9 Chapter 9: Registered Disciple, Mo Ying

"Who's outside?"

Ye Feng held the wooden box and looked outside.

A slim figure stood on the empty ground outside the door, dressed in a black long dress, with a black veiled hat covering her face, making her true features invisible.

Ye Feng could tell that this was a young woman, probably around sixteen years old.

He could sense an extremely strong presence from the woman in the black dress, like a whirlwind, her cultivation level should be much stronger than Huo Yunjie's.

"This person has a mysterious background; we must act cautiously. Most importantly, we have to protect the spirit stones."

"Sect Master Uncle, please hide behind us."

"Leave this person to us to deal with."

Three disciples quickly positioned themselves in front of Ye Feng.

They had a feeling that this woman was up to no good and feared she might make a move against the Sect Master Uncle.

"I want to join the Misty Sect."

At this moment, the young woman spoke up, and the four people, including Ye Feng, were all stunned on the spot.

Join the Misty Sect?

That sounded somewhat off, didn't it?

Wasn't she here to steal something?

Ye Feng and his three fellow disciples were filled with confusion, originally thinking a fierce battle awaited them.

Instead, a new disciple appeared!

Ye Feng sized up the woman in the black dress and asked, "Do you really want to join the Misty Sect?"

"Are you the Sect Leader of the Misty Sect?"

The woman in the black dress assessed Ye Feng, and noticing he had no cultivation level, combined with the rumors heard in Whitefloat City, she guessed his identity.

"Yes, I am," Ye Feng replied.

Clang!

The woman in the black dress threw down an iron box. "Inside are one hundred lower-grade spirit stones, consider it the entry fee for joining the Misty Sect."

"Hiss!"

The three disciples gasped in astonishment.

Ye Feng, with a look of suspicion, used a branch to pry open the iron box and saw that it was neatly filled with spirit stones emitting a soft glow.

Exactly one hundred, no more, no less.

"I can't let you join."

Yet Ye Feng shook his head.

"Too little?"

The woman in the black dress asked in surprise.

Ye Feng waved his hand: "Your background is unclear, and you might bring danger to our Misty Sect; we cannot accept you."

Even though he had no cultivation, he was, after all, a time-traveler, wasn't he!

Typically, those who are willing to pay the entry fee to join the most inferior sect like Misty Sect are people burdened with blood vengeance, seeking refuge here.

Ye Feng would rather not take those one hundred spirit stones than let her cause trouble for the Misty Sect.

Upon hearing this, the woman in the black dress took off her veiled hat.

A face appeared before everyone, causing Ye Feng and the others to take a deep breath.

What did this face look like?

If you saw it in the dark, just recognizing the contours, you would think it was an oval face with well-proportioned features, quite pretty.

But...

The skin of this face was another story.

It appeared as if it had been eroded by poison or scalded by raging flames.

Anyway, it was somewhat frightening.

"Ugly, isn't it?"

The woman in the black dress emotionlessly put her veiled hat back on, "I can see Sect Master Ye's concern, but my background is clean, without any blood feud, and I won't bring any disaster to the sect."

Ye Feng: "..."

He really wanted to say, how do I know whether you will bring danger to the Misty Sect?

But upon thinking that despite such disfigurement she had still bravely shown them her true face, it meant she had come with sincerity.

"Forget it, let's take her into the sect and see if there is any progress in the assessment period tasks. If there is, it means she meets the recruitment requirements of sect disciples."

Ye Feng thought of this point.

"Sect Master Uncle, why don't you just accept this sister! She looks rather pitiful," said Li Jiaojiao, tugging at the corner of Ye Feng's clothes.

"Yeah!"

Shi Lei agreed as well.

Huo Yunjie didn't speak, but his gaze toward the woman in the black dress held no disgust or aversion.

Clearly, he had no objections either.

"Alright, then let's proceed with the registration."

Ye Feng nodded, instructing Shi Lei to fetch a thick ancient tome, spread it open, and place it on the table.

This was the Book of Names for the Misty Sect.

Each page recorded the name, birth date, root bone quality, background, and other information of a disciple, sealed with the Sect Leader's seal.

Ye Feng flipped to the 99th page.

The previous 98 pages were filled with names, but most disciples had run off, leaving only three remaining.

"Name, birth date, root bone, cultivation level, and background, report them all."

Ye Feng, holding a pen, looked up and asked.

"My name is Mo Ying, eighteen years old, upper-grade root bone, Qi Refinement... five layers, no known relatives."

Mo Ying's voice was slightly cold, but if one listened carefully, it was quite pleasant.

"Upper-grade root bone!"

Li Jiaojiao, Huo Yunjie, and Shi Lei were all stunned.

"I've heard that within Whitefloat City, there are only a few with upper-grade root bones, and they have all been sent to the external Star-Level Sects. Sister Mo Ying, why didn't you go?"

Li Jiaojiao pressed on with her question.

"Xiao Fangu managed to join Qingyun Sect, a One-Star Sect, with just a middle-rank root bone, if you were to go outside, you could at least become a core disciple of a One-Star Sect."

Huo Yunjie also said.

Mo Ying shook her head, "Star-Level Sects care a lot about appearance, and I am too ugly; no one wants to accept me. Of course, I don't want to go either."

As Ye Feng wrote, he listened.

Upon hearing that Mo Ying had an upper-grade root bone, his hand trembled, and he almost wrote the wrong character.

Root bone refers to one's aptitude for cultivation.

Usually classified as: Lower Grade, Middle Grade, Upper Grade, Supreme Grade, Divine Grade, Sacred Grade, with the speed of cultivation increasing accordingly.

In Whitefloat City, the strongest root bone one could come across was the Upper Grade. As for the other types of root bones, they were at least present in Star-Level Sects.

Thump!

Ye Feng quickly finished writing Mo Ying's introduction, deftly took out the Sect Leader's Seal, warmed it with his breath, and pressed down forcefully to leave a big red seal.

"Our sect ranks disciples according to the order they joined, not by age or strength. Thus, from today onward, you are the fourth disciple of Misty Sect,"

Ye Feng said to Mo Ying as he put away the Book of Names and the Sect Leader's seal.

"Thank you, Sect Leader."

Mo Ying bowed slightly, giving a fist and palm salute.

"Ding, registered disciple 'Mo Ying' received, upper-grade root bone, Qi Refinement seven layers, has mastered the First Grade Spell 'Backstab' and 'Streaming Light Sword Qi', both to the Perfect Stage."

The System's sudden notification said.

Ye Feng jumped at the alert, now aware that Mo Ying had underreported her cultivation level, her true level reaching Qi Refinement seven layers, on par with the Sect Leaders of lower-rank Sects.

With the induction of a new registered disciple, the progress bar for the assessment period task finally moved from the previous 50% up to 57%.

"Based on this pace, six more registered disciples, and the task will be completed,"

Ye Feng anticipated internally.

Soon, Ye Feng found that memories of the First Grade Spells 'Backstab' and 'Streaming Light Sword Qi' had appeared in his mind, both reaching the Perfect Stage.

Although he was temporarily unable to cast spells, he was a true "verbal king." Even a dimwit, following his instructions, could learn them.

"Receiving new disciples is indeed great!"

Ye Feng, looking at the four disciples standing in front of the gate, showed a fatherly, kind smile.

Looking at the sinking sun in the west, he said, "It's getting late, time for us to eat."

"I'll cook."

Li Jiaojiao hurriedly ran to the backyard.

But quickly, she came running back with an empty wooden basin, "Sect Master Uncle, it's terrible! Our rice has run out, and the vegetables we had have spoiled."

"Ah?"

Ye Feng's hand trembled, nearly dropping the chest of Spirit Stones on the ground.

Gurgle gurgle...

Everyone's stomach growled appropriately.

"Let me go down the mountain to buy some food!"

Shi Lei was about to set off.

Ye Feng quickly stopped him, worriedly saying, "It's almost night, it's dangerous for you to go down the mountain alone."

The mountains surrounding Whitefloat City were continuous, and occasionally plagued by Demonic Beasts, hence it was not very safe.

"I will take you to Whitefloat City."

Mo Ying drew out a sharp sword, flicked it with her finger, causing it to expand in the breeze, turning it into a one-foot-wide, ten-foot-long platform, floating half a foot above the ground.

"It's the Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact 'Breeze-riding Sword'!"

Huo Yunjie exclaimed.