The disciple selection ceremony would not be for several months yet. Every year at the beginning of the new year, those who wanted to seek the Dao had the opportunity to ascend up the mountain of our sect and attend the ceremony in hopes of joining our ranks.

There are several tests and trials used to determine which students are worth taking on as disciples, or simply worth keeping an eye on should they prove themselves in the years to come.

But at the moment, I had time to prepare for taking a disciple. I never considered the matter before, so I had no idea what I should do to prepare for taking a disciple. Should I prepare housing and training courses or would I merely need to be there as a guiding figure giving the occasional support?

I decided I should be as involved as possible. The purpose of this endeavor was, after all, to grow the fruit of immortality upon my Heavenly Mountain. A hands-off approach would simply be both insufficient and too impersonal to call any fruit that might grow my own.

But I was no great elder. My resources in the sect were limited. My abode would not be large enough to house a disciple with all that that entails. Us cultivators do not live in expansive residences with courtyards and pagodas out of mere vanity. While it is certainly the case for some, for most of us, each space in our residence has a purpose of its own. Be that different locations to cultivate and train in various ways, or gardens and workshops to practice our esoteric pursuits, they are all necessary and useful in our cultivation.

I decided to visit the sect’s resource administrators and request resources to provide for a disciple. Perhaps I would be granted the resources I needed.

“I’m afraid not.” The great elder in charge of distributing land and resources within the sect replied in his usual apathetic monotone, not even looking up from the papers in front of him on his desk.

“But why not? With respect honored grand elder Frozen Abyss, I’m a perfectly respectable elder and I desire to take on a disciple. Why can’t you provide me with resources to provide for my disciple?”

With a sigh, he looked up and fixed me with a condescending look “Because,” He said “We provide all that the general body of disciples need to them already, and any disciple you pick will hardly stand out so much as to deserve any more special treatment.”

“What do you mean more special treatment?”

“I mean, getting a master should be more than enough for whomever you choose.”

“Honored eld-” But my mouth snapped shut from the force of his spiritual pressure and the grand elder continued.

“If your student cannot rise beyond the rabble with just standard sect resources and an elder’s guidance, they are not worthy of special treatment. Especially not if their master has no previous record of successful students to prove their worth, such as yourself elder Gao.”

He paused briefly, piercing me with a condescending glare as if to hammer home his opinion of my nonexistent achievements, before continuing. “Now if your student were to achieve some measure of distinction, you can return to me to have your request reconsidered. Dismissed!”

Before I could open my mouth to protest, the door behind me opened back up and he released his spiritual pressure, forcing me to leave or offend him by attempting to stay by releasing my own. Not that I’d have a chance at succeeding, considering that grand elder Frozen Abyss was at the fifth stage of core strengthening and vastly overpowered me. So I left in silence and frustration, pondering what I could do to help my future disciple now that knew I would not be receiving any additional resources from the sect. 

I considered what I could provide to any new disciple of the sect. I could certainly teach them the basics of cultivation if they don’t already know them, and perhaps guide them in finding their own path. But after that, the help I could provide would greatly depend on what that path was. If they are aligned with my own path I could teach them an art similar to my own and assist them with my personal insights. But if not, then I felt I might be at a loss. In the end, I decided that much more speculation would only harm my efforts and that I should simply attend the ceremony and let fate guide me, perhaps then I would be granted a fortuitous encounter.

I meditated upon my knowledge until the day before the ceremony so that I would be prepared to teach a student when I found one. I just hoped I could find someone with potential before all the good students were taken by higher-ranking elders, but maybe if I made a good impression on some of the kids, they would choose me over those prideful old masters. The choice of a master is, after all, the student’s.

The morning of the 1st day of the disciple selection ceremony

At the foot of the Ordered Lotus Sect mountain, thousands of youths from the Peng empire were gathered for the annual disciple selection ceremony. From barely literate peasants chasing dreams to proud scions of noble clans come to fulfill the expectations laid upon them so that they might become the future pillars of their family, youths from all walks of life had trekked from far and wide in order to ascend up the mountain and obtain the power and fate that they desire.

Among them was even the first prince of the Peng empire, here to obtain power and longevity in order to rule his future empire for as long as possible, as all other Peng emperors before him. The Ordered Lotus Sect was the biggest sect in the Peng empire, located on the greatest mountain in the empire. To the Peng empire, it was a great source of strength, and one of the ways the empire had stayed in power for as long as it had. But to the sect, the empire was only the last in a long line of mortal governments to rise and fall in the mortal world below. And so their relationship was like that of an uncaring leviathan and the scavengers that live in its wake feeding off of the scraps from its meals. Even the young prince had to act humbly when he came to the sect, so as to not be dismissed as foolish and simply trampled by the cultivators of the sect.

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And among these hopeful youths come to seek power was a young man, or perhaps boy, by the name of Wu Yong. The son of a hunter, he had a wiry physique from an active lifestyle and not quite enough food to become bulky, but enough to be healthy. He also had a sharp and observant gaze from spotting and tracking animals when he was out hunting with his father. His mother had passed away from illness when he was a child, and half a year ago, his father had died as well. While out hunting deer, a great stag had gored him.

The stag had been huge for its kind, its body rippling with flowing muscles, and its antlers iridescent as if made of pearls. It was a spirit beast that had migrated to the area they lived in and had taken over the local flock of deer. Normally the animals that lived in the province were normal and relatively harmless, due to a low concentration of Heavenly energy. Perhaps the stag had been chased out of its previous territory by cultivators or another spirit beast and had migrated to the available area.

Wu Yong had escaped with his life and gone to the local authorities, who had then swiftly called for a cultivator of the empire to come and remove the beast so the mortal hunters could resume their work. Wu Yong had been devastated by the loss of his father, and helpless to obtain closure by his own hands. When the immortal arrived and slew the beast with only a modicum of difficulty, Wu Yong knew that he had to obtain that power for himself or he too would someday perish to random tragedy as his father had.

Now, half a year later, he had finally arrived at the Ordered Lotus Sect mountain. With no more money or supplies and clothes ragged from his long journey, in a land practically swarming with monsters and spiritual beasts from the high concentration of Heavenly energies. He had left no other path to survival for himself than to be accepted into the sect as a disciple.

When the sun began peeking above the horizon, a sect disciple struck an ornate gong, producing a sonorous and oppressive sound reverberating through the morning mist and the gathered crowd. Silencing any voices and dispersing the mist from the plaza they were gathered on.

Once the sound had abated, a majestic elder appeared on the raised platform at the front of the plaza. He stood straight as a spear, towering imperiously over the attendees. As soon as all eyes were upon him, he announced the beginning of the ceremony in a clear and controlled yet deafeningly loud voice “Welcome, young aspirants, to the disciple selection ceremony!” he made a small pause while the echo of his voice abated before he continued in a more reasonable volume “You have traveled here from far and wide to have a chance to become a disciple in our great Ordered Lotus Sect, to pursue the martial and spiritual path to attain the strength and longevity of immortals. And for that, I welcome you and commend your determination.”

He looked out over the crowd, eyes lingering on groups or individuals with a penetrating gaze. Following the elder’s eyes and looking around him in the crowd Wu Yong saw others like him, marked by many months of travel and hardships. And their faces lit up and backs straightened with pride at the acknowledgment, himself included. He felt justified in his efforts by what the announcing elder had said and burned with the desire to live up to it.

The elder soon continued “Currently, you are gathered on the Earthly Lotus Plaza at the mountain entrance and behind me lays the Mortal Sealing gate, which serves as the entrance to the Myriad Way Mountain, upon which our great sect resides.”

Looking past the elder, Wu Yong and the rest could see a great bronze gate sealing the path to the mountain. The gate was imposing, to say the least. Around its edges were engraved a hundred great spiritual beasts, some beautiful, and some terrifying, but all awe-inspiring in their majesty and all looking down on those who would seek to enter. The gate itself was engraved with mystic symbols arranged in a mind-bending array. It looked as though both unbelievably ancient as it no doubt was and pristinely new as if it had only just been made. None of the mortals on the plaza could quite figure out that paradox.

Beyond the gate, they could barely make out the beginning of the mountain through the mist. But just as everyone was squinting and trying to make anything out in the mist, the elder flicked his right arm up towards the mountain causing the mist to be blown away in a great gale that continued to flow up the mountain, rustling trees and startling birds in an invisible wave, clearing up the view of the mountain. 

“Behold! The great Myriad Way Mountain! From here it stretches further up than your mortal eyes can see and contains more than a mortal perception can fathom. I said earlier that I commend your determination in making it this far, but merely that is not enough. The first test in order to enter our sect lies beyond the Mortal Sealing gate. A great stone stairway leads up the mountain providing a safe path through the wilderness, your first task will be to climb those stairs until you reach the Budding Heavenly Lotus plaza further up the mountain, where the examination will continue. You must reach the top before sundown to succeed. I wish you all luck in the coming trials, and I hope to see many of you at the top.” 

He then spoke once more in his deafening volume “Now let the first trial begin!” 

So saying, he turned around to face the mountain and made a hand signal. As soon as he did, the gates to the mountain started to slowly open, being pulled by great ropes by a pair of cultivators from the inside.

Wu Yong took a moment to let his ears stop ringing from the elder’s loud voice and admire the view of the mountain before he moved towards the gates with determination. No matter what trials they threw at him, he was determined to move forward and succeed.

The entire crowd awoke from their daze and began to move. Some said farewell to their families or guardians, while others moved forward immediately by themselves or in groups. They flowed like a river through the gates under the watchful eyes of the cultivators guarding it, one of the guardians announcing that only those attempting the trials were allowed to pass beyond this point.

As Wu Yong passed through the gate, he felt a tingle pass through his body. Moving forwards it slowly faded as he got accustomed to it, and soon he was in front of the first step. some were already climbing, while others stood by the bottom of the steps with equal mixes of caution and curiosity. The stairs were solid stone with not a single crack in sight, and looking up Wu Yong realized with trepidation that he could not see the end of the stairs even far above him. Having surveyed his surroundings and found no reason to hesitate, Wu Yong took a deep breath and placed his foot onto the first ancient stone step.