"He got an invitation to be a direct disciple of Master Tranquil Wind?"
"Impossible! He just became an outer disciple! How can he skip straight to becoming a direct disciple of one of the four masters already?! He hasn't even joined a branch and become an inner disciple yet!"
The hierarchy within the Striking Thunder Sect was well known to the majority of the cultivators in the Storm Province. Upon entering the sect, the individual started off as an outer disciple. They would be given a monthly salary based on their contributions, which could be used to obtain basic techniques found in the library archives.
Above the outer disciples were the inner disciples. All outer disciples who were promoted to inner disciple had to join one of the four branches within the sect. Each of them were run by one of the four masters and named accordingly. They were the Storm Branch, Tranquility Branch, Violet Branch, and Tempest Branch. To become an inner disciple, one needed to have a minimum cultivation of Spirit Manifestation and sufficient merit towards the sect. It was only at this rank that one was considered a true member of the Striking Thunder Sect.
At the top of the hierarchy of disciples were the core disciples. Core disciples were disciples that the sect placed great value on. All core disciples received personal instruction from an elder or above and usually possessed something unique about them that made them stand above the rest. These characteristics ranged from rare bloodlines and abilities to simple pure heaven-defying talent. The status of core disciple could not be gained through contributions to the sect and was exclusively dependent on an elder's own personal judgement and tastes.
What Master Tranquil Wind was offering to Yin Hui was equivalent to a direct promotion to the status of core disciple. However, since he would not be under the tutelage of an elder, but rather one of the four masters of the sect, there was a considerable difference in prestige. If Yin Hui accepted this offer, his status would likely overshadow even that of the elders, as he would have Master Tranquil Wind as his backing.
Yin Hui was taken aback by the offer and had a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Master Tranquil Wind, I, Yang Xiang, am truly honored to be given this offer. However, if I agree to become your direct disciple now, will I be able to change my mind afterwards?" Yin Hui politely asked.
The expressions of most of the cultivators around him darkened. Yin Hui was given such an enormous opportunity and he dared to ask whether he could leave if he so desired. This was especially true for the cultivators who had passed Mo Gang's rigged aptitude test. Half of them clenched their fists in anger at Yin Hui's disrespect and were suppressing the urge to punish him for his insolence.
However, Master Tranquil Wind took no offense to this and let out a joyful laugh.
"Haha! I guess I am rushing things too much. You haven't even been formally introduced to the sect yet, so it is only natural that you want to settle in more before making such a big decision. Unfortunately yes, if you decide to accept my offer you will not be able to switch to a master of another branch afterwards. It is simply the law established by the Founder many years ago."
When Master Tranquil Wind saw Yin Hui's disappointed expression, he smiled and put his hand on the young man's shoulder.
"Don't worry, you don't have to make the decision right away. If you need to see me again in the future, just come by the Tranquility Branch and show them this." Master Tranquil Wind took out a small golden medallion and placed it in Yin Hui's hand. On the front was a picture of a harp with a gust of wind blowing behind it.
Afterwards, Master Tranquil Wind turned towards the rest of the cultivators who did not pass the aptitude test.
"I am sorry that all of you had to experience such an extremely biased test from Elder Mo. To be honest, I was present for the entire evaluation, but did not intervene as I wanted to see how far he would go. From what I saw, everyone here has the qualifications to join the sect. So I am happy to say that every single one of you are now outer disciples of the Striking Thunder Sect!"
The faces of the initially rejected disciples lit up and they all bowed deeply to Master Tranquil Wind.
"Thank you Master!" They shouted in unison.
Master Tranquil Wind then turned to Mo Gang, who stood silently beside the injured Chen Hong with shame and guilt plastered over his face. Thanks to Master Tranquil Wind, Chen Hong was mobile once more and was sitting up with a bitter expression.
"Elder Mo, please escort these new disciples into the main section of the sect and give them a small tour. Tell them everything they need to know and answer their questions appropriately."
Mo Gang nodded and bowed deeply. All the new outer disciples gathered behind him and he began to walk towards the main section of the sect.
Just as Yin Hui was about to join the others, he heard Master Tranquil Wind call out to him once more.
"Yang Xiang. Before you go, may I ask which of the masters you wish to study under? I can tell from your expression earlier that you wanted to accept my offer, but hesitated, most likely due to some past circumstance. Do you have a specific master in mind? If you would like, I can help you establish contact with the one you desire."
Master Tranquil Wind's words confused Yin Hui. Never in his life had he met someone as honest and kind as he was. Given his harsh upbringing, he was usually extremely wary of people like this. However, even with his skepticism, it sounded like Master Tranquil Wind genuinely wanted to help him.
Yin Hui clasped his hands and gave a short bow.
"I'm apologize if I disrespected you earlier Master Tranquil Wind. The truth is I do have a specific master that I wish to make study under, Master Tempest. In fact, it was the final wish of my previous teacher before she died."
When Master Tranquil Wind heard the name Master Tempest, his smile faded slightly.
"Master Tempest? Are you sure that was the person your teacher suggested?"
"I am certain."
Master Tranquil Wind let out a sigh.
"Yang Xiang, it's not that I am telling you to disregard what your teacher said, but I strongly advise you to not seek Master Tempest. You will not gain anything under his tutelage."
"Why is that?" Yin Hui was curious. During the short time that he knew Yu Mingxi, he felt that she was not someone who would purposely lead him astray. However, an honest and open man like Master Tranquil Wind was now saying that the one he sought was no good.
"I don't like speaking ill of one of my fellow masters, but Master Tempest simply a decrepit old man. He doesn't care about anyone or anything besides himself and he hardly manages his branch."
A frown appeared on Yin Hui's face. If he had joined the sect without any pre-existing goal, he would have certainly accepted becoming Master Tranquil Wind's disciple. However, Yu Mingxi's dying wish was to find Master Tempest and give him her medallion. She told him that once he did, he would no longer have to worry about the Tang Clan.
"Forgive me master. I know you are telling me this in good faith, but I still wish to study under Master Tempest."
Yin Hui decided that he would be obey his former teacher and serve Master Tempest. Yu Mingxi knew that Master Tempest was a member of the Striking Thunder Sect, therefore she had to know about the other three masters as well. He had faith that even though he had to opportunity to join Master Tranquil Wind, Master Tempest would still end up being the best choice.
Seeing Yin Hui's determination, Master Tranquil Wind let out a sad sigh.
"If that is your wish then I will not stop you. If you do not believe my words about Master Tempest, please just hold your decision until the welcome ceremony in a few days. You might change your mind once you meet him in person."
With that, Master Tranquil Wind flew into the sky and away from Yin Hui's sight. A fresh spring breeze filled the air as he departed.
Afterwards, Yin Hui regrouped with the others who were still touring the sect with Mo Gang. Yu Zhuwa filled him in on the things that he missed. He learned that the majority of the facilities were open to all disciples, with only a select few being restricted. Also, everything in the sect revolved around merit, which was based on a disciples contributions towards the sect.
There were two ways to acquire merit. The first was to complete missions and tasks for the sect. These tasks ranged from patrolling the city streets to delivering messages to other sects within the province. The other was to accomplish exceptional feats that demonstrated ones talent or prowess. This could be something as simple as placing within the top 10 of the dueling hall, or something extremely difficult such as eradicating an enemy sect.
"If we want to access higher level skills and build useful connections, we need to gain merit. Maybe you should have taken Master Tranquil Wind's offer to become his disciple big brother. With him as your backing, you could have probably ignored the merit system all together. Besides, I've never heard Grandma Yu talk about this Master Tempest before. How do we know if she knew him well enough to convince him to take us in? From what I saw, that Master Tranquil Wind seemed like a pretty good guy." Yu Zhuwa said.
"I agree, but I trust her. Your Grandma Yu was a wise person. Even if Master Tempest doesn't turn out to be as great as we expected, there are still benefits to not taking the easy route. I don't know about you, but I've lived my entire life walking down the hard path. It may be painful, dangerous, and slow, but if you can get through it you will come out better then someone who took the easy way out."
Yu Zhuwa was silent after hearing Yin Hui's lecture. What he said made sense, if he wanted to become someone his Grandma Yu could be proud of, he needed to work hard and not take shortcuts.
At the end of the tour, Mo Gang took the disciples to the outer disciples residence. The residence was one enormous palace that spanned several kilometers. Mo Gang informed the group that the quality of the room that they were given corresponded to their results on the aptitude test. Unfortunately, although most of the cultivators accepted by Master Tranquil Wind had skewed results, they were still assigned to the lower level rooms.
After giving each disciple the command medallions to unlock their respective rooms, Mo Gang reminded them that the welcome ceremony for the outer disciples was in three days and left. Chen Hong, who had also been with them followed behind. Once they were gone, most of the disciples walked into the residence while some went to continue exploring the sect.
Yin Hui and Yu Zhuwa decided to rest a bit and began to walk towards the residence. As they did, they were approached by Zhang Shi.
"Brother Yang Xiang, I don't believe I have formally introduced myself yet. I am Zhang Shi." Zhang Shi said while respectably clasping his hands.
Yin Hui reciprocated the gesture with a smile on his face. He had a good impression of Zhang Shi as he was talented, but still possessed an upright personality.
"It's a pleasure to finally talk to you in person rather than through a voice transmission Brother Zhang. I admire your humble character despite possessing such immense talent. By the way, this is my younger brother Yang Yu."
Yu Zhuwa clasped his hands respectably towards Zhang Shi.
"Haha! Nice to meet you both. To be honest, I admire you as well Brother Yang. I feel that despite your score on the aptitude test, there is more to you then meets the eye. If you have time, both you and your brother should come by my room for a drink!"
After Zhang Shi left, Yu Zhuwa and Yin Hui made their way to their respective rooms. Due to Yu Zhuwa having a far superior score to Yin Hui on the test, his room was on an entirely different floor from Yin Hui's. They parted ways and agreed to spend the rest of the day resting, to allow their minds to finally relax now that they were relatively safe within the sect.
Even though Yin Hui was supposedly given the worse room possible due to his aptitude score, he was quite surprised with what he got. The walls and floorboards of the room were made of wood and it was very clean and tidy. He was given a bed, basic furniture, and a scrying mirror that allowed him to see live footage of different areas within the sect.
Despite its simplicity, it wouldn't be a lie to say that this was the best room Yin Hui had ever had in his entire life. In fact, he couldn't even believe that this was all his property. Back in the Tang Clan, he would live in a room that was half this size with thirty other people. Forgetting the furniture, he was already content with just how clean the place was.
Taking a seat on a wooden stool, Yin Hui took a deep breath.
"I've done it. I'm safe now. I'm finally an outer disciple of the Striking Thunder Sect!"