His stomach rumbled, Dai thought back to one of the sect's 'cafeterias' which served food to the sect disciples for free while at the same time for better quality nourishments you were going to buy.
However, he placed those thoughts to the back of his mind. His priority right now was sleeping Jia Li on his bed. He could move her to her own room or he could leave her here in his bed. The second option was tempting and all leaving a girl on his bed but he simply disliked the Idea even though he also knew that Jia Li would probably not care… from what he gathered about her personality.
He first left the room and attempted to open Jia Li's room which was locked, he assumed that she naturally had the key to her own room so he shrugged his shoulder and was forced to choose option two. Leaving her in his room.
He left his home and walked down the sect streets, people were still out during this time and Jia Li during her little tour in a passing 'talk' told him that all stations were running 24/7 unless something was happening or the person in charge simply didn't want to.
He found that most people within the sect looked at him with an odd look, he looked down at himself and quickly realized the problem but that didn't stop the sect 'cafeteria' serving him some food when he got there. The food was better than the village food that he had before so he quickly downed the food and found that people stared at him while he was eating.
'I know I'm not wearing the uniform but is it that surprising?' He looked at himself attempting to see if anything was wrong with his body or anything. He forgot that normal people don't view bloodied and dirty clothing as the norm.
He felt something cold attempt to prod him so he snapped his head to the side and saw a group of disciples looking at him curiously. The prodding immediately stopped but Dai felt as if he was in danger if he stayed there for any longer so he finished eating quickly and began his way back to his sect home.
The group of disciples continued to follow him so he used Horse Fleet and quickly shot forward, The ability he was using was a movement technique that could also be used for deadly entrances. The disciples didn't go as far as using techniques to follow him and once they saw that he used a martial art they didn't go further and dispersed.
He arrived at his new home. Entering his home he went down the corridor to find Jia Li awake on his bed. She looked at him and her eyes started to widen.
Instantly Dai felt nervous, Jia Li's usual lax expression disappeared into one of surprise. She quickly sat down on the pillow that she brought into his room and said "Sit down." while patting the pillow next to her eagerly.
He sat down and he immediately felt Jia Li's soft palm touching his stomach and then after a second he felt something cold prod all over his body. Jia Li leaned closer pressing her bountiful bosom up against him.
He attempted to calm himself but the way she was positioned and with her body pressed up against him made it quite hard to do so, and her tight robes around her chest didn't really leave much to the imagination.
Jia Li stopped touching his gut and moved her hand up his chest and to his neck she looked him straight in the eye and said "How old are you? Have you cultivated before? Do you think I'm stupid what did you do?" She barraged him with questions which he answered.
"Fifteen. No and No I just did what you told me to." Her eyes widened even more and her face drew closer to his before she abruptly pushed him away to stand up with a hand placed on her head. She looked like she was having a realization as she stumbled backward threatening to fall over.
Seeing this Dai swiftly got up and helped her sit down on his bed "What's wrong?" He was worried about her reaction but he also had rapid thoughts going through his own mind 'Did I do something wrong? I think she checked that landfill inside of my gut. Did she find anything that I can't see?' The possibilities raced through his mind in seconds.
Jia Li took deep breaths and calmed herself down until her widened eyes turned into her usual expression, a blank one, she turned her head and looked him straight in the eye "You're a genius."
"What do you mean? Can you explain some more?" Dai didn't get shocked by the expression of him being a genius. He had already known that he was a genius since he was in his village but what made him worry was that this wasn't in the context of martial arts… this was within the context of cultivation.
Jia Li looked him in the eye and saw his unworried expression and sighed "I haven't told you everything that you needed to know but you should've gotten at least this from the manual. Your dantain is located within your gut… Your dantain can take in qi." He nodded at her and realized that the land fill that he saw was his dantain and the gas and liquid and that drop of solid was his qi.
She continued "Everyone who starts cultivation starts at Qi Condensation there are nine ranks in qi condensation and within those nine ranks there are four minor ranks in each early, mid, late and peak. You are at Qi Condensation Rank 5 Peak and you reached that rank in one day…" Her voice faded near the end.
The way she put it made the process of advancing through the ranks sound hard as it should be but the way Dai went through the ranks made it look way too easy! He opened his mouth and closed it a few times attempting to figure out what he should say next in response to her.
But he couldn't say anything which left her to continue "You're only fifteen… and your first day through cultivation you've reached an impossible height… " her voice trailed again near the end and then after a lengthy silence between the two. She suddenly got up and continued "Come with me."
She quickly exited his room followed by Dai who was obediently following her through the hall, they reached her room in seconds and she pulled the door open after unlocking it with a key that seemed to come from nowhere.
She opened the door into her room which was basically a replica of his own room however there was more space and furniture displayed within the room. She shuffled through her wardrobe and took out a manual. Her usual cold face turned reluctant as she began to really think about her actions but she turned resolute and shoved the manual into his chest.
"Take this and learn it." She looked him in the eye.
He took the book and read the first words 'Body Refinement.' He then looked back up and then she continued "It'll only teach you how to refine your body with Qi. Don't leave home just come to me and I'll take care of you." She then continued on with a lengthy explanation of why she was doing this.
She went on to point out that people who are high within the sect will fight over him or would simply kill him to detour the other person from getting power. She also continued with how he has simply no knowledge of cultivation and that she's going to teach him everything she knows currently in one week that the books can't provide so he's not left with his pants down.
Zu Dai thought of the possibility of going to one of the factions but his limited knowledge of the sect only places him with no knowledge of who's actually in what faction and going up to one faction asking to join the best faction the patriarchs isn't going to fly well.
He knows Bing AI is part of a faction but finding them before people of other factions find him is going to be a big problem. The only choice he had was to take her offer but the way she talked made him suspicious of her.
When asked why she's helping she shied away from that line of questioning and said "I'm your senior now and that's all the reason needed."
"Alright, I'll listen to you. I won't go outside and I'll rely on you completely until the ceremony for the new disciples." In fact his situation kind've dire already if he continued going on with his cultivation he was going to advance greatly and become an even bigger target and even if he stopped cultivating now he would've done what would've taken other people months or years to complete in a week!
Learning the sect and understanding cultivation was a chance to get into one of the better factions and then get a safe life, but a safe life under constant threat… he could only hope that what she tells him really is going to be helpful.