The trio walked and chatted. Before long, Lin Xiaolu followed Li Miaoxin down a flight of stone steps and arrived at a large courtyard of a pavilion.
Unlike before, there were quite a number of people coming and going here, and it was bustling and lively.
"This is the dining hall where we have our meals. Junior brother and sister can come directly here to have a meal whenever you are hungry in the future." Li Miaoxin introduced enthusiastically to the siblings.
Lin Xiaolu looked at the men and women coming in and out of the courtyard and showed a puzzled expression. "Senior sister, didn't you say that our Star-Picking Lineage doesn't have many disciples? Then who are these people?"
"They are the outer disciples of Mount Emei. They usually reside at the foot of the mountain." Li Miaoxin explained. "Mount Emei has nine lineages and ten peaks, and each peak has a large number of outer disciples."
While speaking, Li Miaoxin led him and Xiaoyuer into the courtyard.
It seemed to be the mealtime at this moment. There were many so-called outer disciples sitting in a disorderly manner in the courtyard. And as soon as they saw Li Miaoxin, a trace of awe appeared on each of their faces.
"Sister, those people seem to be afraid of you." Xiaoyuer asked curiously.
"Because we are inner disciples." Li Miaoxin said with a smile. "Mount Emei has a strict hierarchy. Unless one has an outstanding talent, everyone starts as an outer disciple. And only those who rank in the top three in the annual sect trial can be promoted to inner disciples."
"Then are my sister and I outer disciples or inner disciples?" Lin Xiaolu asked.
"Of course, you are inner disciples." Li Miaoxin then smiled and said. "You are disciples personally recruited by our master. You are directly inner disciples. You don't have to do chores. You just need to cultivate diligently. In Mount Emei, outer disciples are recruited starting from the age of sixteen. But for inner disciples, it's different. There are many talented children like you who become inner disciples at a young age."
"Oh, oh." Lin Xiaolu nodded with satisfaction.
He thought to himself that he was indeed born to be a leader. His starting line was higher than others. He was directly an inner disciple. Hahaha.
Li Miaoxin looked at the boy with his hands on his hips, standing there and laughing foolishly, and was both amused and exasperated. She admonished, "Junior brother, although you are an inner disciple, you can't be too playful. Starting from tomorrow, if you can't enter the Qi Condensation Realm within a year, even if you are a disciple personally recruited by our master, you will be automatically demoted to an outer disciple."
"Hahaha——"
The boy's laughter stopped abruptly. As if nothing had happened, he followed Li Miaoxin into the pavilion where the inner disciples had their meals.
Soon, the three of them arrived at the elegantly decorated second floor. And as soon as they reached the second floor, a servant in blue immediately ran over with a fawning look.
"Greetings, Senior sister Miaoxin." The servant in blue saluted with a smiling face and said obsequiously, "When junior brother got up today and saw the magpies chirping outside the window, he knew that it was Senior sister Miaoxin coming to have a meal. I'm truly sorry for not greeting you earlier."
Li Miaoxin was amused and covered her mouth with a smile. "Monkey San'er, stop being glib. If you spent more time on cultivation instead of flattering, you would have been promoted to an inner disciple long ago." After that, she introduced to the servant, "These two are Junior brother Lin Xiaolu and Junior sister Xiaoyuer. They are new disciples recruited by my master. You should serve them well in the future and must not be negligent."
The servant named Monkey San'er immediately bowed respectfully to the siblings upon hearing this. "Outer disciple Monkey San'er, pays respects to Junior brother Lin Xiaolu and Junior sister Xiaoyuer."
Xiaoyuer looked at Monkey San'er with a bit of fear and hid her small body behind Li Miaoxin like a frightened young animal. Li Miaoxin couldn't help but exclaim how cute she was.
Lin Xiaolu, on the other hand, was not so afraid. Seeing the strange creature in front of him showing respect, he immediately put on an air of a big shot, put his hands behind his back and said smugly, "You are a good lad. You can follow me from now on."
Monkey San'er was taken aback. Li Miaoxin almost burst out laughing. Her little junior brother was really amusing.
The seven-year-old Lin Xiaolu continued to laugh arrogantly at Monkey San'er. "Come on, call me big brother!"
Monkey San'er looked at the little junior brother whose height only reached his thigh, hesitated for a moment, and then said with an embarrassed expression, "B, big brother."
"Hmm~" Lin Xiaolu nodded with satisfaction and grinned foolishly. "You can follow me from now on. If anyone bullies you, just mention my name, Lin Xiaolu. Hahaha."
Li Miaoxin was convulsed with laughter at this scene. She held her laughter until her face turned red and took several breaths before interrupting Lin Xiaolu's crazy laughter. She said to Monkey San'er, "Go and get several portions of spiritual food and send them to my room. Remember, make it softer. My junior sister is young and can't eat too hard food."
"Sure, please, three senior brothers and sisters."
The siblings and Li Miaoxin entered an elegant room. As soon as they entered, Lin Xiaolu asked curiously, "Senior sister, what is spiritual food?"
"Spiritual food is food irrigated with spiritual energy. Eating it regularly is of great benefit to our cultivation." Li Miaoxin introduced unhurriedly. "Outer disciples can only enjoy spiritual food once a month, while inner disciples can have it once a day. For additional portions, they need to be exchanged with contribution points."
"And what are contribution points?" Lin Xiaolu continued to ask.
"Contribution points are the contributions you make to the sect. We can do tasks for the sect in our spare time to obtain contribution points. Then we can exchange them for spirit stones, magic instruments, cultivation methods, and the like that we want."
The Lin Xiaolu siblings were a bit confused for a while. They were too young to understand these things well. They were still more interested in food.When they were in the village, they seldom even had meat to eat, let alone spiritual food. Just hearing about it made them feel extraordinary. So they were looking forward to it very much.
And just as they were waiting expectantly, a shrill laugh suddenly came from outside the room.
"Senior sister Miaoxin."
A tall and thin cultivator in a dark blue robe entered with a group of grinning cultivators.
As soon as he entered the room, the tall and thin cultivator couldn't wait to sneer. "Senior sister Miaoxin, I heard that after twenty years, your Star-Picking Lineage has finally recruited two disciples. I, your senior brother, have come especially to see what kind of prodigies can catch your Star-Picking Lineage's eye."
As soon as these words were spoken, the others behind the tall and thin cultivator burst into laughter.
Li Miaoxin frowned when looking at this group of people.
Although she didn't want to admit it, the Star-Picking Lineage had always been a laughingstock of Mount Emei.
There was no way. Although their master was the most powerful among the nine lineage elders, he was naturally lazy. In addition, the unique skills of the Star-Picking Lineage were really too difficult to learn. So there had been no new disciples for more than twenty years.
But she still wouldn't allow others to insult the Star-Picking Lineage. At this moment, she said in a cold voice with a frown, "Senior brother Zhao, does my master recruiting disciples need your approval?"
"No, no, senior sister, you misunderstand." The tall and thin cultivator quickly waved his hand. "Our fellow disciples of the Nine Infants Lineage are just curious. The Star-Picking Lineage has had no disciples for twenty years, and today suddenly there are new disciples, and two of them. How could I not come to have a look? I brought my fellow disciples here to broaden our horizons."
After that, he looked at the timid Xiaoyuer and then at Lin Xiaolu and asked with a smile, "Are you two the new disciples of the Star-Picking Lineage?"
Just after asking, the smile on his face suddenly disappeared. He shouted, "Dongfang Dan!"
"Yes, senior brother. I'm here."
From the crowd behind, a chubby little boy around ten years old squeezed over.
The little fat boy had a round face full of fat, with a pair of triangular eyes narrowed. He looked like a meatball. When he walked, the fat on his chin trembled.
The tall and thin cultivator put his hand on the little fat boy's shoulder and said to Li Miaoxin with a smile, "This is a new disciple recruited by my master, Dongfang Dan. He has a natural earth spirit body."
Li Miaoxin was startled upon hearing this. She looked at the unimpressive little fat boy in surprise. An earth spirit body among the five-element spirit bodies! The Nine Infants Lineage has actually recruited such a prodigy!
Seeing her surprise, the tall and thin cultivator became even more arrogant. He sneered at the Lin Xiaolu siblings and said, "Little Dan, these two are junior brother and sister who entered Mount Emei on the same day as you. Go and say hello."
The little fat boy named Dongfang Dan understood. He came to Lin Xiaolu with an arrogant look. His small eyes first swept over Lin Xiaolu's tattered clothes full of patches, and then showed disdain. He shouted arrogantly, "I'm Dongfang Dan, the son of the prime minister of the Great Yue Kingdom and have a natural earth spirit body. Who are you?"
Behind the little fat boy, the tall and thin cultivator and a group of disciples of the Nine Infants Lineage all showed an expression of waiting to watch a good show.
Li Miaoxin felt dissatisfied. These people were obviously here to bully others!
She was about to get angry with a frown, but Lin Xiaolu, who was stared at by the little fat boy, suddenly grinned.
"I'm your father."