"This selection is over. Except for Yuanxiao, everyone else will go back to the sect now. The specific positions of the new outer disciples will be arranged after we return to the new mountain gate." The Sixth Elder said loudly, then happily took the little fat man's hand and boarded a small flying boat. The master and disciple left happily.
The other elders, either with flying boats or flying spirit beasts, also left with their disciples one after another. All other outer disciples, led by the second elder, boarded a large flying boat and returned to Xinshanmen.
...The crowd gradually dispersed, and soon only Yuanxiao, Manager Mo and a few others were left in the square, and it suddenly became very quiet.
"You have to get used to the quietness here. It's always like this here. People who like bustle and hustle and bustle won't be able to stay here!" Manager Mo said with a smile, "My name is Mo Fei. You can call me Senior Brother Mo from now on."
"Junior brother greets senior brother Mo!" Yuan Xiao was not pretentious. Now he had become a formal inner disciple. Although he had not yet recognized a master, he and Mo Fei were both inner disciples of Yunhai Sect, so there was no problem in calling each other brothers.
"Junior Brother Yuan, Zhang Dahai said hello to me just now before he left, asking me to take care of you here from now on. This Zhang Dahai is quite good to you. I heard that he asked Master, the Ninth Elder, for a favor. If any of you three are not accepted as outer disciples, you should first do odd jobs in their Spiritual Medicine Garden, and try to keep you here."
"Because several elders have the privilege of directly recruiting one or two outer disciples each year. As a result, the three of you were all admitted as inner disciples, so this arrangement is no longer necessary. Zhang Dahai is so kind-hearted, which is rare in our Yunhai Sect!"
Yuan Xiao was deeply moved after hearing this. Zhang Dahai was indeed very kind to the three of them and was a kind person. If the world of cultivation was full of people like Zhang Dahai, there would probably be less controversy and more warmth.
Thinking of this, Yuanxiao laughed. This was of course impossible. Although there were people like Zhang Dahai in the world of cultivation, there definitely wouldn't be many.
"The number of disciples left behind by the sect here fluctuates slightly each year, but it's always maintained at around seventy or eighty. While that might sound like a lot, it's a small place with a lot of facilities. There are over ten hilltops and forty or fifty courtyards around the old mountain gate site. While most are currently unused, they still retain many artifacts from the sect's past that need care and maintenance."
"So seventy or eighty people are scattered in different places of the old site of the mountain gate. You rarely see people here at ordinary times. Except for the monthly regular meeting of the Military Academy, which is the time for everyone to gather and arrange affairs, distribute benefits, etc., everyone just needs to do their own things at other times." Mo Fei continued.
"It's hard to achieve results doing menial labor here, so it's hard to get rewards from the sect. But mistakes are rare, because most of the functional facilities have been sealed. The main task is to guard them, so it's generally not easy to be punished. The Spiritual Medicine Garden you're going to is one of the few places that still maintains minimal functionality, and it's also one of the few places that requires the surrender of resources."
"But fortunately, there aren't many herbs there, and the scale is small, so we only need to deliver a certain amount of medicinal materials to the sect quarterly. Other places, such as the Spirit Beast Garden and the Treasure Pavilion, have all moved to the new mountain gate, and our operation has completely ceased."
"But the alchemy room is an exception. Everyone else has evacuated, but there's only one crazy old man left who refuses to leave. We call him Crazy Uncle Master."
"I've heard from everyone that Master Crazy was obsessed with alchemy, but his skills were truly lacking. Out of ten furnaces of elixirs, at least nine and a half would be wasted, either turning into black dregs or being too poisonous. He was nicknamed 'Alchemy novice'. When the mountain gate was relocated, he went mad for some reason and said he wouldn't go to the new mountain gate until he could refine a qualified Foundation Establishment Pill and a Golden Core Pill."
"The result is predictable. He's been here for nearly a hundred years. I don't know how many waves of disciples have been stationed here, but this crazy uncle has always been here. Others find him pitiful, but I think it's good for him to live in his own world. Although he's obsessed with refining pills and can't make good ones, at least he's always doing what he loves most!"
Mo Fei suddenly laughed when he said this.
"Uncle Crazy often goes to the Spiritual Medicine Garden to collect herbs because he needs to refine pills. He even openly claims that half of the Spiritual Medicine Garden belongs to him. You may not encounter others by then, but you will probably run into him often. Uncle Crazy is crazy and sometimes gets mad, even hitting and swearing at people. You have to be careful!"
"It is said that Crazy Uncle is of the same generation as the current Sect Master, and his seniority in the Sect is even older than the current Law Enforcement Elder. Furthermore, he is sometimes insane and his mind is not clear, so he often does something out of the ordinary, and no one comes to stop him."
Yuan Xiao scratched his head, speechless. Knowing this before even starting at the Spiritual Medicine Garden was not a very pleasant thing, no matter what.
"Also, in the courtyard of the Spirit Beast Garden here, there are two guests living there: a middle-aged woman and a girl. They were brought here by the Sect Master himself about a year ago and are not from our sect. The Sect Master only told us not to disturb them, but also not to serve them. As long as they don't tear down the old mountain gate, we can do whatever they want. In fact, they have been very well behaved until today."
"Because I've never visited them and we rarely see each other, I don't understand the reason behind this, nor do I know their details. According to the Sect Master's instructions, you'd better not disturb them in the future!"
"Thank you, Senior Brother Mo, for the reminder. Senior Brother, I would like to ask, is there anyone in charge of the mine and the mountain behind it now?" Yuanxiao thought about it and asked.
"The mine in the back mountain is different from the Spiritual Medicine Garden. The Spiritual Medicine Garden has always had someone specifically managing it because it has to hand over a certain amount of spiritual herbs and medicinal herbs every quarter. The mineral veins in the back mountain were mined out about a hundred years ago, and the mine has long been abandoned. Aside from the trials for recruiting disciples in recent years, when people occasionally go to the mine to search for spiritual stones, no one likes to go there on a regular basis. Therefore, there is no one specifically managing the mine and the back mountain."
"Brother Mo, I heard that collecting miscellaneous spirit stones and placing them in the soil of the spiritual medicine garden will improve the concentration of spiritual energy in the soil, which is beneficial to the growth and quality of spiritual medicines. Even if you just throw the miscellaneous spirit stones directly into the garden, it can have the effect of locally regulating the concentration of spiritual energy, which is still beneficial to the spiritual medicines."
"So I thought that when I have free time in the future, I will go to the mine to pick up some miscellaneous spiritual stones and put them in the spiritual medicine garden. Is that okay?" Yuan Xiao finally thought of a reason to enter and exit the mine openly and frequently.
"Of course there's no problem with that. If the elders in the sect knew about it, they might even praise you for your diligence and your dedication to cultivating the spiritual medicine. However, except for the period when the sect's elders are recruiting new disciples in Yunhai City, they won't come here easily on weekdays, so don't even think about the reward!" Senior Brother Mo said with a smile, then changed the subject.