Chương 10: 9.2 Outer Sect Realities'

Long Tao awoke slowly. He felt as if a hammer was knocking his head constantly while fog smothered his mind. Blinking a few times and flailing his arms a bit, Tao felt a stone table and pulled himself up, squinting as light filled his vision.

"~~~—so how is Tao in the wrong!?" Tao heard voices and began focusing, quickly, his vision adjusted and the buzzing in his ears faded.

"My, think about it from their perspective." Aneroze's melodious voice rang out. Tao looked around and realised he was lying on the stone bench that was part of a set of stone furniture on the side of one of the outer sect paths. Foria, Aneroze and Foria's elder brother, Faust, were seated around a small stone table, clearly arguing about something. Tao felt his jaw, rubbing it. His injuries had been fully healed by someone.

"From their perspective they were extolling their impressive feat to the people passing the market, with people moving out of the way for them, when someone passes by in front of them and says they could do better than them." Aneroze tried to explain, sipping her tea. Tao walked over, rubbing his throbbing head.

"My? You're awake?" Aneroze greeted Tao.

"Aneroze… What happened?" Tao asked as he sat down, still wobbling slightly.

"My brother pu—" Foria began, only for Faust to slap a yellow piece of paper over her mouth that began glowing, muting her completely despite her immediate attempt to tear it off with her hands.

"You didn't drink enough water and passed out." Faust held his head in one hand, bags under his eyes as he looked into the distance.

"Really?" Tao scratched his head, he didn't think it was that bad. But he guessed he was still at the Body Tempering realm so his requirement for water was probably different from the disciples around him. Tao turned to the old ghost who was floating around.

"Hmmm… Better you don't know and just listen to these two." The old ghost answered the look, stroking his beard in thought. Foria finally managed to tear the yellow talisman off and glared at her brother, who sipped tea while pretending not to notice her glare.

"Then, now that the playboy fool is awake. We can start the lesson properly." Faust spoke, ignoring Foria getting right up in his face with her glare.

"My, indeed." Aneroze agreed, setting down her tea.

"Long Tao, Foria, listen closely." Faust pushed Foria back into her seat and cleared his throat.

"To start with, Long Tao, what do you think you did wrong before when dealing with the senior disciples?" Faust began.

"???" Tao squinted his eyes, fighting the pounding headache for answers.

"I… Didn't do anything wrong though?" Tao responded slowly.

"Huuu…" Faust leaned back into his seat.

"This… Is going to be tough…" He sighed. Faust dragged his body across the sect. The last rays of warm sunlight tickled his skin before they were obscured by long shadows, the sun disappearing behind the mountain range. 12 hours… Faust thought. It took 8 hours to get Foria to understand and even after 12 hours, playboy Tao still looked to be questioning everything. Even the heir of a powerful family like Aneroze was starting to lose her mind after the first 5 hours of going in circles with the two.

The inner sect courtyard at the bottom of the Purple Gem Mountain staircase came into view. Two inner sect disciples were chatting on one of the benches as night descended. Approaching the stairs, Faust paused.

"Sirius?" He asked the girl who was crouched down on the side of the mountain of the stairs, picking flowers.

"Hmmm?" Sirius turned around with a smile.

"What are you doing?"

"Collecting flowers!" Sirius responded happily, standing up before bouncing over, hopping back onto the stairs.

"What about you?" Sirius asked, jumping right in front of Faust's face. Faust looked at Sirius's wide, pink eyes for a moment, observing the light glow of Qi that was the window to the mind. He turned away uncomfortably and continued up the stairs.

"Heading for some sleep and meditation. I still haven't properly stabilised my new realm yet. There's still a bit of turbid Qi in and around my spirit body." Faust explained.

"Not gonna eat?" Sirius asked, following him up the steps.

"I wasn't going to."

"Then join me for dinner first!" Faust felt awkward. Then again, he shouldn't, Sirius grew spirit herbs in her spare time much more seriously than Faust did. She was also a competent spirit chef, a chef who could preserve and properly mix the Qi of herbs and Qi left inside the meat from spirit beasts in a way that was both tasteful and beneficial to cultivation.

"... Alright…" Faust gave in, since he had run into Sirius here he should accept. The two walked up the long stairs under the light of the moon. Morning came and Faust stretched his limbs, standing up from his meditation mat. A few hours of sleep and meditation had done wonders. Faust also realised why Sirius had wanted to invite him for dinner. She had sourced some rather unique spirit beast meat and prepared it well.

The strange Qi from the meal had helped to dislodge some of the bits of Waste and Turbid Qi within his spirit body. It was kind of like using soap to help get dirt and grime off. Faust prepared a simple meal of rice and egg for breakfast, as he did any morning after he had decided to sleep. Knock! Knock! There was a knock on the door and Faust got up from his seat, pulled on his inner sect robe and stepped outside.

"Hmm?" Faust paused as he saw the line up. Sirius and Phalecia stood in front of the courtyard entrance of the manor, on the small path that led back to the Purple Gem Mountain stairs. Sirius seemed to be in a great mood, beaming as bright as the sun in the sky. Phalecia gave a small bow, her face blank as ever. There was also a new face however. Faust cupped a fist in respect.

"Faust of Fallen Petal Ridge." The newcomer cupped their fist in response.

"Satheon of Forlorn Mountains White Tiger Clan!" Satheon introduced jovially, his robes loose and displaying a set of abs that seemed to glow in the morning sun.

"Junior Sister Sirius told me you also practiced body tempering! My hopes were low but it's an honor to see someone who truly trains their body!" Satheon continued, holding out a hand. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"You flatter me. I couldn't take the easy path if I wanted to. I'm too poor." Faust took Satheon's hand expecting a shake, but immediately felt a crushing force. Faust glanced down at their hands for a moment before responding with his own crushing grip. The two stood still for a few moments, but Faust felt sweat fall down his brow and gave up first, releasing his grip. Satheon followed and the two released hands.

"Senior brother Satheon is strong." Faust complimented. From the balance of muscle and strength, he guessed that no matter how many herbs, artifacts, pills and arrays had been used, Satheon had put sufficient effort into training his body the traditional way, with blood and sweat.

"Then," Faust looked to Sirius, whose smug smile seemed to mark her as the leader of this gathering, "What's the occasion?"

"The four of us are going on a mission!" Sirius declared, shouting it so loud Faust saw some birds startled out of the trees. Faust tapped his ear, making sure it still worked.

"I see. I have a few weeks of free time." He admitted.

"And my expert skills last night should have helped you consolidate your breakthrough!" Sirius gloated. Faust raised an eyebrow at her, but nodded anyway.

"It's almost done."

"Almost???" Sirius looked at Faust incredulously, then elbowed Phalecia.

"Here." Phalecia opened her palm, showing three pills.

"Qi Purifying pill, Toxin Binding Pill and a Waste Purging Pill." Faust had helped gather plenty of herbs for Phalecia while he was on missions for other things, so he didn't stand on ceremony and took the pills, poking at them in his palm. Faust widened his eyes slightly.

"Perfect grade?" He realised.

"Hmm? Perfect grade?" Even Satheon from a relatively large clan widened his eyes and rubbed his stubble of a beard, impressed.

"Did you make these yourself?" Faust asked.

"..." Phalecia didn't say anything, just staring blankly.

"Ah! Speak up!" Sirius elbowed Phalecia harder. Phalecia narrowed her eyes almost imperceptibly, which may well have been a glare compared to her normal expressions.

"It was under the guidance of the Alchemy Hall Overseer." She spoke.

"I see. I should complete full consolidation by tomorrow morning then." Faust estimated.

"Perfect! Then we go tomorrow morning!" Sirius announced.

"Can I at least see what mission we're going on?" Faust asked.

"Ah! Right! Senior brother!" Sirius turned to Satheon, who pulled out a small stack of papers, handing it to Faust. Faust took the papers and flipped through them.

"Dark Petal Valley. Reported sighting of a black serpent from mortals. A local Meridian Opening cultivator checked it out and disappeared. A second squad of Meridian Opening Cultivators was almost exterminated. Identified as a five to six hundred meter black scaled flood dragon." Faust read the report and grimaced. Faust looked up to Satheon and Sirius. He knew Phaleica didn't have much experience outside of the sect.

"Are you certain about this?" Faust asked. Satheon nodded confidently.

"It should be equivalent to the late Open Palace realm at most. Worst case scenario it was hiding some of its power against the local cultivators assembled by the town lord and is at the peak of Open Palace."

"Hmmm…" Faust thought it through, scrutinising the papers again. Flood Dragons weren't quite as dangerous as Sea Dragons, which competed with horrors that lived in the otherworld of the deep sea. But a flood dragon at 900 meters would still probably be a spirit beast capable of injuring a 2nd rate early Golden Core cultivator. Satheon cleared his throat, "I was also dubious of the mission Junior Sister Sirius brought." He said, "but after meeting you today I can tell you're almost as strong as me.

So I believe even in the worst case scenario, it will be a sure kill." Faust considered Satheon's words. He had heard rumours of the body tempering maniac. After a few moments, Faust exhaled.

"Alright. It's a bit riskier than what I like to do, but it's not too bad. The corpse of a six or eight hundred meter flood dragon is worth the risk." Faust conceded.

"Woohoo! We're gonna be dragon slayers!" Sirius punched the air.

"Then let us meet at the Inner Sect Courtyard tomorrow morning, ready to travel immediately." Satheon declared before turning around, whipping his mane of hair around. Before he made the last few steps to consolidate his current cultivation, Faust wanted to give Foria his notes on the 3 Qi Transforms technique. He would also give Foria his modified Qi Transforms technique.

"Hm." Faust considered his modified 3 Qi Transforms Technique as he walked across Clear Jade bridge towards where Foria's dwelling should be. The Technique Hall Overseer had looked at it once, then silently looked at Faust, passed back the modified technique and said to him, "This is not the 3 Qi Transforms Technique." Faust still considered it a modification of the 3 Qi Transforms technique, but the Overseer added it to the Technique Hall as the "12 Qi Transforms Technique" so he couldn't argue. Knock! Knock!

Faust arrived in front of Foria's assigned residence, a prime location high up the mountain and close to Clear Jade Bridge. There was no response. Knock! Knock! Faust tried knocking again.

"..." Faust narrowed his eyes, looking down the mountain. A moment later, Faust sprinted and jumped off the side of the mountain, much to the new disciples' horror. The wind whipped past Faust as the mountain and its paths rushed past on the side and. Snap! With the snap of his fingers, Faust landed on the ground gently. A rush of air shot out from where he landed before everything went quiet.

"Argh!" One new disciple was knocked over by the sudden strong wind, while another had jumped out of the way as he plummeted. Faust had landed much lower down on the mountain, but still within the outer sect residences. He scanned the nearby numbers before power walking to Long Tao's assigned residence. The surrounding new disciples must have recognised Faust, because seeing the look on their face, they scrambled desperately out of his way before he loudly knocked on Long Tao's door. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Faust waited a few minutes. No response. He also didn't sense anything strange in terms of Qi. Though it wasn't advised to use flying swords inside the sect, Faust jumped on his anyways, shooting up into the air and making a smooth arc from the bottom of Jade Road mountain to the Diamond Mountain connection to the clear Jade Bridge. Faust landed and rushed over to the Mission Hall. There was a commotion.

"Just give up junior! You're gonna get yourself killed!" One person shouted.

"This kid isn't gonna come back is he?"

"To think there was someone crazy enough to accept that mission." At the counter where the deacons processed mission acceptance, Long Tao passed a piece of paper with mission details to the deacons, who scrutinised both Long Tao and the mission papers. Foria stood beside Long Tao, arms crossed. Aneroze was nowhere to be seen.

"We'll take this mission, senior." Long Tao said. The deacon hesitated. The mission was to hunt a 2nd level spirit beast. The Black Iron Bear. A large bear-like beast that ate iron to make its fur into black iron thread.

"... How many people?" The deacon eventually asked.

"Two—" Foria began from the side.

"ONE." Faust interrupted, grabbing Foria by the head.

"Aaaghhh!" Faust gripped hard enough to hurt and Foria cried in surprise before trying to remove his grip on her head, but it was futile. Faust glared at Long Tao.

"What do you think you're doing? Not even properly in the Qi Refining realm, yet you're dragging my sister to fight a beast that's killed two or three Meridian Opening cultivators? Are you trying to harm my sister? Should I take your head right now if you're looking for death!?" Faust seethed through gritted teeth, using all his mental strength to resist beating this playboy into a bloody pulp. Long Tao collapsed to his hands and knees.

Faust hadn't even realised that he had stolen control of the Qi from even the deacon who sat on the other side of the desk, pressing down on Long Tao's spirit body. Long Tao stubbornly resisted, maintaining consciousness and responding.

"I'm— Confident—" He squeezed out." You're confident? Well I think you're trying to get yourself AND my sister killed." Faust spoke matter of factly. For a few moments, the hall was silent, but the next, Faust took a deep breath. The Qi in the air returned to normal and Faust turned to the exit, dragging his sister, practically kicking and screaming out of the Mission Hall.

"Wait!" Long Tao shouted. Faust paused, then turned around, looking down at Long Tao who had struggled back to his feet by pulling on the counter.

"What if you're wrong! If I can complete the mission alone!" Long Tao shouted. A not even Qi Refining cultivator that had joined the Outer Sect not even a week ago was talking back to a far more senior Inner Sect Disciple at the Open Palace realm. The hall looked at Long Tao. Even the deacons looked like their mouths were about to fall off. They had never witnessed such absurdity in their over a century of being in the sect.

Faust felt his eye twitch and a vein bulging from his forehead as he struggled to keep a neutral expression. Should I just kill him? Faust wondered. This bastard wasn't just putting himself in danger, but also Foria. Otherwise, Faust wouldn't care if someone overestimated their ability. Faust exhaled sharply, trying to maintain his reason.

"If you alone, can subdue a spirit beast equal to the middle of the Meridian Opening realm… With nothing but your wit and first level of Body Tempering…" Faust began, "Then I will no longer interfere between you and my sister." It was an almost impossible feat. In the traditional system that started at Qi-Blood and then went to Body Tempering and beyond, Long Tao would basically be fighting something two major realms above him.

Sure, the difference between realms wasn't too large until the Open Palace realm, where the difference in strength between realms became exponentially larger. Faust himself had slain beasts at the Open Palace realm while at the peak of Meridian Opening. Yet that was the gap between the Peak of Meridian Opening and the roughly early Open Palace. It was an arguably smaller gap than between the peak of the first level of Body Tempering and the middle of Meridian Opening.

Even then, hunting beasts at the Open Palace realm was something Faust did with heavy preparations and most importantly, he did it in a double sized team, with 6 to 8 people, all of whom were veterans in the field, not newly joined disciples. Faust didn't want to send someone to their death, but there was nothing he could do to stop Long tao doing something stupid.

The Mission Hall made great efforts to obtain accurate information, unless it was an emergency, they also never stopped disciples from taking a mission that was for a higher level than themselves.

"You'll die if you try it." Faust said before walking out of the Mission Hall under everyone's gazes, dragging Foria along.