Fatty frowned. He could have ascended together with the children, but he had to reach out and shove them aside. If mortals fell off this ladder, they could become very severely injured. What's more, the ladder itself would not allow anyone to hurt others. Otherwise, it would automatically send the perpetrator all the way back down. People with crooked hearts naturally would not be allowed to enter the sect. Fatty immediately conjured a seal to carry the two children who fell off the ladder back up the mountain.
He retreated a few steps and activated a tinge of immortal Qi to transport them back on the ladder, then delayed the disappearance of the ladder. There was a good reason to give them another chance after all. He would see whether the ladder would give them a chance. The boy hesitated and surprisingly picked the girl up again, with an even more determined expression on his face. He did not give up carrying her up the mountain. Surprisingly, he made it to the peak in time before the ladder disappeared.
Fatty kept the ascension ladder and closed off the array that protected the sect. The crowd by the side saw the immortal mountain disappear before their very eyes.
Fatty turned around to address the nine people who made it up the mountain. "You managed to make it up the immortal mountain – this shows that you have an affinity to become immortals. Please, follow me. I will bring you to meet the Immortal Elder who will be training you in immortal techniques from today onward."
"Training us in immortal techniques? So he'll be our future master?" Someone asked excitedly.
Fatty paused and thought about the three people in the rear hall. In all these years, Lonemoon had never even acknowledged Fatty as his disciple. Yi Qing was not recruiting. Lady Shen... Forget it. Fatty turned around to face them once again and said, "I think you can wait a bit longer before you acknowledge your master. They will train you in cultivation, but they will not take you as their disciples."
The group clearly looked disappointed, but they looked forward to meeting their teacher nevertheless. Thus, they followed Fatty to the rear hall. Fatty considered the reputation of the sect and calculated the time. He purposely brought the group one full circle before they finally arrived at the rear hall. Indeed, the three of them had finished their lunch by then.
From afar, the group spotted the three people seated in the yard. There were two men and one woman. The man on the left was sipping his tea. The woman was slumped over the table, and she held a fruit in her hand, which she was gnawing on. The other man was pouring her some tea. Apart from the lady in the middle, the other two's immortal Qi seemed to be surging around their bodies.
"Master," Fatty addressed Lonemoon. "The disciples we have selected this time are here. There are nine of them in total."
"Nine?" Lonemoon paused. How coincidental! When Invincible Sect first recruited disciples, there were nine of them as well. Lonemoon scanned the group. Apart from three adults, the others were all young children.
"Greetings, Immortal Elder!" The three adults cupped their fists respectfully. Seeing this, the other children followed suit and bowed to the three of them.
"Mm." Lonemoon nodded. He set down his cup of tea and got to his feet. "Since you have all passed the test of the ladder, I will take it that all of you have successfully been recruited into the sect."
The group's eyes brightened. They were visibly more excited.
"The trouble with the demons is getting more and more serious. There is unimaginable danger in the world outside of us. I will teach you how to cultivate, so that once you have established your skills, you will be able to set up your own sects and train your own cultivators to defend themselves against these dangers," Lonemoon explained his vision. "So I hope that from today onward, you will work your hardest with the view of passing your skills down to future generations."
"Yes, Immortal Elder!" They replied in unison.
"Mm." Lonemoon nodded. He introduced himself, "I am Lonemoon. That is Yi Qing and the woman beside him is... not important!" She would not remember them anyway.
Shen Ying: "..." Son of a b*tch!
"From tomorrow, we will begin teaching you the ways of cultivation. Today, you can..." He was just about to arrange their accommodations.
"Immortal Elder!" The child on the right suddenly called out. He fell to his knees and said, "Immortal Elder, I beg you to teach my sister! If you are willing to teach her, I am willing to do anything in return!"
After he finished speaking, the boy kowtowed. The girl beside him looked confused and weak. She did not seem to be able to stand on her own. At that moment, she was leaning against an older girl for support.
Lonemoon looked curiously at Fatty.
Fatty paused. It was obvious that he was confused about the situation as well. He said, "This child's sister is sick. He carried her up the ladder the entire way."
"Oh?" Lonemoon turned to face the kneeling child. "Speak – what's the problem?"
"Responding to Immortal Elder," the boy responded. "A few years ago, my sister got bitten by a beast. After that, we found that she could no longer walk. Everybody in the village said that she met with this unfortunate accident because she was a jinx. They chased us out of the village. Immortal Elder... you are an immortal. You must have a way of healing my sister, don't you? I'm begging you to teach her!"
"You carried her up the immortal ascension ladder because you wanted me to heal her?" Lonemoon scanned the girl from head to toe and took a closer look at her legs. With one look, Lonemoon could tell that her legs had been infected following a beast's bite. Thankfully, however, it was not too serious..
"Yes!" The boy nodded.
"Then what if I make you choose between me teaching you how to cultivate and me healing your sister?" Lonemoon asked.
The boy stared blankly at him. He clearly had not expected that Lonemoon would make him choose. He turned around and looked at his sister. Then, he gritted his teeth and said, "I choose my sister. Please, Immortal Elder, grant my wish!"
Lonemoon nodded. This was a good child. He walked toward the little girl, reached out and dissipated the demonic Qi around the girl's legs. She hesitated and felt her strength begin to gather back in her legs. Instinctively, she stood up. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
"Brother, I... I can walk!"
The little boy was overjoyed. He immediately pulled his sister down to kneel beside him. "Thank you, Immortal Elder! Thank you, Immortal Elder!"
"Dispense with the ceremonies," Lonemoon helped them both up. "At such a young age, you are willing to go to such lengths to help your family. That's... Eh!" Lonemoon had been praising him, but felt something in his hands. His heart jumped as he pulled the boy to his feet and took a closer look at him. He activated a string of immortal Qi to inspect the boy's body.
Indeed, a moment later, Lonemoon felt a negligible repulsion from the sword Qi inside the boy's body.
"Holy shit, an innate sword embodiment!" He had the same body type as Chef. This meant that he was a natural sword cultivator – the kind that would never stray from the path! He grabbed hold of the boy and said very seriously, "I've decided to take you as my disciple. Come, call me Master!" He shot a glance at the master and disciple duo behind him that seemed to say, "Don't even think of stealing him from me."
Shen Ying: "..."
Yi Qing: "..."
Fatty: "..."
Didn't he say that he was not taking in disciples?
Fatty felt an ache in his heart.
Lonemoon had not thought that a simple advertisement would gain him someone with an innate sword embodiment. Thinking back to the countless people he had taught before, his heart wrenched. The fact that there were so many body cultivators in his sect aside, the only hardworking Fatty had no fate with sword techniques. Now, this boy with an innate sword embodiment was his saving grace. Lonemoon finally saw hope for sword cultivation.