Outer Disciple. It finally happened in a small ceremony, attended mainly by Elder Hulong and Elder Ke. But this time, Elder Qing had to attend, mainly because her own disciple was getting the promotion to outer disciple.

There were 10 of them. 3 from the 388th batch, 5 from the 387th batch, 1 from the 386th batch and 1 from the 389th batch.

Almost all of them are Elder Ke’s disciples, though Elder Hulong being the lead Elder, was the one who handed out the Outer Disciple robes, emblems, and keys to their own rooms.

“Well, the alchemist made it to 3-star.” A fellow 3-star said after the ceremony was over. It was like a mini-socialising moment for those who made it to Outer Disciple to get to know each other.

MIngwei nodded courteously. “Ah, it was some fortune that I made it.”

“You should change your mind, you know. Alchemy’s future is limited. You’ll just end up baking pills for the market.” Another disciple said. “Combat’s where it is. There’s always a need for people who can fight, protect the realm from the beasts!”

Mingwei nodded. “Certainly, certainly.”

“Are you sure you want to be an alchemist?”

Mingwei nodded. Well, one of the things that Mingwei discovered when Elder Qing gave an overview of alchemy in this world, was because they mostly relied on the overwhelmingly higher quality of raw materials, so the level of refinements they have for pills is only up to the 3rd refinement. This was a huge difference compared to his own world where they had far less high-quality materials, and so his old world devoted thousands of years to alchemy, and so developed the 4th and 5th refinement.

Also, they had a greater focus on Qi-gathering materials, and healing, so their healing arts are actually quite well developed. Yet, they only have very few types of ‘strengthening’ pills.

So, given Mingwei’s experience, if he wanted, he could make a lot of money from it. But he had to see how to make it happen.

“Don’t bully our only alchemist. If Elder Qing doesn’t have a successor, we’d have no healer!” Another disciple said.

“Well, that is a true point.” Another disciple said.

“Someone has to clean up.” A disciple looked at Mingwei thankfully. “Else, they might force one of us to study under Elder Qing, that’s what they did a few years ago! Thank you for taking one for the team.”

Mingwei shrugged.

“Alright, alright. As outer disciples, you are now all formally members of the Longbow Sect. Longbow Sect is mainly a hunting sect, and what this means as we mainly focus on the beasts that appear on the Redmaw Mountains, the Northern Redmaw Forests. If we face foes that we cannot handle on our own, we will seek out the Darkarrow Sect, and also the Northern Star Sect for assistance.”

All the disciples listened intently. A hunting sect is essentially tasked with suppressing beast attacks, and in this world, it is a task given to lesser sects, because the time taken to hunt Qo-beasts is time away from cultivation, and is also more dangerous and unpredictable than the City-Sects. The only positive side is, well, cultivation resources from the Qi-beasts.

“The Mountains are home to mostly 4 to 7 star Qi-Beasts, but the most dangerous of them is the Redmaw Elder Serpent, a pinnacle 7-star existence. Thankfully, the Elder Serpent mostly sleeps.”

An unspoken role of the Longbow Sect, is to shout for help should a creature like the Redmaw Elder Serpent wakes up. Perhaps, should something like that happen, the Patriarchs of both the Northern Star Sect and the Green Insect Blade Sect will have to intervene, as both are 7-star cultivators.

"We, and that also means all of you new Outer Disciples, will need to routinely enter the Redmaw Mountains to cull the population of these Qi-Beasts."

The disciples looked at each other, excited. Mingwei felt his tummy churn, even though the rest of his memories would have felt excited. He had to prepare for it, if there are 7-star beasts, a lot of unfortunate events may appear.