“Changing a culture is always a large-scale undertaking. However, it often starts with a simple act of assertion that could cement a legacy.”

As Qai gave his instruction to the 3 Fang young cultivators, he also handed them a map of which route to take towards their trip.

“Wherever you go, wear our Robe Armor and be proud of our Saints Hall. In a sense, you 3 are the first disciples of this place. So don't let the honor of our Saints Hall down.”

Apparently, the mention of the word ‘disciples’ was like music to the ears of the 3 Fang cultivators.

And now that they were being sent on a mission, they really felt being important members of the Saints Hall.

Obviously, they were aware of the presence of the children in the Training grounds but they were not the least intimidated of their position in the Saints Hall.

In fact, they were aware that their young master was actually forming a sort of personal guards and servants so they knew that their status in the mountain peak was much higher than the group of new additions.

Meanwhile, what actually contained in the Jade slip that Qai gave was actually a request to Mo Shui to let the 3 Fang cultivators join their branch family for 2 years in order to temper themselves—and if there would be a chance, to allow them to join competitions among young disciples in the region.

In return, the Mo branch family were very much permitted to give the 3 some work while they were under the family’s custody.

And now that the many cultivation clans in the northern region were under the Heavenly Sword Sect, Qai was certain that there would always be organized tournaments between clans.

Of course, Qai was aware of the current events on the continent.

For some reason, the Scarlet Feather Sect had been holding on in the war which greatly surprised many, even their enemy. And it was all thanks to the breakthrough of an elder prodigy of the said sect to the Nascent Soul stage.

Another Nascent Soul realm cultivator!

Truly, war could create a lot of opportunities for cultivators to rise in glory.

In fact, many felt that the true loser in the war was the Precious Tree Sect which had to disband in the end.

As for the Scarlet Feather Sect, it may come out a winner if the Broken Moon Sect decided to take a step back and enter into a truce.

Hypothetically, if such scenario would happen, the one to end up truly victorious would be the Heavenly Sword Sect which now possessed two regions under its jurisdictions. With such power, it would definitely become the hegemon of the entire Crimson Edge Continent.

At any rate, Qai carefully instructed the 3 Fang cultivators to avoid passing through the war zones so he directed them to go through the Death Valley instead but strictly warned them not to investigate the crevice.

And in the end, he allowed them to bring 3 giant Ant Soldiers to act as their beast mounts until they crossed said Death Valley and reached the Bai Clan.

“The travel would be long. It may take you an entire month. So I am expecting you to hone your abilities while on the road.”

And so, full of enthusiasm, the 3 Fang young cultivators went on their first-ever mission as members—or better yet, as disciples—of the Saints Hall.

In the following months, apart from spearheading the training of his knights, Qai also visited the Rising Sun City on few occasions, particularly the shops which the Saints Hall owned.

They had been a very stable source of income for Qai and his group. Also, they became a very effective platform in advertising the existence of the Saints Hall in the mountain peak—simply because he named them Saints Hall Shop and Saints Hall Teahouse respectively.

Moreover, for some reason, the people in the Rising Sun City became aware that the young lord of the Saints Hall recruited a number of children some months ago.

It was perhaps due to the words spread by those who failed to qualify in the selection process.

Such news spread like wildfire in the city and neighboring villages.

As a result, the two shops had been regularly flocked by rogue cultivators and mortal parents who dragged along their children in the hope of finding ways to join the Saints Hall.

Qai did not know whether to laugh or cry upon learning of such an incident.

He had no intention as of the moment of further recruiting more people in his fold.

However, to appease the clamor of the people in the city, he introduced the ‘mission board’ system which he established in the tea house.

Without the presence of any sect in the immediate vicinity, the people of the city had no access to such a system.

And now that Qai introduced such concept, even mortals would be able to hire the services of cultivators as long as the compensation was sufficient.

However, what made Qai’s ‘mission board’ was that it was open to all rouge cultivators who can pick up a certain mission in exchange for rewards—of course, the amount of the rewards would depend upon the difficulty of the mission itself.

In a sense, the concept was more like the ‘Adventurer’s Guild’ mission board back in Qai’s previous life.

Even if the city lord hated the idea since it only glorified the Saint Hall more than it already was, there was nothing he could do. His own life was at the mercy of Qai in the first place.

And the reason why it could appease the public was because a rogue cultivator could forgo accepting the reward and commute it into what Qai called ‘Merit Points.’

Accordingly, Merit Points may be used to purchase treasures and medicinal pills from the very ‘lucrative’ Saints Hall Shop.

And the most intriguing part of the Merit Points system was that 10,000 worth of Merit Points may be used to become the Saints Hall outer official and 50,000 Merit Points to become Honorary Elder.

Dang!

A sensational commotion broke out when the announcement was made.

Even the patriarchs of the neighboring village clans had to send their top Qi Condensation stage cultivators to pick up a mission and save as much Merit Points possible.

In the minds of the patriarchs, there was no rule that says that a number of cultivators could combine all of their Merit Points.

Of course, Qai intended such loophole in order for him to see the impact of the Saints Hall presence in the vicinity. In a way, it was also a sort of measure to gauge how people wanted to associate themselves with the Saints Hall.

And to many family heads and patriarchs, once their own people gathered enough Merit Points, they themselves would buy out the available positions.

The offer was indeed so intriguing that even the city lord himself was tempted to send out his personal guards to collect as much Merit Points for him.

According to the valuation that the Saints Hall offered, the value of 1 Spirit Stone reward was equivalent to 1 Merit Point.

And so to start the mission board rolling, Qai first put up around a hundred missions courtesy of the Saint Hall itself. It was just about hunting a number of level 1 Spirit Beasts and collecting some precious herbs.

But even if the missions only had a small amount of rewards, they were still grabbed like hot potatoes.

And it was only a couple of weeks later that a new mission-request which did not belong to the Saints Hall appeared.

Surprsingly, the award allocated was 1,000 Spirit Stones.

It was apparently requested by a small village clan in the southernmost area from the Rising Sun City. And the people that village had been bothered by the existence of a cursed land near their village. And that was why the villagers pooled almost their entire resources to once and for all get rid of their troubles.

And the mission was, apparently, to investigate an area known as the ‘Hundred Graves.’