Chapter 9: Joining a Sect (Please add to favorites! Please keep reading!)

Shaoheng understood perfectly what this meant. She muttered to herself, "What a lack of vision."

Moreover, she had also realized that for the moment, no one had discovered that she had already completed the process of guiding Qi into her body.

"What is going on?"

Shaoheng quickly turned her focus inward, examining herself for anything amiss.

She soon discovered the cause.

It turned out that within her Qi Sea Dantian, that small gray cocoon was emitting layers of ripples. As they merged into the boundaries of her Qi Sea, they caused her entire lower Dantian to be shrouded in a dim, grayish light.

This prevented even the slightest trace of her mana aura from leaking out.

Shaoheng clenched her fists, her brows furrowed in worry.

This small gray cocoon was almost certainly left behind by the Voice of God, and she still remembered her earlier instinctual intuition that its existence must not be exposed.

Now it seemed clear that this object likely possessed a spirituality no less than that cyan-gold tree-shaped rune; it was clearly protecting itself, not wanting to be discovered by other cultivators.

"It seems I cannot be impatient. I must first find a way to understand what the cyan-gold rune is. It should be in the same category as the gray cocoon. I will follow the vine to find the melon, and then determine the nature of the gray cocoon."

Having made her decision, Shaoheng stopped fretting.

After Jiang Yunjiang was whisked away by the white light, Lu Shaojia and the others frantically sought answers from the elder.

Zhao Tang gripped his cane and looked into the distance, a hint of envy in his eyes.

"Disciples with mid-grade or high-grade aptitude are all pre-registered. She was taken into the Inner Sect by an Inner Sect elder using a technique. If her fortune is sufficient, she may even have the chance to be taken as a disciple by that elder."

Outer Sect elders and Inner Sect elders were entirely different concepts.

Outer Sect elders were those who had failed to promote to the Inner Sect for a long time, and upon reaching the second realm of cultivation, applied to become elders.

Their potential was limited, most stopping at the second realm; serving as an elder was merely for the sake of future stability and the sect's protection.

Inner Sect elders, however, were only those who had promoted to the fourth realm—the Rebirth Realm—and were themselves proud talents with promising paths.

To be taken under the wing of an Inner Sect elder was a massive advantage.

Lu Shaojia, Lu Shaojing, Qin Ji, and Yan Ning all looked dejected, their heads hanging low, appearing quite reluctant to part.

Shaoheng, however, asked Elder Zhao directly: "May I ask, Elder, what are the arrangements for us Outer Sect disciples?"

A middle-aged man with thick brows and black hair beside Zhao Tang took over the question, answering: "First, go to the Law Enforcement Pavilion to register your names and state your origins. Once officially initiated, you may collect your first year's cultivation resources and be granted cultivation techniques."

"New disciples must attend three months of lectures, daily from the hour of the Dragon to the hour of the Monkey, on the fourth floor of the Miaofa Tower. Whether you attend or not is entirely up to your own conscience. If you miss the teachings of the lecturing elder and fail to successfully guide Qi into your body or learn immortal arts, the consequences will be borne entirely by yourselves."

"Know that the Zhenyiyuan Sect does not keep idlers. Every year, you must accept a certain number of sect missions, or you will be expelled. And some of those missions are enough to cost a cultivator their life!"

"Many thanks for your guidance, Elder."

Shaoheng thanked him and said no more.

Yan Ning secretly glanced at Shaoheng, then gave a soft huff and turned her head away.

Elder Zhao steered the spirit boat into the sect's barrier, and soon they arrived before a tall building.

It looked as if it were built of jade bricks, cyan and white in color, standing five stories high with eight-cornered eaves adorned with glazed palace lanterns.

At the entrance, a black plaque hung high, inscribed with two golden characters: "Law Enforcement."

"Follow me inside." Zhao Tang stepped through the door first.

The disciples in charge of affairs inside arranged matters methodically: recording origins, lighting soul lamps, and swearing the sect oath.

When it was Shaoheng's turn, she picked up the wolf-hair purple bamboo brush and paused for a rare moment.

"Lu Shaoheng, hurry up." Yan Ning frowned and urged her, as she was standing right behind Shaoheng.

"In such a rush? What, won't you live to see the next quarter-hour?"

As she spoke, Shaoheng wrote down her name and origin, then used a small needle provided by the law enforcement disciple to prick her fingertip, letting a drop of blood soak into the pale yellow talisman paper.

She picked up the talisman paper and held it to a bronze lamp.

It ignited without fire. After the paper burned to ash, white smoke drifted out and condensed into a solid token, which fell into Shaoheng's hand. At the same time, the bronze lamp lit up with an orange-yellow flame.

The token was rectangular; though it had condensed from white smoke, it felt as delicate as mutton-fat jade to the touch.

It bore only two lines of text.

Zhenyiyuan Sect · Shaoheng.

Before her name, she no longer needed to carry any surname.

Once all eight had completed the process, a female cultivator in a black robe embroidered with phoenixes stood before them.

She appeared to be in her twenties or thirties, her expression cold and stern as she spoke.

"Identities verified, soul lamps lit, the oath is set. From today on, you are Outer Sect disciples of my Zhenyiyuan Sect."

The black-robed elder waved her right sleeve, and several streaks of light fell into the hands of the new Outer Sect disciples.

"Outer Sect disciples receive cultivation resources once a year, each time receiving 120 spirit stones and three bottles of first-grade pills. Because you have just stepped onto the path of cultivation, this time you are receiving Essence-Enhancing Pills to assist your practice. In the future, when you come to the Law Enforcement Pavilion with your disciple tokens, you may choose the types of pills yourselves."

Shaoheng gripped the streak of light she had received; it was a brownish-red ring. This must be the storage ring mentioned in the jade tablet earlier.

"Inside the storage ring are your cultivation resources for this year and the necessities for new disciples. Once you complete the guiding of Qi into your body, you will be able to use it."

The black-robed female cultivator, named Yue Liu, was about to say more when a token at her waist suddenly flashed. After giving Zhao Tang a few instructions, she left.

Zhao Tang said to them: "Let's go. I will take you to the disciples' quarters and show you the Miaofa Tower. Lectures begin tomorrow."

The young man in the faded outer garment gathered his courage and asked: "May I ask, Elder Zhao, if lectures start tomorrow, but we still need to spend time guiding Qi into our bodies, how should we arrange that?"

"Arrange it yourselves."

Zhao Tang turned to look at him, his eyes calm. Many generations of disciples had asked similar questions.

"The lectures last for three months, and the Miaofa Tower will provide a schedule. But in truth, all this content can be found on the first three floors of the Miaofa Tower, which are open to you. Whether you attend the elders' lectures or study on your own, it is entirely your choice."

After Zhao Tang finished speaking, he saw that among the eight people before him, seven had expressions of conflict on their faces. Only one little girl in tattered clothes had an unchanged expression—she even looked a bit distracted?

Shaoheng was trying to use the storage ring. She discovered that after channeling a wisp of mana into it, she could see a space of about two or three cubic meters, much like looking inward.

Because she was too engrossed in the novelty, she suddenly noticed Zhao Tang's gaze. Unable to react in time, she simply gave Elder Zhao a smile.

Zhao Tang felt a bit surprised; he hadn't expected this female disciple to be so carefree.

Meanwhile, Lu Shaojia stole a glance at Shaoheng without leaving a trace.

He knew better than anyone how his sister could memorize anything she read, so of course, she could look relaxed. Lu Shaojia couldn't help but clench his fists.

He thought back to the two days on the spirit boat, when Jiang Yunjiang had refused all invitations and stayed behind closed doors. He felt as though they had grown quite distant.

Lu Shaojia rubbed his fingers together, his heart filled with unresolved frustration.

(End of chapter)