Yu Xiang looked over the edge of the boat-shaped flying contraption as it rapidly moved through the skies, lines of power directly engraved in the lacquered wood glowing as spiritual energy ran over most of its hull.

The art of engraving and array creation was something of a hidden passion for Yu Xiang, the fact that some seemingly random lines and squiggles filled with spiritual energy were able to make a giant barge fly at high speeds while carrying dozens of people was simply amazing to him, especially when you took in consideration the fact that no harsh winds bothered the young passengers and that despite the high velocity they were traveling at Yu could not feel any turbulence under his feet or force trying to drag him backward, as if the flying ship had its own gravitational pull, all of this likely thanks to some intricate barrier anchored to a script somewhere on the boat.

That was pretty cool, in his opinion.

Unfortunately, Array Building was not part of the available curriculum for Outer Disciples, despite the fact that both Alchemy and Pillmaking were basic courses available to all interested, which Yu Xiang found kind of strange, you’d normally expect that a sect would be much more secretive about the production of its medicine and cultivation aids.

That was one of the main reasons why he’d decided to push himself so hard on this expedition, gunning for the top of the mountain in search of some treasure that would help him get a proper foothold in the Constitutional Realm once he broke past the Ninth Step of the Natal Realm and opened the Natal Gate.

You needed to be an Inner Disciple to participate in an Array Building class and there was barely a month left until the next promotion tests, which wouldn’t be happening again for an entire year if he failed to pass them.

An entire year that Yu Xiang would spend with little to no advancement in his cultivation since the treasure mountains open to the Outer Disciples only extremely rarely nurtured spiritual herbs that managed to reach the second realm.

Yu didn’t really fancy sitting on his ass for twelve months twiddling his thumbs just because he’d been too weak to pass the tests.

As he quietly contemplated his future endeavors the green eyed youth took in the breathtaking vista he was flying right past by.

A veritable sea of mountains filled his vision, stretching farther than even his chi enhanced eyes could see. Most of these mountains were owned by the Golden Peak sect, further north however, from what he'd seen in the maps found in the outer compound's library, another sect held ownership over the snow topped peaks.

The Frozen Tower sect. It claimed most of the northernmost parts of the supercontinent where they all lived as its territory, a claim that remained undisputed to this day since it was one of the Seven Great Clans alongside the Golden Peak sect.

The Seven Great Clans, from what Yu had read, was a loose coalition formed by the strongest sects in the northern regions whose aim was to protect their territories from any outside interference.

At least in theory, in reality, there was really only one institution that could seriously threaten these powerful sects.

The Hong Da Empire.

Down in the deep reaches of the southern lands of the continent, past the Iron Ash Desert and the great Mount Tai, stood an enormous empire controlled by what might've been the single strongest cultivator in the known world. A man well known for his willingness and desire to crush everyone and everything under his might, simply known to everyone as the Greatest Emperor.

The only thing separating these two great beasts was a stretch of no man's land that acted as a buffer between them and which prevented an all out war from taking place.

Fortunately, this status quo had remained unchanged for well over a hundred years so Yu Xiang didn't feel too concerned about a looming chance for war.

The reincarnator’s train of thought was swiftly interrupted as a sudden sinking sensation in his stomach hit him.

He turned around, knowing that that meant they had reached their destination, and swiftly strode towards the back of the flying ship where the various passengers were starting to gather.

With the first forceful lurch of their journey, they landed just outside the compound where the Outer Disciples residences could be found.

As one might expect from a herd of teens given super powers, most of them simply decided to jump over the boat’s railing and run towards the compound, while a smaller dejected group slunk away with their heads held low, no doubt disappointed by their lack of bounty.

Not that Yu himself didn’t bolt away once they hit the ground, but he at least made sure to bow to Elder Chao in farewell before he started running.

It wouldn’t hurt to be courteous to his superiors after all.

Especially when they might be in charge of evaluating him in the near future.

With a handful of chi augmented strides Yu Xiang quickly arrived at the entrance to the Outer Disciples’ residential district, the towering golden gate looking as opulent as ever in the midday sun, the two Inner Disciples acting as guards didn’t even glance at him as he passed by them, looking as bored as most who took such a job always did.

Once past the gate, Yu Xiang could finally take in what had been his home for the past years.

Most of the Outer residential district was divided into two. On one side stood an enormous building made of lightly painted wood and stone a dozen stories high and wide enough to fit a few football fields. Countless windows built along the cream colored front wall of the edifice granted the residents a clear view of the main road and the only light many of the would be NEET tenants ever got.

The glorified gigantic apartment complex acted as the residence for the vast majority of Outer Disciples, who were either too broke to afford something better or felt that their money was better spent on pills, elixirs, or other cultivation supplies.

On the other side, there were dozens of almost perfectly identical houses separated by wooden fences, all of them two stories high and surrounded by small gardens. The only differences were the colors and the small miscellaneous decorations and scattered objects left around by the owners.

The houses were owned mostly by the higher ranked Outer Disciples and by people who came from well off families before joining the Golden Peak sect.

Yu Xiang made his way towards one such house, its walls painted a soft shade of red.

He quickly entered and headed straight for a flight of stairs which he promptly jumped over, leaving him in front of the door to his bedroom. Two beds were situated on opposite walls, a low table placed between them and two wooden wardrobes standing near the beds. As he entered the room Yu took off his belt, with its many pouches full to bursting, and set it on the table before detaching most of them and taking them in hand.

Before leaving there was one more thing he had to do. Yu Xiang headed towards his wardrobe and unceremoniously flung its doors open. Inside the wooden wardrobe laid a stone slab with a circle carved at its center, inside the circle were the burned remains of a spiritual plant. The improvised altar was surrounded on all sides by lucky charms of all kinds, bags of salt, horseshoes, burned out incense sticks, and even a whole cabbage was left there.

Yu fell to his knees, putting his hands together in prayer, tanking the havens for his good fortune.

It might have been a tad superstitious of him to do all of this, especially considering as a cultivator he was nominally already trying to defy the heavens, but if he could get some fortune this way then it was worth it. After all, who was he to say that Karma did not exist in a world full of magic like the one he now lived in?

His thanks given and his belongings now secure in his house Yu made his way to an open window and unceremoniously jumped out, landing softly on the road outside.

His next destination was the auction house.

Yu Xiang walked at a brisk pace, his usual serene mask not enough to hide his excited happiness as he hummed a tune to himself.

He passed through a wooden wall made to separate the residential district from the rest of the premises, this one lacking both a gate and guards, taking in the sight of the center of the Outer Disciples’ compound.

Young cultivators were walking everywhere, talking to each other animatedly or simply enjoying the sunny day. Yu ignored them as he headed towards a low building with numerous signs and bulletin boards placed on its front wall.

The inside of the building was rather frugal for what one might expect of an auction house, but Yu was sure that was only because it only catered to Outer Disciples and that its counterpart higher up the mountain was rather more extravagantly furnished.

A bored looking older man in Inner Disciple robes manned the counter, reading from a scroll before Yu’s entrance distracted him.

The man’s eyes instantly settled on the numerous pouches in Yu’s hand, an inviting smile spreading on his face.

“Well well, what do you have for me today, junior brother Xiang?”

Yu gave him a knowing smirk before he handed him most of the pouches. “Right to the point as always eh, senior brother Gang? See for yourself.”

The now named Gang gave a low chuckle. “Ahah, forgive this senior for his boldness but you very well know that you are one of the only disciples who brings anything actually valuable here.”

Indeed most Outer Disciples preferred to directly consume everything they gained no matter how inefficient, otherwise, they’d need to pay a pill maker to have their hard earned spoils turned into lower ranked pills. What they failed to consider was that unless they had some supreme refinement method they’d end up wasting even more spiritual energy doing it on their own.

Also, while it was true that they’d need to spend time not cultivating to gather money to pay for their pills, by ingesting raw herbs and cores directly they’d end up having to spend even more time cleansing their bodies from built up toxins.

After taking everything into consideration it was a no brainer for Yu Xiang.

Having a friendly pill maker on hand at all times certainly swayed his opinion heavily, although he’d never admit that.

The Inner Disciple took only a few minutes to go over all of his bounty, particularly eyeing the beast cores from the slaughter on the mountain summit.

“Hmmm, it seems like you have outdone yourself this time brother Xiang” Praised the older man. “You even acquired five second realm beast cores, it must’ve been a truly challenging battle for you.”

Yu Xiang smiled pleasantly while cackling internally as Su Rong’s pained face appeared in his mind.

“Considering what you’ve brought me today, this should be a just reward for your efforts.” Said the Inner Disciple as he deposited a purse on the counter. “Thank you as always for your patronage.”

Yu Xiang took the purse, not even bothering to check the contents as he could tell that it was heavier than usual, then with a shallow bow, he exited the auction house.

What had previously been a small badly covered smile had now become a full blown genuine grin as he ran along a familiar road.

Higher in elevation than the rest of the compound, where the ambient spiritual energy started to increase, stood a smattering of squat buildings, each one with large clear windows to let as much sunlight in, and big chimneys to vent all the fumes from the workings taking place on the inside.

These were the outer compound's public laboratories, open to all aspirant blacksmiths, alchemists, or pill makers.

With confident strides Yu Xiang let muscle memory drive him towards one of the glorified huts, and as he peeked through one of the giant windows and saw two feline ears he knew he had reached his destination.