The journey back to the residence was not a smooth glide like the previous trip had been. As they were travelling uphill, Passionate seeker had to land every once in a while, in order to accelerate upwards. After reaching the residence, Aki dismissed Passionate Seeker and told her to return a bit before nightfall. He wanted a bit of time to himself in order to gather his thoughts and get his bearings.

The calm quiet in his room finally let the seriousness of the situation sink in for Aki. He was stranded in a strange world, a body snatcher, with possibly no way back home. If his suspicions were correct, he may be long dead at home, making this a proper reincarnation, rather than a summoning situation or some such.

Maybe I should consider this a new chance at life? He tried to give a positive spin to things. This seems to be a cultivation sect, so maybe I can step onto the path towards immortality. I hope my family managed to handle my death passably. I really should have kept in contact with them more.

As his thoughts grew darker, Aki idly played with one of the many jade slips in the room, jostling it about in his hand. unconsciously, he did something to release energy into it, causing information to suddenly flood into his mind. The information described a “Weave technique” that could be used to scry far-off places. The information faded from his mind almost as fast as it arrived. It seemed that he needed to keep supplying energy into the jade slip to maintain the link.

Aki first stared at the jade slip in shock, and then at his hand. He tried to repeat the process of channelling energy into the slip but didn’t manage to do it. Next, he tried to empty his mind while idly handling the slip, and after a bit of time again managed to unconsciously activate it.

Interesting, it seems like this body has something like a muscle memory to this stuff. I can instinctively do these things, despite not having the knowledge to do so actively.

Growing excited, Aki kept stubbornly trying over and over again. After practicing for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Aki finally managed to consciously activate the jade slip. The subconscious instincts had gradually fit into place with his active thoughts. His hands were shaking with excitement as he kept activating and deactivating the jade slip.

Magic! Real magic! He was capable of doing something supernatural! The excitement he felt was soon cooled as he remembered the realities of his situation. He sighed and began to look at what he was doing with a calmer, more analytic eye. Well, this is a promising sign. If my body contains the “muscle memory” of how these things are done, I should be able to learn things at a decently quick pace.

Aki placed the jade slip back onto the shelf he had taken it off from and began to study the other jade slips in the room. Acquiring knowledge of his situation was priority number one, and he had now luckily acquired the ability to start searching for answers. It was time for some proper research.

After a few hours of intense information gathering, Aki slumped onto the floor in despair. His situation was a lot more troublesome than he had expected.

He was currently in the Thousand Lakes Sect, a cultivation sect with a bit over 600 members, focusing on techniques using water, light and knives. His initial impression was that the sect was a decidedly middling one. It had a few vassal organisations under it, but was itself a vassal to the much larger and more powerful Liquid Sword sect.

This was not what drove him to despair. To be honest, Aki rather approved of not being in too notable of a sect. Being a minor power of a backwater province suited him well. Aki was not a man with aspirations of great power. Above all, he wanted to live a pleasant, safe and stable life.

Instead, what truly drove him to despair was that he was not just any elder in the sect, but the leader of the whole sect. The active management of a sect would place his actions under stricter scrutiny and ensure that he always duties to attend to. He was also supposed to be one of the most powerful people in the sect, capable of solving issues through strength when diplomacy failed.

Aki made another concerning discovery when he discovered a cache of correspondence with an organisation dubbing itself the “Karmic reincarnation research society”. Apparently, his body’s former owner had been an active member of the society, researching for ways to harness the knowledge of previous incarnations of his soul. The correspondence even featured detailed instructions for the ritual that was probably used to summon Aki here.

Well, I guess you did eventually succeed. Aki mused idly. Too bad you didn’t stay behind to make use of my knowledge. Elder Thousand Lakes, you really were quite the irresponsible individual. Should a sect leader be dabbling with such risky research?

On the other hand, the messages from the society relating to the ritual had included assurances that other members of the society had successfully completed the ritual and that it was a safe process. Aki found the assurances to be rather suspicious.

There’s definitely something off about this society. Well, at least their other members seem to be from quite far away, so I should be able to safely ignore the matter for now.

Aki slowly rose back to his feet and began to pace around the room. If he really was to act as a leader of this sect, he needed to be knowledgeable about its workings. He began to review the information on the sect that he had learned.

The lowest position in the Thousand Lakes sect is that of an outer sect disciple. Outer sect disciples are in the foundation establishment stage of cultivation, and upon reaching the core weaving stage they have the opportunity to participate in a trial by fire for acceptance into the inner sect. There are around 500 outer sect disciples in the sect. Outer sect disciples are generally not considered to be true cultivators yet. The resources available are few and the struggle for them fierce.

Inner sect disciples are in the Core weaving stage, and there are a bit over 100 of them. These are the true future hopes of the sect, and they receive regular lectures from core disciples and sometimes elders. Advancement from the inner sect is not as clear of a matter as in the outer sect. When an elder feels like it, they can hold a trial by fire to choose a new core disciple.

Core disciples are still in the Core weaving stage, but generally more advanced in it than the average inner sect disciple. Core disciples receive direct tutelage from their chosen elder, and play a big role in the general management of the sect. There are currently 24 core disciples in the sect.

Elders are cultivators who have finished weaving their core and entered the domain establishment stage. They have almost complete freedom in what they choose to do and often act as the leaders of the various departments in the sect. There are 6 of them in the sect, of which only three, including Aki himself, are currently actively managing things. The others are either away from the sect or in closed door cultivation.

The sect has no cultivators beyond the domain establishment stage.

Well, it looks like there are 4 core disciples under my tutelage, including disciple Spring Melt, who was in charge of the contest earlier. That explains her request for cultivation advice. She is apparently currently overseeing matters in the outer sect. Of my other core disciples, two are currently in closed door cultivation, while the last one is tending to a spirit tree orchard. Passionate Seeker is surprisingly not a core disciple, but rather an inner sect disciple who is my personal apprentice. A personal apprentice is apparently someone to whom one’s legacy techniques are entrusted. It is a very personal bond, different from the more distant instructor role I am supposed to have towards my core disciples.

Aki began to formulate a plan of action. One priority was learning more about cultivation in order to figure out what his own situation was. He also needed to figure out how running a sect worked and ensure that business continued as usual. Lastly, an education plan for his disciples could prove necessary. There were 4 core disciple whose education was up to him, and 1 personal disciple to whom he needed to teach his most secret legacies. Sadly, he did not have any secret legacies, or any cultivation techniques at all to share. However, Aki was confident that he could manage to feign competence by spouting vague philosophical platitudes and leave interpreting them into something meaningful for his students.

Aki formed his immediate plans and sat to wait for Passionate Seeker to return.

It was beginning to get quite late by the time Passionate Seeker returned, but this time Aki was prepared. He sat cross-legged in a meditating posture in the middle of his room, a serene expression on his face. He had even lit a few sticks of incense to give the room a properly mystic feel. After he heard the knock on his door, he bid Passionate Seeker to enter.

“Master, Disciple Passionate Seeker has arrived to receive your instruction.”

Aki did not open his eyes or shift from his meditating posture. At that moment, he truly looked like the spitting image of a sagely master. Passionate Seeker’s eyes shone brightly with anticipation.

“At ease Apprentice. I have been pondering on a suitable direction for your further education and have now come to a conclusion. You have been observing my work for some time now, so I expect that you are familiar with my duties as sect leader. Tell me, how well informed are you on such matters?”

“Master, do not worry. I have been closely observing everything about you since you accepted me as apprentice! There is nothing about your daily schedule or routine duties that I do not know!”

Aki was slightly disturbed by the enthusiastic admission but did not let it show on his face. He maintained his sagely look.

“Excellent work apprentice, then this new training should suit you well. We are going to be working on improving your initiative and creativity. Your task is this: for the duration of this training, you are going to be in charge of all the work that I would normally be in charge of. You may come consult me whenever an issue arises that you do not have the authority or knowledge to solve. Your priority in this training is to learn to do the things I want you to do before I ask you to do them. Do you understand your task?”

Yes, Aki had figured out a grand plan indeed: Just make someone else do all the work he was supposed to do! Simple plans are often the most effective ones, and this one certainly had the potential to solve many of his issues.

“Such a task is a great honour master. I will endeavour to work to my utmost to fulfill your expectations. I am only saddened that such tasks will take a great deal of time away from my direct studies under you.”

By this point Aki had begun to understand a bit of what kind of person Passionate Seeker was, so he knew how to respond.

“Apprentice, consider that by fulfilling my duties following my example, you will come to a much deeper understanding of me and my teachings.”

Passionate Seeker gasped audibly and shuddered at the revelation.

“Ai, Master, your wisdom truly knows no bounds! Yes, I will perform your duties to my best ability, no, beyond my best ability!”

Aki did not need to open his eyes to know that Passionate Seeker was currently bearing a very excited expression; her voice made it plain.

Well, that went about as well as I expected. Aki mused. Now, onto the truly important matters.

“Now, apprentice. I have a truly important question for you.”

“Yes, master. What is your question?”

Aki sighed deeply; it was time to get to a matter that had been troubling him very deeply.

“Apprentice, when and where did you last have a proper meal?”

Yes, food was at the heart of the great issue Aki was now facing. He had been beginning to feel quite hungry and had searched the residence for any traces of food. To his dismay, he had found not one crumb of food anywhere in the residence. There was nothing resembling a kitchen, nor anything resembling a dining room. He had been observing the profoundly ascetic ways of the sect for most of a day now, and a creeping, horrible suspicion had begun to gnaw at him. Now, it was time to find answers. He had very carefully formulated the question he asked, in order to get into the true heart of the matter.

Passionate Seeker pondered for a moment before answering.

“Hmm, I don’t think I’ve eaten anything but the occasional spirit fruit since I broke through the chain of hunger. That would be about 20 years ago now, I think. My last meal was probably half of a rice ration set while I was still in the outer sect, just before I passed the trial by fire to the Inner sect.”

Aki’s perfect sagely posture finally broke, and he was filled with despair. So, they truly do not need to eat once they get powerful enough. Still, that’s no reason to completely abstain from food! Food is one of the key pleasures of life! Even if I did not need to eat, I would not stop ordering my weekly hot wings, or enjoying a nice rye-bread sandwich with my morning tea! What is the point of struggling for a longer life if you do not spend it enjoying the pleasures of life! This matter requires clarification.

“A-apprentice. You mentioned that the last meal you ate was half of a rice ration set. Why did you only eat half?”

The disciple gave her master an odd gaze.

“Master, why do you test me so? Even though we received our daily cup of rice, of course we would abstain from it in order to further our cultivation! Casting off mortal ties is the key to cultivation after all.”

Gods, these people really are serious about this. Is that even true? It feels like the type of self-punishing nonsense people like to inflict on themselves for the sake of “discipline”. I can’t leave this matter alone; it will require further research. This sect may be in more dire of a need for reforms than I had thought.

“Apprentice, what kinds of mortal food are available at the sect? It has been some time since I last took part in such matters.”

“Only the outer sect disciples eat mortal food. They are given one cup of rice a day for sustenance.”

Aki shuddered at the thought. That was certainly a diet plan he was not keen on trying.

“Apprentice, what do you think would be the best way to acquire more... diverse mortal food supplies for the sect.”

“Hmm, well, if you want mortal food, you should search in a mortal town. I imagine purchasing food supplies from Southpool would be the best method.”

Aki sighed with relief. Southpool, that name was mentioned in a few of the jade slips I studied. So, it is a mortal town near the sect, well that should solve my issue.

He managed to return to his earlier, sagely appearance.

“Well, then. Apprentice, I have an important task ready for you. I wish to contemplate the ways of mortality and immortality. For the foreseeable future, I wish to eat three fulfilling mortal meals a day. A proper breakfast, lunch and dinner. I leave arranging the matter in your capable hands. You are dismissed.”

Passionate seeker bowed politely, offered the appropriate honorifics, then left. After she had closed the door behind her Aki finally opened his eyes and then collapsed onto the floor on his back. He was rather dismayed by the idea of people pursuing immortality while shunning anything that made it worthwhile. What is the point of power for power’s sake? It reminded him of the worst parts of the toxic work culture he had experienced while working as an intern. Handling the constant pressure from his superiors and the changing demands of clients while balancing everything with his studies had left him with practically no time to himself. During that time his life had completely revolved around work and studies, eventually leaving him completely burned out.

And these cultivators did something like that constantly, day after day for their whole lives? Aki didn’t want to cause too great of a stir in the cultivation world, but this should be a thing he could do without causing too much havoc. Aki put his fist next to his heart while filled with resolve.

I swear I will teach these fools how to enjoy the mortal joys of life!