Another week went by. Yù Quán and Rèn Chāngmíng continued their law enforcement duties but at a much slower pace. Su Chunhua suggested it, as she didn't know how far they could go without facing retaliation. She said they should slow down until they were powerful enough to handle any pushback. Su Chunhua had also been busy with recruitment. As she had told Yù Quán, there would be some people who could be convinced to join their cult, even with the bit of evidence they had now.
The Archives of Mulian now had around thirty members, enough for them to start moving things along. Yù Quán and Su Chunhua sat down to work on the exact ranks and groupings, creating their School system:
Initiates were the people who were newly welcomed into the cult. They had access to the information they needed for chores or helping on missions. By showing their dedication through chores and their capability through their assistance in missions, they can then be promoted to disciples.
Disciples were considered full-fledged members of the cult. They were ranked by peaks, like mountaintops, shown on an insignia on their uniforms when made in the future, from first peak to ninth peak. They still had some chores but mainly served as low-rank men to do simple missions, assist in more difficult ones, and be the primary workforce for jobs more important than chores. They would have access to information needed for chores or missions and information given to them as rewards.
A scholar leads a team that comprises of disciples of all peaks. They are in charge of delivering and enforcing all orders given to them to pass down, as well as any orders of their own that can be considered beneficial to their goal and the cult’s overall well-being. Scholars have access to all the information disciples do, plus any information deemed necessary for leading their team at base, in missions, and off-duty.
High scholars lead shelves, which are collections of teams dedicated to a similar purpose. High scholars give and pass orders to scholars just as scholars do to their team members, but not as intimately, as they have several teams to manage. High scholars are only dispatched on missions of higher levels where absolute power or several teams and absolute authority are needed. Otherwise, they’re tasked with ensuring the missions their shelf is asked to complete are done so from the cult. High scholars have access to all the information scholars would, with the addition of all information needed for every mission or objective their shelf is tasked with.
Head scholars lead libraries, which are collectives of shelves based on general groupings within a broad subject. Head scholars will always be individuals with either vast potential, knowledge, or experience in the subject. Head scholars are very similar to high scholars; it is just that their authority is over the high scholars and all the shelves in their library. They have access to all the information available based on their library. For example, the head scholar of the Library of Research will have all the information on the research conducted by the cult.
The final rank, right below Yù Quán himself, known as Mulian within the cult, are keepers. Keepers were in charge of schools, which are the broad subjects that contain the libraries. Each school will have at least three libraries but will have more if needed. They are in charge of all operations within their subject. For example, Su Chunhua was designated the keeper of the School of Knowledge, and Rèn Chāngmíng was designated the keeper of the School of Combat. They are expected to be able to handle their schools without any orders from Yù Quán. Still, they are expected to make sure any orders he does make are completed, whether they be completed personally or passed down the chain of command. Keepers have all information available involving their subject, meaning Su Chunhua would know every piece of information. Rèn Chāngmíng would know every tactic and have access to every soldier’s combat information.
Yù Quán knew that, eventually, he would need to make more ranks as they went on. If all the high ranks were filled, how could anything be pushing lower ranks to work hard? He would probably make something similar to the council of elders in the former Cult of the Almighty. He might even separate them by generation or ranks of their own to maintain their achievements. Then, all he would need to do is promise them even more information, and some added benefits, and it would push everyone to contribute and achieve more. Plus, he felt it would be dumb to keep his close allies like Rèn Chāngmíng and Su Chunhua locked down for so long. If he could get the cult to prosper and find suitable replacements, he should allow them to spread their wings like he could.
Su Chunhua and Rèn Chāngmíng were happy with their positions. If the cult worked out, they were destined for greatness. They knew it would be a great responsibility, but the rewards could be endless. Su Chunhua’s School of Knowledge would work in all things information collecting, and Rèn Chāngmíng’s School of Combat would work in all things fighting, except for cultivation, which they all agreed should probably be its own school in the future. All around, the three of them were more than content with how things had been set up.
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The thirty members Su Chunhua recruited were all currently initiate rank members. They could have just filled in empty positions, but they wanted to ensure that only people who were fit for the position were given it from the beginning. Otherwise, there would have to be a bunch of awkward reorganizing later on. Su Chunhua was teaching the initiates the ropes. She explicitly taught half of them to run certain businesses to help gather resources for the cult, as Yù Quán suggested. Because of this, Su Chunhua and Yù Quán agreed that they would have to form a School of Treasury to handle these things, but that involved finding someone capable in business.
With everything being handled by Su Chunhua and Rèn Chāngmíng, Yù Quán visited the Yellow Qilin Academy. He gave an update on his whereabouts and accomplishments, obviously leaving out anything about the cult. Then, he went to take a break in his living quarters. He hadn’t been there in what felt like forever, although it was just a week. Likely because he was always either playing police officer or hashing out the details of the cult with Su Chunhua and Ren Changmig, he was tired and wanted some rest.
Yù Quán plopped onto the bed they provided, which was pretty much complimentary since cultivators didn’t need much sleep. But they were still human, and they liked getting a bit of shut-eye if they could afford it. He looked over to the side of his living quarters and saw something that caught his eye.
“Oh, yeah… the black box.”
Yù Quán had found the black box among the cargo the bandits were smuggling when he rescued and freed Rèn Chāngmíng. He didn’t have a chance to investigate it right away because he was focused on cultivating, then he got busy, and when he did have a chance, there were better things for him to explore. Over time, he had simply forgotten.
Yù Quán got up, walked over to the box, and picked it up. After close inspection, an incredibly detailed design went around the sides of the box. Because of the dark shade of black the box was, he almost couldn’t see the design. From a regular distance, the design might as well not be there.
“Is there a way to open this?” Yù Quán asked himself aloud.
But no matter how much fiddling, the box did not react. Yù Quán was a bit stumped. There was no possible solution he could think of, at least not from his experience with puzzles back in his world. Puzzle boxes were a thing on Earth, and although he didn’t play with too many of them, he saw them online or in films. But, even with Yù Quán’s enhanced eyesight, there was nothing he could see. It was practically a solid cube. All that he had to show him it was hollow was its weight and how it felt when he shook it a bit.
Then he realized. This isn’t a puzzle box like on Earth; he’s in a cultivation world. And what’s the most essential thing cultivators have over people on Earth? Qi. Yù Quán looked around and found a decent spot, then injected his qi into it. The design began filling up with qi. When it wouldn’t take any more qi, the other sides of the box were still empty, so he placed his fingers and injected them with qi one by one. When the last side was filled, the box popped open. Yù Quán looked inside the topless box and found an old and worn jade tablet. Jade couldn’t lose its luster, but it had chips, scratches, and imperfections that showed it had been used. When he inspected the jade tablet further, he got a notification from the system.
[Base Qi Condensing Technique]
Qi Focusing - Body Refinement
Top-Quality Earth Tier
A secret technique of the Darkmoon Villa that has been kept secret so as not to give up the only advantage night cultivators have during the day. It was created by a moon cultivator countless years ago.
Condense qi like a Foundation Laying realm cultivator with base qi and a base core.
Can be used by itself or used with other techniques to increase the potency in exchange for more qi usage.
Can be learned.
…
Yù Quán
Realm: Body Tempering Realm
Stage: 1st Level Skin Tempering
Main Cultivation Art: [Stolen-eyed Mùmùlián Body](Level 3)
Strength: 850 Catties
Qi: 2220/2220 wisps
Mùmùlián Core: 22/100
Strange Fire: (Level 2)Murderous Flame(x1)
Techniques:
[Mùmùlián Eye Stealing](Level 3)
[Mùmùlián Eye Refining](Level 3)
[Murder Mantra](Level 1)
[Yellow Qilin Dance](Level 1)
Attributes:
[Strange Fire: Murderous Flame]
[Star Gazing Eyes](Level 1)
[Top-Quality Maned Hog Ferocity Eyes](Level 1)
[Low-Quality Winged Watcher Awareness Eyes](Level 1)
[Low-Quality False Dragon Pride Eyes](Level 1)
[Low-Quality Death-Dealing Dama Killing Eyes](Level 1)(x2)