Is It Reasonable for Me to Start a Sect at 12?

Immersed in studying his spells, Lin Dayou grabbed Lin Xiao's arm and said, "Hey, Erlang, tell me, why was I able to use the Dust Removal Technique just fine the other day, but now it's not working?"

Lin Xiao immediately spotted the issue and began teaching his father step by step.

When Lin Yun returned from the Lin family's old house, he saw his father happily admiring a pile of perfectly clean farming tools.

"Ah! My precious tools are finally clean!"

Seeing Lin Yun return, Lin Dayou smiled and said, "Dalong, you're back! Hurry and clean up, it's time for dinner."

With that, he contentedly carried the farming tools inside to put them away.

After ten days apart, the three members of the Lin family finally sat down together for dinner.

Lin Xiao shared his experiences from the trip with his father and brother, proudly telling them about acquiring an entire spirit stone mine.

With Lin Xian Sect's members having gained some foundational knowledge about cultivation, thanks to the presence of Liao Pantou's Yuan Ying-level soul fragment, they understood the importance of spirit stones as both currency and a source of spiritual energy.

Hearing that Lin Xiao had secured an entire spirit stone mine, they were both surprised and delighted, knowing that this would provide the sect with a solid foundation.

After dinner, the three returned to their respective rooms.

Sitting on his bed, Lin Xiao opened the Item Fusion function and began fusing the farming tools he had purchased in the county town.

Before long, the hoes, spades, plows, and sickles he had bought were all transformed into spiritual tools, albeit without any official grade.

Lin Xiao speculated that the lack of grading was due to the mundane materials used in their creation. Unlike the celestial-grade peachwood sword he had fused earlier, which likely owed its extraordinary quality to the high-level materials from the Ten-Mile Peach Tree.

Realizing he had never used his Appraisal function on the Ten-Mile Peach Tree, Lin Xiao made a mental note to do so tomorrow. After all, this tree was the very first reward given by the system when the sect was established.

Next, Lin Xiao opened the Spell Creation function.

To truly develop agriculture, they couldn't rely solely on tools, land, and seeds. As cultivators, they needed some spell-based assistance to maximize efficiency.

During his time in the county town, Lin Xiao had reluctantly spent money on two reams of paper—quite expensive at 500 coins per ream, even for the cheapest kind.

He hadn't dared to buy too much at once, preferring to keep some funds in reserve for emergencies. And given their faster travel speed now, he could always buy more later.

The reason he bought paper instead of continuing to strip bark from the Broussonetia trees was simple: the trees on the back mountain were already sparse, and most had been stripped bare. If he continued, he feared they wouldn't recover.

So, reluctantly, Lin Xiao had purchased the paper.

Now, he carefully took out a single sheet from his storage and placed it into the Spell Creation function's slot. It might just be one sheet, but it was large enough for his purpose.

Next, he added some soot ink and a spirit stone, followed by his spell concept.

Lin Xiao's idea was to create a convenient spell for irrigating fields. While inputting the concept, he imagined a thin cloud forming over the fields and releasing a fine, steady rain.

He was careful not to overcomplicate the spell. If the spell became too advanced, it might require a higher cultivation level to use, which would defeat the purpose. His goal was to create a spell that even someone at the first or second level of Qi Refining could use—especially his father.

To ensure this, he only used one spirit stone, fearing that adding more might prompt the system to upgrade the spell unnecessarily.

In the end, Lin Xiao successfully created a first-level spell: Irrigation Technique.

The spell had no distinct levels, but its effectiveness varied with the user's spiritual power. Even a cultivator at the first level of Qi Refining could irrigate about five acres of land for a quarter of an hour using all their spiritual power.

With this, his father would no longer need to carry heavy buckets of water from the mountain stream to the fields.

The only challenge would be casting the spell discreetly, away from the villagers' eyes. However, the low, inconspicuous cloud created by the spell made the area appear only slightly dim, and the fine rain it produced was subtle enough that no one would notice unless they were very close.

Thus, the problem of irrigating the fields was perfectly solved.

Next up, Lin Xiao would focus on completing the three sect-building tasks!

Seeing that it was already late, Lin Xiao activated his Peach Blossom Gathering Formation and began meditating. He practiced until midnight before going to bed.

The next morning, Lin Xiao woke up to his father's friendly urging. After breakfast, he quickly ran up the mountain.

At the mountain gate, Tie Tou was greeting Xiao Luan. When he saw Lin Xiao, he happily ran over and asked, "Xiao! You're back! How did Yigao's exams go?"

Lin Xiao was also glad to see him. He nodded and replied, "He passed, and not just that—he ranked first in the county exam! Right now, he's probably on his way to the prefecture with his parents to take the prefectural exam."

Since it was still early in the examination process, and since the prefectural and provincial exams were yet to be taken, Sun Dazhu had decided to wait until the entire process was complete before informing the village. Therefore, the village had yet to hear the news of Sun Yigao's success.

With Tie Tou present, Lin Xiao led him to the mound of earth behind the sect's main hall and handed him a basket. "Tie Tou, I need you to fill this basket with dirt for me. I'll empty it, and you can keep refilling it."

Although Tie Tou didn't fully understand what Lin Xiao was up to, he obediently took the basket and nodded firmly. "Alright! Whatever you say, Xiao!"