Boots
patreon
2.34 - The Last Out
🕑 Added 2024-03-09 23:00:22 +0000 UTCA week before the tournament for the inner sect was set to begin, He Yu broke through to middle Body Refining. With his continued cultivation of the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment, along with the addition of the Empyrean Ninefold Body Tempering, the amount of heaven qi in his presence had steadily increased. During his time cultivating to prepare for his breakthrough, his inner eye had repeatedly shown him a lonely mountain peak, shrouded in dark clouds.
There was a different character to these images than the ones he’d experienced in his first days at the sect. Rather than standing on a mountain peak, with visions that shifted between being alone or with companions, He Yu stood at the foot. He stared up, as the clouds churned and lightning flashed. Something within him compelled him forward, but a stronger force barred the way.
The Peerless Judgment was clear in its message—only when he unlocked the last of the foundational arts of the Cloud Emperor’s Heavenly Palace would the way be open. To that end, he would need to begin cultivating the art’s third technique—the Spring Rain Mirror. The jade slip containing the Heavenly Palace art described the Spring Rain Mirror as a water-aspected defensive art. The rest of it eluded him for now though.
Cultivating the technique required him to contemplate the Mirror itself. Because he couldn’t yet even manage to form it—not even in his mind—he could hardly contemplate it. With the tournament fast approaching, he set the art aside for the time being. Hopefully, once he’d joined the inner sect, he would be able to seek help from Zhang Lifen, or even Elder Cai himself. For the time being, he needed to focus on the techniques he could already use effectively.
Three days before the tournament was set to begin, he received a message from Zhang Lifen asking him to meet her in the outer sect’s main plaza. She was standing at the far end of the plaza when he arrived, looking for all the world like she hadn’t been half dead and carried back to the sect last he’d heard of her. Her robes were of the same sort she typically wore, light blue with black and green, and the small amused smile she usually affected was right where He Yu expected it to be. As he approached, he could immediately tell that she had broken through.
Although her spirit was restrained, the sense of crushing depths and unseen currents had only increased since he’d last seen her. The blue in her eyes looked less natural than it had previously. They now resembled a pair of glass-still lakes, rather than human irises. The drop in temperature and the sensation of light mist that accompanied her was only slightly more pronounced than before, but it was there.
“Congratulations on reaching the Third Realm, Junior Brother He,” she said as he saluted her.
“Congratulations on reaching the Fifth Realm, Senior Sister Zhang,” He Yu replied.
“It is nothing, but you have my thanks regardless,” she said with a flick of a sleeve. “Come, we have much to talk about.”
He Yu followed her as she drifted off down one of the paths that meandered through the manicured gardens of the outer sect. Once they were well away from the plaza and any potential eavesdroppers—accidental or otherwise—he couldn’t help himself any longer.
“What happened?” he demanded. Then, just to be sure she couldn’t evade him, he added, “Back at the camp.”
She turned, regarded him for a moment, and then sat down on a low wall beneath a peach tree. “You saw what happened,” she said.
“That doesn’t answer my question. I know what I saw, but what does it mean? And what was that power I felt? Had Ren Huang been there all along too?” The questions continued, spilling out of him like a flood. Finally, he got to the one he’d really wanted to ask. “And what about this Emp—”
Zhang Lifen held up a hand to silence him. “It’s best not to ask after such things.” Her voice and features were hard.
“So you keep saying,” he muttered. He should have known she wouldn’t actually answer any of his questions.
Her features softened. “There are things you’re better off not knowing,” she said. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t know all the answers to all your questions.”
“But you have some.”
“I do,” she allowed.
His frustration having spent itself for the time being, he sat down near her. “And you’re not going to tell me, are you?” he asked.
“Once you join the inner sect and form your Golden Core, we can speak more openly of these things.”
He supposed that was about as good as he was going to get for the time being. But he still wanted to make sure. “Promise?” he asked.
Zhang Lifen’s lips quirked upwards. “What sort of a teacher would I be if I didn’t make good on my word?”
“You haven’t been much of a teacher so far.” She’d already said that she was limited in what she could do so long as he was in the outer sect, but surely she could do more than she had.
“I sent you on your adventure to deal with that bandit, didn’t I? You profited greatly from it, after all.”
“And nearly got us killed!”
“But you lived,” she said with a shrug. “Now, I hadn’t counted on you running into Old Guo, but all the core disciples and sect elders know that he lives out there. That you were met with such good fortune that he decided to help you is truly a blessing from heaven.”
He Yu sighed. Clearly, he wasn’t going to get anywhere with this line of conversation. “So why did you call me out here then, if not to train?”
“The upcoming tournament,” she said. “I trust you already know that to qualify for the inner sect you must place in the top eight.”
He nodded.
“Good. I’ve done everything I could to ease your path, but the rest will be up to you. It did, however, require me to make some concessions to get everything I wanted.”
He Yu frowned. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“Don’t worry too much,” she said. “I have faith in your friends’ abilities. All you need to do is win your fights. Once you’ve placed in the top eight, the easy part is over regardless of the tournament’s outcome.”
He didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Hopefully this isn’t something that’s best left until later,” he ventured.
For once, Zhang Lifen managed to look at least a little bit sheepish. “I am not exactly popular among the disciples of the inner sect.”
Somehow that didn’t surprise He Yu in the least. “And what does that mean for me?” he asked, despite having a sinking feeling about where the conversation was going.
“You’re probably not aware, but there has never been a core disciple below the Fifth Realm before me. Talk is, the only reason I was allowed such a prestigious position was due to my discipleship to Master Cai.” She smiled. “That talk is entirely accurate. Talented as I may be, without his influence, the spot would have gone to someone with greater advancement.”
“Okay,” He Yu said, “I still don’t see what this has to do with me at all.”
“One can’t normally challenge a core disciple for rank unless they are themselves a core disciple. They’ll be coming for you instead.”
“What?” He Yu shouted as he leaped to his feet. This was absolutely ridiculous. “Who’s coming for me?”
“Nobody of the Fourth Realm,” she said as if it were nothing at all. “At least not at first. Any Golden Cores in the inner sect will be of too high a position to challenge you. While they’d certainly win, they’d lose a tremendous amount of face. There’s no honor in bullying your juniors. It wouldn’t affect their rank, but it would damage their reputations. So that’s one less thing for you to worry about.”
“That explains nothing,” he said, pacing across the small path where they’d come to a stop.
“Rank is the currency of the inner sect,” she said. “You rise in rank by challenging those above you. If you can’t immediately beat a rival for whatever reason, you make them look weak by beating their allies. Or, in your case, their students.”
“So I’m going to have a bunch of inner sect disciples coming after me as soon as the tournament’s over.”
“Oh no,” she said. “That would be bad form. You’ll have at least a week or so to find your feet before anyone comes demanding a challenge. It would be terribly bad manners, otherwise.”
“A week,” he said flatly.
“More than enough time,” she said. “Besides, it would only be the dregs of the inner sect coming after you at first. Scavengers with low talent, looking to eke out some small measure of reputation. Your initial rank within the inner sect will be determined by your performance in the tournament. Even should you win the entire thing, it would take some time for you to climb the ranks such that anyone of any real talent would deign to notice you.”
“But then what? I just keep climbing the ranks? Fighting stronger and stronger people who are coming after me because they’ve some grudge against you?”
Zhang Lifen grew serious then. “You could always stay in the outer sect.”
He began to object, but she cut him off.
“You’ve already reached middle Body Refining,” she began. “The easy part of your advancement is nearly at its end. One more breakthrough, and that’s it. There’s a reason so many cultivators never leave the Third Realm. Forming your Golden Core will be the most difficult thing you’ve ever done, He Yu. Then, it just gets more difficult the higher you climb.
“You’ve already met the requirements to remain in the sect. Consider how many older disciples still populate the outer sect. Look at the alchemists and refiners who make medicines and elixirs. The craftsmen who create the low-grade treasures you outer disciples arm and armor yourselves with. You could be like them, or you could simply keep hunting low-grade beasts and selling their cores. Perform jobs that deal with problems too trivial for the more advanced members of the sect to bother with.
“I’ve no doubt you will achieve the peak of Body Refining soon. You may even be able to reach Golden Core in a few decades. There’s a handful of them in the outer sect, you know. Even if you didn’t, your lifespan is easily double that of a mortal already. If you stayed in the outer sect, you’d have a safe, comfortable life.
“The sect would protect you, and whatever you chose to do with yourself would lead to you amassing a fortune the richest of mortals couldn’t even dream of. Your days would be long and healthy. Free from the burden of age until the very last moments before your dantian fully degraded and you passed into the realm of the dead. It would be a long, good life.”
She paused for a moment to let what she had just said sink in. “All you would need to do was not enter the tournament.”
“Or,” she continued, “you join the inner sect. You’ll have to fight and claw your way up. You’ll face unimaginable hardship. And you’ll expose yourself to danger far beyond what you’re prepared to face. If you truly want to reach the heights of cultivation, that’s how you do it. It’s up to you.”
They met each other’s eyes under the peach tree, and the answer needed no words. He Yu knew what sort of legend he would become.
“Acquit yourself well,” she said as she stood and drifted off.
Comments
Michael
Thanks for the chapter!
