Year 658 of the stable Era
Fourteenth day of the fourth month
The Elder of the Teal Mountain Sect was a large man. Not tall in the classical sense, but tall in a way that defied anatomy. He stood a mighty nine feet tall, towering over the line of instructors arrayed behind him. His long robes were a pale green, just a shade or two from white, and decorated with a tableau of black-stitched mountains and golden clouds.
As Chao Ren watched, a dragon swooped between them, its passage parting the clouds as if they were mist rather than thread. The depths of its artistry were a sharp contrast to his hammer, which had a simple, unadorned wood handle and a rectangular head of a dull blue gray metal.
His fierce eyes glinted sapphires among his craggy features, brighter than the light that reflected off the jade-like skin of his shaven scalp. No, not jade-like, Chao Ren realized with a start, it simply was jade. The sheen, the luster, the translucence; there was no mistaking it for simple imitation once he looked closely. No, this was not a man of flesh and blood, but one of living, moving stone.
It could only mean one thing.
The elder was a fourth stage cultivator.
A Body Reshaping cultivator.
The third stage of body cultivation, the Body Moulding stage, was where cultivators pushed the upper limits of what a mortal body could withstand, Body Reshaping was where they redefined them entirely. They moved beyond simple modifying themselves, instead reforging themselves into new, more ideal forms. Blood and bones, sinew and flesh, all were merely suggestions to a cultivator of this stage.
Where weaker cultivators hardened their bones in imitation of iron, Body Reshaping cultivators remade them of steel, and then remade them again out of stronger, more esoteric metals. Chao Ren thought of the stories he’d heard of cultivators of this stage. Cultivators with blazing hair, myriad arms, eyes like the night sky.
Standing before Chao Ren was the strongest being he had ever seen, one that far eclipsed the strength of the great-uncles that led his clan. He wondered if he could ever reach that level of cultivation. To be able to reach that level of transcendent existence.
“When I first entered this sect, the illustrious founder Xiao Gang welcomed me with those very words, both the first and second times that I applied to the sect.” Soft gasps emerged from the applicants those words, that such a being would so openly admit to past failure. The elder laughed at their shock, a ringing laugh like the sound of struck jade.
“That reaction! That is why I always like to give this speech every year. I could live a thousand more and I don’t think I would tire of the novelty. Yes, I did fail! And for many years I was haunted by it. My peers would mock me for my initial failure, and it was an inner demon that haunted my dao heart for years. But one day, I had a chance encounter with the great founder that welcomed me to the sect.”
“I know that it is hard to imagine, but back in the day the sect was much smaller than it is now. We only had the two mountains, and there were barely a handful of places that one could go to get a bite to eat and a warm cup of tea to drink. The restaurant no longer stands, burned down during one of the many raids we suffered during the Age of Drought, but I still remember what I was eating that night.”
“A plate of fire crab dumplings, a bowl of pine nuts, and a pot of plain green tea.”
“I was a poor disciple back then, even by the standards of the sect, but the owner always seemed to have a few of those spirit crabs that he was willing to sell for a cheap price. He was a good man.” A faint misty look played across the elder’s eyes. “I wish he had had a better death.”
“As I was sitting alone, at a corner table late one night, what I thought was a fellow disciple sat down across from me. The restaurant was quite full at the time, so there wasn’t anything odd about such an occurrence, but what really surprised me was my new companion had the gall to ask if he could beg a dumpling or two from me, as he had forgotten his purse in his room!”
“Of course, I was shocked. I could barely afford this bare level of spiritual cuisine, and it had been something I had been looking forwards to for a full week.”
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“But then, I thought back to all the times that I myself had wished that someone would help me, and I realized that I had a chance before me to become the benefactor I had always desired. After all, it was only through the owner’s generosity that I was able to eat these crabs in the first place, and it wouldn’t do to repay his kindness with greed. So, after a vague promise of repayment, I offered my companion half of my dumplings and a cup of tea to warm his bones.”
“He took it gladly, and as we ate, we talked about the sect. My companion lamented the current state of affairs; there had been difficulties with the mines, and he had been forced to join an away force to rescue some stoneworkers that had been captured on their way to our sect. It was a hard time to be a craftsman in those days, as many sects saw them as nothing more than another resource to be hoarded.”
“I, for my part, lamented my difficulties cultivating. I spoke about my troubles with cultivating the Jade Bones technique, the vicious struggle for resources that being unable to contribute much to the monstrous beast hunts caused and, after I let him talk me into splurging on a bottle of cheap wine, the relentless teasing that I had endured as a result of my near failure to join the sect. How I was considered a waste, and a poor talent, and how it would have been better if the sect had dedicated its resources to raising a cultivator that could actually support the sect.”
“My companion listened to my woes in silence, only speaking when he asked if he could have a little more of the wine. And when I finished, he clapped me on my shoulders and spoke these words to me: ‘Junior, the true skill of cultivation isn’t talent. It’s endurance. The endurance to persevere through failures.”
“’So what if you failed once or twice?’ he asked. I’ve failed many more times than that, and I’m likely to fail again! What matters is that despite the fact that you failed, you were able to endure and eventually succeed.”
“As you continue along the path of cultivation, you will face many more obstacles, and if you choose to carry a burden from each struggle you face you will be crushed by their weight. So don’t. Endure through your trials, but embrace your successes. And above all, remember, that endurance is the key to cultivation.’”
“With those words, he left, taking with him the bowl of pine nuts, and as I later noticed, the rest of the wine. It was not until the next day that I learnt who I had spent my meal with, when a letter thanking me for the dumplings flew through my window. It also contained the exact payment for half of the dumplings and half of the wine. As if the cheap bastard had only drank half of it.”
The elder laughed aloud at the memory, remembering how mad he had been when he’d realized that he’d only been able to drink two cups of the stuff.
It was cheap wine, brewed from mundane rice and bereft of any of the qi or spiritual ingredients that the drinks he now drank contained in abundance. But when he was young, it had warmed more than just his body. Maybe he should get a bottle of it later, for old times’ sake.
“But after that, I thought back on his words, and my dao heart strengthened. His words were not a miracle pill. Indeed, it took me several more years to truly refine my resolve and slay that inner demon. But his words opened my eyes to the path of endurance, and my path towards the dao opened by it.”
“As I look at you now, I see several that have tried and failed before, and I commend your endurance! You have done well to make it here again, and I hope that you find the strength to endure the last test of this exam. For your last test is indeed one of endurance.”
The elder waved his hand, and three manuals emerged from his spatial ring. They appeared without any light or sound, a testament to the quality of the teal jade it was crafted from. They floated in the air above him, growing in size until they were about the height of a grown man, their titles visible for all to read.
Beginner’s Teal Jade Body Tempering Technique.
Beginner’s Teal Jade Mind Refinement Technique.
Beginner’s Teal Jade Qi Gathering Technique.
“Endurance is the heart of cultivation! You must endure against the relentless passage of time and the loss of those you love. Endure against the bottlenecks of cultivation, against the struggle to improve and the doubts it will seed in your heart. Endure against the trials and tribulations that the world will throw at you, and endure against all the odds to succeed.”
“So, the condition for passing the next test is simple: study these manuals and use their teachings to reach the Refining stage in any of the three pillars.”
Chao Ren gasped, the sound muffled by the echoing sounds of surprise from the rest of the audience. Shock spread among the applicants like wildfire.
“Five months? That’s too short!”
“In such a short time, with manuals that we’ve never studied?”
“How is that fair?”
“Wait, is he serious?”
“Did they even intend on accepting anyone this year?”
“Is this a joke?”
“How can they do this to us?”
The elder let the chatter build for half a stick of incense’s time before raising his hand with a ringing snap of his fingers. Abruptly, the hall was silent again. Several of the applicants continued to talk, only to slowly stop once they realized that they were no longer making any sound.
The elder continued. “You have six months to accomplish this task. There is no limit to the number of applicants that may pass, so should you reach the Refining stage you will have a place in our sect. May you all find the strength to endure this trial and overcome it stronger than ever before.”
Saying this, he cocked his head to the side slightly, and Chao Ren realized that someone was using a sound technique to relay him a message.
The elder cleared his throat and added, “There is also a prize for any applicant that succeeds in mastering two pillars, and a greater prize if you master all three.”