Second Time

Chapter 46 - Moving In

It only took a week for the sect to finish the needed construction. The five women flew over to admire the work.

Everything was done according to Shao Yue's specifications. A five-story tall octagonal pavilion stood at the highest point, the ground within two kilometers of it cleared and flattened. Eight similar three-story tall pavilions stood exactly a kilometer away in each cardinal and ordinal direction. The central pavilion was a hundred meters wide, while the others were all fifty meters wide. Each was constructed from jade with a red trim and dark roof.

A sprawling medicine garden spread along the outside from the east pavilion to the north-east pavilion. Only a quarter of it had been planted. At the center sat a large pond with plenty of lotus flowers floating in the water. There were a few areas set up where people could sit and relax while admiring the garden.

To the south, two arenas had been set up for spars or technique demonstrations. The rest of the mountain had been untouched, leaving it open for future development as they needed it.

"Fei, set up the arrays," Shao Yue said, handing over a storage ring with the materials. "Start with the concealment array."

"Got it." Cai Fei took the ring and set off down the mountain at her usual high speed.

"Zhu Jiao, since you'll be communicating with the central peak, you can take the pavilion to the south-west. It's closest. Make yourself at home."

"As you command." Zhu Jiao bowed, then flew off to the south-west.

"Mingzhi, Xifeng, come with me."

Shao Yue led the pair over to the medicine garden, then handed them both a jade slip.

"These contain instructions on how to care for all of the plants here," Shao Yue explained, gesturing to the fields. "You two will be in charge of taking care of the garden. One of you will have to learn how to harvest the plants, while one of will have to learn how to process them into poisons, teas, and so on. Do either of you have a preference?"

"I know a bit of traditional medicine," Lin Xifeng said. "If alchemy isn't required, I should be able to handle preparing them."

"I'm fine with that," Xu Mingzhi said. "I used to help my family process herbs, so harvesting them is ideal for me."

"Come to think of it, I don't really know anything about you two," Shao Yue said. "Tell me about yourselves. What you did before coming here, and what led to you having to take a role as a servant."

The two looked at each other.

"I'll go first," Lin Xifeng decided. "I was born in the Northern Tortoise Continent. There, I was a top prodigy, but the world energy concentration held me back. To seek higher heights, I travelled here and went through the entry exam, since this place is renowned as the greatest sect. However, with all the years I wasted, I was only average here. Average disciples get average resources. As the years went on, I couldn't keep up."

Shao Yue nodded. "I understand that. I come from a place where the strongest cultivators are only in the Nascent Soul Realm, without any native Spiritual Manifestation Realm cultivators around. It's hard to flourish in a place like that, but by the time you're able to leave, it can be too late. Fortunately, you still have plenty of time. You can cultivate here in peace."

Lin Xifeng beamed. "I won't forget your kindness, Master."

"Call me Shao Yue." She turned to the other woman. "How about you?"

"My aptitude is honestly not good," Xu Mingzhi admitted. "However, my family is fairly wealthy for mortals and they hired an alchemist to make pills for me. They would have me pick out the best herbs from the bundles that would then become my pills. I managed to enter the sect due to having high cultivation for my age at the time, but my family's wealth couldn't keep up with my cultivation once I reached the Nascent Soul Realm, so I stagnated."