Under the middle-aged woman's direction, the group lined up and filed past the old man one by one. He simply pressed two fingers to each person's wrist, said "Very good," and waved the next one forward.
A single glance was all the old man needed to determine whether someone's cultivation had truly reached the eleventh layer of Qi Refinement. And a brief examination of the bone structure was enough to deduce their true age. Bone age could not be faked.
When Andy's turn came, the old man let out an unexpected "Oh?" and murmured: "A Five-Element Spirit Root, and not even twenty-three years old yet, already at the eleventh layer. That truly is rare." He seemed reluctant to accept it, and checked Andy's other wrist as well before finally saying "Very good" and waving him through.
Once the old man had finished examining everyone's bone age, the middle-aged woman led the group to a building called the Heart-Nurturing Hall. Inside, a female cultivator with a graceful figure, a white veil over her face, and a voice like heavenly music spoke with each of them individually, asking a few questions.
Andy was asked his name, whether he was a rogue cultivator, whether he had any family or sect backing, and whether he had ever practiced any demonic cultivation techniques.
Being questioned in that soft, ethereal voice by someone who seemed more fairy than mortal, Andy found it nearly impossible to lie. He answered honestly: he had come from the Jian family of Nanhua Mountain, his childhood name was Wugen, and the name Andy was one he had given himself. As for demonic cultivation techniques—he had never even heard of such a thing, and said so without hesitation.
Everyone apparently passed the fairy's examination, because before long the middle-aged woman announced that all of them were now officially outer-sect disciples of the Taixu Sect.
Several Qi Refinement cultivators in grey robes then arrived to escort the new disciples to their accommodations and distribute their standard-issue equipment.
Andy hadn't expected much from whatever supplies a new outer-sect disciple would receive. But when he saw what was in his hands, he was genuinely surprised.
The Taixu Sect lived up to its reputation as Jinyan Kingdom's foremost cultivation sect. Even an outer-sect disciple like Andy received a storage pouch bearing the Taixu Sect's emblem. Inside it were a grey robe in the sect's standard style, a Cold Moon Blade, a small black token engraved with the words "Taixu Sect"—both common artifacts—and one item far less common: a feather-shaped artifact.
The Cold Moon Blade and the black token were both low-grade artifacts, nothing remarkable. But the feather-shaped artifact was a dedicated flight artifact.
A flight artifact was designed solely for aerial travel—it had no offensive power, and its defensive capabilities were negligible. Its one and only purpose was to allow the user to fly. Such artifacts were notoriously difficult to forge, rarely appeared for sale at markets, and were expensive when they did. This feather artifact, despite being only low-grade in terms of spiritual power, would have fetched more than a typical mid-grade artifact at Liuyun Market.
For a Qi Refinement cultivator, without a dedicated flight artifact, there simply wasn't enough spiritual power to sustain flight on any other kind of artifact.
Ever since acquiring the Heaven and Earth Bowl and its effectively limitless supply of spirit stones, Andy had thought about buying a flight artifact—to fulfill a years-long dream of soaring through the sky. But the prices were always too steep to risk, or none were available at all. Now, on his very first day in the sect, he had received one. It was a considerable and welcome surprise.
As for the grey robe, it was the standard uniform for Qi Refinement disciples of the Taixu Sect. Foundation Establishment cultivators wore white.
The thin robe looked ordinary, but was actually made from the hide of a first-grade spirit beast called the Firelight Beast. It was remarkably fine and supple, impervious to water and flame, and offered a degree of physical protection. It also had one extremely useful property: no matter how dirty or wrinkled it became, a quick pass through open flame would restore it to pristine condition. For a cultivator, it was genuinely practical.
The disciple assigned to lead Andy and three other new outer-sect disciples was a square-faced young man who appeared to be under thirty and seemed rather taciturn by nature. Andy and the others knew only that his surname was Huang—"Senior Brother Huang."
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
As new disciples, the four of them naturally found everything in the sect fascinating and couldn't help asking questions. But Senior Brother Huang answered almost nothing. Typically, Andy and the others would ask seven or eight questions before receiving a single terse reply—"Yes," or "That is not the case"—and nothing more. After being rebuffed several times, the four of them gave up and followed in silence.
Fortunately the walk was not long. After about half a shichen, they arrived at a relatively open valley. The valley was less than ten li across but contained several hundred stone dwellings of varying designs, scattered throughout without any discernible pattern—completely unlike the orderly grandeur of the Heart-Nurturing Hall or the Hall of Inquiry. The residents here clearly did not rank very highly within the sect.
Sure enough, Senior Brother Huang finally spoke: "This is the temporary housing designated for newly admitted outer-sect disciples. Find any unoccupied stone dwelling and it's yours. Here is a jade slip containing a map of the sect that I drew, along with the sect's rules and regulations. Read it carefully—most of your questions will be answered there." With that, the square-faced young man tossed each of them a blue-green jade stone, then leapt onto his feather artifact and flew off without another word.
"Senior Brother Huang, wait—" One of the other new disciples, a cultivator at the twelfth layer of Qi Refinement, tried to call after him, but the square-faced cultivator waved a hand behind him without looking back and was gone in moments.
"Well, our Senior Brother Huang certainly has a unique personality," the disciple said without any real annoyance, chuckling as he introduced himself. "I'm Xue Yunxue, from the Xue family of Yuyang Lake in Tong Prefecture. And you are?"
"Andy. I've been a rogue cultivator for years—my background isn't worth mentioning."
"Ma Gao. Also a rogue cultivator."
"Tu Gai."
"You're surnamed Tu—are you from the Tu family, one of the Taixu Sect's four great cultivation families?" The thin, slight young man called Ma Gao immediately perked up at the surname.
"I do share the surname, but I'm afraid I have no connection to the famous Tu family of Black Water Lake. Just a small, unknown family." Tu Gai smiled as he answered—clearly not the first time someone had asked him this.
Andy, however, found the mention of the Taixu Sect's four great cultivation families quite interesting, and made a mental note to ask Ma Gao about it when the opportunity arose.
After a few pleasantries, the four went their separate ways to find lodgings.
Andy chose a secluded stone dwelling near a bamboo grove. The dwelling was crude—most of the furniture had been roughly fashioned from stone—but it did come equipped with a small protective formation, which suggested that cultivators everywhere valued their privacy. After a brief setup, Andy turned his attention to the blue-green jade stone Senior Brother Huang had given him.
Jade slips were something Andy had seen before—crafted by cultivators from spiritually resonant jade, they were used to record text, images, and other information. To access the contents, one simply immersed one's spiritual sense into the slip.
Andy pressed the jade to his forehead and let his spiritual sense flow in. Before long, large characters and detailed images began materializing in his mind.
"A complete map of the Taixu Sect, with all the key locations marked and annotated in detail. This is remarkable!" Andy was impressed. The jade slip contained an extraordinary wealth of information—not just topographical maps of the many peaks and lakes within the sect's territory, but the name, purpose, and affiliated elder of every building on every peak. Even the sect's designated forbidden zones were clearly delineated.
Senior Brother Huang, it seemed, was a man of hidden depths. He might not say much, but his heart was clearly in the right place. Preparing a jade slip this detailed must have taken him at least ten days.
After silently thanking Senior Brother Huang, Andy couldn't resist pulling out the colorful feather artifact to examine it more closely. Brilliant colors, a faint spiritual glow—nothing outwardly extraordinary. Near the quill's base, the characters "Flying Plume" and "Taixu Sect" were inscribed in letters the size of rice grains.
So it's called the Flying Plume. Why not give it a try? Even after living a combined forty-odd years across two lifetimes, Andy still had enough of a childish streak that a new toy like this begged to be tested immediately.
He stepped out of his dwelling, through the bamboo grove, and onto an open hillside. The wind here was moderate—a good spot for practice.
Andy tossed the Flying Plume out in front of him, formed hand seals, and began channeling spiritual power into it in a steady stream. The feather grew steadily, and within moments had become an enormous plume two or three meters long and about a meter wide. Andy stepped carefully onto it, found his balance, and used his spiritual sense to guide it slowly upward, then downward. He repeated this ten or more times before attempting slow, level flight at a height of four or five meters.
The sensation of standing on the plume and flying was somewhat like his first time on a skateboard back on Earth—as long as he managed his balance through acceleration and deceleration, it was reasonably stable.
After an hour or so of practice, Andy finally dared to fly at heights of several hundred meters. The Flying Plume wasn't especially fast—around ten-odd meters per second at most—but it was unmistakably, genuinely, flying.
Caught up in the thrill, Andy rode the Flying Plume across the Kuanglu Mountains, soaring past one peak after another. Along the way he saw many other Taixu Sect cultivators on identical artifacts, darting busily between the mountain peaks—some in the grey robes of Qi Refinement disciples, others in the white garments of Foundation Establishment seniors.
Then, a grey-robed Qi Refinement cultivator came flying straight toward him. Andy gave a casual glance—and froze.
The other person clearly recognized him at the same instant, letting out a sharp cry of surprise: "Brother Wugen?"