Chương 30: Retelling

"As the patriarch said this morning, you are now cultivators; we are not going to prescribe every step you should take, but we do offer a curriculum that has been refined over hundreds of years." Jianyi struggled to follow Elder Gao's speech. Not because it was complex, but because his heart was still beating like a stampede of spirit beasts. Being accepted into the outer sect felt like a major milestone on his path—the second after passing the trial.

"The only mandatory things are an initial assessment of your abilities with the spear, which will happen in two days from now, the interim assessment in six months, and the end-of-year tournament. If your progress is not deemed sufficient, you will be expelled from the outer sect. My advice to you, as for every other generation before you, would be to participate in as many of the offered lectures and trainings as possible, but you are free to ignore me, as have many of your predecessors."

There were a lot of chuckles at the elder's dry remarks, but Jianyi took note and would participate in as many sessions as he could. He hoped it would be compatible with his spear sessions with Minghao, his work for Elder Sun, and, potentially, his dishwashing job in the evenings – he was sure his need for Contribution Points would ramp up quickly.

"Do not waste your time. The Empire needs you!

"The disciples who guided you through the day will accompany you to the outer sect housing, where you will be allocated your rooms. May your path be long and fruitful."

Jianyi walked towards the end of the group that followed Guangming up the hill. Fortunately, they were a lot slower than early this morning during the first challenge of the day. Over the last few months, he had been so focused on training, opening his meridians, and the test that he had not spent any time understanding what life as an outer sect disciple actually entailed.

With the short-term pressure gone, he let his fantasy run wild on how he would quickly improve with the spear and gain access to the rarest of cards to go off and fight demons. He had no illusions about the realism of those fantasies, but they felt good in this moment of peace.

"I wonder what you told the elders in that tent that they let someone as weak as you into the outer sect. When I was chosen for the same group as you, I even doubted myself for a moment – but then I realized, you probably told them some lies about me that made them pity you, and, despite your lies, they still took me, because I am just that good.

"However, with the lies you have spread, you owe me a large karmic debt, and I will collect." Jianyi turned around to find Lu Shan walking closely behind him. He didn't understand the boy—at all. He seemed to seamlessly morph from loudmouth to thief to philosopher over karma. The only common thread was that every interaction felt unpleasant to Jianyi. He debated refuting the accusation, but did not believe it would convince the young man.

Instead, he turned back towards the rest of the group and made his way back up the mountain. The cousins walked up to him after a while.

"Who would have thought! This was what you wanted, right?" Jun asked. Jianyi nodded his head slightly to the broad-shouldered youth.

"Indeed, this is the outcome I had hoped for." He paused for a moment, then asked a question.

"Are you disappointed?" Jun clapped him on the back.

"Nah, this is fine. We will see what all those fancy people do all day up on the mountain, and then we go fight demons." Hong nodded along with his cousin.

"It is an honor. Now that we have made it, we have a lot to learn. I am sure that those who have had cultivators in their family are far ahead of where we are." They talked a bit longer while they marched up the mountain until they arrived first at the paifang, where a couple of guards waved them through, and then at the central plaza and intersection of the outer sect of the western mountain.

Jianyi was grateful that this year's group had been allocated to Elder Sun's mountain—apparently, it alternated from year to year. It would save him time every morning and evening. Guangming led them a bit further into the sect until they arrived at a large building with the ubiquitous blue pagoda-style roof.

"This is the housing for the first-years. You will find your assigned rooms inside. There will be an introductory session at the main lecture hall tomorrow at noon. I would recommend that you attend. Maybe use the morning to familiarize yourself with the outer sect. I wish you all good luck." Jianyi hesitated for a moment, then turned away from the housing and started the walk up to the inner sect. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"Jianyi, isn't it?" he heard a by now familiar voice behind him. He turned and bowed slightly.

"Yes, thank you for taking care of us today." Guangming laughed.

"You are welcome. It was fun and, truth be told, it is a good amount of Contribution Points for just one day of work. How come you joined the sect early?"

"It was a chance encounter. I met an Elder in the city, and he was in need of a servant. That's how I joined," he shrugged. This seemed like a reasonable interpretation of his cover story. The inner disciple nodded.

"Yeah, elders come up with random things sometimes. But good for you. What happened on the run in the morning?" Jianyi thought a moment whether he should keep anything back, but then decided to tell the story as it had happened—but he did not name Lu Shan. Guangming nodded.

"The Fivefold Spear Sect is not a backstabbing place like in the stories of old, but my advice to you would be to pay attention to your surroundings and the people around you. There is a lot of competition; where there is competition, there is desperation; where there is desperation, there is depravity…

"That is not to say you shouldn't put your trust in your friends, but staying attentive can prevent some unpleasant situations." They had reached the inner sect and their paths separated, but Jianyi made sure to thank Guangming for his advice. It was time to let Minghao—and maybe the elder—know about his day.

Darkness had settled over the mountain as Jianyi took the final steps towards Elder Sun's compound. He was alone for the first time that day, and it felt liberating. Reflecting on the day, he felt a bit awkward about his interactions with some of the other candidates, Miyao and Shuhua especially. His primary reason not to make friends in school was that he had little time, but if he was honest with himself, there was also the point that he was bad at interacting with others his age.

For some reason, the words flowed when he talked with more senior people or when he had a clear purpose in mind; when that wasn't the case, he did not know what to say or how to say it. Supporting his mother in her, formerly, little business had helped a bit, but he was far from eloquent. He shrugged. He was unlikely to have time for friendships with whatever lectures the outer sect offered, plus his other responsibilities. He stopped to pluck a single weed from a flower bed in the front yard.

Minghao was in the kitchen and had a Thousand-Layer Cake and well-steeped ginger tea waiting.

"Congratulations, Jianyi!"

"How do you know?"

"I have eyes to see," the older man laughed.

"I have seen you moping, and I have seen you happy. Currently, you look happy." Jianyi grinned.

"I am happy. It was a difficult day, and I made some mistakes, but I made it to the outer sect."

"Well done. Come, the elder would like to hear your story as well." The retainer put the tea and cake on a tray and led them to the elder's study.

"I sense congratulations are in order, my young friend. A great success." The elder seemed genuinely happy for him and more relaxed than in recent weeks.

"Tell us about your day." Minghao handed him a big piece of cake that was chewy and sweet—just as he liked it.

"Thank you, teacher. I am sure I would not have prevailed without your and Minghao's guidance. It started with 'Everlasting Ascent'… He retold the events of the day and was surprised at what the elder reacted to and what seemed to leave him unaffected. Both he and Minghao just shrugged regarding his first altercation with Lu Shan, but they did seem pleased with his decision to intervene. That his will helped him finish the race elicited a thoughtful nod and slight frown from the elder.

His experience during 'Cultivator's Resolve', though, made the elder focus his full attention on him.

"What made you dive into the lake?"

"How deep was it?"

"Describe the granite."

"What color was the light?"

"How did it 'infuse' the water?" Question after question, but eventually the elder was satisfied.

"Very well, continue your meditation practice, an hour a day. And I expect you to eventually move to more advanced meditation techniques, but that typically only happens at later cultivation stages. We will have to see how we can accelerate that, given your unique situation." Jianyi nodded and continued his narration while enjoying the sharp spiciness of the tea in combination with the sweet cake. Minghao wanted to know more about the 'Searching for Dao'.

"This must be new; they didn't have it when I was involved in the tests." The elder nodded.

"It is a recent invention. I think it was the master work of one of the formation journeymen. Expensive, though. I forgot how many rare cards are integrated in this contraption, but there are many."

"I almost forgot to shout the number once," Jianyi admitted sheepishly, which got the two men to laugh.

"I suspect that one is more a test of how you deal with a complex situation than a test of actual knowledge. Meaning, even if your logic would be unsound, as long as you got through it in time, you would be doing fine." That made sense to Jianyi, after all. Elder Gao had said at the beginning that they would test potential, not abilities—and that probably included the details of Wuxing.

"Unfortunately, my decision to help the girl during the first challenge had consequences at the end. She wanted to pay me back and talked with the elders deciding on the outer sect disciples. So I was called before them…" he said with trepidation. Elder Sun did not react in any visible way.

"How did that go?"

"Well, … I mentioned my weakened state, and from there we got to the Martial Meridian Art, and then Elder Wang asked whether you had recommended it, and then I had to admit that I was your student…" To Jianyi's surprise, Elder Sun laughed.

"She has always been a sly one."

"What? Who?" That had not been the reaction Jianyi had expected.

"I suspect that some of the elders might have been skeptical of you, or your story, or your performance today, and Elder Wang saw an opportunity to shift the battlefield and took it."

"Shift the battlefield?"

"Did you continue to discuss the events during the challenge? Did they continue to question whether you were weakened or not?"

"No…?"

"See."

"Are you saying that Elder Wang was trying to help me?" The elder just grinned at him.

"But the elder doesn't like me!"

"Ahh, I wouldn't be so sure. From what I have heard, you gave a spirited performance in her study."

"You know about this?" Jianyi asked incredulously.

"Of course, she told me about it in detail." There was apparently a lot going on below the surface that he had no idea about. A good thing to keep in mind, he thought.

"And don't worry about them knowing that you are my student. Don't go about advertising your affinities, but if an elder asks, you can always use that as an explanation, which is true, anyway.

"Again, congratulations, Jianyi. Well done!"

A few minutes later, Jianyi was in his room getting ready to go to bed. Something made him wary about the night to come. He sensed nightmares in his future.