Inside the cabin of the Flying Dragon Ship, Lu Ye glanced left and right. By the time he regained his senses, he noticed that Veteran Thang had already seated himself on the meditation cushion.
He quickly walked over and sat upright in front of Veteran Thang.
Destiny is sometimes quite wonderful. Meeting in the mine, Lu Ye never expected to join the sect where Veteran Thang belonged. However, no matter what, from now on he had a place in this world. Thinking about this warmed his heart.
Choosing the Righteous Blood Sect was an act of helplessness, but if it was the sect where Veteran Thang belonged, it was acceptable.
"I am Thang Yifeng!", Veteran Thang spoke, "the tenth-generation sect master of the Righteous Blood Sect."
Lu Ye was momentarily startled.
Although he did not know much about the cultivation world, he understood what a sect master meant.
He had guessed that Veteran Thang's status in the Righteous Blood Sect must be high, but he never expected that the person in front of him was the sect master.
He quickly performed a salute: "Disciple pays respect to the sect master."
Veteran Thang nodded, "Although today I have accepted you into the sect, every nation has its laws and every sect has its rules. Currently, you are not yet an official disciple, merely a recorded name. You need to pass some tests to truly enter the sect. We won't discuss the contents of the tests now; you will know once we return to the sect. Moreover, with your current cultivation, it's not yet time for the tests."
Lu Ye listened attentively and responded, "Disciple understands."
Initially, those mining slaves who wanted to join Evil Moon Valley also had to undergo tests, so Lu Ye was not surprised by Veteran Thang's words.
Not just him, those previously chosen by the various big sects were not official disciples either. Every sect had its own tests, filtering the disciples through trials of character, morality, or other aspects. Only those who passed these tests were truly considered initiated.
"Righteous Blood Sect is located in Mount Ao of Bingzhou, established a thousand years ago, having nurtured sixty-three thousand six hundred sixty-two sect members and disciples, among them Divine Sea Realm totals..."
As Veteran Thang narrated, the historical scroll of the sect unfolded gradually before Lu Ye, giving him a basic understanding of the Righteous Blood Sect.
At present, he was not clear what those numbers represented. Only in the future would he understand the heavy significance of those figures.
A moment later, Veteran Thang looked at Lu Ye, "If you have anything you wish to know, feel free to ask me."
Lu Ye asked a question that greatly intrigued him, "Sect Master, during this attack on Evil Moon Valley, why didn't we see any brothers or sisters from our sect?"
Before, when Veteran Thang had gone to find him, he hadn't noticed anything amiss. Knowing now that Veteran Thang was the sect master of the Righteous Blood Sect, he immediately realized an issue.
Righteous Blood Sect... it seemed that only Veteran Thang had come, otherwise it would not have been Veteran Thang who came to find him. Such a task of welcoming new members could easily be delegated to a disciple, and surely would not require the sect master himself to take action.
"Ahem..." Veteran Thang coughed lightly, clenching his fist, "Well, our Righteous Blood Sect doesn't have many people."
Lu Ye understood: "So, we are saying our talent is declining, and the sect is in decline."
Thinking about it made sense. A 9th grade sect was the lowest tier in the Nine Provinces cultivation world, and recruiting disciples was probably not an easy task. Take this rescue of the mining slaves, for instance, out of more than a hundred people, only Lu Ye chose the Righteous Blood Sect, and that was after listening to Pang Dahai's advice.
"That... is not incorrect." Veteran Thang said somewhat helplessly.
"Then Sect Master, how many people are there currently in the sect?"
Veteran Thang said, "Let's change the question."
"Ah?"
"Don't you have any questions about cultivation?"
"I do!" Lu Ye quickly nodded, "Disciple currently has one orifice filled, but when trying to open the second orifice, I just can't find the correct position. Please enlighten me, Sect Master."
Veteran Thang nodded slightly, "At the beginning of cultivation, it's indeed easy to encounter this problem, but if you want to open the second orifice, you need the right Cultivation Technique."
"I have a Cultivation Technique," Lu Ye said as he started unbuttoning his clothes. Under the astonished gaze of Veteran Thang, he took out a second storage sack that he had kept close to his body the whole time.
This was Manager Yang's storage sack. When he decided to leave the dark tunnel, Lu Ye had carefully hidden it on his person, as it contained many valuable items and he was afraid of attracting unwanted attention.
Now that he had joined the Righteous Blood Sect and was in the presence of the sect master, there was no need to hide it anymore.
Looking at the storage sack on Lu Ye's waist and then at the second one he had just taken out, Veteran Thang instantly understood what was going on.
This youngster didn't just kill one person from Evil Moon Valley in that mining tunnel!
"Sly fox!" Veteran Thang commented.
Lu Ye gave a sheepish laugh, took out a book from Manager Yang's storage sack, and handed it to Veteran Thang, "This 'Golden Cicada Carefree Method' was collected by a cultivator from Evil Moon Valley. I wonder if I, as a disciple, could cultivate it?"
"Since it's a Cultivation Technique, you can cultivate it. What are you worried about?" Veteran Thang took it and started to read.
"This is after all a Cultivation Technique practiced by disciples of Evil Moon Valley. I worry that it might be an evil technique…" Lu Ye stopped mid-sentence, unable to continue.
Because suddenly, from Veteran Thang's side, a series of bizarre sounds emerged, which were quite grating in the silence of the cabin.
Lu Ye couldn't help but twitch the corner of his eye.
But Veteran Thang was thoroughly engrossed in it.
The sounds grew louder and more tumultuous, with rises and falls, pauses and emphases, and even included some strange dialogues.
Anyone unaware would probably think something indecent was happening in the cabin.
Unable to help himself, Lu Ye leaned forward halfway to peer at the book in Veteran Thang's hands.
He saw that as Veteran Thang stimulated his spirit force, the originally stiff characters in the book seemed to come to life. The sounds Lu Ye heard were coming from this book.
At this moment, he had also realized that he had taken the wrong item.
In Manager Yang's storage sack, there were three books in total; one was 'Sword Saint Chronicles,' another was 'Golden Cicada Carefree Method, and the third one, which Veteran Thang now held, had been mistakenly taken by him.
He had previously thought the craftsmanship of this book extraordinary; the characters looked vividly alive, but he never imagined that the book had such miraculous aspects.
Had he opened it incorrectly before?
Lu Ye was astonished!
As Lu Ye was in shock, Veteran Thang had already closed the book, and instantly, both the visuals and sounds disappeared.
As they looked at each other, Lu Ye said, "Sect Master, this book…"
Veteran Thang's expression was solemn, "This is a dual cultivation technique. There are indeed some useful parts, but you are too young to be exposed to this too early."
"No, Sect Master, this isn't my possession, but the spoils of war I seized from a disciple of Evil Moon Valley," Lu Ye hurriedly explained.
Veteran Thang nodded, "That's good. You are still young, so I will keep this item for you for now. I will return it to you when you are a bit older."
Lu Ye felt this statement somewhat familiar...
Veteran Thang had already put away the wondrous book, and without any visible storage sack on him, Lu Ye had no idea where he had stored it.