It was early in the morning, the sun soaking the land in a warm orange hue. It had rained last night and fresh dewdrops formed on the top of the grass. High up in the sky, disciples of the Bloody Path Sect could be seen casually flying along on their swords.

However, down on the ground, climbing up a steep mountain path was Xing Yi.

It was after much arduous walking and sweating that he finally reached the top and come upon a stone-tiled path which led into a small stone pagoda. Depicted on the wall was a dragon. It stretched around the entire building, with it’s tail on one side of the door and its head on the other.

Xing Yi recalled the conversation he had with his teacher, Li Yuwan, about the Bloody Path Sect and had learned that there were wonders called transportation formations, scattered throughout the sect that allowed its sects disciples to move around freely. But that was only if you were at Vessel Cleansing. If you were foundation establishment and above, you had to pay a small fee to use it.

It had been three days since he had officially become an unofficial disciple of the sect and he had gone to two of Li Yuwan’s lessons. But now it was the weekend so there were no lessons on. In the meantime, he had decided to just move in with the servants until he completely became confident in his reading and writing skills. It was only then that he would move back into his small hut at the far reaches of the sect. No one was watching him anyway, so it didn’t matter where he lived.

Luckily, they were generous enough to give him a room and even offered to make his meals for him, so he didn’t have to go to the Mess Hall to get his food. He hadn’t been there as of yet but knew it would’ve been a hassle as the distance from his hut to the mess hall was a whole hour away, according to his teacher Li Yuwan. She was a really helpful person.

As for the words, Vessel Cleansing and Foundation Establishment, these were terms he had learned were used to differentiate the cultivation level of a cultivator. In The Bloody Path Sect, and perhaps the entire world of cultivation, they referred to themselves as cultivators and not immortals.

This caused quite a shock to Xing Yi. They weren’t immortal?

But it quickly made sense. If there were entire sects of immortals just floating about, the heavens would’ve already been upheaved. They were people that cultivated the qi of the world, which they used to advance their own strength. Not all immortals- or cultivators he should say, were the same. Some were stronger than others.

However, in his case, since he was just a mortal, it was customary to call them immortals. But the thing was that he was an unofficial disciple, and it was really confusing. But Xing Yi decided to stick with calling them immortals as he didn’t want to risk offending any of them. A single misstep could possibly end with his little life being extinguished.

He walked inside the scantily lit room, the door left wide open and slightly jumped back in fright when he heard a voice.

“Who are you?” A quiet, monotone voice asked from the other side of the room.

He squinted his eyes as they adjusted to the darkness of the room and saw a white-robed disciple sitting with his back against the wall in seated lotus position. Strangely, he had his long black hair draped over his shoulder and into his lap.

“My name is Xing Yi,” Xing Yi replied.

It was silent for a couple seconds before the immortal dryly responded, “Show me your jade seal and where you are heading.”

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“Umm…” Xing Yi awkwardly fumbled around the leather bag he had around his waist until he found a jade seal.

He held it out in front of him and said, “Here.”

“And where are you heading?” The cultivator replied with slight annoyance.

“Oh, the arena,” Xing Yi replied, stumbling on his words yet again.

For a moment, he was worried the cultivator would reject his request and he would be kicked out, but it was the opposite.

“Ok, get in the circle,” The cultivator replied right before erupting into a large yawn.

Xing Yi walked forward inside the dark blue circle that was outlined on the ground. But it wasn’t just a normal circle. The circle was made up of several dozen intertwining cryptic lines in geometric patterns. At the head of the circle was a small indent in the ground. In it was a small, luminescent blue stone.

“Ok, now stand exactly right there and don’t move or you will hurt yourself,” The cultivator warned in his now familiar tired and sluggish voice.

Xing Yi stood there as straight a stick diligently, not daring to make even a single movement. He even held his breath.

After a few seconds, without a single movement from the cultivator, the circle and gem indented in the ground lit up in a blinding light that blinded his vision and hurt his eyes. He swiftly shielded his hands from the light.

So suddenly, that Xing Yi couldn’t even comprehend the time interval through which it took place, Xing Yi had teleported. The light had completely disappeared and he found himself in the exact same building.

However, the one key difference that allowed Xing Yi to know that he was in a different place was that the lazy-eyed cultivator had now been replaced with a generic looking young man with short black hair.

The cultivator opened his eyes briefly and gazed upon Xing Yi.

Along with the man’s gaze, a chill rushed over his body that caused his muscles to grow weak. He almost toppled over in that instance.

The cultivator seemed to take note of this and apologised, “My apologies. I didn’t expect you to be a Junior with no cultivation base. I hope this senior’s spiritual sense didn’t harm you too much.”

“Thank you,” Xing Yi bowed, grateful that the cultivator had apologised. This immortal’s spiritual sense was terrifying. But he couldn’t help but feel awe and jealousy for the immortal’s ability at the same time. He wanted spiritual roots too. If only he had them, he could use ‘spiritual sense’. Thinking about this, he became even more depressed about the topic and quickly forgot about it as he didn’t want to make himself feel any sadder than he already was.

In addition, it seemed that the cultivator was oblivious to the fact he had no spiritual roots. He had no idea what spiritual sense was, but he guessed that they needed to touch him to know if he had spiritual roots or not as that was the case with the Head Steward.

Exiting the stone pagoda, Xing Yi opened up to an incredibly large area that had been paved with stone tiles. Sitting and standing on the ground, and even flying in the air, cultivators watched people fight upon elevated stages.

There were three arenas in total and at that moment only one fight was going on.

It was between a red-armoured burly man and a young, curvy woman with vibrant blue hair and blue eyes. The woman formed multiple icicles from thin air, which would then propel forward to the burly man at eye-blinding speeds.

The burly man fought off her attacks with a metal staff, swinging and breaking an icicle with each swing. He broke multiple every second, his swings forming blurs and whistling against the wind.

As the burly man fought off her relentless attacks, he attempted to walk closer and closer to her. But it was to no avail. The woman was too nimble and as he reached her, she slipped around him and ran to the other side of the arena, forcing the burly man to close the distance again.

It was hopeless for him, but it wasn’t as if he was losing. The latter was just too slippery.

It was at that moment he jumped off stage. Everyone was surprised, including his opponent.

“I can’t defeat you. Any attempts at victory would unfortunately reveal some of my hidden tricks which I do not want to reveal in front of this large crowd. I offer a draw. Is this acceptable to Martial Sister?” The burly man said.

The woman looked at the burly man for a few seconds until she harrumphed and left the stage in anger.

“Whatever!”

As she left, a few other disciples happened to be in the way and they hastily made way for her as they didn’t wish to incite her ire themselves. Xing Yi watched all of this with a face of awe, in disbelief of the skills the immortals had used.

They could move and attack like that? That woman could literally summon icicles. And that guy could easily block those icicles when he could barely see their afterimages.

And deep down, he desired these very powers.