Chapter 5 Hand Over Everything- We Mean Everything!
On the other hand- if one took his character's propensities aside, this was a world rooted in cultivation. And in that case, the usual answer was to completely eradicate your enemies - not even leaving their chickens or dogs alive.
But, Tang Ze was a normal person from Earth and committing what nearly amounted to cold-blooded murder was not something that he could stomach.
Then again, this world might have different mores on what was acceptable or not than the ones he'd read of. Perhaps there was someone they should hand over these people to? And it might even be possible that it would cause even more trouble for someone like Zhang Long if they were to execute these people.
Kindness or cruelty - which path was it?
"Um, Zhang Long," Tang Ze said. "What should we do with them now?" Given the fact that he had no real idea how to proceed, he was fully willing to trust Zhang Long here, who would know better than him what the right answer would be.
"Alright," Zhang Long said. "Given that you came into our territory and tried to steal from us, I think it's fair that you give us everything that's yours."
"Of course! Of course!" Li Wei said, turning out his pockets, and throwing various things onto the ground that Tang Ze did not recognize, but looked to be important.
"And we'll be taking your horses too," Zhang Long said.
"It is my great fortune that my sect's animals will be taken care of by such talented fighters!"
Tang Ze sighed. He was used to reading about such shameless turnarounds from characters in the web novels he had read back on Earth, but to see it in person gave him secondhand embarrassment. "Of course - tell whoever sent you here that if I ever spot you on this side of the mountains again, I will find whoever sent you, and they will indeed be a victim of my technique. Even if they're a woman, I'll shove Yin-Yang Pills down their throats and then use it!"
Once again, he was bluffing as he didn't even know if such pills existed in this world, but based on how Li Wei's face paled, he figured he had hit the mark.
Li Wei was shuddering - it was normal for rival sects to hurl insults at each other. 'Courting death!', 'I will slaughter your family till nine generations!', 'I will turn your women into cauldrons!' - these were all standard things that Li Wei had heard and would wash over him like water off a duck's back.
However, what were these lunatics saying? Filling his sinuses with cow urine? Turning the female members of his sect into men and then using [Monkey Stealing Peaches]?
How had he found himself in such a situation?
Regardless, the important thing was that he could leave with his life.
So long as his life was safe, Li Wei could always plot revenge later on in the future.
As he went to grab some of his unconscious comrades and carry them away, a voice yelled out, "Stop!"
He froze.
What did they want now?
"We said give us everything and that means everything," Zhang Long said. "That includes your clothes- you can walk back to your sect naked!"
With all of that wrapped up, Zhang Long and Jin Zhen mounted their freshly stolen liberated horses with the rest of the horses trailing behind them. These horses had been reared as a group, and by instinct chose to stick to each other.
"Ah, will you not take a mount?" Jin Zhen asked Tang Ze.
"I uh, actually don't know how to ride a horse," Tang Ze said. It wasn't like that was something that was useful back on Earth, and he didn't fully trust them as it was.
These horses were more intelligent than horses back home, it seemed, but that also meant that they were more crafty. Who knows what kind of horseplay they might be planning? What if they tried to take revenge for their original masters?
He would honestly just rather fly alongside the other two, though at a low enough altitude so that he could easily speak to them.
"Oh? That's rather odd…" Jin Zhen said. In this world, a man who didn't know how to ride a horse was like a man who didn't know how to ride a bicycle back on Earth.
"I doubt it," Zhang Long said. "Think about it - if you could fly, why would you even want to know how to ride a horse?"
"Ah! That explains it!"
Tang Ze took some time during their journey back to try to learn a bit more about this world.
At first, Zhang Long was a bit wary - why was someone at his level asking these kinds of questions? Was this some kind of test to see how good that Zhang Long was?
"Oh, I'm not a cultivator yet," Tang Ze explained, when Jin Zhen just asked him straight up why he didn't know the basics when he was supposedly so powerful.
"What?! But then - how did you...?" Zhang Long mused. "Are you a mage?" He had heard of people known as mages who used something called 'mana' to warp the world around them. They were quite different from cultivators - though Zhang Long had not met one before. However, cultivators and mages generally did not get along very well from what he had heard.
"Ah, no," Tang Ze said. "Actually - maybe what I said earlier wasn't fully right. I am a cultivator, I guess, based on my talent, but.... not in the normal sense I guess?"
Tang Ze tried to tell Zhang Long a bit about his talent (though not too much, he didn't fully trust Zhang Long as of yet). Zhang Long didn't understand it very well, so instead the topic shifted to how normal cultivation worked in this world.
Tang Ze had some idea already about things based on the names of what he'd heard up till now - like Qi Condensation which was a realm he'd heard of many times in some of the web novels he used to read, but he wanted to actually know what they meant and if there were any gaps in his knowledge.
Cultivation was divided into major realms with each major realm being split into ten minor realms - that was rather standard.
Some of the names were unfamiliar to him though - Zhang Long knew of seven; Qi Condensation, Qi Refinement, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Eternal Soul, Hinayana, and Mahayana. There might be realms beyond that as well, but there seemed to be no information on them.
It took Zhang Long a few times to explain things in a way that Tang Ze could understand.
While Tang Ze had been far from the ideal student back in his old world, he had been reasonably good at mathematics. It was one of the few things that he generally could understand somewhat without having to put in too much effort - which is ultimately why he had been somewhat fond of the subject.
As such, Tang Ze made his own summary inside his head which was easy for him to understand.
If each major realm was assigned a value of 'N' starting with Qi Condensation being N = 1, then each minor realm within that major realm would increase one's strength by a value of (10 x N) percent.
In other words, at Qi Condensation, going up a minor realm would increase one's strength by 10%. While this did not sound like much, there was also the fact that this was compounded, meaning that by the time one reached the final realm of Qi Condensation, one would not be twice as strong, but rather, about two and a half times as strong as they would be at the first minor realm.
Each major realm though, increased one's strength by a factor of 'N', as in, going to the initial stage of Qi Refinement from the final stage of Qi Condensation doubled one's strength.
So, the difference in strength between a cultivator at the initial minor realm of Qi Condensation and that of one at the initial minor realm of Qi Refining was: 1.110 x 2
Zhang Long had said that the value was about five times, which was correct once Tang Ze tried to do the math himself.
Then, at Qi Refining, each minor realm was a 20% boost compared to the last one, and going up to Golden Core was a 300% boost on top of that.
That led to a Golden Core cultivator being sixty times stronger than they had normally started out! And this number went up to over three thousand times one's base strength at the Nascent Soul stage!
By the time one reached the Nascent Soul stage, a minor realm was equivalent to forty percent in terms of strength compared to the last minor realm. At that point, even a few minor realms would equal a significant increase in one's strength and the difference of a single minor realm could greatly influence the outcome of a fight.
However, going up the realms was also more difficult the more that one progressed, and this too increased in a cumulative fashion rather than linearly. It was said that it was almost harder to go up a minor realm of Golden Core than it was to get from Qi Refining to Golden Core in the first place, which was something that one of Zhang Long's sect elders had told him once.
Regarding mages, Zhang Long had very little idea whatsoever on that topic, so he couldn't tell Tang Ze anything regarding the same.
However, these 'power adjustments' in terms of numbers really didn't really capture the full strength of cultivators - it was more the floor of their abilities rather than the ceiling.
Starting at the Qi Refinement stage, they could use Qi in their attacks to a minor extent, and for other purposes like healing as well. According to Zhang Long, since the people Tang Ze had beaten were near or beyond the Qi Refinement stage, they could heal things like normal fractures in a matter of days, so long as the wounds had not also been made with Qi.
Tang Ze didn't know how to do that, so he guessed that they would soon be back in fighting shape before the week was over.
At the Golden Core stage, many... interesting things began to happen in terms of the ways that one could use Qi. To the point that a Golden Core cultivator could kill tens of thousands of mortals even at the initial minor realms of Golden Core - and if Zhang Long was to believed, a near infinite number at the higher minor realms of Golden Core.
"Infinite? Isn't that saying a bit much?" Tang Ze asked.
Zhagn Long shook his head. "At that point, they can harden their body passively through Qi to the point where nothing weak can even get through - or they'll heal faster than any mortal, heck, any Qi Condensation rank cultivator could even hurt them. So yeah, in theory, could take on a limitless number of such foes."
Regarding the Nascent Soul stage, Zhang Long belonged to an outer branch of the sect, and as such, there were no such people there, though at the sect's main headquarters you could find a handful of such people.
As for Eternal Soul realm, only three of the eight sects had even a single person at that level - neither the Rising Phoenix sect nor the Diamond Dust sect were among those three.
Both the Rising Phoenix sect and the Diamond Dust sect were middling sects in terms of power, they would both be ranked around four or five out of eight as per Zhang Long (though Zhang Long did say that he believed the Rising Phoenix Sect should be ranked higher, he was somewhat of a biased source so Tang Ze chose to take this with a pinch of salt). The Imperial Family also had one Eternal Soul realm cultivator among them, bringing the total number of Eternal Soul cultivators in the country to a total of four.
The Raswatian Empire had only had four Hinayana realm cultivators in its entire one hundred-thousand-year history - or put more simply, such an individual seemed to emerge about once every twenty-five thousand years; would wander the mortal realm for about ten thousand years, and would go down in the history books of the empire as one who had made great contributions to the country.
No such cultivator currently lived, however. As for the Mahayana Realm, it was said that it existed, but outside of stories and the like there was no evidence for the existence of a cultivator who had reached it. Extrapolating from what they knew about Hinayana Realm cultivators, however, it was estimated that one would probably arise every half a million to one million years or so.
Chapter 6 Elder He Xuan
Regarding the rest of the country and the world at large, Zhang Long didn't have much knowledge regarding them firsthand. He had lived in the region that the Rising Phoenix Sect controlled his whole life, with the majority of that time living in the village he was born in.
However, from what Tang Ze understood based off of Zhang Long's descriptions, just the land area that the Rising Phoenix Sect controlled would make it the second or third largest country on Earth.
The Raswatian Empire was bordered by two countries - the Theocracy of Serragnia which favored mages over cultivators, and the Parthian Empire which treated both about the same.
All three countries were currently at peace as there was a relative power stalemate between them, though Zhang Long actually knew very little about them - he had rarely concerned himself with anything that fell outside the domain of this outer division of the Rising Phoenix Sect, but any thought that there might be an upcoming war did not even cross his mind as a remote possibility.
There was also the ocean which bordered a side of the Raswatian Empire, though where they lived was very far inland, and Zhang Long had never seen the sea with his own eyes his life.
Beyond the sea though, there was the island nation of Maltonetta, but Zhang Long's knowledge of this was so miniscule as to be practically nonexistent.
This was a lot of information for Tang Ze to take in. It was also apparently not even a fraction of what cultivation was truly about, but he couldn't be expected to learn about that so quickly, now then could he?
As an analogy, it was like he had only just learned to count while other people were already doing trigonometry. If he tried to understand things on their level, it would be a pointless endeavor that would only serve to confuse him. It would be like trying to drink from a fireman's hose.
He would need to start at the basics - the very basics. The few lines he had read in some web novels back on Earth likely didn't amount to anything when compared to what actual cultivation entailed, if they were even slightly accurate to this world at all.
"So... about the Rising Phoenix sect," Tang Ze said after some contemplation. "How would one go about becoming a member?"
He had thought of joining for the simple reason that he had just spawned into this world without any real backing.
His body was still the same from back home, and certainly did not belong to any ancient bloodline. Forget that, he didn't have any family here in this world.
And without some kind of backing, whether from family or from a sect, it was nearly impossible to move up in this world, or so he understood. As a matter of fact, extrapolating on his knowledge from back home, familial ties were extremely important in this kind of day and age. Without any, he would be a sitting duck and face problems at nearly every turn.
He also needed time to get more materials and the like for making costumes, and someone to teach him about the world while he got stronger.
Not to mention, he needed somewhere where he would be safe from threats like wild beasts and rogue cultivators as well.
And if he was going to join a sect, well, Diamond Dust was likely already out given what he had done, so it made sense to go with somewhere he might already have an 'in' with so to speak - depending on how much clout Zhang Long had in the sect.
"Ah? You? Wish to join?" Zhang Long asked. He really hadn't bought Tang Ze's story completely given how outlandish what he had heard was, but the more that Tang Ze asked questions that even a toddler would know the answers to, the more he had a suspicion that he wasn't faking this.
Obviously, had he genuinely been a Nascent Soul cultivator there was no question as to whether or not he could get into a sect - they would on the contrary be fighting over each other to recruit him!
But, that did not seem to be the case.
"Well, if you don't have any family members or anyone else you know within the sect..." Zhang Long began. "Well, there is a fee and an entrance exam, let me ask the division elder if you can take it at some point."
A fee? Tang Ze did not have a coin to his name.
"Ah, don't worry about the fee," Zhang Long said. "What you got from them should more than enough cover it. As for the exam... again, I need to ask around." Zhang Long honestly did not have much influence in the sect - he was just an Initiate, which was the lowest level within the sect hierarchy. A reference from an Initiate wouldn't carry much weight.
To advance from an Initiate, one either needed to either reach Qi Refinement stage or give thirty years of service to the sect. After that they would become a regular member, and could try to vie for a position like that of a sect prefect. To become a sect elder required one to be at the Golden Core realm.
Still, having a reference from Zhang Long was better than him just randomly showing up at the sect door with nothing else in hand.
"What are you doing?" Jin Zhen asked, curious as to why Tang Ze was examining the clothes they had looted from the Diamond Fortune's Sect so closely.
"I wanted to see if there was anything that I could use," Tang Ze said, trying to get a feel for the fabric. "What are these things made of?"
"Silk, and if they're especially of high quality, they'll be woven in with Qi between the threads or made from special Heavenly Silkworms - though I doubt small fry like them had the money for things like that," Zhang Long said.
"Hmm..." Tang Ze said. He wanted to work on the costume he had right now, and spandex was what you would really want for something like it, though he doubted he could get something like that in this world. Other synthetic fabrics like nylon or polyester would also be out of the question.
Silk could be dyed to somewhat look the same, but it wouldn't feel the same, and Tang Ze had a feeling that it wouldn't count as a very good costume.
How exactly did the intricacies of his talent work? Was it more important that his cosplay look like the real thing, or that it was made of material that was close to the original thing?
Tang Ze was not a stranger to trying to make costumes himself - he had had an interest in doing so ever since he had made masks out of paper back when he was four.
However, he was not used to making them entirely from scratch. While repairing tears or making some alterations were within the scope of what he could do, he tended to outsource the harder parts to other people, or buy them from suppliers.
Such luxuries would not be present in this world, so he would need to learn to be his own tailor if he intended to use his talent to its full extent.
...
How strange...
It felt so strange for Tang Ze to want to make costumes again. Who knew that his experience with the same would end up being so useful?
He had nearly given up on his hobby completely back on Earth. How long had it been since he had last indulged in it?
Of course!
Two years.
Two very long, painful years filled with regret.
"Is something wrong?" Zhang Long asked. Tang Ze's face had suddenly taken the expression of one at the funeral of a very dear friend.
"No, I was just ah - reminded of something unpleasant," Tang Ze answered, shaking his head.
They reached Zhang Long's village by sundown, after which he said he had to go back to his sect to finish his delivery and his mission - though he said he would try to put in a good word for Tang Ze when he got there, and send word back if the sect might be amenable to taking him in.
During such time, Tang Ze spent time with Jin Zhen's family, who were more than happy to temporarily take him in.
Word did get back to him eventually that the Rising Phoenix Sect was willing to consider taking him in as a disciple, and he needed to start getting ready - as a week later was when he had the sect entrance exam!
His days were filled with working tirelessly on his costume. Fabrics and dyes were not easily available where they were - but he had to try his best.
A week later, Elder He Xuan watched from a mountain top. He cast an imposing figure, being one of the two Golden Core cultivators in this branch of the Rising Phoenix sect. He was also the branch elder, meaning he had total authority over this branch.
This was not the usual mountain that the Rising Phoenix sect used for the sect entrance exam - they'd normally use a low hill or something less difficult.
However, word had reached him of this particular man's feats, and he wished to see how he would deal with something like this.
The mountain by itself was nothing too significant - a man could make his way to the top within two days or so with ease. Even a mortal could do it, provided that they could avoid the myriad number of beasts that were living on it.
That was to say nothing of the number of traps that Elder Xe Huan had had the Rising Phoenix Sect members laid out for this person who wished to join.
Moreover, Tang Ze would not be given two days to reach the peak- he had to do so by sunset. All the while avoiding the wild animals and the traps that had been set up by the sect.
There were several Qi Refining rank cultivators lurking on the mountain as well - they were not there to obstruct Tang Ze in any capacity, but would intervene should his life be put in danger.
Elder He Xuan was not looking to kill the man, if he was indeed as interesting as Zhang Long made him out to be.
Alongside Elder He Xuan was Zhang Long, who had been a bit surprised when he had been asked to be here.
For one, it was very odd for Elder He Xuan to supervise an entrance test himself. Usually he would send one of the prefects to do so instead as he had more important things to do.
As it was, Golden Core cultivators were the pillars upon which the sects were built. They were strong enough to actually matter significantly, and were also numerous enough to fill in various positions over the Rising Phoenix Sect's vast domain. Qi Refinement and below level cultivators were too weak for some tasks, and Nascent Soul and higher ranked cultivators were so few in number it was impossible for them to cover a large area. Not to mention they were often tied up in difficult tasks or had gone into seclusion to cultivate for long stretches of time which could occasionally be as long as several decades.
If one was good at managerial tasks, they could apply for and reach the position of prefect after they had become a regular member - but the real power always lay in the hands of the elders, who were at minimum Golden Core cultivators. Nascent Soul and higher ranked cultivators, although important, were so few in number and rather inaccessible to the ordinary members and people, so it was the Golden Core cultivators who oversaw the majority of the actual functions of the sect.
Not to mention that it was at Golden Core that one's lifespan truly began to extend significantly.
The best Qi Refinement cultivators could live for about one hundred and eighty years if they were careful, while at Golden Core lifespans averaged around five hundred years. This meant that Golden Core cultivators were also around for far longer than those of the lower cultivation realms.
As such, they were rather busy even if they weren't division heads - so why would Elder He Xuan come out to oversee this entrance test himself?
Then again, he had been rather interested earlier when Zhang Long had described how Tang Ze's powers worked.
"Hmm…" Elder He Xuan had said at the time. "I have heard of something somewhat similar - there are some tribes near the border who make animal masks, some of which carry the property of granting one the abilities of said animals when worn. This seems to take things a step further, though."
Maybe Elder He Xuan just wanted to see Tang Ze's powers in action?
Well, Zhang Long felt slightly uneasy right then. Because he had 'overlooked' one fact when describing Tang Ze's abilities in his report.
Tang Ze walked to the starting point.
He had worked almost night and day on this new costume over the past week - and had verified via Zhang Long that nothing he was going to do was against the sect rules.
He could wear whatever he wanted during the entrance test, so the costume was fine.
Overall, Tang Ze was not truly satisfied with what he had made.
The cape was the easiest part - just requiring a large red cloth. But the rest of the actual costume as well as the symbol on the torso - that had required more work from him.
For one, the years of him not working on this hobby had showed when he was trying to make the costume - he was out of practice, in other words.
He also did not have some of the reference materials he would have back home to use while making it, and though he had a good idea of it from his memory, he constantly wished he would just have a picture to compare it to.
Chapter 7 Sect Entrance Exam
Additionally, the tailors here, while helpful, did not fully understand what Tang Ze needed.
The barber had been a bit more helpful. 'Are you sure you want me to cut your hair even shorter?' the barber had asked, to which Tang Ze had nodded. His hair was a bit overgrown as he hadn't had a haircut sometime back on Earth, but nowhere near the level to which men in this world kept it. His hairstyle needed to be modified as well for the cosplay though, not to mention, he could always regrow his hair back longer as seemed to be the custom in this world.
Thankfully his hair was already black, meaning that hair dye or a wig was not necessary. He also didn't need contacts as his eyes matched the color needed as well. But he had had difficulty assembling some of the other parts.
Still, the overall costume was… very lackluster from his own point of view. The symbol on the chest was slightly off-center and something about it seemed wrong though he couldn't quite put his finger on what that was. A lack of references likely contributed to that.
The boots were also not made of what he would've wanted, but he could not find the required materials in this world. They were also out of shape and not the right fit for him, with him having to tie them to his feet with ropes so they wouldn't fly off them.
His costume was basically held together with duct tape and prayers - not actual duct tape mind you, that might've been useful, but it was not as structurally sound as he'd have hoped.
It could probably not handle a large amount of strain, which was fine if this was back on Earth and he was only doing something like a photoshoot, but it was important for Tang Ze that his costumes be durable and easy to move about in, two things that this one lacked.
Not to mention there would be no photo editing he could do to make things look better in post. A lot of the more impressive cosplays you find online definitely have a touch of special effects added to them.
It was clear that even his natural talent thought that this was not a very good imitation, as he had access to only fifty-five percent of the character's powers.
Still, it was far better than simply taking a red towel and wrapping that around his neck for sure. And even around half of this character's strength, well, it would take him very far. So long as his costume held up, that is.
The entrance test began the moment the sun crested the horizon, and as Tang Ze basked in its glory as it cleared the horizon, he tried to put the doubts about his costume behind him.
Yes, he might've not been able to make what he really wanted to - but it wasn't like this was the end of the road.
He could improve - no, he would improve on the design!
He would find better materials!
Not only that, but he would continue to add the strength of these characters to his own so he could use them when he wasn't even wearing his costume. If he could cultivate on top of that, who knows what the limits of his power would be?
After all, wasn't the best part of being reincarnated like this the fact that he could start over? Even if he hadn't been proud of what he had done in his last life, he could look forward to a new start in this one.
And with that, his feet began to hover off the ground, and as the sun completed its climb, basking the world in its radiance, Tang Ze launched himself into the air.
"What?!" Elder He Xuan exclaimed. He looked over at Zhang Long, who was trying to appear as innocent as possible. "Zhang Long, did you know about this?"
Zhang Long shook his head. "Elder He Xuan, I am as shocked as you are!" If he had told people that Tang Ze could fly, thereby making all the preparations they had done for this test meaningless, they would have found some other way to test Tang Ze.
And that might've been a test where Tang Ze's powers could not help him.
This however, ensured Tang Ze's success. Which is why Zhang Long had chosen to omit that crucial piece of information in the first place.
Tang Ze actually ended up vastly overshooting his mark and ended up far above the clouds in a single breath's time - the disparity in power that this costume provided compared to before was immense and so he was not used to it, and he took a minute to control himself and land at the mountain's peak.
And with that, he was done with the sect's entrance test!
Elder He Xuan, once he got over his shock, had a sordid expression on his face. If Tang Ze or Zhang Long were able to sense Elder He Xuan's Qi, they would sense the man's Qi fluctuating wildly at this point.
But neither Tang Ze nor Zhang Long could feel anything. Zhang Long, because his cultivation level of Qi Condensation did not allow him to sense the Qi of those at the Golden Core realm, and Tang Ze couldn't as he had no practice in the matter.
As He Xuan took a deep breath, curiosity overcame his initial irritation at having gone through the trouble of setting all of this only for Tang Ze man to leap over all the obstacles laid out before him like it was nothing in a heart beat.
Elder He Xuan had to admit, the man's clothes were rather odd. Not in what they were made of - he had initially suspected that there might be some trick involving Qi, suspecting that the clothes were like magical armor or enchanted raiments one could find, though he could feel no Qi between the individual threads.
When Elder He Xuan had come into contact with one of the wandering tribes near the border during his earlier days, he hadn't felt a drop of Qi from their masks either.
They were works of great craftsmanship, undoubtedly so, with the tracings on the wood carvings making them leak an eerie but exalted presence nonetheless. In addition they were adorned with the hair and occasionally bits of fur of the animals they were supposed to represent.
However, when one of the tribesmen had put one on his face, it was as if the mask rippled into life, and Elder He Xuan could actually feel the presence of a lion behind the man! All of a sudden, He Xuan felt a burst of Qi emitting from the man as if a lamp had been turned on bathing a formerly dark room in light.
It was not so here, however.
Elder He Xuan could not feel anything at all from Tang Ze's clothes. There was no sensation of power or strength emanating from him. And yet, they were supposed to be his source of strength?
Tang Ze looked as he was - a guy who was cosplaying as a western-based superhero in a world of Qi and cultivation, standing before the elder of a sect.
In other words, he looked ridiculous - and was closer to seeming like a court jester than a powerful cultivator.
There was truly nothing exceptional about this Tang Ze - that was what Elder He Xuan's spiritual senses told him.
And yet, Elder He Xuan could not deny that he had seen him soar up into the sky just now.
Rather than censure Tang Ze or let his true feeling be known, He Xuan gave a gentle smile instead and said, "Ah, well done Junior Tang Ze! I am quite impressed by your performance! To have cleared this test in so short a span of time - this was completely unexpected! A new record for the sect, as a matter of fact! One I don't think will ever be beaten mind you…"
"I thank you for your kind words, Elder He Xuan," Tang Ze said, cupping his hands and bowing just as Jin Zhen had taught him to.
"Now, as a formality, I would just like to examine your dantian before you enter our sect?" Elder He Xuan said rather casually, though Zhang Long's eyes widened at the request.
The dantian was the key origin of a cultivator's Qi, to ask to examine it was nearly tantamount to asking to examine another cultivator's privates, though in such a situation, it was difficult for Tang Ze to say 'no.'
Tang Ze, however, really didn't understand the significance of this and merely nodded as Elder He Xuan put a hand forward and onto Tang Ze's lower abdomen. Tang Ze, a newcomer to this world, figured this was just part and parcel of joining the sect.
By examining Tang Ze closely, even if he was multiple major realms above Elder He Xuan, Elder He Xuan would be able to detect the flow of Qi within him.
It was only at a distance where people could be fooled, at such a close range, and as long as Tang Ze wasn't doing something funny to obfuscate his own talent, Elder He Xuan would have no problems with his little interrogation.
Elder He Xuan's eyes widened at what he had just found.
He found… absolutely nothing!It appeared that Tang Ze had not even awakened his lower dantian, nor had opened any of his meridians!
If Elder He Xuan did not know any better, he would have guessed that what was standing before him was a corpse - there was no detectable Qi inside this person at all!
And yet, this person was breathing, and He Xuan could feel a pulse, so they were not some zombie-like creature either!
Elder He Xuan would normally interpret this as meaning that Tang Ze was, as a matter of fact, doing something that stopped such surveillance methods like what he was doing, but then he decided to take a second look.
Elder He Xuan looked further, and it was then that he found the tiniest spark of Qi - it truly was a spark, it could not even be compared to the dying flame of a candle - that was just how weak it was!
In other words, He Xuan was not being deceived with some kind of technique - it was just that Tang Ze barely had any Qi!
This was nearly inconceivable!
"You are… a Zeroth Realm individual?" Elder He Xuan said once he had found the right words, though they still felt odd in his mouth.
When children were born into this world, their bodies would normally start accumulating Qi from their environment in their lower dantian until it was filled, and after this they would gradually prime their meridians to be ready to enter the first minor realm of Qi Condensation.
This realm that existed before Qi Condensation - well, it couldn't really be called a proper 'realm' in and of itself, but this state- was sometimes called the 'Zeroth Realm.' Few people even had heard of this stage because virtually no adult was at that level.
Babies, by the time they were around one year of age or even sooner if they were born to prodigal parents or in a place where the Qi in the air was thicker, would have their lower dantians completely filled by that time.
As for priming the meridians - that might take a bit longer, say, until one was four or five. But nearly everyone finished this stage by the time they were seven! It was not even something that had to be done consciously, so it was impossible to mess it up.
Tang Ze however, had not been born in this world. And as such, he had not the time to develop these parts of his body, and had to start from scratch.
Granted, he was older, and this process would theoretically be far faster than it would be for a newborn or child, but it would still take time.
He had only been in this world for about a week, after all.
"Tell me something," Elder He Xuan said. "Were you ever injured in a way that reset your meridians?" It was theoretically possible that a major injury or exposure to some kind of poison could derail one's cultivation and send it back to the Zeroth Realm, though Elder He Xuan had never heard of such a case in his entire career. Granted, anything that could drop it all the way down to the Zeroth Realm should've also killed the cultivator in question, but stranger things had happened in this world.
"I… don't think so?" Tang Ze said. He didn't even fully comprehend how the meridians worked or even what they were, but he was relatively certain that nothing had happened to damage his.
"That…" Elder He Xuan began to say. Even if one was just passively absorbing Qi from the environment, much like a plant, they should have been far beyond this level. Going beyond the Zeroth Realm… it was as simple as learning how to properly take a dump!
Anyone who had not reached this level was clearly a hopeless cause.
"I'm sorry," Elder He Xuan said. "I know that you technically passed this exam, but we cannot accept you into the Rising Phoenix sect."
Chapter 8 Elder He Xuan, Please Reconsider!
The result of the entrance test was not what ultimately made the decision whether one could join or not - one could fail it, but if they gave off a good enough of a performance, the prefect could still pass them.
The reverse was also true, but almost never happened.
This was one of those 'almost never happened' scenarios playing out however.
"What!?" both Zhang Long and Tang Ze screamed simultaneously.
"You simply do not have any talent as a cultivator," Elder He Xuan said. He explained to both of them what the Zeroth Realm was.
Tang Ze began to understand why it was that this was going on. Elder He Xuan didn't understand the root cause, but he did. It was because he was from Earth and his body had not had time to acclimatize to the higher Qi density of this world! "Ah- but wait, I can improve! I want to learn!" Wasn't the point of joining a sect to learn to cultivate? So why was he being barred from entry because he had made so little progress?
While Tang Ze was partially correct, even back on Earth, say, for example, you wished to go to Art School to become a painter - you would still be required to demonstrate some proficiency in painting before they would let you in. They would most definitely not take someone who didn't even know how to hold a paintbrush the right way! A creative writing class wouldn't take in someone who was just learning their letters, either, for example.
It was for a similar reason that Elder He Xuan was rejecting him.
Elder He Xuan shook his head. "I'm afraid any resources spent on you would be the equivalent of a ship tossing its cargo into the ocean."
"But, Elder He Xuan, look at how strong he is - and he can fly too!" Zhang Long said.
He Xuan replied, "Strong he may be." He then used a technique - [Gravity Field] which increased the effect of gravity around an area, and Zhang Long fell to one knee. Tang Ze remained standing, able to withstand the increased gravitational force with ease.
Yes, Tang Ze was clearly strong. But…
"[Qi Binding Field]!" He Xuan said, a technique which worked similarly to [Gravity Field], but instead bound one's Qi compared to the user's own.
With that, Tang Ze immediately fell to the ground. His near-indestructibility thanks to his costume meant that it didn't hurt, but he found that he could not move.
"Strength is not just physical strength," He Xuan said. "There are many other forms of attacks - ones that target karma, ones that target the soul, and so on. Given this, just being strong is not enough. You will soon be the victim of a weak spiritual technique which will tear you to pieces if you cannot cultivate no matter how strong you are - and that is the point of a sect, to cultivate! If you are strong physically, join a martial arts dojo or a mercenary group - both might willingly take you! But the sect cannot afford to waste resources on one such as you who is so behind regarding their cultivation." He said this with a gentle but firm tone that implied there was no room for bargaining. "However, I will refund your exam fee. You may rest assured of that. If you manage to progress in your cultivation on your own, however, we may reconsider letting you join in a few years." Elder He Xuan had no obligation to return the exam fees, even if someone failed their fee would be forfeit, but in this case, he felt that that was a reasonable thing to do.
Had it been anyone else's future on the line, Zhang Long would not have dared to speak up to question Elder He Xuan's decision.
But this was Tang Ze, who he owed a great debt to. If he kept his peace right now and remained silent, it would definitely haunt him for the future!
"Elder He Xuan," Zhang Long said. "The Novice Tournament is coming up soon in around a year, and Tang Ze would do well in some of the categories. For that alone, can't we say that any investment in him is worth it?"
Elder He Xuan's eyebrows furrowed.
In this world, resources were not evenly distributed - it could be said that the distribution of resources was far more skewed and uneven in this world than back on even the most unequal nation on Earth. If an economist were to sit down and calculate the Raswatian Empire's Gini coefficient, it would probably come as close to one as was possible.
The philosophy of this world was not 'each according to each individual's needs' but instead 'each according to each individual's abilities.'
In cultivation, the most important thing was resources. Theoretically speaking, even if one lacked talent and was the most hopeless cripple in the empire, if one had all the resources in the world they could still soar to heights that someone with plenty of talent could not.
Of course, such a thing was only theoretical.
Practically speaking, those with talent rose to the top, became powerful, and then hoarded resources, becoming even more powerful thanks to their hoarding, and so on and so forth.
It was the ultimate 'rich get richer' scheme.
The Raswatian Empire followed this principle as well.
The vast majority of territory in the empire was managed by the Imperial Family themselves. They had many areas and resources which were considered to be national treasures when it came to cultivation.
Such areas were places where the Qi in the air was much thicker, or had plants which made excellent pills, or were the territories of very friendly and powerful spiritual beasts. There was also the matter of certain scriptures that helped with cultivation or described powerful techniques.
The Imperial Family took a good portion of the best of these, of course, but there was still quite a bit left over for them to distribute to the sects.
But which sects should get them?
In line with the philosophy of giving resources to those who could utilize them best, the better sects would get better resources.
Of course, this was not done simply in line with philosophy - but also from a pragmatic political perspective.
If the eight sects united, they could easily overthrow the emperor. Yet, by keeping these resources for themselves and distributing them out as rewards, the Imperial Family could play the sects against each other.
If ever a few sects rose up in rebellion, the Imperial Family could bribe the other sects with rewards to turn on those. In this way, the Imperial Family could keep itself in power, while keeping the individual sects under its thumb. And in exchange for these cultivation resources, the Imperial Family could demand the service of the sects in matters such as national security and the like.
Currently, none of the sects was strong enough that they could significantly challenge multiple others, and the only time that had not been so since the empire's founding were the time periods when a Hinayana realm cultivator existed. The first Hinayana realm cultivator was the first emperor himself who had founded the country, and the three others that followed had also left their marks on history before departing this world.
The sects of course, could not compete with each other directly by fighting without causing untold amounts of destruction and collateral damage. What was the point of being king if all that was left was a huge pile of rubble? So the sects competed in other ways.
The tournaments were the best example of how sects were often judged - there were two kinds; the Advanced Tournament, which was for Golden Core cultivators only, and the Novice Tournament for Qi Condensation and Qi Refining stages.
If one was Nascent Soul or higher, one was barred from these tournaments, though such cultivators contributed to their sects in other ways, and would often train the lower-ranked members for these tournaments since they could not directly participate.
The Advanced Tournament was held every twenty years, while the Novice Tournament was held every five years. Naturally, the results of the Advanced Tournament held more weight, but the resources distributed during the Novice Tournament were nothing to scoff at either.
There were twelve events in the Novice Tournament, some of which could be won by mere feats of strength.
If Tang Ze won the first spot in even one of those events, forget about the rewards, just the amount of face that would be gained by the sect would be worth the investment of a hundred Initiates.
Initiates of the sects often grumbled that they were worked like donkeys, being handed the majority of 'scut work' by the sect, which were things that the higher-ranking members of the sect did not want to do.
The fact of the matter though, was that the Initiates were - on a pure profit and loss basis, a net negative for the sect.
The sect spent more to rear and nurture them than they got in return, it was only starting at the higher minor realms of Qi Refining that it could be said that the sect members contributed more to the sect than they took - and it was the Golden Core and Nascent Soul realm cultivators which really contributed to a sect's financial success.
Still, that was from a simple profit/loss perspective - but the fact remained that not even Eternal Soul cultivators endured forever. One could not hope to reap the harvest of a field if one did not water and tend to the seeds first. A sect that did not invest in its Initiates would sooner or later, go extinct.
Of course, one would not invest in a broken-down car to fix it up when there were alternatives available. So why recruit Tang Ze then?
Yet, one also needed to look at potential. However, most of the time, those with true potential had already accomplished much by the time that they applied to enter a sect.
"So, you are saying that in the long run, he is worth having?" Elder He Xuan asked Zhang Long.
"Indeed- Brother Tang Ze is like a gambling den rock which is of the lowest grade on first glance, but that which has a celestial treasure hidden within!" Zhang Long said.
Elder He Xuan paused for a moment - Zhang Long had made that analogy likely because he had heard of his past of working in a rock gambling den in his earlier days. How did he know that though?
Ah, that was right -Elder He Xuan had told Zhang Long that himself when Zhang Long had first joined, though he was a bit surprised that the Initiate still remembered that small of a detail after so many years.
Either that, or this comparison came about as a matter of a mere fluke, though Elder He Xuan doubted that was the case. Zhang Long had shown in multiple instances that he possessed the qualities that would be valuable in a future prefect - and if he could reach the Golden Core stage, an adept elder.
More likely than not, Zhang Long's words had been carefully crafted to appeal to Elder He Xuan.
"I see," He Xuan said. He then turned to Tang Ze. "I will let you know, young man, that we will not go easier on you in any way because of your… condition. You will still be expected to carry your weight."
The sects distributed resources in their own systems by the same principle of 'those who can utilize resources better, deserve more resources.'
So, Tang Ze would not get any extra help to bring his cultivation up to par.
This was rather unlike back on Earth - where, had Tang Ze been a weak student, a school would've endeavored to get him help in the form of remedial classes, more one-on-one attention, etc.
He had never been that bad of a student in his previous life, though he knew many who did end up getting this kind of treatment. This was in line with a school's fundamental idea of lifting everyone to a minimum basic standard. Here though, it was either sink or swim!
If you wanted something, you had to prove that you were deserving of it first! In other words, geniuses were the ones who received disproportionate amounts of care via the sect.
"I understand," Tang Ze said, just relieved for now that he had gotten in.
Elder He Xuan nodded. "Zhang Long, your squad has a missing member, correct?"
"That is correct, Elder He Xuan," Zhang Long said. He was quite relieved that Elder He Xuan had listened to what he had said- if it had been some other elder, or even one of the more arrogant and prideful prefects, they would've been enraged at the mere fact that Zhang Long had dared to question one of their decisions in the first place, whether it was correct or not.
But, thankfully Elder He Xuan was not like that.
"Then he will join as a probationary Initiate in your squad," Elder He Xuan said. "I expect you to properly guide him."
"That I will, Elder He Xuan!"
Chapter 9 Meeting The Squad
Elder He Xuan turned towards Tang Ze. "Out of curiosity, what exactly is this… costume of yours supposed to depict?" It looked like nothing Elder He Xuan had ever seen - even in paintings or murals.
"A hero from where I come from who is renowned for his strength and sense of justice," Tang Ze replied.
He could not speak the actual name of this hero, or else the Heavenly Court [Copyright Lawyers] would strike down the world, burn it to countless pieces, and then after scattering these pieces to the wind seal away the world in a state where no soul could get in or go out.
He Xuan nodded. "Let us hope you live up to his name then, and not just his strength."
He made a note of these two- both of them he had no doubt carried great potential to rise in the sect hierarchy.
Tang Ze, because of this strange ability of his. Who knows - maybe he would never go beyond being a muscle head and remain a frog in a well, never being able to compete with Golden Core cultivators. Or, perhaps he was a hidden dragon, and would soon soar to the heavens.
Zhang Long, though average in cultivation talent, did show signs of having a good head on his shoulders, was diligent, and was able to lead others well. The sect did not just need powerful people, but managerial talent like his, for lack of a better term, was also invaluable.
However, the truth of the matter was that Elder He Xuan had not agreed to let Tang Ze in because of what Tang Ze might accomplish in the upcoming Novice Tournament, though if he could do well that would be a nice bonus.
No, there was another matter entirely that Elder He Xuan thought that Tang Ze could potentially be useful in solving.
'If he is strong even now, if he can increase his base strength via cultivating, could it be possible that he could get strong enough to actually be able to move that rock?' Elder He Xuan contemplated. 'Well, it's unlikely, but so long as the chance is there, what's there for me to lose? And if he does actually manage to come through…' Elder He Xuan smiled in his heart at the thought.
There was a reason Elder He Xuan had decided to pair Zhang Long and Tang Ze up like this though - because he was curious as to not only what each could accomplish on their own, but how far they could fly together.
After all, he would need to keep a close eye on Tang Ze's growth. And Zhang Long was good and loyal to the sect, Elder He Xuan had no doubt that he could use Zhang Long as his watchman in that regard.
With a flourish, He Xuan left on a flying carpet as the others were left to make their way on foot back to the sect.
This division of the Rising Phoenix sect was located, like most divisions, on a cluster of mountaintops.
This was partially for militaristic purposes, given that it was easier to defend them, and also from a cultivation perspective, where the density of Qi tended to be higher at higher altitudes compared to the plains.
Of course, there was also the status that one showed of one's station by staying at a higher altitude, literally towering above the common folk.
There were actually three buildings in this sect division, one was the main building for the administrative branch of the sect which was on the highest mountain, with two smaller buildings on its neighboring peaks.
It was not usually possible to go from one of the buildings to another without descending the mountainside first and then going up another mountain, though the main building did have some apparatuses that could bridge the gaps on special occasions for special people.
Not that either Zhang Long or Tang Ze needed such things, when Tang Ze could easily soar to the mountaintop.
"Are you alright, Senior Brother Zhang Long?" Tang Ze asked teasingly as they reached the gates of the building where they would be staying. It was one of the buildings located on a lower mountaintop.
Zhang Long shook his head. "Again - just call me Zhang Long. Or Brother Zhang if it comes to it. Come on, there's quite a bit that I need to show you before tomorrow morning."
Tang Ze was a probationary Initiate, which was where all Initiates started out, meaning that for one year he would be working under the direct supervision of a squad of proper Initiates.
He could be promoted past this probationary state by either serving for one year, reaching the third minor realm of Qi Condensation, or by completing a significant act of valor that would signify he was ready for more serious duties.
The third minor realm of Qi Condensation was not difficult to reach - to put things into perspective, some non-cultivators could reach that minor realm without any resources or guidance simply by passively absorbing the Qi in the world and meditating.
This would take the entirety of their lifespans for mortals to accomplish, but there were some Initiates who had already passed that bar before even the entrance test. Such people either had substantial talent, or excellent resources and backing from their families. For Tang Ze however, who was at the Zeroth Realm, this was a pipe dream.
As for a 'significant act of valor' that was determined by a prefect, though there were no clear rules on what this meant.
Being on probation meant that Tang Ze did not get a sash, and his place within the sect was technically tenuous as he could be kicked out without any recourse during this period. There were some other privileges he could not exercise as well.
All that didn't matter too much to Tang Ze, he had expected to start out at the bottom of the totem pole, after all.
What did bother him slightly was that they were expected to wear the official sect uniform at nearly all times.
This was an issue for someone like him who got his powers from dressing up as other people - but he would try to find a workaround for that later.
"This is the rest of my group," Zhang Long said after a short tour of the building, leading Tang Ze towards the living quarters for Initiates.
Being Initiates, they shared a common living space as a squad, though they had separate bedrooms.
"Hello everyone!" Zhang Long announced as he walked in.
There were two other people lounging in the common area. One of them was working with a mortar and pestle, while the other one was writing something on a scroll.
Both of them stopped what they were doing to look at Zhang Long, and then at Tang Ze. These two both wore white sashes on their waists, meaning that both of them were proper Initiates, and were not probationary Initiates like Tang Ze.
"So, this is our new squad member!" Zhang Long said, pointing to Tang Ze. "I told you about him - Tang Ze!"
"Is he the one…?"
"Yes!" Zhang Long said. "Alright, Tang Ze, that person over there is Yin Tiang," he said, pointing to the person who was working with a mortar and pestle, "he really likes alchemy - which is why he's trying to make ah… something I guess?"
"Dragonroot Powder," Yin Tiang said, exasperated while rolling his eyes, as if this was something he had told Zhang Long multiple times over and over.
"Right! That! And that person over there is Chen Yu," Zhang Long said, pointing to the person who lazily lifted a hand in salutation.
"Well met, Brother Yin Tiang, Brother Chen Yu," Tang Ye said.
"No need for the 'brother' part, we are all squad mates, aren't we?" Yin Tiang said. "With that said - when do we proceed with the hazing, Squad Leader?"
This question was directed at Zhang Long who frowned and then sighed. "Come on guys, after all that Tang Ze did, you can't be serious about the hazing thing, right? Not to mention not only is he strong, but he knows [Monkey Stealing Peaches] too."
"Uh…" Tang Ze was about to point out that he couldn't use that - why did Zhang Long think he could when he knew that Tang Ze couldn't cultivate? Maybe he thought it was a power given by his costume?
Regardless, the two other Initiates immediately paled, and the thoughts of 'hazing' immediately left their minds.
"So, Tang Ze, forget about all that ah," Yin Tiang said, waving his hand. "Chen Yu says stupid nonsense all the time, best to ignore it."
"Right…" Tang Ze said.
Zhang Long told him more about how the squad system within the Initiates worked. They usually consisted of four to five members, one of whom would possibly be a probationary Initiate.
The Squad Leader was chosen by popular vote among the squad, though as a probationary Initiate Tang Ze would not get a vote.
It was a bit shocking to learn that, and even more so to learn that the Squad Leader could be replaced at any given time by popular vote once again - barring times of emergencies and when the squad was on a mission, both of which were not the times for democracy or a popular vote.
The fact that Zhang Long had apparently been Squad Leader uncontested in all the time he had been here in the sect spoke volumes to his leadership skills - either that, or he had been paired with people who essentially had no desire to move up the managerial chain.
As it was, being Squad Leader, from a simple benefits to effort ratio point of view, was not worth it.
Squad Leaders did get a slightly larger distribution of resources compared to ordinary Initiates, but compared to the work they had to do in writing monthly reports, organizing logistical issues, and attending the mandatory Squad Leader meetings, it was certainly not in proportion to them.
Rather than spending time organizing things like that, it would be better to spend time cultivating. You would get much further that way rather than relying on the slightly increased batch of resources you would get.
The real benefit to being Squad Leader was the prestige - which most people didn't care that much about as on the totem pole they were still very close to the bottom, and the slight chance that in the future it might give you an edge if you wanted to become a prefect. Beyond that though, the benefits were practically nonexistent.
"Anyway, you probably want to set things up in your room," Zhang Long said. "This place only has four sets of bedrooms, but you can take Xu Feng's old bedroom. It hasn't been used in months - but don't worry, it's clean."
"Oh," Tang Ze said. "So Xu Feng graduated and left?"
"Nah, he died," Chen Yu said nonchalantly, as if this was not a big deal to him. The others were slightly more aghast at the mention of the demise of one of their squad members, though only slightly so.
"Died? How?" Tang Ze asked.
"Well, there exists this potion called the Elixir of Tribulation," Zhang Long said. "Yin Tiang can explain it better than I can though…"
"It allows a cultivator to greatly speed up their progress in cultivating," Yin Tiang said. "It's also pretty cheap, relatively speaking - though there's a reason that almost no one uses it. It causes the cultivator to undergo three days of intense pain, said to be so horrible that most people who use it die from the pain overwhelming their senses. Xu Feng had other ideas though, and decided, 'How bad can it possibly be? I'll try this out! After all, if we wish to defy heaven we need to take risks! Those who died were just weak-minded fools!' despite literally everyone warning him against it."
"He didn't even last ten minutes before he died from the pain, let alone three days," Chen Yu said, shaking his head. "He died right there, actually, right about where you're standing right now."
"Ack!" Tang Ze said, moving away from the spot while the others laughed, leaving him unsure if that had been a joke or was just a prank on their part.
"Anyway, point is, he's not using his room now," Zhang Long said. "So go ahead and keep your stuff in there."
The individual rooms were barely larger than a closet, but Tang Ze had expected as much. There was only enough space for him to sleep and keep at most, something the size of a suitcase.
Tang Ze, however, needed more space to make as well as store costumes and would need other supplies - he hoped that the others wouldn't mind him taking a share of the common space to set up something like that. It seemed that Yin Tiang had already done so with his alchemy set and the like, so Tang Ze hoped they would allow it once they saw what he could do with making costumes.
Chapter 10 Breakthrough!
Tang Ze exited his bedroom, to see that Zhang Long had placed a wooden box in front of him. "Before I forget, here's your split from what we got from those Diamond Dust idiots. We have a few pills here, and they should help you advance."
"Thank you," Tang Ze said, observing the three pills, which were about the size of a thimble each, round, and were a dull gray. They were not high-grade pills, only somewhere between low and medium quality, but it would be unreasonable to expect those kinds of people to be carrying high-grade pills anyway. As it was, he was sure that these were still quite expensive by mortal standards. "I bet they weren't expecting to lose these otherwise they wouldn't have been carrying them." As Tang Ze was about to reach for one, Yin Tiang closed the box before him quickly, as it contained some kind of venomous snake. "Wait - before that, what realm are you at? I can't sense any Qi coming from you."
"Zeroth Realm," Zhang Long said. "So he can't even start cultivating - which is why he needs some resources to help him with-"
"Wait, Zeroth Realm?" Yin Tiang asked. "In that case… you definitely can't consume one of these!"
"Eh? Why not?"
"There is a limit to how much Qi you can consume through pills," Yin Tiang said. "When it comes to natural Qi in the environment, the body absorbs as much as it can, and expels it out slowly as well, so there is never any risk of overloading the body. When it comes to pills though, as they go directly through the stomach and through both the dantians and the meridians, without a proper outlet, they can easily overload a person." He then sighed. "As another example, one can drink water of course - water is necessary to life. But even drinking too much of something as harmful as water can kill you."
There was something called 'water intoxication' where the body couldn't get rid of water fast enough, and it would accumulate, leading to swelling of various organs, most significantly of the brain and this could be fatal.
In that way consuming too much Qi like this could also be fatal.
That was why even if the pills were appropriate for the cultivator, there was a limit on how much they could take at a time as their bodies would dissipate the excess Qi gradually which had a limit to it. And if the pills were too high of a grade, they couldn't be used at all.
There was a story about a Qi Condensation cultivator who had broken into the house of a famous alchemist, and found a pill appropriate for Golden Core cultivators. The thief, not understanding what he was doing, took it, and then burst into flames, dying nearly immediately from Qi overload.
"But these are just low to medium grade pills," Zhang Long said. "So why can't he use them? A single one shouldn't hurt."
"Yes, and they would be fine for someone like you or I," Yin Tiang said. "But at the Zeroth Realm, his meridians have not even fully opened. So when he swallows a pill, where does the Qi go? It is the equivalent of trying to eat food when one's stomach has been removed. The Qi will be forced to disperse through his other organs, damaging them permanently. Just as blood has to flow through vessels and if such a vessel ruptures inside the body it is an internal hemorrhage, Qi also has to flow through its own proper channels being the meridians and not some other part of the body itself. It will be too much for him."
"Alright," Tang Ze said. Yin Tiang did not look like he was lying, and it wasn't like Tang Ze was going to pop a pill just to prove him wrong. "So, is there anything that can help me clear the Zeroth Realm?"
"No," Yin Tiang said. "Actually - there probably is, or at least a way to make something like that, I guess? It's just that no one would develop something like that, because well… no one would actually need something of the sort. So why even bother with that in the first place?"
"Wait - you're really stuck at the Zeroth Realm?" Chen Yu asked incredulously. "Our family's maid's daughter was only able to pass that at eight years old, and her mother was worried sick because of her 'slow cultivating progress.' What have you been doing for the past few decades? I mean, I was called a slacker when I was younger, but even I cleared this at six years old."
"I guess it has something to do with my alternate powering method?" Tang Ze said sheepishly. "So, there really is no way to improve myself then?"
"The best thing to do," Yin Tiang said. "Would be to go somewhere where there is a lot of natural Qi in the air - only thing is that such places are coveted cultivating locations, and all of them are taken up. Our sect has access to a few, but they wouldn't let an Initiate like you visit them."
"So I really am hopeless then?" Tang Ze sighed. "Well, at least I can focus on other ways to power up until then. And then I can eventually use these pills."
"Ah, about that," Yin Tiang said. "Pills have an expiry date, at least the lower-quality ones do. If you don't use these in about…" he picked one up, examining it, "...six months, they're as good as gone."
"Oof, that's right," Zhang Long said.
"If you want, I know a few alchemists who will buy a few," Yin Tiang said. "And then you can keep the money you get and use them later."
Tang Ze thought about it for a minute, and then said, "Rather than that, there are three pills left over, each of you can have one."
"Eh?!" three voices exclaimed.
"Yeah, they say that cultivation is the greatest treasure, right?" Tang Ze said. "So why sell the pills for something else when they can help you three? As it is, I can't use them right now, and so, I think it's better someone makes use of them."
Tang Ze knew that he was still 'the new guy' here, and in his mind, giving up these pills was a small price to pay to earn the goodwill of his squad. As it was, for the foreseeable future, they would be working together.
He offered them these three pills as a gesture of friendship. Not that Tang Ze thought that Zhang Long needed that, but he did not know the other two.
"Is this really alright?" Zhang Long asked.
"In return," Tang Ze said, "can you guys help me get a few things?" There were some materials for costumes he needed, and he wasn't sure where the best places to get them in the sect would be, or how much they'd cost.
Tang Ze took stock of the situation. At his level, even if he broke through the Zeroth Realm, a minor ten percent increase in strength was nothing compared to what he could achieve with his cosplay.
Of course, eventually he would need to focus on cultivating, but he could focus on his own power system right now.
Cultivation wasn't the only way to gain power in this world, after all. Mages did exist, and there was his own talent. Why cry about what he couldn't change when there was something that he could change?
It was better to make use of what he could do.
"Sure," Zhang Long said. He gave the other two a gist of Tang Ze's powers.
"So, as I understand it, what you're dressed up right now is a famous hero from where you're from?" Chen Yu asked.
"Yes," Tang Ze said.
They wanted to hear some stories about him, and Tang Ze began narrating some of them.
Back on Earth, Tang Ze had read and watched quite a bit of media - not just western shows, comics, anime, and movies, but Xianxia and other genres as well.
Basically anything to escape from the mundane realities of life!
As such he had countless stories to tell.
He started with the classic stories of the character beating aliens, giant robots, and other strong foes - but when he went on to a more 'mundane' story, something interesting happened.
"So this is before he got his costume, back when he was just starting out, a uh..." Tang Ze wanted to say 'oil rig' but that wouldn't make sense to them so he thought of something else. "A mineshaft started to collapse and what's more, some of the noxious fumes in it caught on fire! He managed to get everyone out to safety, though as he was finished, the flames enveloped him and all of his clothes were burnt off. Thankfully, he was out of sight of other people and escaped embarrassment, though he quickly found some clothes hanging in the backyard of a nearby house."
"One of them happened to fit him, and he was about to put something on and leave when it occurred to him-" Tang Ze paused. "-wasn't this stealing? Taking something that wasn't his? So, he sighed, and walked to the front door of the house, and then knocked on it. The door opened and a man greeted him, a bit taken aback to see this stranger wearing what looked like his clothes, saying that he didn't have any money on hand at the moment but would return soon enough to pay the man living in that house back for the clothes."
"Hang on," Chen Yu said. "Why would someone that strong bother to explain themselves to a mortal for something as small as a pair of clothes?" This story, funnily enough, seemed to be less believable to him than the earlier ones involving aliens or 'creatures from other dimensions' as Tang Ze put it just because of this particular segment.
"Because they're a hero, a righteous cultivator," Tang Ze said.
"Sure," Yin Tiang said. "But they have every right to take a pair of clothes in that story, especially after what they went through and how more important it was. There's no need to do all of his nonsense with going up to the mortal and offering to pay for them. The good they did for the world far outweighs the theft of a simple set of clothes given the circumstances."
"Uh... well," Tang Ze said. "I guess... they still felt it was the right thing to do to tell the man that they were taking something because it didn't belong to them, no matter how low the value of it was." It looked like Chen Yu and Yin Tiang were going to argue further, but they were interrupted.
Something happened to Zhang Long which Tang Ze didn't quite understand as he had never seen or experienced something like it before. There was a strange shift in the air, though Chen Yu and Yin Tiang were the ones who could pick up on it far better than Tang Ze could.
Tang Ze thought that Zhang Long was having a seizure for a moment given how his eyes were fluttering and his body was shaking, but neither Yin Tiang nor Chen Yu seemed to be alarmed enough for that to be the case.
"What's going on?" Tang Ze asked.
"Can't you tell? Can't you feel the spike of Qi in the air?" Chen Yu asked.
But, the thing was that no, Tang Ze couldn't. Realizing this, Chen Yu added, "He's breaking through a minor realm!"
Zhang Long's face was flushed with sweat as the episode was over, but he breathed as he calmed down somewhat. Yin Tiang handed him a vial of some red liquid which Zhang Long gulped down and within five minutes was mostly back to normal afterwards.
"Sorry - what happened again?" Tang Ze asked.
"What're you sorry for?" Zhang Long asked. "That was incredible! I was listening to your story, and something in it, just… struck a chord with me, you know? And before I knew it, I felt as if the Qi in my body had swelled up, and then my meridians just flared with Qi."
Cultivation was usually a slow and gradual process, as Tang Ze understood it, but there were points where cultivators would stagnate for long periods of times, called bottlenecks. On the other hand, there were times, usually when cultivators had a surge in emotion, were in dangerous situations, or had suddenly realized some deep and profound mystery of the universe, where their cultivation would suddenly advance. They might even find themselves being able to reach new horizons after this breakthrough.
Cultivators often longed for breakthroughs, whether to get past bottlenecks, or to just quicken their progress. They would meditate in caves for years on end, sit under waterfalls, travel the world over, or fight dangerous enemies - all in the hope of getting a breakthrough.
Now, Zhang Long was still at Qi Condensation so a breakthrough really wasn't that much of a big thing - he had just recently used some pills from the Diamond Dust raiders earlier and had felt that he would be nearing the next minor realm within a few month's time anyway, but it turns out that not even that was needed. More important than the jump though, was whether his future progress would be faster, as sometimes happens after a breakthrough as well.
The pill he had just been given by Tang Ze was still there, unused.
Tang Ze wasn't sure what to make of it - it was clearly a big deal, and he understood that, but he couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy in the moment.
Here he was, helping Zhang Long jump up a minor realm, while he himself was not at Qi Condensation yet, and not only was he not there right now - there was apparently nothing that he could do to quickly bring himself up to that point. He couldn't even use resources to try to make this step quicker.
But this was only a fleeting feeling, as he congratulated Zhang Long.
What bothered Tang Ze more was what they told him next.
"Let's hit the hay early," Chen Yu said. "We have to wake up extra early tomorrow."
"We do? Why?" Tang Ze asked, greatly alarmed.
"We have to fill up this building's reservoir with water tomorrow," Zhang Long said.
Tang Ze sighed inwardly.
If there was one thing that he hated, it was having to get up early.
This had been the same back on Earth, and had been a big reason as to why his performance in school tended to be as mediocre as it had been.
Quite frankly, if the secret of immortality involved waking up before sunrise to obtain it - Tang Ze would prefer to keep dreaming.
And to be told that they had to get up extra early for this task?
But, Tang Ze could do no more than groan.
He tried testing out a few new ideas on how his talent worked before heading off to bed.
That night, Tang Ze dreamed.
His dream started off as it had many times before.
Tang Ze was walking down a crowded street, back on Earth. Only he wasn't himself, he was watching the scene from the side, like he always did in this dream.
The worst part was that he was frozen like that, unable to do anything in this dream.
No matter how much he wanted to shout out, or move, it was as if he had been petrified and turned to stone.
There was nothing he could do to warn himself about what was coming up.
There was a flash of steel in the crowd in front of them…
And then his dream shifted.