“Please, young Dalian, sit.” Alano said with a slight smile, motioning to the seat opposite him.

The memory of Alano killing Shelu flashed in Dalian’s mind. He reminded himself not to trust the man’s genial expression that encouraged feelings of comfort.

Dalian started to struggle over to the cushion.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot you aren’t used to this kind of qi density yet.”

He made some hand signs and Dalian felt the pressure around him lighten immensely. It didn’t completely disappear, but it had become beareable.

“Thank you.” He said, as he made his way over to the table and sat down.

Alano smiled. “Please, have some tea.”

Dalian obliged and poured himself a cup. Taking a sip, he found it to be the best he had ever tasted. As it travelled to his stomach, he felt slightly more rejuvenated.

“How is it?”

Dalian didn’t need to lie. “It’s excellent, the best I’ve ever had. Whoever brewed it must be a master.”

Alano chuckled softly. “You over praise me, this is nothing more than a weak attempt of mine.”

Dalian went for another sip, as he waited for Alano to speak.

“I would like to begin by establishing my expectations. As my disciple, you represent me. Which means any failure of yours reflect upon me, so too do your successes. As such, I will not accept anything less than your best.

That means no slacking. If I find you to be wasting time on trivialities, there will be consequences. You have far too much potential to waste away.

Of course, whilst there will be punishments, there will also be rewards. Perform well enough and you can have anything you desire.”

Dalian nodded seriously. “I understand. I do not take this opportunity lightly.”

“I know. Your display during the first test has shown me your resolve already.” Alano said.

“Can I ask something?” Dalian requested. Though there was benefits in presenting himself as the type of disciple who would accept anything presented to him, he simply knew too little. Knowledge was power.

Seeing a nod from Alano, he continued. “Why did you choose me?”

Alano took a breath. “You have something that sets you far apart from others. Within yourself is a life spirit root. And not just any regular root… it is high grade.

"This element of spirit root has very unique applications which make it highly desirable. You have already used one of them, purification. Evil qi is a scourge upon our world, and you can exterminate it.

"The second main function is to heal others. Healing arts can sometimes be used with other spirit roots, but they pale in comparison to a life root.

"Finally, whilst it can be used to bring much good to the world, it is also known as one of the most dangerous elements. With it, you control the life energy of the world, and of other creatures. You can picture for yourself the possibilities.

"On top of all that, it is high grade. Do you understand now why I chose you. The only others on your level in the younger generation are the Inisher brothers, who have top grade spirit roots.

"You are destined for greatness.”

Dalian considered his words. A nervous feeling of excitement began to rise in his body. He felt like jumping into some exercise to release the tension, but he remained seated. He didn’t think Alano was lying. There was no point, he would easily figure it out soon if he was.

This meant he had an excellent start on his path to immortality. However, he knew this was only possible because of the treasure he had found in the goblin cave. The Immortal Creation Orb. What were its origins? How could an item so powerful just be lying around like that?

He knew for certain however, that he had to keep its existence secret. The only others who knew about it were his brothers. Although he hadn’t known them for long, they had survived through life and death together. He trusted them.

They both drank some tea.

“What happens now?” Dalian asked.

“I will take you to a life attuned area to begin your cultivation. It is important that we lay a good foundation for your cultivation. You need to learn more about life qi, and that’s impossible to do in a timely manner within the sect.”

A seed of worry was planted in Dalian’s stomach. He didn’t think that the man would do anything to him. There were other elders, and if his root was really as important as Alano had made it out to be, they wouldn’t let him get away with gutting him and running.

Besides the man seemed to be quite established in the sect, judging from the fact that he had a personal mountain. Would he really give that all up?

Still, the memory of his betrayal kept flashing through his mind.

“What about the others?” He asked.

“Those taken in by the elders will receive personal nurturing. The others have been sent to the outer sect and been granted a copy of the sects standard cultivation manual. They will have time to cultivate, but they will also have to work after a month, when they have settled into the sect.

It is up to them to advance to a better position. Those with talent can set themselves apart from the rest. Once they make it to the inner sect, they can dedicate all their time to cultivation.”

“How do they get there?”

“You don’t need to worry about that. It isn’t your path. Now, we have spoken long enough. You may return to your quarters and prepare. We will leave in four hours.”

Dalian nodded and stood up. “Thank you, honoured Elder. I will not forget the kindness you have shown me.” In his mind, he added ‘but if you try to take advantage of me, I won’t hold back in my revenge. Even if it takes a thousand years.’

Alano smiled, and Dalian left. When he came out, he took a breath of fresh air as the pressure on his body finally went away. He wondered how the elder was able to live in that. Even the lightened effects had taken a toll on his body.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

His escorts were still waiting for him. Dalian could’ve gone back to his pavilion, but he was still full of questions, and if he was about to spend an unknown amount of time with only the Elder, he thought he should take the chance to learn more from the people on the mountain.

“I’d like to learn more about the world of cultivation. Please take me to someone knowledgable.”

The guards nodded and started moving, Dalian following in their trail.

—-

It was evening, and the earlier rush had died down. Perhaps it had been meal time, Dalian thought, with everybody moving quickly to get to wherever they served food.

The compound was larger than it had seemed when Dalian had looked down at it from above the previous night. Not all of it was as beautiful as the elder’s estate, but nevertheless it possessed an immortal charm.

None of it was like his home village made from wood. At the bare minimum, everything was built from stone.

He was quickly led to the servant’s quarters, as told by his guards, to meet with a man named Jun, the head of the servants.

Going past the dorms filled with beds, he arrived at a small but rather homely room. After waiting for one of the guards to enter and inform the man of his arrival, he was invited in.

There, sitting by an old wooden table was an ancient man with a wizened expression.

“Young Dalian, welcome.” He said with a gruff voice.

“Greetings…” Dalian trailed off as he wondered how he should adress him.

“Old Jun, that’s what everyone else calls me. And you can do away with all that honour and respect stuff. I never liked it myself.” said Old Jun.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you.” Dalian replied, too uncomfortable to completely do away with his greeting.

The old man sighed, and waved his arm for Dalian to sit.

Hurriedly following his instruction, Dalian felt a flash of deja vu.

“Lei tells me you want to learn about our world.”

Dalian nodded.

“Shouldn’t Alano be telling you about all this?” he asked.

“He will, but I just can’t wait.” Dalian said, not wanting to reveal that he didn’t trust the elder.

“Young people are always so impatient. This isn’t the kind of temperament that will take you to immortality.” chided Old Jun.

“Still, I would like to learn.” replied Dalian.

Jun sighed, “Very well, I will teach you some basic information.” Five tokens were suddenly placed on the table. “Just like in the mortal world, our sect has a hierarchy.”

He gestured to the token closest to Dalian. “At the bottom is the outer sect. This contributes to the majority of the cultivators in the sect. Some live their entire life here. It’s not a bad existence. You get time to cultivate, but you also have to do some low level missions for the sect.”

Pointing to the next token, he continued. “The inner sect. This is where the talented disciples tend to congregate.” After a moment, he added. “Of course, that excludes those like you who have been taken in by an elder. To get here, you must either reach the foundation building stage, or accomplish something exemplary. Neither is as easy as it sounds.”

He moved his hand to the third token. “The elder hall. These people run the sect. They are the pillars of our life. Each has reached the core formation stage. You must reign yourself in at all times before them. You might have the potential to reach their level, but right now you are nothing more than a mortal.”

He picked up the next token. “The sect leader. He is an imperial existence within our sect and his word is equivalent to the law. Even the elders have to bow down to him. He reached his position through absolute strength and dominance over our enemies.” Jun smiled.

Finally, he took the last token in his hand. “The supreme elder. Having gone into seclusion hundreds of years ago, nobody even knows if they’re alive.” He lowered his voice. “The elders would never admit it if they were dead, because even just that question prevents our enemies from taking action. If they are still living however, then they have certainly reached a level beyond your imagination.”

Dalian paused, struggling to take in all the information. It seemed like the only things that would affect him at the moment were the outer sect, inner sect, and the elders. The other two seemed more like wards against evil. The information was helpful, but he really wanted, no, he needed to know something else.

“What about Elder Alano?”

“Ah, Alano; he’s a slight exception to this rule. He occupies the position of test administrator. In other words, he manages every test the sect has for it’s disciples. What make his position quite prestigious though is that, because of his duties, he controls a large portion of the sect’s wealth.

Each time the sect’s secret realms open up for disciples to test themselves, only he can know where the treasures are. If all the elders knew, then they would just tell their disciples and the unworthy would quickly gobble up everything.”

Dalian thought of the map which Shelu had transmitted into his mind, containing all the positions of the treasures. Would Alano have changed anything? How long ago had she even been killed?

“How did he reach his position?” asked Dalian.

“Hmm. Perhaps about a hundred years ago? The previous test adminstrator went missing, and he was the best candidate to replace them.”

“How did they go missing?” asked Dalian. He knew he was testing his luck a bit here, in case Alano was listening in somehow, but this seemed like the best opportunity he would get for a while, to learn of the official story.

“Well, it caused quite a commotion back then. Everybody was pointing fingers at each other. The truth is nobody knows. I personally believe that she was killed by an evil cultivator.”

So, it had been swept under the rug, thought Dalian. And after a hundred years, it was so long ago that nobody cared. Probably most of the elders from that time had already been replaced. Which made Dalian wonder.

“Old Jun, how do you know so much about something so long ago?”

His question caused a wistful expression to appear on Jun’s face. After taking a moment to compose himself, he replied airily.

“I was originally a cultivator.

But I wasn’t just like any other outer disciple. I was an Elder.”

He sighed.

“But that’s from another lifetime now. Today, I am just a head of servants.”

Now that was something that could help him. A veritable trove of information, contained in someone who no longer had any benefit to keeping it.

“I don’t wish to offend you, but if I may, how could that happen?” Dalian asked.

Old Jun banged on the table. “What did I tell you about those meaningless manners!” He said, but upon seeing Dalian’s guilty face that looked as though he was about to apologise, he calmed down.

“Curiosity is fine. The story isn’t that interesting anyway. I was crippled in a battle with an evil cultivator. The sect gave me a decent position to grow old in as thanks for my service, and that’s it.

People respect me for my sacrifice, and that’s enough for me. Normally, disciples who are crippled get sent out into the mortal world with a bit of money and that’s it.”

Dalian almost gave his condolences for his loss, before realising that Jun would most likely chide him for it.

“Evil cultivator?” He asked instead.

Old Jun’s face became slightly flushed. “They’re vile people that can’t even be called humans. They take one look at the difficulties of immortality and decide that they’d rather slaughter and torture the innocent to use them as sacrifices for their cultivation.” His voice rose in volume “I’ll tell you this now, if you ever come across one and you need to decide whether to spare them or kill them. Always pick the latter, you’ll be doing the world a favour.”

After finishing, he seemed to realise his anger and shook his head. “I think that’s enough for today.”

Dalian could easily tell that the man wanted him gone. Perhaps he felt embarassed for losing sight of himself, but Dalian had a different impression.

Such a relaxed old man could become so aggravated at just the mention of the evil cultivators.

What kind of monsters were they?