“Well, I can tell you that the Revolving Heavenly Light Sect is a Righteous Sect. By that, I don’t mean they are actually righteous, but simply that is the type that they list themselves as. Specifically, righteous sects tend to not use ‘demonic’ techniques, like sacrificing or blood-based ones.

They can be just as evil or conniving as demonic sects, though. On the other side, there are demonic sects that can be righteous and actually are actively helping people.”

So pretty much it is just what they call themselves. “Alright, so it’s just a name and I shouldn't automatically assume anything just because of that. If that’s the case, why do you suggest this one?”

“Well, for one, that is the sect that controls this area and is the closest to us. Second, they apparently use a combination of quality and quantity-based recruiting. Every year, they will go around to the different cities within their area of control and bring anyone who wants to join the sect back to the sect’s training areas.”

Her cheeks slightly drop, “One thing we have to note though. Every other year, they switch off between quantity and quality recruiting. When they are recruiting for quantity, they have certain requirements for every entry level of their sect. However, they are typically recruited to bolster up their sect servant and outer court levels, so they accept more people than most other sects would.

During quality recruiting years, they raise the requirements of the sect servant and outer court members. During those years, they become really serious about searching for skilled people with strong spirit roots.

To give an example based on what I’ve heard, these are the cutoffs for every level, based on what year it is.”

She then details out the following information:

Sect Servant Quantity: Rose Man 3 and below Quality: Rose Man 4 and below Outer Court Disciple Quantity: Peony Earth 1 and below Quality: Peony Earth 3 and below Inner Court Disciple Quantity & Quality: Orchid Heaven 2 and below Core Disciple Quantity & Quality: Orchid Heaven 9 and below

She gives a pause, probably unintentionally ominous.

“This year, is a quality year,” she says with a sigh.

Lin breaks the silence, “So, that means he has a chance of becoming an outer court disciple?”

“Supposedly. The information I have is pretty old, so I don’t know whether it’s still true. Not only that, but they may change it from year to year, based on what they are looking for. But that isn’t the real unfortunate part about this. Even as I say that, being an Outer Court disciple is not exactly what you need.”

I can’t help but look up in confusion at that. “What’s the biggest difference between an Outer Court and Inner Court disciple?”

“If you are just an outer court disciple, you will be given low to average quality items and cultivation techniques. Not only that, but you will have to live in the same buildings and potentially with roommates.” Ah, I can see where she’s going with this.

“I see what you mean now. Essentially, if I’m given smaller amounts of cultivation items, there is no reason I should be standing out as much. Not only that, but if I have a roommate or people I’m living with, then there is a greater chance of some of my abilities being discovered.”

It would be easy to imagine a roommate or even a person the room over, seeing patterns in my actions and getting curious about me.

“You got it. It’s not the best place, but it at least will give you a chance to have an excuse to why you can do something.”

“How do you know all of this? From what I can tell, you guys aren’t related to cultivators, right?”

Lin and Ai, take a glance at each other. Ai rubs the back of her head, “Well… most this is common knowledge for the people in the middle class of this city. Since it’s safe to assume that you lost most of your memory, I thought it best to fill you in.

“Now, regarding how I know this? In exchange for… certain things, I was usually able to get books about different aspects of the world.

“I…”

Her breath catches.

Huh, this might be related to what she went through before. I’m not going to push her on this.

Lin seems to be of a similar mind and tries to speak, but Ai’s lips tighten.

“…I did whatever I could to escape my situation. Anything. Learning to read and teaching Lin how to, was something we committed to early on, before things got worse with Rong.”

Giving a sharp laugh, she waves over in Lin’s direction. “Lin over here never really took to the etiquette and language aspects, but is decent enough. For me, that was always the way I saw myself being used. Since, my body, at that time, wasn’t in the best shape. She however, did take to how to get people to give her things, from the adventure book in our stash.”

Ai looks nostalgic, but Lin seems to get a little serious. Which reminds me of when she was teaching me in the streets.

Raising a hand, drawing my attention on to her, “Books don’t cost that much here, since we are near the sect and have the paper and book sellers here. The ones we have are the cheap copies, but useful if you have nothing else. Surprisingly, we managed to come across a book that talked a bit about cultivators.”

Lin gives a nod and looks at Ai. Which is returned, as Ai gives a slight smile, glancing over at Lin.

“Actually, Lin ‘found’ it for me... I still remember when you brought that book into the shack. It was a few days after Rong had stepped on some glass.”

A quiet air appears between the two of them. Quickly Ai switches gears.

She breathes in. Breathes out. Returning to staring back at me.

“That’s not the actual issue with this. The genuine worry will be that someone else will see or catch on to you differing vastly from the norm. However, we don’t really have a choice since you are a Rose Man 5.”

Ah. Once again, I face a decision. Yeah, I need to let them know that both my abilities allow me to increase spirit roots and that my spirit root is steadily increasing.

“So, I actually have something else to tell you guys then…” A group sigh comes out.

Ai actually puts her hand to her head. “Let me guess. You can increase spirit roots with healing?”

Oh, wow. She was actually on point with that.

“Uh, yeah, actually. To be honest, your spirit root was around the Peony Earth 2 range, with Lin’s at Rose Man 6, before I healed you. I’m not exactly sure how it happens, but it appears to raise it in accordance to how healed up you are. Specifically, I guess that it is a byproduct of a person’s body being taken to its best state, which to my understanding takes a sizeable portion into how spirit roots work.”

Oh, I should probably also let Gong know what hers is. A glance over a Gong affirms that she is biting her lip in anticipation at me. Most likely hoping I know what hers is. “Oh Gong, yours is Rose Man 8.” I can see her clench a fist and do a tiny fist pump. Looks like that’s something shared between our cultures.

“So, how does that work for yourself?” Lin asks. “Well, I actually hav- feel like my body has a huge healing property. I believe that this allows me to heal automatically from injuries. In a similar way to when I healed you, it seems to also increase my spirit root quality. Based on what I can tell, I think I may be around a Rose Man 6 now.”

Ai responds quickly, “Okay, we can work with this. Do you think it will increase to…” She looks quickly up in thought, then back down to me, “Around the Peony 4 range?”

This might be time to use my scan to find out.

Looking into myself, I check to see how long it would take to get up to that level. Or if it even would go up that high. What I find is yes. I can actually get up to there and even further. Ultimately, it will take about a month to reach that level.

I repeat this to everyone and sounds of resignation go throughout the room. This time, it ends a little quicker though.

“Well. This works for us, though. The exam is in just over a month, so it might be close… but it’s the best chance we have. Since this is a small city, the cultivators that come in, will probably only be staying for one full day, before heading back to their sect.”

Ai gives a glance at Lin. “Honestly, I never expected to live long enough to see Lin head to take the cultivator exams. Even though, I put in the ‘good’ plan… the plan with me dying was always the main one.” She looks up at the webbed ceiling. She reaches out for her sisters’ hand, who was already reaching for hers. They both smile at each other, softly.

“Jiejie…”

“It’s… freeing, to know that I won’t have to worry about that anymore. That I don’t have to worry about how much my precious sister would go through, to even get the exam. Now, I know that she and I will be able to make it in this. And if everything stays the same, all of us could be in the inner court. This is our step to a new and improved life.”

She then turns to Gong, who has a bittersweet smile on. “And so, we come to you, Gong.”

Gong jumps a little at being addressed. Ai continues, “As you already know, there is no way that the sect would accept a demi-human disciple. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t help you from behind the scenes.

“Though as you might have heard and known, we cannot take home any cultivation techniques to teach you.” Ai gives her a sly smile.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t buy one for you though.”