It took us three days to reach the sect. The carriage, horses, and driver waited at the base of the mountain we had arrived at. There were buildings set aside for people and transportation like this. Yi Rong pulled out a badge to the bored-looking woman in blue and white robes standing at the base of the mountain.
“Senior Member, welcome back,” she replied and bowed her head.
“I have claimed a disciple. He will climb the stairs of testing.” She looked at me in surprise.
“If you say so, Senior Member. I will set him on the path,” Yi Rong nodded and then turned towards me.
“I will meet you at the top,” he said, and this disappeared in a burst of wind.
“Well, kid, I don't know if you are lucky or unlucky,” the lady said. I quickly bowed my head towards her.
“No need for that. Getting named an inner disciple right off. Good for you. Anyway, climb up the stairs without breaks. We view it as a test of your willpower and personal determination. It is a very long way to the top. Good luck,” she said with a grin.
I had been running occasionally and had not let my youthful body go. Still, there were a lot of steps. I didn’t hesitate and began climbing at a slow pace while trying to keep my breathing steady. They made the steps from rocks that had been shoved into the dirt itself. Each step was slightly uneven, and the spacing was off in some places.
There was probably a metaphor for the path of cultivation attached to these stairs. Long, hard, and full of minor difficulties to reach the top. No simple path right to the top for inner disciples. But I wasn’t an inner disciple yet.
I also guessed that a reincarnation would have screamed or objected to climbing the steps, since they would view it as an insult. Tests within tests. At least it was straightforward. I didn’t look up once I started. Mist and clouds were concealing the top of the peak, and looking up would distract me from carefully placing my feet on each step. Another metaphor about not getting distracted on the path of cultivation.
Personal power. It was something that was impossible back on Earth, but after getting hit by a truck and coming to this world, I never wanted to die again. I wanted immortality, and I wanted that power. I would hit the trucks and they would die instead of me.
It was silly to think like that, but that was why I bothered with cultivation instead of becoming rich, getting a harem, and settling down somewhere. Also, with my advantages and the whispers of magic and personal flight, I couldn’t say no.
If that meant climbing this staircase of certain death, then it meant climbing this staircase of certain death. I was in the mist and the rock stairs had become slippery. Put in a railing people, safety organizations will be on your case at this rate.
Step after step, I climbed. We arrived early in the morning. When mid-day hit, the mist cleared. It was tempting to look up, but if I saw a lot more stairs, I might just give up and throw myself back down. My legs were screaming in pain, but I didn’t stop.
I kept my eyes glued to the path as I slowly ascended. I didn’t even count the stairs, since that would make me despair. My clothes dried out in the late afternoon and I couldn’t help but glance upwards. The top, oh thank you, everything holy. There was the top of the staircase.
There was no strength to move more quickly, but my mind became a bit more energized as I kept climbing and gasping for breath. The air was definitely thinner, and I had noticed a very slight increase in the density of motes.
I didn’t wave my hands to grab any, but if I ran into one, I took it inside of me with all the others. I finally crested the top to see a large plateau with fancy looking buildings and paved walkways. Yi Rong was waiting along with three older looking men in white and blue robes.
Once I reached the top, I made my way in front of them as they stared at me. I then bowed deeply. A cultivator did not kowtow, ever, even to a much stronger cultivator. As a prospective disciple, Yi Rong told me I should adopt this mindset while here.
After a few seconds of getting my breathing under control, I spoke, “Junior Yuan Zhou greets his seniors of the Cloudy Moon sect and Master Yi Rong.”
“Polite at least,” one said.
“A slow climb,” another man replied.
“He is young, still a child,” a third said. There was silence for a bit as I kept the bow and worked on my breathing.
“Well, he passed the test of fitness, so he has my vote,” the first man who spoke said.
“You always approve of anyone who passes it. We should put him in the soul reflection chamber,” the second said.
“That is too harsh. A simple questioning will do. Raise your head, child,” I did and looked at the three older men. “We are the current elders on duty this year. I am Elder Li Fu.”
“Elder Zedong,” the first man said.
“Elder Sun Ru,” the second man who had spoken said.
Elder Li Fu nodded and then took the lead speaking. “It is rare to have someone as young as you come here. Even children born into the sect are much older when they climb the stairs. We have questioned your master Yi Rong, and while his answers make sense, we wish to ask you further questions.”
“Yes Elder Li Fu,” I replied and bowed my head slightly and he nodded.
“Point out the nearest mote of Qi,” he commanded. I looked around, and I pointed one out.
“Have you ever been part of another sect?” Sun Ru asked while staring at me intently.
“No,” I replied. The elders looked at each other for a moment, somehow communicating and then back at me.
“How many motes have you collected?” Elder Zedong asked.
“79,771,” I said. That seemed to shock them slightly.
“Your age?” Elder Sun Ru asked.
“I am five and a half years old,” I replied.
“Impossible!” Elder Sun Ru proclaimed loudly. “We must evaluate him in the soul reflection chamber. I will go to the sect leader if I must.”
“If you are wrong and he truly is a genius of heaven and earth, then our path will be affected,” Elder Li Fu replied.
“I will shoulder the risk. But I consider such a thing impossible. The youngest cultivator to each 120,000 motes without pills was of age 12. I can’t believe a child of five and a half has done so,” Elder Sun Ru declared.
“Tell me, child, were you aware since birth?” Elder Zedong asked me.
“Yes, Elder Zedong,” I replied and bowed my head slightly.
“A coincidence most likely of being aware and being able to see motes, but the soul reflection chamber appears to be the best option to put aside all doubt. Yi Rong, do you have any objections as his master?” Elder Zedong asked.
“No. If he is truly a demon in disguise, let us find out.” He replied, and Elder Sun Ru nodded at this.
“A good attitude to have. We should put all in the soul reflecting chamber,” Elder Sun Ru said.
“That is a debate for another time,” Elder Li Fu said tiredly. “We will allow the child to rest and sleep first and allow himself to steady himself. Then his master will take him to the soul reflecting chamber himself first thing in the morning.”
Yi Rong bowed his head. “As you command, Elder Li Fu,” he replied. The other two elders nodded, and I quickly bowed my head as they departed.
“Come, let us take you to the guest building,” Yi Rong said, and I followed him. “I suspected they would demand the soul reflecting chamber. Normally, they would just approve a disciple after asking about their background to ensure no conflicts of interest with other sects.”
“But I am a boulder smashing into a pond,” I replied.
“Yes. The soul reflecting chamber is harsh, but it reveals the true nature of anything in there. You will feel a constant pressure. You will have water to drink and no food. The pain will increase over time. You must endure.”
“And then that is it?” I asked.
“That will be it. The soul reflecting chamber is the ultimate test. No disguise technique or demon can withstand such a thing for long. If you are above the first stage or have ever been, your cultivation will destabilize and you will die.”
“Why not test everyone, then?” I asked.
“The expense. It costs spirit stones. A rank 1 spirit stone would sell for around a thousand tael or a bit more. To operate the chamber requires a lot of spirit stones. To pay this for every prospective disciple would ruin us. We put only those of questionable origins or if something else seems off through it.”
“But Elder Sun Ru wanted to put everyone through it,” I asked, trying to understand the dynamics of the sect.
“There are three factions of elders. The militant, who wants to check everyone and fight the beasts to seize resources. The protectors, who want to build up over time, are taking the long approach. Then the non-interventionists. They wish to focus on cultivation, research, and maintaining the sect and not get caught up in drama.”
“The sect has an elder from each faction to manage things for a year before switching them out. One of their duties is assessing and approving of all disciples that are accepted into the sect.”
“The other elders?” I asked.
“Cultivating, traveling, or doing whatever they want. The only higher authority is the Sect Leader himself, but he would only get seriously involved if there was the threat of a large conflict or another sect. Even you have not made that big of a splash.” I nodded at this.
We entered the building, and they showed me to a room. There was a shower in which Yi Rong showed me how to work. He had thankfully brought my luggage and left it in the room. I quickly collapsed onto my bed, my legs aching.
The next morning, Yi Rong shook me awake. He gave me plain water to drink but no food. He then led me to a large stone building. After entering inside, he took me down a flight of steps to a stone chamber.
Elder Li Fu was waiting there. “I will enclose you in this chamber for a period of time. Focus on yourself. Do you have anything you wish to say before we begin?”
“Let no doubt remain and no one will question me again,” I replied. Elder Li Fu nodded at this.
“I have heard what you have said, Yuan Zhou.” He left with my master and a large stone door was slid into place. The chamber was a half dome and not that big. At least it wasn’t freezing cold. I took off my outer robe and used it as a pillow while I lay there.
That was when I felt an itch all over my body. I just focused on my breathing and kept my eyes closed in the darkness. The stone of the room glowed a soft blue. I used a sleeve of my robe to cover my eyes.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The itching became worse and worse, but I just lay there keeping my breathing steady. The only time I got up was to use a bucket in the room to relieve myself in. I felt ill and got a headache. The motes inside of me were vibrating slightly.
I drifted in and not of consciousness as I just lay there in the room, occasionally going over to the bucket of water to drink and the other bucket to relieve myself in. I made sure not to mix the two buckets up. It just kept getting worse. The feeling of my organs wiggling inside of me came over me.
It was like worms trying to escape. I just lay there and endured. There was nothing else I could do. I had lost track of time. Finally, it all ended. The glow disappeared and everything stopped hurting. I heard the door open again and slowly stood up.
I picked up my robe I had been using as a pillow and put it back on as Elder Li Fu and Master Yi Rong came into the stone chamber. “Alive and not a demon and no cultivation destruction,” Master Yi Rong said. Elder Li Fu nodded.
“I was unsure, but he truly appears to be a genius favored under the heavens. A shame he treads the path of defiance. A true waste. We accept him as an inner disciple of the Cloudy Moon sect,” Elder Li Fu said.
I shakily bowed. “This junior thanks Elder Li Fu,” I replied. He just turned and left without another word.
“Come, let us get you cleaned up and get some food, and then you can spend time in the library,” Yi Rong told me. I slowly made my way back up the stone stairs from the chamber room, having to lean against the wall so I didn’t fall over.
I was taking back to my room where Yi Rong brought me a bowl of thin soup. I drank it, then had a second, and then a third before he stopped me. After getting cleaned up and another set of clothes, I was then given a metal badge with a moon, partially covered by a cloud. The Sect Symbol.
“Don’t lose that and don’t flash it about. It is proof of your identity. Keep it on you at all times. Once you are past the first stage, it will also function as a counter for your sect contribution points. I have already transferred mine to you.”
“Thank you, Master Yi Rong,” I said.
“It is a minor thing and there aren’t many. When I make my attempt for the next stage, I will leave you what little else I have left. I never bothered storing up wealth, since I never planned to take on a disciple or leaving a legacy,” he let out a sigh.
“You have already helped me master,” I replied.
“Thank you for your kind words. Now let me show you around.” I followed Yi Rong out of the guest house. “This is the main area of the sect. There are around 5,000 disciples, 500 members, and about 100 elders.” I nodded at this.
“We give outer disciples small rooms in shared buildings that surround the outer edge of the plateau.” I nodded at this as Master Yi Rong pointed them out. “They make up the vast majority of people and carry out the basic chores around the sect.”
“Why not use mortals?” I asked.
“Too big a risk to our security. It is a straightforward route for infiltration. No true sect would allow mortals into their land. Or they might have families that have pledged to serve. Different sects do things slightly differently. The next set of buildings are small houses for inner sect disciples and members. You will have your own place when you come here.” I nodded at this.
“Inner sect members often take on more critical tasks and all of their backgrounds have been assured or checked. Tasks such as cleaning the sect library or managing key buildings within the sect. That is how you will earn contribution points.”
“It used to be that spirit stones were the currency, but that led to imbalance when people were left vast sums by their ancestors. While that is allowed, it would drain resources from the sect. While people succeed or perish based on their own merits, the sect needs to function long term to ensure problems don’t arise and things are seen to.”
“That is why you will be required to pay contribution points and do tasks. Inner disciples can be given a set amount of contribution points ahead of time. Unfortunately, I could only leave you twenty, far less than the hundred I could have left you.” I already thanked him, and Yi Rong seemed to talk to himself more than me in the last part.
“Regardless, it will make things slightly easier for you at the start. The next are the various buildings of the sect arranged in another ring. The dining hall, the mission hall, the processing hall, the punishment hall.” I had just been in the last one since it had the soul reflecting chamber under it.
“The sect library for anything from the fourth stage and below.” I saw the occasional person walking about, but there weren’t that many people moving about the sect. I got some looks, but few. “Past the sect buildings are the houses of elders and core disciples that live with them. And at the center is the sect hall, sect leader’s house, and the second library for elders.” I nodded at this.
“Core disciples are used to maintain the inner buildings of the sect. Even they are required to pay contribution points the same as everyone else. Now, let us go into the library.” We entered the building up some stone stairs.
Inside there was a young woman manning a front desk. Master Yi Rong went up to her, and I followed. “My personal disciple, Yuan Zhou, will require a reading room set aside for the next month.”
“Very well. Room four is available. Is he aware of the rules?” Master Yi Rong shook his head slightly, and the woman continued while looking down at me. “Food or drinks are not allowed in the library. Keep things quiet. You cannot bring anything to write with or take anything out of the library. You are not to disturb others or ask them questions.”
“The sections are labeled by topic. Return anything you take from the spot you took it from. If you need to reach higher, there are ladders you can use and stepping stools scattered about. Do not leap, climb, or jump in the library. If there is any kind of incident, inform me immediately. That is all.”
“Thank you,” Yi Rong said, and the woman gave him a nod. He then led me to a room with a table and a couple of chairs. I noted the lights were in paper lanterns, but there was no fire, and everything was well lit.
“I will pick you up for lunch and dinner where you may ask me questions if you have them. Otherwise, you are to remain here and study. You are not to leave the library without me,” Master Yi Rong said.
“Thank you, master. I will not leave and study diligently,” I replied. He nodded and then showed me to the area where there were multiple copies of the same basic tome and various versions that had been updated throughout the years.
He grabbed one of the older versions and a newer version of Guide To Cultivation: Cloudy Moon Sect and told me to start there. With that, he left, and I opened them up and began reading. The script was incredibly tiny, but also immaculate.
They basically repeated everything Master Yi Rong had told me about the first four stages of cultivation, Qi Gathering, Foundation Establishment, Meridian Attunement, and Core Formation. It listed out each stage and explained the general steps.
Once a solid core is constructed, the cultivator will detonate the core to force their constructed astral soul apart to forge a true soul. The longer this void exists in astral space, the greater the eventual soul will be. But in turn, the harder it will be to initially reconstitute one’s soul. The ideal is 1,000 drops to form a solid core.
In the older version, it recommended 800 drops as the ideal. I kept reading the newer version but compared all the numbers to the older version and if they changed any sentences. There were some minor changes, but it was mostly the numbers that changed.
I finished the book right before Yi Rong came to pick me up for lunch. We ate in a private room off from the main dining hall, which was a privilege for sect members. Elders didn’t need to eat or have other arrangements. Once we were done, he escorted me back to the library.
I took the afternoon to carefully check all the sections. I occasionally got a look from a sect member, but they said nothing. The biggest section was the list of small tomes about what cultivators that had failed had done.
By far the busiest section with people and empty of tomes was the section on what successful cultivators had done. I took one tome from there to get a baseline and brought it back to the reading room.
It was complete garbage, in my opinion.
The alignment of the dragon’s veins inside oneself must attune to the cosmic forces at the celestial equinox. Only when harmony exists past the physical will one truly bring forth the power of the astral energy into oneself.
It was a lot of flowery language. I read through it but learned little. I returned the tome and pulled tomes from their spots, checked the first page, and put it back. They were all garbage, like the first one I had read. A sect member dropped a tome back on a shelf and left. I quickly picked it out. Now this one was much better, with actual diagrams showing the layout of meridians and motes.
I took this tome back with me to my assigned reading room. Master Yi Rong showed up, and I was allowed to leave the book here overnight while the library was closed as long as I returned the next day to either keep reading it or to put it back on the shelf.
I spent the rest of my time in the sect reading tomes and looking over cultivation diagrams. Both from people who failed and people who had succeeded to get past the first bottleneck.
There were two types of writers, I decided after a while. Analytical and flowery. I asked Master Yi Rong about this, and he smiled slightly while explaining.
“I remember seeing that myself the first time in the library. Cultivators are required to write something. Most just use the notes they develop while cultivating. But for those who don’t take notes or write things down, they quickly put down prose to get through the task. You have probably seen a lot more tomes from the failures than those who succeeded, but it isn’t always the case.”
Over the course of a month, I gained a very thorough understanding of the first four stages of cultivation. While there wasn’t much written about the first, many cultivators listed out their frustrations of being held back by the motes of Qi collected during the Qi Gathering stage, since it determined everything for the later stages.
Some people had added in more meridians than the recommended thousand to one ratio to aligned motes. Many listed out their cultivation difficulties and even one case of cultivation collapse. I considered asking Master Yi Rong if he had a tome written, but wisely didn’t. Experience of having an older mind. While some failures had their names listed, many didn’t.
There were thousands of tomes, but most of them were only twenty to fifty pages long at most. There were some monsters that were over a thousand pages long. I had read through those and they listed out everything in precise detail, with lots of diagrams, explanations, and references to other sources.
These detailed failures were the ones I really dug into. There were in-depth explanations on how best to align motes to form meridians and channels. Another one detailed their extensive effort to form the best possible core or multi-cores.
It quickly became obvious why the sect viewed such knowledge highly. I wasn’t allowed to write anything down, since I would leave the sect soon. Some tomes were just bound notes from people who had vanished outside the sect and had been declared dead. With these tomes there was a single page in the front listing the member’s name, when they disappeared, and when they were declared dead.
There were no disturbances, and no one bothered me in the library. Everywhere else, Master Yi Rong escorted me. While I could technically move about on my own, he didn’t want any drama. As the month came to a close, I realized there was so much more left to read through and understand.
As we rode away from the sect in the carriage that had brought us here, Master Yi Rong explained things more in depth to me. “Reading too much can cloud your mind. We will return in a few years. There are people who lose themselves in the tomes. Trying to find the perfect path, but you weren’t collecting motes while studying, were you?”
“No Master, I only collected a few, but not many,” I replied, and he nodded.
“Exactly. One cannot think their way through cultivation. A cultivator must do. Consider that the most important lesson I can impart to you. I knew many people who spent too much time studying and lost their way.”
“Why not use the same method for everyone?” I asked.
“Because there might be a better way. While innovation is slow, it is there. You saw it in the first two tomes I had you read.” I nodded at this and gave an affirmative. “But who is to say that an easier path at the start will make for an easier path later? The true value comes from the various paths at the later stages. And if a person in our sect ever reached the ninth stage and immortality, that would become the standard everyone would use,” Yi Rong explained.
“So high ranking sects copy things?” I asked.
“To some extent. But each person is different, and an ancient saying is that no two paths to immortality are ever the same. So, while you can learn, you need to think about what you learned and not just take in more information. To use your own knowledge and experience. You walk the path of defiance, and you will find no true answers in the library.”
“I have worked out the best mote layout, I think. I am still not entirely sure,” I replied.
“Take your time, come up with a plan, and then confirm that plan against the knowledge there when you return. What was the number of ideal motes you settled on?”
“One million three hundred and twenty thousand,” I said. Yi Rong just closed his eyes and let out a sigh.
“Why that number?” he asked.
“To form four main cores and a secondary core.”
“Foolish. Utterly foolish. Even if you collect that many motes, it would take you 132 years to align them all if you reached the perfect standard. You would be dead by then,” Yi Rong said.
“I would need to work out a faster way to align them,” I replied.
“Faster… Faster you say. The confidence in your voice makes me want to puke blood. Well, you heard my warnings and read of the failures. You would need to align 20,000 motes per year. That is impossible.”
“Since they shift as each one is aligned.”
“Yes, and it is slower at the start, while you have to keep resetting the motes. Tell me why that is the case,” Yi Rong asked me.
“Otherwise, there will be too much scarring left behind on one’s astral soul, as we shift them into position after settling in another location for a long time while aligning other motes.”
“Exactly. Your astral soul will be shredded, and you will die even sooner before you can align them all. And carving that many meridians, and four cores with a secondary core. Complete and utter foolishness.”
“I am considering partially aligning each mote to hold them in place and cycling through all of them first. I saw one passage about a person half aligning their motes before fully aligning them,” I explained. Yi Rong got a thoughtful look on his face.
“It might work. But the drawbacks of such a path would be in weakness. Each aligned mote empowers you, but they must be fully aligned. Completing sect tasks will be more difficult and there would be ridicule at your failure to advance.”
“But then I would leap ahead rapidly at the end?” I asked.
“Yes. Truly, the path of defiance. That still leaves the issue of carving out your meridians and channels.”
“I haven’t thought of a solution for that yet and I also need to think about the element I would imbue my channels with. I don’t suppose there is a time, space, void, or chaos element?”
“Foolishness. Where do you even get such ideas? The mind of a genius is a dangerous thing. Such elements are fairy tales told to children about cultivators. The Cloudy Moon sect has several water and earth element resources that can be used. I use earth myself.”
“More esoteric things like time. How would you grab into time and imbue your channels with such a thing? Perhaps a dao from a great beast or cultivator might be more in line with such a thing, but such a resource would be precious beyond anything else.”
“But what about using stuff found naturally, like air?” I asked.
“The energy is weak, and you will struggle to fill up your core with such energy once you carve out your channels. That is why people pick common types of energy that are more easily available. Even if you found a time resource, how much would there be? The heavens and the earth of the Firmament might be endless, but resources are not.”