Kind Cultivation - Chapter 28

“Well, I can tell you that the Revolving Heavenly Light Sect is a Righteous Sect. By that, I don’t mean they are actually righteous, but simply that is the type that they list themselves as. Specifically, righteous sects tend to not use ‘demonic’ techniques, like sacrificing or blood-based ones.

They can be just as evil or conniving as demonic sects, though. On the other side, there are demonic sects that can be righteous and actually are actively helping people.”

So, pretty much it is just what they call themselves. “Alright, so it’s just a name and I should automatically assume anything just because of that. If that’s the case, why do you suggest this one?”

“Well for one, that is the sect that controls this area and is the closest to us. Second of all, they apparently use a combination of quality and quantity-based recruiting. Every year, they will go around to the different cities within their area of control and bring anyone who wants to join the sect back to the sect’s training areas.”

Her cheeks slightly drop, “One thing we have to note though. Every other year, they switch off between quantity and quality recruiting. When they are recruiting for quantity, they have certain requirements for every entry level of their sect. However, they are typically recruiting to bolster up their sect servant and outer court levels, so they accept more people than most other sects would.

During quality recruiting years, they raise the requirements the sect servant and outer court members. During those years, they become really serious about searching for skilled people with strong spirit roots.

To give an example based on what I’ve heard, these are the cutoffs for every level, based on what year it is.”

She then details out the following information:

· Sect Servant

o Quantity: Rose Man 3 and below

o Quality: Rose Man 4 and below

· Outer Court Disciple

o Quantity: Peony Earth 1 and below

o Quality: Peony Earth 3 and below

· Inner Court Disciple

o Quantity & Quality: Orchid Heaven 2 and below

· Core Disciple

o Quantity & Quality: Orchid Heaven 9 and below

She gives a pause, probably unintentionally ominous.

“This year, is a quality year,” she says with a sigh.

Lin breaks the silence, “So, that means he has a chance of becoming an outer court disciple?”

“Supposedly. The information I have is pretty old, so I don’t know whether it’s still true. Not only that, but they may change it from year to year, based on what they are looking for. But that isn’t the real unfortunate part about this. Even as I say that, being an Outer Court disciple is not exactly what you need.”

I can’t help but look up in confusion at that. What’s the biggest difference between an Outer Court and Inner Court disciple?

“If you are just an outer court disciple, you will be given low to average quality items and cultivation techniques. Not only that, but you will have to live in the same buildings and potentially with roommates.” Ah, I can see where she’s going with this.

“I see what you mean now. Essentially, if I’m given smaller amounts of cultivation items, there is no reason I should be standing out as much. Not only that, but if I have a roommate or people I’m living with, then there is a greater chance of some of my abilities being discovered.”

It would be easy to imagine a roommate or even a person the room over, seeing patterns in my actions and getting curious about me.

“You got it. It’s not the best place, but it at least will give you a chance to have an excuse to why you can do something. The real worry will be that someone else will see or catch on to you being vastly different from the norm. However, we don’t really have a choice at this point, since you are a Rose Man 5.”

Ah. Once again, I face a decision. Yeah, I need to let them know that both my abilities allow me to increase spirit roots and that my spirit root is steadily increasing.

“So, I actually have something else to tell you guys then…” A group sigh comes out.

Ai actually puts her hand to her head. “Let me guess this one. You can increase spirit roots with healing?”

Oh, wow. She was actually on point with that.

“Uhh, yeah actually. To be honest, your spirit root was around the Peony Earth 2 range, with Lin’s at Rose Man 6, before I healed you. I’m not exactly sure how it happens, but it appears to raise it in accordance to how healed up you are. Specifically, I guess that it is a byproduct of a person’s body being taken to it’s best state, which to my understanding takes a sizeable portion into how spirit roots work.”

Oh, I should probably also let Gong know what hers is. A glance over a Gong affirms that she is biting her lip in anticipation at me. Most likely in the hopes that I know what hers is. “Oh Gong, yours is Rose Man 8.” I can see her clench a fist and do a tiny fist pump. Looks like that’s something shared between our cultures.

“So, how does that work for yourself?” Lin asks. “Well, I actually hav- feel like my body has a huge healing property. I believe that this allows me to heal automatically from injuries. In a similar way to when I healed you, it seems to also increase my spirit root quality. Based on what I can tell, I think I may be around a Rose Man 6 now.”

Ai responds quickly, “Okay, we can work with this. Do you think it will increase to…” She looks quickly up in thought, then back down to me, “Around the Peony 4 range?”

This might be time to use my scan to find out. Looking into myself, I check to see how long it would take to get up to that level. Or if it even would go up that high. What I find is yes. I can actually get up to there and even further. Ultimately, it will take about a month to reach that level.

I repeat this to everyone and sounds of resignation go throughout the room. This time, it ends a little quicker though.

“Well. This works for us, though. The exam is in just over a month, so it might be close… but it’s the best chance we have. Since this is a small city, the cultivators that come in, will probably only be staying for one full day, before heading back to their sect.”

Ai gives a glance at Lin. “Honestly, I never expected to live long enough to see Lin head to take the cultivator exams. Even though, I put in the ‘good’ plan… the plan with me dying was always the main one.” She looks up at the webbed ceiling. She reaches out for her sisters’ hand, who was already reaching for hers. They both smile at each other, softly. “Onee-sama…”

“It’s… freeing, to know that I won’t have to worry about that anymore. That I don’t have to worry about how much my precious sister would be going through, to even get the exam. Now, I know that her and I will be able to make it in this. And if everything stays the same, all of us could be in the inner court. This is our step to a new and improved life.”

She then turns to Gong, who has a bittersweet smile on. “And so, we come to you, Gong.”

Gong jumps a little at being addressed. Ai continues, “As you already know, there is no way that the sect would accept a demi-human disciple. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t help you from behind the scenes.”

“Though as you might have heard and known, we cannot take home any cultivation techniques to teach you.” Ai gives her a sly smile.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t buy one for you though.”