Finally, at the end of the first three months of his third year, Kai Lan’s name was listed as one of the audience participants of the upcoming Inter-School Cultivation Games.

This was quite the achievement, as while internal Cultivation Games were held every year at individual schools, the Inter-School games, and those of higher levels, only occurred once every 3 years.

Being only in his third year, Kai Lan was the youngest out of the 10 selected students to go, with 5 being selected from the 5th year students, and 4 from the 4thyear students. Still, they didn’t look down on Kai Lan for being selected so young, in fact, it was quite the opposite.

The nine-day inter-school event was set to occur in Aili City, the capital city of the District they were in. Kai Lan packed a bag and travelled with Xia Fei and the other school students and teachers to the city for the nine-day event.

It was a well-known event too, with many scouts attending from Senior Schools, Cultivation Sects and influential families and organisations. The attendance of these powerful figures would be highlighted more in higher-level events, but some liked to attend the District Level event to get an early lead on promising young cultivators.

As it was his first cultivation games, Kai Lan was excited. He wanted to see as much as possible, but with all the events and the numerous participants, it was understandable that they would overlap. Xia Fei was busy with training and preparing the combat students, so Kai Lan was left with the chaperone teachers and his fellow selected audience students.

The Cultivation Games were split into 2 streams, and a final combination event on the final day. The two streams were simple; the Combat Stream, and the Cultivation Arts Stream. At the Junior level, there were several events that were not conducted because of the lower cultivation of the students, after all, they were 10–15-year-olds that were competing, it was understandable that their cultivation might not be incredibly high.

In the Combat Stream there were 5 events; Hand-to-Hand duels, Sword duels, Elemental duels, Formation duels and doubles duels.

With the exception of the Doubles Duels, they were all individual events and mostly self-explanatory. The rules remained largely the same between them, with the first to be either knocked from the ring, or unable to continue, losing the duel.

Hand-to-Hand duels were without weapons or Manifestation Talents, with competitors relying mostly on energy bursts and body strengthening to win them the fight.

Sword duels simply added the element of using a sword, a Cultivator’s most common weapon.

Elemental duels on the other hand were without weapons, but Manifestation was fully endorsed and encouraged – though usually only senior students competed as one needed to be in the Profound Realm to compete.

Formation Duels relied on Formation talents. Each individual would forge a defensive formation around a flag, then they would do battle in order to capture their opponent’s flag. They weren’t allowed to use weapons in formation duels, but that was all. It was a test of not only one’s combat prowess, but also the ability to split one’s concentration and keep a stable formation going at the same time.

Doubles Duels were partnered events combining talents from the other 4 categories. It was like the normal combat duels and the formation duels combined in that each pair was given a flag to protect. They could win by either knocking their opponents from the ring – or beating them so they were unable to compete – or alternatively capturing their opponent’s flag.

In the Cultivation Arts Stream, the competition was much more academic. There were 4 events consisting of Talisman Arts, Potion Arts, Music Arts and Spirit Arts.

The competition was different every year, but they were all judged events. Spirit Arts were perhaps the most mysterious, as only those with the Spiritual Element could enter. As abilities varied it was often quite difficult to judge, but most commonly it was the one that was most proficient at using their Spiritual Element that won – not necessarily the most powerful.

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The Combination Event on the final day, called ‘The Arena’, was a team event in which 9 individuals from each school would compete over the course of the day in one artificial Arena. In the Arena, teams were allowed to bring talents from both streams in to fill in their teams, as well as up to 90 items (10 items each) approved by the Judging Committee. There was no rule that said students couldn’t forge or concoct within the Arena, but often there was not nearly enough time to do so, especially at the Junior Level.

After learning about the games from his older peers, as well as what they were most excited to see, Kai Lan elected to go with them to watch the Combat Streams for the first couple of days.

It was the first time that Kai Lan had ever seen a proper cultivator fight. Of course, he had sparred with Xia Fei plenty of times before, but he very rarely was allowed to use his true abilities. The spars at school were worse, too basic for his talents to be of any meaning to him.

Cultivation Games were for the young, so often anyone above the age of 30 engaged in more private competitions. Still, Kai Lan was excited. Excited to see what his peers were capable of.

But as the first day passed, then the second and third, Kai Lan grew bored. There was no innovation in their techniques, no blind trust in the Spiritual Plain and what it had to offer. They were simply repeating the teachings of their ancestors, applying it to their stage and seeing who had learned it better. There were perhaps one or two that stood out as marginally better than the others, but Kai Lan was still disappointed. Was that what he looked like when he sparred? Was he so rigid and set in his ways? The thought disappointed him.

On the 4th and 5thdays, Kai Lan turned his attention to the Cultivation Arts Stream to see if they were any different. But while he himself had never done many of the things the competitors were doing, he found himself thinking that they were only somewhat better than amateurs.

That night, he sought out Xia Fei to discuss it.

“Don’t you look sad, are you not enjoying yourself?” asked Xia Fei, “Or are you missing your Ma and Ba?”

Kai Lan shook his head, “No, I…I just feel like cultivation is going nowhere”.

Xia Fei frowned in confusion, “What?”

Kai Lan proceeded to explain what he had seen before Xia Fei nodded, “There are certainly proven ways of doing things, ways that have been learned, mastered and passed on for thousands of years. If something works, why should one change it? Why take the risk of devastating your previous efforts? Of becoming lesser in the pursuit of something you claimed to be greater? Especially when so many great individuals have come about in using this method”.

Kai Lan tilted his head in thought, “It is not as if I don’t respect that…I just…they are not individuals. They are part of a collective seeking to continue the collective”.

“That is often what a Clan or Sect is,” Xia Fei replied, “It is highly unusual for different styles to be taught in the same sect or clan. They are highly protective and proud of the style they have cultivated and aim to prove its superiority”.

“But in doing so they defy the very thing that pushed them onto the road of cultivation in the first place,” Kai Lan reasoned, “The reason they forge their Golden Core is because they found their place in the world. Why then would you let another mould you into what they believe your place in the world should be? It defies your initial intention and skews if not stagnates your growth”.

Xia Fei had never thought of her cultivation as such, and that night, she made a realisation that had kept her at her own natural limit for as long as she’d been with Kai Lan.

Kai Lan was not wrong. Golden Cores were forged when one was sure of their place in the world. But what if the reason why so many did not advance very far was because they were only led to believe their place in the world? That their place was actually somewhere else, but they had been convinced otherwise?

Her conclusions defied everything she had ever been taught, that she had taught, and for a moment she doubted herself. Then, she realised quite plainly that if she was to be a better teacher, a better individual, she should decide for herself if she had truly forged her golden core correctly, and if not, would she reserve herself to her fate, or would she take the risk to shape it anew?

There were only two students from Nui Dan that made it through to the National level. Not uncommon for such a rural school. It was common for Nui Dan to produce no student at all that made it through to the National Level.

After the events concluded, everyone returned to their home towns, and settled back into their routines. All except for Xia Fei, who gathered the family together and spoke of her revelation before asking if she could take a leave of absence to focus on her cultivation.

Kai Lan agreed immediately. Happy that she had made such a revelation. Hei Hei too was happy for her, but her revelation had led to one of his own, because what if she was right?