The outer sect disciple exam took place a few days later, but I did not attend. There was no point.

I was waiting.

It wasn’t until six days after the exam that I was finally contacted. This suggested a level of secrecy and paranoia that I hadn’t expected, but it didn’t completely take me by surprise.

An older-looking man wearing the robes of a servant disciple met me as I was leaving my apartment. I didn’t recognize him, but that didn’t mean too much. I could only hope that I had been successful in attracting the attention of an unaligned sect elder.

He led me to one of the buildings at the entrance to my apartment block. It was completely nondescript. It looked like every other building on the block. The only giveaway that something was different was that there were a few people loitering nearby. As we approached, they looked at us briefly before turning back to their conversation.

After entering, we walked to the stairs, but we were stopped by a man in a deacon’s robe.

“Disciple?” he asked simply, forcing my guide to interpret his meaning.

“Deacon,” the guide said, cupping his fists in salute, “I have brought another nominal disciple to see Elder Mu.”

“Oh? Is he the last then?” the deacon asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No, deacon, the elder has indicated there are a few more he wishes to meet with.”

“Very well. Ask the elder to please finish his business soon. These meetings are becoming disruptive.”

Without waiting for a response, the deacon turned around and disappeared into a side room.

“This way,” said my guide, leading me up the stairs.

We exited the stairway on the second floor, and my guide knocked on the first door on the left. He didn’t wait for a response before opening it and ushering me inside.

At this point, I wasn’t surprised to see that this was not, in fact, an apartment. Instead, it was set up as a temporary office. The room was rather spartan in décor, with only a few mostly empty bookshelves lining the walls. The focus of the room was a large wooden desk with several documents piled atop it.

Behind the desk sat a large, wide man. He wasn’t fat, he was just big. I would have placed his age in the forties if he were a mortal, but if he was a Grandmaster with a lifespan of 300 years? He was maybe 150 years old? His robes were the same as the elder I had seen during the alchemy portion of the entrance exam, except the bands at the cuffs and collar were solid gold. They lacked the snake motif.

“Sit,” he commanded, pointing at a chair in front of the desk.

After I did so, he took a long moment looking me over.

He took out a pill bottle and set it on the desk between us.

“A Perfect earth qi purification pill. You’ve got my attention. What do you want?”

I cupped my hands to the man. “Hello, I am Su Fang. May I ask, are you Elder Mu?”

The man only nodded. I expected he was since the guide said so downstairs, but it was more proper to ask.

“Elder Mu, I have been instructed to find you. I have a letter for you. I do not know what it says, but it may explain some of my business.” Holding the letter WuJing wrote for me with both hands, I passed it to the elder.

He took it and read it without comment. Once he was finished, he set it down, he looked back at me.

“So, what do you want?” he asked again without changing his tone.

“I need a master. I need to learn more about alchemy. I need to improve my cultivation. I need to learn more about the outside world. Chen WuJing suggested that you would be a good fit for my needs. I wanted to see if he was right.”

I avoided directly stating that I wanted to become his disciple. That wouldn’t have been proper at this point, and I wasn’t even sure that it was what I wanted yet. Better to leave an out for myself than commit too quickly.

Elder Mu tapped his fingers on the letter while looking at me. He was deciding my fate, but I think he was also trying to understand how I might fit into his larger plans.

“I trust Manager Chen’s opinion,” he finally said. “Chen has a powerful blessing that has helped him significantly in its own way. He has introduced me to a few people over the years, and while it hasn’t always worked out, they have all been people worth knowing.”

After a pause, he continued. “You, however, are different. Chen spoke very strongly about how I should treat you. This,” he said pointing at the pill bottle, “can explain some of it, but even if you have great potential as an alchemist, it is far from guaranteed that you will be able to assist me.”

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He gave me a sharp look. “That tells me you have some secrets. Either Chen is wrong, you are from a powerful clan outside the Wastes, or your blessing is extraordinarily potent. I don’t know which option is true, and it won’t make any difference which it is. In all three cases, my response is the same.”

He taped on WuJing’s letter slowly.

“First, Manager Chen says he told you our goal is to ascend and become true Martial Lords.”

I nodded.

“I will be clear. That is my only priority.” Elder Mu’s voice turned cold. “Nothing in this entire sect, in all the Wastes, interests me unless it helps me reach that goal. If Chen is right, and you assist, I will owe you a favor. If you hinder me, I will kill you. It’s that simple.”

I nodded again. This is what I expected. This world wasn’t kind to obstructions.

“You are looking for a master. Do you understand what that means? A master-disciple relationship is very important. The master provides significant training and resources. In turn, the disciple competes to win glory and resources for the master. If I train you well and send you to the Flowing Mountain Sect, this sect will be rewarded by them, and I will be rewarded by this sect. If you do exceptionally well, I may be recruited by the Flowing Mountain to join them as an instructor. Beyond that, any future glory you achieve will also belong, at least partly, to me.”

His eyes scanned me closely, looking me up and down.

“If Manager Chen is correct, I am not qualified to be your master. If he is wrong, then I do not wish to be your master. Either way, I will not be your master. Instead, I will be only your teacher.”

At the word ‘teacher’, I winced. I had already had one teacher. Still, this situation was different.

“I will provide you with access to knowledge and resources. The faster and stronger you grow, the more help you will be to me. To pay for this, you will concoct pills for me.” He gestured to the pill bottle again. “This suggests that you have significant ability in alchemy, at least with Rank 1 pills. That is good for now, but their value is limited. I need a large number of Rank 2 pills. Rank 3 would be even better.”

Elder Mu’s voice, while still cool, took on a hint of bitterness.

“While I am a Grandmaster Alchemist, my actual ability is lacking. That is why I am stuck here. If you want any hope of joining a major power outside the Wastes, Grandmaster will be a minimum requirement. To pull me up with you, you will need to be an exceptional one. I will give you a chance, but make no mistake, you are not my only path forward.”

We locked eyes. We understood each other. He helped me now, and I would help him later. Even if it wasn’t in this life, if he remained true, then I would help him. They say a teacher for a day is a father for a lifetime. For me, if someone truly helped me, a lifetime would be insufficient.

“Very well. To proceed, I need to know everything you are willing to tell me about yourself. Every cultivator has their secrets, and you are entitled to yours, but hiding information will limit what I can provide.”

“I understand. I will tell you what I can.”

“What is your affinity?”

“I have a low eight-star affinity in all five basic elements.”

The elder sucked in a slight breath.

“That is unfortunate. Most powers outside will not look at you without at least a seven-star affinity. Still, we can work with it. It might be possible to raise your fire affinity at least a little, but that will depend on you. What is your blessing?”

“It’s complicated,” I hedged. “It has given me a strong ability in alchemy, at least in Rank 1. My soul was significantly strengthened, my qi control is excellent, and I have gained some understanding of how medicinal herbs can be combined. Without a pill recipe, I can anticipate the general effect of a pill produced from a combination of ingredients. I have only experimented with Rank 1 pills, though.”

“So, close to the limit of a Disciple Alchemist? Have you acquired a spirit fire?”

I hesitated, not sure how truthful I should be here, but I didn’t have any other choice. If I wanted to learn, I had to say it. “I have a seed of the Cold Mountain Fire in my soul, but I don’t know how to use it.”

Elder Mu finally showed a reaction at that, but I couldn’t tell what. “And how did you acquire such a thing?”

“It was also related to my blessing.”

His eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t press.

“Anything else?”

“My cultivation technique. I believe it is a modified version of the Peak-Yellow technique taught to nominal disciples of this sect.”

“Also part of your blessing?”

“Yes.” I could tell he didn’t believe me at this point, but I would stick with my story. Anyway, it was the truth.

“Very well, you seemed prepared to become a member of this sect. You have a cultivation technique and fire seed that is a perfect match. So, what do you want from me?”

The elder folded his hands in front of himself and waited for my demands.

“First, I need cultivation techniques. I only have a Rank 1 technique right now. I need access to high-ranked techniques. If they were at the Profound level, it would be even better.”

Elder Mu snorted at this. “What else?”

“Help with alchemy. I have reached my limits. I do not know how to progress further with Rank 1 pills, and I have neither the herbs nor the knowledge to make Rank 2. Also, while I have a fire seed, I don’t know how to use it.”

“What else?”

“Knowledge of the world outside the Wastes. I am leaving this place sooner or later. With a major power or not. I need to know more about what’s out there.”

“What else?”

“That’s all,” I said.

“Fine.” Elder Mu took out a scroll and held it up for me to see. “This is the Peak-Yellow Rank 2 technique. I don’t know how your Rank 1 has been modified, but it should still be compatible enough. As for Profound-Rank techniques, that would be a waste of time. Cultivating a Profound Rank 2 technique will provide you no benefit when you cultivated a Yellow-Rank technique as a Martial Disciple.”

He placed the scroll on the desk and slid it toward me.

“Regarding alchemy. After this meeting, you will be returned to live as just another nominal disciple. Nominal disciples cannot access Rank 2 herbs, and Martial Disciples cannot be promoted to the outer sect. Focus on cultivating. Raise your cultivation to Martial Master 1 but go no further. Once you have done so, you will take the exam to join the outer sect again.”

He began tapping his desk once more.

“As for information about places outside of the Wastes, don’t worry about it for now. Once you enter the outer sect more information will become available. I will arrange for a deacon to take care of all your needs in the sect. This should avoid the problem of someone else noticing your abilities and trying to poach you.”

He adjusted himself in his chair and straightened his back.

“Finally, refer to me only as Elder Mu. Since you came here, people may guess at our relationship, but I have met with many people this week. No one should ask about this meeting, but if they do, you can decide what lies you want to tell them.”

With that Elder Mu signaled an end to our discussion.

I walked away with a Peak-Yellow Rank 2 technique and hope for future cooperation.