Chương 9: 9.1. Outer Sect Realities'

Faust stretched his limbs as he exited the Mission Hall.

"Oh— never again…" Rozaline grumbled. Faust nodded in agreement. It wasn't his first administration mission, but it was by far the largest. The deacons in the hall were so picky about the details, forcing Faust and Rozaline to work through the night to redo everything.

"Supposedly, the solidification of the spirit body makes it even harder for toxins to accumulate, letting one go without sleep for up to a month." Faust commented as the two walked out into the morning sun, already high in the sky.

"Oh… I'd rather not." Rozaline responded wearily.

"I would have thought administrative work was the specialty of an heir?"

"Oh how you'd think. Cultivation is the most important thing. Everything else is secondary." Rozaline sighed, tilting her head with her eyes closed in brief reminiscence, pulling out her fan and spreading it open with a flick of her wrist.

"Hmmm." Faust hummed, mulling it over. The two soon separated as Rozaline returned to Purple Gem Mountain to sleep after going without for three nights. Even Faust found it jarring when he hadn't slept after several days, but while a few hours of meditation and an hour of sleep were recommended every day, brief periods without any meditation or sleep were fine at the Meridian Opening realm and above.

Instead of going straight back to Purple Gem Mountain, Faust leaned over the railings of Clear Jade Bridge, looking into the horizon in silent meditation. The more senior disciples unconsciously gave a wider berth to the purple gold robes of the inner sect. With how wide the bridge was, that left Faust with relative quiet as the cold wind blew across his face. Faust thought about his next steps.

He still didn't know how many materials the Roze clan would pay for his Meridian Opening diagram and Foundation Laying method. It would probably mostly be the lower level materials suited for Open Palace. After all, even for a high level method, without Gold Core and Nascent Soul chapters, its value was still comprehensible. Tracing the horizon with his gaze as light chatter sounded behind him, Faust guessed that it would be a few weeks before he found out.

Depending on the materials delivered, Faust would go on a few missions with Sirius to get the materials and merit needed for the arrays they would use to make up for her current foundation. Fortunately, Sirius had a solid foundation already, it just needed to be supplemented and compressed some more to ensure she could form an Iridescant Golden Core and reach Nascent Soul.

After making a plan for Sirius, Faust would need to head for study at the Grand Archive, specifically he needed to choose what method he wanted to use to compensate for the current imbalance in his foundation. There was currently a heavy presence of Metal and Earth Qi.

Faust could build the rest of his Inner Palace with Water, Fire and Wood Qi to form a balanced 5 elements palace as his foundation, good for arrays and formations— Or, he could use only Metal and Fire Qi to form an inner palace specialized in weapons and forging. There was also the option of abusing his 12 Qi Transforms technique and creating a 12 Qi balanced palace, a far more extreme version of the 5 elements palace.

The safest route for an Earth Golden Core was the 5 elements palace, but there was that nagging voice at the back of Faust's head. A voice that said to aim higher, to aim for the legendary, Heavenly Golden Core, not obtained by anyone but the sect's founder so far. Faust eyes become more unfocused, the noises around him drowned by his own thoughts.

"Brother!" Faust snapped back to reality, straightening his back and turning to see his sister, Foria walking towards him.

"Sister." Faust smiled. The two gave a brief hug to each other now that there was no danger and he wasn't acting as chief proctor.

"I'll show you some things and introduce you to some people first." Faust led the way towards Diamond Mountain.

"Yes." Foria followed along.

"Also." Foria added.

"Were the house assignments truly random?"

"Hmmm. Mostly." Faust answered.

"Really?" Foria seemed suspicious.

"I may have manipulated it slightly."

"Is that why Aneroze and I are close to the top while Tao is close to the bottom?"

"... Perhaps…"

"How petty." Foria humphed.

"... I don't think he's a good person to hang around."

"Oh? Really? How come?" Foria asked flatly.

"He looks like a playboy."

"The real reason?"

"That is the real reason. But if you want a less emotional one." Faust paused, looking at Foria intently.

"It's because he may be a son of heaven."

"Huh?" Foria seemed confused, then asked, "Isn't that a good thing though?" Faust shook his head gently as they entered the loud and crowded sect market.

"Sons of Heaven are given great opportunities by heaven. But those opportunities are hidden in disaster. Ideally, you should keep them at an arms length away. Familiar, friendly, but not too friendly or familiar." Faust explained. Foria looked down, seemingly in thought. Faust didn't interrupt, guiding them to a few stalls and merchants he recommended.

"Anyways, don't accept any missions like this unless you've teamed up with a well known senior in the outer sect. The kind at least ten others have been on missions with." Faust said, holding a stack of papers detailing a mission before pinning it back to the board in the Mission Hall. Foria nodded along. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"So, in summary, focus on the low reward, fast, easy to complete tasks since the deacons and overseers usually see how many missions you've completed rather than how difficult they were or how long they took?" Foria asked.

"More or less, but make sure you don't get a reputation for only doing easy missions. If you hear a large group looking for an extra person to make up the numbers, make sure to join." Faust affirmed.

"What if they turn out to be backstabbers?"

"If this were a demonic or unorthodox sect maybe, but member deaths are investigated relentlessly by the Investigation Hall. Cases of disciples backstabbing each other or turning out to be spies from a demonic sect can be counted on one hand in the sect's over two hundred years of history."

"I thought the sect was older than that?" Foria tilted her head. Faust shrugged.

"All sects were young at one point. The Clear Mirror Sect's founder ended up reaching the Void Returning realm before disappearing. It's a similar story to the current Hegemony Sects. One of them started out with just a Nascent Soul founder and no powerful treasure like Clear Mirror Sect." While knowledge on the hegemony sects was relatively common, Faust still explained each one in as much detail as he could. At the very least he described what their uniforms looked like so Foria avoided offending them.

The two left the Mission Hall. As soon as they stepped out, there was a commotion in the middle of the market. Long Tao stood before a group of more senior outer sect disciples, each with menacing appearances. Burly arms, torn clothes, exposed abs and fresh scars galore— weapons at their sides. They looked like they had just returned from a dangerous mission. Most scars could be healed later at the Medicine Hall.

Countless other disciples, servants and merchants had gathered around in a circle, watching the showdown. Faust even recognised one of the battle scarred disciples from the 48th generation of disciples. A junior Faust had been on several missions with.

"..." Faust looked on blankly. It hadn't even been a day since joining the sect? You were already in trouble like this? How? He wondered. Foria meanwhile, squeezed through the crowd to get a better view.

"Seniors… I really wasn't talking about you…" Long Tao cupped his fist respectfully, but didn't bow, giving a helpless smile.

"Really? Then I must have heard something different. What about you?" The leader of the senior disciples, holding an axe over their shoulder, asked the halberd wielder beside him.

"I saw him walk past as we claimed our battle against the Steel Claw Ivy Raptor and announce he could do better." The halberd wielder responded.

"I was talking to myself, senior brothers…" Long Tao repeated.

"Trying to back out after insulting us? Did your parents not teach you that words have consequences!?" The axe leader scoffed.

"Not even the manners to apologise." The halberd wielder spat. Tao looked baffled, but after a moment of hesitation, spoke anyways, "…I apologise if my words offended you senior brothers. I was just talking to myself and didn't notice you…" Tao apologised.

"…" Wow. Faust thought. I'm impressed how well you managed to choose the exact wrong way to say those words. Didn't notice them, when they were loudly proclaiming their feats in the market? Not apologising for offending them but for them taking offence? Talking to yourself exactly as you pass them by… Faust didn't think he could string together a worse apology if he tried. He even heard sincerity in Tao's voice, but only just enough that combined with the wording it came out mocking.

"…" Even the group of senior outer sect disciples seemed baffled by the response. Faust understood why. A pipsqueak not even properly in the Qi Refining realm has just mocked a bunch of Meridian Opening realm seniors in the middle of the market.

"—You… Are you looking for a beating???" One of the other people standing beside the axe leader asked a genuine question. If not for seeing Long Tao talk to himself before, Faust would have also wondered if Tao was looking for a beating. It was a good thing he had made efforts to keep his sister away from him. He would also remind Rozaline to tell her sister—"Why are a bunch of seniors bullying a junior!"

A voice very familiar to Faust shouted at the group of senior brothers, who were looking more confused than angry every moment that passed.

"…" Faust had a lot he wanted to say, but he forced his lips shut, causing his cheeks to puff up as he looked blankly. Slowly, like a broken clock, Faust turned his head to Foria, who pointed rudely at the group of senior outer sect disciples.

"…" Faust forgot there was a second person who didn't know how to socialise properly.

"…You—" The halberd wielder began.

"Foria! No need to help me against these people!" Tao shouted back. Faust felt his mouth fall open in awe. How? How was he choosing the worst possible words to say? This was harder to watch than just outright insulting them. Just say they're weak or that you're unconcerned by them to their faces why don't you? The axe leader looked between Foria and Long Tao a few times, hopelessly confused. Then, he made up his mind and pointed at Long Tao.

"You! A junior continues to insult your seniors!" The axe leader launched at Tao, swinging a fist down. Tao widened his eyes, then raised his arms to block. BANG! Tao was smashed into the ground, his teeth crunched and broke and a bit of blood spilt from his mouth.

"Tao!" Foria was about to rush forward. Faust realised he couldn't, or rather, shouldn't, let the situation deteriorate, with a single step of the Clear Mirror Step he caught Foria by the back of the neck.

"That's enough." Faust asserted, wresting control of the surrounding Spirit Qi with his higher cultivation and pressing down on peoples spirit bodies.

"Senior Brother Faust." The axe leader recognised Faust and bowed, cupping a fist.

"Congratulations on the breakthrough." Faust didn't bow, but returned the cupped fist gesture.

"Thank you. Congratulations on hunting a 3rd level beast." Faust returned the congratulations. Faust put a hand on Foria's head and forced her to bow despite her resistance.

"I apologize for my sister. She's a bit naive and overly righteous. I hope you can treat her well in the future."

"We were all young and naive at some point, it's no problem." The axe leader responded. Faust turned to Tao. If he wasn't a righteous person, Faust would have thrown him under the bus to keep him away from his sister. He sighed.

"I won't get between you and this junior, but fighting is prohibited outside of the combat grounds, you can continue there if you wish, but remember that killing is always prohibited." Faust chided, carefully to keep his tone flat and informative.

"It was my mistake for being easily provoked." The axe leader admitted his mistake immediately. Faust nodded. This was an easy way out for everyone. He was even proud of himself. The axe leader admitting a simple mistake outright meant that he had minimised any loss of face after the initial exchange of congratulations at the start that had showed a level of respect for each other. The group of senior disciples began continuing to the Mission Hall.

"Hey!" Long Tao shouted through shattered and bloody teeth, his legs still trembling from the impact, buried into the stone pavement.

"…" Faust was silent.

"…" The group of senior disciples turned around with dark expressions."""…""" The crowd looked at Long Tao with their mouths agape, probably wondering what kind of horse had hit him in the head when he was a child.

"You attacked me for no reason when I was just passing by. And now you're just walking away without even apologising for the misunderstanding!" Long Tao continued shouting indignantly.

"..." Faust looked at Foria. Foria was nodding along with Long Tao's statement.

"..." Faust turned back to Long Tao, a hollow look on his face. The axe leader looked to Long Tao, then looked to Faust. Faust closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Sure, Long Tao's injuries would be serious for a mortal, but even without help, cycling Spirit Qi could heal mortal wounds like shattered teeth within a month or two. The Medicine Hall also didn't consider merit or anything when treating disciples. It was one of the few privileges even peripheral disciples got.

Long Tao stepped out of the shallow crater and took an unstable step towards the group of senior disciples, as if fearless.

"You—" Long Tao began. BANG! Faust saved the hotheaded fool's life, clocking Long Tao across the chin hard enough to knock him unconscious in an instant without snapping his neck. Long Tao fell to the ground with a heavy thunk. The crowd was silent for a moment. After a few moments, as if nothing had happened, people began chatting and muttering, before returning to what they were doing. Faust picked Long Tao up and threw him over his shoulder, carrying him like luggage.

"What did you do that for!" Foria demanded, jumping in front of Faust. Faust felt the few days without sleep hit him in an instant.

"It seems I need to educate both of you on how to talk. Why not invite your friend, Aneroze, as well." Faust sighed, leading the way with tired steps.