Finlay was embarrassed to note that contrary to his expectations, the discussion of his fight didn’t go too differently from most others. He had displayed above average martial might, yet his technique and skill was as mundane as any others of his peers. A small compliment at the end was all that differentiated his fight’s analysis from the others.
“Fan Lei, despite your mediocre level of weapon proficiency, your fight possessed an important factor that determines the fights of even the most mighty cultivators. It’s the unyielding spirit and the initiative to take the fight to the enemy. For that very reason, You do show some promise for Martial excellence.
“...Yet, you can be said to have been way worse than most of your peers in some areas. Your weapon maintenance for example,” he critically eyed Finlay’s weapons, much to his embarrassment.
“So, do not even think of slacking off, for your little strength beyond your peers holds little meaning if they could leave you in the dust by simply learning the basics.”
Finlay understood. He gave a sincere bow for the teachings before he was motioned off to the side for a rather long private advice session. He received information about his potential paths and any advice on it, including things he was already aware of.
“You show promise in both the paths of a spear and sword. Despite your clear lack of familiarity with the sword, I believe you have greater affinity with it than even a spear. You will attend all of the weapons training sessions diligently. For a couple of weeks, come join my early morning training sessions till you’re familiar with the correct way of practising and then you can do it on your own. “
Finlay returned to his place to continue listening. He glanced at his weapons beside him and couldn’t help but be embarrassed again. Normally, any cultivator or even a mortal warrior worth their salt are expected to always keep their weapons in top shape, but he had been too busy with his other learning projects to train with his weapons and had inevitably let it slack a bit. It couldn't be helped. Afterall, he lived over 30 years as a simple modern day human who’s life was as far away from that of a warrior as possible.
He shook off his slacking attitude and trying to find excuses. He wasn’t in his home world anymore and he had to stay focused if he was going to ever see it again.
‘No more of that attitude. I’m a cultivator now, a warrior, a soldier. I better learn to live like one. And quick.’
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Far away to the northeast of the sect were a series of mountains that seemed to pierce the sky itself. An ethereal glow of purple shone through the ever present thick mists. They are the Purple mountain range. On one of the desolate, cold mountain peaks, 2 figures could be seen side by side , facing the onslaught of the bone chilling winds with the same casual demeanour of facing a pleasant summer evening breeze.
The older of the 2 had grey hair that reached down to his waist or it would if not for the skin peeling winds. He had an incredibly gloomy expression, darker than the thundering cloud below, as he stared at the other man besides him. The person in question seemed middle aged in appearance, a sharply trimmed moustache of salt and pepper, just the same as his wavy shoulder length hair. His expression made one want to seek the warmth of the ice cold surroundings instead. His sharp eyes were directed at the lightning dancing between the clouds, as if seeking to pierce the dazzling dance of purple and gold.
“I disapprove of this! No matter how you try to reason, this is madness!!” the older man spat out in a gravelly voice that was barely even human.
The cold man remained unfazed, as if he wasn’t the one being spoken to. This further incited the anger in the other.
“I’ve seen you grow up from a milk sucking qi condensation realm cultivator to where you are now. So, don’t you dare ignore me! The very idea of conducting business with our enemies, the demonic faction no less, is degrading and spitting in the graves of our fallen. Do you believe your ancestors would approve?!”
That finally got the attention of the cold one. He stared deeply into the eyes of the old man as he replied with heavy words.
“What would you have me do? We’ve lost much… terribly much. A lot of our senior powerhouses are now no more, although most of the mid level cultivators survived, most of our lower level disciples have either perished during the war or have been infected with the demonic qi, severing their path ahead. Even our mortal population has suffered greatly-”
“Those Elders and sect disciples made sacrifices in honour of the sect and the orthodox teachings. So stop spitting on the honour of the dead!” the old man couldn’t help but interrupt, outraged.
After a long silence, the cold man resumed in an almost sad tone.
“I met with the heaven seer of the unorthodox faction.”
That seemed to have been significant enough to change the expression of the raging old man.
“H-how?! The unorthodox faction is way too far. If you could travel that far, we might have as well petitioned the great sec-”
“It was a coincidence!” The stoic man answered.
“I met him in our own territory. I do not understand why or what they were here for, but it was an unexpected surprise. I didn’t know at the time who he was. For the hospitality I offered, he promised he would check one prediction of a 100 years. I chose the sect.”
The old man’s eyes went wide at the realisation.
“The moment he told me the result, I knew it wasn’t the hospitality, but pity that made him offer,” he inhaled deeply at that before continuing, “50 years. That’s how long we had, even in the best case before we’re either brought down by demonic infiltration or have been pecked clean by vultures around, I’d reckon the ‘Great sect’ wouldn’t mind chopping us into pieces to share and appease the disgruntled lower sects.
”That’s why, I chose this path through hell. I chose to cooperate with our sworn enemies of untold millenia!! With the plentiful lands and healthy mortal population of the True sky sect, our sect will have all it needs to recover. This is the best time to strike. It is now too bloated for a mid level sect after losing so many of its power houses. Even if the so-called Great sect brings down their hammer for the sake of their beloved tail wagger, I reckon we could still ensure the survival of the sect at the very least.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
A moment of silence ensued before the old man hissed his opinion through gritted teeth.
“That changes nothing! The very existence of the demonic is against us and the very heavens of this world! Did you forget that? Better die an incompetent than ruin the honour of untold generations.”
“I have already made up my mind, old man. You will not change it now.
“And I was chosen as the sect master by my predecessor, to lead and protect this sect, even if he disagrees from beyond the grave, it is my right to lead the sect in the best direction I believe… If you wish, you can remain with the back up we’ve prepa-”
“Sect master! You look down on this Grand Elder too much! I will not back away from leading the sect, even if it is leading it into Naraka itself!”
The sect master of the purple mountain sect gave the old man a grave nod of approval.
“In 6 months, with the opening of the ancient hidden realm, we will reach the point of no return.”
*sigh* “I will have to make preparations for when we will need to wake up our sect protectors from their long rest,” the fierce Grand Elder resigned himself to the dire future of his sect.
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“Cultivation. What is cultivation?” a middle aged elder was in charge of teaching the cultivation aspect of the Fundamentals of Cultivation for Finlay’s class.
“Is it simply the accumulation of Qi? Is it improving your body? Or perhaps your martial arts? Any one?”
A few raised their hands at the prompt. The instructor pointed to a random one for an answer.
“It’s climbing up the realms to defy the heavens!” came a confident answer.
“Ohh? That’s a surprisingly thoughtful one… yet it’s nonsense.”
The inflating pride of the disciple was punched down quickly.
“Cultivation does involve all of the above at various steps, including the climbing of realms and the standing against the heavens, but the path isn’t the destination. Cultivation is the earnest pursuit of the enlightenment into the world that surrounds us, the heavens that shelter us and the laws that govern or uphold existence itself. In short, it’s for the sake of the pursuit of Dao!”
The disciples wore thoughtful expressions and the teacher allowed them a minute of comprehension before continuing.
“A cultivator can grow stronger, live longer and perform feats that can only be described as miracles from the eyes of a layman and can even obtain immortality for themselves and ascend to higher planes. Now what makes all these miraculous things possible?”
This time, it seems like no one had an answer, regardless of if they were a silver spoon or not. From the expression of the teacher, it was clear that he expected it.
“Well, it makes sense for you to not realise the importance and profundity of the nearly ubiquitous and seemingly mundane energy of the world, Qi.
“Qi is everywhere. Around us, inside us, even if we cannot see or perceive it, in the case of the mortals. The profoundness of Qi allows a cultivator to perceive the world around them in entirely different ways compared to the physical senses. It is even believed to play a major role in the dao enlightenment. It not only allows us to strengthen ourselves beyond the physical limit, but also allows a cultivator to interact with the ethereal and the very fabric of reality itself…”
The thoughtful and curious expressions of several in the class changed to that of wide eyed wonderment.
“Today’s class will be on that very Qi and at the end, we will go over exercises that develop one’s Qi perception and control…”
It was another of the profound classes that Finlay had been attending for over the past month, each class only catapulted his curiosity higher and higher. To think he had expected the classes to be a bit more mundane and tamed. As a modern day adult, he even expected to breeze through certain subjects like math and basic sciences and that had been true to some extent, but there were plenty others to keep him occupied and engrossed.
Formations was one such subject that heavily relied on some complex geometry, calculus, trigonometry etc. Although the complex part was more from the perspective of those introduced to it for the first time. But there were other fields of mathematics that arose due to the effects of Qi which were a bit more challenging due to them being new, but nothing Finlay found particularly difficult. Still, he pitied any kid who hadn’t had much in the way of formal education and wanted to pursue formations as a cultivator.
*sigh* ‘I suppose if anything, all cultivators do have, is time. I’m sure this is nothing a 2 year study with an enhanced mind couldn’t fix.’
Similarly, Alchemy is more Chemistry than middle age herbalism. The addition of Qi threw a major curve ball into it though. Making several impossible things almost seemingly mundane. For example, the Qi control allowed incredibly fine control of the particles in the cauldron and at the highest levels of skill and cultivation realm, each molecule could be controlled individually. Qi also allows observing exactly what is happening in a reaction which is nearly impossible or incredibly inaccessible even by the standards of modern science.
Meditation, Fundamentals on Qi arts, detailed regional history etc are some of the other interesting topics he was able to learn in class.
After the spar for his Martial class 3 weeks ago, he had been diligently attending all the weapon training sessions of his instructor. By now, he was at least proficient in the fundamentals of his spear and sword. Although he initially didn’t plan on it, he was going to bring up his archery before the instructor to see if he could squeeze it in somewhere.
That day after the class, he walked up to his instructor of the Martial class to do the same, but surprisingly, the instructor had something to say to him instead.
“Disciple Fan Lei, your progress over the past month has been very acceptable…”
Finlay knew by now that that was the expression his instructor used when he meant to praise someone and was pleasantly surprised to receive it.
“...If you continue your focus on your fundamental exercises everyday, you will surely reach a decent level of proficiency in a short while. From today onwards, I want you to attend a different class I hold for those more proficient in their spear. As for your sword training, it is best if we stop here for now.”
Finlay was a bit confused at that. He felt like his sword training was progressing well and was even starting to enjoy wielding the weapon more than others.
“No need to be confused. I can still continue teaching the sword and that will eventually allow you to attain a decent level of mastery, but I believe that you have some natural affinity for the weapon and it would be a waste to not receive instruction from a good swordmaster.”
Finlay was again surprised by what he heard. Only after a moment did he bow to express his gratitude for the instructor's thoughtfulness towards Finlay. It would have made no difference even if he hadn’t said this, yet he went out of the way to admit that he was inferior in something and advised Finlay to seek proper guidance.
“This Fan Lei is moved by the elder’s kindness. I shall forever remember it!”
“No need for a gesture. I’m merely doing what I must as your Martial instructor. It’s natural that I guide you in the right direction according to your talents. Now, about your future sword instructor, I have someone in mind, but I’m not sure if he will actually take you in though. I have arranged a meeting for you tomorrow. After that, it will be in your hands whether he will accept teaching you or not.”
Finlay again hurried to give him another bow in gratitude for going the extra mile.
“It’s fine. It’s fine. You better go prepare for the class today.”
Finlay gave a nod and turned around to leave before the instructor gave out one last piece of advice.
“And I forgot to mention. I suggest you take some spirit stones with you for your meeting tomorrow.”
Finlay found the advice a bit weird but still nodded his head in acknowledgement.
To be continued.