Although Liu Yunan had already understood the disciple-master system of other sects through various channels, after discussing it with Sun Yigao, Qin Jianghe, and others, he still chose not to adopt the system where each master was responsible only for the cultivation of their own disciples.
Instead, he opted for a large classroom setting.
This choice was made because they all believed that such an approach would foster more harmony.
Cultivation was considered a public curriculum for all cultivators.
If disciples were always divided into separate classes to learn something that everyone needed, they feared that, over time, relationships among the disciples would become distant, and a sense of unhealthy competition might arise.
This would be detrimental to the harmony of the sect.
However, due to Liao Pantu emphasizing the importance of master-disciple inheritance, even though Liu Yunan and the others did not fully understand it at the time, they still decided to implement a system of one master with multiple disciples for specialized skills such as the Four Arts of Cultivation, including the art of spirit cooking.
Lin Xiao looked over the list and schedule handed to him.
Among those who needed to personally take on disciples were Sun Yigao, Mo Yuanjiao, Liao Pantu, and Jiang Youfu.
With this arrangement, Sun Yigao, who also needed to teach at Lingxian Academy in the lower mountains, seemed a bit too busy.
However, after discussing it with Liu Yunan, Sun Yigao had a plan.
For the past three years, the teaching results of Master Pei and Wen Yuejun at Lingxian Academy had been very good. Today, both had successfully passed the "Path of Heart" assessment and officially joined the Lingxian Sect.
Sun Yigao had been observing their character and teaching abilities closely, and now that they were members of the Lingxian Sect, considering his many other responsibilities, Sun Yigao planned to hand over the management of Lingxian Academy to the two of them.
In the future, he would only make occasional guest lectures at the academy.
Everyone agreed unanimously with this idea.
In addition to them, there were also Yang Jinshu, Yuan Qing, Lin Yun, Qin Jianghe, and Gu Yu Xiao.
These individuals all had cultivation levels at or above the Foundation Establishment realm and possessed a high level of understanding of the sect's various cultivation techniques.
As for their understanding of the techniques, this had been tested by Elder Liao Pantu, who was known for his love of researching cultivation techniques. He personally confirmed each of them.
Having settled the matter of taking on disciples, Lin Xiao nodded in satisfaction and said:
"Your arrangement is quite good. It allows the new disciples to interact with more elders and hear different perspectives, rather than just following the footsteps of a single master."
Seeing Lin Xiao's approval, Liu Yunan was delighted and pulled a pen out from his storage pouch, handing it to Lin Xiao:
"Brother Xiao, you're too busy, so I won't trouble you with the technical disciple training. But you must schedule a session for the cultivation technique lecture. Hurry, hurry, I saved the first slot for you. As the sect master, you should personally give the first lecture!"
Having just emerged from seclusion, Lin Xiao hadn't yet remembered the unfinished tasks from before his retreat, but he vaguely recalled he had many responsibilities. However, teaching new disciples about cultivation every nine days in the morning didn't seem too bad.
So, Lin Xiao took the pen and, under Liu Yunan's expectant gaze, signed his name at the top of the schedule.
As they continued chatting and handling official matters, only Xiao Luan sat at the side, looking helplessly from person to person.
It clucked twice at Liu Yunan, then puffed up its chest:
"Cluck! I can take on disciples too! I can be a teacher!"
Upon hearing this, everyone at the table turned to look at Xiao Luan.
Proudly puffing out its chest, Xiao Luan announced:
"I've mastered all the cultivation techniques up to the Golden Core stage!"
Everyone stared at it in surprise, except for Liao Pantu, who wasn't shocked at all.
This was because ever since Xiao Luan had advanced to the Core Formation stage and learned to read, it spent its time managing the Beast Garden, while also secretly reading random books in the library or pestering Liao Pantu with all kinds of questions in the cultivation room.
Speaking of this, it reminded Lin Xiao of something from three years ago. He had always been thinking about finding cultivation techniques for Xiao Luan and Fang Tuantuan, the two beast companions.
Because Lin Xiao didn't know much about beast cultivation, and Xiao Luan and Fang Tuantuan, who were both on their own path, couldn't provide much useful information, Lin Xiao consulted Liao Pantu.
Through Liao Pantu's explanation, Lin Xiao learned that there were actually two paths for beast cultivation.
First, for all beasts, entering the Awakening Stage didn't require cultivation techniques. They just needed to be nurtured by spiritual energy and have some fortunate encounters—like Fang Tuantuan and Big Peach—or have excellent bloodlines, like Xiao Luan. These factors would allow them to successfully enter the Awakening Stage.
However, after reaching the Awakening Stage, which for beasts was equivalent to the Foundation Establishment stage for humans, breaking through required one of two paths.
One path was to remain in a place with abundant spiritual energy, where the beast's bloodline instinctively absorbed and refined the energy, allowing it to slowly gain cultivation.
Of course, this assumed the beast had a long enough lifespan to survive until its breakthrough.
This process was very slow and didn't require any particular methods, relying solely on the beast's instincts.
The second path was to cultivate with a technique.
The cultivation techniques for beasts could either be those specifically tailored for certain beast races or the universal techniques used by humans.
Compared to human cultivation techniques, beast-specific techniques would enhance the beast's physical body more effectively.
However, there were very few beast-specific techniques available in the market.
This was partly because the number of beasts that successfully cultivated was far fewer than humans, and among them, those who cultivated using their own unique techniques were even rarer.
Secondly, many beast cultivation techniques were kept tightly guarded by large sects, just like human techniques. Truly excellent techniques rarely circulated in the market, and most available were low-tier or even unranked techniques.
Therefore, ever since Xiao Luan had entered the Core Formation stage, it had developed an interest in the cultivation techniques in the room, secretly starting to learn human cultivation techniques.
This was also why Xiao Luan's cultivation level had increased rapidly, reaching the Solid Core stage early on.
It's important to note that beast progression was usually much slower than that of humans.
In general, a beast's advancement would take several times longer than a human of the same level.
However, Xiao Luan had been studying cultivation techniques whenever the room was empty, asking Liao Pantu questions discreetly, so only Liao Pantu was aware that this small demonic chicken was actually learning the same techniques as them.
Now, seeing everyone's astonished expressions, Liao Pantu spoke up to vouch for Xiao Luan:
"Indeed, it is quite familiar with those techniques. It often comes to me with questions."
Since Liao Pantu himself often stayed at Guiyuan Mountain, Xiao Luan always came to him in secret. He never felt the need to mention it to others.
And because he hadn't intentionally brought it up, no one had noticed for all these years.
It wasn't that no one had noticed, though.
They had just subconsciously assumed that Xiao Luan reading a cultivation technique was merely out of curiosity, to pass the time.