Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 707 - 702 Collecting 2

Chapter 707: Chapter 702 Collecting 2

The cliff was a bare, greyish white, with only a few stray blades of grass fluttering in the wind.

A few people stood on the edge, with a sheer cliff face in front of them and the faint sound of flowing water below.

"Go and tell the rest of the children, if they can safely climb down from here, I will accept them as Outer Sect disciples or attendants. If not, let them leave on their own,"

Lin Xin instructed indifferently.

"Yes."

Two officers respectfully complied and went to lead the orphans over.

Lin Xin stood at the edge of the cliff, looking down. Below was a slope with an angle of seventy to eighty degrees and at the very bottom was a fairly large pool of water, about twenty or more meters below. There was also a silver stream like a ribbon slowly merging into the pool.

"You two will also take part in the climbing,"

he added offhandedly.

"Yes."

Both children answered.

For a while, Lin Xin said nothing, just quietly waiting for the orphans to arrive.

He planned to walk them through the process, which would then serve as a means of assessing Outer Sect disciples.

In the practice of cultivation, talent alone is insufficient; one must also possess courage, perseverance, and determination.

All are indispensable.

He also intended to select extraordinarily talented disciples for focused training.

Even if their natural abilities were somewhat poor, as long as their perseverance, courage, and determination were strong, they could still have the potential to accomplish great things. Just like himself.

Soon, orphans were led up to the cliff.

The officers repeated Lin Xin’s words, and the group of children all looked troubled.

They had been gathered with the thought they might be taken into a wealthy household as servants or maids; now it seemed there was even a risk to their lives.

That steep cliff looked extremely dangerous at a glance; one fall could mean death.

Whether it was worth risking so much for a full meal was now the question.

The children hesitated, not willing to be the first to move.

After a long wait, Lin Xin was nearly out of patience.

"I’ll go."

Suddenly, a faint voice stood out.

Everyone was startled and looked in the direction of the voice.

They saw a small, skinny boy timidly stepping out of the crowd, walking step by step toward the cliff.

"Huang Bao! Do you have a death wish!?" shouted a sturdy child, his face turning from blue to white. He was the bully among the orphans, always delighting in tormenting others. Now, seeing that a boy who was frequently bullied had dared to be the first to step forward and steal the limelight, the bully was not as bold as this scrawny Huang Bao. His face twitched with the desire to do the same, but his feet just couldn’t move.

But Huang Bao paid no heed, as if he hadn’t heard the call at all.

He arrived at the cliff’s edge, examined it carefully,

and before long, he really began to climb down.

"He really dares!!"

The group of children were stunned.

"I’m coming too!!"

Another thin and dark boy, who looked slightly more robust.

"Huang Bao, wait for me!"

He quickly scoped out the handholds on the cliff and followed down.

Watching this scene, Lin Xin made a mental note of Huang Bao’s image.

"Interesting."

Under the spur, a group of children, including Lu Li and Lu Dabai who were beside Lin Xin, were sent out in succession, climbing down the cliff.

Lin Xin stood to the side, ready to intervene and protect them at any moment.

The results of the climb were quickly apparent.

Lu Li actually came first.

She seemed unable to feel pain at all, her eyes hollow and numb as she reached the pool and jumped in, swimming to the shore.

By the time she got out, she was covered in wounds, bleeding quite a bit, and her complexion was terrifyingly pale.

Lin Xin was also startled by this and upon further inquiry, discovered that the youngster simply couldn’t feel touch or pain; whether suffering or pleasure, it was all the same to her. Her hands had many cuts which she felt nothing from.

The second was Huang Bao who had started climbing first; the third was the dark and thin boy. This time, Lu Dabai ranked fourth, and when the officers rescued him to the bank, he was still full of dissatisfaction.

Out of the rest of the children, Lin Xin picked three to be attendants, and the rest were allowed to leave, including the bully.

Afterward, with the hut now having more space, he asked about the details of these children’s backgrounds. It was crucial to tailor the teaching to each child’s ability.

These children were the future foundation of his small world, so he had to personally take the lead.

After understanding their circumstances, Lin Xin had someone check on the progress of the next group of youths who were on their way.

With the power of the royal palace, gathering young children with good aptitudes was naturally much more efficient.

Three days passed at Qing Lake Mountain.

Lin Xin received the next batch of youngsters from the pleasure district, this group even younger, all below the age of ten, the youngest being only six.

They were meticulously selected; each attractive and adorable, most of them girls.

Lin Xin had already had the masons build additional huts for the children to live in.

The daily meals were specially managed by a chef with a foundation in pharmacology.

The second batch of children totaled thirty, among which there were five with Second Rank spirit veins, three with Third Rank, and one each with Fourth and Fifth Rank spirit veins.

That was considered quite a lucky draw.

With this, there were now two individuals with Fifth Rank spirit veins.

Although the Fifth Rank spirit veins here contained no spiritual energy, they still represented the foundation for future lineage continuation.

Another half a month passed, and the third batch of people arrived.

This batch was specifically responsible for handling various affairs, consisting of servants and farmers.

All of them were ready-made personnel dispatched from the domain of King Qingjing.

The grand hall of the Lakeside Mountain Sect was nearly complete; a vast number of workers toiled day and night non-stop, countless Silver Coins were spent like flowing water.

Naturally, the speed was incredibly fast.

Lin Xin also hired a locally renowned teacher to first teach a group of children on the mountain, aiming to spread basic knowledge.

He himself then found the previously remembered figures Huang Bao, Lu Dabai, along with Lu Li and another individual with Fifth Rank spirit veins, Ouyang Feifei.

They headed to the cultivation practice area of the Lakeside Mountain Sect.

The entire Lakeside Mountain Sect was divided into three areas: residential, cultivation practice, and talisman production.

The cultivation area included the script lessons taught by the teacher.

When Lin Xin arrived at this place, Princess Huai Yang and the other four were already waiting in advance at the training ground within the cultivation area.

The milky-white training ground was a large circular rock made up of innumerable smaller stones pieced together.

Green banners representing the Lakeside Mountain Sect were planted all around.

Lin Xin led his group to stand still, and from a distance, saw Princess Huai Yang and the others come over to greet them.

"How well have you practiced the Basic Cultivation Methods?"

Princess Huai Yang and the others paused, looked at each other, and seemed somewhat lacking in confidence.

"Starting from today, everyone will practice the techniques according to this booklet of Cultivation Techniques I have just finished compiling," said Lin Xin, tossing out a newly compiled booklet.

The booklet he had given to Princess Huai Yang and the other four was only concerning the practice of Hidden Weapons.

But this time, it was actually a simplified version of the Green Yuan Decision.

He had established a sect in this small world under the identity of a disciple from Green Lake Mountain.

The sect he established naturally and logically became one of the branch sects of Green Lake Mountain.

The Cultivation Techniques practiced were naturally also the Green Yuan Decision.

However, what Lin Xin offered was a simplified version that he had revised and compiled, as spiritual energy was scarce here. Directly cultivating the complete version, nobody knew how many years it would take to meet the requirements.

Therefore, he only gave out the simplified version of the First Layer for beginners.

"This is the core method for Inner Strength cultivation practice, try practicing it first," Lin Xin said as he took out the small booklet, letting everyone comprehend it on their own.

Upon hearing that it was a method for Inner Qi cultivation practice, Princess Huai Yang and the others were overjoyed.

They hurriedly snatched the booklet to read it carefully.

However, upon looking through it, they were all somewhat disappointed.

The Green Yuan Decision described all sorts of profound and mysterious things, mostly focusing on the circulation of the mind and thought, with not much about External Skills actions.

"Honored Master... there’s no physical movements... how can we cultivate this?" asked Princess Huai Yang with a frown.

"Just follow it as it is. Learn from Lu Li," Lin Xin pointed to the side where the young girl Lu Li had already read the booklet and was sitting on the ground, circulating her thoughts in meditation.

Although Lin Xin couldn’t sense others’ mental fluctuations due to the scarcity of spiritual energy, he could still feel whether the cultivation of the technique was successful or not.

The place they were currently in for their cultivation practice had been quietly set up with a Spirit Gathering Array for protection.

Even though the spiritual energy was equally scarce here, it was still much denser than the outside.

It might not be of much use to others, but for Lu Li and Ouyang Feifei, with their Fifth Rank spirit veins, there would absolutely be no problems.

Simply sensing the spiritual energy was still possible.

The others, seeing how quickly Lu Li had started, suddenly felt somewhat embarrassed and quickly sat down on the ground to circulate their thoughts, following the beginner’s technique of the Green Yuan Decision.

The first step of the technique was to sense the Nine Elemental Energies, but since there wasn’t enough Elemental Energy here, Lin Xin had modified it to only sense the Yin Yang energies.

Concerning only Yin Yang, while modifying it this way certainly allowed the Green Yuan Decision to reach Fifth Rank, it was limited to just that, with no path forward.

Yet for this group of children at present, being able to reach Fourth Rank was already a huge opportunity, not something achievable without hundreds or thousands of years of cultivation practice, including countless occasions of fortune reversal and seeking good fortune while avoiding calamities.

Fifth Rank was the foundation of a small to medium-sized sect, a core force of the Mortal Realm, not so easy to attain.

Lu Dabai and Huang Bao also sat down to meditate and quickly quieted down.

But for the older siblings, Chen Xing and Chen Cailing, their minds remained cluttered after sitting down, clearly unable to calm their thoughts.

What surprised Lin Xin was Zhao Kunpeng, the Silver Armor youngster, who became even more restless. After closing his eyes for a moment, he frowned, scratched his head, and fidgeted, completely unable to sit still.

However, Princess Huai Yang quickly settled down, causing Lin Xin to be slightly taken aback.

The eight individuals sat side by side in front of Lin Xin, each bearing a different expression.

The most tranquil among them turned out to be Princess Huai Yang, even more than Lu Li, who faintly showed signs of irritation and restlessness.

Lin Xin was quite surprised.

He had specially added a rune in the Formation at the training area that amplified the sensing of Elemental Energy.

However, this rune had a minor side effect, which was to agitate the mind, causing distraction and disquiet.

In other words, it lowered the difficulty of sensing the Heaven and Earth’s Elemental Energy but raised the requirement for mental strength.

Now it seemed that only Princess Huai Yang was completely unaffected by this disturbance.