As Tyler climbed up the cliff-side, he could feel a few eyes trained on him and trying to peek at his cultivation from hidden alcoves strewn about.
But, he had already grown accustomed to diverting those away as it was really annoying to deal with the people who assumed he was just a pipsqueak and he'd much rather deal with people treating him as a charlatan that hides his cultivation.
When he finally arrived at the top, he was surprised by the sight as the only things he had really seen from Sword King mountain were its villages and Edge City. Only perhaps the Radiant Fist Dojo and his own Three Haven Heritage would fit right in this vista of the inner sect.
There was a breathtaking amalgamation of natural beauty and profound serenity. The outer sect was perched atop the cliff like an ageless guardian, a sanctuary where the forces of nature and the calmness of a serene pond seamlessly coexisted.
The sect's architecture mirrored the elegance of its surroundings, with intricate pagodas and pavilions nestled among ancient trees and extravagant flower patches. Winding pathways led to hidden courtyards, each one a haven for meditation and cultivation for prominent members of the sect.
Everywhere, the air thrummed with an indescribable energy, an undercurrent of Qi that seemed to infuse the very atmosphere accompanied with the scent of incense that wafted from the various courtyards creating a refreshing mix of odors and energies.
Martial artists, draped in red flowing robes, moved gracefully through their routines, their movements reflecting both discipline, grace and pride.
Past the initial row of buildings, the largest path led directly to the outer sect's training grounds, a formidable square spanning approximately one hundred meters by one hundred meters surrounded by an intricately carved staircase at the four cardinal directions.
The square had been skillfully fashioned from the very bedrock underneath, resonating with the harmonious cadence of martial artists engaged in sparring or honing their techniques. They formed orderly rows, each one of them diligently following the instructions of a senior cultivator positioned at the forefront.
The sound of rustling leaves and the distant rush of water from a nearby waterfall created a soothing symphony, grounding the sect in the natural world. It was a place where the boundaries between the physical and the metaphysical blurred, where inner gardens of the mind and outer landscapes merged in perfect harmony.
In this tranquil oasis of cultivation, cultivators from all over Veridian Peaks gathered to embark on a shared journey toward immortality and mastery of the martial arts.
Eventually, by asking around he found Lo Shen’s office and stepped right in.
“I heard you wanted to see me, oh Young Master Shen?” Tyler said with a teasing smile.
“Oh, yes I did, venerable Ancestor!” He replied with a laugh.
Laughing along with Lo Shen, Tyler continued, “So, what’s up now? I passed the tests, I'm a sect disciple?”
“Well, technically yes, if that is what you want. Your circumstances being a bit special, I’ve been told to accommodate anything you want to do.”
“Anything I want to do huh… alright then.. Since I’ve embarked on this to see how a sect runs and functions. I’m seeing it through to the end. So, in the spirit of discovering how this world works on my own, I’ll have to bother you with making me an outer sect disciple like any other. Except maybe don’t take away my house? I really like it.”
With a chuckle, Shen responded, "Just as the Sword King predicted... Well, I have to admit, when we found you near the ruins of the old city, I didn't expect to be having regular conversations with the Sect Master and be sworn to secrecy about your powers and origin." After jotting down a few notes, Lo Shen waved his hand, sending a new token Tyler's way.
"Here you go. Give it a scan with your divine sense. I've also included the full map of the sect, along with the locations of the teleportation formations. Once you return to Three Heritage Haven, you can have your resident formation master set up a private link. I'll get you approval from the sect's higher-ups to enable you to teleport directly from your house after you leave here."
“Thanks, I’ll look into that later. Now I’ve got to ask, how’s your brother?” Said Tyler.
With a grim smile, Shen responded. “Well, considering how you could have responded if you wished, he’s going to recover… eventually. You shattered three of his meridians and my father almost wanted to come out himself to teach you a lesson on restraint. But after I assured him that you did restrain yourself a great deal and your actual cultivation level followed by a sternly worded message by the Sword King, he backed off.”
“How soon is eventually?” Tyler asked, unbothered by Shen’s father's antics.
“Probably one to two months at best. Three at worst. This type of injury is quite severe to a Qi Transformation cultivator. While I could just flood my injured meridians with True Essence to repair them in a matter of hours, he cannot.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I truly have no idea what I did that was so wrong that caused him to react like this.”
“My brother has always had a sense of superiority to other kids his age due to his talent, nothing to say about people your age with barely any cultivation to speak of when we met you.” Shen paused, pensive.
“Becoming a cultivator at such a young age with such amazing talent all the while without going through any adversity can be a detriment more than an asset. Perhaps this encounter with you will broaden his horizons enough to tame his fiery nature…”
Observing Shen lost in thoughts, Tyler maintained his silence until Shen had completed his reflections.
After what seemed like an eternity, Shen finished, “Anyways. You should get going. The testing is almost done and the outer sect orientation begins in a few hours and if you are to attend like any normal cultivator, you’ll want to be there. Oh and one last thing, keep hiding your cultivation. It’s too weird and even me and the Sword King don’t understand it. If you need anything that the elders here can’t provide, just ask for Elder Brady or go see Elder Trane at the Sword Pavilion below, they've already taken an interest in you.”
Sighing, Tyler spread his divine sense to the token he had just put into his inner world and was shocked by the amount of information within!
Inside was a vast array of knowledge, akin to an online repository of data that he could freely browse. The formation within was extremely interesting and Tyler would surely spend hours studying it in the future to understand how to store such knowledge by using formations.
The most significant piece of information was an intricately detailed map of the entire mountain, encompassing all four cities.
It encompassed every establishment, eatery, inn, and cultivation site of the various sects with a presence on the mountain and of course, the hidden location of every branch of the sword sect.
Obviously, this map was something made specifically for Tyler as no one in the outer or inner sect possessed this level of information. Perhaps only core disciples or higher-ups like Shen had access to this information.
With a map in hand and a timing of 3 hours later at one of the cultivation grounds at the very back of the outer sect, Tyler decided to go back home real quick and have the teleportation link set-up.
Navigating the map was fairly simple given the details of it and the ease of use that the formation offered. It was almost as if he was browsing a wiki page directly linked to a maps application!
After a few twists and turns, he arrived at a building no larger than his own house back in Kingston who was labeled as a teleportation hub.
Stepping inside, Tyler was instantly greeted by a young man in his mid teens with dark brown hair tied up in a bun and green eyes. He wore an outfit not dissimilar to his own but with the distinct colors and symbol of the outer Sword Sect administration branch.
“Umh Umh! This person is?” He asked promptly.
"Tyler Reed, I heard you could teleport me down to Edge City?" he inquired, flashing his token at his waist.
"Just a moment." The clerk produced a token and quickly examined it before returning his attention to Tyler.
"Outer Disciple, level... 6? Ah, you must be the one who crippled that arrogant Lo Xin! Truly impressive. Full Access to teleportation infrastructures confirmed." The clerk exclaimed as he gestured forward.
“Please, step on the formation and I’ll send you down right away.”
"Cool, thanks. Oh, by the way what’s your name? We might see a bit of each other.” replied Tyler.
“William Darell. Now, keep your feet and hands inside the formation!” the man said with a wide smile.
Following the instructions, he made his way to the center of the octagonal formation. As William activated the teleportation device, Tyler experienced a familiar sensation, reminiscent of his last teleportation when the Sword King had sent him back to his room in the library a few months ago.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
As space contracted and expanded once more, Tyler found himself in a similar room as the one he had just been in. The nearby clerk however was much more polite as he looked on in reverence at Tyler.
“Young master, please this way. Edge City’s teleporter is located in the upper-east side near the trading districts.”
Seeing as he probably would never see the man ever again, Tyler didn’t bother to correct him to call him by his name instead and simply thanked him instead.
“Thanks, here.” With that, he flicked a few copper coins towards the man, which he had acquired from Annie when she went shopping weeks ago.
A wide smile plastered across his face, the man who Tyler had guessed to be in his forties while being around level 5 or 6 at most, bowed deeply as he thanked him profusely. This tip was, after all, worth a quarter of his weekly stipend here.
After a short trip back to his home, he met with the newly arrived formation master and after a short introduction, he learned the man’s name was Bob and he was an old Sea Formation cultivator who had accepted the job in order to pay for his grand-daughter’s cultivation while he tinkered with formations on someone else’s dime.
Explaining the situation, Tyler and Bob quickly came to an agreement and if everything went according to plan, the formation would be ready to use in the morning.
Eating quickly from some delicious fruit salad that he got from Annie, Tyler was satisfied with this short trip back home and promptly left.
Now it was time for Tyler to return back to the outer sect and attend his first official activity. Running back up, it took him around 40 minutes to make it back at a leisurely pace to the cliff and another 10 minutes to climb back up to the sect.
Using his map he quickly found the "The Five Elements Cave," where the introductory process for new disciples would take place.
Along the way, Tyler noticed several familiar faces from the initial group of 48 that had taken the test at the same time as him.
Strangely enough, none of them bothered to acknowledge him. After learning of his level, they were too prideful to pay attention to someone of his caliber, despite his victory against Xin and his performance during the entrance exams.
They had all concluded that he must have relied on some kind of treasure to achieve his triumph or some type of inherent bloodline like that Lazar Flame character.
The only reason that he hadn’t been made into a core discipline like Lazar however must have been due to treasures and, in their minds, it all made perfect sense.
Arriving at the Five Elements Cave, Tyler saw five tall gates etched directly into the face of the mountain, each guarded by a cultivator who he gauged to be at the peak of Qi Transformation.
Facing him were about 15 other youths and a man who appeared to be in his early 40s. Seeing that everyone was here, the middle-aged man introduced himself as Outer Sect Disciple Hung Jeok, level 18. He would serve as their guide and taskmaster.
"The reason I brought you here is to show you the objective of every outer sect disciple," Hung Jeok began, pointing towards the five gates behind him.
"These are the Five Elements Formations. Each formation has ten levels, ranging from 1 to 10, with 1 being the easiest and 10 being the most challenging. They were created by the first ancestor of Sword Mountain within special pockets of space. Each level provides insight into different elements and greatly aids cultivation and law comprehension!"
As the information sank in, Tyler could see awe flickering in the eyes of most of the young disciples. Hung Jeok continued, shifting the tone of his speech. "Now that you've seen the reward, let's get down to business. Sects are not charitable institutions. While we aim to help you cultivate for the betterment of the sect and the whole of Veridian Peaks, in the long run, maintaining these formations and providing other amenities comes at a significant cost.”
He paused looking at a few of the youths, including Tyler, for whom this information did not matter. “For those of you living in the sect, your lodgings will cost 25 Silver Coins a month. Food will vary depending on the type of meat you select and its Qi density. But, as a general rule it can vary from 1 silver coin a week to upwards of 1 Spirit Coins a week on the high end.”
“Additionally, each level of the different formations behind me have different hourly costs associated with them. To have the full breakdown of those, you’ll have to consult the cultivators guarding the gates when there are available time slots.”
“Lastly, lessons from our elders also come at a cost, but those are not directly publicized as those venerable cultivators schedule's change on a dime. When lessons are available, they will be broadcasted to the mission boards. Now, how will you get coins, you ask?"
With a wave of his sleeves, Hung Jeok produced a billboard containing numerous tasks and missions, along with their progress and monthly requirements.
"This will be your everything from now on if you wish to accumulate money or merit within the sect," he explained. "As you can see, tasks are assigned different levels, as some of them are quite challenging and would be unwise to attempt alone or at a lower level than recommended."
In that moment, Hung Jeok's gaze fell upon Tyler, and a smirk crossed his face. "While some of you may have impressed the elders by using unknown treasures to defeat someone seven levels above you, you are still low-level mortal trash," he remarked, his tone dripping with condescension.
"So, it would be wise for all of you to familiarize yourselves with this board and complete the tasks I have assigned. Otherwise, you'll be kicked out of your lodgings and risk being kicked out of the sect all together!"
Unfazed and unconcerned, Tyler simply smiled quietly at the man. He had no intention of making waves, but his smile was genuine as he calmly thought to himself, My second encounter with an arrogant cultivator, how typical... He mused, knowing that if Hung Jeok knew who he was, he would likely be fawning over him instead.
Engaging in pointless verbal Jutsu with someone who was simply ignorant was the very definition of wasting one’s time.
This interaction however also made him realize that most people who didn’t know who he was literally acted like a spoiled teenager, which was a really odd feeling when the man saying stuff like this seemed to be in his 40s.
“Now, seeing as this is literally your first day here and that you’ve all been through the admission test not too long ago, I shall let you go back to your rooms for the day, but starting tomorrow I expect you all to start selecting tasks to complete! If you don't, you'll be hearing from me!” A wide smile appeared on his face as he added on, “I have to make sure we don’t lose out on potential talent after all!”
Before anyone could actually leave however, he continued “Oh and last thing before you’re all free to go… The first month’s payment of lodgings will be added on to your next 5 months’ rent. This way, you won’t actually go broke the very first month and be relegated to live in Edge City! How generous am I, right?!”
With a laugh, he sent everyone home. Very few of the youths' faces paled at the cost of living here. While this did seem somewhat difficult to achieve, it was still much better than not being in the sect and living as a mortal in Edge City. Life as a mortal in a world of cultivators wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows - far from it.
For most however, these expenses were trivial as their families throughout Veridian Peaks were the very peak of their factions and their coming here only elevated their social status and would permit them to reach for a higher cultivation than their peers. The whole endeavor wouldn’t really cause a dent in their family’s purse.
Looking over the mission board, Tyler wasn’t exactly surprised at its content as it reminded him of video game quests. What did shock him though was the meager remuneration considering the cost of lodgings and food.
In addition to the categorized tasks of gathering, crafting, hunting, and sect affairs, Tyler discovered a particularly intriguing section in the task list called "Outer Sect Ranking Battles."
It appeared that by participating in battles against other outer sect disciples in the arena, one could potentially earn a substantial stipend if they emerged victorious.
The prospect of engaging in these ranking battles sparked Tyler's interest. It seemed like a unique opportunity to not only temper his skills but also earn significant rewards.
Of course, winning battles against fellow outer sect disciples would be easy due to his soul attacks, but he vowed to not kill every single opponent he came across and use these battles as a way to better control his power instead.
Sure, he could potentially boost his status and provide him with additional resources within the sect but he didn’t really need any of that.
With this newfound information, Tyler considered the possibilities that lay ahead. He realized that not only would he have to undertake tasks and missions, but he could also actively seek out these ranking battles as a means to further his cultivation and acquire valuable resources.
He kept on browsing for a while and he gradually became dispirited as he saw the pay of some of these tasks.
Level 6 - Travel to the South Region Forest and gather 1,000 pieces of Silver Weed.
10 Copper Coins or 200 Silver Weed
~Estimated Time to Complete: 2 Days.
Level 9 - Go see Elder Ten in order to be sent to the mines at the bottom of the mountain and gather 100 pieces of raw Thunderheart Iron.
15 Silver Coins or 15 Thunderheart Iron Ores
~Estimated Time to Complete: 11 Days.
Level 5 - Go down to the surrounding beaches of Sword King Mountain and gather 1,000,000 liters of water from the surrounding lake.
5 Copper Coins.
~Estimated Time to Complete: 1 Day.
Level 16 - Travel North and bring back the fur of three Rank 2 Demonic Fox. 250 Silver Coins. *Strongly Suggest a party of 3*
~Estimated Time to Complete: Unknown.
The more he browsed, the more interested he became.
As he was thinking over all the new information, he arrived at the teleportation edifice once more and made his way back to Thee Heritage Haven. Before going to bed for the day, as he was truly exhausted from the happenings of today, he decided to meditate to go over everything that had happened in such a short amount of time.
He had woken up, ran down to the mountain to prepare himself mentally for the day ahead.
Then, got changed and cultivated for a few hours and ate his breakfast.
Following this he had made his way to the Sword Sect’s admissions.
The first Trial, the Nine Illusions Pagoda, he passed almost instantly at no real cost to himself.
The second trial, as far as he knew, took him around 2 hours only to end up walking up unimpeded to the top after tempering his heart, taking his second step into the Qi Transformation realm after having reforged his flesh and skin while still technically being in the Qi Gathering stage.
Then, after he got to the third test, he was challenged by the young Lo Xin where he expanded close to no resources to win the duel with the Radiant Waves stance. Then, he had passed the trial itself by using a full powered One Finger, One Sword on Elder Shaw, confirming his prowess in the laws of wind.
Following that, he faced the sword intent of the Sword King’s statue and proved himself to be a worthy core disciple of the Sword Sect after suffering an injury trying to resist the first wave of swords and when the second wave came, he crafted a technique unique to himself, the Ten Direction Sword.
Finally, he was introduced to the inner workings of the outer sect by a fellow named Hung Jeok.
Concluding his meditation over the day’s affairs, he slowly roused himself from the lotus position and laid down on his bed, falling almost immediately to sleep. He had to be ready and rested to face the challenges of tomorrow.