“You should have never been an Inner Disciple in the first place.”

  With those words, Shuren finally understood the strange actions of Grand Elder Wanshang. This is too much. For someone meant to be my mother’s friend, she tried to sabotage my entry?

  “It’s true, you’re good at fighting, as expected of elder sister’s child. But we look for something beyond that, here at Seven Clouds. Everyone else who joined alongside you had already established some effort in their own vocation alongside battle prowess.” Elder Harmony took out a simple silver brush. Strokes of ink splashed in the air, proclaiming the world itself a canvas. With the power of the Lexis Path, an indistinguishable word from a lost ancient language rung out, imprinting itself on Shuren’s forehead. “Slow down your cycling, as if you’re grinding your Qi with a mortar.”

  That doesn’t make sense! I came first in the sect finale! Or is it because I’m a foreigner, from the Liu Clan? You’re telling me even that wolf glaive user Chen with no sense of reading the room is more suited than I?!

  His face turned red as he struggled to breathe. Despite that, Shuren didn’t drop his guard, forcing his cycling to slow down immensely, taking in the imprinted tattoo’s effects. Like a ravenous snake, a foreign flow of Qi traversed from his mind down to his body, devouring his own inner Qi.

  Shuren grunted out in pain, muscles beginning to spasm throughout his body. The strength of Qi he had been gifted began to atrophy, his Stage 8 Qidense Realm dropping back down to Stage 7. The bitter, metallic taste of blood seeped through his mouth as he coughed.

  Weariness once again cloaked his body, weakness covering his mind and soul. He realised at once he had been trapped from the beginning by the girl. That crazy woman actually tried to harm me like this?

  Shuren’s expressions darkened. Elder Harmony couldn’t see it as he faced down to the ground in humiliation. The grinding of his teeth was heard alongside his constant heaving.

  “Next time, if someone offers you candy, be sure to avoid it. You’re not a piddling child anymore. Stop rushing to Path Foundation, understand why it’s called Foundation.” A hint of pity came as Harmony’s expression softened a touch. He was still a young man who was trying his best. He thought he had come out of his encounter with benefits, only to be met with poison.

  “I’ll give you a final chance. Climb the Sensority Mountains tomorrow to the peak with your bare hands. Kowtow for three hours after evening, and maybe I’ll consider you as an assistant under me. You’re too weak to be considered a Core Disciple.”

  Shuren remained silent, lost in thought. He got up and bowed deeply to Core Elder Harmony. “My sincerest gratitudes for assisting me, Honoured Elder Harmony.” Shuren said with a dull tone.

  Shuren left Elder Harmony’s flying ship in a sorry state. Sitting on his cloud, a deep sigh left his mouth. He noticed he had been sighing far too much lately. Even though right now, he was in a much better position than before, having joined as an Inner Disciple. His day old robes were wet with sweat and splattered with his own bloody coughs, but he dared not return home to change. Let’s just sort out the state of my body at the Sensority Mountain for now, Shuren thought, cutting off all other matters.

  Elder Harmony stood at the bow of her ship, watching Shuren listlessly float down towards the Sixth Peak. Spinning the silver brush between her fingers, a swirl of inky lines formed into a pattern. It formed the shape of a cube, jailing a miniature beetle. The Soul Scourge Dissonator. “Good. I’ve captured the evidence without letting it wither away. We can use this in our bargaining.”

  She thought back to the time when she herself was just a disciple and had to bear with the incessant stalking of a male delegate obsessed with her. A conniving smirk plastered itself on her face. “Those shitty delegates, doing as they please. The sect leader won’t let them off with this.”

  Her soul space opened, linking her spatial ring to the outer world. She carefully extracted the imprisoning cube to place it inside the bag. “Hah, those old fogies better not look down on me now, just because I’m young.”

  Shuren had long left the vision of Elder Harmony. She undid her braid, shaking her head as the wind fluttered her hair past her. “Well, he was always going to be sent there. I may as well pay back Elder Sister’s favour back now anyway.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Elder Harmony wrapped her arms around, with a smug look on her face. “Elder sister said her kid is unruly and stubborn. I think I did well, I definitely sounded like a strong and powerful elder of the sect there. He’ll definitely be at the peak tomorrow.”

  The next day, Elder Harmony calculated when the three hours would be finished, as the night sky crept up above the seven peaks. She prepared her flying ship in tow, ready to make a domineering and awesome entrance, to utterly captivate and make Shuren cry tears of joy.

  She stood inside her ship, a private room standing in front of a mirror. “I will allow you the honour of- No, no, that’s not it. The Seven Clouds have blessed you with- Yes, that’s a much better intro.” She slapped the cheeks of her face, ensuring it exuded the emotion of a cold, powerful cultivator. “Yes, this is how an elder holds their presence. That kid will beg to be my disciple, then I’ll say that he has potential, and-” She looked out the window. It should’ve been time now.

  Having hidden within a large cloud right above the peak of Sensority Mountain, the ship gradually revealed itself. Slowly it lowered down towards the peak, as Elder Harmony stood at the bow, hands clasped behind her back. Her midnight azure eyes were listless, with no sign of life.

  She waited, observing the peak over and over again. She grudgingly expanded her Qi throughout the mountain. The peak lay empty, as it had been for time immemorial.

  A vein popped on her forehead, face distorted in rage. “That brat! I clearly told him I would mentor him. I, an elder, and he’s just a kid! Elder sister, your child is far too stupid. He knows nothing good for him.”

  She stepped back on her ship, rethinking back to what she should’ve done. “No, he’s far too confused. I said all that while he was busy getting the Soul Scourge Dissonator removed.”

  She kept thinking back, realising she forgot to say the most vital point. “Wait…I prepared a whole speech on the benefits and wonders of my Path. I didn’t even say it to him, I was too focused on capturing that dissonator. Of course a brutish buffoon like him wouldn’t get it otherwise.” She began tapping on her heels. “I can’t just look for him again. It’s beneath that of an elder.”

  She cleared up her throat. Enunciating her tone to be even lower. “This is merely destiny. He is simply not fated to be my disciple. The Sensority is not a place for him.” She said with arrogance. In the back of her mind, she began thinking up excuses on explaining this to her elder sister she respected dearly.

  Having visited the Sixth Mountain and getting a general checkup, Shuren sat in his personal room, meditating. On the side of the cave, the defence formation was naturally repairing itself after he punched a hole in the wall.

  He had been cycling all day, trying to gauge the amount of time it would take for him to reach the Stage 8 of Qidense. It was worse than he thought. “I’m now back at the beginning of Stage 7 Qidense, even losing the portion of Qi I absorbed from after that battle.” Shuren mulled over, considering the next best actions.

  When it came to Rank 1, there were three major bottlenecks, akin to giant walls to overcome. It was Stage 6, Stage 9 and the final step into Path Foundation after stage 12.

  Stage 6 signified control of the mass and density of Qi, being able to reinforce certain parts of your body while extending it outside. This was to prepare the understanding of learning Path Skills that would originate from outside your body, such as a fireball, or retain force outside without diminishing, such as a sword beam.

  Stage 9 signified the first step of learning Path Skills. Finally being able to use condensed Qi beams from a sword slash, or form a fireball using the laws of nature. Beginning with Path Techniques, the mastery of Qi led you to Path Foundation.

  Path Foundation? You must tap into the Grand Paths, an intangible river that covers the entire world, containing all the laws of the world. Eventually, after Nascent Soul, you would become an Immortal Pathstrider, making your body, mind and soul the vessel to form your own laws, or rather, your own Grand Path.

  In this world you were either a mortal, a cultivator, or an immortal. Once you reached Rank 6, your very existence would qualitatively change, you would gain longevity, and embark on your Grand Path.

  He thought back to the words of Elder Harmony. In truth, he didn’t want to get involved with her. To kowtow to her for three hours, it unequivocally signified the three bows to acknowledge your master. This was a life-changing action, and Shuren could not be forced into it by an Elder without deep consideration. Plus, he wasn’t aware of her feats, and her bragging about being the youngest elder just meant she had the least amount of knowledge.

  Shuren ruminated for a long time to decide how to turn her down, but any path to do that would’ve offended her any further. If he just feigned ignorance if she came to ask, he can just claim he was too weak to climb the mountain, or too unworthy and incompatible.

  Most of all, it felt awkward if he came back to his mother and she annoyed him about accepting her idea in the end.

  “For now, I need to focus on Spiritual Alchemy. I can select my curriculum and work my way up to becoming a disciple of Elder Spiritweaver.”

  He lifted out his left hand, the wrist that held the cloudmulet. He brought out the curriculum, deciding on his classes and the plan for the next year had been decided. If he wanted to break through to Stage 9, he was going to start working with Wu Ming and Junyu, getting as much battle experience as possible. And work with Zhou Yan to further develop his vocation.

  Then, he had to master the first stance of the Sword Saint Style; Sword Forge.

  His brows creased once more, as they always did. The scowl that lingered far too much on his face returned.

  “I must attain basic mastery of Qi, and truly develop my understanding of Spiritual Alchemy. Zhou Yan, I’m counting on you.”