Speaking of the Moonlight Sect’s forbidden areas, the most striking is undoubtedly the towering Moonlight Treasure Pagoda.
From the outer sect’s main hall, the Moonlight Treasure Pagoda appears even clearer, yet most of it pierces into the clouds, making it impossible to discern its full structure or know how many floors it has.
According to Elder Bai, the Moonlight Treasure Pagoda was a treasure of the Moonlight Sect’s ancient leader, the Moonlight Heavenly Lady, and serves as the sect’s foundation, capable of absorbing moonlight to suppress the sect’s fortune.
Even Elder Bai doesn’t know how many floors the Moonlight Treasure Pagoda has.
This mysterious pagoda, aside from the Moonlight Heavenly Lady of old, has never been climbed to its summit by anyone.
Not even the current Moonlight Sect leader can achieve this.
When Ling Xiao observes the Moonlight Treasure Pagoda in his soul-entering state, he can clearly sense an ancient, mysterious aura emanating from it.
His Mountain and River Martial Soul unexpectedly feels an urge to devour the Moonlight Treasure Pagoda.
“Good heavens, you mustn’t act recklessly, or I’m done for.”
Ling Xiao hurriedly suppressed the impulse of his Mountain and River Martial Soul.
In his view, if the Mountain and River Martial Soul wants to devour the Moonlight Treasure Pagoda, it likely indicates that the pagoda isn’t a mere treasure but a martial soul.
The Moonlight Heavenly Lady’s martial soul!
“Alright, registration is complete. Next, I’ll take you to the outer sect disciples’ quarters!”
Although outer sect disciples hold little status in the Moonlight Sect, their importance is considerable, so their living conditions aren’t as shabby as Ling Xiao had imagined.
Though the space is small, the rooms are clean and bright, with all necessary furnishings.
Four people share a stone house, which is still quite comfortable.
The only inconvenience might be during cultivation.
But cultivation isn’t a concern. In the Moonlight Sect, cultivation differs from the secular world. Disciples typically cultivate in the mountains where spiritual energy is abundant, and there are cave mansions opened by disciples or elders.
Having one’s own cave mansion would be ideal.
After settling Ling Xiao and the other new outer sect disciples into their quarters, Elder Bai left to attend to his own matters. He couldn’t stay with the new disciples indefinitely.
There would be someone assigned to distribute duties and tasks to the new disciples, so he, as an outer sect elder, didn’t need to worry.
It’s hard to say whether Ling Xiao was lucky or unfortunate.
In his stone house, there was an older disciple named Wu Xiang. Rumour had it that due to his poor cultivation aptitude, no one wanted to live with him, so he had been living alone.
With the expanded recruitment, the stone houses were in short supply, making it impossible for him to occupy one alone, so three new disciples were assigned to share it with him.
The other two were princes of the Northern Han Kingdom.
The second prince, Zhao Ting, and the third prince, Zhao Zhi.
One older disciple and two princes—all big shots in their own right.
Ling Xiao shook his head with a wry smile.
But he quickly cast this minor issue aside. He had come to the Moonlight Sect to improve his strength, not to fuss over such things.
Before leaving, old man Bai Yun had made a promise to him.
Bai Yun would look after the Divine Sword Sect.
In return, Ling Xiao would help Bai Yun rescue his daughter.
A gentleman’s word is worth a thousand gold, and besides, this was a fair exchange. He had no reason to slack off.
With old man Bai Yun protecting his grandfather Hong Qi and younger brother Ling Luo, Ling Xiao could rest easy.
In the sect, the Mortal Realm might seem unimpressive, but in the secular world, it was still awe-inspiringly powerful.
Even without this deal, he needed to improve his strength quickly.
Having grown up without parents, his grandfather Hong Qi never told him what his parents did, only that they were dead.
But even if they were dead, he wanted to know their identities and how they died.
This required far greater strength, or it would be impossible.
Moreover, this vast sect world was filled with countless talented individuals, with powerhouses and geniuses aplenty. As a young man, he felt both excited and full of anticipation.
Originally, Hei Suo had said that Ling Xiao’s master, Master Bai Yun, was among the lowest of the Moonlight Sect’s outer sect disciples, leading Ling Xiao to assume all outer sect senior disciples were Mortal Realm martial artists.
But after speaking with Wu Xiang, he learned that wasn’t the case.
Wu Xiang was somewhat reserved and timid but treated others kindly.
He helped Zhao Ting and Zhao Zhi make their beds and then started chatting with Ling Xiao.
As for the two princes, they had long since wandered off somewhere.
There were likely deep ties between the Northern Han Kingdom’s royal family and the Moonlight Sect, but Ling Xiao didn’t pry. Those were their resources, and he had no business meddling in what they did.
“So, your master is Master Bai Yun?”
Wu Xiang sighed and said, “Actually, the Moonlight Sect has a rule: inner sect disciples who haven’t broken through to the Heavenly Human Realm by age one hundred are sent back to the outer sect to handle secular tasks. Master Bai Yun is one such person, but he’s definitely not among the lowest outer sect disciples. After all, once an outer sect disciple reaches the Mortal Realm, they can automatically become an inner sect disciple.”
“I see.”
Ling Xiao roughly understood Hei Suo’s earlier words—they were just mocking old man Bai Yun. Bai Yun couldn’t be bothered to explain, as being demoted from the inner to the outer sect was even more humiliating.
“So, the strongest in the outer sect are Half-Step Masters?”
Ling Xiao asked.
The term “Master” is a respectful title for Mortal Realm martial artists, just as Heavenly Human Realm martial artists are called “Heavenly Venerables.”
A Half-Step Master, naturally, is far stronger than a typical peak Ninth Layer Martial Vein martial artist but hasn’t broken through to the Mortal Realm.
“Exactly. In the outer sect, there are thirty disciples at the Half-Step Master level and over a hundred peak Ninth Layer Martial Masters. This is even with past restrictions on recruitment. In the future, there’ll likely be more outstanding disciples.”
Wu Xiang nodded and said, “You new outer sect disciples should be careful. After all, no senior outer sect disciple has a cultivation below the Ninth Layer Martial Vein. Even the weakest, like me, are at the late Ninth Layer.”
“No need to feel discouraged, Senior Brother. You’re only in your thirties, aren’t you? There’s still plenty of time and opportunities ahead.”
Ling Xiao didn’t know how to comfort Wu Xiang, so he offered some polite words.
Wu Xiang smiled but said nothing, his eyes lacking any spark. Clearly, his drive had long been worn away.
“Trouble!”
Suddenly, someone burst through the door, shouting at Ling Xiao, “Brother Ling, you’re with that Leng Mei, right? She’s been targeted by Tian, ranked fiftieth in the outer sect.”
Ling Xiao recognised the person, a fellow new disciple he’d chatted with before. He was outgoing and quick to make friends.
“Tian!”
Wu Xiang was about to explain something to Ling Xiao when he saw a blur dash out the door.
“This is bad.”
Truth be told, Wu Xiang had a very good impression of Ling Xiao. Zhao Zhi and Zhao Ting had dismissed him as the lowest-ranking senior outer sect disciple, but Ling Xiao was different.
