DC 52

The last couple of days walking passed in a near-silence. Every child could feel a slight suppression of their mood caused by the untimely departure of the elder in charge of their caravan. Although Elder Nufang had only told the soon-to-be outer disciples what was going on, she hadn’t told them not to pass the word around. 

Every child was concerned about what the changes in the sect would be and how it would affect their futures. Nobody wanted to be turned away after traveling so many months. Some started to be envious of those few who had fled during the first couple weeks of travel. If they knew there would be problems at the last minute, they too would have left the caravan when they were still relatively close to home. 

Feng Jiao was also nervous, but not for the same reasons. He’d gotten reassurance from Elder Nufang that Duan Cao and Wang Jing, and the other disciples who weren’t at the peak of awakening for that matter, would still be admitted as nominal disciples and would have a chance to earn their admittance. He was nervous because, as they got closer to the mountain range, he felt an increasing throbbing inside of his body. 

It was unlike any sensation he’d felt before, not quite a stomach ache or headache. It was almost a sensation between feeling bloated and lightheaded, but all over his body instead of regionalized to one area. After pondering the sensation, he decided it felt most akin to a tug on his soul, and it only increased in strength as he got closer. Thinking about something affecting his soul, Feng Jiao couldn’t help but feel nervous about the fact that he hadn’t dreamed of Aideen in months as well. One of his first self-appointed tasks in the sect was definitely to seek out information related to martial spirits. 

“Alright, we are now entering the outer reaches of the sect. Do not stray far from the caravan and keep the noise to a minimum. Just because the sect owns the land does not mean that it is safe for travel.” One of the disciples left behind to escort the caravan after Nufang Mudang left spoke out. The warning wasn’t really needed as none of the children were being particularly loud and nobody wanted to be alone at that moment.

Looking around, Feng Jiao noticed that the trees had grown larger rapidly, as well as darkened in color, both bark and foliage. Reaching out with his nature sense, Jiao also noted that the trees were reluctant to part with their hard-earned Qi. Using the cultivation method that Aideen provided him, he noticed that the Qi in the surrounding air was much thicker than anywhere they’d traveled in the last six months. The trees around the sect had obviously soaked in this optimal environment and gotten more powerful, which is why they would not yield to Feng Jiao’s will so easily. 

‘Fair enough,’ he thought to himself. It had been far too easy to drain the plants during their caravan the entire travel and had started to feel like a chore. Though, cultivation often felt like a chore to most cultivators. Feng Jiao couldn’t even imagine being one of those madmen that closed themselves up for years to cultivate in silence. Thankfully for him, his cultivation methods encouraged constant movement and interaction with the environment. 

Apart from the trees growing larger, they also grew further apart and farther from the path, as if they’d been systematically beaten back, which they probably had considering the fact that the disciples had just said that these areas weren’t particularly safe. Parts of the sky became visible through the canopy and the children could see the slight elevation of the path as well. Each of them knew that the God Tree Grove was located in a private mountain range and the elevation spelled to them that they were indeed getting close to their destination. 

A couple hours after the elevation started the trees on both sides of the path all but vanished, all at once, and a view of a sprawling mountain range appeared before the eyes of all present. The group stood on a large hill that lead down into a massive valley, filled with buildings that looked like ants from where they were standing, with mountains on either side of the valley. On the outside edges of both sides of the range were giant mountains that reached tens of miles into the skies, with three or four layers of smaller mountains that ranged between 2 and 12 miles high. Most of the mountains close to the valley were covered in what seemed to be caves and large shelves, for lack of a better word. Several of the mountains also had flat tops, as if they had been shaved off by a sword.

“That, is the god tree grove. We should reach the initiation area before dinner time so everybody keep your rumbling stomachs at bay and let's head out.” The two disciples seemed to be just as excited about the fact that they were returning home as the children were excited to finally have reached the sect. Nobody present had thought that they were going to spend nearly five months marching across the country but the majority of the group had made it anyways.

Sure enough, a few hours later the group was close enough to the sect to see the various disciples running to and fro, carrying about their daily tasks as expected of them. The group stood around for a few minutes as one of the disciples ran off to find the people in charge of indoctrination. They returned shortly thereafter, followed by an older looking boy, probably early twenties, with a balding head and an annoyed look on his face. 

“Seriously, Rai, you couldn’t have just waited a couple more weeks and showed up with the rest of the semi-annual influx? Or, I don’t know, not have missed the teleportation window? What a headache.” A few of the kids in the group with better hearing, Feng Jiao included, could hear the baldie grumbling as he approached alongside Elder Nufang’s aide, who was apparently named Rai. To be honest, Jiao’s hearing wasn’t actually all that good but he’d gotten into the habit of keeping Qi circulating through his meridians since breaking through to the ninth step of Awakening. With every meridian open, there was almost no drain for circulating the Qi so long as one wasn’t straining the meridian, the passive cost was easily ignored so long as one cultivated diligently. 

“There were circumstances that caused us to miss the teleported, surely you got news of this months ago!” Rai rolled her eyes and brushed off the baldie. The two obviously had a repertoire and this appeared to be his normal mood. 

“Yeah, yeah. Something about some idiot who managed to strain himself to the point he wasn’t safe for teleportation. Whatever. We’ll talk later, are you free for dinner?” 

“I’ll find you later, I have to go find Senior Nufang now.” Rai coltishly brushed off the baldie and fled into the distance as he continued to walk toward the group. ‘People are so weird,’ Jiao couldn’t help but think to himself.

“Alright, children, I want you to separate yourself into groups. If there is anyone here who has already stepped out of the Awakening stage, separate yourself from the group. Step nines, line up in the front, eights behind them, so on and so forth. If you can’t count, sit down and I’ll get to you. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I think you might have followed the wrong group.” The baldie didn’t bother introducing himself, which was fine as Feng Jiao had already assigned him a name mentally, before ordering the children around.  

* * *

Elsewhere, two days ago.

A woman in her early twenties stood at the end of a dining table. Her face was devoid of emotion but her eyes were screaming their reluctance to the skies. Even with a dead look on her face, she was a beauty to behold, with flawless skin and a great figure. The room was silent apart from a lightly crackling fire off to one side and the faint sound of the beauty grinding their teeth.

“You should be bowing, Mudan. Surely you know how protocol works.” A seated figure spoke out from the other end of the dining table. Although she looked like she was still an early teenager, her demeanor and the cool look in her eyes told an observer that she was much older. In front of her was a cup of steaming tea as well as her hands folded. 

“Where is the Sect Master? I don’t believe for a second that she would have left an old hag like you in charge, even if it was only of the Lower Sect. Where is Grand Elder Longya? He was next in line for the Lower Sect Leader position.” Nufang Mudan practically spat out her words. Although they were questions, they rang in the ears like venomous accusations. 

“Petty insults, like usual. The Sect Master has finally adopted a legacy disciple. Before going into seclusion to train said disciple, she cleaned up all of the trash that had been accumulating in the lower sect before disguising herself. She knew that Lower Sect Leader Choi was getting on in his years and forced him into seclusion, he will either breakthrough or die. She also knew that you and your faction had been scheming to wiggle their way into power, so she sent ‘Grand Elder’ Longya away on an extended mission fit for a perverted old man like him. 

“Although you’re a little schemer, you never technically broke any sect rules. As such, Mudan, I won’t be punishing you for your little failed plot. I will, however, be removing your Elder status, as I am sure you knew I would. Elder status is for those who have reached the end of their path, or done great deeds for the sect. You are neither of those things and got granted your status from Longya for, well let's just call it less than honest service. Anyways, congratulations on your admittance to the Higher Sect, Inner Disciple Mudan. Don’t worry about collecting your things from your Immortal Dwelling, I had them all moved a month ago.”

Nufang Mudang stood at the end of the table, red in the face at the accusations and injustice. She knew, however, that there was nothing that she could do about the matter. She could stand there and argue that she never did anything illicit with the Grand Elder, but little hag in front of her already knew that. Nufang also knew that she really had schemed to obtain her position, and that scheming was at an end now. She could only hope that she’d planted enough seeds already to reap a harvest later.