Chapter 30: Six Ocean Sect’s Main Hall
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Huang Xue looked at the several tall mountain peaks around him, before he picked the tallest one that was located near the Six Ocean Sect. This would make it more convenient to enter and exit the Sect, and he would be able to sense if any new auras enter the place.
In a few moments, Huang Xue arrived at the top of one of the thousand peaks. Laid before was a large building decorated with a pond and a few tall, emerald trees. It was located near the entrance of the Six Ocean Sect.
“At least, this Six Ocean Sect treats their inner disciples quite luxuriously...that is, in context of this Lower Regions of course.” Huang Xue thought as he walked towards the wooden door.
Upon getting closer, he saw a small protruding hinge from the door; supposedly for hanging one’s identification plate. After leaving his golden badge on the wooden door, Huang Xue entered the room. The interior was luxuriously arranged with a round black table, a huge bed, and paintings hanging around the room.
Huang Xue calmly paced around the room as he began to think of his next plans. Now that he was an official disciple of the Six Ocean Sect, and a “sixteen years old youth”, he had to act accordingly to his role. In other words, he must continue to hide his other cultivation levels; as if he’s exposed, he may disrupt the natural flow of fate.
If the latter case was to happen, it may become much harder or even impossible to find his destiny disciples. Thus, Huang Xue understood that he has to integrate and go with the flow of this world. He would have to make do with his current identity and Jie Hai-leveled strength for the time being!
After all, Huang Xue’s secret bodily transformation technique had indeed returned his body back to its prime state. And due to certain restrictions in the skill, he would not be able to transform back to his original “old state”; in this sense, Huang Xue could wholly be considered a bona-fide youth now. Even if he were to engage in some battles with those other youths, in Huang Xue’s mind, it wouldn’t be an issue. In fact, even if he was several hundreds years old, fighting someone a younger generation would not matter.
Back in the land of gods, “age” truly is merely a number that is completely disregarded when it comes to battling one another.
Huang Xue gently felt the cosmic ring on his head as a slight frown appeared on his face.
“The star decree stone did not emit any motion or energy, which means that my destiny disciples were not among today’s incoming crowd of freshmen…*sigh*...then could my destined ones already be within this school? Or did I miss out on some students?”
As long as Huang Xue was within ten meters of his destined person, the star decree stone on him would emit a slight tremble to indicate that the latter was near! This, was Huang Xue’s method and chance at finding the ones depicted in his reading...
After a while of browsing his room, without nothing special to note, Huang Xue turned and left out the door.
“Since the sun is still up in the air, I should take a visit to this Sect’s main hall...there should still be a lot of people roaming about.” Huang Xue thought with a faint smile as he headed towards the center of the surrounding mountains.
In the time it takes to boil a cup of tea, Huang Xue arrived before the conscious main building. As expected, there were still many disciples hurrying in and out of the building like rushing water.
As Huang Xue headed inside the large building, every once in awhile he could feel people staring at him from afar. At first, he thought it was some hidden cultivators observing him in secret, however he quickly realized that it was merely the surrounding disciples who were attracted to him. As such, he paid no mind to them any longer after a while.
Inside the main building, the first thing Huang Xue saw was a massive stone tablet situated at the far end of the hall, directly opposite of the entrance. The tablet was bordered with gold and at the very top, three conspicuous words could be seen.
Sea Disciple Ranking!
Below the words, Huang Xue could see that there was a list of names, each with a number and disciple status attached next to it. At the very bottom, the ranking stopped at number six hundred.
Out of the several thousands of students at the Six Ocean Sect, only the top six hundred disciples are displayed on the Sect’s ranking tablet.
“The people listed on the Sea Disciple Tablet not only gain a great deal of fame, but they’re given another set of monthly bonuses on top of their usual rewards!” A voice rang behind Huang Xue.
Lightly turning around, Huang Xue saw Hu Dang walking up to him by himself.
“Greetings, young master Shen. Haha, it seems we meet again after a short while.” Hu Dang cupped his hands toward Huang Xue.
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“Likewise, brother Hu. I was a bit curious about the main hall so I came down for a little visit.” Huang Xue replied coolly.
“Ahh, so that is why. I myself was tasked to stay around the entrance of the Sect to guide any new disciples who may require help. And on one of my rounds, I saw young master Shen staring curiously at the ranking tablet, so I came over on my own to give a few advices. I hope young master Shen forgive my impudent action, if it offended you in any way.” Hu Dang said with a small smile.
Huang Xue gave a faint smile as he replied: “Don’t worry about it, brother Hu. Since you came over with good intentions how could I, surnamed Shen, reject your goodwill? If you will, do tell me more of what you about the functions within this main hall.”
Hu Dang’s smile widened as he quickly said: “Haha, of course, young master Shen! As you can see on the Sea Disciple Ranking Tablet, the reason that it starts with the word ‘sea’’ indicates exactly that only those who are in the Jie Hai realm can have the qualifications to enter the ranking. Everyone below the top ten seats are awarded an additional one thousand Qi stones and two pieces of Dragon Pulse Fruit for dantian nourishment per month! There would also be an one-time award of a lower Earth-grade weapon as well!”
“However for those within the top ten rankings…” Hu Dang’s eyes suddenly turned slightly red with desire as he said in a voice filled with reverence...and envy. “It is said that the top ten students of the school would receive three thousand Qi stones, six pieces of Dragon Pulse fruit, one Upper Earth-grade treasure, and a single Sea Core Pill. That pill is extremely potent for those below the late Tian realm, and is effective towards rapidly advancing one’s cultivation base! These are the several benefits that the top ten seats would receive...and that, on a monthly basis!”
Hu Dang clenched his hands as he uttered the last line, his eyes glittering with feverish wants. Then, closing his eyes, Hu Dang let out a sorrowful sigh.
“But the thing is, for as long as the Six Ocean Sect was standing; those who were able to occupy the top ten spots...were all core disciples! Anyone, as long as they’re a student of the sect, regardless of status, can participate in the ranking.”
Huang Xue thought silently for a moment, before he asked the glum Hu Dang: “Then how does one enter this ranking? Or to be more precise, how do I increase my standing in the ranking tablet?”
Hu Dang’s eyes widened as he turned to Huang Xue.”Young master Shen, you are not thinking of participating in the ranking already, are you? You must know that since there are six hundred spots, the competition is extremely fierce among students. Within the top five hundred and fifty ranks, those occupants are all at least in the Tian realm already.
As for the last fifty ranks, they’re not easy to deal with either. All of them are at the peak of the Jie Hai realm, with the possibility of breaking through anytime soon! In fact, all those people on that ranking tablet could be considered the best of our inner disciple group!”
Huang Xue smiled and said: “I was only inquiring, brother Hu. Though, I wonder does brother Hu occupy a seat on that ranking?”
Hu Dang rubbed his nose with a hint of shame as he replied lowly: “Ahh, young master Shen, you really know how to jest. Even though my cultivation is at the 9th Jie Hai stage, compared to those geniuses up there, I truly pale in comparison!”
Huang Xue nodded his head in understanding and asked no more. Turning his head to look at something else, his eyes landed on another massive tablet situated at the western side. The tablet looked plain, almost a worn out color of brown, and had a large volume of white sheets sticking to its surface. There was no sign that indicated its use.
Trailing Huang Xue’s line of sight, Hu Dang saw the same brown tablet before he started: “Ah, young master Shen, that is what we students call the Request Tablet. Everyday, there are always new requests from both inside the school and outside coming in. Students are allowed to take on as many missions as they’re able to handle, and upon completion, they are given the stated rewards listed on their request sheet.”
“Oh.” Huang Xue then turned looked at the eastern side. Besides a large group of students seemingly loitering around between several large red pillars, there was not another large tablet to be seen.
Without another word, Huang Xue turned and left the main building. Seeing Huang Xue leave without saying anything, Hu Dang felt a stab of irritation at his chest.
“Damn, just several moments ago Chen Fang and I were talking about how he was not arrogant, but now before the day’s even up, he’s already rudely departing without a single word…*sigh* in the end, all those kids from major families are the same…” Hu Dang let out a helpless sigh, shaking his head as he returned to patrolling the vicinity for clueless students.
***
Back at his house at the top of the mountain peak, Huang Xue sat cross-legged on his soft bed; his eyes closed in meditation. All was silent at the peak, save for a few distant bird cries. The sun was turning orange by now.
After a while, without opening his eyes, Huang Xue’s tranquil voice broke the peaceful silence:
“I wonder, how may this one help you, Thirteenth Elder?”
Outside of the house, there stood an elder in dark blue clothes. On his face, at this moment, was an expression that revealed the delicate emotions of shock and subtle awe.
“He...was able to detect my presence?!” Hong Wu thought as a strange feeling that was difficult to describe arose within his heart.
“Ahem!” Hong Wu coughed as he gently pushed open the door. “Haha, it seems student Shen was already expecting this old man.”
Huang Xue slowly opened his eyes as he looked at the elder with a slight smile. “For an elder such as you to come visit a student like me personally, I take it that you’re here to bring me news…of my disciple status?”
Hong Wu warmly smiled before he nodded with approval. “That is exactly correct. Because something emergency came up earlier, I was able to get in touch with all the other elders quickly. Thus, after settling the urgent matter, I decided to take the chance to bring up your results to them as well. And without saying, just by you possessing a Heaven Root talent, the elders have all approved of you being promoted...to a core disciple!”
The elder glanced at Huang Xue as he said the last line, however the expression on the latter’s face had surprisingly not change the slightly at the ‘explosive’ news. It...it was as if something like was suppose to happen, a course of event that the latter had already expected. But...that can’t be, right?
“Uh, ahem, however since your current cultivation still a bit too low, you should refrain from participating in any events that the other core disciples are currently in. Although you have the status, you still lack the strength to back that up, with the exception of your talent, that is. Also, I’ve already changed your gold badge, that was hanging on the door, to the standard azure badge that only core disciples possess. Besides that, you will also now receive a sum of five hundred Qi stones per month, and three 3-tier pills per month from now on!” Hong Wu cleared his voice as he quickly moved on to explain in detail.
Pills were, in practice, only creatable through the help of Essence Alchemists. They were classified by ‘tiers’, from one to thirteen; with higher the tier meaning greater potency and mystical effects of the pill itself.
First tier pills are normal medicines that even doctors of commoners could make. These generally have slow results and low effectiveness, especially for cultivators.
Second-tier pills are decent for cultivational use, such as the Serene Mind Pill that’s given to inner sect disciples.
As for third-tier pills, while they’re not considered rare, they are in fact quite expensive and their effectiveness is even several times higher than normal medicines. With that, they are almost always in heavy demand in the Lower Regions; with rumored prices going up as high as twenty thousand Qi stones for a bottle of ten 3-tier pills!
Now that Hong Wu had finished delivering his message, he awaited for the youth’s response.
Cupping his hands to the elder, Huang Xue calmly said: “Thank you, elder, for personally bringing me this news. This one shall humbly accept the title as a core disciple. However...this junior is still a bit curious, what are events that are going on at this moment for the core disciples?”
“Ah?” Hong Wu raised his white brow, as he looked back at Huang Xue...