Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 63 The White Stone Immortal Sect with No One Hiring

"Ruyan is right, Ping'an. You've been cultivating immortality for over a month now. Why don't you go to the leader's platform and test your skills?"

Zhang Chengdao spoke up.

Chang Ping'an is kind and simple-minded, and has good aptitude. His biggest problem is that he lacks self-confidence. If he can win the championship in the tournament, it may greatly benefit his cultivation.

Upon hearing his master's words, Chang Ping'an finally nodded: "I will obey your orders."

……

In the evening, Zhang Chengdao returned to the thatched cottage courtyard on the wind, just in time to find a new batch of "job seekers," who wanted to join the White Stone Immortal Sect, gathered around the [Arrow Tower] not far away.

After upgrading the city walls and city gates several times, these two buildings have become too conspicuous.

If it were just a city wall-like building with an earthen base and a wooden structure, that would be fine; the neighboring Mujia Village was built in the same way.

However, as the level increases, the three buildings, namely the city wall, city gate, and arrow tower, become more and more luxurious, and their appearance becomes increasingly strange.

Even if the Great Xiao Kingdom is lenient in its control over the martial arts world, it's still not right for you to build a Great Wall made of bluestone bricks on the mountain, is it?

Under Xu Ying's subtle reminder, Zhang Chengdao had no choice but to put away the city walls and gates, leaving only the arrow towers that had lost their giant crossbows.

After the giant crossbows in these arrow towers are put away, the overall structure looks no different from the towers of the Sword Forging Manor, even more magnificent and grand, with more luxurious decorations. Zhang Chengdao specially set out six as "decorations," which can also be used to cosplay the various gate buildings that appear when you enter a cultivation sect in the game.

If I have the chance in the future, I'll commission a custom-made bluestone archway and hang a plaque that reads "White Stone Immortal Sect," which will give it a very strong sense of a cultivation sect.

Xu Ying found the martial arts tournament too boring, so he returned to Baishi Mountain in the afternoon.

In recent days, as more and more martial arts practitioners and disciples from various sects have come to participate in the martial arts tournament, the news of the White Stone Immortal Sect recruiting... cough, recruiting outer disciples has also spread, attracting many people to try their luck.

But for some reason, after so many days, among all the people who have come, not a single one is of blue quality or higher; they are all gray, and the best one is only green!
This left Zhang Chengdao completely baffled, and he even considered hiring a few green-named people to work with if all else failed.

Most of the people who came this time were martial artists, and a small number were ordinary people. Although at first glance, the quality seemed much better than before, Zhang Chengdao frowned after opening the character panel and flipping through it a few times. He shook his head at Xu Ying, who was communicating with these people, from a distance.

Xu Ying nodded slightly in response to Zhang Chengdao, then said to the crowd gathered in front of the [Arrow Tower], "None of you have any affinity with my White Stone Immortal Sect for the time being, please leave!"

Amidst numerous sighs and lamentations, the crowd gradually dispersed, and Zhang Chengdao finally emerged from the thatched hut.

Upon exiting the thatched hut, they found two people still standing in front of the arrow tower, unwilling to leave.

The two looked about 70% alike and appeared to be siblings. They were both quite young, at most twelve or thirteen years old.

Their clothes were very thin, and although they looked relatively clean, their meager financial situation was obvious—their shoes were worn out, and the younger girl was carrying a bundle, which was probably all their belongings.

Zhang Chengdao felt a little sympathy, but didn't take it to heart, and casually asked, "Why don't you two leave?"

The older boy mustered his courage and asked loudly, "Immortal, my brother and I have heard that you seem to want to recruit disciples to work for you. Can we not be disciples and just work for you? All we need is a 'miracle medicine'!"

Zhang Chengdao pressed, "Oh? What do you want the 'elixir' for?" In fact, Zhang Chengdao had already anticipated this when he heard the two children's words.

Classic novel plots or game missions are nothing more than rescuing parents and relatives, and then having a filial son character, etc.

In a novel, it's used to highlight the protagonist's kindness and incidentally create trouble for him; in a game, it's used to give players experience, materials, equipment, and a richer world-building background.

But just as Zhang Chengdao was bracing himself for a melodramatic story, a furry little head suddenly popped out from the bundle in the little girl's arms.

It had pointed ears, orange-red fur on its face, and its normally round eyes were narrowed into slits.

It was just a fox cub, and it looked quite uncomfortable.

The little girl said, "My brother found it yesterday when he was picking herbs. Its mother has gone to heaven, but it won't eat the porridge we offer it. It must be sick!"

The boy added, "I heard that the immortal has a magic medicine that can cure all diseases! If we can get it, the little fox will be cured!"

Zhang Chengdao couldn't help but feel ashamed of his own assumptions.

Of course, a bowl of kudzu root soup is enough to cure a little fox; there have been quite a few people coming to ask for medicine these past few days.

However, he always priced Ge Gen Tang and Die Da San at three guan of cash, which was neither too expensive so that ordinary people could afford them, nor too cheap so as not to disrupt the normal market or waste his medicinal materials.

After all, the total amount of taxes, levies, and exemption fees for an ordinary family in the Great Xiao Kingdom was roughly the same.

only……

"Where are your parents?"

Zhang Chengdao continued to ask.

The little girl answered quickly, "They went to heaven!"

The older boy explained clearly: "My brother and I lost our parents early and now live in Fusheng Pharmacy in Guangchang County, where we help take care of and process medicinal herbs. Sometimes we also go to the mountains to collect herbs to make a living."

“I saw the notice posted by the immortal in the county, which seems to indicate a shortage of handymen who tend to herbs. My sister and I have been working at Fusheng Pharmacy for three years now, so there’s absolutely no chance of anything going wrong!”

After hearing this, Zhang Chengdao opened the character panel again. The two new character cards had names that were green and gray, both indicating poor aptitude.

"How about this, I'll give you some medicine first, and you'll work for me for a month. Of course, you'll still get 4... cough, 30 coins a day. How about that?"

Zhang Chengdao originally wanted to charge 40 coins, at least so as not to make him seem too suitable for hanging streetlights.

However, according to Xu Ying, the Northern Xiao Kingdom only minted coins twice when it was founded. Although the quality was excellent and could be considered the best in history, the coins had extremely strong purchasing power due to their scarcity, which was far incomparable to the Southern Chu Kingdom and Zhou Kingdom, which had already experienced "inflation".

Therefore, 30 coins was already considered a good income in Xiao Kingdom—the "civil servants" at the post station could only earn three or four coins a month!

(End of this chapter)