Peiyuan Pills, two hundred Bigu Pills, two hundred low-grade spirit stones, plus one Profound-Rank technique! A monthly stipend of fifty low-grade spirit stones!"
"Climb eighty steps, and you shall be an inner disciple! Upon entry, you shall receive: one basic sect cultivation technique, a set of magical robes, three hundred Peiyuan Pills, three hundred Bigu Pills, three hundred low-grade spirit stones, plus one Earth-Rank technique and one Earth-Rank magical artifact! A monthly stipend of one hundred low-grade spirit stones!"
"Climb ninety steps, and you shall be a core disciple! Upon entry, you shall receive: one basic sect cultivation technique, a set of magical robes, five hundred Peiyuan Pills, five hundred Bigu Pills, five hundred low-grade spirit stones, a monthly stipend of three hundred low-grade spirit stones! You may take me as your master, receive one spirit artifact, and choose any cultivation technique in the sect!"
The benefits were like cold water splashed into boiling oil—they ignited an instant uproar!
"Good heavens! Outer disciples get two hundred pills and a hundred spirit stones?!"
"An Earth-Rank technique? An Earth-Rank artifact? Is this real? Inner disciples get this treatment?!"
"Take the Sect Master as your master, and a spirit artifact too? This is madness! Did the Primordial Beginning Sect find an ancient treasure hoard?!"
"Charge! I might just be the chosen one!"
Tempted by the immense rewards, a motley crowd converged.
The mountain gate was instantly thronged—with ragged mortal youths whose eyes blazed with resolve, with weathered loose cultivators worn thin by travel,
and with no small number of shifty-eyed schemers, slinking into the crowd like hyenas catching the scent of blood.
The Jade Capital Platform hummed to life, silent and unseen.
On its faintly glowing white jade steps, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy in coarse cloth stared up at the Primordial Beginning Sect's mountain gate, his eyes filled with pure gratitude and yearning.
His name was Wang Tiezhu. His entire family had been killed by a roving pack of low-grade monsters, and he would have met the same fate if Jiang Ling, who'd been down the mountain buying supplies, hadn't saved him.
Now that the Primordial Beginning Sect had thrown open its gates, Wang Tiezhu, driven by bitter hatred and the will to survive, stepped onto the Jade Capital Platform without hesitation.
"The immortal master saved my life and gave me a chance to avenge my family—from now on, my life belongs to the Primordial Beginning Sect!"
His favorability toward the sect soared to an astonishing 95. The moment he stepped onto the first step, a warm current surged into his weary body.
Sixty steps... seventy steps...
Sweat poured down his face, his legs felt as heavy as lead, yet he gritted his teeth, his gaze hard as iron. Each step was crushing, yet unshakably firm.
In the end, for a host of reasons, he failed to reach the ninetieth step, stopping at the eighty-eighth—just shy of becoming a core disciple. But Wang Tiezhu was not discouraged. He collapsed to the ground, exhausted, gasping for breath, yet his face broke into an ecstatic grin.
The eighty-eighth step meant inner disciple status. Finally, he had a chance to change his fate!
This was far more than he'd dared hope for—he could ask for nothing more.
Not far from Wang Tiezhu, a beautiful young female cultivator also clung on, refusing to yield.
Her name was Li Qinglan, twenty-two years old, a lone Second Layer Qi Refining loose cultivator with no family or backing.
Li Qinglan was tired of the endless wandering, the constant fear of death around every corner. The Primordial Beginning Sect's power and its generous benefits were an irresistible temptation.
Her favorability toward the sect stood at a solid 87.
Li Qinglan took a deep breath, her steps light and steady, her mind utterly focused.
The resistance of the Jade Capital Platform felt to her like nothing more than a gentle breeze on her cheeks.
Seventy steps... eighty steps...
She did not pause, finally planting her feet firmly on the eighty-second step.
The eighty-second step—inner disciple. She would have pills and spirit stones the moment she joined, a life of steady cultivation from now on, with the Great Dao within her grasp! Li Qinglan's fingers trembled with excitement, tears glistening in her eyes.
Amid the crowd of devout seekers, however, lurked schemers.
"Move aside, move aside! I don't believe this nonsense—I'm gonna try!"
A shifty-eyed cultivator with a weasel-like face shoved his way through the crowd and onto the Jade Capital Platform.
His name was Zhao San, a spy planted by the nearby Black Wind Stronghold, tasked with uncovering the Primordial Beginning Sect's secrets—and if possible, infiltrating it as an insider.
"Just a bunch of upstarts," he thought, his heart filled with contempt for the sect. "Wait till the chief finds out your weak points—we'll see how you die!"
The moment he stepped onto the first step, a repulsive force surged up from beneath his feet, as if he'd stepped on slippery moss.
"Hmph, trivial trick!"
He curled his lip in disdain, forcing his spiritual energy to stabilize his figure.
But the moment he set foot on the fifth step, the white jade beneath him burst into a blinding white light.
An unstoppable, massive force slammed into his chest like an invisible battering ram!
Pfft! Zhao San let out a half-choked scream, his body flying backward like a broken kite. He spurted a mouthful of blood mid-air, crashing heavily to the ground more than ten zhang away. Several of his ribs were broken, his internal organs ruptured and displaced. He curled up on the ground, whimpering like a dying dog, his eyes filled with terror and shock.
What the hell!
This stairway could actively attack people?!
In that moment, Black Wind Stronghold, his mission—Zhao San forgot it all. He only wanted to get as far away from this cursed place as possible!
It was the first time the Jade Capital Platform had ever attacked someone, and Jiang Ling, curious, cast a glance at Zhao San from afar.
In the next instant, his face darkened.
What the hell was with a -25 favorability rating?!
He glanced instinctively at the crowd—and his face turned even darker.
There were quite a few more people in the crowd with negative favorability ratings, clearly spies sent by other forces.
Like that well-dressed, smarmy fat man, for example.
His face wore a look of reverence, but his favorability rating was a solid -18.