"You were number one?! Not that I don't believe you, ma'am, but it's quite shocking that we would meet someone like you so early! Even more shocking... you’re easy to talk to and kind." Haruki stated what everyone was thinking.

  Ling Yun smiled at his straightforwardness and kindly replied, "That's because I'm looking for... someone. I like to personally vet the recruits, although I don't always have the time. I always check on the recruits to see if there are any suitable candidates for my plans. Mhmm."

  She nodded her head up and down.

  Haruki nodded along with her before continuing, “Regarding your cultivation, may I ask what-"

  "Nope! It's a secret!" Ling Yun gave a teasing expression, and Haruki bit his tongue to stop himself from asking more questions.

  "Then... if I may," Vergif spoke up after so long.

  Ling Yun also realized at this point that he doesn't speak much, so she motioned for him to continue.

  "What are the ranks within the sect?" He asked.

  "Oh, how silly of me! I should have mentioned that to you first as well. You all will be outer sect disciples at first; thus, you will be given white garments. Personally, it was not my favorite since they get dirty way too easily, but maybe that's more of a girl's concern. Anywho, that's for disciples between stage one and three of the Mortal Path. Disciples between stages four to six are promoted to inner sect disciples, and their garments are blue. To me, this really matches the Casting Line Sect's aesthetics, you know?" She seemed a bit more interested in the fashion aspect of the robes than anything else, but the boys listened regardless.

  She looked around for approval before Haruki gave a happy thumbs up. Orien nodded, and Vergif stared, waiting for her to finish.

  "Lastly, a core disciple is one who is promoted from an inner sect disciple by coming in the top sixteen of the tournament and they are given violet robes. They are recognized as the future of the sect, and they are granted access to... Well, I can’t say too much, but there are definitely perks. You should strive for it!” Ling Yun narrowly avoided spilling too much information.

  Vergif waited a moment to see if that was all, and after seeing that she had nothing more, he asked, "What affiliation does the Guild have with the Casting Line Sect?"

  ‘The Guild?’ Orien's ears perked up right away.

  The guild was only briefly mentioned waaay back in class after that huge earthquake and shooting star incident. The existence of the guild was not a secret; however, everything else about the guild was.

  For the first time, Ling Yun pursed her pink lips together.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  She then answered, "You are asking that question knowing they are shrouded in mystery, hmm? You must wonder how we coexist on this small island. Let me put it this way; we are something like business partners with them. Also, in terms of strength, the Casting Line Sect is actually not very weak or very strong in this part of the cultivation world. Meaning, we are not easy to bully."

  It was hard to tell if Vergif was satisfied with that answer, but he didn't ask anything more and seemed to be pondering something.

  “Any more questions?” Ling Yun seemed awfully generous with her information, and seeing as how they would arrive at their destination soon, Orien cleared his throat.

  “Big sister, can you tell me more about the missions and monstrous beasts?” Orien asked.

  Seemingly happy to hear this question, her expression lit up, “Of course! That’s quite an interesting topic. Where do I begin... Firstly, you know what a monstrous beast is, yes?”

  Orien nodded, “I haven’t seen one, but I’ve read about them. The waters around our island are surprisingly infested, but there’s a lot of weaker beasts involved so it isn’t too serious unless you venture into a danger zone.”

  She snapped her fingers and pointed at Orien, “Good boy, ten points. A lot of the areas with resources that we need are often guarded by stronger beasts, and like our cultivation ranks, we rank them. There are tons of stage one and stage two monstrous beasts comparable to the Mortal Path. Although they don’t cultivate the same as us, for ease of describing them, we will call them Mortal Path monstrous beasts. Periodically, you will find a few stage three and stage four mixed in as well; they surely aren’t uncommon. Beyond that, though, you’d normally need to venture far into the ocean or be near a danger zone. It’s not impossible that an enraged stage five monstrous beast would leave its territory to kill though, don’t ever get complacent,” she warned.

  “Normally we would have a two-team operation where experienced disciples would go out into the ocean, typically not very far, and one team will mine precious ore or other materials we need while the other team slays beasts in the vicinity, collecting any precious materials from their bodies, such as beastcores,” she smiled as she described the nature of the missions.

  She suddenly paused for a moment after seeing the confusion on boys' faces.

  “Oh, forgive me. A beastcore is similar to a cultivator’s dantian. Sometimes it can be super tiny and marble sized, whereas other times, especially in stronger beasts, it may be the size of a big marble or larger,” she explained.

  She then gestured with her hand, making a tiny hole and looking through it as if to see that the size was about right, “Yup. Those are typically traded for things, but you’ll see when you get there.”

  She shifted the topic and continued, “There are more to the missions though, but those are usually the most rewarding and most frequent. Still, you may see a mission on the board that is a bit more niche such as helping an elder refine something by carrying their materials back and forth so they can focus on their refinement process or even helping with organizing small social events. The truth is, we don’t have a lot of elders, so the most important things are handled by them. The laborious or monotonous tasks typically get trickled down onto the disciples, but nobody will complain when there are rewards.”

  Pheeww. “That was a lot of yapping, huh? I hope I didn’t bore you all too much,” Ling Yun smiled.

  ‘I think I should confess my love,’ Haruki thought, looking at the beautiful, graceful and intelligent woman in front of him. As a matter of fact, she was even way stronger than he was.

  Fortunately for him, he was spared from shaming himself when Orien suddenly spoke up.

  "Hey, look, we're almost at our destination," Orien pointed through the carriage blinds.

  Orien hadn't realized how quickly time passed, nor how quickly the horse-drawn carriage was moving. He pulled the blind near him open to take an up-close look at the sect for himself.