Chapter 20 – Belonging
The Barbarian Ghost Sect had dozens of mountains of differing sizes; however, most of them belong to the eight different Factions within the sect. Only the largest mountain of them did not belong to any Fraction and instead housed the Duty Hall, Scripture Library, Alchemy Room and other very important structures that belong to the Sect. Even at night, there were carefully selected disciples to patrol and guard the area.
Since the ancestral halls is where all the Barbarian Sect Disciples pay their respects to their ancestors, it was naturally constructed on this largest mountain.
The giant dark cloud started to descend upon a flat platform at the middle of the mountain. From a nearby hall, many green robed disciples flew out to pay their respects to the lady on the black cloud. They said,
“Welcome Martial Uncle Li. Everything within the ancestral hall has been readied. All that is left is the Sect Leader and all of the Martial Uncles.”
“Good. First lead the new disciples inside. After a while, the Sect Leader will also come along.” The lady ordered very casually.
“Yes, Martial Uncle.” The green robed disciples nodded and then headed toward Liu Ming and his group of people. After a greeting, they brought the new Disciples toward the large hall.
The lady stood in place without moving as if she was going to wait outside for the Barbarian Ghost Sect leader and others.
Sandwiched between the group of people, as Liu Ming entered the hall doors, he glanced upwards.
Hanging from above was a long silver plaque. On it, the words “Ancestral Hall” were written in golden letters, with a faint crystal light swirling on the plaque.
As soon as they entered the large door, quite a few disciples took a deep cold breath.
From the outside, the building looked like a normal temple hall, but the inside was actually a hall hundreds of feet tall and stretching acres wide.
Within the hall there were hundreds of black chairs. At the end of the hall there was a long ancient painting.
The painting portrayed the back of a person in green. On his head, a long hairpin could be seen while he had a long sword without a sheathe swung over his back. His feet were stepping on two abnormal and hideous skull that had a layer of black aura, giving off an extremely mysterious feeling
Beneath the drawing, there was a silver altar around fifty to sixty feet long. To each side, a lantern was lit. At the center, there were fifteen to sixteen golden tablets with different names written in black on them.
And in front of the altar there was a large green cauldron. Scores of scented candles burned down over half way were still stuck in it, allowing it to give off a solemn feeling.
After the green robed disciples led all the other disciples to stand in the hall, they returned to standing straight at the doorway, not caring in the least about the newest disciples.
As all the youths saw this, they couldn’t help but look at each other. However, being affected by the solemn feeling in the hall, nobody dared to whisper secretly. They could only stand in place and wait honestly.
Liu Ming sized up the four corners of the huge hall, and unconsciously let his gaze fall back into the huge drawing hanging at the front.
For this painting to be hung in such an important spot, the figure within the painting would probably be the founder of the Barbarian Ghost Sect. However the fact that the painting only showed a backline was quite peculiar.
Liu Ming’s random thoughts didn’t last long since after a couple of minutes, footsteps sounded from the entrance of the hall. The Green-robed disciples bowed in unison and said:
“Greetings to the Sect Leader and various Martial Uncles!”
“Stand.” The Barbarian Ghost’s Sect Leader faintly came and many Spirit Master came in the from the entrance. At the end of their line was the Barbarian Sect Leader.
At this time, the Spirit Masters had dispersed their Protecting Light and showed their true faces.
Liu Ming and the new disciples quickly followed suit and bowed.
However, the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader did not let everyone rise. Instead, he brought the others to go to the ceremonious table and place a candle within the bronze three-footed pot. Afterwards, he turned around to allow everyone to rise.
“I am Huang Shi. I think that over half of you know me so I will not waste my time. Since all of you have opened your Spirit Seas, you will become a true Barbarian Ghost Sect Disciple after you pay your respects to our founder. The painting within this Ancestral Hall is our founder ‘Six Yin ’. Of the eight factions that our sect has, six of them were founded from him. The slates below the painting represent ancestors that have stepped into the Crystallization State. Without them, our sect definitely would have fallen. Now, all of you will pay your respects to them and state your name at the same time.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader solemnly said.
“Crystallization State? Is there a state above the Spirit Master State?” Liu Ming heard this phrase for the first time and felt a tinge in his heart. As someone who wasn’t a practitioner from birth, he really knew too little about this world.
Seeing how the other disciples were shocked by this, they probably knew about this beforehand.
While Liu Ming was thinking about those thing, Gao Chong, who was an Earth Spiritual Pulse Disciple, under the direction of the Sect Leader, kneeled down first in front of the painting and said:
“Disciple Gao Chong, after being accepted in Barbarian Ghost Sect today, wishes for the founder and various ancestors to look after me. I will try my best to bring pride and power to the Sect.”
Afterwards, he stood up and placed a candle into the huge bronze pot before returning to his place.
With someone starting it off, the youths gradually walked up to pay their respects. Their words were all alike to Gao Chong’s.
As soon as all of the disciples finished paying their respects, the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader once again stood in front of everyone. He said with a motionless expression, “Our sect has three forbidden rules, thirty-six sect laws. Break a single one of them and the worst will be destruction of your flesh while pulling out your soul, the easiest would be the sealing of your Fa Li while being thrown into the black wind valley to go experience the wind-lightning punishment. As for the full descriptions of these sect rules, someone will tell you in detail in a few days. All of you better take care of yourselves.”
TL: Fa Li is the Spirit Apostle version of Yuan Li
“Yes.” The group of disciples replied loudly with all their heart.
“Also, our sect also splits into eight factions: Dancing Ghost, Baleful Yin, Mysterious Glyphs, Nine Infants, Poisonous Spirit, Corpse Refinery, Heaven’s Secret, and Blood Control. According to traditional practice, the Martial Uncles from each of the eight sects will take turns picking you. Do any of you have any comments?” The Barbarian Ghost Sect leader asked patiently.
Naturally, none of the disciples would actually speak out and object.
Seeing this, the Sect Leader continued satisfied, “Since it’s like that, then let an old man like me represent the Blood Control faction to first pick a disciple. Gao Chong, your talent is not bad; are you willing to join the Blood Control faction and become my personal disciple?”
As soon as the words were out, the Barbarian Ghost Sect leader’s gaze fell sharply onto the tall youth.
“Gao Chong is willing to become Sect Leader’s disciple.” As the tall youth heard the old man, he walked out of the group without hesitation and gave a large bow to the old man in respect.
“Good, child, you can get up. From now on you are this old man’s seventh personal disciple. Your other Shi Xiongs and Shi Jies will be introduced to you later when you follow me to our residence.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect leader laughed loudly and allowed the tall youth to get up and retreated to the side with him.
The Ru, Chu and Lei Spirit Masters had ugly faces when they saw this but didn’t actually speak up against this.
“I am Chu Qi, the faction leader of Baleful Yin. Ru Lan, come over here.” Chu Spirit Master then walked out and waved to a girl that was mixed in among the crowd.
Chu Spirit Master, who showed his true face, actually looked about thirty years old and was quite handsome.
“What? She’s the one who has the Aphrodite’s body!”
“No way. I know her, isn’t her name is Shu Er?”
“Stupid, she used a fake name!”
The disciples next to the girl quickly made way while the other disciples started muttering among themselves.
The girl treated all of this commotion as if it was nothing and walked out of the crowd with a calm face. After slightly bowing to Chu Qi, she stood up without any orders.
Chu Qi showed approval and nodded before bringing the girl to his side.
“Aphrodite’s Body!” Liu Ming stared at the girl again before remembering the extremely beautiful girl that he saw while waiting for his Opening Spirit Ceremony. Suddenly, he connected the dots and realized the relationship between the two.
“Lei Zhe, what are you waiting for? Get over here.” The Lei Spirit Master stood where he was and yelled at Lei Zhen among the crowd.
The edges of Lei Zhen’s eyes twitched as he walked out of the crowd as if he was unwilling.
Like this, the eight factions picked their first disciple. Eight of the most talented disciples quickly followed behind the various Spirit Masters.
The Gui Spirit Master helplessly choose a Nine Spiritual Pulse disciple. It seemed like this was the best disciple he could gather under the approval of the Sect Leader.
For the Nine Infant Faction Leader, being able to have a Nine Spiritual Pulse Disciple was definitely something that was worthy of celebration. However, when he thought about the Earth Spiritual Pulse Disciple that was promised to his faction, he could only force his smile.
As for the other factions, they all chose Nine Spiritual Pulse Disciples.
In the second round, all the factions basically choose the remaining Nine Spiritual Pulses, Six Spiritual Pulses and disciples that showed talent in a particular subject.
As a Three Spiritual Pulse Disciple, Liu Ming naturally wasn’t able to be chosen in the first few rounds.
However when the Six Spiritual Pulse Disciples were all chosen, someone finally noticed Liu Ming.
It was Ghost Dance Faction’s Lin Spirit Master. Her full name was Lin Caiyu and looked like a twenty year old girl. When her gaze swept across Liu Ming, she remembered how the Sect Leader said that Liu Ming’s mental energy was much stronger than normal people.
Their Sect relied quite heavily on the art of illusions and thus needed some Disciples that had decent mental energies.
After pondering for a moment, Lin Spirit Master decided that when it was her turn again, she would choose Liu Ming.
As for the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader, he was already planning out the training route for Gao Chong and completely forgot about Liu Ming.
However, something happened beyond Lin Spirit Master’s expectations.
“Oh, you’re name is Bai Chong Tian right? Are you willing to our Nine Infant Faction?” When it was the Gui Spirit Master’s turn, he pointed to Liu Ming and asked in a carefree voice.