I Don't Agree to the Terms
Chapter 311 - 181: This character is pronounced "hang" not "xing_2

Chapter 311: Chapter 181: This character is pronounced "hang" not "xing_2

Gu Shanhai fell silent for a moment, then suddenly noticed that Xia Xingyi’s signature was marked with a color and tentatively asked, "So, Master Qingli, did your master use colors to choose your Daoist names?"

Indeed, Xia Xingyi’s face darkened, this perfunctory demeanor indeed ran in the lineage.

"Don’t talk nonsense, my master is a Great Cultivator at the Spirit Origin Stage, be careful he might hit you," Xia Xingyi threatened before leading Gu Shanhai toward the sect gate, while explaining, "There are nine realms in cultivation in this world: Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, and Purple Mansion as the Lower Three Realms; Spirit Origin, Heavenly Scenery, and Cave Soul as the Middle Three Realms; and then Divine Phase, Law Awakening, and Path Peeking as the Upper Three Realms."

"Oh," Gu Shanhai nodded, showing some indifference, as he merely learned about the realms of cultivation, not how to cultivate.

Xia Xingyi was somewhat surprised; such a response was not expected. But then, recalling Gu Shanhai’s aptitude, he didn’t harbor much thought on it.

He naturally didn’t believe what Gu Shanhai said; if he did, he wouldn’t have designated him as a registered disciple, a matter he had already reported to the Chengyun Sect, and soon they would verify Gu Shanhai’s identity based on his statements.

He surely didn’t think mere words would allow him entry to the sect, and even if Gu Shanhai wasn’t of clear background, he couldn’t be a spy from another major sect.

For now, his plan was only to impart some common knowledge about cultivation and some rather useless intelligence to Gu Shanhai, waiting for the verification before making further plans.

"Can you read?"

After entering the sect gate, Xia Xingyi arranged a room for Gu Shanhai and asked.

Gu Shanhai naturally nodded, and then Xia Xingyi tossed several books to him before saying, "Good, come find me if you don’t understand anything."

"Xuanji State Records," "A Hundred Explanations on Qi Refinement," "Great Spirits of Heaven and Earth," among other titles, totaling seven books.

These books were quite useful to Gu Shanhai; for example, "Xuanji State Records" allowed him a more detailed understanding of the forces in the Xuanji Realm and some special areas, while "A Hundred Explanations on Qi Refinement" covered some basic trials in the Qi Refinement Realm, and "Great Spirits of Heaven and Earth" included encyclopedias of various species of Qi, essences of all things, and so on.

After tossing the books to Gu Shanhai, Xia Xingyi left, not revealing what he was up to, and Gu Shanhai did not probe.

"The Chengyun Sect, the Juxia Sect, the Feather Transformation Sect, these are the most powerful three sects in the Xuanji Realm, and currently, I should be considered as having indirectly entered the Chengyun Sect."

"Most of the sects in the world stem from these three, among which there are several Path Peeking powerhouses, and as one goes lower, their numbers increase, forming a pyramid pattern."

And Xia Xingyi, he definitely counted as a regular disciple now, seeing his age yet still at the Foundation Establishment Stage, truly seems somewhat inadequate, but Gu Shanhai guessed he must be close to breaking through to the Purple Mansion Stage, likely lacking some heaven-sent treasures.

If one starts a sect, the reward usually involves heaven-sent treasures.

Despite how shabby the Five Elements Sect seemed, Gu Shanhai had inquired, and the Five Elements Sect’s finances were managed by the Chengyun Sect; it was only because Xia Xingyi had no disciples, which resulted in the lack of subsidies, and it appeared as if he was slacking off.

’Next, as long as my identity has no issues, I will likely be depending on a big tree.’

The three major sects are not like those in typical immortal fantasy, where the protagonists’ sects are caught up in constant mind games, power struggles, and profiting.

Such competition is inevitable, but if it were as casual in killing and overpowering as the sects of the immortal fantasy protagonists, how could they develop.

To learn more about the Five Elements Sect and Chengyun Sect, Gu Shanhai had to at least become a True Disciple of the Five Elements Sect.

There are no menial or outer disciples, only him and Xia Xingyi within the entire Five Elements Sect, why bother with such complications.

As for the later essences of heaven and earth, all sorts of essential elements, there’s actually no need to worry too much. Gu Shanhai didn’t expect them to be too exceptional; what was important was the Cultivation Technique, which he planned to modify and integrate into his own "Green Emperor Longevity Scripture."

...

"It turned out to be true," Xia Xingyi said, holding the intel from the Chengyun Sect, his expression showing a trace of joy, as he had picked up a bargain.

However, the small village where the other party resided seemed to have been wiped out by beasts, which became a huge question mark.

If not for this issue, the other person’s background would be clear, indeed belonging to overlooked talent.

But with this question mark, Xia Xingyi needed to conduct further investigations.

Moreover, there was an even bigger question mark, which was why Gu Shanhai had traveled nearly a thousand miles to reach his Five Elements Sect. Ninety-nine percent of people without some martial skills and luck would have been eaten by wild beasts or demonic beasts on the way.

"The sect is still investigating, it needs some time, at least three quarters of an hour," Xia Xingyi knew this was normal.

Accepting disciples was no ordinary matter, Chengyun Sect belonged to a master-disciple lineage sect, from top to bottom, everyone was a brother, grand-uncle, and so on in a series of relationships. There was no distinction of outer or inner disciples, and what Gu Shanhai referred to as a nominal disciple simply did not exist; fundamentally, Gu Shanhai had not entered the sect.

Unlike the other two sects, their internals were chaotic, revering strength to the point of moral inversion.

Here, more value was placed on the tradition of treating one’s teacher as one’s father for life, and once a master-disciple relationship was established, it was for life, without any absurd scenarios where once you transition from Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment, a Qi Refinement Realm brother has to call you master.

Correspondingly, a vast network of relationships meant that if Xia Xingyi was attacked, he could seek help from his teacher, grand-uncle, or even go further up to his grandmaster or great grand-uncle, and so on.

If he was killed, it wouldn’t be like those sects where a genius who died was no longer a genius but could result in retaliation if you kill my apprentice/brother/disciple/nephew, "wait for it," and if I can’t beat you, I’ll bring in reinforcements for revenge.

Master-disciple sects valued sentimentality over pragmatic interests.

Generally, the protagonist in fantastical, immortal novels faces antagonist forces from such sects, where after the protagonist kills someone from a sect, others come one by one for revenge, leading to repeated killing by the protagonist, and the protagonist’s sect, lacking such support, embarrassingly uses this as a trial, saying a dead genius is not their genius but just a corpse.

"Eh, Master has called for help, could it be a reincarnation of a Cave Soul Realm cultivator!" Xia Xingyi’s expression drastically changed, he had not expected this scenario.

Thus, it made sense that Gu Shanhai could walk all this way and even find his Five Elements Sect. As a reincarnator, even without the corresponding memories and strength, his accumulated fortune allowed him to find his way back to the path mysteriously.

"Could it be that a senior from the sect has reincarnated, yet we’ve heard nothing about a Cave Soul Realm senior undergoing reincarnation?"

Xia Xingyi also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, this was good news.

As time passed, the reason that the demonic beasts had destroyed the village where Gu Shanhai lived was also found.

It was because a Red True Grass had grown in the village, and upon maturing, its aura was detected by the beasts, which led them there.

"It really is... peculiar," Xia Xingyi said with a mixed feeling of laughter and tears, knowing that under normal circumstances such Spiritual Medicine wouldn’t appear in such locations but now that Gu Shanhai was considered a reincarnated Cave Soul Realm cultivator, it was not surprising. It was very likely stimulated by the remnants left by the Cave Soul Realm.

And Gu Shanhai’s escape was also greatly attributed to his identity and remnants as a reincarnator.

"Now we just wait for the sect to verify again."

If he were just an ordinary person, this would have been the end, and he could be taken as a disciple. But with an additional identity of a reincarnated Cave Soul Realm cultivator, the Chengyun Sect naturally needed further verification and arrangements.