Furnace

The branch's main task in that city wasn't to recruit disciples but to do lucrative business, so the manor where it was located wasn't big and had just a few disciples like Yujin.

After being registered in the sect, he bid goodbye to Yunwei with tears streaming down his face, but she promised to visit again in the future.

Yujin then received a pair of black robes with the mark of the sect and a silver whirpool insignia engraved in the chest's location. The robes had a few red details and were the most beautiful and delicate clothes he ever had.

He also received a token of his identity and and few books for his practice, he was given a small living quarter close to the walls of the manor, it was full of old tools and had a broken bed.

He wasn't angry with the poor conditions and quickly began to arrange his new residence. He first took the trash and junk out and began to fix what needed to be fixed, including the broken door and bed.

When the day was over, he was tired and had still to read the books he received, one of them was about the rules and traditions of the sect.

He knew he wouldn't be idling every day, so he first began to read the book about the sect instead of the cultivation manuals and techniques.

After about an hour, the sound of a bell resounded in the manor and Yujin knew it was time for the servants and disciples like him to gather to eat.

In a spacious dining hall, many people violently massacred the food on the tables as if there was no tomorrow. Both servants and registered disciples ate in the same place as if to alert the disciples of their true status.

If the registered disciples wanted better living conditions, they needed to get promoted to an outer disciple.

Except for Yujin, there were only about a dozen other registered disciples, and most of the other people in the hall were servants.

Yujin got his food and found a place to sit, close to another registered disciple, who looked a few years older than him.

That disciple completely ignored Yujin and just ate his food quietly, he also ignored everyone.

Yujin quickly noticed that all the registered disciples seemed to ignore everyone around them as if they didn't matter.

Yujin wanted to talk to someone but was afraid of backslashing, he had a lot of experience when the matter was being shunned by others.

Therefore, Yujin just ate his food quietly and left for his quarter, no one seemed to care about his presence either.

With a full stomach, he returned to his task of reading the book of rules and traditions. When the night was already deep, Yujin felt his eyelashes heaving down and stopped, he already read about half of the thick book and learned a lot of things.

Registered disciples needed talent, results, and a recommendation from the branch's master to be promoted to outer disciples.

They needed to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm before the age of eighteen and had to accumulate enough merits. The branch was small and located far from the main sect, so it was more difficult to accumulate merits.

Another interesting thing was that the punishment for disciples of a higher status who committed bullying was expulsion and sometimes death!

Servants had the chance to be promoted to registered disciples too, but it was even more difficult than a registered disciple becoming an outer disciple, the merit had to be huge.

There was another opportunity for servants if they were able to do the job of registered disciples better they could replace them directly!

Therefore if the registered disciples slacked off and didn't work hard, a servant might take their place.

Competition between registered disciples was fierce because of the limited tasks given by the sect and therefore limited merits.

Yujin finally understood why it was so cold at the dining hall, servants and registered disciples were competitors! Worse, disciples were competitors of other disciples too.

Perhaps it would be slightly different in a bigger branch or the main section, but the branch in that city was very small and had even fewer opportunities available.

Yujin knew it would be difficult for him, but he had to try, he would try. He slept with a determined heart.

The next day, he already had a few ordinary tasks to be done. They didn't give him any merit, but he HAD to do them regardless, he was indeed like a servant.

Yujin was used to harsh tasks and was quick to do the cleaning and other trivial tasks he was ordered to, despite his tender age of ten.

However, no one praised him or even thought it was noteworthy. To others, the fact he was accepted directly as a registered disciple meant he had to at least be able to do those things, otherwise, it would make no sense.

When the day was over and after eating his fill in the dinner hall, Yujin hurried to read the rest of the book. When the night was deep and his eyelids were heavy, he finally read everything.

Yujin was shocked by many harsh rules. In the sect, any kind of stupid action might bring about ruin to a disciple!

If those of equal status begin to fight each other out of a stage monitored by an elder, they will be publicly whipped fifty times. If one died, the other would be executed!

If those of higher status bully those of lower, they will be expelled if the damage was small, and killed if the victim was dead and after a comprehensive investigation.

If those of lower status disrespected those of higher status, they would be expelled if the offense was grave. But death as punishment was only allowed if more than five disciplinary elders from different sectors and without connection to one another agreed to it. It was a mechanism to prevent the higher authorities from arbitrarily killing or expelling disciples, it happened in the past.

Yujin was happy that at least the rules weren't unjust. But if reality was following the words written, he wasn't completely sure.

The next day, he only received one task of cleaning and got a free afternoon. He hurried back after completing his duty and began to read the cultivation manuals.

He received a basic cultivation technique to start, it was named "Gathering Streams Technique." It was very basic and was useful only up to the third layer of the Qi Refining Realm, the first cultivation Realm, which was divided into nine layers.

To formally reach the first layer it was necessary for the cultivator-to-be to sense the Spiritual Qi around him first, and then guide it into the Dantian, which was located behind the navel.

The Spiritual Qi was an energy bred by the world and was almost everywhere, although in varying densities and qualities.

Azure Laze City was the place with the densest spiritual qi in the region, thanks to a Spiritual Qi Gathering Array arranged by the Abyssal Fountain Sect.

The dense spiritual qi was of benefit not only to cultivators but also to mortals, who enjoyed healthier and longer lives.

And inside the manor of the branch, it was even denser, up to twenty times denser than the ordinary wild. Because of that, it was easier for someone with spirit roots to sense the spiritual qi for the first time there than outside.

After using the knowledge and instructions of the manual and trying for a few hours, Yujin began to feel a strange energy around him, it was marvelous and even seemed alive.

But to absorb and refine the spiritual qi was much more difficult. Yujin steeled his heart and began to try and fail again and again.

He constantly urged his spirit root to absorb the spiritual qi and refine it into True Qi. The spirit root was located in the center of the Dantian and so had a close destiny with it. The moment a strand of True Qi was refined, his Dantian would sense it and transform.

It took him an entire week and numerous tries during his free time to finally refine a wisp of spiritual qi into a strand of True Qi inside his Dantian.

When the colorless True Qi appeared in the Dantian, floating above the seven-colored spirit root, it trembled and began to contract. Yujin felt his sensibility to spiritual qi increasing and when the Dantian was almost half the size from before he could easily absorb and refine spiritual qi, at least compared to before. Moreover, his spirit root seemed to have entered into a frenzy and began to absorb spiritual qi passively but quickly.

One by one, strands of True Qi began to accumulate in his Dantian at increasing speed, until it finally formed a small floating stream around his spirit root. His Dantian trembled hard and expanded back to the size it was before. His spirit root also returned to normal.

He felt an itching throughout his body, it was his meridians being opened by his True Qi which autonomously exited the Dantian and began to circulate his body.

After the itching, it was a pleasure. Yujin felt like he was in a comfortable hot bath as his body transformed.

After about half an hour, the process ended and his body returned to normal, except it wasn't the same.

With each breath, Yujin could feel his body was filled with vitality and strength. He felt like he was reborn.

"So this is cultivation..." he muttered weakly with a faint light in his eyes, "Father..."

After studying his condition for a while, he discovered he was about two times stronger than before and his brain felt more clever than ever.

When he tried to refine the spiritual qi into true qi, he discovered it wasn't as difficult as before, but it wasn't as fast as when his spirit root entered into a passive mode. He learned through the manual that it was because a breakthrough inspired the spirit root for a short period.

He took half an hour to refine a strand of True Qi, and he knew it was far from enough for him to advance to the next layer. The manual stated that a genius could refine True Qi as fast as breathing.

Yujin felt a little despair at the difference in talents but quickly recovered his cool.

Although it was difficult, he was already a cultivator at the first layer of the Qi Refining Realm, many people dreamed of becoming cultivators but had no chance. He comforted himself with those thoughts.

After a little study and comparison, he was able to sense the seven different elements in his True Qi. So many elements made his True Qi stronger than those with fewer elements, but in turn, made it exponentially more difficult for him to advance his cultivation.

Even if he was stronger than someone with the same cultivation base, the opponent could easily surpass him in cultivation base and crush him, so what was the use?

Yujin sighed and marveled a little, "At least I have some advantage at the early stages of cultivation, at least..."

He noticed the night was deep and that he missed dinner, but he was too tired to even try and seek something else to eat, so he immediately fell asleep.

At the same moment, inside his Dantian, a black crude furnace appeared, it seemed like a pill furnace and had a few strange engravings.

Yujin's consciousness was drawn into a strange dream. He was inside a black cave with little to no light and had a furnace beside him, it was black as the night and seemed ancient.

The dream felt very realistic, but he knew it was a dream. He wondered why he was dreaming about a dark cave and a furnace.

Suddenly, a sigh came from inside the furnace and a flame was lit below it.

"Child, come closer..." a rough voice came from the furnace, scaring Yujin a bit.

Thinking it was just a dream, he wasn't too afraid and simply approached the furnace.

"Put your hand in the fire below..." the voice asked.

Yujin found it amusing and just did as the voice said, but began to feel excruciating pain, he couldn't mutter any word because of it.

"The contract is complete," the voice said, "To think a mere soul strand of my main body would survive after so long...

"But it's your fortune, child...

"Your soul is pained right now because of the contract, but the furnace will quickly heal you.

"I'm about to dissipate, the furnace will automatically transfer some information to you, it will feel a little uncomfortable...

"Your... Duty... Will..."

Without finalizing, the voice stopped sounding and a flux of information began to infiltrate Yujin's mind.

At the same time, the furnace began to emanate a white glow that covered Yujin, easing his pain automatically.