In a lush green valley in between a group of mountains, on a dirt road, walked a tan boy with short black hair and wearing silk white robes. His eyes were bright and filled with hope.

This was Xing Yi.

Walking along the dirt path, he arrived in front of a tall gate along a long and towering stone wall. The wooden gates were left wide open. What was remarkable about them was the incredible craftmanship and detail of the wood. A cursive pattern reminiscent of the ocean waves was inscribed upon it.

Walking inside, he saw many several buildings within the facility.

He walked upon the brick path and further within. That’s when he saw a figure walking on the path he was in the distance. It seemed to be a man. They walked in his direction until they finally met paths and the man stopped him.

“Immortal, is there anything you require of this servant?” The brown-robed man, obviously several years older than him, bowed to him with his hands cupped.

Xing Yi was very taken aback by this and swiftly lowered the man’s hands back down.

“There is no need for you to bow down to me. I am much younger than you. Why did you bow to me in the first place?” Xing Yi replied.

“You are an immortal, while I am a mere mortal with no spiritual roots. Such is the hierarchy of the Bloody Path Sect. Is senior immortal a new disciple of the sect?” The brown-robed man responded.

“No, no. I am…”

Xing Yi thought, ‘What if?’ as he delegated his next words.

He internally sighed before continuing, “I am just an unofficial disciple. I do not even have any spiritual roots. I got into this sect through pure luck alone and do not deserve this kind of treatment from you or anyone.”

It pained Xing Yi to say these words as he expected the servant to make a full one-eighty in how he treated him. He didn’t like how it made him feel. It only made him feel even worse for not having spiritual roots.

Instead, the brown-robed man seemed to be intrigued.

“No spiritual roots and you still managed to join the sect as a disciple? How did that happen? And may I ask what your name is” The brown robed man asked, his thick black eyebrows furrowing.

Not wanting to elaborate, he replied, “No, it’s fine. It’s a long story. My name is Wu Xing Yi. Anyways, I was sent by an Immortal by the names of Mo Zhi. Do you know him? He sent me here so I could learn to read and write from one of his Uncle Master’s great, great nieces. I don’t know of her name but if you could help me out, I would appreciate it.”

The brown-robed man immediately recognised who he was talking about.

“You must mean Li Yuwan! She is the great, great niece of a Sect Elder. He dotes on her very much and gives her many gifts that would be worth enough to bankrupt entire establishments. Mo Zhi is the one who visits to give her all of these gifts so I know him quite well,” the brown-robed man realised, “Li Yuwan is the teacher of all the children of the servants and actually teaches my son. As I am speaking, she is teaching them right now so you could start today if you really wanted.”

“Really?” Xing Yi asked, surprised.

“Yes, come along and I’ll show you where they are right now,” the brown-robed man replied.

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The pair walked together, passing by a few buildings until they came to a particular building.

It looked like a school. It had long long windows wherein large spacious rooms with chairs and wooden desks could be seen. It was only until his journey to the Bloody Path Sect, did he actually see what a school building looked like.

Only one room seemed to be in use, evident as Xing Yi could see the heads of a few children through a window.

“Why is there only one class here? Where’s everyone else?” Xing Yi asked, his curiosity piqued.

“At one point of time, each and every class would be full of children but times have changed as with all things. This sect used to be a hegemon of the world of cultivation. But we have fallen quite a bit and so the population of the entire sect has considerably reduced."

They walked inside, down the long corridor and walked inside the classroom, where an incredibly beautiful woman had been teaching.

With fair skin, ample cleavage, and a curvy, full hourglass figure that could be seen her skirt and robes, she was a true beauty. As she taught the class, her eyes and black hair seemed to just shine.

Xing Yi could see why her great, great uncle, even as a sect elder, doted on her so much. He had never seen a woman as beautiful as her.

The brown-robed man and opted to glance at the children before him. He was a married man after all.

“Hello!” Li Yuwan greeted them when she noticed them.

Momentarily pausing her lesson, she walked over to the pair and asked the brown-robed man, “Zhu Fang, who is this child?”

Zhu Fang, the brown robed man, gestured to Xing Yi with his hand.

“This here is Wu Xing Yi. He’s an unofficial disciple and is looking to learn to read and write from you,” Fang Zhu said.

“Really? I would be very lucky to teach another adorable little face in my classroom!” Li Yuwan smiled eagerly.

Her smile was so rich with beauty that it was equivalent to looking at the sun.

“Yes, I do.” Xing Yi said.

“That’s great!” She clapped her hands together, “We only just started, you can join right away.”

Xing Yi walked inside the classroom and found a seat. Li Yuwan came back over with several scrolls and a book in hand.

“These scrolls and this book cover all you need to learn and write. We have lessons five days a week for 2 hours at a time from 12’o clock. I’m confident within a year that you will be completely fluent in reading and writing, and in even less time if you do homework!” Li Yuwan said before returning to the front to teach the class.

The brown-robed man left, and he was all by himself, in a classroom filled with children he didn’t know. They were all around his age, but it felt a bit strange since they had different paths in life.

They were destined to be servants while he was destined to be…

No, he was getting too far ahead of himself there.

Class resumed and they began learning how to write and read the characters for many different concepts and verbs. Xing Yi didn’t know how to write, but he began learning the strokes as he wrote down the characters they learned in class.

A few of the children in his class would give him looks every so often, obviously curious and interested in the new student. After an hour, class finished up and Xing Yi, along with the rest of the students, received homework to complete.

It was when Xing Yi left the building, he was intercepted by a young girl with her hair wrapped up in a pin at the top of her head. She was a little chubby, but she had a cute face and adorable eyes.

“Hey, you’re the new kid, right?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Xing Yi replied, not sure where this was going to go.

“Let’s be friends! My name is Min Ya Jing. What’s yours?” She asked with a cheerful voice as she held her books and scrolls to her chest with both hands.

“Uhh…” Xing Yi delegated for a moment before replying, “My name is Wu Xing Yi. We can be friends if you want.”

“Yay!” She cheered before quickly scurrying away, much to Xing Yi’s dismay.

Xing Yi continued on his way and left the facility and back where he came. It took him a whole hour to get back to his place as he had to traverse over multiple steep mountains and because of the sheer distance.

When he arrived home, he walked into the incredibly spacious living room which he now had all to himself and laid all his homework on the table. It almost felt like a large family was supposed to be living here.

He felt lonely.

He thought that such a large space would’ve made him happier. Back home he barely had any space to himself and would often wake up in the middle of the night with one of his older brothers foot in his face. It was annoying but they were family and he loved them.

He missed them. He really did.

Xing Yi delayed doing his homework to really think about the position he was in.

He was in a sect of immortals, as an unofficial disciple. Although he had no spiritual roots, he could apparently cultivate externally. Whatever that was. But his hopes weren’t particularly high.

Regardless, he had the opportunity worth the karma of a lifetime, and he wasn’t going to let it slip.

Immortal or not.