Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 4: Become a disciple
The white wings flew for a short while before arriving at a towering mountain. The spiritual energy there was much richer than that on the mountain where he lived.

The magic weapon slowly landed in front of a cave shrouded in thick smoke. Zhang Hunyuan led him into the thick fog. There were many paths and roads inside. Song Xian followed closely behind him. After turning a few corners, he saw a majestic and spacious mansion standing before him.

The entire house has green walls and black tiles, and has an ancient flavor. It covers a very large area, about three or four acres in size.

Entering from the main gate, there are several courtyards with halls inside, with a total of five gates. There are gardens, pavilions, and towers in the courtyard, and many houses and palaces on both sides.

There were several servants sweeping in front of each courtyard, and occasionally young women or servants in blue clothes could be seen walking around in the corridors.

These are ordinary mortals without spiritual roots, most of whom are close relatives of the Zhang family.

There are many mortals living inside the mountain gate of Qingyun Sect, mainly to serve the monks in their daily lives.

Although a cultivator can draw qi into his body and embark on the path of cultivation after transcending the mortal realm, he is not a reborn immortal.

Before practicing fasting, eating, drinking, defecating and urinating are inevitable. Practitioners are high and mighty, and their main job is to practice. Naturally, no one wants to waste energy on these trivial matters of life.

Even the head of a sect would not let his formal disciples do these mundane affairs, so he could only leave these trivial matters to mortals.

Song Xian had heard a long time ago that the headmaster Zhang Shilin liked to be lively and that many of Zhang's descendants lived together in his mansion. When he saw it today, he found it to be true.

After passing through several courtyards, the two came to a magnificent hall with carved beams and painted rafters. On the table were displayed novel toys such as amber jade cups. It did not look like the residence of a cultivator, but more like an imperial palace.

Zhang Hunyuan had already ordered his servants to inform Zhang Shilin. After entering the hall, he sat down directly at the bottom and also invited Song Xian to sit down. After that, he stood straight and said nothing.

After a long while, until heavy footsteps were heard outside the house, Zhang Hunyuan stood up, and Song Xian also stood up quickly.

Soon, an old man with white hair and beard, a kind face and a benevolent look appeared in the hall. He was wearing an exquisite purple Taoist robe and looked like an immortal.

"Dad, this is our junior brother Song Xian who has just achieved transcendence." Zhang Hunyuan said.

Song Xian quickly bowed and saluted respectfully: "Disciple greets the Master."

The old man's bright eyes looked him up and down, then he walked past him and sat down in the main seat above.

"I heard that you have been tested by the Immortal Stone and found to have dual spiritual roots of fire and earth?"

"Yes."

"Song Xian, are you willing to become my disciple?"

Hearing this suddenly, he was startled and looked up, only to see the old man looking approvingly with a gentle smile on his face.

"Disciple greets Master." Without any hesitation, Song Xian immediately bowed down and kowtowed. It was a rare opportunity to have the master as his master, so how could he refuse?

"Okay, okay." The old man nodded and said "good" twice, obviously very satisfied with his timely move. He waved at him and said, "Come here."

Song Xian stood up as he was told and walked up to him: "Master, what can I do for you?"

"I have never accepted a disciple in my life. You are the first and the last. From now on, you will inherit my legacy. You must remember that you are a member of the Qingyun Sect in life and the soul of the Qingyun Sect in death. You must never do anything to disrespect your master and ancestors, or betray the sect."

"Yes, I will remember Master's teachings."

"I'm giving you this storage ring now as a token of my appreciation from your teacher. There are some pills and spirit stones in it for you to use." The old man took out a silver ring and handed it to him.

Song Xian was overjoyed and carefully reached out to take it, but saw some tiny runes engraved on it. Looking closely, he saw a faint silver light flowing around the ring.

Although the storage ring does not have as large an internal space as a storage bag, it is also a space magic weapon and a rare item.

There are not many people in the spiritual world who wear storage rings, but it is not because they are too expensive to afford, but because the function and market positioning of the rings are somewhat awkward.

The interior of a standard storage ring is a one-foot square space that can only accommodate a few small items.

Anything slightly larger, such as swords or flying instruments, cannot be accommodated at all. It does not have much practical use, and the price is not low, so many people are reluctant to spend such a large amount of money to buy such an impractical item.

People like Yu Lian, whose cultivation has reached the fifth level of Qi Refining, do not wear a storage ring. I remember that he took out the Immortal Stone from his sleeve before. The clothes of Qingyun Sect have large pockets hidden in the wide cuffs. Small items are placed inside and can be taken out when needed.

Storage rings are usually given by elders in wealthy families to younger generations with low cultivation levels.

"I heard that you have awakened the innate magical power of the eye and can see the flow of spiritual energy in other people's bodies. What's going on?" asked the old man with a smile.

"I don't know the specific situation, but I just tried it once. As long as the spiritual power flows into my eyes, I can see the amount and changes of the other party's spiritual power." Song Xian put the storage ring on his finger and answered respectfully.

Since he had chosen to conceal it before, he had no intention of revealing everything at this moment. He just kept the true secret of this innate magical power buried in his heart.

The old man nodded calmly, "Innate magical powers vary from person to person. You can clearly see the amount and changes of spiritual power in others. It will always be helpful when you fight with others in the future."

"Master, I have some questions about my transformation from a mortal realm, and I'd like to ask you for your guidance. It seems I traveled to another world within the illusion and lived a different life..."

Song Xian could not get over the life in another world he experienced during the process of transformation. After hesitating for a moment, he told the story in an ambiguous way.

The old man smiled faintly after hearing this. "There's nothing strange about this. Everything you experience in the illusion is like a passing cloud. Everyone's circumstances are different, and there are many more bizarre things than this. We once had a senior brother who entered the mountain gate with our master. After he transcended the mortal realm, he insisted that he was the reincarnation of a goat, and even ran outside to find grass to eat."

Hearing this, Song Xian smiled, finally relieved, no longer holding that incident to heart. The two chatted for a while longer, the old man finally saying, "Today, our master-disciple relationship has been finalized. In a few days, I will announce this to the sect and then conduct the formal apprenticeship ceremony. You have just transcended the mortal realm and have not yet been registered as a formal disciple of our sect. How about this! Let Hunyuan accompany you on this trip. After we finalize the process, I will teach you the techniques."

"Yes, I will not disturb you from resting. I will take my leave now."

Song Xian tactfully said goodbye and left the mansion under the guidance of Zhang Hunyuan.

The two of them then went to the sect affairs office to receive two sets of formal disciple uniforms and salaries. Perhaps because Zhang Shilin had accepted him as his disciple, Zhang Hunyuan was more enthusiastic towards him than before, and told him many sect taboos and precautions along the way.

Because of his dual-attribute spiritual root qualifications, according to the sect rules, he was directly promoted to an inner disciple and enjoyed a second-level salary. With only the first level of Qi Refining, he received a monthly salary of fifteen first-level spirit stones. In addition, he could also receive fifteen first-level low-grade Qi Recovery Pills every month to help with his practice.

After helping him register and completing a round of procedures, Zhang Hunyuan left and assigned a disciple from the Affairs Pavilion to accompany him.

"Junior Brother Song, this is your new residence." A short, fat, big-eared man in charge of affairs brought him to a mansion and said with a smile.

"Look, the hill on the left is the sect's alchemy and weapon refining room, and the hill on the right is where the sect's spirit gathering array is located. If you live here, it will be very convenient for you to make alchemy, refine weapons, or go to the spirit gathering array training room in the future."

"Thank you, Brother Xin."

"Hey! It's just a small thing, there's no need to thank me. What's more, Senior Brother Zhang asked me to take care of you. Come on, let's go in and take a look." The fat man said with a smile and led him into the inner room.

Although this mansion is not as big as the headmaster's residence, it is not small either. It is a large house with three entrances and three exits.

"According to the sect's rules, you are now an inner disciple and can have ten servants to guard your house, sweep the yard, do laundry, and cook for you. I will send these people over tomorrow. If Junior Brother Song is not satisfied, you can go to the Outer Peak's Secular Affairs Pavilion and choose for yourself."

"That's not necessary. Senior Brother Xin can just choose some young and strong ones for me."

The two chatted as they walked around the mansion courtyard.

"Junior Brother Song, I wonder what your relationship is with Senior Brother Zhang? Why would he be so caring towards you? In all my years in the sect, this is the first time I've seen Senior Brother Zhang personally send someone to our pavilion to handle such trivial matters."

"Previously, the headmaster had agreed to accept me as his disciple."

"Oh?" The Xin man paused, his eyes lighting up with envy. "Is that so? Congratulations, Junior Brother Song! The Master has never accepted a disciple in his life, but I never expected him to accept you as his last disciple. No wonder. Ordinary people wouldn't catch the Master's eye. Only someone as gifted as Junior Brother Song would be valued by the Master."

"Brother Xin, you are so kind."

The two chatted for a while, and after the man showed him around the entire mansion, he said goodbye and left.

Song Xian came to the back hall, which was spacious and bright, with all the necessary tables, chairs and beds available, only lacking decorations and daily necessities.

Open the window and you can see the peach blossom forest in the outer courtyard.

It was March, and the peach blossoms were in full bloom, with pink everywhere, which was very pleasing to the eyes.

He admired it for a while, then sat down at the table, stroking the storage ring on his finger and circulating the spiritual power in his body into it.

As spiritual power poured in, the runes engraved on the ring seemed to come alive, wriggling like ants. Silver light flowed through the ring, and a halo appeared. Song Xian reached his hand in, as if entering a two-dimensional space. He passed through the silver halo and touched some bottles and jars.

He took out the contents one by one and placed them on the table. There were three black bottles and a white ribbon in total.

Each of the three mysterious bottles contains twenty first-grade low-grade Qi-recovering pills.

Inside the white ribbon are sixty first-level spirit stones, nothing else.

After looking at them, he put them all away, including the spirit stones and elixirs he had received from the Affairs Pavilion, and put them into the storage ring. Then, spiritual power flowed into his eyes and he observed the storage ring in front of him.

Soon, a line of images emerged in my mind.

Low-grade space artifact: (can hold items)
attack:??

defense:??

Completeness: 69
……

Inside the spacious and bright room, Zhang Hunyuan pushed the door open and walked in. He looked at Zhang Shilin who was sitting upright and asked, "Dad, why did you accept him as your disciple?"

Zhang Shilin glanced at him and asked, "Why, are you dissatisfied with him?"

"That's not the case, it's just that your decision was a bit too sudden."

Zhang Shilin slowly stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the plum blossoms outside. "Dual spiritual roots and innate magical powers are rare! If I don't fight for it, Chang Jinmian will definitely win me over. Chang Jinmian has always been eyeing the position of headmaster."

"The kid knows."

"I took him in so that you would have a helper in the future. With this boy's aptitude, he has a good chance of building a foundation. If I can't make it through this, he can be your right-hand man in the future. Those people in our mansion are not capable of doing anything important. I saw this boy's face and thought he was a blessed one. He also has such excellent spiritual roots and aptitude. So, I immediately decided to take him in as my disciple."

"My child understands."

(End of this chapter)