Is It Reasonable for Me to Start a Sect at 12?

Lin Yun swallowed hard. No, he didn't quite understand.

An old immortal, eternal life—weren't these just things you'd hear in opera stories? How could they suddenly become real with Er Lang?

But Lin Dayou, being a more grounded adult, took a moment to digest what Lin Xiao had said before he furrowed his brow and asked, "Are you serious?"

Lin Xiao shrugged, "Do you think I'd dare lie to you? Besides, you can see for yourself tomorrow if you go up the mountain. There's no point in me lying; it won't do me any good."

Lin Dayou glared at him, "Haven't you lied enough since you were a kid?"

Then he gave Lin Xiao a sideways glance and said quietly, "For now, don't let the villagers know about this. Otherwise, there will be endless trouble. Just like you said, wait until you've cultivated some abilities and can handle any issues. Then, it won't matter if people know."

After all, Lin Xiao's sect was built on the mountain above the village, and keeping it hidden forever wasn't realistic.

Lin Xiao readily agreed. That was exactly what he had in mind.

Laying low and growing stronger first—that was the way to go!

Since Lin Dayou had said so, how could Lin Xiao disagree? He immediately nodded repeatedly.

Lin Dayou picked up his bowl and continued eating. As he ate, he asked Lin Xiao, "So, with all this cultivation, do you have any spells that can help with farming? Maybe something to improve our harvests? We could become landlords ourselves and eat rice every day."

Lin Xiao eagerly thumped his chest, "As soon as my cultivation is good, I'll look into it!"

Hearing this, Lin Yun chewed on his coarse bun while dreaming of the day they could eat rice every meal.

That night, after dinner and helping his family clean up, Lin Xiao finally returned to his room by moonlight.

Now, he finally had time to check out his Qi Refinement level.

He opened his panel to see:

Host: Lin Xiao (Auto-cultivation activated)

Aptitude: Dragon among Men

Gender: Male

Bone Age: 12 years

Cultivation Level: 21/300 (Qi Refinement Level 1 to Level 2)

Cultivation Technique: "Peach Blossom Void Technique" (Comprehension: 1/100)

Skills: None

Earlier, when Lin Xiao had descended the mountain, he had noticed that his body seemed to have improved.

The entire way home, he didn't feel out of breath at all.

In fact, he felt like he could sprint back and forth a hundred times without getting tired.

Aside from that, he noticed a slight warmth in his dantian.

But nothing more.

He tried to visualize a few small spells, like dust-removal or telekinesis.

Nothing happened.

Lin Xiao lazily lay on his bed, muttering, "Could it be that cultivators in this world don't have spells?"

[Ding—Congratulations, Host, on unlocking the Spell Creation Function]

Heh heh.

[Would you like to start creating a spell?]

Of course, Lin Xiao chose yes.

Once again, the familiar small grids appeared before him—four this time.

The first and second grids followed the usual pattern, requiring paper and ink.

The third grid required a spirit stone, and the fourth needed Lin Xiao's spell concept.

Unfortunately, Lin Xiao was out of paper mulberry bark.

He made a mental note to gather a large stash of bark tomorrow to store in his private inventory—it seemed to have many uses.

For now, he would have to sleep with this small regret.

The night passed in a blur.

As dawn approached, the neighbor's rooster opened its eyes, ready to crow.

In his dreams, Lin Xiao was still immersed in the cultivation technique he and Jiang Youfu had studied during the day.

In a half-asleep state, he seemed to hear the system's voice.

[Ding—Congratulations, Host, for gaining insight in your dreams. Comprehension of the cultivation technique has increased by 5. Auto-cultivation efficiency has improved. You have successfully advanced to Qi Refinement Level 2.]

Lin Xiao groggily twitched his eyelids but didn't fully wake up. Instead, he rolled over and fell back into a deep sleep.

It wasn't clear how much time had passed.

The sky was just beginning to lighten.

Lin Xiao, who had been sleeping soundly, was suddenly yanked out of bed by Lin Dayou.

Before he could even put on his outer robe, Lin Dayou stuffed him with several newly made straw mats and a bundle wrapped in old cloth, along with his outer robe, and then pushed him out of the house.

"Go up the mountain to cultivate. Don't come back until the sun sets," was all Lin Dayou said before shutting the door behind him.

Still half-asleep, Lin Xiao stood there, disoriented in the morning breeze.

He was so tired, and all he wanted to do was go back to bed. He didn't need to wake up early to cultivate—he could do that on auto-pilot.

But knowing his father, Lin Xiao knew that if he went back to sleep now, Lin Dayou would whack him with a fire poker for half an hour.

Resigned to his fate, Lin Xiao gathered up the items his father had given him and headed to Jiang's house to drag Jiang Youfu out of bed as well.

There was no way he was suffering alone—brothers should share the hardship.

By the time the two of them reached the sect base, the sun had just begun to rise.

They laid the straw mats inside the grass hut, finally able to avoid sitting directly on the ground.

Lin Xiao opened the bundle to find two buns, four sweet potatoes, and a large bamboo water flask. The flask wasn't very well-sealed, and a corner of the bundle was damp from the leaking water.

Jiang Youfu had also been given a few buns by Grandma Jiang.

As Lin Xiao surveyed the area around the grass hut, he realized that today marked the official start of their cultivation journey on the mountainside.

Watching Jiang Youfu happily munch on his plain bun, Lin Xiao suddenly remembered something.

He still didn't know what Jiang Youfu's aptitude was like.

The system should be able to check that, right?

[Ding—The Disciple Panel Function has been unlocked.]

Lin Xiao wasn't surprised by the system's prompt anymore.

He found the disciple information section and opened it, where only Jiang Youfu's details were currently listed:

Name: Jiang Youfu

Gender: Male

Bone Age: 12 years

Aptitude: Average

Cultivation Level: Mortal - Qi Introduction

Sect Status: Outer Disciple (modifiable)

Sect Position: None (modifiable)

"Average?" What kind of aptitude rating is that?

Lin Xiao thought about it and decided not to argue with the system—after all, it had rated him as a "Dragon among Men." This rating probably meant Jiang Youfu was somewhere in the middle of the pack for humans.

His cultivation level differed from Lin Xiao's, though—no numerical value was shown.

Seeing the "Outer Disciple" and "Sect Position" fields marked as "modifiable," Lin Xiao decided to make some changes.

However, when he opened the modifiable section, he found it empty, with only a series of add symbols.

In other words, he had to create all the sect positions himself.

Lin Xiao paused.

Ah, this meant he'd have to draft a detailed hierarchy and define the responsibilities of each position…

Forget it. Since there were only two of them for now, he decided to go with a generic title.

So, Lin Xiao typed in "Sect Elder."

As for the specific duties of the sect elder, well, that would be figured out later.

For now, they didn't need to worry about that.