Xiao Shan lay in a room that was minimally decorated but luxurious. A marble slab with a thick red mat served as a bed, and a stick of incense burned in a small copper cauldron marked with figures of phoenixes.
The room looked simple, but the elements were aligned to improve spiritual flow and help recovery.
Xiao Shan slowly awoke. His body felt heavy and his head muddled.
He recalled scenes of his last battle. As he opened his eyes, he found the scene unfamiliar, which startled him.
He slowly sat up and looked around. He was sure this was not the examination room anymore. He looked toward the door of the room with confusion.
A sharp pain appeared in his stomach. He remembered the injuries he suffered in the competition.
Noticing that the room was rich in spiritual energy, he decided to cultivate, absorbing and cycling energy through his meridians.
This helped with his recovery. While he spent the next three days healing, he felt conflicted about the examination.
On one side, he felt he did well and was alive. However, he felt like he was not himself. Normally he would not act so boldly and put himself in danger like he did in his last battle.
He felt excitement during battle which felt both familiar and foreign. This confused him.
On the fourth day, a knock on the room's door caused Xiao Shan to open his eyes. "Come in," he called. Xiao Shan stood up. Most of his injuries were suppressed at this point.
The door opened to reveal a smooth and pale hand. A young woman with thick eyebrows came in.
Xiao Shan narrowed his eyes. The woman looked similar to Bao Tie, which made Xiao Shan conflicted.
"Elder Yan is calling for you," the woman said respectfully.
Xiao Shan nodded as he approached the door. "Follow me," the woman said, taking Xiao Shan through a series of halls.
Xiao Shan could see that this building was fairly luxurious. The hall was decorated with marble floors and sets of jade statues of auspicious beasts.
Finally he exited the building, walking toward a pavilion. On the way they passed through a courtyard adorned with beautiful ponds with koi-like fish that swam in a strange rhythmic fashion.
Xiao Shan finally arrived at a pavilion. A middle-aged man in a red robe sat cross-legged at a jade table. The table was adorned with auspicious dragons and emanated a faint spiritual energy.
The man was Bao Yan!
He looked at Xiao Shan and made a gesture indicating for him to sit at the table.
Xiao Shan sat at the table and the woman who guided him courteously left.
Xiao Shan looked at Bao Yan. He could feel certain similarities with Bao Tie, but the aura that Bao Yan had made him feel oppressed.
"Ahem," Bao Yan spoke, breaking the oppressive environment.
"Junior Xiao Shan greets Elder," Xiao Shan said, lowering his head as he nervously greeted the elder.
"Tie'er is currently in closed door cultivation. As his elder, I'll take his place to get you settled into the outer sect."
Xiao Shan was startled. Although Bao Yan had only said a couple of phrases, there was a lot of information to process.
Bao Yan started to serve some tea as Xiao Shan sat pondering.
"Bao Tie went into closed door cultivation? What happened after the last battle?" he thought as his mood sank. Before he lifted his head, "Outer sect! This means I passed the examination." His eyes flashed with renewed enthusiasm.
Bao Yan looked at Xiao Shan as he thought, "This junior is not bad. No wonder the ancestor requested me to take care of this." He served some tea to Xiao Shan and started to drink his own.
Xiao Shan cupped his hands before taking the tea.
He was startled by the tea. It had a soft but earthy flavor. He could feel the warmth of the tea nourish him as it entered his body. "Spirit Tea!"
Bao Yan smiled. Besides his master's simple green tea, Xiao Shan had never had tea like this.
As they finished their tea, Bao Yan spoke. "Return to your recovery abode. In two days we'll go pick up your identity token and get you settled in." He waved and the pale woman who guided Xiao Shan came in to take him back to his room.
After briefly speaking with Elder Bao Yan, Xiao Shan had an idea of what happened after the battle. He fell unconscious and Bao Tie had to take him out. Even though he lost that last battle, he got promoted to outer disciple.
Bao Tie took him to his family for healing. However, Xiao Shan was unclear on why Bao Tie had to enter closed door cultivation. Bao Yan did not elaborate further on that, and Xiao Shan did not dare to ask.
Two days passed in a flash as Xiao Shan cultivated to stabilize his third level of Qi Condensation. The dense spiritual energy in the recovery room made the process easier.
The pale woman from before knocked on Xiao Shan's room again. This time she took him to the south gate where Elder Bao Yan awaited.
Xiao Shan greeted Bao Yan politely. Bao Yan waved his hand, dismissing formalities.
Bao Yan took out a wide flying sword. "Get in," he beckoned Xiao Shan to hop onto the sword.
The flying sword then became a ray of light as it flew from Bao Yan's mansion into the outer sect.
Bao Yan and Xiao Shan landed in front of the outer sect disciple pavilion. In this pavilion, disciples could get their identity tokens, cultivation resources, and other needs.
Bao Yan talked to a middle-aged man tending to the pavilion. He showed his identity token, after which the middle-aged man went into a building and brought out a jade token. He respectfully gave it to Bao Yan.
"Here is your identity token. Imprint it with a blood imprint," he said while marking the jade with his own divine sense.
Xiao Shan's pupils shrank as he saw how Bao Yan marked the jade token with a power he was unfamiliar with. After getting the token, he looked closely at it. He saw a small mark but could not make sense of what it meant.
He looked at Bao Yan and nodded in agreement, then proceeded to the blood imprint ritual.
Once the token was imprinted, some information appeared in Xiao Shan's mind just by focusing on the token.
He could see that he was an outer disciple. He understood that the mark Bao Yan left was an endorsement by the Bao family.
Xiao Shan smiled at Bao Yan. He felt gratitude for the help. He knew the endorsement would likely be helpful in the future.
After settling the identity token, the middle-aged man gave Xiao Shan a couple of spirit stones and a pill.
"This is a spirit recovery pill. You only get one every year. Come back next month for your allocation of spirit stones," the middle-aged man explained.
Xiao Shan felt that the sect was being very generous.
"Now, given that you are a new disciple, you need to choose a cultivation abode. Let me check what's available." The middle-aged man picked a jade from a drawer and looked at it.
He then took out a scroll. He unfurled the scroll onto a table, revealing a map. "Here are some available caves. Here are the ones closest to the Bao territories," he signaled.
Xiao Shan felt like things were going very fast. He was struggling to keep up.
"Which one is the better abode close to the Bao family?" Bao Yan asked.
"This one, brother Yan. I would recommend this one as it has a defensive array and very good spiritual flow," the middle-aged man said as he pointed on the map.
"Good!" Bao Yan replied. The middle-aged man immediately got an access token from a drawer and handed it to Xiao Shan.
Xiao Shan stood dumbfounded as he accepted the token.
"Let's go," Bao Yan said as he hopped onto the flying sword. Xiao Shan followed excitedly.
They flew like a ray of light toward the cultivation abode.
Once they arrived, a simple but elegant stone door stood in front of a small mountain.
Xiao Shan instinctively imprinted the token, then with a thought, the barrier opened the door.
The abode was simple but it had a room for resting, a cultivation room with a mat on top of a familiar spiritual concentration array, and finally, a separate study room furnished with empty shelves.
The overall quality of the furniture was simple compared with Bao Yan's mansion. However, Xiao Shan felt extremely satisfied as he smiled foolishly.
Bao Yan chuckled. "Okay, this old man has to go back to his own business. You can rest and cultivate here. Once you are settled, visit the cultivation pavilion to grab a cultivation technique. Your identity token has a map."
Bao Yan turned back to leave. "Also, once you get techniques, check the disciple pavilion, the place we got your token from, to get missions. Completing them will earn you more resources to cultivate."
As he flew back to his mansion, Bao Yan's voice could be faintly heard. "If you have any trouble, come to my pavilion."
After that, Xiao Shan entered his cave abode. He sat in the cultivation room and started to cultivate while pondering.
"This is going too smoothly!" He felt things had progressed too far. Although he felt very satisfied with his current abode, he was also cautious. Everything seemed too much! He had no idea if this was normal for outer disciples or something else was going on.
As he was cultivating, a person appeared in his mind. "Da He!" Xiao Shan brightened. "I should look for senior brother. He should know more. That would help solve some of my doubts!"
As Xiao Shan cultivated in his cave abode, Bao Yan flew to his mansion.
"This kid is interesting. What the hell happened after he encountered Fan'er?" Bao Yan pondered. "Something happened during the examination. I need to ask around." He looked into the distance.
He thought back to when Bao Tie came back from the examination. He was carrying the unconscious Xiao Shan.
"Uncle Yan, I need to ask for a favor," Bao Tie had said. His demeanor was calm but had an oppressive aura like he would not accept no for an answer. Bao Yan's pupils shrank while looking at Bao Tie.
Bao Tie left Xiao Shan on the floor. As he took some steps back, he spat a mouthful of blood. "I need to go into closed door cultivation. Please help this junior Xiao Shan get settled," Bao Tie said while cupping his hands in gratitude. He then immediately left.
Bao Yan wanted to say something, but Bao Tie left too quickly. He was also confused while looking at Bao Tie's back as he left. He felt he was looking at a completely different person. He clearly saw that he was injured. However, Bao Tie was completely calm.
"His spiritual energy is leaking through his meridians like the Yellow River breaking its banks," thought Bao Yan as he walked back to his quarters. But something felt wrong. The spiritual energy seemed denser than it should be for a failed Foundation Establishment breakthrough.
"Given his state, that can only mean one thing: failed breakthrough..." he paused, frowning. But why had Bao Tie been so insistent about Xiao Shan specifically? And that look in his eyes when he mentioned the boy's name...
He looked at a jade box inside a drawer. The box had a paper talisman attached to it.
Bao Yan opened the box, removing the talisman to reveal a small green bottle inside.
"Take this bottle to Tie'er's closed cultivation room," he spoke. A house servant came to the room, prompted by the message.
"Yes, master," the servant lowered his head and extended his hands to receive the bottle, then walked a few steps backward to leave the room. "Whatever you hear or see now must not be known," said Bao Yan.
As the servant looked up, a tattoo on the left side of his neck flashed with a red light and made a hissing sound. The servant only lowered his head in acknowledgment before turning to leave.
As the servant walked toward Bao Tie's room, he looked at the bottle with surprise. "Foundation Establishment stabilizing pills! Even one of them costs a fortune and this bottle has five of them!" As thoughts raced through the servant's head, the tattoo started to light up, forcing him to abandon any untoward thoughts.
Eventually the servant made it to the door of Bao Tie's room. The room was sealed with an array. "Servant Zhao Yi greets Junior Master Bao Tie," the servant said politely while lowering his head and cupping his hands at the door.
Enough time passed to see an incense stick burn. Seeing no response, the servant took out the bottle. "Master ordered me to bring you these pills to help junior master stabilize your cultivation. Please accept them," he prostrated to the door and put the bottle on the floor.
After a few moments, the door opened with a creaking sound. The servant, unable to resist, took a peek. However, what greeted him was darkness. The room was pitch black. In a blink of an eye, two golden lights appeared.
For an instant, the servant's vision blurred. He saw two figures overlapping in the darkness, both with the same face, but one seemed ancient, as if containing depths that shouldn't exist in such a young man.
A frightening pressure washed over the servant, making him spit blood. But it wasn't just the pressure. Something felt fundamentally wrong, as if reality itself was slightly bent in that room.
"You are not to reveal anything you saw," said a voice coming from the room. The voice carried a duality and authority that seemed to press against the servant's very soul.
As the harsh golden light faded, a pair of golden-tinted eyes could be seen looking at the servant. But behind those eyes, the servant glimpsed something that made his blood freeze: indifference, the kind of indifference that made him feel like he was just an ant and this gaze could erase him at any moment.
The servant shivered as he nodded his head. He felt a burning pain in his forehead as a golden mark appeared and then faded.
The bottle flew toward the room and the doors slammed shut, leaving the servant trembling and drenched in sweat and blood.
As he stumbled away, one thought echoed in his mind before the tattoo's influence suppressed it: "That wasn't Junior Master Bao Tie in there. That was something else entirely."
The servant's eyes turned cloudy for a moment before becoming normal, his mind devoid of any thoughts as he went back to his regular duties.