"Once you become an Outer Disciple, whenever you break through to the Qi Cultivation Middle Stage, you can become an Inner Sect Disciple.

If you can break through to the later stage, then you will be a True Inheritance of our sect, and the sect will focus on nurturing you, tilting resources." Wei Jian continued to add.

During the conversation, the group arrived at an ancient wooden building with five tiers and flying eaves—this was the Name Pavilion.

Everyone registered their names, origins, and family information uniformly on the first floor.

On the second floor, they received the disciple rules, which were exactly the same as the other sect rules Lou Yi had seen before, such as respecting teachers and the Dao, solidarity and mutual assistance, and forbidding betrayal.

On the third floor, they obtained the Outer Disciple Token, made of high-quality redwood.

It was engraved with the holder's name and the year of joining the sect, the third year of "Tianshun". Currently, the yearly title used in Zhao Kingdom is "Tianshun".

On the fourth floor, they received the disciple robe, a uniform gray Daoist Robe, with a pattern of an ear of rice embroidered on the chest, along with black cloth shoes, two sets in total.

If you want more, you'll have to pay with your own silver, each set costing five taels.

Lou Yi touched his pocket and couldn't help but chuckle bitterly.

All his money had been spent on bribing the Fat Daoist, and now he was penniless.

Finally, everyone proceeded to the fifth floor to receive the Cultivation Technique, a thin blue booklet named "Energy-Introducing Technique".

As the name suggests, it is a technique that teaches one how to sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and absorb it into the body for refining.

"This Energy-Introducing Technique is a common Qi Cultivation Method in the Central Continent's Cultivation Realm, suitable for practice at the beginning stages.

Although the speed is average, it excels in being balanced and moderate, and it allows a smooth transition to other techniques without any aftereffects."

"Once the junior brothers and sisters develop Qi Sensing, they can officially learn our Corpse-Driving Sect's unique technique 'Profound Yin Technique' and then get the Grass Corpse to aid in cultivation..."

Wei Jian introduced to the newcomers.

Lou Yi understood that this Energy-Introducing Technique was solely to cultivate their Qi Sensing.

As soon as they can introduce Qi into their bodies, they can discard it, turning to cultivate the specific techniques of the Corpse-Driving Sect, the Profound Yin Technique.

After leaving the Name Pavilion.

Wei Jian led everyone down the mountain, arriving at another somewhat shorter peak, where a white stone stele at the foot was carved with the words 'Disciple Peak'.

The vegetation on Disciple Peak was relatively sparse, and looking around, one could see numerous black caves embedded in the mountain from the foot to the summit, numbering in the thousands if not tens of thousands.

Seeing this scene, many people had a foreboding feeling in their hearts.

"From now on, you will live on Disciple Peak." Wei Jian's lips curled into a slightly schadenfreude smile, "This peak has a total of twenty-three thousand five hundred and sixty-eight caves, each with a stone bed.

The higher up the mountain, the more abundant the Spiritual Qi, making it easier to sense the Qi.

Right, it's best to stay inside the cave honestly at night and not come out. Miasma generates at night on the mountain; inhaling it wouldn't be good."

"As for food, every day laborers will deliver it from the bottom of the mountain. For the first three months, our sect provides it for free as a benefit to newcomers.

In these three months, you must cherish the opportunity, make sure not to waste time."

Wei Jian finished speaking meaningfully and then turned and left.

Clearly, he had already shed the identity of a regular disciple and did not need to squeeze onto Disciple Peak.

On site, the roughly hundred disciples looked at each other, dumbfounded at suddenly being dumped here.

One person was the first to climb the mountain, heading toward the caves above.

She wore a white gauze skirt, with a slender figure and fair skin.

But what was originally a sweet face was emotionless at the moment, her eyes full of deep gloom.

She came over with Lou Yi from the same Seeking Immortality Hall, a twin sister named Xu Junyi.

Her elder sister had died unexpectedly, and now she was the only one entering the sect, her temperament evidently had changed, no longer bright and cheerful as before.

With Xu Junyi setting an example, others rushed towards the caves, fearing the good ones would be snatched away.

Lou Yi arrived at one cave at the mountain's base, and upon entering, a strong smell of dust hit him, making him frown.

The cave was truly crude, barely higher than three feet, about five to six square units in area, with original mountain rock and hard soil on all sides.

Inside the cave, there were only three things:

A stone bed full of dust, with a surface covered in cracks and pitted holes; a stone table and a stone stool beside it, with edges broken and looking hardly better than the stone bed.

These were the three dead objects, yet there were many living creatures.

Long black ants crawled on the ground, bright green spiders leisurely spun webs overhead, and beneath the bed, centipede-like creatures quickly tunneled into the mud hole...

'Is this fit for humans?' Lou Yi was speechless.

He checked several nearby caves, and all were similar.

Some caves even had not just one snake, and judging by the bright color, they were definitely poisonous.

The other new disciples also emerged from the caves, faces grim.

"The caves at the foot of the mountain are the worst; they haven't been inhabited for a long time." The black-clothed youth who had previously pointed out the identities of the Crown Prince and You Qingyi looked higher up and calmly analyzed, "I just saw someone at the mountainside, indicating that it's habitable."

Su Yu said, "Didn't Senior Brother Wei just say that the higher up, the more abundant the Spiritual Qi, judging by this, the summit must be the best!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up, and they climbed upwards.

Unexpectedly, halfway up, they stopped, unable to advance.

Seven or eight youths wearing gray Daoist robes, generally a generation older than them, stood in their way, faces cold.

The leader, a man in his twenty-three or twenty-four, tall and muscular, with a grass stalk in his mouth, had a cynical air.

He spoke with deliberate slowness, "Why are you all in such a hurry to get up there? Are the caves below unsuitable for habitation?"

"The caves below are all dirty, filled with centipedes and poison snakes, how can humans live there?" Su Yu couldn't help but shout.

"Oh, I see. But the caves up here, we've cleaned them with great effort; we can't let you live in them so easily." The grass-holding youth replied casually while picking his ear.

"Then what does Senior Brother plan to do?" the black-clothed youth asked.

"It's simple, one night's stay costs one tael of silver, two nights costs two taels." The grass-holding youth said indifferently, "At most, you can pay for three months, then you're free to stay."

Thus, staying for a full three months would cost ninety taels of silver.

Many people's expressions changed; there were princes and ladies from wealthy families among them, but also pure grassroots individuals who couldn't afford ninety taels of silver.

The cost of living in Zhao Kingdom was similar to what Lou Yi had known in Wei Kingdom. A common person earns about seven or eight taels a year.

Ninety taels is equivalent to ten years' income, a significant sum indeed.

"Why! Aren't the caves up here part of the sect too?" Su Yu shouted angrily, "What right do you have to charge silver!"

"Right, let me tell you what rights we have." The grass-holding youth sneered and snapped his fingers with a 'pop'.

From the surrounding grass and trees, the sound of 'rustling' immediately arose.

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