However, at this moment, Ding Yun couldn't bother about whether the spiritual rice's existence would be leaked, nor about the dragon descendants stealing it, because she had to hurry and harvest.
The spiritual rice became more and more enticing as it ripened.
Until it was harvested or the grains fell and sprouted again.
If she didn't harvest it quickly, by the time the aroma of this spiritual rice reached the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains behind them, it would likely attract all the demonic beasts in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains. Therefore, Ding Yun had to mobilize all the life forms in the valley to join the harvest.
Including those dragon descendants who couldn't resist the temptation.
Fortunately, they planted one hundred thousand mu of spiritual rice this time, and the spiritual rice itself was full of spiritual energy, with a satiety far beyond ordinary grains and meat. Even if those dragon descendants had a large appetite,
eating twenty to thirty jin would be enough.
And once they were full, they naturally had to work for her honestly. She didn't give away free meals.
But even so, as the harvest progressed into the later stages, quite a few demonic beasts from the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains were attracted to attack and compete for it. Ding Yun and her group had no choice but to go on a killing spree, harvesting while killing. In the end, it took them two hours longer than expected to complete the harvest of one hundred thousand mu of spiritual rice.
Next, of course, was storage for seeds and husking.
And then cooking a meal for everyone.
However, there were still differences. Those with higher cultivation levels had larger bowls of rice in front of them. It wasn't intentional discrimination, but rather that people with too low cultivation couldn't eat too much spiritual rice. After all, this spiritual rice was comparable to spirit pills and miraculous medicine. How much could ordinary mortals eat?
Eating too much could lead to trouble.
Even ginseng could be too nourishing and kill a person.
Let alone spiritual rice.
Those with lower cultivation, after eating a small bowl of spiritual rice, had to quickly circulate their blood and qi to digest it.
After the meal, Ding Yun distributed the promised remuneration to those who came to build the sect and even gave each person an extra three to five jin of de-husked Gu Ben Pei Yuan rice before dispatching the dragon descendants to escort them away.
After all the outsiders had left.
Ding Yun then discussed the matter of establishing a sect with everyone, such as the sect's name, its internal structure, and the primary cultivation methods.
Many names were suggested for the sect.
"Why don't we name it after Tianjiao Yunlei Valley? After all, there are places like Shenyi Valley and Yixian Valley in the martial world. It's simple and clear."
"In my opinion, why not call it Lingmi Sect? This spiritual rice is definitely unique in the world and can be considered a characteristic of our sect. Naming it this way is quite good!"
"No, no, this sounds like farming!"
"Anyone who doesn't know might think we're grain merchants..."
"How about Yunlei Sect? The sect leader's name also has 'Yun' in it, which is quite good. We can remove 'Tianjiao'.
Or Yunlei Valley, Yunlei Sect, either is fine!"
"This is good!"
"I have an idea. With so much special spiritual rice, we can definitely cultivate all our disciples into prodigies in the future. Why don't we change Tianjiao to Tianjiao, and name the sect Tianjiao Valley?
This name might seem ambitious now.
But in the future, it will definitely live up to its name!"
"This is good, let's call it this..."
With Ding Yun's final decision, the name of their sect was finally decided: Tianjiao Valley, where "Tianjiao" means prodigy. The name might be a bit grand,
but Ding Yun was not afraid of not being able to live up to it.
She was confident that she could cultivate all her disciples into prodigies.
Following this, the opinions on the sect's internal planning were highly consistent: follow the general trend, establishing roles such as Valley Master, Elders, and Deacons. The Valley Master would be the owner of Tianjiao Valley, and the Elders would manage the sect's affairs according to their respective duties, such as teaching disciples, managing the scripture pavilion, and farming.
Deacons would primarily handle external affairs, such as procurement, sending invitations, hosting guests, and recruiting disciples.
Below these three positions were the disciples.
They were divided into three levels: True Disciples, Inner Disciples, and Outer Disciples.
In reality, larger martial arts sacred lands have more disciple levels, from top to bottom: Sect Leader's Disciple, Core Disciple, True Disciple, Inner Disciple, Outer Disciple, and Menial Disciple, totaling six levels. Some sects might also add Elder Disciples, a level between Sect Leader's Disciple and Core Disciple.
However, their Tianjiao Valley had very few people.
They didn't need so many levels for now, and even the three levels of True Disciple, Inner Disciple, and Outer Disciple were considered excessive at the moment.
Because for the initial twenty-seven disciples,
Ding Yun planned to accept them all as True Disciples.
Therefore, their Tianjiao Valley currently had no Inner or Outer Disciples. It was estimated that they would be needed when they expanded their recruitment in the future. However, even if they didn't have them,
the framework still needed to be in place.
Below the disciples were the menial servants. Martial arts cultivation was similar to studying. To achieve something, it was best to be able to focus solely on it, meaning they needed to be supported and not spend most of their time maintaining their livelihoods.
They couldn't spend eight hours a day working in the fields, several hours on housework and cooking, and then subtract sleeping time. How much time would be left for practice?
Therefore, they needed menial servants to help with daily chores, such as washing clothes and cooking.
However, Ding Yun did not intend to let them become completely inept and ignorant of basic life skills. Furthermore, the spiritual rice cultivation in the sect was also very important. Therefore, farming was designated by Ding Yun as a core compulsory course for their sect.
There were no problems with these arrangements.
Only the choice of the sect's core primary cultivation method caused a bit more debate.
If there were no choices, only one or two high-level cultivation methods, it might have been easier for everyone. But the problem was that Ding Yun presented too many high-level cultivation methods, each capable of reaching the Martial Saint realm, which overwhelmed everyone.
"Let's still use the 'Xijing Fasuigong' and 'Hunyuan Zhenjing' as the sect's primary cultivation methods. These two methods can be cultivated by anyone and have the strongest universality."
"No, we are Tianjiao Valley. If every disciple cultivates the same method and turns out to be similar, how can we be called prodigies?
If there were no choices, it would be understandable. But now that there are choices, we should let each disciple cultivate the method that best suits them, so that each disciple's talent can be fully displayed, and they can blossom in diversity!"
"The sect's primary cultivation method must be the most universally applicable. What sect outside doesn't have a primary cultivation method that all disciples can cultivate? If each disciple cultivates a different method, and they go out, who will know they are from our Tianjiao Valley?
Besides, we can't determine at the beginning.
Which disciple is most suited to which method!"
"We can try slowly, we have plenty of time!"
After a period of debate, Ding Yun smoothed things over by suggesting that all disciples, upon entering the sect, would first cultivate the 'Xijin Fasuigong' which could improve their aptitude and bone structure. Once they cultivated this method to the Innate realm, they would be able to quickly sense which attribute-based cultivation method they were most suited for.
It would not be too late to switch then.
Anyway, 'Xijin Fasuigong' had no special attributes, so it was fine to switch to any cultivation method.
Thus, the basic framework of their sect was established. Next, it was just a matter of filling in the details on the basis of this framework, such as purchasing some menial servants and stocking the scripture pavilion with secret manuals.
After thoroughly determining their respective duties.
The Elders began to cultivate new methods, and the disciples started to practice basic martial arts while eating spiritual rice.
As for sending out invitations and formally announcing the establishment of the sect, Ding Yun was not in a hurry, because their sect was indeed too shabby at the moment. Apart from her, the Valley Master, and the sect-protecting divine beast, whose strength was sufficient and presentable, none of the other Elders and disciples were noteworthy.
If they sent invitations too early, what if someone came to challenge them?
They couldn't all rely on her, the Valley Master, to handle it.
What if someone wanted to have a friendly spar between disciples, and she had any disciple who could compare to the disciples of the sect leaders who had been cultivating for many years in other major sects?
Therefore, for now, they had to keep a low profile.
They had to wait until the first batch of disciples had learned their skills and were ready to graduate before formally sending out invitations and announcing to the world the establishment of their sect.