Setting Sun Bleeds Over Taishi Sect's Main Peak
Jiang Ling casually latched the rickety door of the dilapidated main hall, glanced up at the faded plaque where only the faint outline of "Taishi Sect" lingered, then turned and strode down the mountain without a backward glance.
Three days prior, with his last breath, the old Sect Master had forced the jade sect leader's seal into his hands—the only living soul left in the sect—and then passed away.
In that moment, Jiang Ling had a million curses on the tip of his tongue, unsure if he ought to spit them out.
This godforsaken sect was so poor that even a rat would weep and leave two grains of rice as charity before scurrying off. What was there to keep it running? Might as well disband it on the spot.
If it weren't for the dangers lurking beyond the mountains, and the half-decent atmosphere within Taishi Sect, he would have changed his identity and fled to make a living elsewhere long ago.
Eight hundred years!
He had outlived generation after generation of sect masters and disciples, watching Taishi Sect decline from a mighty power that once dominated the region to its current state—so desolate that even rats slipped and slid on the dusty floors.
This crumbling ruin of a sect thought it could cling to him, an immortal being?
No way!
But just as he was about to toss the jade seal into the old Sect Master's coffin to bury it along with him, a system that had been eight hundred years late finally finished loading!
Something called the "Eternal Supreme Sect System"; something about "ten-thousandfold rewards for accepting disciples"; something about "strength equal to a hundred times the combined cultivation of all sect disciples"...
Jiang Ling scoffed as he walked.
Accept disciples?
With what?
And how to feed them?
The entire fortune of this ragged sect amounted to half a sack of brown rice.
Bringing a disciple back would mean starving to death together, master and apprentice alike, wouldn't it?
What if he ended up with a glutton...
Would he, an immortal, have to experience the agony of starving to death ahead of time?
Eight hundred years of lying low and surviving had taught him: the risks were too great, the uncertainties too high.
"No way! Let whoever wants this mess have it!"
Jiang Ling patted the few copper coins jangling in his pocket and quickened his pace down the mountain.
His plan was to head to the small town below and find some sucker foolish enough to buy Taishi Sect lock, stock, and barrel.
Once, Taishi Sect had been a great faction in its own right. Even now, in its decline, it still occupied an entire mountain peak. That ought to be worth at least a couple of copper coins, right?
But as soon as he reached the foot of the mountain, Jiang Ling sensed that something was off.
The area at the base of Taishi Mountain had always been quiet, but there were usually a few villagers milling about.
Today, however, the road leading to the town was in utter disarray.
Broken baskets, scattered clothes, even shattered earthen jars lay strewn everywhere.
The air was thick with a sense of panic.
He hurried forward, and as he neared the town gate, he saw several families frantically piling their belongings onto a tattered ox-cart.
An old man with grizzled hair had even discarded the pickled vegetable jar he'd used for half his life, focusing solely on shoving a small bundle onto the cart.
"Uncle Wang? What's going on?"
Jiang Ling recognized the old man and stepped forward to ask.
Uncle Wang looked up, saw that it was the handyman who'd been guarding Taishi Sect's gate all these years, his face still etched with terror. He panted heavily, "Young Master Jiang, run! The monsters in the mountains are going berserk!"
"Monsters going berserk?"
A sinking feeling settled in Jiang Ling's chest.
"Yes!"
A woman clutching a child nearby chimed in, her voice trembling with tears, "It might be... it might be a beast tide!"
"A beast tide?!"
Jiang Ling's face drained of all color in an instant.
He had lived long enough to know exactly what that meant.
It was a towering flood of ferocious beasts, leaving nothing but desolation in its wake!
Not even he, a mere mortal, stood a chance—even the full-strength Taishi Sect of its prime would have been torn to shreds by a large-scale beast tide!
"That's right! Stay here and you'll die! Hurry up and pack your things! The immortal masters said to run east—as far as you can!"
Uncle Wang urged his family, "Quick! Move faster!"
Watching Uncle Wang's family and the neighboring households fleeing in a frenzy, dragging their children and belongings behind them, Jiang Ling felt a chill creep up from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
His first instinct was to run with them.
Hide in that broken hall back at Taishi Sect?
In the face of a beast tide, that ramshackle place would be nothing but a tomb!
But just as the thought of turning and fleeing crystalized in his mind...
[Ding! Sect survival crisis detected. Newbie tutorial quest activated.]
[Newbie Quest: Passing the Torch (Part 1)]
[Quest Objective: Recruit one disciple.]
[Time Limit: Three days.]
[Quest Reward: 1 x Immortal-grade defensive formation disk—"Nine Heavens Earth Dragon Guarding Array" (activates an impenetrable barrier against all foes below True Immortal Realm).]
"Holy shit! An immortal-grade defensive array? Nothing below True Immortal can break it... Are you kidding me?!"
Jiang Ling's head snapped up, his previously lifeless eyes blazing with a never-before-seen light.
Like a drowning man grabbing his last straw, his despairing cry died in his throat, replaced by a frenzy of wild excitement!
"We're saved! An immortal array! With that array, we stand a chance!"
Jiang Ling felt a surge of energy course through his veins, erasing his weariness in an instant—his back straightened, his legs no longer trembled.
He wiped the cold sweat from his face and darted toward the main road, the only escape route for the fleeing villagers.
"Recruit disciples! Must recruit now! Right this second!"
...
Bursting into the middle of the road, Jiang Ling forced his habitually hunched back to straighten.
He cleared his throat, clasped his hands behind his back, and tried to strike a pose of otherworldly elegance and immortal wisdom. Then he shouted at the panicking crowd:
"Boundless Heavenly Venerable! This humble Taoist is Jiang Ling, the 361st Sect Master of Taishi Sect!"
"Today, catastrophe descends upon us, and all living beings suffer—that is the will of heaven! Yet, of heaven's fifty ways, only forty-nine are set in stone; one path of survival always remains!"
His gaze swept over the crowd, and his voice rose sharply, brimming with a persuasive, almost hypnotic power:
"Join Taishi Sect, become my disciple, and you shall gain supreme protection! The path to immortality awaits! A mere beast tide? It shall be vanquished in the snap of a finger! This is your only chance to defy fate and ascend to immortality—do not throw it away!"
His words rang out with righteousness, perfectly embodying the aura of a reclusive immortal master.
Jiang Ling was almost moved to tears by his own speech.
Yet, the only responses he received were cold stares and glances that made him look like a fool.
The fleeing crowd parted around him like the sea avoiding a reef, not pausing for even a second.
Someone sneered under their breath: "Taishi Sect? Haven't had a single soul there for eight hundred years—only a broken hall left, right?"
"Calling yourself an immortal sect? Must be so starved you're trying to trick people into the mountains to eat them!"
"Crazy man! Hurry, let's go—ignore him!"
"..."
The surging tide of people split to either side of Jiang Ling, bypassing him as if he were a useless boulder blocking their path, and continued their desperate flight. Not a single person stopped to spare him a second glance.
One burly man even grew annoyed at his obstruction, shoving him hard enough to send him staggering.
Jiang Ling froze where he stood. The immortal demeanor he had so carefully cultivated shattered completely, crumbling into dust.
His meticulously crafted lines, the dignified pose he'd risked his dignity to strike—all of it lay broken and meaningless in the face of harsh reality.
He was trying to recruit disciples to save his life!
These mortals!
These lowly ants!
Did they have any idea what a celestial opportunity this was?
Did they even understand what a True Immortal-level invincible array meant?!
As the last few stragglers rounded the bend and vanished into the dust of the distant road, Jiang Ling was left utterly alone on the empty path.
He wanted to cry but had no tears left. His throat was raw from shouting, his voice hoarse—he'd yelled from midday until sunset, but all he'd gotten was a flood of eye-rolls and mockery, not a single soul willing to join his sect.
His hope, like a pricked balloon, deflated rapidly into nothingness.