“I have looked at your plan to use the Force element.” I perked up at this curious to what the Sect Leader thought. “It is intriguing. I have discussed it with other elders and we are split on this issue.”
“Still, if it works it would allow our sect to use a third element and a different set of resources. But to do it properly then you will need at least a rank 6 chamber and array constructed. You will also need lots of spirit stones. I know you plan to hunt beasts for level 3 spirit stones and this is a decent plan.”
“However, you will not draw in enough pure energy with level 3 spirit stones. You will need level 4 spirit stones to achieve perfect grade channels and meridians. This is absolutely necessary for you to gather enough energy in the fourth stage and even have the slightest chance of finishing it. Unless everything is perfect, then you will not complete your cores in time. With perfect grade channels you just might if the heavens continue favoring you and that is with stuffing you full of resources that would make even an Immortal feel the cost and spew blood from their mouth.” That was a very graphic description. One did not call on immortals in jest. It was clear the Sect Leader was annoyed at me, or at how many resources I needed.
“That is why starting tomorrow you will train in the martial way with Martial Elder Lei. You will do everything he says without complaint.”
“Yes Master,” I replied, and the Sect Leader nodded.
“While I will front the cost of the force chamber myself, since it can be used by the sect if you are successful, I estimate that it will take four level 4 spirit stones per channel and meridian pair. That would mean you would need 5,216 level 4 spirit stones in total to get you perfect meridians and channels.” I nodded at this.
“You will train for a year, then you will hunt. You will need 1,200 level 3 spirit stones to purchase refined level 6 beast essence. Also, you will need to wage single handed war on the beasts. I will ensure a trade ratio of 11 to 1 for level 3 spirit cores for level 4 spirit cores. The difference is because the higher the level the more value it possess than just 10 of the lesser core. Since other people want Perfect grade channels.”
I nodded at this. “Yes, Master.”
“It is impossible for you to kill level 4 beasts and killing that many would cause issues. But the higher level beasts don’t care about level 3 beasts. Kill them all, well away from the sect. If you survive, then it was destined to be. If you die, that is on you. Try to avoid a beast tide, since that will be your death.” I nodded at this. I was once again being tossed out to see if I would live or die.
“With the Astral Soul Stabilizer now in place, you will train in the sect for one year. Until you become one with your blade your former Master gave you. You will become so good with it, that you will make Martial Elder Lei acknowledge you.” I gulped a bit at this and the harsh tone.
“Yes, Master,” I replied.
“Once the year is over, you will go kill and cultivate. Kill and cultivate. The only thing in that spatial ring you will possess will be beast cores. A low rank ring like that should be able to contain 2,000 cores. For your first trip, do not come back until it is filled up. You can fill it up with any level of core, but it must be filled. I expect this task to be completed in one year. You will return and your progress in both hunting and cultivation will be assessed. I sense you are concerned, speak.”
“That seems, like a lot,” I said. That meant killing around 7 to 8 beasts per day.
“It is. You will probably incur a beast tide or two in the wilderness and die horribly. But I have decided to adopt the mentality of Elder Li Fu and Elder Healer Meihui. If I am going to take you seriously and not toss you out of this sect as a joke. Then I will make sure you succeed or die trying. While your death is likely, if it happens, then your path of defiance was not meant to be and the heavens stopped favoring you.” There was a long pause as I didn’t know what to say to that. The Sect Leader then spoke up again.
“You can also give up. Just hand in your sect badge at any time. I will let you leave without crippling your cultivation and you will owe nothing to the sect.” My eyes went wide at this. “You think anyone else other than the Cloudy Moon Sect would take you? If they did, I would laugh at them.”
“Even the Imperial Sect, if you went there and somehow became a favorite of an Immortal, you would still be laughed at. You would be called a pig for how many resources you need. Your cultivation is absurd to such a degree it makes me feel ill thinking about what you have done. How many elders this sect could have with the resources you will consume.”
“But if you succeed. Then even I dread to think of what could happen. It is not widely known, but immortality is very, very rare. There are only six known immortals. Two from the Imperial Sect. Two from the Blazing Sun Sect. A wandering immortal. And the beast immortal. A seventh immortal would shake the continent. But that is a big if. The number of obstacles in your path is immense Yuan Zhou.”
“I understand Master. Thank you for your guidance,” I replied and bowed my head. He let out a sigh.
“I am harsh on you, because I wish for you to succeed and believe you can take the pressure.”
“I am not upset Master. I am the opposite. I am grateful. It is nice to know that I can put my trust in you and the other elders for my path,” I replied with a smile. They wanted me to succeed for their mad science. Even if it was mad science, success was still success.
“That is good. I will also have Elder Liu Chen look for something else other than a celestial Dao fragment that can be used for Mind Cultivation. As for his channel idea, I will leave that to you. Just be aware, null metal and a focusing crystals are very rare treasures. Just one step below a celestial Dao fragment. I will let you decide if you are willing to take that risk. But so you know, Liu Chen is a genius in cultivation methods, that even the Imperial Sect has acknowledged him. The balance between three cultivation methods would be amazing to see. Now go and show up to the martial hall in the morning.” It truly a mad scientist sect.
“Yes Master, thank you Master,” I said and left his office. I could understand where the Sect Leader was coming from. The number of resources I needed was massive. But it felt good to have these elders backing me up. Also, even the Sect Leader was a bit of mad scientist at heart, wanting to see what was possible.
I didn’t understand much about Dao concepts, but the comment from Elder Healer Meihui indicated that I was a source of inspiration for them to keep moving forward on their path to immortality.
Also, they were probably a bit bored. I was drama incarnate for them and it was about cultivation, so everyone got a bit excited about my path. So, they were willing to part with some assistance and a tiny bit of resources if I kept moving forward. The fact I came back from the astral plane with an astral shard was enough to get them to buy into me.
The hunting would be a test and to push me to gather resources quickly. The number of beast cores I needed was immense. I would have to go deep into the forest far from the sect and live off the land. I would need a self-filling water bottle and a portable stove that ran on level 1 spirit stones.
I would have to cook beast meat. I would need to look that up and see the best way and if there was anything special, I should do. I would also need beast hiding, repellant, and lure. Well, it was a good thing that rank 2 spirit bars were being stacked up in Cloudy Moon City.
I got one rank 2 spirit bar every ten carts of ore. In three and a half years and the other 6 spirit mines being under my companies management at 5%, that meant I got about 200 rank 2 spirit bars every year. In three and a half years that would translate to 700 bars.
That was a massive amount. Normally each one would cost about 10 sect contribution points. Most of it went towards cultivating the earth element. I would need to discuss with my Master about trading the bars for contribution points to buy alchemical hunting products and possibly a second low rank spatial storage ring.
Using my new authority, I had been able to find out how much one cost and what my sword cost. The low rank spatial ring would come in around 20,000 sect contribution points. The sword would cost 50,000 sect contribution points. That included everything from the materials to the sheath and the creation process.
I was hoping to get a line of credit from the Sect Leader for a second spatial ring. It would really help with bringing all the supplies I would need, which included a lot of alchemical products.
The following day I went to the martial hall first thing in the morning. Martial Elder Lei showed up right after I did and brought me outside the building to a large sand arena that was in a depression in the ground.
He tossed me a wooden sword, which was the same weight and length of the sword my former Master Yi Rong gave me. “Watch me,” Martial Elder Lei said. He had a wooden blade of his own and did a series of movements. He then repeated it twice more, slower each time. Then he turned towards me.
“Sword techniques must flow. These strikes are the most basic strikes, the seven strikes. The overhead slash. The thrust. The four side slashes. The upward slash. As a cultivator speed is our ally. Striking quickly and dodging is key. You will do each of these properly a thousand times every day. The first will be as good as the last. Begin, I will correct you if there are issues.”
I began moving the wooden sword in the same movements and stepping just like Martial Elder Lei had. “Turn your foot slightly when you strike.” He poked it with his wooden sword. I fixed that and repeated the move.
After a bit, I had them down. “Good, keep it up in this corner of the training area and don’t stop until you get to 1,000. You can start counting now. If you are sloppy at any time I check on you, then the count will go back to zero.”
“Yes Martial Elder Lei,” I replied and kept up the strikes, making sure they were perfect even if I had to be a bit slower than what I could do. I needed to get my form down, so it was second nature.
It took nine hours to finish. I was mentally and physically exhausted at the end. If it wasn’t for my cultivation strengthening me, this would have been impossible. Even with my cultivation, it was a struggle to complete the movements correctly at a decent pace. “Good job for the day. Get ready to do it tomorrow,” Martial Elder Lei said, and I left. No wonder why no one followed the martial path in this sect. I couldn’t think of anything but how to keep my body movements perfect. I couldn’t even cultivate.
I had dinner and got back to my room. I forced myself to cultivate for ten hours. Before I was forced to stop when I almost made a mistake. I fell asleep.
I woke up as the morning bell sounded across the sect, right before dawn and the start of the day. I slowly dragged myself to get breakfast feeling exhausted and then out to the sand pit. I picked up my wooden sword and carefully got into position. I did one set very slowly to make sure I remembered correctly and began doing them, over and over again.
After the first week, Martial Elder Lei gave me a different order to practice the strikes every day, so I could flow between each attack form. My cultivation was also progressing. After a month I increased the number of aligned motes, until I could do 20 at the same time in 30 minutes. It was a mental issue, not an issue with the Astral Soul Stabilizer that forced me to stick to 20.
Even so, that was 1 mote every 1.5 minutes. That was 400 per day. I would end up completing 138,000 over the course of the year, putting me at 228,000 motes. It would take me about 11 more years to complete the second stage at this rate. I would be around 36 years old then.
The Sect Leader called me for another meeting three months into my martial training and Elder Liu Chen was there as well. “Amazing progress, and you say the limit is your mind, not the number of motes?”
“Yes, Elder Liu Chen.”
“That bodes quite well. Quite well indeed.” The Sect Leader gave a light cough. “Ah yes. Well, you see I have been looking into the issue of Mind Cultivation. As the Sect Leader rightly pointed out, getting a celestial Dao fragment is impossible.”
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“It would have been the best choice of course. But I considered other options and reached out to a contact of mine. Well, they clued me into the option of using a Pill of Peace. It will allow your mind, body, and soul to connect to the energies around you naturally. Not as good as a celestial dao fragment, but still a rank 6 pill.”
“The main ingredients would be a blue moon orchid, a red sun rose, and a green ocean lily. To tie your soul, body, and mind together. The ingredients are rare, but it is fairly easy to make. Once you have all of that. Even I could make the Pill of Peace without much fuss.”
“Thank you, Elder Liu Chen. You did excellent work,” the Sect Leader said.
“Of course, I did. Normally a Pill of Peace is used to soothe mental damage, but the effects on lower stage cultivators are quite interesting. Perhaps we should grow these plants? They might have other properties.”
“It will be considered.” After that Elder Liu Chen left, the Sect Leader looked at me for a bit before speaking.
“What he didn’t say was that the ingredients are not simple. A blue moon orchid is something only found in the wild during a clear night with a full moon. You can look for one while you are hunting. A special plant collection case will be provided. The elder was right, if you can get two, that would be for the best so we can try growing a few in the sect.” I wanted to cry at that request.
“The second ingredient, a red sun rose, is a specialty product of the Blazing Sun Sect. They use it to strengthen their physical foundations for their cultivators. They jealously guard their monopoly. They grow in the desert during the hottest days. You will have to make a trip to their sect to purchase one. I will leave the details to you, but around 1,000 level 1 spirit stones sounds about right in terms of price.”
“That will be difficult since we are aligned with the Imperial Sect. Still, your vast amount of level 2 spirit bars should be quite useful to trade with.” I wanted an extra spatial ring instead, but it appeared that wasn’t going to happen.
“A green ocean lily is probably the most difficult. They grow deep in the ocean around the continent, but at that depth you will be crushed or the rank 5 fish will eat you. Or the rank 8 sharks will nibble on you a bit. Still, with a bit of luck and the heavens watching over you, you should be able to get one. You have a question?”
“How will I survive the crushing depths?” I asked hesitantly.
“No clue,” the Sect Leader said while staring at me intently. “But occasionally a green ocean lily washes ashore. About one every five to ten years. They are incredibly valuable. Since it is a key ingredient for the Pill of Peace and very useful for mind cultivators and healing mental issues.”
“If you want to pursue a three-pronged path to cultivation, then you need to get a blue moon orchid, red sun rose, green ocean lily, and 1,200 level 3 spirit stones to get refined level 6 beast essence. All of that would allow you to finish up your second stage of cultivation. I have no idea how you would get a green lily or find a blue moon orchid.”
“You said a green ocean lily is sold occasionally?” I asked.
“Yes, but the price has always been very high. It is valued as a rank 7 ingredient even if it only rank 6 due to its rarity and use in mind cultivation. If you wish to purchase one, then you would need 20,000 level 3 spirit stones to even be considered instead of the Imperial Sect.” I wanted to cry at that amount.
“I suspect it will take you years to gather the 2,000 spirit stones I told you to gather after your training. And you already need 57,376 level 3 spirit stones for your third stage, not counting the additional materials I know you plan to find somewhere to carve out that insane channel design. That is already an astronomical amount. Your fourth stage of Core Formation will be even worse. But if you even reach that stage, it will be quite impressive.”
I almost wanted to go back in time and yell at my younger self for choosing this path of defiance. I knew cultivation cost a lot, but apparently my cultivation was continent ending in terms of resources needed. The more the Sect Leader explained to me, the more despair I felt. The only thing I could do was keep aiming for the best and do my absolute best.
That meant not just coasting by. But actually thinking. That was the hardest part of getting a PhD. Not the research but thinking an original thought. Doing something like that wasn’t simple by any means and incredibly difficult. I did it once with AI traffic control, I would do it again for my cultivation, over and over until I could go no further.
Just getting through the second stage of Foundation Establishment, was something I thought would be resolved by the Astral Soul Stabilizer. But I just had to open my mouth and things had become even more complex. Even ignoring all that, the fourth stage of Core Formation, loomed larger and larger in my future. It really was the great bottleneck for cultivators.
“I understand. I will find a way and look up information about those plants in preparation for my departure,” I replied, not daring to complain.
“This brings up the final topic that we need to discuss. As my personal disciple, and the sect disciple. You will be the mascot for this sect. This means that your presence and interactions carry weight to them with other cultivators and sects. Even those at a higher rank than you. I am a rank eight cultivator, and you have a soul lantern.”
“Any mid level sect will understand this and what it means. But a low level sect without proper history might not. There will be complicated situations outside the sect. You may defend yourself of course, but be aware that if you kill a cultivator and enmity is created with another sect, I will be annoyed. Very annoyed.”
“Yes Master,” I replied and nodded. The Sect Leader gave me a slow nod.
“Make sure that you do. We are not a martial sect Yuan Zhou and our standing is not high. But you may hold your head high and not let yourself be bullied. The Cloudy Moon Sect has a long and proud history since the dawn of the third age. Your decision making appears to be sound based on your history besides your insane cultivation choices, but there is a reason most sects prefer cultivators to settle their personalities before sending them out. Why do you think that is?”
“Rashness can lead to harsh words and then a death and then a cycle of revenge. Which will then involve higher stage cultivators,” I replied. That was something I had read long ago when I was just a kid learning about cultivators.
“Good. Keep that in mind. Be polite, but do not get taken advantage of. The Cloudy Moon Sect might be near the bottom of the mid-rank sects, but it has a rich history and a large roster of elders. Show the sect in a good light.” I nodded at this. “Now, do you have anything to bring up or ask of me?”
“Master, I was wondering about recruiting mortals to help with gathering beast cores. To purposely trigger a beast side to collect a large number of cores,” I suggested. I was hoping one of my ideas would get some traction and possibly offset the headache of getting the resources I needed.
“What you are suggesting is a large-scale extermination expedition. There is efficiency in such a tactic. But the risk quickly rises that a level 4 beast or higher will show up. Then you will die. You best bet is to move quickly and kill beasts in the wilderness. Moving from beast to beast, not lingering. Tracking them down and killing them.”
“Is that even possible for someone of my rank? How would I track the beasts?” I asked, since all hunting techniques involved lures as far as I was aware.
“No idea. But if you stay in one place you will either hunt too slowly, or be overwhelmed,” the Sect Leader explained. “What, you thought this would be easy?”
“No Master. What about business? I know the Sect produces Spirit Wine to sell to other sects. Perhaps that process can be improved and made more efficient,” I suggested. The Sect Leader shook his head slowly.
“I know of your talent for business. But the problem is not one of production. But one of demand. Spirit wine can get cultivators drunk. But cultivators rarely drink. We have tried selling to rich mortals, but they only have so much money. We have been strengthening the wine over centuries to sell to more senior cultivators. But they rarely drink.”
“Most cultivators do not indulge. To reach the lofty heights of an elder, extreme focus and dedication is required. Unfortunately, there is no drunk path to cultivation. But if you can solve our financial problems, I am more than willing to listen and evaluate them.”
“The sect has financial problems?” I asked.
“All sects have financial problems. Everyone and their ancestors want resources. There are only so many resources to go around.”
I sat there for a minute thinking carefully about the economy between cultivators. “You said there are beasts in the water? Rank 5 fish? Rank 8 sharks? Are they like beasts or are they beasts of the land that have just changed form?” I asked. The only source of spirit stones were beasts, no other animal could cultivate as far as I knew.
“They are beasts of the land that have gone into ocean. At rank 5, beasts can change their form and adapt to different environments. There is a lot of energy out in the ocean, but that just means there are higher rank beasts swimming out there.” That ruled out farming fish or something similar.
“Have there been any attempts to replicate what the beasts do in an artificial manner?” I asked.
“Yes, condensing formations. The problem is where to set them up? If you set them up in a sect or a mortal city, then it will cause issues with cultivation and people’s lives. In the wilderness the beasts would sense them and attack.”
“Even if you dug deep underground to make a chamber. Or tried to soar to the skies, the energy is that of the heavens and the earth. Not one or the other, but both. The mix of various types of energy are what makes beast cores suitable for human cultivation and why most don’t soar to the sky or go too deep into the depths. Also, such formations can’t be close together for the same reason that beasts improve more quickly when there are less of them.”
“Something that is ancient history. But the beast immortal came to be, once a huge purge of beasts was done. Their own competition limits them far more than humans killing them.”
That shut down several ideas I had. “What about refining iron into steel?” I asked.
“That is a monopoly of the Imperial sect.” Well, that answer ruled that idea right out.
“What about a place like the astral plane, to get valuable items for trade? Or perhaps training up mortals to become cultivators to gather resources?” I asked. The Sect Leader was quiet for a while before responding.
“I question your survival instinct. That was a death sentence you know. Before rank 5, going to the astral plane is incredibly risky, it is almost certain. And even after that there is risk. For you to have come back alive, is impossible. I can see where your thoughts are leading. To be so smart, yet so foolish,” the Sect Leader let out a sigh. I was quiet as he continued.
“This does not go beyond this room. Not even to other members of the sect. If this gets out, there would be huge repercussions.”
“Yes Master, I will swear to keep quiet,” I replied, curious what he was about to tell me.
“The knowledge is something that has been passed down, since the foundation of the Cloudy Moon Sect at the dawn of the third age over 200,000 years ago. I only tell you this, so you understand the danger of your line of thinking and where it is headed.”
“If you ever visit the Capitol, you will see wonders that the Imperial Sect has built. Marvels of technology and cultivation. But that knowledge isn’t spread or allowed to spread. There are limits. One cultivator killing beasts, and gathering resources is fine.”
“It would be easy to push pills into people and get them to live for a thousand years once they reach the fourth stage, but with no hope of going through. But this isn’t widespread. The same with many other things that raise up large groups of mortals to the ranks of cultivators and allow them to live longer.”
“Qi, the energy of the heavens and the earth is finite.” What?! That was incredibly hard to understand with everything I knew, and I kept listening.
“While you see motes floating about, there is also residual energy in the air. Beasts draw this in and to a far lesser extent other materials. The high-ranking sects don’t want the number of cultivators to increase, but they also want the number of immortals to increase.”
There was silence as he allowed me to process this. “But how limited? There were motes everywhere I went?” I could see motes of Qi even now in the Sect Leader’s office.
“Yes, since the Cloudy Moon Sect manages their territory quite well along with most other sects. But if all the energy was sucked out of the air, there would be still births. Deformities from births. More health issues in mortals. The beasts would also become enraged and the higher ranking beasts would act. There is a total cap on resources Disciple Yuan Zhou. Not just the ones you can see, but the very energy of the continent itself.”
“But then why keep this a secret?” I asked.
“I ask that myself quite often. But the high-ranking sects and the immortals running them cannot be questioned. Even me, a rank 8 cultivator with millennia of knowledge and experience, is nothing but a mewling child in front of them. I have neither the authority to meet or question them in any way.”
“You were playing in a small pond with your little businesses. But the high-ranking sects are much stricter. Training cultivators just to stop at the fourth rank is forbidden. Or even partially allowing mortals to cultivate for the purpose of allowing them to live longer. They want more immortals but not widespread innovation. Only innovation in cultivation techniques. I do not know why, and cannot question such things.”
“Then trying to start a business to earn what I need will be difficult,” I said, and the Sect leader nodded at this.
“You would need the Imperial Sect to sign off on whatever plan you have if it touches their bottom line about the energy of the heavens and the earth. But to even get an audience with one of their elders is not something you can do. I can do it, but it is not simple. The waters of the Imperial sect are deep and incredibly dangerous.”
“No training up an army to go out and kill beasts. If you want to do anything on a large scale, then you need my approval. Consider this a direct order as the Sect Leader and as your Master.”
“I understand Master,” I replied with a heavy voice. I just felt incredibly defeated. I had so many ideas to make money, or spirit stones, but they just weren’t possible. “Anything the old monsters like?” I asked a bit petulantly.
“As an old monster myself, no. We are aesthetic monks with singular focus on cultivation for the most part to reach this point with limited vices, beyond excessive cultivation. However, if you prove yourself in gathering materials for your second stage to complete your cultivation, there exists a possibility. An incredibly dangerous possibility, but if you can prove yourself in combat, then I will sponsor it.” I looked at the Sect Leader in curiosity.
“The Firmament is vast and endless. Leaving the continent and its shelter is a grave risk. You would be less than a bug and could easily be squashed. But the chance of finding rare materials you can use or trade for your cultivation is much greater out there.”
“With risk comes reward,” I replied.
“Exactly. Preferably we would wait until the fourth stage when you can use techniques. But the requirements for your third stage are massive. The only option for you to progress is to toss you out into deep waters. If you are truly blessed by the heavens, I am sure you can figure out a path forward. You will probably die horribly, but then you won’t be my problem anymore.” He confirmed what I already knew and was being hammered into my head. Either I would succeed, or I would no longer be a problem.
“Thank you, Sect Master, you have given me much to think on.” I was dismissed after that and went to my room. What a joke of a continent. I let out a long frustrated sigh as I collapsed onto my bed and screamed into my pillow. I would be upset today, and then start thinking of solutions tomorrow.