Lin Siyuan didn’t open his eyes until the rays of the early morning sun began to shine through his window.
As he opened his eyes, the ambient sensation of qi disappeared from the room, along with the sensation of it flooding into his nascent soul. He stood up, feeling replenished and ready for the day. He took one last look at his room, grabbed his sword from its spot near the door, and opened it to leave.
“Oh right, I’m not going to the beginner’s relic smithing class anymore,” Siyuan muttered to himself. “But the advanced relic smithing class isn’t even in the lower reaches. And I can’t even get into the upper reaches until I’m in the Aura Manifestation realm. So how am I supposed to get up there?”
The cultivator quickly changed into a brand new set of robes. He was grateful that he decided to keep his hair short, as it never took long to tidy up. Well, not like that was something to deal with inherently, as cultivators were naturally immune to being dirtied for a long period of time, as their bodies expelled filth naturally, both from within it and anything on the skin.
After he made sure his appearance was presentable, he opened his door.
That was then he felt the front of his foot accidentally hit something small right in front of his doorway. He looked down to see what it was.
A pill bottle with a small note beside it.
Siyuan crouched, reaching for and picking up the note. It was written in his teacher’s familiar handwriting.
This bottle is full of transportation pills. They will grant you access to the upper reaches. Do not lose this bottle or any of the pills inside it. Without them, you will no longer be able to attend class until I can get you another batch of pills. Take only one at a time. Transportation pills are still fairly new and it is not a good idea to risk your life out of curiosity of what would happen if you did.
“Since when did the sect start using transportation pills?” Siyuan pondered. “And aren’t they kinda super expensive?”
Siyuan wasn’t all too familiar with transportation pills. All he knew was that it served the purpose of granting cultivators access into areas they would normally be blocked out of by subtly changing the nature of their qi. Recent developments in alchemy have started the production of pills that even had a timed effect.
However, they were also known to be absurdly expensive. Mostly because the materials needed to forge a good batch of them were rare and hard to get.
“That just means I really should make sure I don’t lose these.”
Siyuan took the bottle, put it into his robe, and headed out of the room.
His room was one of many in a large building resembling an inn. Thus, out and about were many other cultivators who had just recently awakened. He followed the flow of them out of the building before making his way towards the transportation arrays.
The transportation array itself was a large, complicated array, conveniently located in the lower reaches’s school’s central courtyard, that brought cultivators to wherever they desired around the school, as long as they had access and it was within the sect’s territory. It was extremely complicated and the pride of the Mystic River Sect. All a disciple needed to do was step within it, touch the ground it covered with his or her hand, and verbally profess where they wanted to go.
It was fairly early in the morning, the time when the array was most crowded. Dozens upon dozens of disciples were getting onto the array and using it to get to their preferred destinations.
Almost every single one of them, however, were disciples from the lower reaches going off to their classes or going out on missions to fulfill their annual quotas to the sect. The ones who weren’t were teachers doing the same. Disciples from the sect’s upper reaches were rarely ever seen taking the array Siyuan and his fellow disciples frequented, as they had their own duplicate in the upper reaches. It was the same with the sect elders.
Unbeknownst to them all, however, an even rarer phenomenon was about to take place. A lower reaches disciple was about to prematurely enter the upper reaches of the sect. Not only that, he was about to be taking classes there. Regularly.
He felt he was incapable of even imagining the kind of commotion that would bring.
Good thing nobody knows about it then, he thought as a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his head. That would be way too much of a hassle to deal with.
Siyuan took the pill bottle in his robes out and opened it. He let a single pill roll out onto his free hand before recapping the bottle and putting it back. He stared at the small, unassuming pill for a moment before opening his mouth and gulping it down. The pill went down his throat without the slightest hitch.
Alright, that should do it.
He cleared his throat as he stepped onto the large array. He crouched, touching the ground with his fingers.
“Upper reaches,” he muttered, hoping nobody around him could hear what he had just said.
In an instant, light enveloped his whole body and he promptly disappeared.
By the time he blinked, he was in an entirely different place.
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Lin Siyuan had never seen what the upper reaches of the sect looked like before. Of course, being as young as he is, he couldn’t help but be curious to what it could possibly be like. The only thing he knew was that it looked nicer than the lower reaches. He and Luo Han talked about it every now and then.
He couldn’t have ever expected, however, what he saw when he reappeared.
Unlike in the lower reaches, the transportation array in the upper reaches was easily the most beautifully built chamber that he had ever laid eyes on. The chamber itself was as large as the lower reaches’ courtyard, yet it was covered top to bottom with expensive jade. Everything seemed to be made out of some kind of material that a tiny piece of was at least more expensive than ten of Siyuan himself, much less enough to build a chamber as large as this one. Attached to the walls were large paintings of various scenes of nature, put up between multiple channels leading out of the chamber.
Wow, the sect really didn’t hold back when they were building the upper reaches! Siyuan thought, his eyes wide as he stared up at the ceiling, where two large dragon sculptures made of gold were curled around and baring their teeth at each other. You can tell, just by looking at this place, where the sect put a large majority of their resources. And the upper reaches are supposed to be larger than the lower reaches, too!
He was stuck in place, frozen with awe, as a single voice suddenly rang throughout the chamber.
“Hey, you!”
Siyuan almost jumped out of his skin when a voice suddenly boomed across the hall.
His eyes widened further when he suddenly felt a massive aura enter the chamber from behind him.
“Do you know where you are?!” the voice continued. “What is your business here?!”
Siyuan slowly turned around to finally face his speaker.
Walking towards him from the channel behind him was a young woman, appearing to be just barely older than Siyuan, completely clad in the Mystic River Sect’s female uniform. A beautiful young woman at that. Her skin was the perfect tone, being not too pale to seem unnatural or too tan to seem unsightly. Her hair was long and pitch black, tied into a neat, long ponytail. Her facial features were perfect, as if an expert architect had spent his time and energy to chisel it to perfection, with plump red lips and shining, jade green eyes. The proportions of her body were clear to see, even under the sect’s uniform that was made with the purpose of hiding the more feminine features of a woman’s body. She was definitely pleasant to the eyes, but she seemed so perfect that Siyuan found her a tad bit disturbing. Almost like a doll that was built to seem as perfect as possible.
What had really caught Siyuan’s attention, however, was not her, but the golden aura of energy her whole body was bathed in. Small trails of bright, golden energy rose from her as she strode forward in a regal fashion.
Aura Manifestation Realm! It’d be bad if she misunderstands the situation. I should quickly explain my situation, I should be fine as long as I get her to understand…
The female cultivator stopped a distance away from him. She folded her arms across her chest, looking expectantly at him still standing on the array.
“Well?”
Siyuan opened his mouth to speak, but he found it a bit hard to breathe. Her aura was seriously stifling. He managed to force the words out, however.
“M-my name is Lin Siyuan,” he says. “I am here to take the advanced smithing class. It is my first day here.”
One of the other cultivator’s perfectly kept eyebrows rose quizzically. She unfolded her arms and reached into her robe (Siyuan blushed slightly diverted his eyes as his gaze was momentarily drawn to her chest), pulling out a single jade pendant, just like the one Siyuan had. It began to glow slightly as she activated it. Her eyes skimmed the characters that seemed to appear onto its surface.
“Hm, it seems that we do have a new student from the lower reaches joining the advanced relic smithing class today,” she says. “I must have missed the message somehow. My apologies. Please follow me as I bring you to the classroom. And make sure to memorize the route, as I will not lead you there again.”
“Yes, of course,” Siyuan says.
With that, the woman turns back around and begins walking back down the chamber she had emerged from. Siyuan quickly got off of the transportation array and sped-walked up to her.
“So, uh, I never caught your name,” he says.
“Xue Yunlan,” she says curtly without even turning to acknowledge him. “I am mostly in charge of making sure students don’t go where they are not supposed to. And dishing out punishment appropriately.”
“Right. Well, it’s nice to meet you…”
Not the friendliest character, he thought. Also, why did it kind of sound like she was threatening me?
Just as the thought passed through his head, she suddenly stopped. Siyuan also stopped beside her. She turned around. Her eyes surveyed his form before squinting slightly. Her eyes scanned his form again.
“Um, what’s wrong?” Siyuan asked.
The other cultivator didn’t answer, keeping her stare onto his form.
Siyuan felt another bead of sweat run down the side of his head.
Wait, could it be that she sensed that I’m…?
“Hm, I thought I felt something weird from your aura, but…I guess it’s nothing,” she said before turning back around. “Apologies. I have only ever seen one other Qi Manifestation cultivator roaming the halls of the upper reaches throughout my stay here so I am not quite used to them. Let us hurry, you don’t want to be late for your first class.”
Only one other Qi Manifestation cultivator? Siyuan thought. Guess that makes sense. It’d only be reasonable that a large majority of the other lower reaches sect members attending classes up here would be in the Foundation Establishment realm rather than the Qi Manifestation realm. I wonder who it is though.
Siyuan initially thought of bringing up the question, but Xue Yunlan seemed determined to interact with him as little as possible. Thinking that it wasn’t a wise decision to get an Aura Manifestation realm cultivator annoyed with him on his first visit to the upper reaches, he decided to drop the matter.
For a while, the two just walked silently down the large corridors. Siyuan took the time to admire his surroundings, marveling at what looked like to be the halls of an imperial palace to him.
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However, as beautiful as his surroundings were, he couldn’t help but notice something.
Why is it so barren around here?
As they walked down the halls of the upper reaches, Siyuan hadn’t seen more than maybe three or four other cultivators walking down the halls other than Xue Yunlan.
“Is it that the upper reaches’ disciples are so busy that they don’t have time to even walk down the halls?” he muttered.
If Yunlan had heard his question, she didn’t show any sign of such.
Eventually, they reached a small, simple set of jade-green doors.
“Here is your classroom,” Yunlan said, speaking for the first time since they began walking through the upper reaches. “Please stray from this path as little as possible on your way here to the transportation array and back. I wish you a productive day.”
With that, she promptly turned around and walked back down the hallway without giving him a second look.
“Well, aren’t you friendly,” he muttered as he turned to the door. “Alright, I hope I’m not late.”
With that, he opened the door.
And what he saw was the largest classroom he had ever seen.
It wasn’t as large as the chamber that held the transportation array, but it still felt pretty massive. It was easily double the size of his old relic smithing classroom, possibly even larger. It was a lot more fancy and ornate, too. Like everywhere else in the upper reaches, the whole thing seemed to be made of expensive marble, though the colors were neutral enough to not be distracting. The desks and chairs looked to be made out of wood, but they didn’t feel at all out of place or seem any less expensive than everything else.
As expected, this classroom makes my former classroom in the lower reaches seem no more elaborate than my former home in Zhongde in comparison.
Sitting in front of each of the tables, of which there were only seven of, were students of similar age as Siyuan, yet slightly older. Out of the seven of them, two of them were females while the rest were male. They were all of varying sizes and appearances with the only commonality between them all being their crow black hair and that they were all wearing the Mystic River Sect’s uniform. Like Xue Yunlan, they were all bathed in mild auras of varying colors, tell-tale signs that they were in the Aura Manifestation realm.
Only seven students? Siyuan wondered.
Standing at the front of the room on a slightly elevated platform was a thin, middle-aged woman, dressed in the garbs of the Mystic River Sect’s instructor robes. She had medium-length crow black hair that flowed freely down her back and stern, dark brown eyes. Like the other students in the room, her body was bathed in a bright aura, though it was notably denser and felt more powerful than the other students’.
Siyuan’s eyes widened slightly when he saw that.
The Soul Spirit Manifestation realm! In the same realm as sensei…
When the sound of the door opening rang throughout the classroom, she stopped talking and looked up from the book she was holding in her hand, turning to the door. In mild curiosity, the other students did so as well.
“Young man, may I ask what business you have here?” she asks. Her voice was methodical and stoic, yet held a slight tint of charm in it.
Uh oh, does she not know that she is receiving a disciple from the lower reaches? Could it be that sensei forgot to tell her?
A bead of cold sweat ran down the side of his head as the thought ran through his mind. He almost contemplated backing out right then and there.
No, I should still introduce myself at least. Then if she kicks me out, tomorrow I will have sensei send her another message.
With that, he took a deep breath and, mustering his courage, took a few steps into the classroom.
“Um, greetings, honored elder,” Siyuan greeted as he clasped his hands in front of him and bowed respectfully. “I am Lin Siyuan. From this day I will begin attending your classes.”
The woman at the front of the class raised an eyebrow at that statement. That statement also seemed to attract more of the other students’ attention.
It took them a bit, but it dawned on them there was something wrong with what he had said.
The woman pursed her lips. She closed the book in her hand before reaching into her robes and pulling out a jade pendant. It glowed to life as she began to read the characters that were etching themselves into it.
Meanwhile, the other students just stared at him. Their curiosity was beginning to slowly turn into different varying expressions. The room was gradually filled with quiet muttering.
“Huh? A new student?”
“Him? But doesn’t his qi feel too weak to be an Aura Manifestation realm cultivator? Or even a Foundation Establishment cultivator…”
“This foolish junior must be here just to cause trouble. How could someone as weak as him be a part of the upper reaches’ relic smithing class?”
From the quiet mutterings however, a loud voice boomed through the room. One that seemed to silence everyone else.
“Ha, you are joining our class?”
Siyuan raised his head. He turned to the speaker, a large man who easily dwarfed everyone else in the classroom in size. He had a rugged face, short, clean-cut hair, and harsh, steel gray eyes. His robes did little to hide the bulging muscles of his arms although they covered the entirety of them. His expression was hot as a flame as he glowered at Siyuan.
“Impossible, you seem like just a mere Qi Manifestation realm cultivator,” he said. “Don’t try to lie by saying you are qualified to join the advanced relic smithing class.”
He turned to the woman at the front of the room.
“Uh, but I am qua-” Siyuan tried to get out, but he was promptly cut off.
“Sensei, I request that you send someone to punish this foolish junior disciple for disrupting class,” the male disciple says.
“No, that won’t be necessary,” the sensei said as the glow of her pendant disappeared.
She turns to Siyuan, putting the pendant back into her robes.
“It appears that this junior has been personally pushed into the advanced relic smithing class by the basic relic smithing class teacher,” she says. “Congratulations, that makes you the first Qi Manifestation cultivator in the sect’s history to ever join the advanced relic smithing class.”
The other students’ expressions were flat at first, then they all morphed into expressions of surprise. Their eyes went back to Siyuan, wide as dinner plates. The most startled of all, seemingly, was the student who had just spoken up. Under the scrutiny of their gazes, he could only shyly laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. A shiver ran through his body.
Um, this seems a bit scary. Will I really be okay in this class?
“You are lucky that we have just begun today’s lesson,” the teacher says. “I apologize that we don’t have a table set for you, but there will be one the next time you come to class. For today, I will have to trouble you to stand at the back of the class behind the desks.”
With that, she turned her gaze away from him and reopened the book in her hand.
Siyuan just bowed one more time in respect before he turned to the desks towards the back of the classroom. He made his way there, trying his best to ignore the other Aura Manifestation Realm cultivators drilling into him with their eyes. He eventually situated himself behind the desks between the tables of two girls, farther away from the burly male cultivator who had called him out earlier.
Their eyes remained on him for a moment longer. They all turned back to the front of the classroom as the teacher restarted her lecture.
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“Infusion is a term used for a popular method in relic smithing, in which a smith inserts qi into an object as a method of preparation before forging a relic. Now this has a variety of uses. It could strengthen a relic’s purpose, or even fundamentally change a core’s purpose to something that would normally not be possible to instill into a relic. Infusion even opens up the possibility of forging relics without needing a smithing array.”
Siyuan just subtly nodded his head as he cupped his chin in thought.
They were about near the end of class for that day, assuming Siyuan’s sense of time wasn’t off. To be fair, his new teacher, for the entirety of the couple hour class time, hadn’t stopped talking for even a second. Even though the purpose of class that day was to simply introduce the students to a brand new concept in relic smithing, she seemed to find no trouble in finding more than enough to lecture on for multiple hours.
As expected of a teacher from the advanced class, he thought. In his mind, he sighed to himself. This woman seems noticeably younger than sensei, but she can definitely speak a lot. And to think this is just an introduction to the topic…
“However, infusion is an extraordinarily complicated process,” the teacher thought. “In its most basic form, it seems to simply be putting qi into an object that will be forged into a relic or a relic that will be enhanced. However, doing so will almost always guarantee failure with the actual infusion process.
“There are many reasons why experts compare relic smithing to alchemy. In alchemy, there are many factors one must keep track of to ensure that the pill is successfully produced. The distribution of ingredients must be perfect and the heat under the pill furnace must be neither too cold nor too hot. It is exactly the same situation with infusion. For your desired method of infusion, the amount of qi going into the object from every source must be exactly the right amount or the process may fail. Sometimes, for particularly difficult infusions, it could fail even if the temperature of the air isn’t right.”
Siyuan rubbed his chin.
Infusion, I guess that is what separates the experts from the average smiths, he thought. It already sounds complicated. No wonder why it hasn’t even been brought up when I was taking classes in the lower reaches. Aghh, this seems like a pain. Will this even be possible for me if I’m still in the Qi Manifestation realm?
“Go over the subject of infusion in your advanced relic smithing manuals,” the teacher says, shutting the book in her hand with finality. “Starting next week, we will actually begin infusion. Class is dismissed.”
The students in the classroom all stood up from their seats. As they quietly made their way to the door, a couple of them gave him some final fleeting glances before leaving the classroom. The large male student from before didn’t do so, but Siyuan did catch a slight scoff coming from him as he left the room.
Looks like the other students don’t quite know what to make of me yet, Siyuan says. Except maybe that guy. I plan on keeping my distance, but it will help me if I get to know at least one person. Oh well, not exactly a concern yet. Just as long as I don’t get onto anybody’s bad side.
Siyun got up from his spot on the floor at the back of the room. He began his way to the door.
“Lin Siyuan, a moment please.”
The cultivator stopped and turned to her. He bowed respectfully.
“Yes, sensei?” he asked when he raised his head again.
“Just a couple of things,” his new sensei began. She hands him the book in her hand, withdrawing it after he takes the manual. “This is the advanced smithing manual. All of the education you will get from here on will be based on what is in here. Secondly, there is the case of your cultivation realm. Being in the Qi Manifestation Realm, your qi capacity really is too low. The Foundation Establishment realm is also a bit too low for what this class requires, but it is definitely better than being in the Qi Manifestation realm, so it would help if you could breakthrough into the realm as quickly as possible. Actually, hmm…”
The teacher stopped and thought for a moment, cupping her chin.
“Say, how far into the Qi Manifestation realm are you?” she asked.
“Um…”
Siyuan closed his eyes for a moment. He took a moment to look into his nascent soul, looking down upon the pool of qi sitting in it.
“I am about midway through the Qi Manifestation realm,” he says. “It is a bit slow for somebody who has broken through half a year ago, but I have been putting studying relic smithing over cultivation so I’m not too sure how long it will take me to reach the Foundation Establishment realm.”
“I see,” the teacher says. She thought for a moment. “Ok, how about this? I will give you a few months starting tomorrow to break through into the next realm. During that time span, don’t worry at all about coming to classes. Of course you’ll fall behind, but I’d rather have that than risk you coming down with qi deviation because some of the assignments I have planned for the future require enhancing relics six or seven times at least.”
Siyuan’s eyes widened slightly.
Only a few months? That was a crazy deadline! he thought. It took me half a year just to get done with the first half of the Qi Manifestation realm. Having to finish the latter half in half that time is impossible for me even if I cultivated all day and night! Has it been so long since this lady been in the Qi Manifestation realm that she had forgotten how long it takes to reach the Foundation Establishment realm?
However, the teacher’s request did make sense. It is entirely plausible that the requirements to even just be able to complete the assignments of the advanced relic smithing class would be much higher than that of the basic relic smithing classes. Four enhancements might’ve been too much for Qi Manifestation realm cultivators to perform, but over double that was probably just expected of Aura Manifestation realm cultivators.
“And, well, I did say that I’d give you a few months, but it would be very helpful for me if you breakthrough as soon as possible. It would be a struggle for both of us if you fall too behind. That is all.”
Siyuan’s eyes widened even further at that.
“Um, sensei, this junior disciple apologizes, but your request seems too far-fetched,” he says. “Breakthrough in just a few months? That is impossible for me, even taking into account that I somewhat neglected my cultivation before I transferred. Maybe if you give me four or so months, I can get it done…”
“Four months is too much time,” the teacher says, shaking her head. “As I mentioned before, it will be a struggle for me to maintain the other students’ curriculum and try to get you caught even with the deadline I set. Any more and the trouble might be too much to warrant being worth risking.”
Siyuan sighs. Indeed, his new sensei’s reasoning wasn’t unfounded. He really did have a fairly serious problem on his hands and just like most of his other fairly serious problems, it was because of his pitiful cultivation realm.
“Sorry for dropping such a huge problem on you on your first day here,” the teacher says with an apologetic smile. “Fortunately for you, that is all I have for you. Sorry again.”
Siyuan briefly bows in her direction. She just hums as he turns around and heads out of the classroom.
The corridors of the upper reaches were completely barren, save for one or two disciples who completely ignored his presence, as Siyuan walked back to the transportation array. The near silence gave him a lot of time to think out his next move and just how he was going to approach his current predicament.
Siyuan soon found himself at the ornate transportation hall. He took one more admiring gaze at the place before stepping onto the large transportation array. He bent down and touched his hand to the array beneath his feet.
“The lower reaches.”
The array began to glow as a bright light overtook his whole body.
He blinked. As he opened his eyes an instant later though, he found himself standing on the transportation array in the familiar courtyard of the lower reaches. It was not nearly as full as it was in the mornings, having only several students here and there roaming the courtyards or stepping onto or off of the array. However, compared to the upper reaches, it was still crowded.
At first, he thought about going back to his home. But he stopped only a few steps towards its general direction.
“I need to find a way to hasten my cultivation,” he says. “And I can’t half-ass it either. I will need to consult sensei about this.”
With that, he started his way towards the beginning relic smithing classroom.