Chương 66: Official Inner Disciple and the Alchemy Hall

"Hello, I take it you're a newly arrived inner disciple?" An heard a female voice call out next to him. Turning around, he saw a girl with long, loose black hair that accentuated her large pink eyes. Her slender body stood in strong contrast to her large chest, causing her blue robes with red wave patterns to strain tightly against her curves, as if the fabric were on the verge of tearing. Running his eyes from top to bottom, examining her completely, he nodded slightly." Hmm?"

Seeing the disciple examine her from head to toe, she smiled and was about to play along. But then she finally noticed the fat chicken under his arm, and his brand as well. Realizing who was before her, her face immediately shifted to complete neutrality, and she was about to turn and leave. But, remembering that she was on a mission today, she held herself back, putting on a stone face, and without throwing another glance in his direction, turned and began to walk slowly forward.

"Follow me! I'm on a mission to assist new inner disciples. Listen carefully, and don't you dare interrupt me!" Seeing her moving further and further away from him, he tilted his head and decided to follow her after all. Since, to be honest, he didn't really understand where exactly he was. Everything around, even the Qi, told him he was not on Hope Peak. And in the brochure he had taken from the Outer Hall with information about the Inner Platform, there was nothing about this place.

"Judging by your lost expression, you don't have the slightest idea where you are. Ah, where did you even come from... I've never heard of someone like you being able to cultivate in a place like this." As they walked, she barely forced herself to even speak to him.

"Anyway, the brochures given out in the Outer Halls of the Peaks don't contain this information, but all disciples find out about it one way or another in advance. Through their mentors or masters, or core disciple groups."

"Everyone, regardless of which Peak they belong to, upon becoming inner disciples, relocates here, to the Outer Floating Island."' Oh! We're on one of the two islands!' An was surprised. With wide eyes, he raised his head and began examining the sky. In the distance, he saw the second island with huge waterfalls and clouds covering it from almost all sides. Only partially visible were structures and trees, with occasional beams of light passing to or from the second island.

"The Outer Floating Island, on which we currently are, is home to inner disciples, core disciples, inner reserves, and outer and inner elders. In other words, for everyone with cultivation below Golden Core realm. Only cultivators who have reached Golden Core have the right to relocate to the Main Floating Island, which is above us." At the end, she casually pointed her finger upward.' So all disciples, upon reaching the eighth layer and becoming inner disciples, move here?'

An thought, and listening to his guide walking ahead of him, began to roughly imagine what this place was like.' All core disciples and their groups are here... This will be difficult and tedious... Eh...' Understanding roughly what awaited him, all the excitement of the surroundings began to fade.

"That's it! In that direction, we have the Main Hall, I mean the Sect Inner Affairs Hall. Go there, and you'll be officially registered. Now! Place a Qi imprint on this artifact!" Having finished, she took out an artifact and turned to young man." Eh? Where? Where did you go? Where is he?! Bastard!!"

Realizing that there was no one before her, she began looking around, trying to find him among the crowds of people walking around her, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not find the young man with the chicken.

"Just let me catch you! I've remembered your face!" Stomping her foot a few times, she turned around and walked back to the teleportation gates, to wait for new inner disciples.' First, I need to officially become an inner disciple, and only after that, find out about the exam for Master status.' Holding Baldi under his arm, An entered through the huge gates into the Main Hall. Inside, everything was decorated in white, grey, and red tones, just like the platform outside.

The floor was made of smooth, but not slippery, tiles. The walls were laid out with wooden panels, like a puzzle. Stepping inside, he was stunned; he had never seen so many people around, just like in the Coliseum during the tournaments. Wherever he looked, crowds of disciples walked back and forth, maneuvering between each other, creating dense flows of movement.

Standing to the side of the main doors, An suddenly noticed that some cultivators in black and dark grey robes, in a style different from the outer disciples' robes, had cultivation far above the other disciples around.' So these are Foundation Establishment cultivators?' Even though An had encountered, and quite often, elders with Foundation Establishment cultivation on the Outer Platform, they never revealed their cultivation fully, always restraining it inside, so as not to harm disciples with low cultivation.

But here, no one cared. No one tried to restrain their cultivation. And because of this, he immediately noticed these cultivators, as they were always surrounded, people parting and giving them way, not only out of fear but also because of the Qi pressure emanating from them. Looking around, he was fortunate to find several reception windows without lines out of the several hundred located in the center of the Main Hall.

He approached the nearest one and saw that behind the window sat not a living person, but a doll made of wood. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Reason for visit?" A hoarse mechanical voice came from the doll's chest.

"Official registration of inner disciple status." Examining the doll with interest, he placed his personal plaque on the counter and slid it toward the doll.

"First item, data. Done. Second item, registration. Done. Inner disciple An, please select a free abode." Holding the plaque on its palm and scanning it, the doll extended its other palm, and a scroll appeared on it. Taking the scroll and unrolling it, he saw a huge three-dimensional map of the inner abodes. Realizing that the free plots were the points marked in green, he began choosing.' Hmm, the most ideal one is probably this one, attached to the base of a small lake that flows into a network of waterfalls…

Mhm, decided!' Having looked at all the free plots, he saw an ideal one, located at the very edge of the inner abodes, the furthest from the Main Platform, with only a few other plots around it, and free access to the lake.

"Plot 340801. I choose it." Folding the map, he placed it back on the doll's palm.

"First item, data. Done. Second item, registration. Done. Third item, Abode. Done." Immediately, a worn spatial pouch appeared on the doll's free palm.

"Your personal plaque. Your monthly outer disciple allowance with accumulated savings. Your standard new inner disciple allowance package." Extending both hands simultaneously, the doll stared at him, waiting for him to take everything.' I thought the dolls would be smarter…' Taking one last look at the doll, An took the plaque and the worn pouch, and walked toward the exit, maneuvering between hundreds of disciples around.

Exiting the Main Hall, he sat down on the steps to the side of the gates and set Baldi down next to him.

"Sit still and don't run around, unless you want someone to turn you into soup." Having said this with a serious face, he took the plaque in his hand and checked what had changed in it." Cluck~" Hearing him, Baldi crowed quietly a few times, almost in a whisper, and sat down next to An, pressing against his leg, trying to hide from the people passing by. The first thing that caught An's eye was the plaque itself: it now had a blue tint, and its color had shifted to grey. Before his name now stood: Inner Disciple.

He also found a map of the inner abodes and his plot, and a map and brief information about each structure on the Main Platform. Also, the number of his contribution points had changed from zero to twenty. Done with that, he took the pouch in his hands and, opening it, looked inside.' Three hundred twenty spirit stones, four pairs of robes... And that's it? That seems... not much.' Disappointed, expecting to find something interesting, he transferred everything to his own pouch, and tied both around his belly.'

Hmm... Is there no Kavana tree here?' He raised his head and began examining the trees growing in special flower beds around the structures. Realizing that there were only trees with fruits of at most first rank around the entire platform, he understood that their properties held no interest even for a disciple at the middle stage of Qi Condensation.' Fine... I still have a few hundred fruits left, and some have sprouted inside the pouch... If needed, I'll go back to the Outer Platform and pick more.'

After making sure the pouches were securely attached, he stood up and, taking the rooster, headed toward the Alchemy Hall. The moment he approached, he was enveloped in a thick aroma of pills. Stopping abruptly, he closed his eyes and smiled. Standing like that for a few moments, he opened his eyes and began to analyze the aroma, specifically the Qi flows, trying to understand exactly what pills these were.

After a few minutes of concentration, he managed to identify most of the spirit plants used in the concoction. Judging by the concentration of the aroma, he understood that this was only possible if the pill was of perfect quality. And judging by the plants and several different flows, these were first-rank pills.

"Hurry! Hurry! Brother Chen Ho challenged Senior Sister Shine!"

"You mean Radiant Shine? Wait, is he serious?!"

"Exactly her! Only after becoming an inner disciple, he's already challenged one of the best alchemists among the inner disciples!"

"Let's go! I have to see this!"' It seems he hasn't wasted any time, and has already become an inner disciple? Still, having a Golden Core cultivator as a master...' An shook his head, hearing the familiar name and remembering the face of this Chen Ho.' Elder Shoa...' Recalling him, his face darkened. Without hurrying, he followed the crowd of disciples running toward the stairs leading up into the Alchemy Hall. Entering the hall, he was struck speechless.

Right in the center of the hall grew a huge tree: several dozen meters wide and several hundred meters tall.' Oh! So every building uses expanded space?' Tilting his head back, and examining with wide eyes the barely visible crown of the tree, he recalled that the Main Hall had also seemed larger inside than outside, but due to the huge number of people inside, he hadn't paid much attention to it.' I wonder, does it grow anything worthwhile?'

An began scanning the Qi around the tree, trying to understand anything about this great plant. The only thing he could sense was a very weak emotion of sorrow and pain. The tree itself was emitting sick energy, and rare and masked flows of Death Qi were slowly seeping out through the tree's bark. Approaching the tree, he subconsciously, without realizing it himself, placed his hand on its slightly bumpy bark, and began to absorb this Death Qi from the tree itself.

He suddenly opened his eyes inside his inner world, and immediately noticed how the black cloud began to grow, and the insides of it began to move." Ugh!" Only a moment later, he sharply tore his hand away from the tree as he felt his head beginning to split badly, due to reaching the limit of his mind. He felt as if thousands of needles were piercing his head and digging around inside.' Damn! What was that?' Realizing what he had just done, he abruptly looked around, checking if anyone had noticed him.

But, to his relief, everyone continued going about their business. Even the elders didn't look in his direction, all because inside this building, there was also a huge number of disciples bustling back and forth. Coming to his senses a little, he noticed that the tree had stopped emitting Death Qi, and its emotions had become calmer, more relaxed. Remembering the rooster, he looked at Baldi and realized he was fine, looking around with wide eyes. Raising his gaze again, An finally took in his entire surroundings.

Many staircases rose along both side walls, leading both down and up. The walls and floors were made of wooden planks in the same colors: white, red, and grey. From the joints of the planks, vines and various small flowers sprouted everywhere. On some branches, fruits hung, some on the border between first and second rank. Looking up, roughly at the middle of the tree, a floor had been built around its base with a cutout for the tree itself, and the walls of this floor were lined with shelves of books and scrolls.

Realizing that it was better not to linger near the huge tree, he went straight to a free counter, behind which also stood a wooden doll.