(Big chapter ahead enjoy the read)

Once I was inside my cave, and had closed it and lit the oil lamp. I began by pulling out the herbs from my pouch and from inside the book.

The book began by giving me a description of almost everything I had gotten from the mountain.

***

Drowsy Inkberry, a flower that can be used to mend minor wounds, and if tempered well can be used on a quill to write charms and talismans. Grad level 9

Joyful Weed. A sweet-smelling herb that is mainly used to relax the muscles and calm the mind, it is good for clearing thoughts but can become addictive and is highly toxic if not treated before consumption. Grade 9

Nightmarish Sun Drop. Once exposed to daylight, it would cause illusions to anyone close enough to it. A primary ingredient to create the Night Demon Expelling pill. Grade 9

…

*** The list continued on and on, every Spiritual Herb had a different purpose and had quite an amazing attribute and ability. But I was interested in a couple of the herbs mainly. The joyful Weed, and the Tri-Colored Doom flower.

The Joyful Weed was as it said, a drug, and it served a good purpose to me. First of all, it was toxic and would help me cultivate. And the second thing was that it was relaxing and could help reduce some of the pain and soreness I felt usually with my current condition.

The second herb was even more interesting, it was the only grade 8 herb in my inventory, the Tri-Colored Doom Flower.

***

Tri-Colored Doom Flower, a deadly flower that sprouts from the corpse of someone who had perished in a Yin Covered area. The flower can blossom seven times reaching its ultimate form the Severn Colored Doom Flower. It is highly poisonous, and whenever a person perishes due to the effects of the colored Doom Flower, it will wither and then sprout from his body creating a higher tiered flower. The cultivation level of every victim of the Sever Colored Doom Flower needs to be higher than the previous person for it to bloom.

***

I made sure to keep those two apart, the first one, I'll be needing soon, and thankfully there were a bunch of them that I gathered. The second one, I only managed to obtain one so I'll keep it for now.

After a couple of days, I heard knocking on my door, or the walls of the cultivation cave I was in.

I opened it and Meng Hao was in front of me, he was sweaty, probably from the exertion of having to carry the logs and water, but he had a good bright smile.

"I got both of your chores for you, so, pay up."

"Right, that was our deal, here you go," I replied as I handed him two pills and one of the random spirit herbs I gathered."

"Nice! The Moon Cecelia, this one should get me two pills, no take-backs!" replied Meng Hao.

"No need, I have better stuff."

"Good, still, old man, don't dump them all at the pavilion, it will be suspicious, give them one or two at best."

"Yes, I already had the same idea. Thanks, you can leave now, and I'll be counting on you for next month." I replied.

"As much as I'd like this, you should know, that if you don't do this by yourself, you'll never learn. You need a strong body to cultivate beyond Qi condensation."

"Oh, that's something I didn't know."

"Man, it's all in the Movement Technique, I heard you got one."

"The deacon said he'll procure it for me."

"That asshole? In your dreams, he'll probably hold your token hostage and delay until you do him favors. You should have handed the token you got yourself." Meng Hao said and left.

I thought about what the kid said for a moment then it made sense. I guess it's time I visit the deacon.

I gathered the herbs and placed them in my book then moved toward the pavilion.

Just as I got to its doors, the deacon came rushing towards me. "You, Shen Bao, what are you doing here?" he asked.

Suddenly I noticed all the people walking in and out of the pavilion stopping for a moment, they wanted to witness the scene.

"I'm here to submit some herbs for my monthly quota," I replied.

"H-herbs? Spiritual herbs, you have some? Let me see." The deacon eagerly asked.

I frowned for a moment but still pulled out the pouch he gave me.

The moment he saw the two plants inside the pouch, his eyes widened then immediately he feigned uninterest.

"Those are just common weeds, they are worthless. Let me take care of them, come back when you find real spiritual herbs.

"Oh? Useless herbs?"

"Yes. Very common stuff with no spiritual energy, now move away, and just let me take care of this trash." His hand reached to my pouch.

One of the kids muttered, "So overbearing, the deacon is trying to cheat the old man of his treasures."

I pulled the pouch away and answered, "I beg to differ, I mean, Drowsy Inkberry is useful to make talismans, not to mention the Nightmarish Sun Drop and its uses."

"Uh, no, you're mistaken, I told you these are just common herbs."

"I find it strange. Shouldn't you have at least better knowledge than a mere outer disciple who just started in this sect not even a month now?" a loud booming voice sounded from behind me.

Turning, I saw a man, wearing the same type of clothing that senior brother Dual Lin wore. A darker shade of purple, and Inner disciple.

"This junior dares not offend senior brother Han! But this is a matter of the outer sect." the deacon replied as he cupped his fists.

"I don't give a rat's ass about the outer sect, all I'm interested in is, how did this outer disciple know of the proper name and use of the Drowsy Inkberry. It was in a subject for the Receptariers exam. And it's a hard and difficult plant to find not to mention have knowledge about. So it piqued my interest."

"If it's hard to find, wouldn't that suggest that it's not possible for him to have this plant, and it could only be a normal herb he found laying about?."

"You're saying I wouldn't know of the Drowsy Inkberry? Are you questioning my intelligence?"

The same kid that murmured before chuckled, "The deacon is in for a beating."

"No! not at all! I'm just saying that there could be a possibility of mistake…"

"Then how about we take this to the pavilion elder? I'm sure he'd like to know about this."

'Whoa, this seriously blew out of proportions. I mean, I knew in cultivation stories things tended to get ugly fast…but it's like it's ingrained in these people to make a mountain out of an ant…'

"I don't think we should bother the elder with such matters…" the deacon replied.

"But I insist!" came the reply of the inner disciple Han.

Then the elder disciple placed his hand on the deacon's shoulder and guided him toward the hall.

He smiled at me and nodded for me to follow. And so, I did. Sighing along the way, kids nowadays make things really troublesome, I could have handled this myself.

As we entered the pavilion, I had to take a moment to take everything in. The whole building was well decorated with old paintings and incense. The reception hall had an enormous shelf full of books behind it and the whole room was decorated in golden balls that hovered close to the ceiling lighting the whole thing as if it was daylight. Then came the stairs that led to the upper parts of the pavilion, to its upper levels, and probably to where better stuff was kept in storage.

"Elder Yun!" called the inner disciple. And from behind the reception desk that I thought no one was behind, came a small man. Yes, not a man afflicted with dwarfism, he was just a small man, not bigger than a ten-year-old. But he had a white beard and a cylindrical hat over his head. Both his arms were tucked behind his back, and his eyes were almost close. His wrinkled face looked like a plot of land that hasn't had a drop of water in years.

"Yes, what seems to be the problem?"

"We come to appraise a few herbs a fellow outer disciple had found, but the deacon insists, based on his great knowledge of Spirit Herbs that the outer disciple only has trash in his hands."

The elder frowned, the whole matter didn't seem worth his attention, but since this was an inner disciple in front of him, he had to give him -I always hated this expression- face.

"Let's see," replied Elder Yun.

He took a single glance at the pouch and immediately said, "This is clearly Drowsy Inkberry, why is the deacon saying it is not?"

The deacon's face turned white as a sheet as he started stuttering.

Then the senior brother came in to reprimand him, "I heard that something like this keeps happening here. So I came to inspect, I never believed that the deacon the sect has placed to manage the problems of the outer sect is such a debauched and heartless person, I have several other complaints against him, stealing the allocated pills, taking other cultivators tokens as a hostage, and allocating caves for whomever he likes against the sect's rule."

"Is this true deacon?" asked Elder Yun.

The deacon in question began stuttering unable to reply.

"As much as I don't wish to interfere in this case. But honestly, this deacon has been acting like a dick since I got here. He also took my token, the token Elder Hu Tian gave me to get the Purple Cloud movement technique and never gave me the technique."

"Is this true!" asked the elder, this time his voice was deeper. Wrathful even.

"N-no! I already had his book prepared; he took it." The deacon lied.

"Then, we can easily check the records." The elder replied.

Soon after he checked the records his brows rose up and he spoke saying, "How come your name comes up here more than anyone else, you've been taking many things from the pavilion, on behalf of others? Is there any Lung Hu here?" asked the elder.

"Yes, it's me."

"It says in the records you have taken a lower Man tier weapon. Where is it?"

"I-I had never taken such a thing. Actually, this is the first time I entered the hall."

"Humm, is Yue Zan here?" the elder asked.

"Y-yes, I'm here." Replied a timid-looking girl.

"You took a lower Man tier sparring glove?"

"No…I have not."

"It seems that the deacon has been using the tokens of the outer disciples and exchanging them for items for his own. Look at his gloves. They are the same as the ones that were taken from the records same as the boots, and a Calming Ring. You took the Outer Disciples' contributions and made them your own." The elder said.

'That's a big oof…'

The deacon then immediately slammed his head on the wooden floor, "I was wrong please forgive me, elder!"

"You were wrong, you'll be corrected. You'll be stripped of all of your rights, and all items will be confiscated. As for your punishment that's not my mission though, it is the punishment hall elder."

"No!" cried out the deacon that was escorted immediately afterward by a couple of disciples.

"Well, there seems to be a lot of paperwork to be done here to fix up the mess of this useless trash. I'll take care of this. Anyone who has their items or tokens taken please submit a report to me. I'll take note of everything." Replied the hall elder.

Ah well, then this situation was dealt with rather finely. I half expected to have this whole thing backfire on me, and create a sworn enemy as those Mc's do. But seems that things will be fine.

Just as I was about to leave, the inner disciple placed his hand on my shoulder and smiled at me, "Old man. I'm interested in how you got the knowledge about some of these Spiritual Herbs, how about you visit me in my place at the inner sect. just tell the guards that I sent you. We'll have a discussion over tea. This is not a request." Replied the man.

'Aaaand here it comes, I should have not jinxed myself. Shit.'

"Not a request? What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means that you have to come!" the inner disciple said.

"Is there any rule in the sect that says I have to follow what you say?" I asked again rather sternly.

The man hesitated for a second, this was probably the first time he was ever told off by an outer sect disciple and it clearly shows. Amateur.

"Now shoo away, I have no time to waste with you. I got my own stuff to deal with."

"You!" the inner disciple scowled.

"You? You what? Didn't your mother teach you to finish your sentences? What the hell am I supposed to understand from one single word that comes out of your mouth, if you have shit to say, say it. If not get the fuck off of my face." I snapped back at him.

The disciple shuddered, his eyeballs felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets, he raised a hand as if he was about to smack me but a simple cough from the elder behind him had the man gather his hand back and snort as he left.

Yep, that's one sworn enemy created right there.

"I don't know if you're foolish or brave, but what you just did was not smart. You antagonized an inner disciple in front of many people. You made him lose face." Said the elder.

"Yeah, well I don't really care. If he needed me, he could have asked, I don't like threats."

"It's your funeral."

"Well, I lived long enough, death is not something, I fear. Thank you elder for your patronage; I'll be leaving to cultivate now."

"Wait," said the elder and then handed me a purple-colored book and a few items gathered in a pouch.

"This is the cultivation manual you were supposed to get from the deacon, and these are some pills as compensation for the troubles that he created and in exchange for the Drowsy Inkberry."

"Thank you, that'll come in handy," I replied and took off with the loot.

A few students felt that it was necessary to follow me and they did, from a distance.

Now I know how this is all going to unfold. Too many cultivation stories and you get the whole gist of things.

First thing will be, these kids will follow me up to where I live, and find out my cultivation cave. Then, one brave dumbass will decide that it would be smart to assault me, break some bones, kill me, or even worse, shatter my cultivation. And if you're thinking that I have my priorities jumbled up, no I don't. I'm not Hermione, in a world o cultivation, having your cultivation shattered is worse than death.

As expected, the moment I got to my cave, a young man, probably the age of sixteen along with three others showed up at my doorsteps right as I opened my cave.

"You! Fellow cultivator Shen Bao, I advise you to give up your belongings and kowtow ten times in apology for senior brother Han.

"Ugh, another dumbass stepping stone wanna be. You," I pointed at the kid behind the one who just spoke. "Slap that guy and I'll give you a Qi condensation pill."

The kid in question hesitated then said, "N-no."

'Oh, I see temptation.'

I grinned as I said, "Then how about three, final offer."

The disciple leading the group snorted and said "Of course he will not choos-" but he was abruptly stopped by a slap in the face.

He looked at the kid who smacked him and said, "Why?!"

"That's three pills more than I get for three months' worth of hard work."

Before the situation would escalate anymore, I threw a pouch at the kid who slapped the other guy and entered my cave, leaving them bickering among each other.

As I sat down in my cave, I began to do an inventory, some of the items I have on me were useless to use as cultivation material, for me, that is. For other cultivators, this could be handy. Most of these herbs are best used in creating pills that enhance cultivation, heal wounds, and cure illnesses. None of that is of any great use to me. But I could exchange them in a venue for something better. But that will have to wait. I don't have access to any auction houses right now.

Another thing, I need to get my cultivation going, I have fully stabilized my cultivation but didn't improve upon it ever since I got into the sect., I need to have a higher level of cultivation if I wanted to unlock the bags of the people who got me in the poison cave, to begin with. Perhaps they have some good stuff on them.

But without proper poisons to consume, I can't galvanize the poison Qi within me to reach the next level.

But the joyful weed can. It's toxic in nature and I need that. But I require a pipe.

I walked out of the cave and found the guys still fighting among each other.

"Anyone has a smoking pipe?"

The kid who got the pills from me, with a black and blue face from all the beating still flashed me a happy smile as he said, "Yes, I can get you one."

"Let me guess you need another pill?"

"That would be a little too much for just a smoking pipe. I'll get you one for free."

"Good, I'll remember that favor. And, could you all go and fight somewhere else, you're kind of breaking my concentration."

"Right, let's go!" the kid said and the three others followed him. For a group of people who were on each other's throats, they were pretty sensible.

After an hour, the kid came back and knocked on the stone door. In his hand was a nicely decorated pipe. It was long with a small cup-like end, it had a small metallic net to hold tabaco or whatever substance wanted to burn. And it was engraved in silver. It was quite fancy and I liked it.

I took the pipe from him, and gave him one of the random herbs I got from the mountain as a reward, he cupped his fists at me and left happy.

Time to test the herb. I locked myself in my cave and sat down. Then, I tore some of the petals and placed them on the pipe, then used the lamp to burn the petals and light the pipe.

I took a drag and started coughing, this was pretty strong, and didn't taste right at all. Something was wrong, the whole thing didn't light up and needed a lot of fire for it to turn right.

"Ah! I need to dry it first. Damn. That's gonna be a hassle. I mean if anyone were to find this laying around, they would undoubtedly take them."

I left the cave and began walking toward the pavilion. The elder there would probably have a good idea on where I could dry the Joyful Weed.

Just as I arrived, the elder perked his eyes at me and said, "You smell like weed. Were you smoking?"

"Yes, a bad experience I can tell you that. But how did you know?"

"A kid came to claim a smoking pipe from the pavilion also you have a really strong sweet smell about you. you probably didn't even dry them, the smell on you is too strong, and by the way, the Joyful Weed is toxic."

"I know, it's toxic, but it's helping my cultivation."

"Really? After a few days, you'll probably start vomiting blood. But wait, with the bone and body grinding poison, I think that the effect of it will cancel out the toxic traits of the joyful weed, you'll probably get better hits and stronger effects if you don't detoxify it."

"You seem knowledgeable."

"We old men always keep a bit stashed away. Would you like to try some? Real stuff." The Elder said.

"If you're offering, I won't say no," I replied.

The man smiled and nodded to one of the disciples. "You, continue with the inventory, and handouts of the tokens to the wronged disciples. That deacon made a hell of a mess here."

Follow me, said the elder and walked up ahead.

The man was really small, almost all the way to my knee small, but he was hella fast. I had to almost jog to keep up with his walking speed.

We got up to the second floor of the pavilion and were met with another old man, when he saw the two of us, he frowned at me. "Elder Yun, what's the meaning of this?"

"I'm taking this disciple to the upper floor; don't worry we won't access the library we'll just sit at the veranda."

"Sigh, you found another smoking partner."

"Yes," Elder Yun smiled.

"You, what's your name?"

"My name is Shen Bao," I cupped my face at who seemed to be the elder of the second level.

"If he challenges you to a smoking contest, refuse immediately, you'll make a laughingstock out of yourself."

I smiled at the man and said, "Don't worry about it, I'll keep myself in check."

"Yeah, you should mind your own business Elder Zhang, I mean not everyone has a shitty tolerance such as yourself."

"Whatever," the floor elder Zhang shooshed us away and we left to the upper floors. There were several floors and each of them seemed to have a lot of books and manuals. Cultivation manuals.

"These are manuals for the disciples who prove themselves to the sect, if they get a proper contribution, they can come and choose whatever manual they like from here to help them cultivate."

"Why not make this public for all to use?" I asked.

"Only the worthy will earn the right to learn."

"What if there are kids talented in certain aspects that their current disposition does not show, and there is a manual here that could guide them to be stronger. Shouldn't they be considered?"

The old man shook his head, "That's not how sects work, you only prove yourself if you overcome your weak nature. Even if one has the disposition to become a martial god, is deemed trash if they die early. We're not here to rear and raise chicken, we need strong people who will overcome their weak disposition and obtain the right to gain more power. We will not guide the weak to become strong, the weak has to guide themselves to become strong, and once they are worthy, the sect will not spare a dime to help that weak person become a great one."

"Sounds pretty convincing, though I may have concerns, still you're the sect, and this is your rule," I replied.

"You seem pretty estranged to the rules of sects."

"Yeah, I am new to the cultivation world, so I have different ideologies. I hope I didn't offend you or the sect."

"Don't worry, I won't rebuke your ideologies, it's rare to find someone with a different thought process, most of the people I know have rigid thinking, it's good to be able to discuss topics with another person, especially if they have different views and opinions, we can both learn from the other."

I smiled as I walked behind the elder, I think I like this guy. He is very open and has a good heart. I gotta make friends with him.

Soon, we reached a veranda that was overseeing the entirety of the outer sect. it was the highest floor on the pavilion and was a great spot to just relax. There was a small GO table with black and white stones and two cushions and a small pot of tea and two cups. A simple setting for a great view.

"Sit down and let's talk." The old man said and sat as he pulled a small pouch filled with dried Joyful Weed.

"This batch still needs to be detoxified. Are you sure you want to smoke it? I have a batch that's pretty well treated."

"No, I'd rather get the toxic one."

"Your funeral," the old man replied.

I smiled as I grabbed a pinch and placed it in my pipe then started looking around like a fool for a match to light it.

The old man in front of me smirked and snapped his fingers creating a small red flame that lit up from the top of his index finger, he used the small flame to light his own golden decorated pipe.

I frowned, as I looked at him, thinking a bit, this could be the same as using Qi to use the Poison Breath skill. But instead of rotating the energy in the meridians and releasing it from the mouth, he released it out of his finger.

I looked at my pustule-infested hand and closed my eyes, rotating the energy within my meridians and instead of sending it to my mouth, I sent it all to my hand. It slowly began to glow, I felt like my hand was about to burst as the tumors began wiggling. I then willed the energy to gather and focus at the tip of my finger where it shot out like a laser beam up into the sky. A green powerful laser beam.

"God almighty! What the heck?" shouted the old man.

"I-I have no idea, I just mimicked you."

"By mimicking me you created a killing move?! I'm not that great of a mentor what the bloody hell? How did you do it?"

I was still baffled at what the old man was saying and the light from my fingers dimmed enough that it shaped itself into a flame.

"I have no idea what happened, but I guess it's something to ponder about."

"Right, well, use that flame first, and we'll discuss this over a game of GO, I'm really interested in this move of yours."

"Yeah sure," I did as I lit the pipe with the green fire coming out of my finger.

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Like always thanks for everyone's support on Patron. I'm really grateful. And if you wish to read up to chapter 32, you can join in with the rest of the Patrons.

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