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

At noon, after everyone finished their cultivation session, they emerged to find the area near the entrance to the secret realm had changed. Next to the large stone that marked the entrance, a small pool of water had appeared, surrounded by white plants. Everyone was intrigued and gathered around to investigate.

Initially, they thought the mist rising from the pool was steam, but upon getting closer, they realized it was actually a cold pool. The closer they got, the more they felt a refreshing chill emanating from it. As they peered into the pool, they noticed fish swimming within.

It was clear to everyone that this was Lin Xiao's handiwork. However, despite looking around, they couldn't find him.

At that moment, Lin Xiao was on the mountainside, inspecting a section of the rock face, contemplating how wide and deep a cave should be carved out. He planned to build a treasury for the sect here.

Yes, a sect treasury.

After setting up the ice pool, he had received a new task from the system—to construct a sect treasury. As the sect grew, there would be more resources, products, and profits, all of which would need a secure storage space. Keeping everything in his personal storage wasn't a long-term solution. It had been fine when the sect was just starting, but mixing personal and sect resources indefinitely wasn't feasible.

Lin Xiao had already planned to gradually separate his personal storage from the sect's treasury. With the system task now in place, it was the perfect time to get started.

Building a simple storage room wouldn't be difficult—just erecting a wooden hut would suffice. However, considering the treasury would hold the sect's valuable assets and that he planned to go into seclusion for a long time to reach the Golden Core stage, ensuring the treasury's security became crucial. Who knew how many new members might join the sect in his absence?

Given that wealth could easily tempt people, and even though the sect's new Path of Reflection would screen for ill-intentioned individuals, he didn't want to create a rudimentary storage room that could be seen as a test of character. That wouldn't be responsible for safeguarding the sect's treasures.

Thus, Lin Xiao decided to make the treasury as sturdy as possible. But with limited materials—mostly just stones and dirt—there wasn't much to work with. That's when he turned to his personal storage and found the houses made of Cold Condensing Jade.

With materials now in hand, he opened the building synthesizer and placed one of the ordinary Cold Condensing Jade houses into it. He also added some basic spirit wood beams and a lock he had picked up during his wanderings in Yuanling City. After putting everything in, he initiated the synthesis process.

This time, Lin Xiao didn't add any spirit stones. After all, the Cold Condensing Jade house itself was already quite valuable.

Before long, the system chimed:

[Ding—Sect Treasury successfully synthesized. Please choose a placement location.]

A translucent image of the treasury appeared before Lin Xiao. The structure was as white as jade, with numerous storage shelves inside. Without hesitation, he began to place it against the rock face. However, he quickly realized he hadn't yet carved out a space in the mountain for it.

Just as he was about to pull out his tools to start carving, he noticed that the part of the treasury facing the rock wall was showing as a valid placement. After a brief hesitation, he decided to go ahead and confirm the placement.

To his surprise, the treasury seamlessly integrated into the mountain. Instantly, a white lock appeared on the rock face, and a matching white key materialized in Lin Xiao's hand. Except for the lock, the mountain looked unchanged from the outside.

Using the key, Lin Xiao unlocked the treasury, and a door appeared on the rock face. He pushed it open and stepped inside, finding the interior far more spacious than the projected image had shown.

Not only was it vast, but it was also quite tall—so large that even placing an entire Cold Condensing Jade house inside wouldn't take up much space.

Lin Xiao imagined that if the sect ever managed to fill this treasury with resources, they would truly be thriving.

He walked around the treasury, feeling satisfied with the design. Inside, a fifth of the space was lined with rows of storage shelves, each equipped with preservation functions. There were shelves for storing herbs, others for beast corpses, and so on.

He placed the sealed box containing the Icefield Spirit on one of the shelves. Then, he retrieved most of the ice stone grass and various herbs he had collected, arranging them neatly on the appropriate shelves. He kept only a small portion in his personal storage.

Although most of these items were acquired through his efforts, they were largely thanks to the system, so Lin Xiao felt it was only right to contribute them to the sect. It was his way of giving back as the sect leader. Besides, if he ever needed anything from the treasury, he could always retrieve it.

With his personal storage significantly lightened, Lin Xiao left the treasury. As he exited, the door automatically closed behind him, and the lock resecured itself. He couldn't help but admire the design—no more worrying about people forgetting to lock up after themselves.

Leaving the treasury behind, Lin Xiao headed towards the front of the mountain. There, he found a group of cultivators gathered around the ice pool, curiously observing it.

"What are you all doing here?" Lin Xiao asked as he approached.

The group looked up and, seeing it was him, immediately began asking about the pool's purpose. Lin Xiao explained that it was the entrance to the Icefield Secret Realm and informed them of the realm's annual opening times.

Hearing this, everyone became eager to explore both the Icefield and Greenfield Secret Realms. However, they knew that entering these realms required sufficient cultivation. Most of them hadn't even reached the fourth or fifth level of the Qi Refining stage yet.

Lin Xiao had advised them that these secret realms contained many unknown dangers, and it would be best to wait until their cultivation levels were closer to the realm's upper limits before venturing inside. Now, they could only hope that by next spring, when both realms opened, their cultivation would be strong enough to handle whatever challenges awaited them.