Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 124 I'll Host

The two disciples of the Taiyi Ziwei Sect were singing in unison, almost to the point of swearing oaths. Baili Shuang almost burst out laughing when she heard this—it really was true that like senior sister, like junior brother and sister; the three of them were all in the same lineage, knowing how to be pragmatic.

The reason Baili Shuang didn't take action to deal with Jiao Xueling was not only because she needed to give an explanation to the other sects and forces that heard Taiyi Ziwei Sect was also coming, but also because she actually knew Jiao Xueling—she met her during her first playthrough.

Jiao Xueling was her senior master in the first playthrough. She led a team when they went to the secret realm. Just like protecting the two Taiyi Ziwei Sect disciples today, she has protected many disciples from various sects of the Taiyi Sect, including Fang Xianyu. She is a rare good person.

Among the three sects of Taiyi Sect, Tianji Sect has always been relatively unknown. Even when recruiting disciples, the sect members choose their own disciples and never recruit on a large scale. This has made Tianji Sect the smallest in size, with its number of members never exceeding a thousand.

The Qiankun Sect is the most powerful and is revered as the number one sect in the Central Continent. However, it is still righteous on the surface. Ultimately, it is concerned with appearances and its occasional misdeeds are mostly isolated cases. The elders, on the other hand, sit back and watch, neither taking action to "clean house" nor being too lenient. They have mastered the art of moderation.

The Ziwei Sect is different. It has a terrible reputation and is notorious for bullying men and women. They have done everything they should and shouldn't have done. They were even exposed for deliberately creating natural disasters to stage a "savior" drama in order to collect incense offerings and merits. The reason for the exposure was that the plan failed and they gained nothing.

Although Jiao Xueling is from the Ziwei Sect, she is not exactly a morally upright person—after all, deserting in the middle of the night and letting her fellow disciples be killed is certainly not a very honorable act. However, she does care a lot about her junior brothers and sisters and some of the younger disciples. Otherwise, she wouldn't have risked damaging her golden core to protect two Taiyi Ziwei Sect disciples when the heavenly lightning struck.

In Fang Xianyu's long memory, Jiao Xueling's unintentional good deeds may account for less than one ten-thousandth, but they still left a deep impression on her.

Compared to the other members of the three factions of the Taiyi Sect, she was the best among the worst. At least Fang Xianyu felt that Jiao Xueling could still be saved.

After Jiao Xueling had recovered somewhat, Baili Shuang invited her, "The night is long, and it's rare for Fellow Daoist Jiao to come to my Taiyin Sect. How about I treat you to a late-night snack?"

"Actually, I've always had a very regular schedule, and this is the time I usually go to bed..."

As Jiao Xueling spoke, after seeing the shadow of a golden rope emerge from Baili Shuang's sleeve, she changed her tune without changing her expression, saying, "But I think the moonlight is truly beautiful tonight, so having a midnight snack wouldn't be bad!"

A gentle breeze blew by, dispersing the clouds that were obscuring the moon and making the moonlight even dimmer.

The junior sister of the Taiyi Ziwei Sect trembled and whispered, "Senior... Senior Sister..."

"This should be the busiest time for barbecue restaurants,"

Baili Shuang deliberately took the lead and flew up on a cloud, her voice carrying from afar: "Then please, fellow Daoists, have a taste of the roasted meat of Chang'an City!"

"Don't be afraid, she can't possibly eat all three of us!"

As Jiao Xueling spoke, she patted her junior sister's hand reassuringly, and then led the two of them to catch up on the clouds.

The nights in Chang'an were exceptionally lively.

The common people and cultivators, having worked tirelessly all day, had grown accustomed to relaxing at this time. Although the planned industrialization of their otherworldly development had stalled temporarily due to the scarcity of mineral resources and a lack of in-depth understanding of the various new mines, and a complete power system had yet to be devised by the engineering whizzes, the city of Chang'an remained brightly lit at night. After all, with so many cultivators, what technology couldn't handle could still be solved with magic.

In the square of Chang'an, stones carved into various shapes were everywhere, all radiating a bright light, illuminating the area as if it were daytime.

This type of stone is called staghorn stone, mostly a by-product of spirit stone mines. It has low hardness, is abundant, and is almost ubiquitous, making it very inexpensive. Its only unique characteristic is its ability to slowly absorb and release spiritual energy, continuously emitting light during this release in a slow, rhythmic manner, like breathing. Therefore, staghorn stone is often used by cultivators for lighting. Even in ordinary towns, it's not considered rare; wealthy families often buy it for inlaying beads and jade, or for making jewelry and ornaments.

These stones were purchased from outside Chang'an Sheyi through Emperor Guangcheng. They were specially carved into various trinkets and placed in the city as natural "streetlights." The area near the city entrance square had the most stones, and the effect was quite pleasing.

At this time, the area around Chang'an Square was bustling with people. Many ordinary citizens gathered in twos and threes, listening to a storyteller. There were also many cultivators chatting at tables and chairs in front of various shops, and a few were arguing so fiercely that they almost came to blows—it was only when a mountain cat wearing a black hat and a red scarf jumped onto a table that they stopped them.

All of this amazed the Taiyi Ziwei Sect members.

Lu Ren Ya's milk tea shop is still booming, but in order to cater to the general public, Lu Ren Ya has opened a branch next to the Ya Ya Milk Tea Shop called "Snow Duck Milk Tea Shop". The logo is a duck holding an ice cream and wearing a crown on its head. The overall color scheme is red with white lettering.

Next to the Snow Duck Milk Tea shop stands a huge wooden board with several "popular drinks" written on it in charcoal: lemonade for 4 coins a cup, milk tea for 6 coins a cup, and peach sago for 10 coins a cup. At the bottom, it says, "Bamboo cups need to be recycled; take them away for an extra 5 coins."

“We buy from here. The other shop uses ordinary ingredients, but this shop uses spiritual materials, so the price is much higher. Of course, for us cultivators, it's still a normal price.”

As Baili Shuang spoke, she took the lead and lined up at the end of the queue.

Wow! It's Senior Sister!

"Hello, senior sister! You've worked so hard, senior sister! Could you please increase my favorability rating?"

"You obviously haven't experienced your senior sister's beatings. The more you say that, the lower your favorability rating will be. Our senior sister is notoriously arrogant. Don't believe me? Look—Holy crap! How come I got detained too!?"

"Hehehe, senior sister, what would you like to drink? It's on me! Could you perhaps increase my favorability with you just a tiny bit?"

"Get lost! Senior sister! I'm a good person! I don't want anything! I'll go through the dungeon and earn money to buy you milk tea!"

Amidst the bizarre and varied sycophantic behavior of the players, Baili Shuang smiled slightly, deducting favorability points where necessary and gently refusing those who needed to be refused. Amidst the groans of despair, the players finally learned to shut up.

Jiao Xueling, who witnessed the entire scene, was deeply puzzled: What does it mean to deduct favorability points?!

(End of this chapter)