Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way

and turned to look at Li Rong.
“Do you really think that I’m easy to bully? Or that I’m very stupid?”

“Well…” Li Rong didn’t know what to say to that.

As they stepped into the East Compound, Li Rong brought Gu Suihan around as he introduced the place, “The four Compounds are built on the same mountain.
The East Compound is on the peak, the West Compound is just above the halfway mark, the South Compound is just below the halfway mark and the North Compound is at the foot of the mountain.”

He paused for a while to pull a water bottle out from his bag, took a few sips and continued, “The East Compound has the best of everything.
You could say people live like kings here.
Spiritual Rice comes with every meal and sometimes there’s Magical Beast meat for sale.
The North Compound gets it the worst, and they’re just a little better than ordinary folks in the mundane world.”

“If the difference in the conditions of each Compound is so vast, what will motivate the poorly ranked disciples to cultivate?”

“Haha!” Li Rong laughed loudly.
“I suppose you still remember that stage made from black metal we saw earlier, right?”

Gu Suihan nodded, so Li Rong continued, “That stage is the only proper way for lower ranked disciples to move up the ladder.
Your batch and anyone who joins the sect within a three-month period will get a chance to take on this challenge after three months.
Each disciple will get a chance to challenge someone and two chances of being challenged every month.”

“The disciples also have to follow other rules depending on which Compound they’re from.
For example, disciples from the North can only challenge those from the South.
Those from the South can only challenge those from the West.
Those from the East like us can be challenged three times a month and we get the chance to turn down one of them each month.”

“If that’s the case, where do we find the time to cultivate?”

“Hoho, did you think these challenges are just a way to mark your attendance and comes with nothing else?” Li Rong’s lips curled into a slightly scornful smile.
“A challenger must prepare something as a bet and this bet is decided based on the prowess of both parties.
There are disciplinarians from the Discipline Hall looking into this, so nobody dares to make empty promises.”

“Also, as disciples from the East Compound, we get some special privileges.
We get to enter the library twice a month and we also get to use the Cultivation Room twice a month.
Anybody from the East and West Compounds gets to kill someone once if they are challenged.”

The last sentence made Gu Suihan’s nonchalant expression finally look slightly surprised.

Li Rong didn’t seem to have noticed the change in Gu Suihan’s expression and just continued talking, “So, that’s what I’m really worried about.
You’ve been eliminated by the three major factions, so they would probably have two ideas on what to do about you.
The first one is to talk to you in private and secretly get you to join them.
If you refuse, then they’ll join hands to make someone from the West Compound challenge you.
Or worse, someone from the East Compound would purposely lose a challenge so that they get transferred to the West Compound, then they’ll wait till next month to challenge you and kill you.”

“Whatever for?”

“Because you’re easy to bully.
Also, the annual number of internal disciple vacancies for those who have leveled up are very few.”

“And you think I’d get stepped on?” Gu Suihan asked.

“No.
Quite the opposite, in fact.” Surprisingly, Li Rong’s expression became solemn as he retorted, “I don’t know your exact prowess, but the one thing that this world doesn’t lack are geniuses, and the scariest people in the world are the geniuses groomed by the biggest factions.
You don’t know if anybody you’ve killed has any connections with the top brass or if it will implicate someone else.
Once you leave the East Compound, successfully reach Foundation Establishment stage and become an internal disciple, revenge seekers will rain down on you like fire and brimstone.”

“And why are you so worried about me?” Gu Suihan asked quizzically.

“Er…” Li Rong’s expression suddenly became very awkward.
“Well, actually, besides finding you a pretty decent person, the more important part is that my father was the one who instructed me to leave the sect this time because I was supposed to have a really big chance encounter, but…”

“…but you didn’t end up running into any chance encounter.
The only thing that happened was that you got to know me and now you think that I’m that chance encounter.” Gu Suihan was mildly amused.

“That’s right.” Li Rong’s expression grew solemn again and the determined look in his eyes surprised Gu Suihan for a moment.

A moment of silence later, Gu Suihan smiled and said, “In that case, I’ll give you that chance encounter.”

“Oh?”

“If my guess is right, the chance encounter you’re looking for is a way to perfectly start absorbing Qi and awakening your spirit, isn’t it?” Gu Suihan casually sat down on a nearby bench.

“That’s right.
I’ve never been short of Spiritual Stones and access to any resources, and the sect has countless cultivation techniques available to all disciples.
But when it comes to absorbing Qi and awakening one’s spirit, you have to rely entirely on yourself.
There’s no way any external force can help you with it,” said Li Rong with a sad sigh.

“The awakening of one’s spirit is basically the activation of one’s Spiritual Root.
But how much Qi the Spiritual Root absorbs and processes the Qi will depend on one’s level of giftedness.
Once Qi is absorbed into the body, it will transform one’s internal breath and strength completely into one’s pneuma.
But because the quality of your internal strength and pneuma are too poor, the pneuma that your internal strength created is only a fuse of sorts.”

“At this point, you will need to rely on an external force.
As long as there is sufficiently concentrated Qi for you to absorb, you will succeed in absorbing it.
But here comes the next problem.”

“Most people think that they just need to absorb Qi, but they forget how much their bodies can take.
Very often, even after they’ve absorbed everything they can, they realize that the Qi they’ve absorbed isn’t enough to completely hone and refine all the meridian channels in their body.”