A month later.
All the newly initiated disciples of Qing Yu Immortal Sect gathered in front of the Hall of Learning for the entrance ceremony.
Chen Shaojie and Li Xuejiao stood together, curiously checking out the other people there.
This time, the sect was recruiting more than a hundred new disciples, supposedly the highest number in the last ten years.
"This is amazing! I can't believe we can get promoted to the upper court together, Junior Brother! Everyone says that Grandmaster Qing Zhu gave you some kind of help. Can you tell me how he actually helped you?"
"..."
Chen Shaojie looked at Li Xuejiao helplessly. Ever since Li Xuejiao found out that he had also took the entrance test and had successfully gotten promoted to the upper court, she had repeatedly asked this question.
Li Xuejiao stuck out her tongue when she saw Chen Shaojie looking at her like that. She said somewhat apologetically, "Oh, I know, Junior Brother, you can't talk about it. I'm sorry, I'm just so curious."
Chen Shaojie's brows furrowed slightly. He could not get used to seeing his Senior Sister sticking out her tongue like that.
In the last few months, Li Xuejiao's attitude towards him had visibly become a lot more intimate.
Before this, she clearly treated him only as a Junior Brother. She kept saying how she would definitely repay him, how she would take care of him, and so on. But now... how should he say it, it felt as if she was almost treating him like her boyfriend.
Chen Shaojie had secretly analyzed the reason for this complex emotional change in Li Xuejiao. He concluded that it was mainly because he was simply too "weak" before, so Li Xuejiao did not see him as an equal. Now that he had gotten promoted to the upper court by relying on his own effort, Li Xuejiao finally saw him differently and did not mind becoming more intimate with him.
But Senior Sister, I never had such intention...
Chen Shaojie had always treated Li Xuejiao sincerely, in that he sincerely only wanted to take advantage of her cultivation talent. That was all.
Now, there were so many new disciples who had just joined the sect standing around them. These were all disciples who could join the upper court directly through the entrance test. Every single one of them was more gifted than the servant disciples who had to get promoted from the lower court.
Therefore, Chen Shaojie felt that he should refrain from disturbing Senior Sister Li so much from now on. He should find another person to disturb.
After thinking about it, Chen Shaojie decided to take advantage of this temporary free time to do something. He called out to Meng Tiancheng, who had been standing inconspicuously in a corner, "Little Cheng Cheng, bring the stuff over."
Meng Tiancheng had also managed to get promoted to the upper court, becoming the third person to get promoted from the lower court to the upper court this time.
Hearing Chen Shaojie call him "Little Cheng Cheng", his eyes twitched involuntarily. But in the end, he did not say anything and obediently carried a large cloth bag over.
"Come, follow me!"
Chen Shaojie stepped out of the crowd and stood in front of all the newly initiated disciples. He introduced himself with a smile, "Hello everyone, my name is Chen Shaojie. I'm a disciple who has just gotten promoted from the lower court. We're all brothers and sisters from now on. Let's look out for each other in the future."
Everyone immediately focused their gaze on Chen Shaojie.
Some of the gazes were curious, some were guarded, some were indifferent, some were smiling... but regardless of the emotion contained within their gazes, they were all a little surprised by how good looking the guy was.
Chen Shaojie generously gave all of them a salute, then continued with a smile, "I feel truly honored to meet all of you today. I personally joined the sect a little earlier than all of you, so I might know the situation within the sect a little better. With that in mind, I've prepared a small gift for everyone. I hope we can all get along and work together amicably for the sake of Qing Yu Immortal Sect's prosperity and might."
After concluding his speech, he gestured at "Little Cheng Cheng", then fetched a gift from the cloth bag and offered it to the disciple standing closest to him.
"A small token of appreciation. Please don't think much of it."
Chen Shaojie repeatedly pulled gifts out of the big cloth bag and handed them out one by one to the new disciples until everybody had one.
His present was a thick piece of paper that had been carefully rolled up and tied with a thin hemp rope, looking very exquisite.
"T-Thank you..."
"You're welcome."
As the saying went, you can't blame someone for being too polite. Even the coldest person would not refuse to accept Chen Shaojie's gift.
The girls had the strongest reaction. Several of them said "thank you" sweetly and added "Brother Chen" in a mushy voice.
Of course, there were also some who had colder personalities and did not even say thank you after receiving the gift. Chen Shaojie did not mind. He made sure everybody got his gift.
"This is..."
Someone had immediately unwrapped the gift out of curiousity right after receving it.
Chen Shaojie explained, "This is the map of our Qing Yu Mountains. It shows the locations of some of the important places in the sect. It's not anything too expensive, but because everyone just got here, I thought having a map should make things a bit more convenient for you, so I took some time to draw these maps and to give them out as presents."
"Little Cheng Cheng", who was following Chen Shaojie around carrying the large cloth bag, immediately cursed at Chen Shaojie in his heart when he heard Chen Shaojie say that.
'So shameless...'
'His mouth spouts nothing but lies...'
These maps were actually drawn by the servant disciples of House A Class 2 in order to "suck up" to Chen Shaojie who would be promoted to the upper court. They had labored for several nights to get the maps done in time, but Chen Shaojie was actually taking full credit for them himself.
Chen Shaojie did not know he was being cursed out by Meng Tiancheng. He calmly handed out all the gifts and returned to his original position with a smile on his face.
When the new disciples saw the map, no matter what they thought about the matter, they instantly understood how useful the map would be. They could feel the sincerity of this handsome Senior Brother of theirs. A number of people saluted Chen Shaojie and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother".
Chen Shaojie returned the salute modestly with a "you're welcome". He was very satisfied with the result.
In the process of handing out gifts, he had secretly used the Bask-in-the-Glow system to investigate the glow of all the newcomers. He now had a clear grasp of their abilities.
Among them, there was a person with a super-grade spiritual root, three with a grade-1 spiritual root, and a number of people who had two different grade-2 spiritual roots. He had identified them all.
He was prepared to get close to these key targets in the near future and get along with them. He would have to rely on them for his cultivation in the upper court from now on.
After winning some brownie points with the newbies, Chen Shaojie stopped talking and kept a low profile instead.
He had just arrived at the upper court and was not yet familiar with the environment here. He must keep a low profile so that he would not become a target.
From what he had heard, those who passed the test was not really an upper court disciple yet. They must stay in the Hall of Learning for half a year first, during which they must learn the rules of the sect and perform the jobs that the sect would assign to them. Only after that would the sect issue them an identity jade token and assign them a residential cave.
In other words, there would still be half a year of induction training/probation period. Only after that would they become formal disciples.