2. Pressure
“Who will penetrate this earth & this realm of death
With all its gods?”
- Shunryu, the Tearless, regarding his disciples in the Temple of Learning.
They had scant minutes before the Elder stepped through, Niva guessed. So, she decided to scout her competition.
Predictably, the Heavenly Mountain Sect had no shortage of applicants, and she counted at least three hundred students in the great hall.
Murmurs near her grabbed her attention.
A group of girls giggled, pointing toward the centre of the room where things were getting heated as two disciples practically yelled at each other, throwing around hand movements that certainly didn't mean, "I hope your mother has a magnificent day."
One of the culprits in a scarlet robe stood up from his seat and turned to face his opposition. A set of sun-gold rings occupied his ears, which chimed as he wove his head sideways while speaking. On his chest, he carried an insignia showcasing a phoenix with only one wing.
A Chiru clan descendant, Niva immediately realised. That most likely made the resistance party —who carried the depiction of a sword stuck in the ground on the backside of his violet mantle— a Hotu clan member.
She'd had nearly forgotten what type of people she would be dealing with most of the time. Located in the Evergarden Province, the Heavenly Mountain Sect housed some ancient families. These were two of them. Or their descendants, at least. Being blood-related and wearing a family's colours didn't mean the head branch recognised you.
However, they upheld their heritage as she sensed both disciples were well into the second stage, the Skin realm. This made them one of the strongest people in their first-year class.
No matter. She'd do them the favour of parting them with their riches, too, sooner or later.
Though the dispute was interesting, she found her eyes drawn to someone sitting next to the Chiru clan cultivator. Bandages covered parts of their body still visible above their robe, proving discerning their gender difficult. Moreover, their aura was hidden expertly. So much so that Niva did not dare bet on their level.
"Pigs," Dino grunted, breaking her inspection.
She supposed making a commotion here suggested they carried the awareness of pigs, but she thought it was a little harsh. Caramel lips had already started forming a retort when she caught who Dino was looking at. She squinted. Black filled Niva's vision as tattoo markings covered the girl's entire body.
A nomad, all the way out here?
Although it didn't particularly interest her, it was strange. The Empire and nomads had a tenuous relationship at best. The tribes usually stayed away from the Empire except when they decided to raid one of their settlements. Still, they weren't only enemies either. The two had bonded together multiple times, such as during the Thousand Year War, to defend Cella.
That said, she knew someone who did care. Glancing his way, Niva saw it flash in his eyes as his pupils dilated.
Bloodlust.
Suddenly, leaving Niva no time to tell Dino to behave himself, the entrance behind her flew shut, and she saw the mysterious figure they had passed before sitting on top of the stairs.
Just take a stool—
Right after, as if timed like a double punch, dranga, a spiritual force so dense it nearly stifled her, descended on her shoulders with the weight of a mountain behind it.
All clamour in the room died down.
Despite buckling under the tonnage, the unawakened disciples staunchly refused to make a peep when a short man wearing a long and flowing garb tread towards the podium. His steps were blurry. Sometimes, he appeared to skip lifting a leg, and at other times it looked like he took two steps without moving. In addition, the creases on his face —combined with the downward curve of his mouth— told Niva enough of his mien.
This was a straight-down-to-business Elder.
"Conflict." The Elder's voice rang through the room like the clear high note of a flute, unperturbed and disregarding distance.
"Pride."
His gaze seemed to flicker over the two descendants briefly.
"—Prejudice." And this time, he looked in their direction, causing Dino to flinch back. "All of it is worthless in the eyes of the sect. Nay, the whole of the Empire."
"Thus, it will be purged. One way or the other."
As his ominous sentence finished, he arrived in front of the stand and turned to face them all. "My name is Tai Sun, head of the Heavenly Mountain Sect. Henceforth to be referred to as Elder Sun. I'll repeat the admission conditions for those not fully aware. Know you can still leave if you disagree."
"After entering, you have three months to reach either the late stage of the Gron realm or the late stage of the Sisal realm. If you do not reach one of these stages within the time limit, we will brand you a figi: your cultivation will be destroyed, and you will be sent back home. Consequently, the path of the immortal will be closed off to you."
"Forever."
The room swallowed cohesively. All had heard of the restrictions surrounding a sect. Being directly confronted with it, though? That furthered the sense of dread. Failing to perform at this juncture would jeopardise your entire future.
"For those who are already at or beyond this threshold: performance will be graded based on progress or achievements," Elder Sun added.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It was only fair. Otherwise, everyone would simply enter the sect after cultivating privately, circumventing the idea of scouting out talents.
Niva could feel the tiredness in the Elder's sigh from where she sat. "That said, around half of you will likely fail, worthless as you are."
Had they been under less strict rules, many would've complained following the dismissal, yet everyone kept their mouth shut.
"Good," the Elder continued. "Appears all of you have a head on your shoulder this year."
"In an effort to truly weed out the talented from those with powerful backing, all contact with the outside world will cease during the testing phase."
Dino winced, and so did Niva.
Luckily, she had no one to contact besides her parents and grandfather, whom she had already said goodbye to beforehand. Dino, however, was heir to the province of Crayton. Besides family, he had many friends, and three months of no contact was enough to damage relationships.
"Sacrifice," Elder Sun's deep voice boomed, making her desk reverberate with the wave. He read the concern on the faces of many students. "To become the bulwark of the Empire, the shield which protects the many, the sword that cuts the enemy — sacrifice is required."
The shield to protect the many, the sword to cut the enemy. Niva repeated the words in her mind. They were powerful...but sounded hollow to her ears. Unlike Dino, she wasn't here to join the Empire's military or protect the fickle.
No, her ambitions were more selfish.
"That is why," Elder sun said, pulling her attention back to him. "You should use these first few years at the Heavenly Mountain Sect to lay the foundation of your immortal path."
"To that end, we forbid any violence in these next three months, and those caught in the act will encounter an early expulsion.
"Even afterwards, permanently crippling or murdering your fellow disciples is not allowed. We are not savages."
Although the Elder's robe billowed as he spoke, and his relaxed tone carried the coolness of an evening breeze, something in his voice put Niva on edge.
"Finally, each of you will be granted an allowance of spirit stones per month and access to the Heavenly Mountain Gathering art. Other necessities, like clothing and food, will also be taken care of."
"You now have one minute to decide if you want to leave or remain."
No one left. The lure of answering the call and reaching unseen heights was too great. Stories such as those of the war hero, Ephraim, still replayed in the mind of the people centuries later. Furthermore, even if they did not attain that kind of status, the lowest of the lowest cultivator was still leaps and bounds above the highest mortal.
"Excellent. Then, I beg your pardon since I have a busy day ahead of me." The Elder started walking away, his legs once more moving in a perceptually weird pattern, but he stopped to regard the disciples again.
Elder sun raised his index finger. "I almost forgot. However, every year a few students who see that they won't make the time limit try to flee the sect in hopes of keeping their cultivation intact."
Niva expected the Elder to give more clarity. Instead, he said only one word.
"Don't."
The non-threatening dranga the Elder naturally emitted turned into one of barely restrained ferocity and cruelty.
Niva's breath hitched in her throat, her lungs constricting under the assault. She swayed forward, threatening to faceplant, but she caught herself at the last second, gripping the backrest in front of her.
Other disciples weren't so lucky; a few had fallen some steps down the stairs. She rotated her head. The mystery student sat completely unfazed; his eyes closed in peaceful meditation. What the hell, Niva thought as she supported a huffing and puffing Dino and cycled qi through the blood in her veins to strengthen herself.
The message couldn't have been any clearer, though. Nothing good would await those who tried to flee.
Impressions of suppression combined with thoughts of death left together with the Elder when he exited the hall. But before they could catch their breath, a senior woman filled the gap Elder Sun had left. Her demeanour showed the other side of the coin. Instead of the stern and disapproving look of Elder Sun, she carried a heart-warming smile.
She looked like a grandmother ready to dote on her grandchildren.
Chuckling, the Elder took centre stage. "I apologise for Tai's display. Know that he is trying to do you all a favour. No one likes seeing bad things happen to kids."
Niva thought she saw the woman's smile falter for an instant when she noticed a few disciples who had failed to keep the contents of their stomachs inside.
"I will expand on a few things said," the Elder continued, her smile back in full force. "First, you can search for your housing after I finish speaking. It's on a first-come-first-served basis. And split by gender, of course."
Many disciples perked up at her statement, and the Elder paused shortly to give the disciples some time to recover and pay attention.
"Second, various Elders will offer classes during your stay here, all on different subjects. They have painstakingly freed up their busy schedules to instruct you. Therefore, when you attend an Elder's class, their word is the law. An Elder can ban you from attending their lectures for a reason you think is unfair, but that is how it will be.
"Lastly, you can only leave sect grounds with a permit. We hand those out when you take on a sect mission."
"But be careful." Her following statement came with a bunch of white, shimmering teeth, which only made it more threatening. "We regard disciples outside our lands without one as escapees."
"Now, those in the front rows can leave the hall in an orderly fashion and start searching for their lodgings."
Niva sighed. Our punishment for being late. The two of them would be fighting for scraps.
Niva placed her pouch containing her spirit stones and cultivation art given to her by the sect in her storage ring. She would look at them later. Standing around and looking stupid while you inspected valuable resources out in the open was just asking to make yourself a target.
Exiting the lecture hall, she saw something surprising. Two paths on the sides of the building converged with hers — where more students were coming from. She hadn't seen any sign of it on the other side of the hall, though. Some high-tiered illusory technique beyond her senses, maybe? It did mean there was even more competition than she previously thought.
Following the singular, wide mountain path, it split into two roads again.
Both had a tree in the shape of a gender on the side; females right and males left. At the centre of the Y-junction stood a statue. But, instead of arms, it had wings that covered its entire upper body and face. Though, the feet were decidedly human.
In the next second, a presence appeared. A dim light came alive on the statue where she presumed its eyes were, and she faintly saw it following her movement. The moment was gone when she blinked, and Niva once more stared at a regular sculpture.
Well, it seemed like this was where she and Dino had to split.
She lightly shook the boy's shoulder. His mind had been somewhere else ever since leaving the great hall. On the nomad, she guessed.
"Hm?" He jerked a little before he turned toward her.
"I said: it would perhaps be better to split up right now. Unless"–Niva grinned teasingly–"You were planning on sneaking in and sleeping under the same roof?"
He stared at her, and a beat passed. "Huh, didn't know you were capable of making a decent joke."
"You—" Niva stammered, pursing her lips. "Whatever," she crossed her arms.
"Are we going to meet up afterwards?" She asked, already done with him before he had even really gotten started. The guy had a special gift for getting under her skin sometimes.
Recovered from his recent slump, his grin returned. "Elder Yonyue is holding an introductory lesson on Essence Theory tomorrow, right? Let's use that as a meeting point and plan from there."
"Sounds cool—" she yawned, drawing out the last syllable of her words. The four-hour carriage ride hadn't done her energy levels any good.
She tapped him on the chest. "Don't get into trouble on your first day, big guy. At least wait till I'm there to help."
"Hah! Did you hear that?" He asked a random passer-by who looked confused about why he was being spoken to. "Me, a Gaumond, requiring the aid of a woman?"
Niva rolled her eyes. This made for twice on the same day, which was far from Dino's record. He once got her so active she had a headache for a week. But it was all banter since the two had already been through many sticky situations together.
"Uhhh—" the poor guy didn't know what to say as Dino clasped an arm around him and started dragging him away.
"These girls always think—" Niva managed to discern before Dino got out of earshot, and she took a right towards the female dorms, intent on teaching him a lesson.
Tomorrow.
Finding some housing was higher on her priority list.