Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 33 "A Little Knowledge"

"Spiritual power," as an extremely unscientific force that Zhang Chengdao could definitely sense and use, was very "omnipotent."

This might sound very unscientific, but if something as unscientific as traveling through time with a game system has already happened, why bother pursuing science?
In short, while Zhang Chengdao was cultivating for the time required to advance to the next level each day, he was also constantly pondering and experimenting with the use of spiritual power.

For example, Zhang Chengdao can use his spiritual power to mold an icicle like clay—it sounds like a useless skill at first, but it actually means the ability to change the molecular structure of a substance or to recombine molecules.

Of course, Zhang Chengdao didn't understand the underlying principles, but just knowing the facts was enough for him to gain a lot of insights.

"Spiritual power" is more like a special kind of "energy." In Western fantasy novels, it's called magic, while in science fiction, it has a bunch of names, such as radiation energy, photon energy, dark matter energy, cosmic cube energy, and so on.

In the world of cultivation... well, the martial arts cultivation world plus version is also considered cultivation. In short, in the world of cultivation, it is called "spiritual power," which is essentially a kind of "energy."

Since it is "energy", how to use it is a process of transforming it into other forms or states.

Zhang Chengdao even speculated that the "Elementary Qi Refining Book" mentioned many techniques and supernatural abilities. Although it did not provide a detailed introduction on how to learn or use them, it did provide a brief introduction, including a rough explanation of various techniques and supernatural abilities such as "Fire Drawing Technique" and "Mountain Moving Technique". The essence of these techniques and supernatural abilities is the process of converting spiritual energy, a special kind of energy, into thermal energy, kinetic energy, and other forms of energy!
in other words……

Zhang Chengdao could try using spiritual energy to alter the brick and stone structure on either side of the crack, thereby achieving the goal of "repairing the crack"!

and so……

"There's no need to go to such lengths."

As he spoke, Zhang Chengdao stepped back a few paces, formed a hand seal to amplify the effect of spiritual power, and began to circulate the spiritual power within his body.

Immediately afterwards, a fierce wind arose between heaven and earth, and everyone felt a powerful "qi" surging out from the body of this "White Stone Immortal" and twisting into a force that rushed towards the crack in the ground.

Then, the bricks on either side of the crack seemed to be pulled and slowly began to be squeezed towards the center.

This process lasted for less than half an incense stick's time before the crack closed up, leaving no trace except for a crooked crack that ran through more than a dozen stone bricks.

Everyone in the courtyard was dumbfounded, except for Chang Ping'an and Xu Ying, whose expressions remained relatively normal.

After a long while, the governor finally swallowed hard, regained his senses, stiffly raised his head, looked at Zhang Chengdao, who had white hair but looked only in his twenties, and then knelt down on the ground with a thud, shouting loudly: "Immortal! Immortal, please accept me as your disciple!"

The division strategy made everyone else realize what was happening.

With a series of loud thuds, the people in the courtyard knelt down one after another like dumplings being dropped into a pot. Some of the more clever ones even bowed their heads and kowtowed, all begging Zhang Chengdao to accept them as disciples.

You have received a new apprentice application. Please check it.

A dialog box suddenly popped up in his field of vision, startling Zhang Chengdao.

We didn't have this thing before!

He opened the constantly flashing character panel and, sure enough, saw a series of character cards appearing.

Most of the character card names are gray, with the only one in green being the Divide and Conqueror, which looks like a bunch of worthless R cards.

Furthermore, all the character cards share a common feature: in the "Relationship" section, it displays "Apprenticeship Application in Progress".

But there was no option to refuse!

And it's no use trying to think about "rejection" in your mind!

Zhang Chengdao, who didn't want to collect a bunch of R cards, decisively tried to refuse in reality: "The White Stone Immortal Sect has no intention of recruiting new disciples at the moment, and I have no master-disciple relationship with any of you, so let's not force it!"

The envoy who divided the land reacted the fastest and was the most shameless: "Immortal! This disciple can do anything, please accept me as your disciple!" The others followed suit, but Zhang Chengdao solemnly said: "The path of cultivation is long and arduous. It is useless for those without the affinity to become immortals to force it. You should all take care of yourselves!"

With that, he flicked his sleeve, picked up Chang Ping'an with one hand and Xu Ying with the other, and strode away.

Great, all the character cards in the character section have disappeared, and the dialog box notification is gone too.

However, after taking only a few steps, Chang Ping'an struggled to his feet: "Hey, Master, we haven't finished recording yet!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chengdao's face darkened, and he let go of the object, causing Chang Ping'an and Xu Ying to fall on their bottoms.

Oh, Zhang Chengdao wasn't seeking personal revenge; he did this purely because his spiritual energy couldn't hold up anymore.

Even if Chang Ping'an remained silent, Zhang Chengdao planned to walk a few more steps, finish making a big show of things, and then abandon the two of them, using his masterly authority to make them walk on their own...

Xu Ying was very capable. Soon, the two returned and finished dealing with the matter of the "White Stone Immortal Sect," a makeshift sect, being removed from the government's list of names. They then returned to the mountains together, which is now just a thatched hut and a small plot of farmland of less than an acre.

Upon returning, Zhang Chengdao continued meditating in the courtyard, Chang Ping'an practiced the three forms of swordsmanship, while Xu Ying...

He was then busy dealing with the household affairs.

Although the White Stone Immortal Sect only has three people, including the sect leader, his disciples, and the sect's managers, it is still very busy due to its early establishment.

Moreover, Xu Ying's humble "I have some knowledge" at the time was indeed the legendary "I have some knowledge".

such as……

"Master Zhang, this is the recent gift list. In addition to the Sword Casting Manor and the Friendship Escort Agency, there is now the Mu Family Village."

"Master Zhang, these are the income and expenditure accounts for this month. Please take a look."

"Master Zhang, this is the list from the sect's warehouse. Please check it."

"Immortal Zhang, these are the sect positions and monthly stipends I have drafted based on the common practices of various sects. Please make your decision."

"Immortal Zhang, this is the daily expenditure of the sect. Chang Ping'an's food and supplies are quite high. Should we set this as a precedent and distribute them to all new disciples according to this standard?"

……

On the third day after Xu Ying took office as the sect leader, he finally stopped bringing over various books for Zhang Chengdao to decide on. Instead, he pushed Chang Ping'an forward and said with a serious expression, "Also, Immortal Zhang, these are your disciples. Please formulate a method and standard for evaluating their cultivation progress..."

"Wait, wait a minute, Brother Xu? You, you made me come here to talk to Master about this?"

Chang Ping'an scratched his head, looking completely bewildered.

"Of course, this is a big deal! Take the Sword Forging Manor as an example. Every even-numbered month, there is a small competition. The winner of the small competition will be rewarded with two taels of silver."

"In addition, every leap year in May, there is a grand competition, which consists of seven major events, including true qi cultivation, forging skills, and martial arts evaluation. The winner of the grand competition will be rewarded with fifty silver coins."

"If the rewards and punishments within the sect are unclear, or if there are punishments without rewards or rewards without punishments, it will be very detrimental to the development of the sect!"
"The so-called 'punishment' mainly pertains to the sect's rules and regulations, which need to be discussed and agreed upon with Immortal Zhang. However, the 'reward' is quite easy to determine; we can simply take Chang Ping'an as an example!"

This chapter is a bit padded, I apologize to all the readers for the lack of sleep, I haven't slept for two nights and I have to catch a flight early tomorrow morning QAQ
The update schedule will still be unpredictable tomorrow, but I will try my best to post three updates!!!

Thank you so much for your understanding, dear readers! Once I've sorted out my household chores in a few days, I'll definitely be updating like crazy, 10,000 words a day as soon as it's released! Powder!
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(End of this chapter)