by Imperfection
When Lü Yang stepped out of the meditation chamber, he was startled to find someone already waiting outside the door.
His heart jolted. The visitor wore black Daoist robes, his expression cold and sinister. It was none other than the black-robed Daoist who had assigned him to the Joyful Union Hall.
"Greetings, Senior Brother." Lü Yang hastily bowed.
"You're quite impressive. A real talent."
The black-robed Daoist smiled, his eyes narrowing. "I originally came because I heard Yu Suzhen had lured a rather capable young man into her chambers and that her breakthrough to Qi Refinement was all but certain."
"I never expected that venomous woman would actually fail."
As he said this, the black-robed Daoist regarded Lü Yang with an strange look.
Even someone as worldly and well-traveled as himself couldn't help but feel a touch of admiration.
If this one survives, he'll become a pillar of the Saint Sect.
"Come with me."
The black-robed Daoist's name was Liu Xin, an official disciple of the Inner Sect's Heaven-Mending Peak, one of the four inner peaks. He was responsible for guiding newly promoted disciples and explaining the sect's affairs.
"The four outer halls correspond to the four inner peaks."
As they walked, Liu Xin explained with evident interest. "Aside from the Sacred Fire Cliff where the Sect Master resides, the four inner peaks form the backbone of our Saint Sect."
"Since you came from the Joyful Union Hall, you'll naturally enter my Heaven-Mending Peak. I'll take you to have your name transferred in the registry first."
Having someone to guide him was more than welcome. "Thank you, Senior Brother Liu."
"It's nothing more than my duty."
Liu Xin replied indifferently. "After we update the registry, I'll take you to the other three halls. There are quite a few benefits for official disciples. Consider them a welcome gift from the sect."
"Per the rules, each official disciple may claim them only once." A hint of melancholy crept into Liu Xin's expression. "Once you've entered the inner sect, if you want anything of comparable quality, you'll have to complete missions issued by the Sect and earn Contribution Points to exchange for them."
Lü Yang furrowed his brow. "Contribution Points?"
"It's the currency issued by the sect," Liu Xin explained. "After you update the register, you should be able to see it on your disciple token."
Intrigued, Lü Yang followed Liu Xin to update his registry.
The process was surprisingly simple. It amounted to moving the life lamp he had lit upon entry from the Outer Sect area to the Inner Sect area.
Afterward, Lü Yang channeled a wisp of True Qi into the token at his waist. Characters immediately surfaced on its face:
Official Disciple: Lü Yang.
As an official disciple, the Saint Sect grants you a complimentary 50 Contribution Points. Contribution Points may be exchanged for spirit stones, cultivation techniques, spiritual artifacts, cultivation cave dwellings, and more.
Upon entering the Inner Sect, you will be required to pay Contribution Points to rent a cultivation cave dwelling. Rent is 30 Contribution Points per month. Alternatively, you may purchase a cave dwelling outright. As a newly inducted inner disciple, you are eligible for a 20% discount on the down payment if purchased within ten years.
There were over a dozen pages of similar introductions.
After reading through them carefully, Lü Yang arrived at a single conclusion. The Inner Sect runs entirely on money.
With Contribution Points, the world was your oyster: cultivation techniques, pills, Spiritual Treasures, all available at your fingertips. Without them, you couldn't take a single step. You couldn't even afford a cave dwelling.
At the same time, Lü Yang now understood what Liu Xin had meant by "benefits."
Every registered disciple, upon promotion to official disciple, could use their disciple token to select one Spiritual Treasure from the Artifact Refinement Hall, one pill from the Alchemy Hall, one spiritual beast from the Beast Taming Hall, and one Dual Cultivation Cauldron from the Joyful Union Hall, all free of charge.
When you put it that way, they really are benefits.
On a whim, Lü Yang used his disciple token to open the list of items available for Contribution Points. Row after row of text appeared on its surface.
The cheapest cultivation techniques, spiritual artifacts, pills, spirit beasts, and cultivation cauldrons all started at 100 Contribution Points.
By contrast, the mission rewards offered within the sect were pitifully meager, almost all single-digit amounts. Anything reaching double digits was a rarity.
From this, he could see that the free four-piece set for new official disciples was worth at least 400 Contribution Points, a massive sum even for an official disciple.
Lost in thought, Lü Yang followed Liu Xin to the Artifact Refinement Hall.
The man who greeted them was named Chen Hao, a steward of the Artifact Refinement Hall and reportedly an official disciple himself. Serving as the hall's steward was his assigned mission.
According to Liu Xin, fixed-position missions like this were the most lucrative in the Inner Sect. Not only did they pay generously in Contribution Points, often enough to sustain an official disciple on a single assignment, but they were also stable. An iron rice bowl, as the saying went. Unfortunately, with so many monks and so little porridge, you couldn't land one of these posts without the right connections.
"Senior Brother Liu! It's been a while."
Stepping into the Artifact Refinement Hall, Lü Yang noticed that Chen Hao first sized him up with a glance before turning to Liu Xin with a warm smile. "Bringing another new disciple?"
"That's right."
Liu Xin grinned, his words carrying a hidden meaning. "Now that you know, why don't you hurry up and bring out the Artifact Refinement Hall's finest spiritual artifacts for Junior Brother Lü to inspect?"
"Right away!"
Chen Hao nodded eagerly, then led the group into the hall's inner courtyard. But as they walked, Lü Yang frowned in confusion.
"This is... a disciple's cultivation chamber, isn't it?"
If we're picking out spiritual artifacts, shouldn't we be heading to a storehouse of some kind?
Chen Hao looked puzzled for a moment, then understanding dawned on his face. He laughed heartily. "Junior Brother Lü, you don't know? All the finest artifacts are right here."
Before the words had fully left his mouth, the three of them stopped in front of a cultivation chamber.
"The Junior Brother in this room has been here for a long time. Three years as a registered disciple in the Outer Sect. Unfortunately, he was a bit stubborn and went astray in his cultivation..."
With that, Chen Hao pushed the door open.
Inside, Lü Yang saw a Daoist seated cross-legged on a meditation cushion at the center of the room, eyes shut tight, lips moving in an incoherent mumble as though lost in a dream.
"Almost... I'm almost there..."
Chen Hao formed a hand seal. The Daoist's eyes snapped open. The vacant look on his face gave way to wild, ecstatic joy.
"Haha! This Daoist has succeeded!"
BOOM!
Before the words had even faded, his entire body exploded. Flesh and blood scattered in every direction, then reversed course and flowed back, fusing into the skeleton that remained in place.
In moments, a living person had vanished.
In his place, a crystalline bone sword, jade-white and segmented in perfect order, settled gently onto the meditation cushion. It radiated the unmistakable glow of a magical implement.
Chen Hao stepped forward, picked up the bone sword, and handed it to Lü Yang. He nodded with satisfaction. "The spiritual artifact 'Bone Jade Sword.' Even in the Compendium of a Hundred Treasures, this would rank as superior grade. This Junior Brother was truly a talent. After so many years of painstaking cultivation, his skill is refined. Otherwise, the artifact's spiritual light wouldn't be this pure."
Lü Yang: "..."
Looking at the Bone Jade Sword in Chen Hao's hand, then recalling what had befallen him in his previous life, Lü Yang felt a chill seep into his bones. His understanding of the Primordial Saint Sect's ways deepened with each passing moment.
It all boiled down to eight words: the weak are prey for the strong, and nothing goes to waste.
The sect invested resources in cultivating registered disciples, and in return, those disciples were expected to create value. If they couldn't create value on their own, the sect would create it for them.
Break through and you'd be promoted to official disciple, then naturally everyone is happy.
Fail to break through, and the sect certainly wasn't going to feed you for a lifetime. Naturally, they would recoup their investment from your body, ensuring the sect never operated at a loss.
In the eyes of the Primordial Saint Sect, some disciples were clouds and some were rain. They served different purposes, but all were useful. There was no such thing as waste.
The sect truly lives up to its name.
Lü Yang closed his eyes and let out a long deep breath. Then he reminded himself that he had the Book of a Hundred Lives as a fallback. When he opened his eyes again, his composure had returned.
"What a fine disposition, Junior Brother! Truly an exceptional talent in both appearance and character!"
On the other side, seeing Lü Yang regain his composure so quickly, a flash of surprise crossed Liu Xin's eyes, and the smile on his face grew even brighter.
After that, Lü Yang followed Liu Xin to the Alchemy Hall and the Beast Taming Hall in turn, where he received a Qi Replenishing Pill and a Human-Faced Owl. The former, once consumed, would nourish his True Qi. The latter functioned much like a carrier pigeon; official disciples typically used them to relay messages to one another.
It was only when they reached the final item, the cauldron, that Liu Xin ran into a problem.
"You broke through too quickly, Junior Brother."
Liu Xin shook his head. "You only just entered the Outer Sect and reached Qi Refinement in a single day. That's too fast. The Joyful Union Hall hasn't even prepared the designated cauldrons yet."
"How about you wait a few days?"
A cauldron was the last thing Lü Yang cared about. He cupped his hands at once. "I'll leave everything to your arrangement, Senior Brother."
Liu Xin broke into a hearty laugh, then produced a jade slip and pressed it into Lü Yang's hand. "This is the secret true art of my Heaven-Mending Peak. Take it back and cultivate it well."
Lü Yang accepted the jade slip and immediately channeled his spiritual sense into it.
In the next second, an incredibly complex cultivation technique flooded his mind.
The Innate Dao Scripture.