“What do you think all these people are doing here, disciple?”

Kenja carefully walked in between the numerous disciples cultivating on the grassy perimeter of the central pillar, his lips forming a frown at the unusual sight. He was on his way back to Hirai Hikaru’s cave, but as he traveled counter-clockwise from the pillar’s first of six faces around to the fifth, a dense crowd of people appeared halfway past the sixth face. The sea of bodies continued onwards to his destination.

He had spent two days gathering sect credits at the bottom of the Dragon’s Basin, and for the time leftover, he had consolidated all the credits at a TD that Puchi recommended. His timing was perfect because the TD had been temporarily moved to a lecture hall for an orientation that had finished a few days prior, so no one was around to see the piles of keystones being moved in and out of his storage bags.

Where would he find the opportunity to learn the reason these disciples decided to stop here and cultivate? The entire sect had become one giant Immortal’s cave since most of the servants and disciples had rented out their individual caves’ keystones to him, but for what reason did they gather over here in this specific location?

He did not reply to Snail as he continued stepping around these disciples and making his way to the face representing Elder Kazane. The cultivating disciples were unbothered with Kenja’s movement since they had given ample space for themselves to meditate as well as to allow others to walk past them.

Seeing Kenja remain silent in the face of his question, Snail changed topics, “Shouldn’t we cash in on our credits first, disciple? Why return now when we’ll just have to leave again?” His tone carried a hint of displeasure.

Snail had been upset when Kenja asked him to help retrieve the keystones from the bottom of the Dragon’s Basin before every last morsel of Yang flowing throughout the sect was absorbed, but he forgave him after witnessing how many credits they had already accumulated. Now, he was too eager to begin his shopping spree with the Treasury’s catalogue, yet Kenja insisted on returning to his cave first.

Kenja sighed in exasperation at Snail’s impatience. “Aren’t cultivators supposed to be patient? We’ll go after I inquire about master.”

Since Elder Kazane was scheduled to return today, it would be inappropriate if he was not around to receive her.

Snail scoffed at him.

“Hmph. Bad cultivators have no choice but to practice patience. Supreme Ones such as myself have no need for such a thing…How about we use those spear carriers? You ordered a bunch more of them after all.”

Noticing Kenja was focused on what lay ahead of them, Snail did not continue speaking.

Kenja saw that the crowd in front of them dispersed near the caves belonging to him and Elder Kazane’s other disciples, but the sight of those standing in the center of the clearing left him at a loss for words.

He saw a dwarfish man floating in the air above a large mound of dirt and a larger patch of shrubbery that consisted of tall grass, flowers and other leafy assortments. He recognized the dwarf as the Fourth Elder he met at the apothecary, but Kenja had no idea why he was here and what he was doing with the strange bush and pile of rocky earth.

Standing a ways behind the miniature mud-hill was another person he recognized, Aracha, the spiritual architect studio’s receptionist/tea brewer.

‘Lo and behold, a pot of tea hung above a dwindling bonfire next to where she was seated. She supposedly worked under the Second Elder, so it was unexpected that she would be found accompanying the Fourth Elder.

The same could be said for the third person standing behind the thicket of shrubbery. Shimizu Mizutani, the girl he met at the sect’s treasury, was seated in a kneeling position with her eyes closed. From what the pillars had mentioned during his extended stay in the challenge pit, she was one of the Five Tributaries that was under the tutelage of the Sixth Elder.

Was the Fourth Elder conducting some free lesson for the sect and that was why everyone was here circling him? Was the mound of dirt and clump of grass part of the lesson?

…

The outer-sect disciple that was standing next to Kenja exhaled a deep and relaxed breath of Qi. Black sweat was expunged from his pores and a revitalizing breeze encircled the man and swept the muck away.

How invigorating!

After three days of meditation here, the man had finished sculpting the first pillar of his foundation, essentially advancing a tier amongst Foundation Establishment cultivators. The hard part was over, and all he needed to do now was fortify his progress before he could truly relax.

But to his great annoyance, his concentration was broken once he sensed movement to his left. Frustrated at being interrupted during a sensitive time, he turned to give the perpetrator a mean look only to see Kenja staring at the elders.

The forty-something-year-old man was mesmerized by the sight.

Hirai Hikaru appeared as only a young high-level Qi Flourishing, inner-sect disciple, one who had barely formed her inner Fog, yet the air about her felt inviolable and bewitching, even for someone like him who was a whole cultivation stage ahead of her. He would experience a similar feeling when chancing upon the rare sight of Fifth Elder Kazane.

With every stage advancement, the body’s impurities were expelled, and everything, including bones, muscles, and skin, would improve in overall quality. Those born with ugly faces could become handsome or beautiful after embarking on the path of a cultivator, and those with solid foundations would reach divine and mystical levels, bringing about a nigh-irresistible magnetism that invoked the attention and adoration of any onlookers.

This was why a cultivator was sometimes addressed as ‘Fairy’ instead of ‘Immortal’, especially amongst mortals who had witnessed the rare female cultivator.

The man was unable to point out exactly what was so enticing about this seemingly random inner-sect fairy, but he decided to avert his eyes and circulate Qi to calm his inner mind. Because of his age and foundation, he quickly regained control over his turbulent emotions.

No matter how long he pondered over the matter, he could not determine why he had lost control of himself.

He could understand if it were Elder Kazane who appeared next to him. After all, she was truly a beauty with a significantly higher cultivation and equally regal bearing, but this little girl who had obviously not reached her twenties was only at the Qi Flourishing stage. Why was he moved by simply examining her? Moreover, he caught her gawking at the elders with an incredulous expression.

This made no sense, but before he could ponder more over the matter, he felt a slight chill on his skin. He opened his eyes and found himself as well as several other people ahead of him wearing only their white fundoshi.

Their robes were gone!

Snail did not give this man nor Kenja the time to think over their separate issues.

“Not good, disciple. They’re here to catch us! We must put Teaching number 7, 105, and 863 into practice!”

The robes of the various disciples standing near them began disappearing one after the other. Kenja quickly circulated some Qi and said, “Stop, Snail! What are you do—”

“What are you doing, disciple? Can’t you see they laid a trap with three of their elders right there? Stop dilly-dallying and run. I’ll create a diversion.”

Within the blink of an eye, another dozen disciples were disrobed while they were deep in meditation. The clothes vanished without any movement as if they phased out of existence in an instant.

Kenja spoke with an urgent and rushed tone, “Give them back their clothes, Snail. They must be here because master is returning today. Now do as I say before they notice!” He broke out in a cold sweat when Snail mentioned that there were three elders and not one, but his mind did not panic. He immediately formulated a more plausible and less egocentric explanation that he used to shut down Snail’s out-of-control behavior.

As if to signal that Snail was contemplating Kenja’s words, the clothes of the surrounding disciples stopped blinking out of existence in one moment and began popping back into existence the next.

“When you say it like so, disciple, that certainly does make more sense.”

Sakura, who was back in her red jade scabbard, shook in disdain at the idiotic snail. He was too narcissistic, assuming everything was related to him.

Kenja did not comment further as he turned his head around scanning for anyone who noticed that a couple dozen disciples were suddenly unclothed and re-clothed.

Thankfully, there was no immediate disturbance amongst the cultivators since nearly all of them had sunk into an intense trance for the past few days due to the sect’s strange circumstances: the huge influx of Qi gifted to the sect for the various records and acknowledgments obtained by Kenja, three Nascent Soul cultivators opting to cultivate near each other that created a beneficial environment for nearby cultivators to take advantage of, and the fact that eighty percent or more of the sect’s tribulation keystones had been rented off to Puchi for several days which kept them from entering their Immortal caves.

Unthankfully, the male disciple to his right was repeatedly squeezing his eyes open and shut as he looked at the rows of disciples ahead of him as well as down at his own clothes. He was in disbelief at what he had just seen.

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Weren’t they just naked? Or was he hallucinating?

The male’s eyes met Kenja’s concerned gaze, and his heart was caught in his throat. He whispered to Kenja with a polite tone, “Did you see…?”

Kenja gave him a warm smile followed with his reply, “See what?”

The male disciple jerked forward away from Kenja. He circulated his Qi to calm down once more and silently decided that he must be facing some type of inner demon that he was unaware of.

While inner demons were trials that cultivators infrequently faced, he had never heard of a demon that caused one to view others without their robes. But when he gave it some more thought, no one would ever admit that they faced such an inner demon. It was too embarrassing!

He was just glad that the fairy standing next to him did not witness his shame, and deep within the recesses of his heart, he was regretful that he did not turn to his left when the inner demon attacked.

…Perhaps this inner demon was more appropriate for him than he first thought.

Kenja breathed a sigh of relief before turning his head back to the center of the circle.

“I only see one elder, Snail. Where are the other two?”

“Open your eyes, disciple. They’re right there.” He split up his eyestalks to point in the directions of the dirt pile and thicket of tall grass.

Kenja squinted his eyes at the two objects. He then noticed that on top of the dirt pile was a clay teacup sitting on top of a smooth, light-skinned bulge. There was a person buried inside!

He scrutinized the thicket of grass and finally noticed that the two white lumps sticking out resembled the knees of someone sitting cross-legged.

Considering Aracha was behind the man in the pile of rocks and Mizutani was behind the person in the grass, those two were likely the Second and Sixth Elder.

A warm feeling arose in Kenja’s chest.

He was glad to see that his master was valued to such a degree that her peers would wait for her arrival together in front of their caves. It was just…did they have to cultivate while having most of the sect disciples join them in facing Elder Kazane’s caves?

Now he felt awkward about walking through the clearing to his cave.

Plus, he had intended to knock on Senior Sister Aoi Rin's door to ask her for a better estimation of master’s arrival.

Was there anyone brave enough to walk past an elder as he cultivated, let alone three? And then cause a large knocking sound that would most definitely interrupt their concentration? One must not forget that there were hundreds of other disciples who were also cultivating here!

Kenja shook his head in silent exasperation before turning back the way he came.

He decided to forgo his original plan and go look for a vice elder or older disciple who was not currently cultivating. Maybe they would know when Elder Kazane would return.

As he moved through row after row of meditating disciples, he remembered what Snail had done earlier and asked him, “You returned everything you took from them, right? You didn’t steal anything, did you?” Things that should go without saying had to be repeated thrice to Snail.

“Disciple! Don’t blaspheme your teacher! I am no thief that steals things from children.”

Kenja resisted the urge to throw the Snail on the ground and stomp on him, but it was not the time nor the place.

Snail did return everything to those disciples…for the most part. Three of the clueless disciples received one another’s robes, instead of their own. They would later find that their robes were too small or too big, and their respective storage bags were switched as well.

The bags were normally empty except for their keystone that was currently absent. Only one of the bags held a single low-tier spirit stone that made one disciple extremely happy and another shed tears at the loss.

Kenja remembered something else Snail had said earlier.

“What were those tips you mentioned earlier?”

Snail coughed in a grandiose manner before replying, “Teachings, disciple! Not tips. ‘Snail-sensei’s Teaching, Number 7: Don’t get caught, no matter what!”’

Kenja smirked slyly. “Get caught doing what, O’ great sensei?”

“Of course when you get caught stea—” he paused after realizing what Kenja was about to make him confess, “—ahem, naturally when one pursues you, you should not stand still and let them catch you…regardless of the reason.”

“Mhmm…and rule number 501?” Kenja tested Snail again, mainly out of boredom as they exited the grassy field of disciples and headed into the city area to look for an authority figure. He was not planning on journeying too far from the central pillar just in case Elder Kazane returned in the short time he left to search.

“‘Snail-sensei’s Rule, Number 501—wait, I just told you, they’re teachings!”

“Mhmm, I forgot. Continue.” Kenja played dumb. Sakura hummed in delight.

Snail coughed in a grandiose manner again.

“‘Snail-sensei’s Teaching, Number 501: A shell isn’t properly clean until it has a nice sheen!’”

“But Snail-sensei, I do not have a shell.”

…

Kenja gave Snail a second to catch his mistake.

Suddenly, he felt Snail increase his weight and pull down on his ear. It was not painful, but the increasingly icky sensation on his earlobe was unpleasant.

“I said 105, not 501! Are you making fun of me, disciple?”

Kenja feigned a gasp. “I would never make fun of Snail-sensei. Please, tell me. What is teaching 105?”

Kenja could feel the rattling from Sakura’s scabbard increase. She was greatly enjoying the delightful show.

Seemingly unaffected by Kenja’s teasing, Snail coughed a third time before continuing, “‘Snail-sensei’s Teaching, Number 105: No matter what, do not get caught!’”

Kenja furrowed his brows. This tip was practically the same as number 7. The words were just switched around.

“I know what you’re thinking, disciple. It’s very good advice, so I listed it twice…”

Snail materialized a large and thick book before Kenja as he walked and opened it to the two different pages showcasing that they were indeed listed there. Although the paper had an ancient and yellowed appearance, the fancily-written words wafted with the pungent smell of ink, as if it had been written recently.

Kenja originally thought that Snail was making up these ‘teachings’ on the fly, so he had been surprised when Snail actually had an irrelevant teaching for number 501. Now, he was genuinely shocked. Snail had an entire book full of his teachings that reached 863 at the minimum.

Except Snail would never admit to anyone that he had selflessly and hastily written all these teachings in the past week with Qi-infused Emerald Serpent blood, an impossible-to-erase ink of his own concoction, following which he bound the pages and produced a professional-looking cover and back before delicately inscribing the book’s title and his name on the front.

He would also never mention the fact that he did not double-check his work before completing the book…

…nor would he speak of all the accidentally-repeated teachings, typos, misspellings, and forgotten doodles.

“I see. ‘Snail-sensei’s Teachings’ is a great title. It will be easier to follow your guidance if I could borrow this book. Don’t you agree, Snail-sensei?”

The book instantly shut itself and vanished before Kenja’s eyes.

This time, Snail’s cough was quite exaggerated and embarrassed.

“We can speak about this another time…”

No! Definitely not!! Never, ever!!!

When he had formulated this brilliant idea several days ago, his original intention was to use it to gloat and showboat in front of Kenja, but if it were studied by a keen eye, his humiliation would be guaranteed, especially by this disciple of his who would not let an ant walk past him without observing it.

“Ah! I sense movement over there heading towards your little master’s caves. It seems to be another person at the Nascent Soul stage. That boy who was after your princess is with him as well. If you want, you can go and ask them.” Snail did his best to change the subject from his book.

He had sensed them earlier, but he disliked the idea of seeing that Matsusushi-fellow since that lousy wastrel caused him to lose another wager against Kenja. How shameful: a Core Crystallization cultivator losing to a Qi Flourishing babe!

Kenja’s mood turned sour when Snail mentioned Matsushita.

He had considered cultivators as enlightened individuals who walked an upright and straightforward path. He could not believe that after three years of trying to become a sect cultivator, he would immediately run into another ‘Kitamura Bolo’, one who used his power and influence to bully those under him.

The person with him must be his master, the Third Elder, on his way to join the bandwagon in welcoming Fifth Elder Kazane back to the sect.

Even though Matsushita Hizumi’s master had not done him any wrong, he felt that nothing good would come from meeting with them right now. At the very least, he felt he should wait for his own pillar of support to return before facing them, just in case they tried anything.

Although he did lay several contingency plans in case of any emergencies, the best way to deal with trouble was to not encounter it in the first place.

“What was your 863rd teaching?” To Snail’s frustration, Kenja brought the focus of their conversation back to his teachings. He was having some fun at Snail’s expense for once. How could he allow Snail to end the fun so easily?

Sakura shook in agreement with Kenja’s question.

Snail glared at the two evildoers while retracting his eyes into his head to think of how to respond. Teaching 863 was ‘Evade capture!’ but his snail senses were tingling, telling him it was not a good idea to reveal that right now.

When he had first started writing the book, he had made an effort to phrase his teachings eloquently and sometimes with a rhyme, but at some point, he got too lazy to keep doing that and adopted a ‘short and sweet’ theme. In his opinion, both methods showed promise and the shift in style was not too embarrassing.

The problem that arose was that many of the teachings that had already been repeated once or twice unintentionally ended up being repeated a third or fourth time in a shorter form that eluded his notice…

In fact, the book contained only around 250 truly unique insights, but Snail was in denial. How could he produce such a few number of things to teach his disciple?

This was all his fault!

Why did he have to name all three teachings at once if they were all the same? Completely unnecessary!

Why did he fail to proofread his book before completing it? There was no need to rush!

Why did he procrastinate remaking the book? He had plenty of time to rewrite it fifteen times in the past four days!

“Oh! I sense movement coming from around that temple! It’s another Nascent Soul with three others following him. They’re headed our way.”

Kenja stopped walking to wait for the people he mentioned to turn the corner. If this was another elder, it must be the First Elder since Snail could probably discern whether the person was Elder Kazane just like he could tell Matsushita was walking with his master.

Several breaths passed, yet no one turned the corner onto their path.

“Snail…”

Sakura hummed Kenja’s thoughts for him.

“Why would I be stalling for time? They’re really coming, disciple! In fact, you are acquainted with three of them.”

For some reason, the group walked at a snai—slug’s pace and repeatedly stopped to discuss something.

“Wait, what? Who is coming?”

A bad premonition struck Kenja as he saw the shadows of the four approaching humans enter their pathway.

Kenja gulped.

His foster sisters, Shizuka and Yoshie Kobayashi rounded the corner accompanied by the stringent Vice Elder Shirou and the sharp-eyed Tributary Akiyoshi Hideaki who supervised the Treasury, a place that would reasonably be on guard against suspicious activity.

Yoshie was comforting the worried and frowning Shizuka who clung tightly onto a piece of paper. Despite the crumpled appearance of the paper and the distance between their group and Kenja, he knew what it was in an instant.

It was one of the wanted posters with his real appearance on it.

This was the ultimate task force for finding and capturing him…

He began to formulate his will in his head.