Chapter 60: Little White Begins Cultivation (Part Two)
Next, Lin Daqiao spoke about the sect rules. When he got to this part, this Seventh Senior Brother stated that while there were many rules, long and complex, one only needed to remember a few and avoid crossing the line.
First, no killing among fellow disciples. If such a thing happens, the sect will demand a life for a life. Of course, if it was purely self-defense, that would be judged differently. In such cases, the matter would be decided by the Law Enforcement Hall of the peak involved, or jointly between the peaks concerned.
Second, if you encounter a fellow disciple in trouble outside, you must step in to help, unless the enemy's level is vastly beyond your own. Those who abandon others to protect themselves will be severely punished. The lightest punishment is a heavy fine in spirit stones or years of cultivation resources being cut off. The harshest punishment was having your cultivation crippled, and being expelled from the sect.
Third, no criminal acts outside the sect. Though Wraith Sect never pretends to be a righteous orthodox sect, it still follows its own code. If anyone is caught committing crimes, their fate is extremely tragic. It won't end at having their cultivation destroyed, they might even suffer something as horrific as being devoured alive by thousands of insects. Dying quickly wouldn't be possible. Even suicide would be a luxury.
Where there is punishment, there is reward. The sect is divided from bottom to top into the Servants' Quarters, the Outer Sect, and the Inner Sect.
Some disciples from subordinate sects may not be accepted directly into the sect. Only those who pass assessments are admitted into the Outer Sect for cultivation.
Those with decent talent who fail the test may not be sent back right away. Instead, they enter the Servants' Quarters as temporary servants.
They do menial tasks, chopping wood, cooking, cleaning in exchange for rewards, earning spirit stones for cultivation. Each year, they can participate in the Inner Peak's assessments. Those who pass become Outer Sect disciples.
However, if a disciple remains in the Servants' Quarters for ten years, they are returned to their original sect.
To enter the Inner Sect, only elite disciples from the Outer Sect may take part in its assessments. Only after passing several trials can one be admitted into the sect's core, becoming a peak's prodigy and the future hope of the Wraith Sect.
There's another path into the Inner Sect: anyone who succeeds in Foundation Establishment, no matter if they're from the Servants' Quarters or the Outer Sect is eligible.
At this point, Lin Daqiao glanced at Li Yan.
"You joining the sect... actually has something to do with someone building their foundation in the Outer Sect," he said meaningfully.
Li Yan found this strange. His thoughts turned quickly, and he suddenly recalled something Elder Dong Fuyi once told him. A vague suspicion arose in his mind, but he kept a puzzled expression, looking at Lin Daqiao.
Seeing his look, Lin Daqiao gave a "just as I thought" smile and began his story:
About twenty years ago, a disciple named Lianshan in the Outer Sect of Spirit Insect Peak achieved Foundation Establishment. He was originally eligible to enter the Inner Sect, but ultimately he was denied. The reason being suspicions that he had assaulted and murdered a mortal woman outside the sect.
He had done it so secretly that although a subordinate sect reported it, there was no concrete evidence. The sect wanted to observe a bit longer before deciding.
However, Lianshan must have sensed danger. Before the Spirit Insect Peak could act, he stole the peak's entry manuals and jade slips and fled the mountain.
The higher-ups of Spirit Insect Peak were furious and sent people to pursue him. But Lianshan was cunning and had spent decades in the Wraith Sect, he knew how to evade their tracking techniques. So, he kept escaping.
Eventually, he was killed outside a Core Formation cultivator's cave residence, and his belongings were obtained by a branch of the "Immortal-Seeking Lineage."
Li Yan had guessed as much by the middle of the story, but he still gave a "so that's how it is" expression at the end.
There's another type of special disciple, like Lin Daqiao and Li Yan, who enter the sect directly without any assessment, by being accepted under a Core Formation master. But such disciples still start out as Outer Sect members.
There's also a sect-wide competition every five years for disciples below mid-Foundation Establishment, and a larger competition every ten years for mid to late-stage Foundation Establishment disciples. These are grand inter-peak events where every peak must participate, no exceptions.
The first competition checks general cultivation progress among disciples, while the second evaluates emerging talents to see if any are fit for Core Formation, so the sect can prepare resources and training in advance.
This shows how much ancient great sects valued inheritance. Everything is for the sake of passing on the lineage.
These competitions come with generous rewards, rare manuals, spirit stones, and more to encourage disciples to show their full strength.
Though the fights can be bloody, deaths are rare. Most only suffer serious injuries, and with proper elixirs and time, they can recover fully in months or years.
The true bloodbaths, however, happen during irregular competitions and treasure hunts between the Four Great Sects. These are deadly and unforgiving, life-or-death hunts in secret realms.
Such inter-sect events still focus on Foundation Establishment disciples, supported by some Qi Condensation ones. The goal is to strengthen the sect's bloodline, increase their survival capabilities, and gain more cultivation resources.
At this point, Lin Daqiao shifted the topic again, this time to sect resource allocation.
All disciples are allowed to choose from a selection of free techniques and spells. But of course, these tend to be low-grade. If one wants higher-tier techniques or spells, they must buy them with spirit stones.
The sect does this to toughen its disciples' survival instincts. They don't want their disciples growing complacent, forgetting the harsh truth of cultivation: the strong prey on the weak. If they do, the sect will be destroyed sooner or later.
Disciples like Li Yan, at the Qi Condensation stage, are given three low-grade spirit stones per month, which combined with the sect's abundant spiritual energy, should be enough for basic cultivation.
But as one progresses, they'll need better techniques, higher-level spells, rare pills, talismans, and more. All of these require spirit stones.
So where do the spirit stones come from?
The Mission Hall on Old Lord Peak is the main place to earn them. There, disciples can take on missions of all kinds.
From hunting beasts, guarding medicine gardens, foraging herbs for elders, even assassinations of rival sect cultivators, anything is possible.
Despite appearances, the Four Great Sects are not entirely harmonious. As long as you don't assassinate your own sect members, and don't leave behind evidence, you're safe.
But if you get caught and incriminate the sect, then it's considered your personal act. The sect will disown you.
The sect is a power, and though it always seeks to destroy its rivals, whether it acts depends on relative strength. A full-scale war between equals only leads to mutual destruction.
The Mission Hall missions vary widely in difficulty, covering all levels from Qi Condensation to Core Formation. Even Core Formation cultivators often take on difficult tasks, since their cultivation consumes vast amounts of spirit stones.
But Nascent Soul elders, they no longer need to take tasks. These old monsters are pillars of the sect, and the sect fully supports their needs, unless they require extremely rare treasures, which they still must buy themselves.
When the sect faces an existential threat, it's these elders who deliver the final, decisive blow.
Apart from the main Mission Hall on Old Lord Peak, each peak also had its own smaller mission halls. However, these tasks were more specialized and targeted, lacking general applicability.
Taking on tasks from these smaller mission halls could also earn spirit stones. For instance, when someone from Spirit Insect Peak left the sect temporarily, they'd need someone to take care of their spirit insects or creatures. Similarly, Old Lord Peak frequently needed assistants for alchemy or artifact crafting.
However, tasks from these smaller mission halls were usually monopolized by the disciples of their respective peaks. After all, they were the most familiar with the affairs of their own peak.
Among the Five Peaks, Little Bamboo Peak's mission hall was the most popular. The peak was full of miscellaneous chores, like watering spirit plants, cooking meals, or tending to spirit beasts. Due to the shortage of disciples, they could never keep up with all the work. As a result, many tasks were posted publicly and immediately swarmed by disciples from other peaks.
Upon hearing this, Li Yan's eyes filled with confusion. Watering spirit plants, he could understand. But cooking? What was that supposed to mean?
Weren't the menial disciples already doing those tasks? Or was it that Little Bamboo Peak had too few menial disciples to handle everything?
And another thing, once cultivators reached the third level of the Qi Condensation stage, they could start fasting. It wasn't necessary to eat or drink for several days. Even if someone had a craving now and then, surely it wouldn't warrant posting a task order?
And Little Bamboo Peak also raised spirit insects? Wasn't that something only Spirit Insect Peak or Boundless Peak did?
Lin Daqiao noticed the astonishment on Li Yan's face and smiled mysteriously.
"Heh heh, little junior brother, the cooking tasks on our peak aren't ordinary cooking. They're overseen by Second Senior Brother. When he's too busy, he'll post them as missions."
"As for raising spirit insects, well, that's different from Spirit Insect or Boundless Peak. That's handled by Fourth Senior Sister and Fifth Senior Brother. You'll understand in time."
With that said, he abruptly stopped explaining, adopting an air of profound mystery.
Seeing his Seventh Senior Brother being so secretive made Li Yan recall what Li Wuyi had said about the poisonous insects from Boundless Peak.
"Could it be that Little Bamboo Peak raises some kind of special spirit insects or spirit beasts? If they're anything like those terrifying gu worms..."
Just imagining staying somewhere near a swarm of those bugs crawling out at night, rustling across the ground and mountains, made his skin crawl.
Lin Daqiao, however, didn't elaborate further. Instead, he watched Li Yan's discomfort with amusement and chuckled inwardly.
'When I first arrived, Fifth Senior Brother told me the same thing. I couldn't sleep for days. It wasn't until I got the truth out of Eldest Senior Brother that I calmed down.
'Little junior brother, now it's your turn to go through the same. I wonder if all the senior brothers do this on purpose. They say all new disciples get taken around the other peaks before arriving at Little Bamboo Peak... and worst of all, Fifth Senior Brother flew me straight into Boundless Peak's territory on the first day!'
Just remembering it made Lin Daqiao shudder slightly. He quickly glanced at Li Yan, fortunately, Li Yan was still lost in his nightmare imagining bugs crawling everywhere and hadn't noticed his reaction.
Seeing that Li Yan hadn't caught on, and instead wore an expression of discomfort, Lin Daqiao knew the new junior brother had taken the bait. So he coughed lightly, not giving Li Yan any more time to dwell on the matter, and swiftly changed the subject, he figured Li Yan could reflect on it alone that night.
"Late at night, in the stillness... when you look out the window and think back on all this, that's when it's the most interesting, little junior brother," Lin Daqiao mused inwardly.
Seeing that his Seventh Senior Brother wasn't planning to elaborate further, Li Yan had no choice but to suppress his unease and force himself to keep listening to the "passing down of teaching."
Next, Lin Daqiao explained the matter of each peak's Treasure Repository. These pavilions were generally divided into three main categories:
One, books and jade slips of cultivation techniques and immortal techniques;
Two, spirit artifacts, magical treasures, talismans, and puppets;
Three, all sorts of pills and poisons.
The cultivation techniques in each peak's collection were tailored to match or complement the peak's dominant spiritual root affinity. Basic cultivation methods for each stage, from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment were available for free.
As for immortal arts, standard spells like "Wind Blade Technique," "Fireball Technique," and "Flowing Sand Technique" were more or less the same across all peaks and also free of charge.
However, advanced immortal techniques had to be purchased with spirit stones.
Li Yan raised a question here: if spells like Wind Blade, Fireball, and Flowing Sand each belonged to wind, fire, and earth attributes respectively, why were they considered universal across peaks? Shouldn't they be attribute-specific?
Lin Daqiao answered that these were just basic spells, not particularly profound and could be used even by those without the matching elemental affinity. They just wouldn't be as smooth or powerful as when cast with matching spiritual energy.
As for pills and spirit artifacts, other than the initial items given upon joining the sect, any future acquisitions would have to be bought with spirit stones. And those prices could easily run into several, dozens, even hundreds or thousands of stones.
After hearing all that, Li Yan thought about the three low-grade spirit stones he had received... and realized he was basically a penniless cultivator who couldn't even afford pants.
(Chapter End)