The sect leader of Qixia Sect finally relented. The "impoverished students" who came from the lower realms before now had a more favorable cultivation environment, and their cultivation levels rose rapidly. They all quickly became the new pillars of the sect.

With Yu Ling's current cultivation level at her age, she would be considered a minor genius even in the Upper Realm. Add to that the aura she gained from ascending from the Lower Realm, and her buffs are stacked to the max. Therefore, she must be placed under the most outstanding person in the sect as a disciple!

"Alright! It's settled then. Senior Brother Si is currently in seclusion for cultivation, so I'll preside over the apprenticeship ceremony on his behalf. Alright, everyone go and make the arrangements."

"Alright, we'll be going then." The others were quite easygoing, and they didn't have the rigid, meticulous etiquette of other major sects. After saying that, they disappeared in a flash.

Chu Fan, seeing that they hadn't mentioned him at all, was already numb. Seeing that even the sect leader was about to leave, he cautiously asked:

"Then, what about me?"

"Don't worry, since it's with this... Mo Xuanyu, right? Cough cough! Since he's a friend who came with my junior nephew Mo, let him join the sect as well."

The sect leader addressed her as "junior niece" directly, clearly not giving Yu Ling a chance to back out, and said in an intimate tone.

"Cen Yan, you're in charge of settling this person in properly. Um, Junior Nephew Mo, please come with me."

Yu Ling was still carrying the sword that possessed the Demon Lord. She originally intended to hand him over to Chu Fan to keep him safe from being discovered by others, but he refused to let her leave him behind. Helpless, she simply followed him with a long face.

Ah! The feeling of being abandoned.

The weak, pitiful, and helpless Chu Fan really wanted to reach out to Er Kang to examine his pillar of support, but he also knew that he had the least say right now. His mind went through a mental storm, but he still couldn't figure out how he had ended up in this state of being abandoned by everyone.

"Brother Chu Fan, don't worry. Even just for the sake of your friendship, I will arrange a good place for you."

Cen Yan assumed the other person was feeling inferior and worried about his future, so with a warm, older brother expression, he patted Chu Fan on the shoulder and said...

"From now on, you'll go to the outer sect and cultivate with the newest batch of disciples. Outer sect disciples at the Nascent Soul stage—that's a first for the Qixia Sect since its founding! Pretty generous, right?"

"Heh...that's kind of you...that's kind of you..." Chu Fan's words sounded utterly desolate. He had struggled and fought his way up, only to become an outer disciple of a small sect and still have to be grateful. How could the word "miserable" even begin to describe his plight?!

However, this matter is not really Cen Yan's fault. The disciples of Qixia Sect are also divided into different ranks. The lowest rank consists of the laborers and servants who can be seen everywhere in the sect. They not only do not receive wages but also have to work, just in order to attend some free classes.

Above them are nominal disciples, reserve members for new students. They don't have to work, and if their cultivation level is high enough, they might be promoted to full disciples. However, given their aptitude, their future is predictable, and success is generally difficult.

The rest are outer disciples, inner disciples, and personal disciples who have been accepted by their masters. As for the chief disciple and the last disciple among the personal disciples, there is no order of precedence; generally, the one with the highest cultivation level speaks.

Therefore, Chu Fan, as an outer disciple, is considered to be in the middle ranks of the disciples within the sect, although his cultivation level is currently so low that he can't even compare to a menial servant...

The outer disciples' territory was fairly well-organized, and there was nothing to arrange. After instructing the outer elders to take good care of Chu Fan, Cen Yan went out to attend to other matters.

As the chief disciple, he had to oversee all the conflicts between his fellow disciples, manage the sect's development, and ensure that his own cultivation did not fall behind others, so his time management was very tight.

And so, Chu Fan, full of complaints, was thrown into an unfamiliar place again before he had a chance to vent to anyone. But thanks to the protagonist's halo, even in the outer sect, people kept jumping out to humiliate him, slap him in the face, and cause him trouble.

"This is outrageous! Are all the people in the upper realm this despicable? Do you even know who my brother's master is? A Grand Luo Golden Immortal!"

Chu Fan was bullied on his very first day there, and he even got bruised. He almost couldn't help but go to Yu Ling to cry about it.

This plot feels so similar to my own experience in the lower realms, except the pace is faster and I'm in a worse situation.

Thinking of his inspiring journey to the mortal realm, Chu Fan thought to himself, "No! I can't let this little setback get me down. Using Brother Mo's name to protect myself is not as good as working hard to improve myself!"

Yes! Let's set a small goal for ourselves first: break through to the Void Refinement Realm!

The cultivation realms in the lower realms are generally divided into the Qi Refining stage, Foundation Establishment stage, Golden Core stage, Nascent Soul stage, Out-of-Body stage, and Deity Transformation stage.

Each realm is further divided into early, middle, and late stages. However, in the Upper Realm, all of the above realms are considered mediocre; only those who reach the threshold of the Refining Void Realm can be ranked. After the Refining Void Realm come the Integration Stage and the Great Ascension Stage, but these realms are still just the starting points.

In the world of cultivation, there is naturally an immortal realm. Only by breaking through the Mahayana stage and becoming a loose immortal can one be considered to have transcended the mortal body and entered the ranks of immortals.

The realm of Loose Immortals includes three levels: Human Immortal, Earth Immortal, and Celestial Immortal. After that comes Celestial Immortal and Great Golden Immortal. These two leaps mainly involve the transformation of the body and soul. Beyond that, one becomes a True Immortal.

True Immortals encompass three realms: Immortal Lord, Immortal Emperor, and Immortal Venerable. Immortal Venerable is the highest realm in this advanced plane; what happens after further cultivation is unknown to Yu Ling.

This long list of realms also reveals just how powerful Yu Ling's new master, Si Beihan, is at the Great Luo Golden Immortal level.

Furthermore, although the Immortal Realm and the Cultivation Realm are located in the same coordinate space, due to the limitations of their cultivation levels, the latter cannot perceive the places that the former can set foot in.

Therefore, if Yu Ling wants to find her original body, the first thing she needs to do is to quickly increase her cultivation level. She doesn't need to increase it much; breaking through to the Mahayana realm is enough.

His cultivation level in his previous life, converted to human terms, was roughly equivalent to that of a Celestial Lord. However, he never actually fought them. Tree demons, after all, love peace, and fighting and killing are not good.

The peace-loving tree spirit Yu Ling, disguised as a human cultivator, accompanied the sect leader of Qixia Sect to a weapon tower. Inside were weapons and magical treasures that their sect had collected over the years. These treasures were meant to be chosen by those with the right destiny, and each direct disciple was brought here to try their luck.

Although Yu Ling had not yet formally joined the sect, he was dressed in a very shabby manner, with only an ordinary iron sword and a tattered cloth shirt (he had not yet changed out of his Jianghu swordsman attire). The sect leader could not bear to see this and made an exception by bringing people here to change their appearance first.