As Wu Guang reached the Mission Hall he noted that a change had occurred. Before one would see a few hundred disciples inside of the palace hall that could hold a thousand or so easily, but now the hall was packed full and even a quick count would show that a thousand if not more of them were present. Thankfully Wu Guang did not need to check the boards as Kuang Jing had mentioned to the disciples manning the acceptance and reception desks that his team leader would come to accept it, so avoiding the other disciples' Wu Guang went towards the desk where one could accept the missions directly.
Kuang Jing's words seemingly had reached the expected effect as after confirming Wu Guang's identity he was given the scroll and as he scanned the contents, the process was also completed quickly. With this, his task in here was done, but Wu Guang was a bit surprised to see such a sudden increase in people looking at the missions and so asked the disciple behind the desk.
It turned out that the Sect had issued several missives concerning the missions and because of that all of the bandit subjugation, resource acquirement, and caravan escort had now a bonus of 100 contribution points per member. Although this was a bit strange and there should be a reason behind such policy, Wu Guang was not really interested as he had no opportunity to take on any more missions and so simply noted it internally. After thanking for the information left the building by similarly avoiding bumping into the disciples flooding the hall.
Today was the first of the four days of the Qi Pressure training he had registered for. It was also the most expensive and long training of all the one he had taken, costing 200 points, double the 'Silent Arrow' one and ten times the price of the sparrings.
One would expect that such training had something special about it but in truth, it was similar to the challenge they had during the advanced entrance tests, albeit more geared towards Spirit realm cultivators.
Indeed the training simply consisted of the fact that the registered disciples would be allowed into a special training zone. In this place, they would be given a separate room with customizable qi pressure and could remain there ten hours each of the four days.
Such training was extremely boring and did not have many applicants. After all, what normal youth and most of the inner circle disciples were such, would like to remain in a closed room for ten hours without anything to do. Especially as such training simply tempered oneself and helped to better control qi, things that could be attained through far more interesting or at least outside training. In truth, Wu Guang was not a fan of such training either, but he knew that his quick advancement did not leave him much time for formal training and so decided to correct this before he left into a possible dangerous journey as well before he advanced further.
There was another reason for the training to be so unpopular, at least in the 'Three Hills Sect'. This was because the place for the training was part of the Discipline Palace punishment zone and so basically would take place in the same building that the rule-breakers would be judged and if needed locked. Granted, for this training they would not actually be locked up, but the rooms they would be allowed to train into were basically cells with the runes meant for suppressing one's cultivation working differently.
In truth Wu Guang also had another idea of how to use the qi pressure, but he did not yet know if he would be able to do so. This idea was to actively practice the defensive technique he had obtained 'Flaming Armor', which except for reading the scroll and activating a pair of times he could not do so yet because of the lack of an opponent or at least some environmental hazard to defend against.
Wu Guang had no such qualms as he walked towards the black, imposing, one-storied building where the Disciple Palace ruled. This building was located a mile from the main square and so could be easily seen, to serve as a deterrent for possible rule-breaking conduct.
The grounds and the Palace itself were further away and could not be seen without either being a member or being invited into, so this building called the Disciple Court basically served as the reminder that in the Sect, there was a real force observing everyone.
And truthfully such function was done perfectly as practically no one approached the building of his own volition, with the obvious exception of the disciples and elders that were part of the palace. This gave the impression that everyone around had changed into the grey robes commonly used in place of the blue sect uniform.
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As Wu Guang neared the entrance he was stopped by a pair of these grey-robed disciples, but as he explained the motive of his visit, he was quickly indicated where to go and dismissed.
Such conduct was normal as most probably the disciples were assigned to something and simply asked a normal disciple that stood up like a sore thumb, so Wu Guang did not react to their lack of formality and simply walked towards the side door he was indicated.
The door lacked any handles from the outside and nobody was present outside, so he knocked on it. In response to his knock the door opened and another of the grey disciples as he internally decided to call them asked him if he was here for the qi pressure training.
After confirming this, he was invited inside and asked to descend a flight of stairs.
Wu Guang knew that the Sect did not only had the overground part but also counted with an extensive underground network, after all, some of his tests were done in there. Still, this was the first time he entered the official part of the underground, where people actually lived, were locked up, or worked. But as his visit was part of an official training he did not really observe anything except a pair of corridors to the sides of the one he tracked to reach a small office where seemingly he would meet the elder responsible for the training.
The elder in question was dressed into the common inner elder uniform except for his black belt and the badge that had a 'Discipline' character added to the ones stating his status. Seemingly he was dressed with such uniform as to avoid scaring the possible trainees as after all, grey robes normally meant that he was on duty. After confirming Wu Guang's identity and checking a scroll the elder gave him a small stone key engraved with two runes and explained its usage.
"The key has an opening rune and a timed activation one. After using it to open the room it will be unusable for ten hours. So as you enter the room and the door is closed, you can not leave for all the entirety of the time. In case of emergency, you can activate the runes on the door, but I suggest you do not use them for nothing as it will void the training if the reason does not warrant its usage"
"Understood"
"Good. Now to the training. The first three days you will simply be allowed to remain in the room. The qi current can be controlled from the rune plate you will find inside. Normally this rune-plate is not present as the rooms are used as cells so it can take some time to actually change the qi pressure. There is no qi gathering rune and the walls are covered in blocking runes, albeit the latter will be deactivated please take into account that the outside qi level will be hard to reach as the cell is underground. Any questions?"
"If the Elder permits me... What about the 4th day?"
"I was getting there in any case but it's good that you note the important things first. The fourth day will be a bit special as you can request to be subjected to the aura pressure from a Soul realm cultivator. As you understand such is far more beneficial than a simple qi current, but if you are not ready it could be dangerous or even fatal, so several requisites are present for such a request. The first of them is obviously the fact that you remain for the 30 hours before, the second is that you use the maximum qi pressure setting and resist it for at least a total of three hours, while the third is simply the availability of such cultivator. Questions?"
"Are the rooms monitored?"
"Oh? No, they are not. You can train however you like without damaging the room or the runes. And if you ask because of the 3 hours of maximum qi pressure the answer is simple, we monitor the runes usage. You can enter the room whenever you want, yours is the one marked with the character 'Heavy' and the number 6. You can reach it by taking the same corridor you arrived from. Its a few hundred feet deeper"
"Thank you. I will take my leave then"
The elder did not respond except for a simple motion that signified that he could leave and Wu Guang did. He had no other objectives here except training and so he walked towards the door and after confirming the markings used the rune-key to open the heavy, iron-plated door. The room or cell was square and was about ten feet between wall and wall. Without any windows or openings except the door that closed right as he stepped into it, the room was illuminated by a single light rune and so appeared a bit dark. Still such light was enough to see that except for the rune-plate located near the opposite wall it was totally bare, made from black stone and low roofed room.