“To think there would be trash like you here,” a long-haired teen from the newest batch of recruits said. “Has your clan gone mad? Why did they let the cripple out?”

Some others in his cohort laughed. The target of their ire was a medium-built boy with sparkling black hair and red eyes. The boy didn’t reply. He merely walked away, wearing a smile.

“No wonder she left you for a better man.”

“Yeah! You should have left the Fang Clan some face and hidden away. Yet you show your face in an immortal Sect without shame.”

“Go away, cripple. No one wants a drunk, brothel-addicted scumbag like you here.”

“You here for something? Daring to show your mug in a tradition immortal sect. Did the orthodox ones not need you? Yuck.”

More jeers followed.

“With that, it’s almost three hundred.” Li Yao rubbed his hands and blew hot air on them. It was getting colder, and the mist was lasting longer every morning.

A week had passed, and it had been nearly ninety days since Yu Han arrived in this world. More batches of recruits had arrived, each accompanied by a great Senior Brother or Sister, perhaps at Duan Xiaolong’s level. Dong Chou would take them in and scribe their talents.

A loud gong rang out.

“Gather all in the yard by the next hour!” a voice echoed. It was the Senior Brother from the Law Enforcement Hall.

Soon the yard was filled up. It was a large field, but without grass, the soil hard like asphalt from years of maintenance. There was a small shrine by the side, with a few incense sticks. It depicted an official figure holding down a bird-headed man.

Dong Chou was there, as were the few other permanent figures from the Rookie Village.

There were many new faces, but nobles tended to mix with nobles, and the commoners were grouped together. Nobles numbered almost two-thirds, and more than a few insults were hurled. Girls and boys generally occupied different Sections of the yard. Yu Han wasn’t opposed to competition. But it had to be regulated.

The Law Enforcement Hall members were there; the Blue Strategies Book described them a bit.

They were one of the permanent wings of the Sect. Any organisation that had the name “Hall” or “Clan” here was permanent, part of the Sect’s inner structure. Meanwhile there were other organisations that could be created and dissolved—after registering with the Sect, of course.

“Oi, look.” Li Yao pointed at a group of girls.

A bunch of teenage girls were surrounding Huang Niuniu, who was speaking with a smile on her face. She left the group, going to the shrine. Two other girls followed her, one with white hair, the other with hair in twin tails. They prayed at the shrine.

“Looking a lot brighter.” Li Yao whistled.

Yu Han shrugged. She was her own person. If she could heal from trauma fast, then all the good for it.

But that smile looked fake. It wasn’t the one she showed him when they first met.

She was brutally tortured. Then almost raped. Yu Han hoped, despite all that, she’d get the smile back.

“The last of you have arrived,” Dong Chou said, and the murmurs stopped. “The rewards have been passed out, and your fates scribed in the Sect scrolls.”

Was he just looking at me? Yu Han blinked, and Dong Chou was looking elsewhere.

“You shall now leave the Rookie Village. You are the three thousand one hundred and seventy-third cohort of the illustrious Stormy Reef Sect. Be proud. From today henceforth, you are all Outer Sect Members.”

The voices of the recruits rose.

“Silence. You now say goodbye to the Rookie Village. Your Senior Brothers and Sisters will take you to the Outer Sect proper. Gather your belongings and line up at the pier. The Drizzles await.”

With that, the recruits scattered.

Yu Han checked his hut carefully in case he’d left something behind. He had found a hemp basket he could carry like a backpack; it was mainly for gathering firewood. He carried the books in it, covered in a cloth wrap.

The halberd hung on his back. It was hard to carry it like that at first, but after a week of practice, it was easier.

The pouch with the remaining fifteen spirit stones was at his waist, and the one thousand spirit stone token was secure in his pocket.

“Let’s go.” Yu Han joined the line with Li Yao. Li Weidong, Xiao Zhuzi, and Hu Feng were there too.

“Looking chipper, Little Bamboo,” Li Yao said.

“All thanks to you, brother.”

Apparently, Li Yao had exchanged some of the spirit stones for a better healing salve.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Xiao Zhuzi was the third to officially break through to Level 1, after Yu Han and Dong Chou’s granddaughter. He’d received a reward too, but the guy was tight-lipped. Which was only proper.

They got onto the Drizzle. There were about twenty kids cramped on it. All riff-raff, but Yu Han spotted the red-eyed kid too.

“Are red eyes common?” Yu Han asked Li Yao. He’d read somewhere on the internet that it wasn’t possible naturally. Or was it a disease?

“Never seen ’em before,” Li Yao said.

“Maybe it’s conjunctivitis.”

“What’s that? A Daoist spell?”

He’d seen red hair. Not the red of Earth redheads, but brilliant red, as if painted. Yu Han had spotted some blue and green hair too, and irises of the same colours. Even Wu Di had amber eyes, and not red.

This boy’s eyes looked almost vampiric. He stood by the guardrails, peering into the riverbanks with a distant gaze.

“You falling for him?” Li Yao said. “I thought you liked the Cow Girl, and then you made a move on me. And now this—”

“Stone-Cutting Chop!”

“Fuck! Careful with that halberd, you fat ass!” Li Yao punched back.

“Mountain Root Stance!”

Yu Han had only shared the Cheat Sheet and Ji’s Cultivation Contemplation with Li Yao. But he would admit that their relationship had improved a lot in the last days. He felt less embarrassed to call him a friend, at least. But only inside his head.

Li Yao didn’t know how to use a halberd, but apparently, he had some spear training. So they practised together, and now Yu Han could somehow imitate one of the complete variations of the Ox Tail 72 Sweeping Forms from memory. The Art hadn’t appeared in his Arts list, and he was less proficient at it than a toddler swinging a stick. But there was progress.

The muscle soreness from the first days of practice had still not faded. Two days ago he was able to complete one variation for the first time, and he’d passed out sweating and wheezing.

The Drizzle passed within kilometres of the city again. There seemed to be some festivity going on. There was a large procession on one side, led by a man on a giant tiger. In another place, a temple was being built, with bald monks scattering ash near the shore.

This close to the city, there were many villages, small hamlets, and clumps of huts. Some had large pavilions, and one near a tall mountain housed a palace.

Finally, the Drizzle stopped at a stone dock with many other boats. Farther away, there seemed to be a port, with vessel sized ships docked. The hubbub was like that of a fish market.

The place was near the impossibly tall mountain Yu Han had spotted before. The smaller dock was filled with recruits. Some were praying at a nearby river god temple, and others were checking the place out, chatting in groups.

There were others too, older Sect disciples judging by their robes. Some greeted the recruits, while others looked wary. Most were busy with their own matters. Yu Han saw three men unloading a haul of strange fish nearby, then carrying the catch to a nearby building.

The buildings here were made of stone and wood. They were old and had an ancient aura to them. Figures of people wielding swords and spears against monsters were etched into the eaves, and each pillar seemed to have calligraphy on it.

Soon, all the recruits were gathered. They were led by a group of ten older Disciples, four of whom were accompanied by companion beasts. They walked over a stone road, passed a large dam, and arrived at the foot of stone steps that seemed to go on forever.

“From this point on,” a Senior Sister said, her voice melodious like a bird’s song, “we enter the central area of the Outer Sect. The whole outer perimeter of the Sunken Mountains is the Outer Sect of the Great Stormy Reef Sect. But here you’ll find the most important Halls. And here, you’ll live for the first year.”

They were then led up the mountain. The stone stair steps were huge, and the mountain was probably bigger than Everest. After a few hours, Yu Han had almost passed out.

The writing on a nearby wooden sign mocked him.

“To those who carry naught but their own weight,

The Stairs of Trial, first of nine you may face,

If your knees are weak, young child, fix your broken gait.”

Li Yao had long since taken the halberd, but Yu Han refused to hand over the books.

“Car-di-oooooooo,” he wheezed.

“You’ve gone crazy.”

“I. Burn. Calories!”

By the time they were a tenth of the way up, they could already see a vista. The surrounding mountains weren’t as tall, and the neighbouring one’s peak was already at their current height. “Oi oi, is that another palace?” Li Yao gaped. “There too!”

Each mountain had some large palace-like structures popping out from the green canopy. They were magnificent entities. Wood on stone, seamlessly merged with nature, azure-white robed disciples scurrying about.

The mountains here weren’t sunken. There were rivers nearby but the valleys in between were normal, and it seemed to be as such for the whole Central Outer Sect region. Yu Han saw one valley nearby that seemed to be some kind of marketplace, with the hustle and bustle clearly visible.

Thankfully, they didn’t have to climb the full set of stairs. The stairway split, one part continuing up, the other curving down the side of the mountains towards a populated valley.

Yu Han only tripped twice on the way down.

By the time they reached the bottom, a large crowd of disciples had already gathered. This valley had a giant stone platform in the middle, and the Senior Brothers and Sisters brought the rookies to the edge of the platform.

The older disciples kept quiet. There were some cheers here and there, a few voices evaluating the new arrivals, and others mocking disdainfully.

Suddenly, a mist appeared in the valley. It had been sunny until recently, and it was only halfway through the afternoon. But now the mist obscured Yu Han’s sight.

The mist swirled like currents, gathering on the stone platform stage and spiralling into a ball shape. And then the ball burst, revealing a middle-aged man. He wore the same azure-white robes, but his were more orange, with the white patterns on the blue revealing a dragon. There was a gourd at his waist, and a sword hung on his back. There were white streaks in his neatly trimmed black beard.

An oppressive pressure waved out, quieting all voices.

Li Yao gulped from beside Yu Han. And Yu Han, in real-time, felt the soreness of his muscles disappear.

The man raised his palm and snapped his fingers. The sound exploded out.

There was a low whistle, as if a missile was heading their way. Yu Han snapped his head up.

A line of blue fire fell from the sky and landed beside the man without raising dust. The heat scorched the air, and the aftershock hit Yu Han like a drum. But the lingering mist seemed to protect him with a ripple.

The figure that emerged from the fire was a woman. She had blue eyes, her hair flowing loose, wearing modest robes that covered most of her skin other than her palms and feet. A small cat rested on her shoulder.

To her right, the stone platform split open, and water bubbled out. It rose like a geyser and then solidified into the form of a tall, bald man wearing azure-white monk garbs.

Li Yao gurgled, his eyes moving erratically.

We got a superhero fanboy here. Yu Han calmed his beating heart. He was shocked too. He’d seen the magical powers of Qiao Jinhai and Duan Xiaolong, even the old man from the Verdant Blade Sect and the Shark Lady. But this was on another level.

“Welcome, children, to your new home,” the man with the sword said. His voice was deep, as if rising from the ocean depths. “Here you shall live, and here you shall die.”

The man snapped his fingers again.

And a recruit standing five steps away from Yu Han exploded into a shower of blood.