Eve of Recruitment

Actually, before today, Gu Ningyun had also been somewhat puzzled about the timing of the recruitment.

She had speculated about it and guessed that it might be related to other forces.

Now, after hearing Senior Sister Ye's explanation, she realized she had only scratched the surface.

The sect's patriarchs stood at a much higher level of cultivation and status, allowing them to see much further and deeper.

No wonder Senior Sister Chanxi had said that when they took on high-level positions within the sect in the future, every measure they implemented while in office would have a significant impact on the sect.

No wonder Governing Peak wanted to cultivate their management skills, as well as their vision, perspective, and mindset, from a young age.

A seemingly simple recruitment assessment that every force would conduct actually had such a massive impact when placed on a colossus like Xiaoyao.

Even determining the frequency of the recruitment assessment required so much consideration.

“As for limiting the age to between six and ten years old, besides the reasons mentioned above, there are also reasons inherent to the cultivators themselves. Everyone should know why the minimum age is set to six. Although the spirit root inside a cultivator's body has already formed before birth, the primordial qi brought from the mother's womb has not yet been fully absorbed by the body before they turn six, meaning they cannot undergo spirit root testing or begin cultivation. The maximum age is set to ten because the ages of six to ten are the prime time for a cultivator to begin their journey. Although one can still start cultivating later, it is never as good as starting before ten.”

Hearing Senior Sister Ye say this, Gu Ningyun suddenly thought of Mu Chenze.

Mu Chenze had reached six years of age long ago, but to join Xiaoyao, he had deliberately waited a year, only officially starting his cultivation when he was seven years and two months old.

If even a disciple from a great clan like Mu Chenze did this, how many other children in the world had delayed their cultivation just to join Xiaoyao?

The sect probably set this rule so that they wouldn't have to delay their prime cultivation age just to enter Xiaoyao.

Having explained the origins of the recruitment system, Ye Tingran officially began assigning them their recruitment tasks.

Gu Ningyun took out her Deacon Jade Tablet and received a map on her notification interface.

The map included the Five Continents and Four Seas, as well as the mortal realms specifically marked outside or at the borders of the Five Continents and Four Seas.

In this world, besides the mortal realm where Jiang Yao was born, there were many other places where spirit energy was extremely sparse.

These places were not frequented by cultivators, so they gradually became areas where mortals gathered.

The mortals took root, reproduced, and established tribes or kingdoms there.

These places were either isolated from the cultivation world by geography, or blocked by barriers set up by powerful cultivators because they had once been invaded by demon beasts.

The immortal and mortal realms usually had almost no contact. Over time, these spirit-sparse areas where mortals gathered came to be known as the mortal realms.

Gu Ningyun zoomed in on the map to inspect it and found that twenty-five cities were marked on each of the Five Continents.

These marked cities were evenly distributed, so even if children who wanted to participate in the recruitment assessment lived in remote towns, they could still make their way to the nearest recruitment point.

There were numerous islands across the Four Seas.

For each sea region, ten islands were marked based on the distribution of islands and the spheres of influence at sea.

The dozens of mortal realms were also grouped by proximity, divided into sixteen regions.

“The cities and islands marked on the map are the recruitment points to be established this time. You 330 Foundation Establishment disciples, with the Head and Deputy Pavilion Masters pairing up, are divided into 165 groups. The Head Pavilion Masters will draw lots on the map. Whichever city or island you draw, you will be responsible for that recruitment point.”

Gu Ningyun placed the Deacon Jade Tablet between herself and Wen Xuan. After cleansing her hands with the Cleaning Technique, she tapped on the words “Draw Lots” on the map.

The 165 marked points flashed and went out one by one, leaving only a single blue dot of light—Xingfeng City, Shaozhou.

Shaozhou was located to the west of Yunzhou, and Xingfeng City belonged to the territory of the Danxia Sect.

There were no conflicts between the Danxia Sect and Xiaoyao, so there should be no issues with this trip.

Once the Foundation Establishment stage disciples finished drawing, Ye Tingran gathered the Qi Refining stage disciples to draw their lots.

The scope of the drawing for the Abode Masters included the sixteen mortal realm regions in addition to the 165 marked points on the Five Continents and Four Seas, making a total of 181 marked points.

“You 363 Abode Masters will draw lots from the 181 marked points. Those who draw the same marked point will form a group and accompany the Foundation Establishment stage disciples assigned to that point. The Abode Masters who draw the mortal realm marked points will have slightly different tasks. You will need to travel to all the mortal realms within that region and escort the candidates participating in the assessment to the nearest recruitment point. Once the recruitment assessment is over, any mortals who did not pass the assessment must be escorted back to their original mortal realms as well.”

The Abode Masters quickly finished drawing their lots. Gu Ningyun and Wen Xuan's Deacon Jade Tablets received the notification simultaneously.

The two who would be accompanying them to Xingfeng City were Zhu Zhengqing and Qiu Hongxin.

Additionally, there were two others, Cao Yufeng and Xu Hetong, who were responsible for a mortal realm near Xingfeng City.

Although it was said to be “near,” it was actually quite far away.

It was just that compared to the other recruitment points, Xingfeng City was slightly closer.

After the drawing was complete, Senior Sister Ye briefed them on the tasks to be done for the recruitment, with a particular emphasis on the training of the new disciples.

Only after explaining everything did she dismiss the meeting and let them leave.

Gu Ningyun immediately created a six-member group chat named “Xingfeng City Recruitment” with Wen Xuan, Zhu Zhengqing, Qiu Hongxin, Cao Yufeng, and Xu Hetong.

She sent a message to the four of them in the group, asking them to meet at the Songyue Pavilion affairs office so they could get acquainted and discuss the recruitment.

When the four arrived, Gu Ningyun could tell their cultivation levels at a glance.

Zhu Zhengqing's cultivation was slightly higher, already at the late stage of Qi Refining level twelve, while Qiu Hongxin looked as though he had only recently broken through to Qi Refining level twelve.

Both Cao Yufeng and Xu Hetong were at Qi Refining level eleven, and it looked like they weren't far from breaking through to Qi Refining level twelve either.

Once the six of them had greeted each other, they got straight to business.

First was the matter of the recruitment assessment announcement.

A year ago, the New Disciple Training Department had already posted announcements on the notice boards of every Xiaoyao Chamber of Commerce branch and City Lord's manor across the Five Continents and Four Seas.

This was to inform the world of Xiaoyao's recruitment schedule and cities so that those living far away could prepare early.

With four months left until the recruitment assessment, they needed to issue another targeted notice.

The specific steps were simple. They only needed to send a message to the coordinator of sect affairs at the Xingfeng City branch of the Xiaoyao Chamber of Commerce, asking them to issue another announcement.

They would also message the City Lords of Xingfeng City and its neighboring cities, requesting them to post the announcement on their notice boards and simultaneously distribute the notice to the towns and villages under their jurisdiction.

Second was the issue of maintaining order on the day of recruitment.

These details would be coordinated with the City Lord's manor and the Chamber of Commerce branch two months before the recruitment assessment began.

The City Lord's manor was staffed by people from the Danxia Sect, and the City Lord was a senior at the Nascent Soul stage.

Although the New Disciple Training Department had already communicated with them, out of respect, the task of messaging them would be handled by the two Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, Gu Ningyun and Wen Xuan.

Since the Chamber of Commerce consisted of their own people, Zhu Zhengqing and Qiu Hongxin would handle the communication on that side.