It was only after leaving the hall did it hit him.
He was unable to cultivate.
What was even external and internal cultivation? What was the difference between them? But he knew that whatever it turned out to be, he wouldn’t be able to become an immortal.
As Xing Yi jumped back onto the flying sword with Mo Zhi, he experienced despair.
He stared into the many valleys and mountains down below with a lost feeling.
All anxiety had seemingly faded away against the sudden revelation and he casually asked Mo Zhi, “What does it mean if you don’t have spiritual roots?”
Mo Zhi didn’t even turn around as he replied, “It means you are unable to absorb the world’s qi. All attempts in gathering it will end in its immediate dissipation.”
There was a gap of silence, the only sound being the whistling wind that was blowing their clothes everywhere in a frenzy.
“Didn’t the Head Steward back there say that I could cultivate externally. What’s that?” Xing Yi asked with a defeated voice. His eyes were dead, not even a single light shining within them.
“External cultivation is that of not the world’s qi, but of one’s own life energy. Anyone can do it, even without spiritual roots. But it is several times more perilous and dangerous. One must risk their own life to become stronger and the amount of talent required to progress is absurd,” Mo Zhi explained with a sad tone, lamenting Xing Yi’s situation with empathy.
External cultivation? Really?
With the explanation that Mo Zhi gave, he felt it was just useless to even try.
That’s when a depressing thought creeped into his mind.
If only I had been born with spiritual roots.
Xing Yi’s eyes started to tear. He was-
He was never going to become an immortal. It was just useless. Everything.
Xing Yi chuckled to himself.
What use was his meditating going to be if he wasn’t going to become an immortal? All that dedication and pain for nothing. He almost got ahead of himself there. Who did he think he was trying to become an immortal?
Tears fell down his cheeks.
His hands quivered. He gripped them tightly, desperately trying to keep himself together.
Mo Zhi stayed quiet, as if he was oblivious to Xing Yi.
Their trip continued for about twenty minutes until they finally landed, and Xing Yi hastily swept all the tears off his face. He walked with his head down, looking at the ground the whole time as he walked alongside Mo Zhi.
They walked inside a hall with stone-tiled flooring. Walking inside, he lifted up his head and saw several other immortals in this place. There were wooden benches lining the wall and on them were immortals in seated-lotus position.
They were meditating.
Just then, an elderly man walked out of a door at the back of a hall with a stack of paperwork and walked up to a female immortal. He handed the paperwork with a respectful bow and walked away. The lady gave a smile and cordially walked out of the hall.
The elderly man noticed them and walked over. He was balding and had a large, crooked nose.
“What brings you Martial Brother Mo Zhi?” The elderly balding man asked.
“I just want to register this boy here Xing Yi as an unofficial disciple and get his things in order,” Mo Zhi replied.
The elderly balding man looked at Xing Yi for a moment before replying eagerly, “Of course. Right Away!”
He scurried ahead and brought out a few documents and jade scrolls.
Mo Zhi brought him to the desk.
“Ok, I need you to sign your name for me on a couple documents and you should be ready,” The bald elderly man smiled, revealing all his teeth.
Xing Yi pursed his lips as he hesitated whether to say it or not, “Sorry, but I don’t know how to write. Or read.”
The bald elderly man turned his head slightly, surprised that he heard what he had heard.
“Well then, I will write it for you,” The bald elderly replied with a smile but with an obviously irritated and annoyed voice.
Xing flinched at this, the elderly man’s harsh tone seeming to stab into him.
With dexterous movements of his hands and focus, he signed over the many documents in rapid succession until he was finished. Then, after scavenging inside a cupboard behind the desk, he found a grey ring.
With a flash of blue light, three pairs of silk purple robes appeared. Along with it were several paper scrolls, a small blue ring, and a patterned jade seal with red jade in the middle of it.
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“Now here’s your official sect clothing, a basic storage ring, and your official sect seal. Make special care to never lose your jade seal and keep it on you at all times as it is what verifies your identity and allows you to access everything in the sect. If you do not have it on you, you will be unable to access the library, training grounds or any facility,” The bald elderly man explained.
“Martial Brother Lan, you do not need to give him a storage ring,” Mo Zhi said.
The bald elderly man surnamed Lan raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why?”
“He has no spiritual roots and thus has no use for one,” Mo Zhi replied.
The elderly man surnamed Lan was stupefied.
“Is this a joke? Who is allowing someone without spiritual roots into the sect?” Senior Lan looked down on Xing Yi as if he was a disgusting insect.
Without losing his cool or his serious façade he replied, “He presented a Heaven Chosen Medallion. That is why he is being allowed to enter the sect even without spiritual roots.”
Senior Lan grew angry and rebuked, “Really! How stupid and senile have the stewards have become that they have actually allowed a mere mortal into the damn sect! Damnit!”
Senior Lan threw the ring back into the cupboard before immediately shooing them away.
“Sorry,” Xing Yi apologised with a sigh.
“It’s not your fault. Stressing over things one can’t control only brings further consequences,” Mo Zhi replied, not disturbed at all.
Xing Yi was surprised at how differently the two immortals had responded. It seemed that not all immortals were benevolent, kind and patient like Mo Zhi.
Xing Yi nodded his head before asking, “Where are we going now?”
“I’m going to figure that out right now,” Mo Zhi replied.
With the wave of his hand, the pile of scrolls had reappeared in front of him, now floating in front of the air. For a moment, Xing Yi wondered where the scrolls had gone. Neither him nor the immortal had been carrying them.
He wondered at the immortal’s magic as the latter inspected each scroll and it’s writing. Quickly, Mo Zhi found the one he was looking for and on it was a map with description. He put everything else away and the pair jumped onto his sword and flew into the sky.
As they flew, Xing Yi didn’t look around and kept thinking about the fact he didn’t have spiritual roots. He touched his robes and stared at his torso with a sad face.
After thirty minutes, they arrived on top a small verdant green mountain rich with vegetation.
In front of them was a long wooden house covered in overgrown grass. It was well-built and structured and showed no sign of decay. However, due to a lack of maintenance it had become derelict.
With droopy eyelids, Xing Yi looked to Mo Zhi for answers.
“This is where you will be living from now on. As an unofficial disciple, you aren’t entitled to live in the sect’s outer court accommodation. This was once the servant’s hall of a sect elder. But he is long dead now and this place is now used as housing for all unofficial disciples. There are no other unofficial disciples at the moment, so you are all by yourself,” Mo Zhi explained as he recalled the information he read inside the scroll.
Xing Yi walked inside the house along with Mo Zhi and took a look around.
There was a long hallway corridor cutting straight through the building, with rooms and closets on each side at regular intervals. There were 12 bedrooms in total and one large, combined kitchen and living room at the end.
It was very spacious.
Xing Yi walked in on him looking around in one of the tidier rooms.
He interrupted him, “Before I leave, I must give you these.”
He plopped down his clothes, Xing Yi’s official sect seal and several small books of varying colour.
“As Senior Lan said earlier, do not lose your seal and have it on you at all times. Keep great care of your clothes as any one of these robes would be worthy of being worn by a prince. Lastly, with regards to your lack of ability to read and write, I’d recommend you go to the sect’s Servant Hall. One of my Uncle Master’s great, great niece is a servant there and as long as you send word of me, I’m sure she would be glad to help you,” Mo Zhi explained, leaning against the back of the wall.
Mo Zhi’s beautiful blue eyes twinkled as they looked upon Xing Yi.
Hearing Mo Zhi’s words, Xing Yi felt very grateful towards the immortal.