Zhi Yin was as elegant and graceful as ever. While she was not the most beautiful woman Cao Yun had seen, she had a dignified air without looking arrogant. In her eyes, there was the faint glint of a sword. At a moment's notice, she could leave her scabbard and kill away.

"Brother Chen. May I have a word with you?"

"Please, Senior Sister, come in."

"Thank you."

While they were both sitting down around a table, Huang Cixi brought some tea. It was the fourth time in a row she was making a tea pot. She was even wondering where Cao Yun was putting all of this.

"Good tea! Thank you Little Sister Mei." Zhi Yin was the first of the envoys to thank a servant. "Brother Chen. Let me be blunt! I know that you received offers from three other factions. Mine should look very weak by comparison."

She put down her tea and sighed.

"And it is. I only founded this faction last year and had to deal with a lot of suppression from the main factions. But this year will be different. I'm a second-year now, so I'll be able to adventure outside the sect to garner more merit points and resources.

But if our faction is empty too often and for too long, it will be a problem as well. Hence I came looking for Brother Chen. I know that you're probably still weighing the pros and cons of joining a faction or not. Let me tell you frankly! You have to join one!"

"Sister Zhi, the rules are pretty clear on that point. Joining a faction is optional."

"According to the rules yes, but you should also know that reality is always different and more complex than a set of written rules. You will soon discover that if you don't join a faction, your progress in the sect will be greatly hindered. I'm not trying to convince you, the next few days will do it for me.

I'm here to give you an option. If you join the main factions, you're not sure to get the most benefits. After all, there are many fourth and fifth-years in it. Of course more resources will go to them and you will only get a tiny portion of it. Even if you're better treated than the other first-years, it won't be by much.

That's the reason why I founded my own faction last year. We knew it was going to be tough the first year but we made it through! And now, we can earn many more points directly by going outside. So, for now, just listen to my offer. In a few days, when you see the reality of the sect, you'll make your decision.

I won't lie to you about our faction. It's small. This year we only have four members. We started with a few more but they left as the year became harder and harder. All four of us need to go outside in order to gather merit points. Ironically, this is a good thing for you. We don't need many resources from you. So we'll not ask you for any."

Cao Yun was surprised and shocked by everything she just said. After giving him plenty of reasons not to join, she just told him he could get in for free. Cao Yun was waiting for the catch.

"By just having you in our faction, given your rank, we'll get a lot of points already. So our condition is different. No matter if you leave our faction or not, next year we require that you keep our faction alive."

"What?"

"The truth is, when we're third-years, we won't be able to bring any points in. As you should know third-years are not within the sect. As such, our faction would collapse.

I'm convinced that you're going to become even stronger, so it won't be difficult for you to go hunt down demonic beasts or take on missions for the sect when you're a second-year. As such, you'll be able to bring in enough resources to keep our faction alive. As long as a faction has at least four members including one active member, it's recognized by the sect. Thus, next year we'd be automatically disbanded.

I'll let you think about all your different offers for now."

Zhi Yin bid farewell to Cao Yun and left the room.

"If you agree to my offer, come and find me in the Heavenly Swallow Faction residence. A map of all the faction residences should be in your pamphlet. I hope that I'll hear from you soon. If not, it will always be a pleasure to spar with you, Brother Chen."

"Senior Sister Zhi." Cao Yun bid her farewell as well.

-

Cao Yun had not been able to do anything today, but he had a lot of thinking to do now.

Zhi Yin's offer was really good in theory, but her faction was so small that it would hardly give him any benefits. On the other hand, the other offers were prohibitive.

Anyway, Zhi Yin had told him that he would see by himself why joining a faction was essential. So until this moment, he would reserve his judgment.

As usual, Cao Yun cultivated the 'Cultivation of Wrath' and trained his 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' mentally. Then he went back to 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'.

Shen the Fire Spirit was really hard to grasp. Since yesterday he only advanced by one repetition. And that was even after using Yi and Zhi together. When he tried to make the sixth repetition, he was only able to draw one stroke before feeling the sensation he knew too well. If he had continued, he would have fainted, so he stopped himself.

-

In the morning he woke up with the sun. And as he was scheduling his day, a violent knocking interrupted his thoughts. Huang Cixi was startled. She was busy preparing the breakfast so Cao Yun told her to keep working and went to the door himself.

As soon as he opened the door, a madman threw himself at him and grabbed his shirt.

"Brother Chen! Save me! Save me!"

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Almost expecting to be assaulted by the man, Cao Yun was ready to knock him out when he recognized the voice, and then the face.

"Brother Ren? What's going on?!"

"She's after me! Please, hide me! Please, Brother!"

"... okay... come in."

Ren Chao looked around him like a hunted animal.

"Thank you! Thank you! I knew you were a real brother..."

As he was trying to walk in, a hand grabbed Ren Chao's shoulder and an enchanting voice came from behind.

"Ren Chao, here you were." The terrified man slowly looked behind him. The voluptuous figure of Wang Mei was posing before his eyes. "I've been looking all over for you. Come on, let's have breakfast together."

As she started dragging him away, she turned toward Cao Yun and blinked. "Sorry for disturbing you so soon in the morning, Junior Brother Chen."

"Please, Brother! Save me! Who knows what she's going to do to me?! Please!"

Ren Chao screamed so loud that everyone opened their door. They all saw a beautiful woman dragging a screaming muscular giant through the courtyard. Many of the men were envious.

Damn! Sister Wang, if he's so insistent on being saved from you, take me instead!

On the other hand, the women were annoyed by this Wang Mei who dressed too provocatively. She even went so far as to kidnap men now.

Watching the 'poor' Ren Chao begging for dear life, Cao Yun slowly closed the door. "Good luck, Brother Ren."

"Brother, no! Don't forsake me!"

In the kitchen, Huang Cixi was visibly disturbed when she saw her young master walking back in.

"Brother Chen, what was that?"

"Just a lover's quarrel, nothing much!"

"Lovers?!" She looked through the window of the kitchen and saw Ren Chao trying to grab a tree to escape Wang Mei's grasp. "Are you sure about that?"

"With Ren Chao's physical strength, he could easily overpower her and run. If he doesn't it's because he feels something for her. On the other hand, I don't know this Wang Mei enough to understand her intentions. She's part of the Coiling Silk Faction, right? ... From what I heard, they're mostly women and they focus on artistic performances. I'm not too sure what it is they're doing exactly, but I didn't sense any malice in Senior Sister Wang."

"And if she had malice?"

"Ren Chao is a friend. Even though we did not talk much since the entrance examination and he tends to cause trouble by speaking too much and too loud, I'm quite fond of his company. If Wang Mei had ill intentions toward him, she would have to go through me as well.

I will never lose someone close to me again!"

The last sentence was barely audible, but Huang Cixi noted it well. She had yet another impression of Cao Yun, but she also thought about those dear to her whom she had lost due to him.

-

He was still recovering a little from the first training with Chief Instructor Peng, but Cao Yun still wanted to train his martial arts anyway. From the pamphlet he had read, he knew several places that could be useful in the exterior yard. He could always go to the martial art pavilion, but if Chief Elder Baishen saw him, he would live hell on earth once more. It was a bit too much for him today.

As he was leaving, he saw Ren Chao.

"Brother Chen... You abandoned me... Why?!" At a glance, it was obvious that he was faking his crying.

"Brother Ren. You seem well! Was your breakfast with Senior Sister Wang so bad?"

"No, it was.. fine. But you, Brother! How could you leave me alone?!"

"Ren Chao, if you do not want to see Wang Mei ever again, just tell her."

"It's not that..."

"Then be happy that she wants to see you too." Cao Yun tapped his shoulder. "I know you're nervous. But if she had no good feelings toward you, do you think she would drag you all the way from my room so soon in the morning?"

Ren Chao stopped fake crying and looked Cao Yun seriously. "I'm not comfortable with a lady, even less so when the lady is Wang Mei. She's too bold for me..."

"Well, if you're not comfortable, I think a bold lady is best for you anyway. I'll only give you one advice. Be honest with her. The rest is up to you, I won't interfere, unless you really want me to. Would you want someone interfering with your blacksmithing?"

When he mentioned blacksmithing, something woke up in Ren Chao's eyes. "I understand, Brother!"

To be honest, Cao Yun himself did not understand the connection between flirting and forging a weapon, but it did work out well.

Then, Cao Yun left for the training grounds.

-

The first facility he wanted to try was the Warrior Dream array formation. This array formation was very similar to the Eight Directions Engulfing array formation, in the fact that it allowed you to fight against constructions of energy. The particularity of this array formation was that it was designed to find flaws and repetitive patterns in your moves. Then, the imaginary enemy would use them against you to temper your martial arts.

This array formation was said to be especially efficient to train with a spear as its creator was using a spear herself. It was very good for other weapons as well, but a little less so.

When he finally arrived at the facility, Cao Yun was pleased to see that there was no one else but the instructor in charge of the array formation.

"Instructor, I'd like to book an hour of training." Cao Yun showed his emblem and waited for an answer.

"I'm sorry, Junior. All the slots are already booked."

Cao Yun looked around to make sure. "But there's no one here."

The instructor sighed. "The truth is..." He was hesitant but he spoke nonetheless. "The factions booked all the slots. It's a way to show to the newbies that refusing to join them will make your life miserable. In fact, the factions have a priority over the facilities and they can book slots way earlier than other disciples."

"Then, how can non-affiliated disciples ever train?"

"Well, booking a facility still depends on the number of points you have, so they can't book every facility all the time. But if they want to make your life difficult, they can."

"But couldn't they make life difficult for one another as well?"

"To avoid that, every faction has a minimum quota of slots every day, depending on how many members they have. If all the slots of a day are booked by only one or even two factions, another faction can demand to have a certain number of slots removed so that they can book them instead."

"But unaffiliated disciples are screwed."

The instructor looked around again. "Yes, pretty much. I shouldn't tell you that because it could be construed as way to disrespect the rules and the disciplinary pavilion by extension, since they made them. But I really rooted for you in the entrance exam."

"Thank you, Instructor."

Cao Yun went to other facilities but it was the same deal. Even though no one was training anywhere, no slot was available. This clearly was a show of strength to force the newbies to join a faction. They probably all agreed to do it together. Well, if only the two biggest did, it was sufficient to block everyone else.

Even a small faction like Heavenly Swallow could get a slot thanks to their quota but a cultivator alone did not count as a faction, so there was nothing he could do right now. However, he understood what Zhi Yin meant earlier. He probably would have to join a faction if he ever wanted to use one of the facilities. Even if a slot was free, Cao Yun would have no control on the hour and it would change every day, not the greatest conditions to plan his training.

Anyway, he did not want to do nothing today. So after many considerations, he decided on going to the alchemy pavilion. Training with Chief Elder Baishen was beneficial but too harsh for him today. He would definitely go back there but another day.

Xiao Xuefeng had told Cao Yun that she would choose a good instructor for him, maybe he should try to go see him. Alchemy was not his priority but he knew how useful it could be.

Therefore, Cao Yun set sail for the alchemy pavilion.