Xiao Shan sat cross-legged in his cave abode. The cave, while not as luxurious as Bao Yan's palace, was filled with dense spiritual energy and facilities that Xiao Shan could call his own. This left him feeling very satisfied, but he also had a strange feeling he couldn't quite describe.
He had joined the sect a few months before, looking for his missing master.
He recalled a cold night a couple of years ago at a simple shack where his master and him lived. It was raining outside and the wind seemed to scream as if ghosts were battering the house.
That night his master did his usual routine, playing a round of Go while both drank some tea. The tea tasted especially delicious that night.
His memories were fuzzy at that point. He woke up in the middle of the night to find his master missing. He went outside in the rain looking for him, in vain. Since then Xiao Shan had only returned a few times to the house to check for his master's return.
Looking back at everything he had faced up to this point, working hard to enter the sect, cultivating the first level of Qi Condensation, getting instruction from Bao Tie and fighting in the examinations, everything felt a bit surreal, like looking at life through somebody else's eyes.
As he pondered, the first rays of daylight hit his cave. Xiao Shan put the unease to the back of his mind and stood up and left the cave. He planned to find his senior brother.
He took out his identity token. Focusing some of his Qi on it revealed a map of the outer sect in his mind and his next location, the disciple pavilion.
According to the information recorded in his token, this pavilion held several halls. Each hall served a different purpose.
There was a large hall where he could retrieve cultivation materials allotted to him. He visited this hall previously with elder Bao Yan. There was also a hall where he could find and accept sect missions. Finally, what he was interested in was a small hall where he could find general information.
As he arrived at the pavilion and the information hall, he found the area a bit deserted. Only an elder sat at the table, looking busy reading a scroll.
Xiao Shan walked to the table and cupped his hands. "Junior Xiao Shan greets elder." The elder barely gave him a look above the scroll as he kept reading.
Xiao Shan was patient, keeping the gesture for a few breaths of time. He then took out his identity token and politely put it on the table instead of handing it off to the elder. "Junior would like to ask about my senior brother's whereabouts."
With a hmph, the elder looked at the token, narrowing his eyes after seeing the Bao family seal.
"Who are you looking for?" the elder replied, barely looking at Xiao Shan over the scroll.
"Thanks, elder. Junior is looking for Da He. He is my senior brother. I lost contact after the examinations."
The elder kept looking at the scroll while thinking. "I remember this junior. He knows somebody from the Da family? I guess helping will not hurt."
The elder put down the scroll. "This old man is Meng Rui. Your senior brother is probably at the Da family territory at the north of the Bao family lands. He does not have a registered cave that I know." The old man picked the scroll back up and resumed his reading.
"Thank you, elder Meng," Xiao Shan replied while clasping his hands. He then took his token and left.
Elder Meng picked up his scroll and continued reading. "This junior is very interesting. He somehow joined without any background. The Bao family is backing him up and even the Fenghua are turning a blind eye..."
The elder chuckled amusedly as he continued reading the scroll.
Meanwhile, Xiao Shan walked to the cultivation pavilion. After experiencing the examination, he realized how important it was to advance his cultivation. Being in a sect does not mean safety. He also thought he was too reckless and had put his life in danger.
He vowed to be more careful and make himself stronger.
After walking through several buildings, he arrived at a tall pagoda several stories tall. At the entrance, a middle-aged man sat guarding the entrance behind a marble table decorated in phoenixes and other auspicious beasts. The man was sorting out several wood slips.
As Xiao Shan approached, he was about to take his identity token when the man interrupted coldly. "Come back when you are at least at the fifth level of Qi Condensation, otherwise don't bother!" The man looked condescendingly.
Xiao Shan frowned. He learned from his token that any outer disciple may use this pavilion to learn techniques to advance their cultivation. However, this person whom he had never seen before was acting like that.
Xiao Shan still took his identity token and kept showing it.
After a couple of minutes, the man at the counter looked back exasperatedly. However, as he looked at the identity token, his pupils shrank.
"I guess you are an exception. You may browse the first floor." Still with a condescending tone, the man waved at Xiao Shan to let him pass.
As Xiao Shan entered the pavilion, a different set of people greeted him. They told him that he may browse the floor and if he wanted to take a slip, he needed to hand it to the desk so he could be given a copy.
The first floor looked like a library with scrolls, books and slips filling shelves. Some scrolls detailed information about the world like history and geography, while others told tales of the sect disciples' feats and achievements.
Xiao Shan frowned since he expected to find cultivation methods and techniques. He continued to browse until he found a cabinet with several jade slips. These slips detailed basic cultivation techniques. A complete version of the breathing method Xiao Shan had on a rag was available here.
Eventually he returned to the inner desk, disappointed that he did not find anything useful.
"Is there any other cultivation techniques or spells available?" The clerks frowned at the question.
Xiao Shan didn't even wait for the dismissal this time. He simply placed his identity token on the desk with the Bao family seal facing up, his expression blank. The routine had become tiresome.
The clerk's attitude changed immediately to an ingratiating smile. "Ah! Apologies, fellow disciple. You should go to the second floor. Feel free to browse. If there is any slip you fancy, bring it here and we'll get you a copy."
Xiao Shan especially noted the quick change in tone by the clerks. This had been the most exaggerated reaction yet to seeing his token. He realized the importance of the sect hierarchy.
He assented with his head and walked to the second floor stairs. "Fellow disciple! Don't forget to take a look at the east corner. There are some Bao family spells there," the clerk mentioned while waving.
Xiao Shan ascended to the second floor. Here the shelves were smaller and they contained wood or jade slips. Each shelf had some description or scroll regarding the technique contained in the slip.
He excitedly browsed around. "Hundred Tsunami Technique," "Blood Sword Technique," "Fire Python Technique," "Basic Attraction Technique."
Every slip had powerful sounding techniques. However, upon reviewing a couple, he realized that most were low level or initial techniques, with higher levels probably locked in higher floors.
Xiao Shan also took a look at the east corner where Bao family spells were located. He found a couple of shelves sitting in a corner. A red carpet covered a small area where the shelves were located.
As Xiao Shan got close, he could feel a pressure pushing back at him. However, his identity token flashed a couple of times and the pressure faded away, letting Xiao Shan enter the area.
He looked around at jade slips. He had found a complete version of the fire phoenix technique. "Should I take this one? I already know a basic version of this, but Bao Tie's one was very powerful..." He pondered as he looked at a couple of other slips. However, he felt some affinity to this specific technique and chose to take it.
As Xiao Shan walked back to the stairs, he caught a glimpse in the corner of his eye of a door near the west corner of the floor.
He stopped and looked at the door. He felt like that door was not there when he walked up to this floor. However, the door looked like a normal but dilapidated wooden door, nothing out of the ordinary.
Xiao Shan felt a strange sense of curiosity around this door, so he walked to it to inspect it. As he reached out to open it, he realized the door was already open ajar. He paused for a moment but felt compelled to open the door.
However, after opening the door, there was a mostly empty room. A single table held a few slips.
Xiao Shan looked around the room through the door and realized nobody was in there. The air inside felt still, as if nobody had visited this room for a long time. He thought of leaving. However, something about this room felt familiar, so he walked in.
Xiao Shan tried inspecting the slips on the table, but he realized that he couldn't read them or even touch them. He could read the markings on the outside, however. "Purple Phoenix Cultivation," "Heavenly Slice," "Fenghua Family Genealogy."
"Purple Phoenix? Is that a more powerful version of the Fire Phoenix?" "Heavenly Slice? That sounds very domineering..." His eyes fell on the last slip. "Fenghua Family Genealogy."
His expression turned to mild disappointment. "This must be like the Bao family corner, a restricted area for the Fenghua disciples." He sighed. "I was not meant to see this room. I must have stumbled in by accident..."
He then left to the first floor and asked for a copy of his chosen slip. The clerks happily obliged while rubbing their hands in an ingratiating gesture.
After that, Xiao Shan returned to his cave abode. He took out the jade slip from the pavilion and started to read the technique.
"So this is the real Fire Phoenix. No wonder mine drained me in a single use," he said after gaining some enlightenment after hours of studying it.