Chương 7: To Those Who Have Everything

When Paike settled down, he had expected it to take forever to calm himself and fall asleep. But to his surprise, the stress of the day didn't impede his slumber in the slightest. His head hit the pillow, and he stared at the ceiling, wondering if he would ever drift off. Then darkness swallowed him. He found himself once again climbing the stairs to the sect. For some reason, a sword pig ran alongside him while cursing him out.

After an indeterminate period of time, his sister was carrying him, and he watched as his severed hand faded away as they left it behind. All the while, an eerie calm smothered any objection to the absurdity. One dark dream led to another—dreams of failure, disgrace, and letting down his family. He saw his siblings, his parents, and all those who had given him opportunities he didn't deserve, they all turned away and ignored him. They agreed with all his detractors.

He wasn't worth anything and might as well have given up. Perhaps he would have been better off leaving the sect years ago to live as a mortal. To be doomed to never taste the life of an immortal or feel the thrill of qi powering his body like he had dreamed his whole life. His mind suddenly became clear. He was aware of his body in a way that didn't feel like a dream, yet it was apparent he wasn't awake. The wild ride stopped when he found himself in a dark room full of people.

The darkness around them seemed to go on without end, but the space stopped not more than a few steps past the furthest person. There were nine others around him, one of whom was very familiar. Liming gave him a small wave across the room. He attempted to walk over but found that his steps refused to move him in relation to anyone else. Looking around, he studied the others.

They all appeared serious—young children, older children, or young adults, with the classic signs of talented cultivators, those who had awakened early but not so early that it was crippling. He recognized many from descriptions. Han Saiyan was there, glowering at him. Then there were others: a tall boy with a severe face and dark eyes, holding a sword at his hip. Paike wasn't sure which member of the Feng clan he was, but he knew he belonged to them.

A young woman in a dark gown, her face covered, suggested she was affiliated with the Shadow Empress. A boy with glasses, whom he thought might be Wu Chen, a prodigy alchemist he had read about last year. Before he could finish studying the rest of the occupants of the dream space, an elder appeared before them. The disciples of the outer sect turned and gave a respectful bow.

"Greetings, disciples," the Elder said. Her voice rang high and clear, cutting through the dreamlike haze muffling their surroundings.

"Greetings, Elder," they echoed in unison.

"I am Elder Chu, and I am in charge of the outer sect program this year. I will also be teaching the Spiritual Cultivation class during orientation week. You might be wondering why I have pulled you from your beds to meet here." No one spoke, and she continued as if she had never expected an interruption.

"One of the laws of cultivation is that to those who have everything, everything will be given. To those who have nothing, everything will be taken." She paused, allowing the words to sink in.

"We elders like to help those who have helped themselves. Prove that you will use the resources we give you efficiently, and you will receive more. Waste them, and you won't see any more.

"Many will scream that this is unfair and that it makes it impossible for those behind them to catch up. This is simply resentment talking. Certainly, it's more difficult from behind, but why should we waste time helping slackers? Besides, most of you, if not all of you, will hit a bottleneck at some realm and never advance farther than that. But people need to remember that cultivation is a marathon, not a sprint. Moving up to the next realm is all that matters.

So while we'll help you more than those who do not perform well, it's important to remember that if you get stuck, slow down, or stumble, you will be left behind." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. She said all this with a sweet smile as if her warnings were not just as much a deadly threat. Looking around, Paike could see it having the intended effect. All the serious young cultivators looked even more focused, determined, and unflappable.

He knew that her words would encourage many to make foolish, shortsighted decisions, but that was part of the test, too. All these first-round resources were nothing to the sect, but it was a proving ground. They needed those with ambition who were also willing to look at things in the long term. People who wouldn't crack under pressure but simply became stronger because of it. Maybe there were other ways of doing it. Still, this matched his experience at home reasonably well, so he was comfortable with it.

"Li Feng," Elder Chu called. The serious-looking boy Paike had noted earlier stepped forward.

"You are first. With the fastest time climbing the stairs, you will start at rank one." She handed him a jade token.

"Each of you in the top ten will receive one of these. It is a pass to the archive, where you may redeem it for one common Ruby stage technique. Rewards like this will be available later on, but for now, it will give you a bit of an edge. This isn't to say you should rest on your laurels and hope that the rewards for being highly ranked will push you farther ahead, but rather that you should use it to give yourself enough breathing room to try something more difficult. Never stop exploring."

Zhao Liantian, the affiliate of the Shadow Empress, stepped forward to receive her mark as well. Then, the alchemist, Wu Chen, was followed by a healer named Mei Lingchi. Xia Jun was fifth, and then Kong Liming, his little sister, was the sixth-ranked disciple this year. Paike knew it was coming, but he was still surprised when he was ranked seventh. He stepped forward to receive his own pass. The Elder's words washed over him, a slight ringing in his ears overwhelming his hearing.

He could get a technique right away. He didn't feel ready. He still had so much to do and learn. The token would last, and hopefully, he would be ready soon. Yue Mingli received the eighth-rank token. As she stepped forward, the moon and stars shone down from above. Someone named Ren Shu, wearing martial arts robes, was ninth, leaving Han Siyan to come forward as tenth. His face was red as he absolutely fumed at being the weakest in the room. Paike suppressed a smirk.

After the awards were done, Elder Chu continued to speak.

"Your spot is not secure. The next week will be for orientation, where we will give classes on the basics of spiritual and physical cultivation. But after that, the truce ends. We will no longer be stepping in for excessive conflict. Duels can be issued to challenge someone for their position. You will need to keep your spot and challenge yourself to move up. This will be announced later, but you are receiving special treatment and must be prepared."

Paike felt his brows pinch together in worry as the dream faded around him. He sat bolt upright in his bed, sweat running down his brow as he panted. Swinging his feet to the cold stone floor, he got up and paced. Should I even try to keep my ranking in the top ten? Right now, everyone is level at the start. I'm never going to be able to compete with them as they grow, though. They were all at the Early Ruby stage, but some geniuses spent less than a month in all of Ruby. Would it be better to take it slow?

Paike wondered. Go one piece at a time rather than rush through with shaky foundations? He wasn't sure, but he knew what his sister would do, and he did want to be strong enough to help her for as long as he could. Eventually, he sat down on the side of his bed and closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing and feeling the qi run through the channels he had carved in haste.

Slowly, he began to correct and finish them, realigning the channels closer to his actual shape, pushing the ones near his fingers out a little farther so that they weren't just snarls of tangles at the edges of his hands. The meditation was relaxing, and by the time he opened his eyes, light was beginning to peek through his window. As the dawn came, he decided he would see what would happen and take each challenge as it came. And that first challenge was going to class.