Elder Ma used his divine sense to scan through the names of those who’d signed up for the tournament, recognising only a handful out of the scores of hopefuls.
There were three main ways of ascending to the Inner Sect: one, have someone high-up acknowledge you as their disciple, a route exclusive to supremely talented individuals; two, prove your potential through the Outer Sect Tournament; or three, reach Foundation Establishment through your own efforts.
Depending on the quality of disciples in a certain cohort, the number of disciples capable of achieving this could be as high as one-tenth of the cohort or as low as one-hundredth.
Still, since the ravine between Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment could take multiple years to surmount, it was far more advantageous to gain the sect’s support beforehand than after the fact. This was why even disciples who weren’t combat-focused still tried their luck in the tournament, in the hopes of getting recognised.
Elder Ma guessed this was also the case for this odd application from the fifth-layer disciple; the only reason he hadn’t immediately denied the application was because the disciple’s name had sounded familiar, although Elder Ma couldn’t remember where from for the life of him.
As such, he’d had requested the disciple’s details from the sect’s administrative wing to check if they were in fact a prodigy, in which case he’d allow them to participate in the tournament. Yet, the case file in his hands for disciple Zeng Fei told a different story.
Five-Elemental False Roots, diligent and focused, highly withdrawn personality, mediocre cultivation progress; to Elder Ma’s eyes, from every angle this seemed to be someone who’d achieve the higher layers of Qi Refining, then become a caretaker at one of the sect’s businesses.
If they’d been at eight or ninth layer already, he wouldn’t have minded giving them a chance in the tournament but not as they were now. He was about to reject the application when he saw a peculiar note at the bottom of the case file, recently added.
Old Gu told us this disciple was an interesting one. To reflect that, we have begun a probe into the disciple. Investigation ongoing.
Indeed, from anyone else, such a comment would have warranted a mildly curious eyebrow raise at most, but to hear the same from Old Gu was enough to make one’s brow furrow. It made Elder Ma want to find out more.
----------------------------------------
Visiting the Training Hall, Elder Ma made no effort to hide his presence, and was brought into Old Gu’s private cultivation room shortly after.
The emaciated old man was sat on a mat on the floor in the lotus position; his long white hair was an unstyled mess that would not let him look odd-placed next to the homeless on the streets.
Elder Ma bowed and clasped his hands in greeting. “I hope you are well, Old Gu.”
Old Gu did not respond; with eyes closed and breaths low, he appeared asleep.
But Elder Ma knew Old Gu’s temperament and wasn’t insulted. “I came to find you because a fifth-layer disciple named Zeng Fei applied to the Outer Sect Tournament. When I checked his case file, I saw that you had described him as being interesting, which made me wonder what kind of circumstances could have led you to making that comment about an otherwise unremarkable child.”
“Okay.” Old Gu went quiet again, seemingly considering how to explain himself.
Elder Ma gave him the space to do so and did not disrupt his thinking. That was, not until many moments of silence later, when Elder Ma realised Old Gu must have taken his sentence as a statement, not a question to answer…
Elder Ma cleared his throat. “To be clear, Old Gu, I was wondering about the circumstances, and now that I’ve directly come to you, I would like you to share them with me.”
“I see. That child won a spar against another child named Dong Ju.”
This was a name Elder Ma recognised - the younger brother of Dong Fu, who was one of the most promising candidates in the Outer Sect and someone that the Enforcers faction, unfortunately, had already taken as one of their own.
Recently, when Dong Fu had roughed up some disciple who’d just joined the sect, it was this faction that had fought hard to ensure he received only a tap on the wrist, even going as far as to cite this incident as proof for why he was a good culture fit for them (after all, who had ever heard of a sheepish debt collector who was successful?).
“Even if he won a spar against Dong Fu’s brother, I can’t see what’s noteworthy about someone at the fifth layer beating someone two minor realms below them.”
“He was not at the fifth layer back then; he was a first layer disciple who beat someone two minor realms above him.”
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
Elder Ma was perplexed. “I spoke to Disciple Zeng just before this, Old Gu - I can assure you he is at the fifth layer. It could be that you misread his cultivation a month ago if didn’t measure it in person.”
“He is at the fifth layer now, yes.”
Elder Ma’s expression creased into a gentle frown, confused at what this old man was trying to say and also embarrassed that he’d become confused by someone who never spoke in riddles, if anything the opposite.
Suddenly realisation dawned. “Wait… do you mean to say that Disciple Zeng went from first to fifth layer in a single month?” Elder Ma shook his head violently. “That’s just not possible.”
Old Gu remained as still and expressionless as a corpse. “No.”
“As in you’re agreeing with me, or are you refuting—” Elder Ma abruptly stopped and sighed; how was it this difficult to communicate with someone who always spoke directly and truthfully…?
He tried again. “Okay, let’s say I believe your claim that Disciple Zeng went from first to fifth layer in a single month. Since I assume you’ve been keeping tabs on him, you should know how he did this then, right?”
“Yes.”
“Which is?”
“He cultivated.” Old Gu paused and, as if realising he was being confusing, decided to expand on his answer. “He cultivated a few hours every day.”
“Okay, okay.” Elder Ma took a deep breath and massaged the knots out of his brow. “But you see, Old Gu, people don’t usually achieve such ridiculous growth from cultivating daily. So there must be something different about this child, something particular that contributed to his growth, no?”
“There are many things that contributed to his growth, yes.”
“I’m sure that’s the case. But in your opinion, what is the biggest contributing factor to his growth?”
“Hmm, probably the fact that he inherited an ancient cultivator’s legacy.”
“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY THAT EARLIER?!” Elder Ma dearly wished he could tear this old man’s hair out.
All the same, Old Gu remained unperturbed; it was to the point you’d be hard-pressed to tell if he was even awake at the present moment. “Because you didn’t ask earlier.”
Refuted by flawless logic, Elder Ma just wanted to cry; if it had been anyone else sat opposite him, he would have thought they were deliberately making a fool out of him.
“Okay, so you think this disciple has inherited an ancient cultivator’s legacy. Is crazy fast cultivation speed the only unusual characteristic you noticed about the inherited cultivation technique? And if it isn’t, feel totally free to answer with what those other characteristics are. In fact, don’t even feel free; I explicitly beg you to do so.”
“No. The inherited technique also appears to give him the ability to summon spirit beasts that fight for him.”
“Spirit beasts? Like the ones you use? But I thought they were fragile and quick to dissipate in combat, not going to be of much use at his level.”
“Yes.”
“So if he’s got beasts fighting for him, aren’t they more likely to be demon beasts? Perhaps the technique allows him to teleport in demon beasts from a stored location, which could certainly appear like summoning at a glance.”
“It is not about likelihood - he uses spirit beasts, not tamed demon beasts.”
Hearing this, Elder Ma’s emotional landscape flipped towards concern. “If everything you’ve said is true, then this child almost certainly has inherited an unknown ancient cultivator’s legacy. Given that the investigation on this child is still ongoing, I’m guessing they haven’t figured this out yet. So it is of paramount importance we inform the Sect Leader of this at once.”
“Yes.”
“Oh, have you already told him? Or maybe the guys investigating this matter?”
“No.”
Elder Ma sighed, feeling sorry for himself. “…because none of them thought of directly asking you, I take it?”
“Yes.”
“…”
----------------------------------------
Leaving, Elder Ma hurried to inform the Sect Leader who, upon hearing what the Elder had uncovered, profusely thanked him, although it was unclear whether this was for the information itself or for simply not being like Old Gu.
The truth about ancient cultivator legacies was that they were almost always cursed in some manner; hence, Treading Infinity Sect’s protocol for dealing with them started by testing the quality of legacy received before coming to any conclusions.
Elder Ma volunteered to do this, having a plan in mind.
Earlier on, he’d remembered where he’d heard the name Zeng Fei from: in the Dong Fu incident a month ago, the afflicted party had been a kid named Zeng Fei.
Disciple Sun Ru had erroneously believed him to be a junior who’d just joined the sect due to his cultivation base, which too was why Elder Ma hadn’t initially connected the first-layer victim from a month ago to the fifth-layer tournament applicant.
Old Gu’s revelations made clear, however, that they were one and the same.
Could this be why Zeng Fei was so set on joining this year’s Outer Sect Tournament instead of waiting for the next one, then? A month of nonstop cultivation fuelled by a desire for revenge also made first to fifth layer in a month sound more plausible, though not by much.
What was important was that if turned out Zeng Fei was a genuine talent, then Elder Ma could expect any favours he made now to be repaid many times over in the future.
These above pieces came together to form Elder Ma’s plan: since Zeng Fei had a grievance against Dong Fu, whom the Enforcers had already claimed, wasn’t this an opportunity to kill two birds at once?
Elder Ma informed the Sect Leader of his intent to indirectly test out the disciple in a real-life combat situation by pitting them against Dong Fu, a proven fighter with ninth-layer capability.
It was unclear whether the Sect Leader was aware of the underlying motivations or not, but it ended up not mattering for the plan was shortly approved.