Eventually, Sun Ping had to move. The sun had long since set, and darkness swallowed the ship. Huang Jie, the immortal, had ordered them to head to their cabins. Despite the runes protecting them, the shadows harboured evil ghosts and grudges that sometimes slipped through.
Jun followed Chen Hao’s scent to his room, barking outside the door until the boy let him in. He had motioned for Jun to follow him earlier, but the dog opted to stay outside for as long as he could. The room itself was small, with a bed, a table, and nothing more.
Chen Hao was in the middle of eating a combination of jerky and dried fruits, taken straight from his rucksack. A portion had already been laid out on the ground for Jun. A few moments of blissful silence passed as the both of them potentially ate their last meals as mortals.
“You won’t believe it, Jun. The girl you went up to is the daughter of an elder,” the boy spoke with excitement, his eyes practically glowing.
“No shit. Or do you think she wears phoenix robes just for fun?” Jun replied. He wasn’t sure of the specifics, but it was clear she was someone important.
“And the other guy is from something called the “Nine Yin Sect”. She said that their sect lost a war, so he has to come here as a captive.”
Well, that certainly explained things. If Jun was in his position, he wouldn’t be awfully fond of his captors. Still, there was something eerie about both him and the snake, something that couldn’t be quite put to words.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t talk more. She was really nice,” Chen Hao said, sighing. “And lovely,” he added as an afterthought, his head in the clouds.
Those words caused a shiver to run through Jun’s body.
“Emergency! Code red! He used the L word. Abort, abort!” Jun yelled, running circles around the room.
“What? Do you agree? I think so too.”
Jun abruptly stopped, speechless.
“It’s over. Didn’t you learn anything about Teacher Li’s tragic tale? Love never goes well in the cultivation world. Wait a few hundred years before you court death by romancing an elder’s daughter.”
This was still under control. Jun just had to make sure Li Xia treated him like a brother. Perhaps he had to introduce a love rival, though it never ended well with those.
“I can’t wait for tomorrow,” he said, rolling around on his bed. Jun, like an arrogant noble, occupied a piece of it for his own use.
The boy continued talking for quite some time, but eventually, the day’s exhaustion caught up to him. A lot had happened today, and more would happen tomorrow.
The next day, both of them woke up to the sound of Huang Jie’s words.
“Everyone, get up. We’ll be arriving in the sect soon.”
While Jun yawned, Chen Hao frantically packed his things, scampering to get everything off the table. He had apparently thought it would be a longer flight. A few panic-stricken minutes later, everyone was gathered on the deck of the ship, staring into the distance. Between a thick forest and a dense jungle sat open plains, prime for any would-be settlers. It was completely desolate, with not a single beast or human in sight. Jun bet that was their destination.
True enough, after a couple of minutes, the immortal pulled out a small medallion. Depicted on it was a strange, leathery face with three horns, its forehead pierced by a golden sword. For a moment, Jun thought the face twisted in pain, but his attention was drawn to something else.
One moment, he was flying below an open plain, the next, the ship pierced some sort of veil, and a wave of energy blasted him off his feet. The very air he breathed became crisp and filled him with wondrous power.
Standing back up, Jun took in the sight below him. A black lake drew in light like a piece of reality ripped out of this world, and surrounding it were numerous majestic buildings, rising stories above the ground. Here, gold flowed like water.
However, it was another fact that astonished Jun. He could clearly see that the sect formed an eight trigram formation, octagonal in design. It was as if an artist took a brush and painted the city. The buildings acted as lines, drawn not in ink, but in stone and gold, and the empty space transformed into busy streets and shady alleys. Even more impressive was the fact that construction was still ongoing. This “formation” had the capacity to grow and expand.
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‘Amazing.’
That was all that Jun could think about. As they descended further into the sect, they saw immortals flying around using whatever treasures they had—swords, sabers, leaves, and boats. They all respectfully bowed to Huang Jie when they saw the ship, but Jun noticed it was his robe they were staring at.
They landed in an open plaza north-west of the city, a formation lighting up below the ship. Thankfully, they didn’t have to go through the dreadful teleportation process again. Instead, they hopped off, and some strange force made them gracefully float down.
“Alright. Once again, I welcome you to the Abyss Treading sect. This is where you’ll stay until you reach the inner sect. Now, you need to be written down in the sect records and receive your outer disciple badge.”
Like a farmer leading a herd of sheep, Huang Jie led them past a dragon gate and into a building called “Hall of Legislation.” The inside was spacious—the walls were carved from jade, and the pillars that held up the ceiling depicted fights between humans and demons. The very air here felt stifling, as if they were unwelcome in this sacred hall.
In front of them sat a huge mahogany table, and on a large chair lounged a bored looking disciple wearing a grey robe. Just like Huang Jie, he looked to be in his twenties, his skin perfectly clear. On the wall behind him, written in ink, were words that burned themselves into Jun’s mind.
“Without Law, there would be no Civilization.”
The man behind the desk looked up and nodded towards Huang Jie. After a quick conversation, the man began to usher the disciples forward. Nearby, a flying brush frantically wrote down on a bamboo slip.
“What is your name, where were you from, what is your spiritual root?” He quickly asked the first disciple, a look of annoyance on his face.
Jun eagerly eavesdropped, but what was truly surprising was that there was only one person with a Pure Spirit Root, and that was Sun Ping. Dual Element Spirit Roots were rare, but both the young masters had them, and so did Chen Hao and three others. Jun memorised their names, ignoring everyone else that came after them.
“This is your badge. It can be used to ascertain your identity, store contribution points, take on missions, borrow scriptures from the library, and much more. Your magical beast, Jun, has also been registered to your name. You will be responsible for any actions it commits.” The cultivator said in a droll voice to Chen Hao.
“It. Your mother was an it. Fuck you,” Jun yelled at him, sensing the cultivator’s disdain.
With a new badge in hand, the merry bunch of mortals left the Hall of Legislation, most still fiddling with it, in awe of its design.
They started walking through the city, and it was only at this moment that it hit Jun. They were in the sect. This is where it all began. They passed by quiet teahouses, busy markets, medicine halls, cultivation villas, and much more. Cultivators bargained about shoddy medicine pills and magical artifacts, yelling out prices in spirit stones, and from time to time, a dispute ended up being settled by a quick clash of magical techniques. Of course, those that fought in the city would be quickly taken care of by the Hall of Justice. Still, the air here smelled pure, and the wide variety of different scents made Jun’s mind foggy. He would have to memorise it all again.
The cultivators here had a strange ranking system. Most of the people here were wearing grey robes, which he deduced to be common disciples. In certain parts of the city walked black-robed cultivators, which were given respect—disciples immediately moved out of their way, bowing low until the cultivator passed. Those wearing white robes were treated the opposite. It was not uncommon to find them carrying out menial tasks, grovelling before regular disciples. The first time they saw such a sight, Huang Jie turned toward the teenagers following him.
“One year. That’s the amount of time you’ll be provided free housing, an exemption from missions, and free cultivation resources. If you fail to reach the third stage of Qi Refining in a year, you will be demoted to a servant. And trust me when I say that you don’t want that.”
Eventually, they reached the centre of the eight trigram diagram. The massive black lake was walled off by a barrier of light, a contrast of yin and yang constantly clashing with each other. Being this close to it was like being near a hurricane. The air smelled of both purity and death, and he could feel his pores absorbing what he assumed to be spiritual energy. All around it, palaces no lesser than those belonging to emperors rose from the ground.
‘The closer you are to the lake, the richer the neighbourhood gets. Spiritual energy capitalism,” Jun thought to himself, dizzy just by being near it.
“And here is the Bottomless Lake, a gateway of sorts, and the source of all spiritual force in the outer sect. Every outer disciple strives to one day enter the inner sect, which resides there. Well, you’ll learn more about it when you’re qualified, but it’s sufficient to say that everyone with potential or a high cultivation base resides there.”
‘We’re the peasants of the sect. Amazing. Just you wait, inner sect. One day, this grandpa will show you what’s up.’ Jun smugly thought while everyone else was busy being awed. It was quite a lot for these kids to take in.
“Enough with the boring stuff. Everything in this world depends on your cultivation. Power, money, fame, and, most importantly, immortality. Let’s head to the Scripture Pavillion to pick your cultivation method.”