Year 300 since reincarnation.
Still no sign of system-sama~
Lin Yinxuan sighed and brushed away mock tears. It had been 3 centuries. He had already accepted there was no system coming his way. But if one doesn't have anything to look forward, how boring life becomes?
"Happy birthday to me. I love myself so much. I mean the world to me.
Dao Ancestor, bless this poor soul so that he can live a few more centuries.
Laozi Taiqing, bless your poor follower so that he can spread your teachings. Yuqing, Shangqing, bless this junior with virtue and wealth, we are relatives after all.
Sacred Nuwa, bless this child of yours with good fortune and long life.
Two Western Saints, ah... No need for blessings, sorry to disturb you."
He lit three incense sticks with his Qi and bowed in front of a little handmade shrine he made for the Three Pure Ones, then inserted them into the holder filled with spiritual sand. One should never skimp on ritual, especially in a world filled with omniscient beings.
Lin Yinxuan gave a little bow every three steps and left the room with his back against the door. After getting out he breathed a sigh in relief and fixed his robe a little, then walked downhill to the kitchen.
This small peak was given to him by the sect when he formed his Golden Core ten years ago. He first built a small shrine on top of the hill, then a small courtyard short walk down the slope.
For the past ten years he had been in seclusion to consolidate his realm and learn a few more spells, improve his understanding of the ones he had. He came out of seclusion a week ago.
Master should still be in seclusion. Or else he would come in the early morning to mooch off food as I cook. I wonder if he can break through to the Divine Spirit realm in a few hundred years.
Lin Yinxuan carried the mooncakes, small cream cake and juice he made in the morning from the kitchen and made his way to a small pavilion near the pond. Just as he sat down and took a mooncake into his hand a signal came from the array.
"Forgive this disciple for disturbing you, Elder Lin. This disciple has been tasked to inform you about the arrival of the candidates for the final selection in the Trial Peak."
"Good. You may go." He sent a protective talisman to the messenger as a reward.
The young man thanked him for his generosity and left after a bow. It's always better to form good karmic relationship with people. For Lin Yinxuan, this talisman is nothing, but for the lower-level disciples it may be a life-saver in critical moments.
He finished the mooncake he took and sent the rest back to kitchen with his spiritual power. This Entrance Ceremony was quite a grand affair, so he ought to dress up a bit for the occasion.
The plain robe he wore was changed to an Outer Elder's black robes with bronze trims. It was embroidered with Dao patterns in bronze and looked quite majestic. The Myriad Daos Sect provided a set of robes for all disciples, servants and elders. They were a must for formal occasions. Each robe also served as a defensive artifact, so disciples usually wore it for their daily life as well.
He also took the horsetail whisk with him. There would be no fight to use it, but one ought to present a dignified appearance of an Elder of Immortal Sect.
As he conjured a cloud and flew leisurely towards the Trial Peak, memories from the first time he came to the sect years ago resurfaced.
He met his master, Elder Zuo at the Trial Peak. At that time, he was just a young boy who hadn't even stepped on the Qi Condensation level. Elder Zuo was at the Golden Core realm. He also carried a horsetail whisk on his hands that day.
Seasons come and go, the sun and moon travel their courses, yet those who follow the Dao walk untouched, witnessing the turning of all things.
"Greetings, Elder Lin. How was your seclusion?"
"Greetings, Elder Han. It has been productive, thank you for asking. Has the selection started yet?"
Lin Yinxuan gave a small bow to other elders and sat beside Elder Han.
"You arrived just in time. Candidates are here, we'll start soon."
There were around 50 elders in the Outer sect. Those who passed initial trial would be divided into groups with 100 people each and come in front of the elders for selection.
Soon, the first group came forward and stood in the square. Elders used their divine sense to see disciples' spiritual root, bone age, and body constitution. Most of them could also faintly sense the fate.
All cultivators could, to some degree, feel the weight of fate. But not many had talent for divination. In the Myriad Daos Sect, only Outer elder who specialized in divination was Elder Zuo in the past, now it was Lin Yinxuan.
For selecting a disciple, they just needed to know that fate of their disciple was bigger than others, so elders didn't seem to need his help. After all, divination took toll on the practitioner, so his service wasn't cheap. If their disciple showed high potential, then they could seek him out.
Lin Yinxuan also inspected the kids in from him with his divine sense. For his first disciple, he wanted to pick someone dependable, with a steady fate.
As for looking for an MC according to the cliches he read in his past life? Thank you, but no thank you. That rollercoaster couldn't be called a proper life. He wouldn't mind a cautious and too-afraid-of-death archetype, but others were too troublesome.
As a divination master, he was quite sensitive when it came to sensing fate and reading character from face.
The first batch consisted of candidates with background or higher potential. The reason was they had more resources or talent, so got an early start and had already stepped into Qi Condensation. This wasn't a problem for the sect, as cultivation technique had pronounced effect only on Foundation establishment realm.
The first few candidates in the first batch caused a small commotion. One was a prince from the Qin clan, imperial dynasty in which Myriad Daos Sect was in. Other few were also from distinguished cultivation clans. Truly important members or ones with high potential would become a disciple of inner sect Elders through their connections. The ones here should be some peripheral members or those with lesser potential.
Still, they were much superior when put together with other candidates.
Lin Yinxuan found quite a few people with distinguished fate, but didn't want to pick from those with cultivation. They had either complicated background or strong ego and abilities. He wanted to nurture his first disciple as if they were his adopted child, just like his master. So he continued checking.
Those who got selected stood further away behind elders. Those not selected were led to the right side of the peak. They would stay there and wait in case any elder changed his or her mind.
Second and third batch also passed. Elder Han beside him already picked two disciples with decent ability.
Finally in the fourth batch he came across someone suitable.
He was a twelve-year-old child, but looked mature beyond his age. The boy's spiritual root was balance of five elements, just like his own. While this meant slower cultivation and lower attack power, it would be easy to learn all types of spells.
He motioned for the attendant besides him to bring the boy closer to him. While he could use divination from distance, he had to signal others that he had his eyes on this candidate.
"Junior greets Esteemed Elder. Forgive my poor manners." The boy bowed to him, not a trace of surprise, happiness or fear evident on his face. Lin Yinxuan nodded in response.
"What's your name?"
"This one is called Gu Ning, Esteemed Elder."
"An auspicious name." Saying so, Lin Yinxuan made a series of hand seals to guide his Qi into his fingers. Then he used it to activate his Karmic Eye technique.
The moment he opened his eyes the whole world turned grey in his sight. Then slowly faint colors of smoky aura started to rise from silhouettes of people around him.
He ignored other people and focused on Gu Ning's aura.
The outermost layer was turquoise, mixed with soft sky blue. This layer was Self in the Mirror of People. It was the most accurate description of someone's character seen from other people. When blue mixed with green, people see this person as someone wise and calm, reliable and can be asked for advice.
He peered closer. Second layer was Self in the mirror of Close ones. This one was affected by people who spend a lot of time with the person. For Gu Ning, it appeared yellow, with faint traces of gold. It meant his family or friends think of him as kind and caring. For a child, this was a bit unexpected. From his mannerisms, Gu Ning was probably from a rich household, so this could be the impression of his personal attendants or servants.
He peered closer. The third layer was revealed. This was the Mirror of Self. It showed what people thought of themselves.
White.
A tricky color. This didn't mean someone was good, and black didn't mean someone was evil. White usually appeared on people who had conflicting opinion of themselves or hypocritical people. White was everything, yet it also showed nothing.
The next layers could show his destiny, but Lin Yinxuan refrained from looking deeper. His cultivation was too low to directly peer at the Heavenly Secrets, even if it was one fate of a mortal.
He withdrew his gaze from the aura and looked the threads connecting this aura to unknown distances. They were convoluted mess constantly moving and sometimes changing colors. After fumbling a little, he found what he was looking for.
A string connecting them together.
This was Karmic string. Depending on how long they would be affecting each other in what ways, it came in different colors and length.
This was also a bit tricky. Short one didn't mean they would spend only a day together, and long one didn't mean they'll become immortals. It depended on the influence.
A father might never see his child, but life is given by him, so karma between them is deep. Similarly, a master might only teach one spell to disciple, but that spell could shape his life. Similarly, two can be friends for millenia, but they don't bring any karma between them, so there won't be long connection.
Karmic bond between Lin Yinxuan and Gu Ning was quite long, stretching constantly. The color was shifting between yellow and blue. This was a beneficial relationship, at least for the boy.
Lin Yinxuan then looked through other bonds and searched for bonds of hatred and revenge. Most cultivators got a few mortal enemies over their lifetime, so it wasn't a big problem. But such hatred of someone who didn't even start cultivation was a big red flag. Thankfully, he didn't find such relationships.
There were no apparent problems, so Lin Yinxuan decided to accept him as a disciple for now. He slowly closed his eyes and deactivated the spell.
"Gu Ning, do you want to be my disciple?"
"To be Esteemed One's disciple is this junior's fortune. Thank you for your grace."
"Good. For now, stand at the back. We'll leave after the ceremony is finished."
"Yes." He bowed once again and went away.
"Congratulations, Elder Lin, for taking in your first disciple. He seemed like a talented fellow."
"Thank you, Elder Han. You flatter him. I mainly looked at his character. As long as he isn't troublesome, I'll be glad."
After that there was nothing major. This year 12 groups, meaning 1200 candidates came here for the selection. The initial number of candidates must have been over ten thousand.
Only around 70 were selected by Elders to be their personal disciples.
Lin Yinxuan bade farewell to the elders and walked towards his disciple.
Gu Ning stood there with a bundle in his hands.
"They registered your information?"
"Yes, Elder Lin. Senior brother helped me register. They gave me a set of robes and 10 spiritual stones."
"Good. That's your annual stipend, low-grade spiritual stones. It'll be increased when you achieve higher cultivation level. Now, let's go to my courtyard."
Lin Yinxuan thought a mount would be better than a cloud for the boy if it was his first time, so he took out a paper crane from his sleeve pocket. With his spiritual power, it turned into a majestic crane. He held Gu Ning's hand and they stood together on the back of the bird. When it took to the sky, the child's hand tightened a little. Yet his eyes looked on with excitement.
"When you break through a few levels, I'll give this crane to you as a gift. It's one of the old artifacts I made when I started learning artifact refinement."
"Thank you, Esteemed Elder. I'll do my best."
After some time they reached the destination.
"This is our peak, Huan Peak, as in "unhurried, yet never stagnant."
The peak was lush with greenery in early spring. Here and there peach trees could be seen in full bloom. Lin Yinxuan made a full circle and made his way to the pavilion near the pond.
"That room over there is the kitchen. You can put your bundle on the bench there. Boil water and make some tea. Do you know how to do that?"
The boy nodded in answer.
"Use this tea. Go. Take your time, I'll wait here."
In a short while tea was ready. Lin Yinxuan took out a pair of jade cups from his storage pouch. Gu Ning poured golden tea to the cups and held one with both hands while kneeling respectfully.
"Disciple offers tea."
"Master accepts." As he took the cup and sipped, Gu Ning gave three kowtows.
"Gu Ning is grateful. May master walk the immortal Dao to the end."
"Good. Master for a day, father for a lifetime. As long as I seek the Dao, I'll treat you as my own. Rise."
Gu Ning gave one more bow and sat beside him. Using Qi, Lin Yinxuan put the sweets from the morning on the stone table.
"Let's eat these for now. We'll cook for the dinner later.