The front mountain, Phoenix Tree Garden.

A few buildings stood here, commissioned by a former top official of Bai Town as an adult education training center. However, before the project was completed, the fellow was thrown into prison.

Hence, the building remained unfinished, and the whole big area abandoned.

Xiaozhai had found the idle land quite a waste when they were revamping the mountain. After some planning, she modified the buildings into dormitories, which would be where the future probies would live.

The male and female dormitories were in separate buildings. With the six-bed rooms and the shared bathrooms, they were pretty much the same as your average college dormitories. A row of one-story houses ran along the buildings, all turned into kitchens.

You Yu was a middle school student himself, so all these arrangements were nothing strange to him. However, his roommates were not as common.

Of the five others, two were in their twenties, two in their thirties, and one forty-two years old, said to be the oldest of all 1008 pupils. He was called Zhou Zhiming, hailing from Hebei Province, and had a wife, a child, and a successful career.

No one knew what got into him, for the man had set his mind into joining the mountain, and as it turned out, he had been granted his wish.

The man was in his forties, and had fought more wars in the business world than he could count. But now, he was to squeeze into this room with these young blokes, who would address one another as junior or senior brothers. Experienced as Zhou Zhiming was, he still found the situation somewhat awkward.

It was nighttime already, and everyone was a little tired after spending the day with the arrangement of dormitories.

You Yu was not the sociable type. He was sitting quietly on his bed, folding his few clothes over and over again. One fellow was leaning against the door, talking to his family on the phone, but he was very careful with his words, only saying that everything was fine without giving any information about the mountain.

The other members of the room were also minding their business without uttering a word. It was rather awkward.

“Attention! Assemble downstairs in ten minutes! Assemble downstairs in ten minutes!”

The broadcast rang out all of a sudden, startling them all. They put on their clothes and shoes in silence, and then hurried downstairs.

Everyone got there as fast as they could, and males and females stood in two separate groups. Everyone looked surprised but understanding.

They had a reason to. Wasn’t the cultivation world all about coiling clouds and white cranes, where one was given a super awesome outfit and some basic skills, instruments, and Dan pills?

At a second thought, well, the current arrangement was understandable.

“All right. Anyone not here? Well, their loss!” Downstairs was a big court. Old Shui was standing at the front speaking loudly, “Now, let’s officially introduce ourselves. I’m Shui Yao, this is Li Dong, this is Yan Han, and this is Guo Fei. We will be in charge of all your affairs from now on. Remember: ALL affairs!

“We’ve gathered you here to inform you about a few things… these are your name tags, which will be your credentials to go through the mountain gate. You can come and collect your own in a moment.”

Old Shui gave the stone table, on which was a huge pile of wooden boxes containing the name tags made from jade stone, a knock.

“I will now tell you about the upcoming arrangements. There is no class in the first week; you can use the time to get familiar with the environment. That is to say, you will be having a long free period from tomorrow until next week. You can go claim quests from the Service Hall. There will be some difficulty involved, but it won’t exceed your current capability. If that is not what you want, you’re free to make your own plans in this first week.

“Since you’re here, you have to follow our rules. Unless there is an acceptable reason, no one is to leave the mountain or go home without permission. You can keep your mobile phone, but revealing what you see here to the outside is forbidden. Make sure you don’t brag about it on your social media accounts. Anyone violating that rule will be kicked out immediately…

“As for other bits and bobs, I’ll set up an internal chat group and post all the necessary information there. Oh, take a note of this: abp662, abp662!”

Old Shui blurted out a series of letters and numbers, which sounded like some license plate. The crowd memorized it right away as told, but someone could not help but ask, “Um, excuse me, but what is this?”

“Wifi password, obviously!” Old Shui replied in a formal tone. Seeing the colorful faces at that answer, he retorted surprisingly, “We’re not cavemen, ok? Of course we have wifi here!”

“Pffft!”

The crowd snickered at this. That was the spirit!

“All right. You must be exhausted after a long day. Go get some rest. That’s it for today!”

The four left promptly after that.

The crowd remained quiet for a moment before rushing to the table and searching for their name tags. The short and slim You Yu simply waited at the back, and was one of the last pupils to get their own.

It was about 6 cm long, 3 cm wide, and of a deep green color. The back was carved with cloud patterns, and his name was inscribed on the front side.

The jade plate was cool in his hand first, then grew warm. It was a strangely comfortable thing to hold. Realizing that it was no ordinary object, You Yu carefully put it in an inside pocket, and went back to his room.

Maybe the meeting had provided some common topic, for the room finally livened up a little.

“Hey, Brother Shui didn’t mention the inner mountain just then. Does it mean we can go there too?” An idea suddenly dawned on one of the fellows.

“Really, you think he should actually point that out? What’s gotten into your head?” retorted another fellow.

“You can certainly try. Set an example for us.” Zhou Zhiming chuckled.

“No, thanks. I don’t want to die just yet.”

Recalling that divine lightning exploding in the square, that fellow shuddered despite himself.

Since they began to talk, opportunities were formed. Zhou Zhiming was sort of considering himself the eldest brother of the room. “Since we’re put in the same room, it must be fate. I can’t say about the future, but at least at this early stage, we should work together and stand shoulder to shoulder.

“Let’s check out the quests tomorrow and have a go at them if they look all right. It’s vital that we should get familiar with the environment asap. What do you think?”

“I agree!” Surprisingly, You Yu was the first one to chime in.

The other four hesitated a little, then agreed that it was the best choice at the moment, nodding as well.

That night, some turned over and over in their beds, while others slept like a baby. Everyone was looking forward to the new day, and even the wonderful future that might await.

***

“Good morning!”

“Morning!”

“You went jogging?”

“Yup. I’m going to grab a bite. See ya!”

If one did not know better, they would never guess that these were a bunch of fellows that had joined a cultivation sect. There was nothing immortal-ish about their daily life, and everything looked so mundane.

Some wasted no time to claim their quests, while others kept their own pace and wandered around aimlessly. Some even tried to take a walk outside, but only to find two guards at the mountain gate.

They were young, vigorous, and those eyes glancing around felt like cold blades.

These were the young helpers that used to work for Old Shui. While the man received his share of reward from the mountain, they got the scraps every now and then. Things like the tea, liquor, and fruit had arrived more than once on their tables.

Old Shui was sharp-eyed and good at running affairs. Early on, he had taught these two some martial arts movements, and kept training them purposefully.

All that effort was paying off right now. Just by standing there, the two guys looked intimidating enough. The wanderers dared not even strike up a conversation, and went back the same way quietly.

As for You Yu and his five roommates, they got up very early this morning and headed up the mountain after breakfast.

Everyone was given a map. That Service Hall was halfway up the mountain, where Ziyang Temple used to be. The over-a-thousand people made for quite a conspicuous scene on the mountain. Everywhere they turned, they saw their fellow pupils in their own little groups.

You Yu’s face lit up as he walked and he called out, “Susu!”

“Hm?” The little girl turned around, and her eyes turned into two crescent moons. “Brother Yu, are you going up the mountain, too?”

“Yes. How was yesterday? Do you find everything all right?”

“It was great. The big sisters in my room are all very nice to me.”

Seeing that they began to talk, their roommates walked closer and introduced themselves.

Zhou Zhiming was the oldest of them, and An Susu the youngest. The two standing together made a rather amusing picture. The two groups got acquainted easily enough. After an hour’s walk, they were halfway up the mountain.

Turning into the byroad as the road sign instructed, they saw a palace-styled building ahead. So many people were there that the line extended all the way into the courtyard. Those at the front moved unhurriedly, and those at the back urged repeatedly.

There was nothing they could do but stay at the back and wait.

It seemed forever before it was finally their turn. Entering the palace, they saw a great hall. There was no computerized office and the typing of keyboards as they guessed—that would be too out of place.

The hall actually looked quite quaint. Counters lined the wall on the left and the right, with two people behind each, handling the affairs. The wall upfront was covered by wood plates with various texts written on them.

“Help in the herb garden: one day.”

“Help in the orchard: one day.”

“Help in the tea plantation: one day.”

“Take care of the beast farm: one day. Tools provided.”

“Cleaning the paths of the front mountain: one day.”

***

They smiled wryly as they read through the plates. Somehow, they were all reminded of a certain manga: the protagonist became a junior ninja, only to—with much disappointment—find the quests awaiting him to be catching cats and dogs or plumbing jobs.

“Hey, check that out!”

While they were immersed in their disconsolation, a girl suddenly pointed at the right-most row. The group followed her fingers and saw:

“Catch a green-feather red-beak sparrow: three days.”

“Collect four-leaf lotus root grass: two days.”

“Blood-sucking grass is pestering Yushu Village of Baoshan Town. Investigate and try to collect samples: three days. Tools provided.”

“Mutated giant clam was said to be spotted in the lake in Saima Town. Investigate only: four days. Tools provided.”

***

Well, this row was apparently the more difficult tasks.

A strange silence fell over the group, which Zhou Zhiming broke in a moment. “So, any thoughts? Which one shall we take?”

“The giant clam, of course!”

“Exactly, or what are we doing here? We need a challenge!”

“All right, the clam it is.”

With that, Zhou Zhiming went up to the wall and was going to take the plate. A sound then came from behind him. A girl had rushed deftly to his side and reached out with her small hand, ripping down the plate.

“Why, you’re from the other day…”

You Yu was surprised to see a familiar face.

“Teehee. Sorry, but it’s ours!”

That girl was none other than Zeng Ke herself. Waving the wooden plate in her hand, she joined Lei Xiao and Yuan Lingshan, then went to register at the counter.

For a moment, everyone was talking about it in the hall—not about her open robbery and making a cute thing out of it, but the ability she demonstrated with it.

“Did you see her gait just then? She went past him with a few taps of her feet. That must be qinggong ¹ .”

“I heard those three were rich second generation from Shengtian, and their families have trained them since little. It’s no surprise that they have a few tricks.”

“Just look at the way they walk. It’s so obvious that they have had some basic training. There’s no way we can catch up to that.”

“The gap between the wealthy and the poor is simply everywhere. I’m losing at the starting line again.”

“Dude, haven’t you read any webnovels? Swaggers attracting all the spotlight like that are always the cannon fodders. Protagonists are people like us: low-key, restrained, and having nothing special.”

Zhou Zhiming was blushing with embarrassment. All his experience in the business world counted for nothing here. Capability was the only thing that mattered.

Kind as he always was, You Yu smiled and came to his rescue. “In that case, how about we take the blood-sucking grass task? Oh, that sparrow is also in Baoshan Town. I lived there before and know the place. I think we can take that as well.”

“I agree!” An Susu raised her hand first.

“Yea, I think that’ll do.”

“Agree!”

“All right, we’ll take these two.”

Zhou Zhiming removed the two plates from the wall. Feeling that he should show his vigor nonetheless, he encouraged the rest of the team. “Just forget about what happened. They do have their advantage, but we are going to work harder. It is just the beginning.”

“That’s right. It’s just the beginning!”