Light filtered into the room through an open window. Dave slowly woke up after finally sleeping in a proper bed again. Him being a cultivator had kept him from having trouble with any of the usual aches and pains of sleeping on the floor for such a long time. He stretched and looked outside, into the little garden surrounded by buildings.
There was a few trees, some bushes and low shrubs. Xun was sitting under a small roof at a table. He waved when he noticed Dave looking.
He got dressed and went out into the yard.
“So, where are we going today?”
“We are going to one of the deans who have the authority to arrange for your testing.”
“What does this test involve?”
“A truth stone and a few questions about your past.”
“The stone can actually tell truth from lies?”
“No it detects deceit and dims in response, we got it from the righteous sect we are suborned under.”
“And what sect would that be?”
“The Clearsprings sect, they are far too the east of here. Half a continent away.”
“How did the Lone Mountain end up as a subordinate sect?”
“Fifty years ago Red River city attacked us, they are a city of demonic beast tamers. We lost a lot of our core elders in the opening exchange, we had to send out requests for help to every nearby righteous sect. Clearsprings were the only ones that came to support us. Our sect master had to pledge his support to them to preserve our sect in the aftermath. We still have two guest elders from Clearsprings living here to protect our sect and we are grateful for it.”
They sat there in quiet for a few moments before Lydia walked up to Dave and demanded pets. He scratched her behind her ears, she laid down and her ears perked up.
Dave asked: “What do we do about Lydia?”
“We should register her as your tamed beast. It would cause less trouble than admitting that she is a stray monstrous beast that became attached to you.”
“You okay with that Lydia?” Dave asked in English.
She stood up, shook herself and walked off.
Dave and Xun headed to a large training area with a low wooden enclosure functioning as an arena with two people sparring inside. A third person stood inside the ring and watched the fighters intently. Xun approached the watching man and called out: “Dean Cheng I have a potential new disciple for you!”
The old man stopped the fighting and turned around. His robe had embroideries of a snake on it.
“Disciple Xun, do tell me which new disciple is important enough to interrupt me like this.” He said with warning in his voice.
“I found a rouge cultivator in the foundation establishment realm and he seems amiable to join our sect.”
“That is indeed a joyous occasion, assuming he passes our entrance examination. I will arrange for it immediately. Meet me in front of the gatehouse in an incense stick's worth of time.” He said with a big smile on his face.
He ran off using an eye-catching elegant gait, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.
“He seemed awfully happy for someone we just interrupted.” Dave asked Xun.
“Finding an unaffiliated cultivator in the foundation establishment realm is incredibly rare and very fortunate for a tiny sect like ours. Most others are snapped up by the orthodox faction, which is overwhelmingly larger than ours, at least on this continent.” Xun explained.
“Why are we meeting him in front of the gatehouse?”
“If you fail the test, which you will not, they are going to escort you off the premises. Having guards close to the testing site has proven to be useful in past incidents with demonic rouge cultivators, that failed to realize their techniques were demonic in origin.”
They walked in silence for a beat.
“Wow, imagine that. Trying to join a righteous sect, only to find out about your own demonic cultivation in the worst possible way. Did you let them go afterwards?”
“The incident I heard about ended with him getting kicked out. He had not committed any major offense, merely siphoned qi off dying monstrous beasts, so he was let go.”
“Must still have sucked.”
“That sentence makes no sense in the sun emperor's dialect I taught you.”
“I meant that it was a truly unfortunate turn of events for him.”
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“Yes it was.”
The sect was surrounded by a ten meter thick wall and around six meters in height. Next to the gate, parallel to the wall a house ran on the inside of the gate. They waited in front of it.
A few minutes after they arrived two older men arrived from inside the sect and entered the gatehouse. Then Cheng came out and beckoned them inside.
“This is elder Ming and dean Wen, they will serve as witnesses to your testing.”
“Greetings seniors.” Dave said and bowed at the waist.
“Let us proceed inside.” Ming said.
They sat down three men on one side of the table and Dave on the other, Xun leaned against the wall near the entrance.
“Speak one truth and one lie.” Ming commanded. He pulled out a faintly glowing rock and put it on the table between Dave and himself.
“My name is David Smith, I go by Dave. The sky is green.”
When the last word was out of his mouth, the stone went almost black. It slowly regained its former luster over a few moments as they all stared at it.
“Do you practice demonic techniques or cultivation.” Ming asked.
“No.” Dave answered.
“Have you made enemies that are hunting you?”
“No.”
“Are you affiliated or sworn into service of any military outside the Sun Empire?”
“Not anymore.”
“What do you mean by saying that.”
“I used to be a soldier, but I never saw combat and I left the military years ago.”
“For what purpose are you joining the Lone Mountain sect?”
Dave had to think for a moment.
“I was lost and Xun thought that this place would be able to help me find my way.”
“Please do not speak in riddles, state it clearly.”
“I trust Xun and he thinks I should join.”
“Can you manifest a sample of your qi above your right palm for us to examine?”
“How do I do that?”
Xun interrupted and said: “Do it the same way you would fill a spirit stone, but slowly press it outside.”
Dave tried it and a shining blue flame appeared above his palm radiating a biting cold.
“Xun you had him fill a spirit stone?” Ming asked with disgust in his voice.
“Senior, he has a special physique that generates qi. I had him fill a spirit stone to repay a farmer whose crops he ruined.”
Ming glanced at the stone on the table and watched it dim slightly.
“ … and?” Ming asked.
“I also had him fill up a few additional spirit stones, so he would arrive here before reaching a much higher realm. I swear his physique generates an ungodly amount of qi.”
Ming stared at the stone on the table, then he tapped it gently with a finger. It failed to dim.
“You will return those spirit stones to Dai Fu.”
“Yes elder.” Xun sighed.
“Congratulation on joining the Lone Mountain sect. We have no inner or outer disciples and we use spirit stones as our currency. Dean Wen will find you a temporary residence.”
Dave and Xun stepped back into the sunlight.
“That could have gone better.”
“What do you mean?” Dave grinned. He had to use his shirt to carry all the spirit stones Xun had returned to him.
“Anyway, we have to get you a spacial artifact, preferably a ring. Follow me, we will head to the formation masters.”
“Okay let's go.”
They headed for a section of the city opposite the gatehouse, in the direction of the glade on the volcano.
Xun stopped in front of a shop and gestured for Dave to follow him inside.
“Hello, we would like to buy a spacial ring.”
“What size?”
“Around this size.” Xun gestured and indicated a size of roughly 1.5 cubic meters.
“That will be 25 spirit stones.”
“Wait a minute, these spirit stones are filled with pure Ice qi surely they have more value than the average stone.” Xun protested.
“Twenty. Five. Or no deal.”
“Okay, here.”
They left the store. Dave wearing a new metallic ring with tiny inscriptions on it.
“While we are here, we should also get you a flying artifact, they are essential for missions outside the sect. You can only use them once you have a reserve of qi in the foundation establishment realm, which means you should be investing in one right now.”
They entered a shop on the same street, with lots of weird items hanging on the inside.
“Greetings, he would like to buy a flying artifact. His budget is ten to fifteen spirit stones.”
“What weapon do you use?” The woman manning the counter asked.
“None right now, but if I had to choose I'd say the spear.”
“Solid choice,” She nodded,”but that is not what I meant. What do you want to fly on?”
Dave looked around, remembered an old story and said: “A carpet would be nice.”
“Sure, I can do that. Wait a moment, I will be right back.” She said and left the counter for the back of the store.
She came back with a carpet that was a little dusty.
“Here, that will be ten spirit stones.”
“There is no way we are paying ten for that old thing.” Xun interrupted.
“Okay, it is something I made a while ago, you can get it for eight, but not any less than that.”
“Deal.”
They stepped back into the sunlight.
“Can we go back to your house, so you can show me how to use these things?”
“No, there is something important we completely neglected and it could lead to tragedy if we failed to rectify it.”
“What would that be?” Dave said, while thinking that there might be something wrong with his cultivation.
“We failed to make you test out your strength. You went from being in the body strengthening realm straight to the foundation establishment realm and you have yet to realize how much your body has increased in ability. It could lead to tragedy if you were surprised by something as harmless as a common pickpocket.”
“Let's go to the training area then.” Dave replied.