A sect wasn’t built in a day.

　　This was now an age of civilized cultivation, where everything was ruled by a system of laws. It wasn’t like ancient times, when all one needed to do to set up a sect was find a suitable stretch of land with good fengshui and recruit people. You didn’t even need to buy land back then; if there were several people who had an eye on the same piece of land to build a sect, whoever won in a fight would own it.

　　Establishing a sect in today’s society had to take a lot of factors into consideration.

　　As early as several hundred years ago, roughly the same time the cultivation forum had just been set up, the intent to start a sect had already sprouted in Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s heart. But he had had less resources then, and lacked supplies and money. He also didn’t have the management skills, strength or connections, or pretty much anything at all.

　　But now things were different.

　　The cultivation forum had grown beyond what Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal had imagined when he first set it up. Relying on the forum, he expanded his relationship network and built connections. At the same time, he made use of the various cultivation news posted in the forum to explore the country all over and uphold justice, thoroughly cementing his reputation as “Great Death-Courting Senior” in the cultivation circle.

　　For most people, the Soul Formation stage was a realm that they could only hope to reach.

　　Of course, this realm was far from good enough for Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal himself; at least, it was peanuts compared with the heavyweight next to him…

　　Even in the group chat set up in the wake of the cultivation forum, Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal conceded that his realm was only slightly above average; naturally, he wasn’t even on the same level as Wang Ling. Even the newbies Little Silver, Brother Fang Xing as well as Daoist Guang who had just joined the group were far stronger than him.

　　The most terrifying thing was that he had the vague feeling that Dog Two’s strength was going to surpass his soon…

　　An ambitious man would always compare himself with those who were more remarkable.

　　With the appearance of this gap, he had to work harder and strive to catch up to these remarkable people, so that he himself would become more outstanding and finally become the ultimate ***.

　　Grenade-Throwing was this sort of person.

　　Little Silver hardly ever saw such a serious expression on Grenade-Throwing’s face. He was in deadly earnest, and was unlike the usually sunny and carefree Grenade-Throwing.

　　Little Silver could clearly remember seeing this expression only once before.

　　That was…

　　When Grenade-Throwing had been planting broccoli in the backyard.

　　Sensing how serious Grenade-Throwing was as he talked about establishing a sect, Little Silver was dazed for a while before he opened his mouth to ask, “Have you chosen a place?”

　　“I already have several lots of land in mind; they’re on the outskirts of Songhai city. I heard from a friend that a new district called Chenling New District is going to be set up there.”

　　Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal said, “Historically speaking, it’s a barren and cursed place, which is why it’s been underdeveloped for hundreds of years. Many real estate developers suffered all kinds of weird supernatural phenomenon there, like localized earthquakes, their construction vehicles running up against invisible walls, and even evil spirits howling at night.”

　　“Didn’t any fengshui experts go take a look?” Little Silver asked curiously.

　　“In the past, fengshui experts went every day to assess the fengshui of the place. In the end, they divined that it was cursed, so very few people live there,” said Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal.

　　Hearing this, Little Silver couldn’t be any more surprised. “Then why did you choose that stretch of land?”

　　“Because it’s said that more than ten years ago… the fengshui suddenly improved overnight,”

　　“…”

　　“But I think this probably had something to do with Brother Ling and his family.”

　　“Master?”

　　“That’s right.” Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal nodded. “I heard that they moved there more than ten years ago. Oh, that’s right, I forget to tell you, those land lots I chose are very close to Brother Ling’s house on East Huang Road.”

　　Little Silver finally understood now.

　　No wonder it had suddenly transformed from a cursed place into one with auspicious fengshui.

　　Naturally, it was all because Master had suppressed the omens!

　　Master was already such a formidable person! But there were still so many seniors in the villa! Big Master ¹ , Old Master, Old Master’s Wife, Grand Old Master… that was fully five masters! No matter how many demons and ghosts there were in that place, so what?

　　With five masters together, this was a Rocket ² !

　　Little Silver initially wasn’t overly interested, but after hearing that the sect was going to be established near the Wang family’s small villa, he was instantly keen. If the sect was really set up there, it would be a lot more convenient to drop in and visit Master!

　　“Then, Grenade-Throwing, do you more or less have a concept in mind?” Little Silver asked again.

　　“I already started putting it together several years ago. I want to start with our chat group as core management. Our sect should be free of the restraints of traditional sect doctrines and rules, and develop its own characteristics. Of course, they shouldn’t violate the core values nor the will of the nation. We must never break the law.”

　　Little Silver was moved by the sparkle in Grenade-Throwing’s eyes and his earnest expression as the latter spoke. “Brother Silver, let me ask you a question. When your holy beast race was divided into different groups, wasn’t each one like a small sect?”

　　“A little bit.” Little Silver nodded.

　　But those weren’t sects in a real sense. A sect needed to be managed, while the tribes of the holy beast race weren’t as rigidly supervised.

　　“Since ancient times, why did people establish sects? To find a group of like-minded Daoist comrades and vigorously promote the secret arts unique to the sect, which would be the key to attracting large numbers of sect disciples.”

　　Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal got up as he spoke passionately. “In ancient times, it was the strong who in fact established these sects for themselves. There weren’t any regulatory systems in place, and the strong wanted to leave their mark on this world by promoting their unique martial arts in order to spread their names far and wide. As for disciples who joined a sect, often it was because they were looking for shelter and peace during the chaos of the Warring Period.”

　　Little Silver seemed to understand a little better. “So Grenade-Throwing, what you’re saying…”

　　“The times have changed! Brother Silver, do you think people will come like before, if we rely on just martial arts to recruit outsiders? There are now a lot of spirit skills stores online that offer martial arts through various types of copyright collaboration. You can buy any spell you want online, and a digital version will be sent to you, so why would anyone need to go out of their way to join a sect now?”

　　“Makes sense.” Little Silver nodded in agreement with Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s view.

　　But Little Silver still looked a little hesitant, because after talking for so long, Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal still hadn’t explained his reason for setting up a sect.

　　“Then what’s the point of setting up this sect? Don’t tell me you just want to create a broccoli farm…”

　　“Little Silver, you’re so smart!”

　　“…”

　　“Ah! Of course, that’s just one part of the blueprint for the sect! The highlight is yet to come!”

　　“…”