The Recruitment Begins!
"If face-slapping doesn't work, try exaggerated marketing." — Li Qingyu
Morning sun shone down on Radiant Sky City's market square, where merchants hawked spiritual herbs, beast cores, and suspicious miracle tonics that probably caused liver damage.
And in the middle of all that, standing on a stolen crate, was a man with starry eyes and a stack of absurd flyers.
"JOIN THE ETERNAL RADIANCE DIVINE SECT!" Li Qingyu declared, voice amplified with a spiritual resonance technique that made him sound like a divine announcer… or a very loud fraud.
"Break through cultivation bottlenecks in seven days or your spirit stones back!"
He tossed a flyer into the crowd. It showed a poorly drawn muscular figure with glistening abs and sparkles flying off his chest.
The headline read:
> 'Handsome Cultivation Technique – Get Buff, Beat Enemies, Impress Girls!'
"Excuse me," a passerby muttered, "is this… a sect or a traveling circus?"
A nearby auntie scoffed. "Didn't this guy get expelled from three sects last year?"
Li Qingyu pointed dramatically at them. "That was part of the plan. Now I'm the sect leader. That's called career growth."
He held up another flyer.
> "Beauty Pill Giveaway! First 10 Recruits Get A Free Facial Glow Pill!"
It was just a low-grade Qi-nourishing pellet soaked in soup broth, but the ad featured a glowing maiden holding it like a divine elixir.
"You're lying!" a kid in the crowd yelled. "There's no such thing as a Handsome Cultivation Technique!"
Li Qingyu grinned. "That's what they want you to think!"
---
After sowing chaos and confusion across three blocks of the market, Li Qingyu strolled back to the Eternal Radiance Divine Sect with the confident air of a man who'd just conned destiny itself.
---
Back at the Sect...
Hu Daniu stared at the gate nervously. "Master... you're sure someone will come?"
Li Qingyu nodded confidently. "Don't worry. I used my ultimate move—marketing lies wrapped in spiritual truth."
"...Isn't that fraud?"
"It's hope with extra seasoning."
---
That Afternoon…
Someone arrived.
A lean youth in patched robes, sword at his side, stood before the Eternal Radiance Divine Sect's gates. He had sharp eyes, a bruised lip, and a strong "I got kicked out of inns for not paying" vibe.
He looked up at the half-fixed chicken coop.
"This… is the place?"
Hu Daniu peeked out. "Master! Someone's here!"
Li Qingyu strode out like an emperor, sleeves fluttering.
"Welcome, young cultivator," he intoned solemnly. "Have you come seeking truth, power, or the Facial Glow Pill?"
The youth blinked. "I… I'm Zhou Weiqi. I saw the flyer. Is this for real?"
"No," Li Qingyu said honestly. "But it could be."
"…What?"
"Come in. I'll show you something better than free pills. I'll show you potential."
---
Inside the Training Yard...
Li Qingyu stood before Zhou Weiqi and the other disciples, holding a jade slip.
"This," he said, "is the system-enhanced martial art manual: *'One Palm to Break the Sky' (Beginner Edition).'"
He pressed a palm to the ground.
> BOOM!
The ground cracked, the weeds flattened, and a chicken in the distance fainted.
Zhou Weiqi's eyes widened. "That was… a beginner-level skill?"
"With my sect's methods, yes."
Li Qingyu offered him the slip.
"You join. You train. You fight. You win. We face-slap our way to glory. Sound good?"
Zhou Weiqi looked around the ramshackle sect. At the crooked training posts, the chicken meditating in a straw hat, the girl glaring from a pavilion roof.
And then he grinned.
"…I'm in."
---
That Evening…
> [Ding! Recruitment +1: New Outer Disciple Acquired! Reward: 10 Spirit Stones, 1 Beginner Strength Pill.]
Li Qingyu chuckled. "One down. Nine to go."
The wind shifted.
From the woods nearby, a girl with mismatched eyes watched the sect.
She didn't say a word.
But the wind carried her whisper.
"…Maybe this place is where I'll finally belong."
Behind her, a squirrel nodded approvingly.
---