Chương 49: The Hygienic Concerns With Using Pills As Currency.

After sharing the exciting news, the Miscellaneous Hall Master led Ren Qingquan and Fatty Zhang to another part of the building. Soon, they reached the large mirrors lying on the floor. The Hall Master pointed at the mirror and said, "This is a replica of the sect's most powerful spirit artifact, the Heaven Prying Mirror, and also the final test."

"What do we need to do?" Ren Qingquan asked.

"Simply stand on the mirror. It will then glow with varying levels of light. Whether dim or bright, you are essentially accepted into the Pure Wave Sect. This step is just a formality to record each disciple into the sect weapon's database, as required by the Sect Master." Ren Qingquan and Fatty Zhang nodded. Just like before, Fatty Zhang was the first to step forward.

When Fatty Zhang moved over the mirror, the Miscellaneous Hall Master activated it, causing it to glow with a soft golden light that slightly obscured Zhang's figure. After a moment, the light dimmed, and the Hall Master nodded, saying, "Good. Now, you can step down and let the other take your place." Fatty Zhang stepped back, and Ren Qingquan took his position at the center of the octagonal mirror. The Hall Master activated the mirror again once Ren Qingquan was in place.

This time, the mirror shone with a golden light that gradually grew brighter. Soon, the glow became blinding, and its intensity kept increasing. Ultimately, the only visible thing in the room was the golden light emanating from the mirror beneath Ren Qingquan. After a minute of emitting a powerful golden light that could have rivaled the sun's brightness, a cracking sound echoed through the silent room. Within moments, the cracking turned into a loud crash as the golden light suddenly vanished.

Once the light disappeared, Ren Qingquan saw Fatty Zhang, who had closed his eyes, and the Miscellaneous Hall Master, who wore a shocked expression. He then looked down and noticed the mirror had shattered into countless pieces.

"Umm... Is this my fault? If it is, I'll work hard to pay for the broken mirror," Ren Qingquan said, gazing at the octagonal mirror now broken into millions of fragments. I also pushed my [Calculate] to its limit while observing the Miscellaneous Hall Master through [Scan]. If he intended to attack Ren Qingquan because of the shattered mirror, I would immediately use [Transfer] to send Ren Qingquan away as far as possible, while transferring shards of the broken mirror into his brain.

I'm unsure if teleporting mirror pieces into his body will be enough to kill him, but it should at least delay him. Soon, I relaxed as I noticed the expression on the Miscellaneous Hall Master's face after he recovered from his shock. How should I say it? The smile on the Miscellaneous Hall Master's face is quite complicated. It looks like the smile of someone who has been kidnapped might give after hearing their captor crack an unfunny joke just to stay on their good side and avoid being killed.

In simple terms, it's a mix of a wry smile and a fawning one. Then, he said, "There's no need for little friend Ren to repay the broken mirror. It seems the mirror's replica coincidentally ran out of its usage count right when you're using it."

"Now that we've concluded the test, let's return to the Disciple Registration Hall." The Miscellaneous Hall Master used spirit Qi to gather all the shattered pieces of the mirror into his storage bag before guiding Ren Qingquan and Fatty Zhang. Once inside the Disciple Registration Hall, the Miscellaneous Hall Master asked a disciple in charge to assist Fatty Zhang and Ren Qingquan with registration.

"Congratulations to both little friends on joining the Pure Wave Sect. I will leave now as I have other matters to attend to." After saying this, the Miscellaneous Hall Master hurriedly departed. The disciple in charge led Ren Qingquan to fill out forms requesting his identity, age, and other details, then presented a round stone plate and two wooden tokens. He then placed a token on top of the stone plate and said, "Please place your hand on the stone plate."

Ren Qingquan followed the instructions and placed his hand on the stone. As he did so, some of his divine sense was absorbed into the stone plate and soon transferred into the wooden token. The disciple picked up the token and handed it to Ren Qingquan, saying, "Here is your outer sect identity token. It has been marked with your divine sense, so only you can use it. You can use this token to bind a residence, enter and leave the sect for missions, collect your monthly stipend, and perform other important tasks.

If you lose your token, you can register a new one here, but it will not be free." You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Okay." Hearing Ren Qingquan's affirmation, the disciple brought out a simple white pouch and two sets of clothes. He first pointed at the clothes, saying, "These are your sect uniform. You can buy a new one later at the market if you wish. You may also modify it slightly or add accessories, as long as it doesn't break sect rules."

Then, he pointed at the pouch, explaining, "Inside are a map of the sect, a book with the basic rules and introduction, a bottle of ten First Tier Low Grade Qi Gathering Pills, and the Qi Refining Realm section of the sect's basic cultivation method. I recommend learning the basic cultivation method and reading the instructions for the Qi Gathering Pills in that book.

Once you reach the Peak of the Qi Refining Realm, you can visit the sect library to find the Foundation Building section or a new cultivation technique." I could tell Ren Qingquan was a bit dizzy after hearing all this information from the disciple, but he still nodded once the disciple finished speaking.

"Alright, take your thing and go to the residential area to pick your residence." The disciple said mechanically while looking at Fatty Zhang, "It's your turn. Please place your hand on this stone plate." Then, the disciple repeated the explanation he had given to Ren Qingquan before allowing Fatty Zhang to proceed. Ren Qingquan and Fatty Zhang, each holding two sets of clothes and a pouch, stood outside the Disciple Registration Hall. They briefly discussed before deciding to follow the disciple's instructions.

They opened the map of the Pure Wave Sect that the disciple provided and tried to locate their residence. The map depicted an extensive mountain range with hundreds of peaks, nine of which were prominently labeled in bold. These nine locations included seven peaks and two halls. Among them, Ren Qingquan had only visited the main peak, where he met the Sect Master, the Miscellaneous Hall Master, and other important figures of the Pure Wave Sect after being teleported.

Except for the main peak, there are the Alchemy Peak, Weapon Refining Peak, Formation Peak, Spirit Beast Peak, Talisman Peak, Inheritance Peak, Miscellaneous Hall, and Punishment Hall. Well, you won't care about them anyway, so I'll skip the explanation for the peak and halls. Suddenly, I paused. Damn it, my 'explaining to thin air' illness relapsed again. After getting a bit sad about that weird illness, I quickly regained my composure.

Except for the main mountain serving as their headquarters, these peaks and halls also have branches on other mountains. There are also mountains designated for residences of outer sect disciples, menial disciples, and training grounds, as well as several other places with unknown purposes. Among them, the Disciple Registration Hall, where Ren Qingquan is currently located, is on one of the Miscellaneous Hall's branch mountains. This illustrates how complex the map is, as seen in Ren Qingquan's confused expression.

Having already reviewed the sect rule books and the map, I decided to help Ren Qingquan by showing him a screen with my version of the sect map, one that even a monkey could understand. [Host, you can follow this System map to reach the outer disciple's residential area.] With my map that can be understood even by a monkey, Ren Qingquan gasped, "What the fuck? I need to pass three mountains to reach the closest outer disciple residential area from here?!" [Indeed.]'Isn't this a bit too exaggerated?!'

[That's why the sect has arranged a place where you can rent mounts from different mountains. You can go there to borrow one.]'Oh… This sect actually seems quite humane. I thought I'd have to walk everywhere.' Ren Qingquan led Fatty Zhang to the spot I indicated, before arriving at a small lake filled with numerous white cranes. Beside the scenic lake stands a small hut with a big sign that reads 'Mount Renting Station.' Below is a counter window with a large sect map displayed next to it.

Through the window, a man can be seen sitting in meditation inside the hut. When Ren Qingquan stood close to the hut, the man opened his eyes and looked in his direction, "Welcome, how can I help you?"

"Both of us want to borrow a mount to reach this outer sect residential area," Ren Qingquan said, pointing to a nearby mountain. The disciple at the counter looked at the map Ren Qingquan indicated.

"It'll be one First Tier Low Grade Qi Gathering Pill for each of you."

'Do they use this Low Grade Qi Gathering Pill as currency? Isn't it unhygienic for a pill to change hands multiple times? Also, I haven't been in this sect long, but I already feel how eager they are for my small amount of money. I'm not even sure how much one Low Grade Qi Gathering Pill is worth,' Ren Qingquan thought. Despite his grumbling, Ren Qingquan handed the disciple his Low Grade Qi Gathering Pill.

After Ren Qingquan and Fatty Zhang gave their pill to the disciple, who immediately placed it inside a bottle and stored it under the counter. Then, he asked, "Lend me your token for a moment." Ren Qingquan and Fatty Zhang lent their tokens to the disciple. The disciple took a small octagonal mirror and pressed their wooden tokens against the mirror's reflective surface. As the tokens made contact, I sensed a spirit qi emanating from the mirror, scanning the tokens before retreating inside.

After completing the scan of Ren Qingquan and Fatty Zhang's tokens, the disciple handed the wooden tokens back, then took a flute and blew two short notes. Soon, two cranes fly toward Ren Qingquan and Fatty Zhang. Seeing the crane, the disciple stopped blowing on the flute and said, "You can hop on it, and it'll take you to the Mount Renting Station of your destination." Ren Qingquan and Fatty Zhang hop onto the crane.

Both of them felt a bit uneasy sitting on the crane's back and decided to hug the neck of their respective crane before it took off. Perhaps it's my imagination, but I can see the crane giving both of them a look of disgust. If the cranes can speak, I think they would've said something like, 'Tsk, newbies.'