(Lian Li POV)
"Ehehe~ I can formally call you all my sisters now~" Elaria giggled shyly while poking her fingers together.
All of us were crowding around the ecstatic girl, congratulating her on joining our little sisterhood we have here.
Even though we had recognised her as one of us already, it was still nice to have Master formally induct her as our fellow sister.
"So what would Master be teaching you? Was he able to make you into a Practitioner?" I asked, a little curious.
Elaria shook her head with a grin, "Onii-sama didn't say anything about it and told me I would know in due time."
Eris looked towards Master's building, "Speaking of which, where is Master?"
"Ah, Onee-sama wanted to spend some alone time pampering Onii-sama before leaving. She doesn't know when the next time she will be able to see him after all," Elaria giggled, the underlying meaning clear in her wiggling eyebrows.
I guess we should give them a little privacy then.
In that case, while Master is busy, we should induct Elaria formally to the Church as well.
"Come with us, we have something to show you now that you are one of us," I beckoned to her, leading her back to our sleeping quarters.
"You're bringing her to the Sanctum?" Manami called out after me.
I nodded, "Yes, I think it's a good time for her to be inducted, don't you think?"
"Mmm… In that case, have fun Elaria~ You'll like it there. We'll watch over the new servants for now~"
Though obviously a little confused, she still opted to follow me without question, leaving the rest of our sisters back in the courtyard's pavilion.
"Sooo… What's the Sanctum?" Elaria asked cheerily, skipping along beside me.
"You'll see. Remember what I told you back then when you were unhappy that Master wasn't Heaven Sect's Sect Master?"
She grinned, "Yep! You said the Sect was already worshipping Master, right?"
"That is correct. This is technically all Master's. But we all know Master is too humble to accept such a thing so we had to put another figurehead there for Master. We did make sure that every other Sect is aware that Master is the true Sect Master of Heaven Sect, of course."
She clapped her hands together, "That is great! As expected of Onii-sama! Mmm… But I do wish Onii-sama could be more domineering though… That's how he was back then."
"Master must have achieved further enlightenment after those years and became a gentle God," I suggested, pulling open the doors to our room.
Both of us stepped into the room and I led her straight to my wardrobe, pulling it open to reveal a stash of clothes hung neatly on its racks.
Elaria immediately pointed to a robe hidden in the corner, "That's… Onii-sama's robe isn't it?"
"Hehe, yes it is~ I believe each of us have a couple of Master's clothes stashed somewhere. I put mine there so it's easy for me to reach it when I'm in bed."
"Ohhhh~ I didn't know Onii-sama let us have them! Guess I didn't need to steal those clothes back then when he was visiting us."
I giggled, "Oh, Master didn't actually allow it, we kind of just took them without asking and replaced them with new ones."
"Sneaky, I like! So did you bring me here to give me some of your collection?"
I frowned at her, "No. Get your own. These are mine."
She smiled, "No need to scowl at me like that, I was only just asking."
"Hmph."
She shrugged to show it was no big deal, "So is this the Sanctum you wanted to show me?"
I reached into my wardrobe and my fingers wrapped themselves around a small hidden lever at the back. Giving the lever a small tug, the false panel at the back of my wardrobe slid down to reveal a hidden passageway behind it.
"We took the opportunity to make this when we had Master's courtyard upgraded, this leads to the Sanctum though there are other routes of course," I explained.
Both of us crawled into the wardrobe, the panel sliding shut behind us after I pulled another lever on the other side, hiding the entrance from view.
"This seems pretty elaborate, don't you think?" Elaria noted, looking all around the dark corridor. "No lights?"
I snapped my fingers and a ball of light appeared above my head, illuminating our path.
"We designed it to be used by us, no need for lights when all of us can summon a light source of some sort. I believe you could as well right?"
"Oooh, smart~ And yep, I do!"
Elaria materialised a rod shaped object with a flared end, flipping a switch that made it shine light out of one end.
The two of us made our way through the stone corridor that continued to a lone, winding flight of stairs leading deep down into the bowels of the earth.
"You girls really put in a lot of effort into this, huh?" Elaria commented, noting the various carvings of Master that adorned the walls.
"We call this the Sanctum because this is the place where our believers would worship our Master," I explained, gesturing towards the cavern right ahead of us. "Not to mention, I know for a fact you had a place of worship for Master as well back at your place, so you're the last person I want to hear that from."
"Hehehe~ It is for Onii-sama after all! Such a thing is natural!"
We stepped past the archway in front of the cavern that signified the entrance to the Sanctum. The entire cave was empty save for a single building made of polished stone sitting in the middle of said cavern.
The cavern itself was similar to the one we had back at Jin city, albeit this one being much more well built since we had access to Heaven Sect's resources for this.
With all the Practitioners working together, we managed to excavate this huge space within the mountain itself.
We had planned for this place to be our new headquarters and move personnel from Jin city to here, but the place was still not fully constructed yet.
At least the Cathedral and the various carvings of Master decorating around it were complete, though it was nowhere near what we had envisioned yet.
"Mmm… Give my compliments to whoever made Onii-sama's carvings, they're really well done."
"Hehe, I'll pass the message."
A familiar face came up to us just as we were about to walk through the Cathedral's doors.
He bowed respectfully, "High Priestess Lian Li, welcome. I'm assuming you are here for the initiation?"
"Oh, aren't you the supposed Sect Master?" Elaria pointed out. "I guess it's really true huh?"
Figurehead Qing bowed his head lower, "Oh, I am just the figurehead of the Sect. The true Sect Master has always been Master Lin. Without Him, Heaven Sect would not be where it is today."
She turned back to face me, "Interesting, so the entire Sect truly is converted?"
I nodded, "Down to the last student and worker. Everyone has been educated of Master's greatness."
"And this 'initiation' is for me isn't it? So that I can be part of Onii-sama's Church too?"
I nodded again.
She beamed at me with a bright smile on her face, "Sweet! So where do I sign up for it?!"
Hehehe~ Oh, she will fit right in perfectly alright.
