Book 2 - Chapter 13 (Patreon)

AN: Sorry for the lack of chapters over the weekend. I announced this in the discord, but I know most aren't on there. I was fixing some errors and condensing some parts of Book 1 to be ready for publishing. Nowhere close to being finished, so I'm setting aside weekends to work on that. The date for publishing is coming closer far quicker than I imagined.

Previous Chapter

Getting back to the Outer Court didn’t take long.

Elder Yu didn’t magically rip a hole in reality to make it fast like the Grand Elder, but it was fast as could be without messing with the laws of nature… sort of.

She led them to the part of the common grounds where the administrative buildings were located and right to a building with guards stationed outside. They were all in the core formation realm.

“Elder Yu!” Their voice blended together as they stood to attention.

Elder Yu nodded at them as they entered Teleportation Hall. It came to mind that every guard might be a sentinel. They were the only ones in the sect with any real combat specialization. Everyone else put all their focus on mastering healing or alchemy, as they should.

The enormous version of a teleportation array he had seen was at the hall's center, but that wasn’t what Elder Yu intended to use. She led them to the innocuous door to the side.

He saw someone familiar as soon as he walked through.

“Elder Yu! Wei Liang!” Mei Lin exclaimed in shock when she looked up from her work. She gave him a look that made him wince.

He never did meet her for the replacement pass. It would be an excuse to say that he was too busy, but it was really just forgetfulness. After all, the pass that Elder Yu lent him worked just fine, and she never bothered to ask for it back, so he kept delaying it for no reason other than laziness.

“Look at you!” Mei Lin was suddenly near William with her hands on his cheeks, “You’ve grown up so much in just a month!”

Alright, so maybe it wasn’t just laziness that made him reluctant to visit the administrative building in the Outer Court. He hadn’t been keen on having Mei Lin pinch his cheeks like he was a toddler.

That had backfired spectacularly. Instead of letting her do this without witnesses, Elder Yu and Mei Lingxi had front-row seats.

He would have liked to escape her clutches, but that wasn’t possible, not without Force Multiplier. That would be an overreaction.

[Name: Mei Lin | Level: 161]

William was still surrounded by a bunch of overpowered monsters. But that’s fine. He, too, would be an overpowered monster in the future.

Elder Yu eventually cleared her throat when it seemed Mei Lin wouldn’t stop on her own.

“Ah! Sorry,” Mei Lin freed him but didn’t look sorry at all, “Wei Liang here seemed to have forgotten about me.”

“I’ll be sure to remind Young Master to visit.”

William was starting to realize that having an attendant meant some odd combination of bodyguard, secretary, and rare occasions maid rolled into one.

“Young Master?” Mei Lin raised an eyebrow as she glanced at him, continuing with some amusement, “We haven’t met. I’m Mei Lin.”

“Is it? I’m Mei Lingxi, the Young Master’s attendant. Maybe you and I came from the same family generations ago.”

He stared at them blankly as they shared a laugh before looking at Elder Yu, silently asking what they were waiting for.

“Mei Lin,” Elder Yu interjected, “I’ll need the testing room for the day. Wei Liang, follow.”

He nodded to both women, who seemed more interested in talking to each other. That was fine. Maybe it would give Mei Lingxi somebody else to talk to instead of just him. It didn’t matter if he was her ‘Young Master.’ Shadowing a thirteen-year-old boy constantly when there was no danger would be beyond boring.

William followed Elder Yu into a large room with spaced out chairs. This was familiar.

“Are there many written tests in the sect?” That was the only reason he could think there was a literal classroom in the administration building.

“Of course there are,” Elder Yu said as she motioned him to an empty desk near the podium at the front, “We regularly test disciples on their alchemical knowledge. The sect does not have the authority to give them designations, that is reserved to the Imperial Alchemist Association, but frequent tests will prepare them for it.”

“I see,” William commented as he took the seat, feeling more like a grade school student than ever. The sect did something similar to practicing for a standardized exam.

“But that is not something you need to worry about,” Elder Yu pulled out some papers from behind the podium along with a small thing that looked like a pencil, “Answer these to the best of your abilities.”

He stared at the stack of papers placed on the desk, then at Elder Yu, who was hovering over him. It looked like she didn’t intend to move.

With a shrug, he started.

How many provinces are there in the Empire? What are their names and capitals? Which province is the most populous, and which one is the most prosperous?

That was the first question. Basic geography of the Tianxia Empire. William jotted down the answer and went through the pages in record time, helped by the fact he was a cultivator.

Of course, it was much more comprehensive than just some questions asking what the name of someplace in the Empire was. As subhuman as he turned out to be, Zheng Tao put together a lesson plan that even Elder Yu had been impressed by.

Her main concern about William’s lack of knowledge was not about cultivation, which could be ‘fixed’ as it came along if necessary. Not that she was keen on that idea. Since he was a cultivation genius in her eyes, she didn’t want to disrupt what was already working exceptionally well. The worry was more about the society that cultivators created. She said as much at the start.

It meant most of the lesson plan had been filled with the power structure in the Empire and the dangers surrounding it. The major clans that held sway in the Emperor’s court, the treachery common among imperial subordinates, and the brutality of the internal competition of the imperial princes and princesses.

There was also a focus on the internal structures of the Jade Healing Sect itself, but compared to the Empire, that section was minuscule.

According to Elder Yu, this was all required to know if one wanted to last long as an Inner Disciple. While the sect promoted based on merit, it was rare for unknowns to accomplish much, leaving the Inner Court filled with disciples from various powers around the Empire.

Being a cultivator was inherently expensive, and unless one was truly talented, they would all be crushed by their far better-prepared competition.

A mediocre cultivator supported by a minor clan would have some form of success in their cultivation path. An equivalent from a mortal background would either be undiscovered or crushed before there was even a chance to unlock their Qi.

A member of the Rong Clan requests you to personally protect a member. You will not have time to get the approval of the sect. What is your response?

It was the last question. And it was strange.

William couldn’t remember reading anything about a Rong Clan. With that the case, he assumed this was based purely on ethics. The sect likely wouldn’t want their disciples working for others without permission.

That was precisely what he wrote down.

“Incorrect,” Elder Yu said immediately, “If someone can invoke the command of the Rong Clan, you just nod your head and accept. They are the Imperial Family.”

William blinked at her in surprise. He hadn’t learned the family name of the imperials.

“You did well. Besides the last question, I saw no mistakes other than a few inaccuracies with the Jade Forest. Zheng Tao was intelligent in how he misled you. There was no unnecessary sabotage, just with what he was targeting.”

“That’s good,” he sighed in relief, “So, does this mean I’m a member of the Inner Court?”

Elder Yu gave him one of her rare smiles. “Indeed. Congratulations, Disciple Wei Liang.”

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