They did not rush back to the sect. Unsurprisingly the leisure walk to the gate took over an hour and on the way Alex persuaded Lou Chen to go to the local market and stack up on supplies, mostly spices. The old man insisted on not buying anything else since, according to him, the best food swam right at his doorstep and Alex didn’t have any other choice but to comply.
The first impression after passing the gate was poor. The town Alex saw was similar on both sides and not much more prosperous than the Long family, except there were few three and four story buildings. Lou Chen only snickered when Alex pointed that out and told him to wait. Turns out this was technically still the outer sect and was inhabited by outer disciples, or in other words – the working class.
The cobblestone covered streets were relatively empty since most disciples were out organizing the event and, if not for the similar attire of the ones remaining, one could think they were in the suburbs of a normal city. The first floors of the buildings were filled with stores and workshops, and, most likely, the upper ones were the living quarters of the disciples. The streets with food stalls and carriages full of supplies pulled by regular horses also looked just like in any other place.
Once again Alex confirmed that the decision to directly skip the chance of becoming an outer disciple was correct – in none of his lives he dreamed to become a regular worker and this one was not different. Maybe outside the Immortal Gate sect being an outer disciple was a sign of a status, but here they were nothing more than regular slaves, except with better living conditions.
Lou Chen was not certain how many outer disciples were there, but it took them several hours to leave the outer sect behind. But the moment they did, the change of scenery came too sudden – if just a second ago they walked the streets of a normal town, now in front of them stretched wast fields of lush green savanna, except instead of flocks of beasts there were patrolling guard squads. In the distance on the left and right there were two tall mountain ranges and, from the looks of it, the inner sect lie between them.
In the fields ahead Alex saw several tall white stone slates placed in regular intervals and Lou Chen, noticing his companion’s perplexed look, explained, “Those slates are the visible part of the formation that I already mentioned to you. There are many similar below the surface and they are also covered in strange markings. Oh, right, you probably can’t see that far yet. Let’s go, I’ll show you.”
The closer they came to the nearest stone slate, the taller it turned out to be. After half an hour, when they finally arrived, Alex was forced to realize it was at least twenty five meters high.
“There is a total of hundred and eight of these placed in regular intervals from one mountain range to the other.” Lou Chen explained, “The constructions below the surface follow similar pattern. And there are also slates like these in those mountain ranges. Later, when we get to the core sect, you’ll see another time altering formation, although a bit different than this one.”
“I doubt the current civilization has constructed these.” Alex said observing the strange markings on the slate.
Up until the last night he had never heard there were any formations in this world, to not speak about the time alteration ones, “Your sect master might practice who-knows-what kind of techniques and claim he is a God, but there is no way he made these.”
“Mhm. I also think so.” Lou Chen agreed, “But you have not experienced it yet. Come, follow me. The first time is a bit weird for anyone, but don’t worry, you’ll adjust quickly.”
There was no distinct line or border, but at some point, after taking another step, Alex felt as if he had walked into water. His whole body became slow, movements sluggish and it was even difficult to breathe. The strangest thing was that everything looked the same and Lou Chen as well as the guards in the distance continued to move naturally.
Purely out of instinct, the moment he felt discomfort, Alex began to perform one of the basic Qi revolving techniques and after few minutes his condition returned to normal, except for some reason the Qi in the surroundings now felt much richer. After throwing a quick glance around, Alex verified that actually nothing had changed apart from the fact that he now was on the other side of the stone slate.
“Don’t bother with that.” Lou Chen said with a smile, “Smarter people than you couldn’t figure out how this thing works. Let’s move on – we still have a long way to go.”
“With your speed you probably would’ve been home, right?” Alex absentmindedly said. Being inside the formation still felt weird.
“Of course! But it’s not bad to have a leisure walk now and then. I don’t remember when was the last time I did.” Lou Chen said.
After another half an hour they arrived to the inner sect. Although there were hundreds of buildings and walkways, it was less a town and more something like a park. Strangely enough the architecture here completely differed from the one in the outer sect – larger and smaller pavilions were scattered among ancient trees and ponds, and neat flowerbeds decorated the place everywhere.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” Lou Chen said, “The inner sect has several tens of thousands of disciples and thousand or two elders, I’m not sure exactly how many. Most disciples are either in their homes cultivating or learning from their respective masters – that is why there are not that many people around. It’s a bit different here compared to the world outside – it is normal for one to get lost in cultivation for months or even years. You’ll see. In the core sect some people go into deep meditations that last decades. There are couple of grand elders I haven’t met in half a century, but they probably still look the same.”
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“And the necessity for food is compensated by the Qi formations, right?” Alex asked.
“Indeed, especially in the core sect. We mostly eat for our own pleasure. In fact, that is the one of the few forms of entertainment one can have here.” Lou Chen explained.
“What about pretty female disciples? I bet you could have a dozen taking care of the ‘fun’ part for you?” Alex cheekily said.
“You’ll get bored from that in a few decades.” Lou Chen seriously replied, “And women … especially when there are several of them … well … it’s a headache.”
Even though the old man’s expression was amusing, for some reason Alex, for the first time since the last birth, became depressed. The thoughts about Nadia he methodically avoided for years suddenly returned as a tornado and wrecked his mind once again. The idea of them cultivating here, together for centuries, felt as a dream they were robbed of and it took him all the willpower he had to bottle everything back in.
Meanwhile the sun was already setting behind the mountain range and the duo arrived at another golden gate, except this one was at most three meters tall and five meters wide. On the other hand, the stone wall it was built in was almost double the height the wall at the outer sect was. Another difference was that only few guards were stationed here.
“How the hell is this even possible!” Alex exclaimed.
To see the top of the wall he had to look straight up and even then it was unclear if it wasn’t an optical illusion, but before Lou Chen could explain, a mocking elderly voice interrupted them from behind.
“Hahahah! Lou Chen! Where the hell did you find this country bumpkin? You couldn’t get a talented person to agree to become your disciple so decided to steal a child from a cradle?”
Alex turned around and saw four elderly man, followed by few men in the attire of the sect elders as well as several dozen men and women dressed in various clothing, most likely the participants from the earlier exams. Two of the old men were heartily laughing at the previous words and apparently one of them was the one who tried to insult Lou Chen.
Noticing the latter take deep breaths in order to hold back, it was not hard for Alex to guess that the speaker was Tang Hai – the grand elder responsible for the death of Lou Chen’s disciple, Hui Dong.
“I heard you started to drink yourself to death, but apparently failed – just like at everything else in your life. And, as it turns out, during some blackout you decided to bring your illegitimate child to the sect.” Tang Hai continued to ridicule.
The guy wore a plain dark robe and had gray hair and beard. According to all signs he was your ‘regular elderly’ and one if ignored the crooked nose and jeering eyes, there was nothing that stood out in his appearance.
“Who’s the old clown?” Alex turned to Lou Chen and loudly asked in a serious tone.
Hearing him the eyes of the group and the guards widened in shock, but Alex pretended to not notice and continued, “You said there were talented and smart people in the sect, but where this smelly fart came from? And not only his breath stinks, he is ugly as f*ck as well! How come he’s even allowed in?”
Tang Hai’s expression turned ugly in an instant and only then Alex noticed Muchen with eyes wide like saucers staring at him from the crowd. The guy really made it! And it was highly likely he managed to become the disciple of one of the four grand elders present! That would mean that the ten year old boy was talented enough to become the core disciple of the strongest sect in the world!
This realization stupefied Alex for a split second, but it was good it did. Before he could spout more insults towards Tang Hai, a person in a black attire appeared between the two parties and the guards, and the crowd immediately knelt while the grand elders only bowed.
“Sect master!” Lou Chen exclaimed in surprise and also slightly bowed.
Meanwhile Alex was the only one who didn’t react, but dared to curiously observe the mysterious man who allegedly has become immortal. As expected, he did look middle aged, was neatly shaven and wore black trousers and shirt, embroidered with the symbol of the Immortal Gate sect.
The only weird thing about him was the white bandana the man wore on the forehead, but before Alex could inwardly make a joke about the grownup trying to play the ‘karate kid’, the sect master looked at him and he felt a strange force pressing down on the soul brand. It was not strong enough to make Alex feel discomfort, but rather resembled someone trying to test the soul brand’s durability while not having enough power to actually break it.
The sect master deeply looked at Alex with squinted eyes for a split second, but before Alex could react in any way, he looked away and the pressure was gone.
“Raise, everyone!” The sect master spoke and Alex immediately noticed the Qi fluctuations in his voice similar to what the pope of the Holy empire had.
Because of that the tone became pleasant and soothing, creating the illusion of closeness to the speaker.
“My grand elders!” The sect master continued, “Congratulations on finding the new talents to join our core, especially you, grand elder Lou Chen! At first I came here only to compliment you, but after seeing the quality of the seeds you have picked, I decided to personally instruct them on the ‘Soul merge’ so they could step on the true road to immortality! The eve of the next full moon is an auspicious time, so we will begin then. In addition, you can inform senior core disciples and they can join as well if they wish. Grand elder Wang Hao, your place is the most suited for the event, thus I must ask you to appropriately prepare it. Everyone is dismissed!”
Afterwards the sect master looked around with a wide smile across his face and proceeded towards the gate. The guards rushed to open it and a split second later the sect master was gone.
The crowd of the new core disciples immediately burst into an excited discussion about the upcoming lecture, while the elders and grand elders exchanged awkward glances. A minute ago it seemed there was an inevitable brawl, but then the sect master basically instructed everyone to stand down. And him personally holding the lecture was something that had not happened in centuries!
Only Lou Chen guessed the true reason behind it.
He sighed in regret and said, “Let’s go.”
And pulled Alex towards the gate.