At the courtyard of a Sect. Numerous disciples were gathering there, afraid of missing a great show.
"Senior Sister! You can't do this!"
A boy went down on his knees, his hand clutched his chest as if he was in pain.
"Humph! I've already told you that unless you can get to the intermediate Spirit Realm, don't bother talking to me."
Said a girl, her arms folded in annoyance.
"Bu-But, Senior Sister I merely began breathing 14 years ago, began cultivating 6 years ago, it is just not possible to get such a high goal!"
"Then, it is just not possible for me to be with you!"
"Senior Sister, just give me thre- No, two years! And I swear on my honor I will not disappoint you!"
"Enough, I gave you a chance, but since you did not take it, you can't blame anyone but yourself."
After saying so, the girl walked away, leaving an empty shell of a man staring at her slender back, his eyes filled with longing.
Entering the woman's inner disciple house, Xue Ri sighed.
From the time she first became a disciple of the Eastern River Sect, she had received more love declarations than could be counted on two hands.
Not unlike Luo Hongyi, the boy she rejected earlier, all other suitors met with the same fate.
Her close friends had always said to just reject them and not give them a shred of hope. But, try as she might she could not bring herself to stomp on other fellow disciple's heart. Thus, she thought of a solution, presenting them with a goal.
Goals that only geniuses could realize. Thus, if they could not reach that goal, she would not feel as guilty for rejecting them as she had presented them with a chance.
With that said, it still made her guilty to have to put up this cold facade when she did her "rejection speech". As to scare off other disciples with a similar motive.
'I should not think about this too much, finding a cultivation partner is a lifelong decision that cannot be underestimated.' Xue Ri assured herself.
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She continued walking down the hallway when-
'Ahhh! The Sect mission!'
Her eyes went wide as she thought of this. Due to her being in secluded cultivation for six days, she had forgotten about the weekly Sect mission. Failure to complete the weekly mission would lead to punishments.
The first offense leads to a reduction of cultivation resources for six months, the second lead to a trial by the Elders and the most severe verdict was expulsion.
To cultivators that devoted their lives to reaching a higher realm, reduction of resources was akin to caging them. As that would lead to slower improvements and ultimately being left behind by their peers.
The Sect had implemented this rule to prevent their disciples from procrastinating, after all, which Sect wanted to waste resources on a bud that never grows.
Not sparing another second, she turned and hurried to the Sect Hall.
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At the entrance of the Eastern River Sect Hall, a girl with a slender frame, long black hair that reaches her waist and robes only Inner disciples could wear was seen panting as she enters.
Male disciples that noticed her began chattering.
"Brothers, do you see that beauty over there?" A disciple said while pointing in Xue Ri's direction.
"Of course I see her! One of the top beauties of the Sect, I would be blind to not see her!" replied his friend.
"What do you think? How are my chances?" the disciple asked while looking at his band of friends, filled with anticipation.
His friends looked at one another.
"Puuiii! Hahaha! You sure know how to jest brother!" was the reply followed by group laughter.
Xue Ri, scanned her surroundings as she walked to the front of the hall. The hall was spacious enough to accommodate five thousand disciples, numerous little makeshift stalls opened by disciples were selling cultivation pills, manuals, and even student lectures can be seen. Hundreds of her fellow disciples were gathered, some chattering amongst their clique while others were browsing a board filled with pinned papers.
She continued surveying the board when she spots a counter nearby with a sign hanging overhead that read "Missions".
Sitting behind the counter was a man that looked to be in his forties, his face was stern as he talked to a disciple. His hair mainly black, with small streaks of gray. But the most conspicuous aspect about him was his aura.
When a mortal started cultivating, the first realm would be Qi Condensation, if he could surpass that realm he would be in the Spirit Realm. After the Spirit Realm is the fabled Sky Realm, that a minority of cultivator could ever reach, it was the Realm that allowed humans to soar like birds in the sky. The dreams of all greenhorn cultivators.
'At least Novice Sky Realm! As excepted of Elder Chou, he broke through! I have to work harder to break through to the Sky Realm as well.' She convinced herself as she started walking towards Elder Chou's counter.
Sect missions were compulsory for all members of the Sect, not even the elders were spared.
The Eastern River Sect had three class of disciples; Outer disciples, Inner disciples and Core disciples.
The Outer disciples were mostly new recruits that had not cultivated long. But it also contained a few lazy and problematic disciples. They were only expected to do one Sect mission a month.
Inner disciples were disciples that could differentiate themselves from the rest of the Outer disciples, whether it be consistently winning inter-tournaments or doing exemplary service for the Sect. They had to do at least one Sect mission every week.
Lastly, the Core disciples. They were the pride and future of the Sect, most of the Core disciples grow up to become the Sect's elder. To become a Core disciple, they must differentiate themselves from the Inner disciples. Similar to the Inner disciples, they were expected to complete one Sect mission a week. However, the missions for Core disciples had a large increase in difficulty.
The Sect Missions were ranked from F to A. F being the easiest, ranging from missions such as clearing rubbish to cleaning toilets.
Rank A missions were usually reserved for the Elders, they mostly consisted of hunting Devil Cultivators or killing a high-tier demon beast.
Xue Ri approached the counter.
"Disciple Xue Ri greets Elder Chou." greeted Xue Ri with her palm and fist together in salute, her respect towards Elder Chou clearly displayed.
"Hm, what do you want?" questioned Elder Chou with an indifference glaze.
"Elder Chou, please allow me to choose a mission."
"Fine, since you are an Inner Disciple you may only choose missions ranked D or higher. Go pick one from the notice board then come back."
"This disciple understands, thank you, Elder."
After bowing towards Elder Chou, she made her way in front of the notice board.
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