Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 7 "The Number One Sect in the Martial World"

Zaling Lake is a very large freshwater lake at the source of the Yellow River. Its name is a transliteration of Tibetan and means "white long lake".

To its east lies a lake that resembles a twin, named Eling Lake, meaning "long blue lake," which was formerly known as Baihai.

Between the two lakes, there are mountains like dikes and canyons. The Maqu River flows into the White Lake from the west, passes through the canyon and enters the Blue Lake, and flows out to the northeast, becoming the Yellow River. It meanders eastward, making nine turns, where thousands of streams converge and flow into the sea for thousands of miles.

The Maqu River basin to the west of Zaling Lake is surrounded by towering mountains on the north and south sides, with a basin in the middle containing numerous lakes and marshes that reflect the sky like stars, hence the name Xingxiuchuan (Starry River) or Xingxiuhai (Starry Sea).

Amidst thousands of lakes, lush grasses and blooming flowers resemble a colorful carpet, hence the Tibetan name for this place is Cuocha, meaning "flower lake." The Maqu River also derives its name from this, meaning "peacock river."

This place was once occupied by the Tuyuhun. During the Zhenguan era, Hou Junji and Li Daozong led the southern army to fight here. Historical records state: "Hou and Li fought across Xingxiuchuan and arrived at Baihai. They frequently encountered the enemy and achieved great victories. Looking north to Jishi Mountain, they could see where the river originates."

Later, in order to marry Princess Wencheng, Songtsen Gampo led his troops to destroy Tuyuhun and Xingxiuchuan, which was then occupied by Tibet.

In the fifteenth year of the Zhenguan era, the Tang Dynasty's wedding procession crossed the Riyue Mountain and passed Qinghai Lake, while Songtsen Gampo's wedding procession crossed the Tanggula Mountain and the Bayan Har Mountain, meeting at Baihai.

Jiang Mingzhe had heard about this history from the tour guide before, but the Xingxiu Sea of ​​later generations had dried up, the Gobi Desert was desolate, and it no longer looked like it used to be.

Now, as he strolled among the lakes and lakes with Azi, he truly appreciated the magnificence of Xingxiu Sea. Gazing at the wondrous scenery and smelling the fragrance of flowers, the gloom he felt from the time travel dissipated considerably.

After walking several more miles, they saw a large cluster of houses in the distance, with yellow walls and red roofs, standing out against the green grass and blue sky. Azi cheered and pointed, saying, "Big Ginger, have you seen it? That's the headquarters of my Starry Sky Sect!"

Jiang Mingzhe blinked, quite surprised—

In terms of the number of buildings alone, the Starry Sky Sect is much larger than he had imagined.

Unable to resist asking, "Senior Sister, how many disciples does our sect actually have?"

Azi walked briskly and replied casually, "There are thirty-six registered disciples in our sect, and over a thousand unregistered disciples on the side."

"More than a thousand people?" Jiang Mingzhe was taken aback. He really didn't expect that there would be so many disciples of the Xingxiu Sect.

You should know that the Xingxiu Sect only has Ding Chunqiu, who is high above others, and has no fellow disciples of the same generation. He also forbids his disciples from passing on their skills to each other. If he teaches one person a day, it will take three years. How can he possibly teach all of these more than a thousand people?

Seeing his expression, Azi roughly guessed what he was thinking and said with a laugh, "Do you think all of the more than a thousand people are disciples like us? Hmph, do you think my Xingxiu Sect is a charity hall? Only the thirty-six registered members can receive individual instruction from Master. As for the rest of the fools, Master gives a lecture once every six months and allows them to listen. How much they can learn and understand depends entirely on their own comprehension. If they want to be registered, they must defeat any one of the thirty-six of us, and then they will naturally take his place."

He added, “Besides, those fools have many things to do every day, such as raising cattle and horses, fishing and hunting, and collecting poisons. If they don’t take on these tedious tasks, are we, the registered disciples, supposed to do them? Then how can we have time to practice? Unless they are from wealthy and powerful families who can offer large sums of money to their master, then they can be exempted from these chores and concentrate on cultivation.”

Jiang Mingzhe nodded

I thought this was probably the Starry Sky Sect's system of formal and temporary employees.

Suddenly another question came to mind: "Senior sister, since there are only thirty-six registered disciples, am I considered registered or not?"

Azi smiled and said, "Since your master personally accepted you into the sect, you are not considered an unregistered disciple, but you are not officially registered either. There have been cases like this before. All your treatment will be the same as that of registered disciples, but you will not be among the thirty-six. If you can compete for a spot after two years, you will naturally be registered. If you cannot, you can try again the following year..."

At this point, Azi sighed sadly and shook her head, saying, "But if you can't win it for three consecutive years, then if you're lucky, you can only go herd horses and cattle."

Jiang Mingzhe immediately understood and said with a wry smile, "Yeah, bad luck. You got killed during the competition, right?"

Azi giggled, tiptoed, and patted Jiang Mingzhe's shoulder: "Congratulations, Junior Brother, you're starting to adapt to life in our sect." Then she chided him playfully, "You stinky ginger, why are you so tall! Next time I want to pat you, you better squat down yourself, okay?"

The two chatted and laughed as they got closer to the Xingxiu Sect's headquarters. Along the way, they began to encounter members of the Xingxiu Sect, all dressed in yellow linen shirts, black trousers, and leather boots, some herding livestock and others cutting grass.

Upon seeing Azi, these people stopped a long distance away, respectfully clasped their hands in greeting, and said, "Greetings, Senior Sister Azi. May you enjoy good fortune, long life, health, and auspiciousness."

Azi, with a stern face and a slightly raised chin, exuded arrogance. She gave a cold snort, which was considered her agreement.

Once they were a distance away, Azi regained her lively spirits and whispered to Jiang Mingzhe, "These are all disciples who are not officially registered. Don't be fooled by their seemingly honest appearance; they secretly wish they could kill us and get us officially registered. We don't need to be polite to them. Especially you, since you are Master's newly accepted disciple. If you are officially registered in the future, many of these people will come to challenge you because they know you haven't been practicing martial arts for very long. When that happens, you must not be soft-hearted. Kill them one by one. The more brutally you kill them, the more they will respect you."

Jiang Mingzhe glanced at Azi, whose eyes were full of seriousness, clearly worried that Jiang Mingzhe had been taken advantage of.

Jiang Mingzhe felt a warmth in his heart, thinking that although this little girl had a vicious side, she was really not bad to him.

So he nodded earnestly, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Thank you for your teachings, Senior Sister. I will remember them."

Azi chuckled and lightly tapped him, saying, "From now on, you'll be my Xiaoqing, so you don't need to be so polite with me."

Just then, several more disciples approached. Azi coughed, reverting to her aloof and arrogant demeanor, and walked past them without glancing at them amidst their flattery.

After walking for almost half an hour, the two finally arrived at the Xingxiu Sect's headquarters.

Jiang Mingzhe looked closely and saw that the Xingxiu Sect had neither a gate nor a wall. In the center, a palace rose from the ground, which was no less than six zhang high. On the left and right, there were dozens of small buildings of two or three stories high. Behind them, there were hundreds of houses of different heights, but none of them were more than two zhang high.

These buildings are all constructed from large stones, with the outer walls covered in a layer of yellow earth, and the roof tiles are in varying shades of red.

However, the tiles were extremely irregular in shape, unlike those made by firing, and it was unknown what kind of ore they were made of.

Jiang Mingzhe had come all the way from Zaling Lake and saw very few stones along the way. He thought that such a large-scale construction project must have required so many stones to be quarried from the mountains on both sides. With the tools and technology of that era, the amount of work involved was extremely large.

I couldn't help but sigh. Beneath this seemingly beautiful grassland, there must be the bones of civilians who died from exhaustion or fighting.

Azi pointed excitedly and said, "Look, that tallest one is the Star Palace. If Master has any important instructions, the disciples will gather in the palace. The small buildings on both sides of the palace are where we registered disciples live. Among the large houses behind, three are storerooms, one is the Unmerciful Hall for blacksmithing and weapon making, and one is the Myriad Scorpions Hall for raising poisonous insects. The others are for registered disciples. Finally, facing the water, are a large area of ​​livestock sheds. Everyone usually practices martial arts and refines poisons in their own rooms."

Jiang Mingzhe asked curiously, "Does Master live in the Star Palace?"

Azi chuckled and glared at him, saying, "Although Master is called the Starry Sky Immortal, he usually hates hearing people call him old. If he hears you call him an old man, you'll definitely get a Heart-Refining Bullet."

Jiang Mingzhe suddenly remembered that when he spoke with Ding Chunqiu before, the other party referred to himself as either "this one" or "I," and indeed he had never said the words "this old man."

I broke out in a cold sweat, thinking to myself that I was lucky to be alive. He kept calling me "Immortal Venerable," but if I had called him "Old Immortal," I probably would have lost my life.

Azi added, "Master doesn't usually live here."

She pointed north and said, "Go more than ten miles over there, and there is a valley with the most poisonous creatures. Master's residence is in that Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons."

Just as Jiang Mingzhe was about to speak, Azi stopped him with a look, turned around with a grin, and said loudly, "Eighth Senior Brother, has your divine weapon been forged yet?"

(End of this chapter)