As the days in Lin Yijun’s second life passed, the feeling that things are different grew in his chest.

With the enlightenment of his past life, his cultivation accelerated. Using knowledge of his past life, he quickly solved many missions and navigated multiple political pitfalls, and thus his position in the Golden Sun Sect rose even more rapidly than before.

He took more and more missions, including reconnaissance missions into various demonic sects, including the one Zhou Sheng was supposed to have joined. But he couldn’t find Zhou Sheng.

He couldn’t let anyone else look for him, though. Lin Yijun had to be the one to find Zhou Sheng. Lin Yijun had to be the one to convince Zhou Sheng to come back.

Six months passed by like this, and the Golden Sun Intra-Sect Competition came around again. Lin Yijun jolted from his preoccupation with searching for Zhou Sheng.

Because this time, in his last life, one of the outer sect disciples underwent qi deviation¹qi deviation: when cultivation becomes dangerously unstable, causing internal damage among other things. In the process, that disciple destroyed multiple buildings and injured dozens of cultivators before ultimately dying. Due to this disastrous event, the Golden Sun Sect had been slower than usual to counter the threat from the demonic sects.

In this life, Lin Yijun could not let that happen. In the worst case, he will kill the deviating disciple before more damage can occur.

Lin Yijun didn’t know what that dead disciple looked like, but he learnt his name in the post-mortem report: Sun Fuyu. Disciple Sun had been a sword cultivator, picked up from the street and with an unknown background.

Zhou Sheng had also been picked up from the street. Was there something particularly unstable about them? Were they unable to integrate into the sect?

Immediately after the Golden Sun Intra-Sect Competition ended, Lin Yijun summoned Zhang Wu to his office.

“Fellow Daoist Zhang, I am troubling you to ask about a disciple named Sun Fuyu. Do you know where he is?”

Zhang Wu blinked. “Senior Lin, Sun Fuyu has just advanced to become an inner sect disciple. He is currently in the Elders’ Hall with the other initiates. Is Senior Lin interested? Disciple Sun is very good and hardworking…however...” Zhang Wu’s brows scrunched up.

“Yes?”

Zhang Wu snorted. “And his only imperfection is his friendship with that wastrel Wen Zhihao. That disciple Wen was always leaving the sect and skipping sword practice! He recently transferred to become a talisman cultivator instead. Humph!”

A spark of memory went off in Lin Yijun’s mind.

Wen Zhihao...that suspicious cultivator hanging around the Clear Heart Hot Springs months ago…

“I will see the presentations of the new initiates,” Lin Yijun decided.

When outer sect disciples advanced into inner sect disciples, they would all give a presentation in front of the senior cultivators. The senior cultivators would then decide which disciple would enter which group to be personally mentored.

Eyebrows rose when Lin Yijun entered the Hall where the ten new inner sect disciples were waiting.

“How surprising to see you here,” Elder Wang Sheng said. He had the appearance of an old man, and his brows were always a little pinched together as though perpetually annoyed with the world.

“I had time,” Lin Yijun said shortly. He took a seat and scanned over the faces of the outer sect disciples. He had no impression of any of them, busy as he was, and untalented as they were.

One of the senior cultivators announced the various new inner sect disciples one by one. Most of them were sword cultivators with displays of sword forms, while one person showed off offensive items they had crafted, and another the medicinal and poisons pills they had concocted. But Lin Yijun’s eyes remained like still, cold pools of water. Mediocre. None of them worth his time.

One by one, the new inner sect disciples presented, until there was just one cultivator left.

The final cultivator was a slender youth with light-brown eyes that mostly looked down and hair that was a little tousled. Lin Yijun’s eyes narrowed slightly, disapproving of such a sloppy and timid appearance.

“Daoist Sun Fuyu,” the senior cultivator announced.

Sun Fuyu stepped forward, bowing. “I am Daoist Sun Fuyu, sword cultivator. Current attainment is Foundation Building, Middle Stage.”

“Begin.”

Sun Fuyu drew his sword and began his presentation. His standard sword form was good, not sloppy like his appearance. His qi was also stable, and there was no sign that he might undergo qi deviation at all. Had the world changed so much due to Lin Yijun’s rebirth?—

—hm. Lin Yijun’s eyes widened a fraction as Sun Fuyu transitioned smoothly to another sword style, then another. The movements were quick enough that many opponents would be caught off-guard. But against a competent cultivator, they were just tricks. Tricks that could backfire on Sun Fuyu as improperly combined cultivation methods can clash and increase the likelihood of either qi deviation or hampered cultivation.

Promising, but not enough for Lin Yijun to spend his time to personally mentor him. Importantly, Sun Fuyu’s qi was currently stable. There was an undercurrent of a secondary qi—a qi stabilisation item, most likely.

In the end, Senior Cultivator Liu Zhongmin accepted Sun Fuyu into her group. Her sword form was free-flowing, flexible and less rigid than other sword cultivators, and thus most suitable to mentor Sun Fuyu who employed multiple styles.

Sun Fuyu’s stability in this life would only help the Golden Sun Sect in the future war against the demonic sects. But Sun Fuyu’s role now was only a tiny factor in Lin Yijun’s plan to ensure that the Sect future victory. Zhou Sheng was a much more important player, for multiple reasons.

Lin Yijun farewelled the others and left without unnecessary talk.

There are five elders: we’ve so far met a genderless young-looking elder (un-named), Elder Liu Ru (old-looking female talisman cultivator) and Elder Wang Sheng (old-looking male sword cultivator).