Stormy Mountain Sect Chapter 9 (Patreon)

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

So, I meant to publish this on Wednesday, but this week was crazy. Anyway, I'm putting up three chapters today, one from each series. Enjoy the first evening in the Stormy Mountain Sect!

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

The party went until the sun was about to set. Bells rang out, and the Outer Disciples in charge of the party started to herd us together. “Come,” Rowan said, walking over to where Nuan and I were dancing. “It is time to get your assigned residences and introduction packages. Follow me.”

“Thank you Rowan,” I said.

“Are you finally going to talk about the Outer Sect and its rules?” Nuan asked, her voice teasing.

He laughed, “Yes. We are instructed not to tell you too much during the celebration. Elder Shang believes that doing so ruins the fun.”

“Elder Shang?” I asked.

“Elder Shang is the Great Elder in charge of the Outer Sect. He isn’t involved much, letting the subordinate elders run things typically, but when he does give a command, it is followed. It’s rumored that he is near the peak of the Soul Awakening stage.”

“Soul Awakening?” Nuan asked.

“Do you not know the stages of cultivation?” He asked back, then looked at us again. “Are you not nobles?”

“No, uh, I’m not,” I said. “Son of a farmer and retired soldier.”

“Merchant’s daughter,” Nuan said.

His lips tightened, “My warning from before, keep it in mind. Things are not as simple for non-nobles.” He was silent for a minute, leading us up a path towards a collection of buildings. “Cultivation starts with Body Refinement, soaking yourself in Qi and expelling the impurities that have built up over a lifetime. This is the foundation for advancing, and the better you do the easier everything else will be. You will be expected to advance beyond Body Refinement to Qi Condensation by the end of the year.”

“Will do,” I said, and Nuan got a determined look on her face when she nodded.

“Good. After Qi Condensation is Foundation Building. Here you create the supports in your dantian to prepare for Core Refinement. The step into Core Refinement, where you collapse your foundation to create a Cultivator’s Core, will be your first Tribulation. After Core Refinement is Runic Core, where you carve the runes of your soul onto your Core, so that you can shatter your Core and step into Soul Awakening.” He stopped for a second. “Beyond that, there are more steps towards immortality and ascension, but that is enough for now. We are here.”

He had led us to a large building that said, “Outer Sect Administration,” on a large sign. The door opened easily enough. The ensuing din of noise surprised me, though, considering the building was silent from the outside. There were six counters at which disciples and Elders talked. The two on the left had a banner over each of them that read ‘New Disciples’, with a line of nearly fifty people waiting between them. On the right, several older disciples looked like they were haggling with an Elder over the value of some root. Rowan turned to us and nodded. “This is where I leave you. Good luck,” he said.

“Thank you,” Nuan and I told him.

He smiled and winked, “Remember, be on guard, and do your best. The sect has the kingdom’s best interests at heart, which may not always be your best interests.”

I nodded. His last words were couched low, barely audible from where he stood right in front of us. His tone was at odds with his words, and I knew he was giving us the last warning he could.

Nuan and I waved him away, then got into line. The young man in front of me looked back over his shoulder, then sneered and turned away. Looking closer, I realized that his robe was not the same one I’d been given by Elder Li Mei. It was cut similarly, and of the same color, but it was obviously made of a much richer material. His reaction subdued my interest in talking, and we ended up just waiting in line silently.

Every so often, we’d step forward when the new disciple at the front of the line was sent off with a bag. Nuan grabbed my hand at one point, and I squeezed hers back. Somehow, everything felt more real, like the trip from home was just a dream that I was finally waking up from.

The line behind us grew longer when another half dozen people walked in. Nuan tried to introduce herself to the girl behind her, but after a blurt of “Emily,” when asked her name, she only responded to questions with a nod or shake of her head. After a few tries to get her to open up, Nuan gave up.

We waited quietly, the line readily moving. I kept entertained by watching the older disciples. It looked like each counter had a different purpose. There was one that seemed dedicated to rare plants, with an elder managing the haggling. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, a barrier of Qi keeping all sound inside, but the disciples would usually walk away looking happy.

Next there were two counters that seemed to be mission assignments. Disciples would walk up and be handed a large jade tablet. The foot square green stone fairly glowed with Qi, even to my pathetically weak ability to sense it. The disciple would touch the tablet a few times, then be handed a much smaller square of jade. At the second counter, they would hand over the square of jade from a job or something, and then give the badge that all the disciples wore. The disciple manning the desk would check the jade square, then do something with it that I couldn’t see.

The last one was some kind of store or trading area. After watching it for a few minutes, I realized the badges had to have some way of storing points or some other kind of currency, because they were handed over before the disciples received something, either a jade slip or a bag.

“Put your hand on the tablet,” a bored voice said, startling me.

“Oh, I’m sorry, elder,” I said, bowing my head and reaching my hand forward. I’d reached the front of the line while watching the other counters.

A surge of Qi from the green jade I put my hand on scanned over me quickly. “Marc, you did excellent on the stairway,” she said.

“Uh, thank you, Elder …” I paused.

“I am Elder Aine. Now, your Qi aura has been recorded into your badge,” she slid the bronze badge over. It was roughly the size of my fist, shaped like a mountain with a storm cloud over it, and connected to my robe with three pins on the back. “You are the only one who can use it. Your current sect point balance is two thousand, four hundred, and fifty, based upon your climb, and your current advancement.”

“Thank you, Elder Aine,” I smiled.

“Here, inside are two more sets of clothing,” she handed me a bag, “Along with two jade tablets that contain the rules of the sect and your initial schedule. Over the next two weeks, you will have six mandatory lessons on cultivation and the sect, along with options for more courses to attend. You will attend at least four more lessons in the first two weeks. Now, you are assigned to domicile thirty seven, room three. Each domicile has four individual rooms for outer sect disciples, along with a central courtyard suitable for cultivation. If you want anything beyond the simplest furnishings or cultivation aids, you will need to pay for them.”

“What about,” I started to ask.

“Read the tablets. Out the back, turn left. Go to your domicile, introduce yourself to your neighbors, and be ready for the morning. Everything you need is on the tablets,” she cut in.

“Yes, Elder,” I said, bowing to her, then turned and mouthed at Nuan, ‘I’ll wait for you.’

She smiled and nodded, only to be commanded, “Put your hand on the tablet.”

I turned and hurried out, passing a few doorways that led to somewhere before exiting from the building. I took two steps forward, looking close to me, before my eyes extended to the horizon. I had to stop and stare. I looked out over the valley, the ever present storm not blocking the view in the slightest. The town at the base of the mountain, the small plain before the capital city, and then the forest that extended to the horizon. I knew my home was somewhere in that forest, but the frequent clearings I could see didn’t include enough detail to know which was where (name) was. I’m a long way from home, I thought.

“It’s beautiful,” Nuan said from beside me.

“Yeah,” I said, turning to look at her.

She blushed and bumped my shoulder, “Stop it,” she said, then giggled.

“Nope,” I grinned. “So, where are you living?”

“Domicile thirty nine. Elder Aine told me that boys are not allowed in girl’s domiciles ever, and girls aren’t allowed in boy’s ones either,” she said.

“I’m in thirty seven, so we’ll be pretty close. I hope, anyway. Come on, I’ll walk you to your room,” I said, offering my arm.

“Why thank you, good sir,” she said, affecting a prim accent.

I laughed and we strolled down the street, turning towards a row of single level buildings. Each building had a single entrance that led to a courtyard, with four doors leading into the rooms of each area. Each one had a number on the front, starting at one. “Well, looks like we’ll have to run pretty far to get to the lesson buildings,” I said, looking behind me.

On the other path, which led upwards, were a dozen much larger buildings that I could see. The path curved behind the mountain in the distance. The storm in this direction seemed to block all sight after the buildings. Looking up the mountain left me in awe, craning my neck back to try to see through the storm to the peak. It was impossible.

There were dozens of people walking up and down the road. All of them were dressed as we were, badges displayed prominently. Groups of boys would stop to stare at Nuan, giving me jealous glares. “Who is this fairy, and why is she escorted by a pathetic child (better insult),” one guy said. He was older, maybe eighteen or nineteen, and built like a blacksmith. His bright red hair contrasted with his black eyes. Unlike everyone else, his disciple robe was torn such that his arms were bare, and he was flexing for all he was worth.

“Uh, really?” I asked, incredulously. “You not only imply that all that is good about this amazing woman is her looks, you also insult her judgment, implying she has deviant tastes? In the same breath? And you wonder why no woman will give you a second look. Tsk, tsk.” I turned away from him, Nuan doing her best to hold in laughter.

“What did you say?” The brute asked, the incredulity overwhelming the anger in his voice.

“Are you deaf as well? Have you not been here for a year or more? I would have thought advancing would have cured that defect,” I said. “Maybe you haven’t reached the Senses Refinement stage of Body Refinement. No, that would be too pathetic, there is no way they’d let you stay on as an outer disciple in that case.”

His pale face grew redder and redder, a vein in his forehead popping out. I could almost hear his teeth grinding. “I challenge,” he started.

“No,” I said. “I remember this most clearly from the party. Required challenges don’t start until tomorrow, and there is no way you’re within a stage of me, so you cannot force it. Shoo, and leave me in peace. I’ll catch up to you eventually, and then I’ll kick your ass.”

I swear he almost swallowed his tongue. “You’ll rue the day you crossed the Stone Sharks,” he growled, then turned and stalked off.

“Boss?” One of the thugs following him asked, only to be punched off his feet.

We walked in silence for a bit, “You didn’t have to defend me like that,” Nuan said.

“I know,” I said. “But I was never going to get on with him, no matter what happened. This way, his ire is on me, not you.”

“I can take care of myself,” she said sharply.

“I know,” I repeated. “This way, he’s all focused on me, and then you can step in and beat the piss out of him when he isn’t expecting it.”

She didn’t say anything for a few steps, then burst out laughing. “I’ll allow it,” she barely got out. “Even if I don’t believe for a second that you thought of that ahead of time.”

“Not in the slightest,” I said with a grin.

“Ugh,” she grumbled. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Well, I could think of a few things,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows at her.

She blushed, “Very funny,” she said, bumping me again. She got serious for a second, “I’m worried that liking you and showing it is going to bring us both trouble.”

“While I think our relationship will bring some negative attention from boys jealous of me,” I said, pulling her into a hug, “You are totally worth every bit of trouble that might come my way. If nothing else, it’ll push me to grow stronger, faster, if only to deal with the challenges that come my way.”

“Plus, if we manipulate stupid people,” Nuan said with a wicked grin, “We could potentially make a ton of points.”

I laughed. We reached her domicile, and I turned to her. For a second, I was too excited to speak, so I just picked her up and spun her around. “We’re part of the Stormy Mountain Sect,” I said, then shouted, “WE DID IT!”

“Yes we did,” Nuan said, then leaned down and kissed me from where I held her up. “See you in the morning?”

“Yup, we’ll have to figure out where to find food,” I said with a grin.

She smiled up at me when I put her down, and then turned and walked into the courtyard. I kept an eye on her until she turned and waved, then left to find my own place.

It wasn’t far, literally the domicile before hers, since we were both odd numbers. I walked in to find Feng cultivating on a mat near the door with a giant four on it. I smiled and nodded at him, being careful to not interrupt his cultivation. I noticed that each door had a mat laid out near it, ready for us to meditate on. Next to his mat was a small block of metal.

The other two doors were closed, but one had a tiny brazier filled with coal next to its mat, while the other had a basin of water. Next to the mat in front of my door, I found my Lily. I grinned at that, happy to see it. I crouched next to the ceramic pot it was growing in, then touched the soil. Good for now, will need to water tomorrow, I thought. I stood back up and opened my door quietly.

Inside my room I found a bed that was more luxurious than even mom’s from back home, a writing desk and chair, and a wardrobe with drawers and a large compartment for clothes to hang in. To my right was a door, and when I opened it I found a chamber pot that was anchored to the ground, with a large pipe underneath it. Next to the chamber pot was a weird spout, with a dozen holes in it, that poked out of the wall above my head. On the ground was a grate, and when I looked into it I saw that there was a ceramic pipe leading down. A handle jutted out of the wall.

Tentatively, I poked at it, and then jumped back sputtering as a deluge of water surged out of the spout and onto my head. “Whoa! That’s awesome,” I grinned, water dripping off my head. I looked at the chamber pot and saw a similar handle. Turning it caused water to flow down into the pipe below it too.

I shrugged off my now damp outer robe and tunic, then opened the bag to pull out another. My hand went into the foot deep bag, and then my wrist, and then my arm. I groped around for a second, then pulled out a new tunic. The bag didn’t look any less full from the loss, and I just stared at it for a minute.

Okay, water from pipes, I can kind of see, I thought, still just holding the bag out in one hand. But I put my whole arm in a bag that is not even half the size. Deep breaths. Qi, it’s got to be Qi. No idea how, but the sect is awesome, so I’ll start with that.

I carefully reached in again, this time feeling around for the jade tablets I was supposed to have. After finding them, I gently set them on the table, then emptied the rest of the bag. Besides the clothes and tablets, there was also a small brush, two combs, six bars of soap, and a ball of twine.

I poked at the tablets, but couldn’t get them to respond to anything I did. After five minutes of fruitlessly stroking, poking, and yelling at them, I gave up and went outside.

“You need to insert some Qi into them,” a different young man said.

I started and saw a boy my age sitting next to the water tub looking at me. “Uh, thank you,” I said. “I’m Marc. I guess I’ll be your neighbor for a little while.”

“I am Cian Ceallaigh,” he answered.

“Uh, I’m sorry,” I said, bowing.

“Don’t,” he said. “I’m only the fifth son, and we are both outer disciples. Ostensibly, there are no noble ranks here, and I like it that way.”

“Ostensibly?” I asked.

“Supposedly,” he answered.

I nodded. “Thank you again.”

He closed his eyes and started to cultivate.

I turned and went back inside my room, not wanting to interact with even the fifth son of a High Noble clan right now.