Hours later, with the first light of the day piercing through the morning fog, Han De’s work was finished.

The (preliminary) array was complete. He even had carved an illusory array, making most animals and useful insects oblivious to his scent. The array was so subtle that the background spiritual energy was enough to power it.

Han De took a deep breath. ‘Mmm. Even the smell of air is changing. Just this passive array is enough to do this, huh.’ As the array master, such a thing was a given. But the power of doing something with one’s hands could not be underestimated. Thousands of different ideas came to Han De’s mind, all of them begging him to create them.

But Han De… simply watched the sunrise, watched the golden columns of light shift and warm everywhere they touched. ‘No wonder they say sunrise is good for cultivation.’ Han De smiled, finally turning his attention back to where it belonged - his disciples.

The first one was easy to spot; spiritual sense wasn’t even needed. Near a dead tree, there was a small ball of leaves, slight gaps revealing the Daoist robes and delicate white skin in places. Yu Xian seemed to take Han De’s advice, and was roughing it out, hardcore. There wasn’t even a sign of fire!

‘… There’s no way he’s dead, right?’ The thought was ridiculous, since not only Yu Xian was an MC, but Han De’s disciples were being watched by a Transcendent master. Death, wasn’t allowed for Yu Xian. Still, Han De used his spiritual sense and checked Yu Xian’s condition. ‘No fever, that’s good. As long as lackeys heal them intermittently, they won’t get sick from foreign pathogens either. Oh, I guess I could do that myself too.’ Han De the Healer thought he was perfectly capable of doing any and all healing-related tasks, this one included.

In any case, thanks to the overwhelming MC aura, Yu Xian was doing alright, despite the circumstances.

Next, Han De’s eyes searched for the other disciples. They were even easier to find, thanks to a freshly made earth hut, sheltered by tall deciduous trees with golden leaves. A thin line of smoke coming from the hut soon disappeared into the fog, scattered by numerous branches. On the side, there was even a small shed made from branches to store tools, and a small clearing in front. The outlines of a courtyard house were evident.

‘Well well well.’ Han De nodded with approval and used his spiritual sense as gently as possible. ‘They made a fire, and even made beds. Temperature inside is quite good… except for Liang Cuifen’s corner.’ The girl was destined to exude literal cold from her body, possibly till the end of time; so Han De didn’t hold it against them. The entirety of their “dwelling” was far more luxurious than Han De would’ve thought; he certainly couldn’t make such a structure without his cultivation, even two weeks wouldn’t be enough time, let alone a day.

‘Hmm. A week of no cultivation should be enough. I can also give them missions to consolidate the no-cultivation training later.’ Han De made a mental note to create such tasks in the future. The more prepared his disciples were for Xianxia shenanigans, the better.

With the five disciples sleeping soundly, Han De decided to prepare for the first lesson. First “official” lesson of the Imperium of Chaos. Thinking of the name, Han De’s eyebrows trembled with the overwhelming urge to frown. ‘F#$%, maybe I shouldn’t have gotten carried away…’

After a day and night of work, Han De was able to gain some perspective.

Imperium of Chaos.

If he could, he would definitely choose another name, something less chuuni and much longer. But what was done was done. And since the System recognized the sect, there was no use crying over spilled milk.

‘Ok, concentrate. I’ll need… six bathtubs. I’ll just carve the ground and put an illusion for the tub. And then I’ll need to sort the materia-’

Suddenly, Ning Bi flailed her arm, her breath became faster. Han De didn’t even think, and operated his Through the Starlight footwork at stealth mode in full power, and found himself in front of the hut within one step. First he checked his Reality Sense, but the girl was clean of any abnormalities. Then he used his spiritual sense to check her condition, and that too turned out to be clean. ‘Nightmare?’ Han De thought, but her eyes weren’t moving under the eyelids, and her Qi didn’t have the characteristic dissonance accompanied by what Han De assumed to be REM sleep.

Han De contemplated whether to ask Xin Meili, but before he did, he decided to go near Ning Bi, just to see if his bloodline would have an effect. Treading the air with his steps, Han De opened up the “door” made from dried branches, soil, and leaves. Not only his spiritual energy was completely calm, but he didn’t make any sound audible to his Nascent Soul senses. Han De kneed in front of Ning Bi’s bed, and gently touched her forehead.

Sudden calmness, followed by a faint disharmony in her Qi a few seconds later; Ning Bi fell into a dream, seemingly from Han De’s touch. This forced Han De to ponder and speculate. ‘There is literally nothing from Reality Sense, or any message from the System. That eliminates a lot of the possible dangers…’ Another idea came to Han De’s mind. ‘She not only left her parents behind, but is now the first disciple of a brand new sect. Could it be… anxiety?’

This was a perfectly plausible explanation, as such, Han De became sure that it wasn’t the case. Still, since it was a perfectly plausible explanation, Han De immediately decided to take steps to ease Ning Bi’s anxiety. If -or rather when- his radar and alarm clock started displaying signs of trouble, then he would decide to worry, Han De determined.

‘Hmmm. Body cultivation should take her mind off the victims and the slaves. It’s like the beginning arc of a Xianxia, carrying water, tempering muscles, taking medicinal baths and so on… But is that enough?’

As he considered his options, Han De fixed Ning Bi’s hair, unaware of his own smile while doing it. ‘I shouldn’t rush things. One step at a time.’

Han De stood up, after giving one last look at the five, he left the hut. There was only half an hour at most before his disciples awakened. And he realized he needed to do last-minute preparations.

‘Tubs, steles, materials — wait, I should let them collect the materials. The 1st stage of the Qi Condensation realm is basic enough to substitute with simple materials.’ Then, Han De realized he needed to look for the local plant life to find suitable ones. ‘F*ck, I spent too much time on the array and forgot about everything else.’

After clearing enough distance from the hut, Han De stormed out on his speed-focused sword, flying at a low altitude over the landscape, using his own Qi to prevent air ripples disturbing the flora. One sweep of his spiritual sense is enough to determine the rough properties of a spiritual herb, but closer inspection was crucial — the grandmaster within him simply would not allow eye-balling the process!

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

* * *

“Wakey wakey, sweety. You’ll be late to the class!” Someone spoke. Her voice was familiar, giving Ning Bi the feeling of…

“Do you want to make your teacher wait?” The voice said while patting Ning Bi’s head. “No!” Ning Bi answered, her own voice sounding different somehow. Her body moved, hurriedly getting up and running outside.

‘Yes, I need to wash my face quick.’ Ning Bi thought. This was the first day of school! She really, really couldn’t be late!

“Don’t use the well water!” The woman shouted from behind, but Ning Bi acted like she didn’t hear.

Of course she wouldn’t use the well water to wash her body! She wasn’t born yesterday!

Ning Bi ran through neighboring millet fields, paying attention not to step on any of the crops. Running like there was no tomorrow, Ning Bi finally reached the stagnant river. Waterline had receded even further compared to last week, but Ning Bi wasn’t worried, because the teacher said that water was going to come back!

Ning Bi hunched over the water to wash her face, but gazed at her own reflection for a moment first. Brown hair and eyes? Didn’t she have red eyes? For a moment, Ning Bi was stunned; because red-colored eyes sounded really cool!

After thoroughly washing her hands, face, and feet, Ning Bi sat on a small stone exposed by the falling water level and flapped her legs to dry off. At the same time, she was positively wriggling with anticipation!

Today was the day! The start of her big journey! Into the world of Immortals!

Ning Bi still couldn’t believe how she convinced the teacher to… impart the… way of…

Well, she forgot how the teacher put it, but it was really profound when she heard it!

Thanks to the summer heat, the water evaporated fast, and she was ready to wear her slippers again, to start her run back to school. But before doing so, Ning Bi searched around for a few minutes, looking at the spots where she saw wild vegetables a few weeks back.

Unfortunately, today wasn’t the day either, but that couldn’t deter Ning Bi.

Because today was the day.

Or was it? Ning Bi suddenly found herself staring at the night sky, watching how the stars were slowly fainting away. Another dream started, burying the memory of the brown-haired girl into unknown depths.

* * *

‘This place isn’t bad at all.’ Han De thought after selecting the necessary spiritual herbs. As a grandmaster herbalist, he was already keenly aware of the flora, but after taking a closer look, he realized that the sect grounds could be called holy lands with some work. Not only the species variations were huge, but all of them seemed to have adapted to a variety of climates and spiritual energy fluctuations. The soil, the river, even the very air had a sort of tenacity that was difficult to describe, as if all of them had overcome ravages of time in their own way.

‘Well, that’s a Dao Sovereign expert for you. Even with a cursory look they can accurately judge everything.’ Han De gave a +1 to the Dao Sovereign scout. Just like the lackey said, this place didn’t just meet, but exceeded his expectations. ‘Considering how big the planet remnants are, I shouldn’t be surprised that there’s a place exactly as I wanted, I suppose.’

In reality, “exactly as Han De wanted,” didn’t even begin to describe it.

When Han De was inside the Starfall Mountain sect, desperately making plans while hiding from the limelight during the day, his mind would escape to a land of dreams at night. Simple dreams, where he never had to deal with life-threatening System quests, or a family that would slaughter entire cities, or a reputation that made him the target of all MCs living in the continent, those simple dreams would accompany him at night. Han De’s mind would conjure up the perfect sect, the perfect Xianxia experience, and the perfect life. Simple dreams born out of crippling anxiety. Simple dreams that he was never even aware of.

Everything was exactly as Han De dreamed.

‘Alright, I just need to give them their tasks, and let them do everything themselves for a while.’ Han De nodded. Though he immediately noticed a problem. Even his original disciples who were Core Formation experts, needed food if they didn’t cultivate. And considering how he planned to make them start cultivating their body, food -and vast quantities at that- was a given.

The obvious answer came first, and Han De rejected it. ‘I can’t just hand them fasting pills…’ Then came the second solution, also rejected. ‘I can’t just ask my lackeys to bring food, it’s too early for that, and goes against the entire point of the no-cultivation week.’

Han De’s gaze wandered into the sky, looking at the foreign stars that were still visible to his Nascent Soul eyes. The urge to divine something, anything, came instantly. He looked at the mountains, and the urge to improve the array arrived. He stared at the trees, and the urge to put them into a neat order almost overwhelmed him.

While trying to concentrate on his task, Han De noticed the sweet sound of trickling water. Fish, were returning slowly now that they “couldn’t” detect Han De’s scent. ‘Ah…’

What was the most profound profession in all of Xianxia? Obviously, it was sweeping the library courtyard. What was the second? Clearly, it was tending to the manuals within the library. And what was the third? Without a doubt, it was fishing.

‘Huh, I don’t think I’ve ever fished.’ Despite his lack of experience, Han De’s eyes suddenly glowed with profound intent. The idea felt so… right. His disciples woke up only to see their master quietly fishing, waiting, thinking. Wasn’t that what being a master was all about?!

At this point, getting something to eat to his disciples was just a minor bonus.

Han De used his footwork to silently approach Yu Xian and lift him up with his Qi without making the Harem MC aware of what was going on. Then he went back to the earth hut and placed the ex-god-king on the side. Since he was going to teach everyone body cultivation, it made sense to bring everyone together.

‘Ok, so now I need a fishing rod. How to make one…’ Han De clasped his hands behind his back and started considering this dilemma. The little shed that his disciples made actually held some spears instead of rods; but obviously, such a solution wasn’t acceptable. After a moment of struggle, Han De relented to his grandmaster illusionist side and conjured a bamboo fishing rod. The appearance, he realized he had to tweak to make it a little more acceptable for the Xianxia setting. “The reeling thing” he removed, and made bamboo a little darker and sprinkled some stains on it. ‘Not bad, it looks ancient!’

With a smile, Han De went to the nearby river, conjured a fishing chair illusion and started fishing. The water flowed gently enough that he could see all the fish leisurely swimming around.

Han De waited. Behind, he could hear the regular rhythm of his disciples’ breathing. Even Ning Bi’s had started to stabilize.

He waited. The mildly sweet scent of burnt wood had all but disappeared with the last log going out. Han De didn’t have memories of fishing, but he did remember camping. ‘I wonder if the wood smelled as good as this one back then…’

With his hands holding the dark bamboo fishing rod, Han De kept waiting. Whether because it was his Nascent Soul eyes, or because the water was just that clean, he could see the fish inside perfectly, every move of their muscles was as clear as day. And none of them were going near the line!

Han De gazed at the clouds. ‘S#$%, this is even worse than cultivation…’

Rustling of expensive cloth alarmed Han De. Someone was waking up; it was Jin Shu. Looking at the empty bucket, and then the fish, Han De decided to cheat in an instant. He quickly and discreetly used his Nascent Soul Qi to put a dozen fishes in his bucket. ‘Thank god for cultivation…’ He breathed a sigh of relief, but, the fish started jumping out. Within seconds, his bucket was empty again.

And now he could hear the sound of soft cloth scraping at the bamboo bedding. Jin Shu’s minor movements had woken up Yao Qing. Not surprising, considering how accurate the sense of hearing was at the Core Formation realm, and an MC like Yao Qing would undoubtedly have much more sensitive hearing than Han De back then.

Han De stared at the fish, hiding his disbelief to the best of his ability. Yes, the fish had some spiritual energy within them, but they were still fish. Right?

Instead of arguing with reality, Han De collected the same exact fish, erased their mind along with survival instincts, and then put them back in the bucket. Now they looked docile as they mindlessly flapped their fins.

Han De swallowed his sigh while Profoundly staring at the flowing water.

‘… Who needs fishing anyway.’