Zhang Zhengyan, being called an idiot, felt indignant and wanted to beat up Qiu Kun. However, Yang Hong was still in the square, so even if he wanted to arrange a fight, he had to consider if he would be slapped to death by Yang Hong.
He turned his gaze to the crystal mirror. Among the Outer Sect disciple roster, apart from Qiu Kun, who was in the Nascent Soul realm, there were no other Nascent Soul cultivators. Even the four old ancestors in the Separation From Divinity realm were only granted the positions of general affairs stewards and were not promoted to Outer Sect disciples.
Among the disciples who were promoted to Outer Sect, there were even three newly promoted disciples in the Qi Refining realm. The majority of the promoted disciples were primarily in the Foundation Establishment realm.
"Farm construction, orchard construction, river construction, basic building construction?
So that's how it is~ So that's how it is!"
As a former sect leader, Zhang Zhengyan quickly grasped the commonality among these newly promoted disciples.
They were not disciples who cultivated quickly or had high cultivation bases, but rather those responsible for basic construction, and many were even responsible for the fundamental infrastructure for mortal survival.
"So the Sect Leader is planning a large-scale migration of mortals. The tasks he has issued this year have primarily focused on serving mortals.
And those who were able to be promoted either stumbled upon relevant tasks or understood the Sect Leader's intentions."
"These scoundrels didn't tell me, especially that scoundrel Lou Xiangyang. He was even my personal disciple, yet he didn't remind me at all. I must beat him up later."
Zhang Zhengyan grumbled softly, but he could only watch enviously as Lou Xiangyang, his former disciple and now his senior brother, swaggered (cautiously) towards the Outer Sect disciple area.
It wasn't far, just a hundred zhang away, an area enclosed by a low wall only three feet high.
Lou Xiangyang followed Qiu Kun cautiously, heading towards the gate of the low wall, marked with the plaque "Outer Sect Quiet Room."
As soon as they entered, they were greeted by a high platform with chairs and a table. Behind the table sat the beautiful and noble Sect Leader's wife. He quickly lowered his head after a glance.
Although Zhu Yuyan was not the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, nor was her temperament particularly outstanding, she was the Sect Leader's wife. If he dared to show any disrespect, he might turn into a corpse the next moment.
"Come over to register your names and information, then drip blood to acknowledge ownership of your Outer Sect disciple tokens.
This will be your token for entering and exiting the Outer Sect area, your identification credential outside, and in the future, your proof of usage for various functional buildings. Make sure to keep it safe."
Lou Xiangyang and the others queued up obediently, registering their information and dripping blood to acknowledge ownership with practiced ease.
Such tokens were not technically difficult to craft; any ordinary second-grade artifact refiner could make them. They already had their own disciple identity tokens, but those tokens had all been handed in and destroyed.
They were disciples of Qingfeng Villa, so naturally, they would be issued Qingfeng Villa tokens.
However, the materials used for the Qingfeng Villa tokens were rather luxurious, utilizing sixth-grade spiritual iron – Sword Heart Iron – to forge them. Each token was a fourth-grade magical artifact.
It was truly both extravagant and wasteful.
When Qiu Kun discovered that this unassuming, dull-gray token was forged from Sword Heart Iron, his face was filled with heartache and a conflicted expression.
He was conflicted about whether to melt down this token and add it to his flying sword for re-refining. As a sword cultivator, he didn't even have a flying sword forged from Sword Heart Iron, yet he already had a token made from it.
Moreover, sixth-grade spiritual iron had been forced into a fourth-grade magical artifact, truly a waste of heavenly resources!
However, he only dared to think about it; he didn't dare to actually melt down his identity token. Instead, he began to consider how he could obtain treasures like Sword Heart Iron from the Sect Leader.
"Hmm~ The spiritual energy here..."
As Qiu Kun lost himself in thought, his footsteps didn't stop. He walked along a hundred-zhang path and arrived at the actual residential area for Outer Sect disciples.
"Uncle-Master Qiu~ Oh no, Senior Brother, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth here reaches third-grade spiritual land, which is considered a good place for cultivation."
Lou Xiangyang followed Qiu Kun in and also took a deep breath, feeling the dense spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
"An expert, a master of formations! The spiritual energy differs so much over a distance of a hundred zhang, and there are no obvious traces of formations. Truly a marvelous skill."
"Senior Brother Qiu, wasn't this Outer Sect disciple residential area built by you and your men?
The spiritual energy should be the effect of a spirit gathering formation, right? You don't need to praise yourself like this."
Lou Xiangyang squeezed past Qiu Kun from behind, his lips curling in slight disdain at Qiu Kun's shamelessness.
Qiu Kun opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing, quickening his pace to walk further in.
Although Qiu Kun was also a second-grade formation master, his primary cultivation was as a sword cultivator, and he was indeed not skilled in formations.
This Outer Sect disciple residential area was indeed built by him and his men, and it was built rapidly using magic.
However, the formations were not laid out by him.
On both sides of the bluestone path were trees that had been grown to ten zhang tall by magic. Beyond the hundred-zhang bluestone path, the world opened up again, revealing rows of three-story, independent small buildings arranged in a certain order.
In front of each building was a small courtyard with a pond. In the courtyard, there were also three fen of farmland planted with spirit rice, and another three fen of medicinal fields planted with common spiritual herbs.
This small courtyard, both inside and out, exuded an aura of carefree pastoral tranquility, naturally calming one's mood upon sight. It was a good place for cultivating immortals and refining qi.
"Senior Brother Qiu, for this small courtyard, I must say you are truly impressive, awesome!"
Upon seeing the small courtyard, Lou Xiangyang unconsciously slowed his steps and couldn't help but give Qiu Kun, who was also walking softly, a thumbs-up.
Qiu Kun glared at Lou Xiangyang and said, "The small buildings were built by me, but the pond, farmland, medicinal fields, and the courtyard were not built by me.
I believe these three parts were constructed by different junior brothers, and the one who planned all of this was the Sect Leader."
"Uh~ The Sect Leader?
Then it makes sense. Only a celestial talent like the Sect Leader could build such a small courtyard. It's simply perfect, embodying the unity of heaven and man and the natural way."
Upon hearing that the courtyard was planned by Yang Hong, Lou Xiangyang instinctively flattered him first, then cautiously glanced around.
He was accustomed to flattering the former Sect Leader, Zhang Zhengyan, and wasn't sure if the new Sect Leader, Yang Hong, would appreciate it.
"You got one part right. This small courtyard does indeed capture the artistic conception of the natural way, but saying it embodies the unity of heaven and man is going too far."
Qiu Kun nodded, agreeing with half of Lou Xiangyang's statement. He then quickened his pace and began to select a courtyard he favored.
Since the small buildings in the Outer Sect disciple residential area were primarily built by him, they knew clearly that although the styles of the buildings appeared the same, they were actually quite similar, with different adjustments in different locations.
He needed to find the buildings at the formation nodes within this residential area, as those buildings were larger in scale and had more abundant spiritual energy.
"Senior Brother Qiu, please guide me, which courtyard is better."
Lou Xiangyang, who was about to casually push open any courtyard, stopped his actions upon seeing Qiu Kun's movements and followed him.
"I don't have a clue which courtyard is better, just sense it yourself. Whichever has abundant spiritual energy is good."
Qiu Kun wouldn't tell Lou Xiangyang how to distinguish them; he just casually gave a standard and told him to find it himself. As for himself, he simply took flight on his sword towards the location in his memory.
"Ouch~"
But before Qiu Kun could fly high, he was struck down by an unexpected formation power and fell to the ground, unable to move.