Finlay just looked at the unexpected person with a dumbfounded expression. He was anxiously thinking over all the possible scenarios, but he didn’t expect to meet this Senior Kang or such an odd question to be thrown at him as soon as he arrived. Before he had a chance to say something, the other person impatiently started talking without pause.
“Or perhaps you wanted to keep your 5 element body a secret? That would make sense. Yes.
“Hahaha! It’s good that you realised that there isn’t much more to gain remaining in that valley. It’s better to allow the sect to take care of you. You’ve earned it with your talent.”
Finlay finally found an opportunity to talk and quickly blurted out, “But Senior Kang, I did in fact complete my body transformation realm.”
“Boy, what nonsense are you still spouting? You have 5 elements to cultivate and the record for fastest completion with more than 1 elemental affinity is 5 months at the fastest. Stop saying nonsense.”
“...but I am telling the truth.” Filay was growing more and more frustrated by now. He understood by now the fact that after his Five element completion, it seems his Qi was in such harmony that even a superior cultivator in the late stage of foundation establishment is unable to clearly determine his cultivation. While this was a good thing in general, he was starting to find it rather annoying.
“What? You’re still spou– okay come here then let me check.”
The Cultivator still wasn’t convinced but decided to just check the matter himself since the boy was right before him.
Finlay was about to approach to allow Senior Kang to take his hand to check his cultivation, but he couldn’t help but pause. If he was allowed to check Finlay’s body closely, wouldn’t his secret of also possessing lightning and Yin/Yang attributes be exposed as well? He was starting to regret his decision of completing his Body transformation stage of all the elements. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to simply have done things slower even if it might have been a slight disadvantage to his cultivation in the short term.
As they say, regret has no medicine and thinning over such matters at this point was meaningless.
‘Okay perhaps I can ask him to keep it a secret. What if he asked for details on the other secrets like my unique cultivation method etc? Perhaps I should just say a hidden master gave me an opportunity in passing? Would that even work?’
Amidst such thoughts, Finlay was feeling rather hesitant. But the powerful cultivator was starting to grow annoyed at the delay. He frowned a little as he once again commanded, “Boy! Come here!”
He let out a little bit of his late stage foundation stage cultivation to get the attention of the hesitating boy before him. Finlay shivered at the slight hint of the cultivator’s true power and promptly moved closer.
‘Whatever happens happens. I’m sure in the worst case, the Nine would extend a helping hand.’
Finlay took a deep breath before offering his hand. The cultivator took it and closed his eyes to concentrate and check Finlay’s body condition thoroughly.
“What? It is true!” he suddenly opened his eyes in astonishment and stared at Finlay for a moment. He was about to let go of the hand but noticed something and frowned. He closed his eyes again and concentrated for a bit longer this time.
Finlay started to grow beads of sweat expecting his secrets to be discovered. The cultivator once again opened his eyes in astonishment. This time, the surprise was so great that he directly stood up as he stared at FInlay with his jaw hanging.
After seeing him like that, Finlay understood that his secret had been exposed. He sighed and was about to give a prepared explanation.
“Ha–Harmo–Five element Harmonisation? A perfect Five element harmonised body?!!”
Finlay was dumbfounded after hearing that. Compared to his secret that his body was compatible with every known fundamental element, he felt like achieving harmony in his five elements wasn’t such a big deal. Then why would the man have such a shocked expression for that instead?
“Ho–How is this possible???”
As if not believing in his own senses even as a powerful cultivator, the Senior Kang closed his eyes and repeatedly checked Finlay’s body to verify his findings.
‘Wait could it be?...Does he not realise the other elemental attributes? Yes, that must be it!’
Finlay set aside how such a powerful cultivator failed to see the obvious aspects of his body when he was personally inspecting it with such concentration.
‘Perhaps the Nine are helping me or maybe he is just in too much of a shock to notice. That is not so important now. I need to calm him down and come up with a good explanation.’
It took Finlay a few minutes to calm down the cultivator. Once he got his hand away, Finlay let out a sigh of relief internally. He explained that he had a huge blessing offered by some random cultivator who gave him a secret, unknown cultivation art that made the five element harmonising possible. Expectedly, the other party was once again shocked but recovered quickly this time.
“The fact that such a grand opportunity was given by some hidden powerhouse means that you have great destiny, kid. But great destiny alone cannot carry you along the path of cultivation. This path is the most cruel one filled with all sorts of people and dangerous situations. No matter what, you should not so casually disclose your secrets to others.”
“What senior Kang says is wise. In fact, the unknown cultivation master asked me to never disclose the secrets of my technique or my body to others but so far, I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I hope senior Kang keeps it between us. I understand that some people already are aware of my five element body. I hope the remaining secrets…”
“Of course! You don’t have to worry about that. I will not let this information about the five element harmonisation leak to a third party. You have guessed correctly though, I have indeed shared the secret of the Five element body with my master and sect master. I will keep a tight leash on that secret as well.”
“Another thing Senior Kang, I hope I can maintain a low profile even after this. As you can see, I do well without the unneeded attention. Of course, I will still report to you when and if necessary.”
“I see…Okay I also think that is for the best for now.”
After some pondering, the cultivator called out an assistant.
“Okay kid, for now, you better stay here while I sort out the graduation formalities. There will definitely be a meeting on your new record for graduation. This is a record in all of the sect’s history of 700 years. I will have to keep people from growing too curious about you. When I return, there will definitely be some rewards. Haha!”
Finlay cupped his hands and bowed to show his gratitude. After the cultivator left, Finlay simply followed the assistant who showed him an extravagant guest quarters with some fruits, savouries and drinks in case he grows hungry. Once left alone, Finlay finally had the time to marvel at the architecture, the artsy designs and carvings on the walls.
----------------------------------------
The summit of a wide mountain had been flattened and various grand buildings belonging to the sect could be seen on it. One of the biggest buildings had a name written on top of it that read “The Elders Hall”. As the name suggested, it was the hall that normally had an Elder or 2 who oversaw any unusual issues relating to the sect outside of the proper administrative structure. Today though, it was filled with a lot more people who have gathered under the supervision of the Senior Elder Kang. There were already 10-15 elders in the room and more arrived by the minute.
There was a low sound of murmuring between the elders who arrived and started discussing the reason for such an unscheduled meeting.
“Elder Gao, what do you think is happening? It has been a while since we’ve had such an unscheduled meeting,” one of the random elders asked in a hushed voice to another elder closer to him.
“...I’m not sure either. I suspect it is related to some of the issues we’ve been facing outside, in the sect’s distant territory,” the other replied.
“I think it is related to some of the changes we’ve seen recently in the sect,” another commented.
“Are you referring to the suddenly increased recruitment and the increased resources invested in the recruitment valleys?”
“It’s not just that. We lower level elders have also been carrying out more and more responsibilities these days. I still suspect Elder Gao’s speculation might be correct. There have been too many abnormal issues even in the mortal cities, let alone related to the other bigger things.”
Like this, there was a quiet discussion going on between the elders speculating on the recent issues and changes in the sect. It seemed like even the mighty sect wasn’t in as much peace and stability as it appeared outside.
After a period, Senior Kang cleared his throat to gather the attention of all those present, allowing a silence to set in the room.
“It seems most of the Elders in the sect have arrived. I thank you for arriving on such short notice. I see increased discussions of speculation and panic, but you do not need to worry. Today’s meeting was because of a great surprise that occurred in our sect. It can be considered an auspicious sign even.”
That last part clearly piqued the interest of those gathered as they perked up and paid careful attention.
“There was a new record set by a recently joined candidate. It’s a record for the fastest Body transformation stage cultivation with multiple elemental attributes in the entire history of the sect.”
There was a shocked silence amongst those seated. Before they could recover, he continued.
“I have already confirmed the details. This kid had no hint of cultivation when he started and completed the process within 6 months of time. He is from the batch of students we took in within 4 years.”
Although most were still too focused on the absurdity of the news, some sharper ones picked up some of the discrepancies and its implications. One of them couldn’t help but voice out a question they were all meaning to ask.
“But Senior Kang, it looks like it could have been a while since this happened. Why would you withhold information like this and why organise an emergency meeting like this, now of all times?”
The party who was questioned didn’t panic and simply gave a prepared answer.
“Of Course even though it is good news for the sect to find such a good, promising seedling, I would not have called you over like this for that. This meeting is in fact for another, more important purpose...”
Peng An was also present in the room, albeit in one of the distant seats, signifying his out sect elder status. He is having a bad premonition and is starting to grow anxious at his doubt that this whole thing is somehow related to Finlay. He still hadn’t given up on teaching a lesson to that impudent brat and even if he doesn’t provoke the child anymore, he had certainly formed a small grudge early on and if he let the seed sprout, his days in the future surely are only going to get miserable.
Peng An was almost not paying much attention to the rest of Senior Elder Kang’s speech. After a few moments, he built up some courage to ask some more details on the supposed hidden seedling.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“Senior, I understand you have reasons for not revealing the disciple’s details to the public but you merely said he has a body compatible with multiple elemental attributes, but how many do you mean by that?”
That question also seemed to catch the curiosity of some of the others as they expectantly looked at the Senior Elder.
“Of course, the minimum criteria for multiples is 2 of them. As for the exact elemental affinities, you should not enquire about it too much. After much deliberation with the Grand Elder Fang, my master, it has been decided that all of our most important disciples’ details will be protected and classified from here on out.
“This is also the reason why I have purposefully kept the details vague. Normally, such events are celebrated by all the elders openly, but this time, Not only will we keep it a secret from the public, even you are not allowed to disclose these details to any outsiders. Moreover, such seedlings’ identity will be kept hidden going forth. We’re also going to suppress the news and records of all our most important disciples who joined the sect in the last 4 years and also those who join us going forth.”
There was a confused silence in the room.
“Not only that, going forward, it has been decided that there will be a number of changes in the roles played by the elders.”
*sigh*
“I do not need to remind you about the sect surviving through the perilous war with the Demonic cultivators. We have suffered grave losses, yet our righteousness prevailed over evil, but it has left us far too vulnerable. Now, the wolves and hyenas prowl the shadows. Most of the changes in the sect recently were only our first step to bring back the prosperity of the sect and these young seedlings are going to be the backbone of our sect's future.
The storm clouds are brewing on the horizon, my fellow sect brothers and sisters. If we’re to wither this storm and ensure the continued survival of our sect, we need to dedicate ourselves to the sect’s service.”
“Rest assured Brother, we’re here to dedicate ourselves for the sect!” a middle aged sharp eyes cultivator shouted.
“For the sect!”
“For the sect!”
…
Satisfied at the response, Senior Elder Kang started to let everyone know about the changes that were discussed and determined by the Grand Elder meeting as everyone paid rapt attention to his words. Even the seemingly self serving Peng An had a sincere expression as he wholeheartedly listened to the words, setting aside his anxious thoughts regarding Finlay.
----------------------------------------
Back at the estate of Senior Kang, Finlay was growing bored after nearly a day of staying as a guest. He wasn’t allowed to go outside or even roam about in most areas of Senior Kang’s place. His initial fascination with architecture had soon faded with nothing else to do. Normally, he could pass time quickly cultivating or practising Alchemy etc, but the assistant or perhaps a glorified butler had forbidden him from doing such things. There was a training ground that he was allowed to use but Finlay didn’t have many combat arts to train in, except for his Archery. He eventually settled on flexing his new Analyse ability identifying random objects. He discovered a surprising number of spiritual objects, disguised as normal mundane ones.
Finlay’s biggest fear in this new world had not been death or something similar. It has been the fear of loneliness and immediately behind that, it was the fear of boredom. To be honest, Finlay knew there was an absurd amount of knowledge and entertainment available quickly and efficiently in his previous world and the sharp contrast was a difficult proposition to handle in the beginning. He was hoping he would just get used to it as time progresses.
Unfortunately, he found that it was actually the opposite since the first few years were when he was going to see and experience the new and magical things and as time progressed, he should feel that the novelty of many things wearing off. He was already starting to experience it.
As Finlay was starting to grow mad from repeatedly identifying the same things over and over, Senior Elder Kang finally returned.
“It is done kid. Everything will be handled in due time. For now, it’s best that you enter seclusion here so that it will be easier to hide the timeline of your cultivation.”
Finlay nodded and agreed with the arrangements made by Senior Kang and was prepared to go into seclusion for the next 2 months. He would take this chance to finish some unfinished things. Investigating his last 2 element’s cultivation, achieving some proficiency in Alchemy and his study of formations. He would also establish his Qi sea and officially take his first step on the long path of cultivation.
Senior Kang gave a few elixirs and a medicinal bath in the next few days. Finlay knew these wouldn’t have much effect on his already pure body composition and softly discouraged Senior Kang from wasting too many precious things. The latter also stopped once he realised there wasn’t much benefit obtained from the first few times.
Next, Finlay was given a set of combat arts to choose from and some well written manuals on all sorts of fields to choose from. Naturally, he chose books regarding things he was already dabbling in. He chose books on Alchemy, Formations, Artifact making, Archery, Spearman ship. In addition to those, he also picked up a book describing the fundamentals of the sword. It was not a combat art however and was simply a manual to teach the basics of wielding a sword and also had some concepts and theory on battling with a sword.
Finlay was also presented with a cultivation technique for his five element body. He was able to determine with a look that it was of a decent quality, but how can anything compare to an Immortal grade technique such as the Origin Srushti Mantra? It was merely offered to serve as a cover for his actual cultivation art. Once he reaches middle stage cultivation, he should be able to mimic the lower tiered cultivation art’s qi style, to serve as a mask in case someone closely examines it.
Even though it wasn’t exactly going to be his future cultivation path, Finlay still studied said cultivation technique for the next few days so that he could ask any questions that arise to Senior Elder Kang. This would also be helpful towards his cultivation over the next 2 months when he might not have the chance to meet up with such a helpful senior.
With everything prepared, Finlay went into a secret Qi rich environment of the sect to spend his time cultivating for the next 2 months.
“Make good use of this opportunity, kid. The higher your cultivation at the end of these 2 months, the better it is for our plans. These 2 months can also be considered my personal gift to you for setting a record in graduating.
“In case you have some difficult to resolve questions, you should come visit me at my peak. Someone there will help you get in touch with me if I’m not there. For anything else, seek assistance from the guarding Elder outside here.
“Okay, I’ve said enough. Good luck! See you in 2 months.”
To be continued.
Preview - System Status
Identity :
Finlay
Male
14 yrs old
–
Mortality :
Sura (Mortal)
Job :
None
Titles :
None
Cultivation:
Body Transformation stage completed level 9+ (Five Element cultivation + Lightning and Yin/Yang)(🠕)
Stats :
→open←
Skills :
The All seeing eye (Analyse) :
(Grade - E+)
Authority granted by the first god of the world, Dinn. You can peer into the secrets of things and beings of this world as long as you know what you’re looking for. (Requires activation conditions)
Inventory space :
(Locked until Foundation Establishment)
Universal Language comprehension (Grade A+);
Mana Blast (Grade F+)
Preview - Stats
Spiritual :
Cultivation Talent :
S+ Grade (Appears as C-)
Divine Sense :
None
Law Comprehension :
S Grade
Physical :
Body Type :
Five Element body (Grade : B+(Aggregate)) (Appears as C-)
Elemental Attunements :
Metal
S- Grade
Five Element Body Type
(Dominant trait)
Earth
A Grade
Wind
C+ Grade
Fire
C Grade
Water
D Grade
Light/Darkness(Yin/Yang)
D- Grade
Lightning (🠕)
D- Grade
Other Talents :
Weapon Talents :
Sword/Bladed type
A+ Grade
Ranged
C+ Grade
Hand to Hand
C Grade
Polearms/Spear
D Grade
Soul based/Mental type
D- Grade
Qi Circuits :
(Arrays, Formations, Magical Restrictions)
B- Grade
Crafting Talent :
C+ Grade
Alchemy Talent :
D+ Grade