Morning sunlight stretched across the courtyard of the Ten Thousand Wineapple Sect.

  The place looked… marginally better than the previous day.

  The Great Hall still leaned slightly to the left, but Feng insisted that was “intentional structural alignment.”

  The scorch marks had faded.

  Mostly.

  Lin Fan stood beside a wooden table stacked with jars of wineapple spirit wine.

  He looked extremely proud.

  “This is perfect.”

  Ru Yan pinched the bridge of her nose.

  “You’re not turning the sect recruitment event into a tavern.”

  Lin Fan tilted his head.

  “But people like free drinks.”

  Feng shrugged.

  “He’s not wrong.”

  Li Wei nodded thoughtfully.

  “It could attract visitors.”

  Ru Yan slowly looked at them.

  “Why am I surrounded by idiots?”

  Zhi Yuan chuckled softly.

  “Because fate has a sense of humor.”

  A crude wooden sign now stood near the mountain path.

  Carved into it were bold characters.

  Ten Thousand Wineapple Sect — Open House Today

  Below it, Lin Fan had added smaller text.

  Free Wineapple Spirit Wine

  Ru Yan stared at the sign.

  “You added that without asking.”

  Lin Fan grinned.

  “Marketing.”

  Feng clapped him on the back.

  “Honestly? Genius.”

  Li Wei looked toward the distant mountain path.

  “If nothing else, it will attract curious travelers.”

  Ru Yan sighed.

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  “Or drunk ones.”

  By mid-morning, people began arriving.

  Mostly wandering cultivators.

  A few curious mortals.

  Several traveling merchants.

  They all stopped at the entrance of the sect and looked around.

  Then they looked confused.

  The “sect” consisted of:

  A crooked hall

  Two half-built pavilions

  Scaffolding

  Piles of stone

  A suspicious number of scorch marks

  One young cultivator whispered to his friend.

  “Are we sure this is a sect?”

  His friend pointed at the mountain wall.

  Carved deep into the rock were glowing characters.

  万榴宗.

  Ten Thousand Wineapple Sect.

  “Well,” the first cultivator muttered.

  “At least the name is impressive.”

  Meanwhile, Lin Fan happily poured wineapple spirit wine into small cups.

  “Welcome! Try our sect specialty!”

  A traveling cultivator cautiously took a sip.

  His eyes widened.

  “Wait.”

  Another visitor tried it.

  “Hold on.”

  Soon a small crowd gathered around the wine table.

  Feng leaned over to Li Wei.

  “I think Lin Fan accidentally invented a recruitment strategy.”

  Li Wei nodded.

  “The wine does circulate qi.”

  Ru Yan sighed.

  “I hate that this is working.”

  One merchant spoke quietly to another.

  “I heard rumors about this place.”

  “Oh?”

  “Apparently a Golden Core cultivator lives here.”

  The second merchant blinked.

  “In this place?”

  They both looked around.

  The crooked buildings.

  The wine stand.

  Lin Fan tripping over a bucket.

  “Doesn’t seem likely.”

  To make the sect look more respectable, Feng decided to show a technique.

  He stepped into the courtyard.

  “Attention!”

  Visitors turned toward him.

  Feng lifted a metallic shard.

  His qi surged.

  The shard shot through the air like a streak of silver lightning before returning to his hand.

  Gasps rippled through the crowd.

  “Qi Condensation Seventh Stage,” someone whispered.

  “Not bad.”

  Li Wei stepped forward next.

  His palms ignited with crimson flame.

  “Vermillion Phoenix Flamewave.”

  A controlled arc of fire burst across the training ground before fading.

  The spectators murmured in approval.

  Ru Yan reluctantly stepped forward last.

  Water qi swirled around her like a flowing river.

  Her aura pressed outward.

  “Foundation Establishment Ninth Stage.”

  The crowd fell silent.

  Now they were impressed.

  Lin Fan wandered into the middle of the courtyard carrying another jar of wine.

  “Oh! Are we doing demonstrations?”

  Ru Yan quickly stepped forward.

  “No.”

  Lin Fan shrugged.

  “Okay.”

  He opened the jar.

  A faint wave of qi rippled outward.

  Several cultivators suddenly stiffened.

  “Wait.”

  “Did you feel that?”

  “That pressure —”

  For a brief moment, something ancient stirred within Lin Fan’s aura.

  Then it vanished.

  Lin Fan looked around innocently.

  “Did I spill something?”

  The visitors exchanged nervous glances.

  By afternoon, whispers traveled through the crowd.

  “That wine improves qi circulation.”

  “They have a Foundation Establishment expert.”

  “And I swear that wine guy felt terrifying for a second.”

  One young cultivator whispered:

  “Maybe the Golden Core rumor is true.”

  Zhi Yuan stood quietly beneath the carved sect name.

  Watching.

  Listening.

  Visitors.

  Rumors.

  Curiosity.

  This was how sects began.

  Not with glory.

  But with small gatherings.

  Small reputations.

  Small legends.

  He smiled faintly.

  “The mountain has taken its first breath.”

  As evening approached, the last visitors departed down the mountain path.

  The courtyard grew quiet again.

  Feng stretched.

  “That went better than expected.”

  Li Wei nodded.

  “We may receive disciples soon.”

  Ru Yan looked exhausted.

  “We also need actual buildings.”

  Lin Fan raised a jar proudly.

  “At least we have wine.”

  Zhi Yuan looked toward the distant horizon.

  Far beyond the forests surrounding Five Elements Mountain, deep within a distant cultivation hall—

  An old cultivator slowly opened his eyes.

  A faint ripple of qi had just brushed against his senses.

  Golden.

  Brief.

  But unmistakable.

  His fingers tightened around the armrest of his chair.

  “…Golden Core?”

  That was impossible.

  There were no known Golden Core cultivators in that region.

  His gaze drifted toward the distant mountains.

  “Interesting.”