Immediately following his defeat, Qing Shan noticed a disappointed look on Elder Kang's face, and heard the mocking voices of the other applicants. They all agreed that Qing Shan had been too arrogant in challenging the top ranked applicant at his cultivation level.
Qing Shan took none of these things to heart. Instead, he used these insults as motivation to grow stronger even faster than he already was. This loss, which Qing Shan had not thought possible was actually a step forward for him. He had been taught that, contrary to his belief, he was not omnipotent when facing enemies of the same level one-on-one. In Qing Shan's current state, where all of his emotions were suppressed to the point of almost being erased, he did not have any arrogance that blinded him from this truth.
Despite the wounds on his body, holes that pierced through his body thrice, Qing Shan stood up and walked out of the arena. As someone who was already well-acquainted with pain, he was no longer severely affected by pain, even though he could obviously not ignore the effects of his injuries. Luckily, he had not been pierced in any fatal locations.
Elder Kang whispered to one of his subordinates that had been hiding near him.
"Find out where that boy is staying and leave a letter of acceptance to the Outer Ring there."
The subordinate silently followed her orders and followed Qing Shan out of the arena.
Once he exited the arena, Qing Shan made his way out of the Fallen Sky sect, and wandered into the nearest alleyway. He then grabbed his locket and disappeared into the primal pocket dimension. Qing Shan immediately stumbled into the Spring of Time, healing his injuries, unaware that he had just given the slip to one of the Fallen Sky sect's finest.
Half an hour later, Qing Shan made his way out of the alleyway completely healed. He moved back to the Ruined Inn and went to sleep. It had been a long day, and Qing Shan had been awake for over twenty-two hours.
Qing Shan woke up after a measly three hours of sleep and quickly bathed in the Spring of Life to regain his energy.
After he properly prepared for the day, Qing Shan departed for the Smith's Respite. Despite him losing his chance for the Inner Ring, he had still made it into the sect, which would definitely help speed up his growth int the future.
Qing Shan arrived at the Smith's Respite, and was greeted by a smiling Tang Hua. The Runic Forgemaster was holding a piece of paper in his hand, which seemed to be the cause of his happiness. He handed the paper to Qing Shan.
"This is for you. The Fallen Sky sect did not know where you were staying, so they handed it to me to pass on to you. Congratulations on getting into the Fallen Sky sect!"
"Thank you."
Tang Hua looked at Qing Shan quizzically.
'Hmm… He seems a bit different. Shouldn't he be happy that he made it into the sect, or frustrated that he did not get into the Inner Ring…?'
*Sigh*
"Alright, we have got another hard day ahead of us."
After another half a day of constantly switching between the forge and front desk, Tang Hua let Qing Shan go.
"From now on, you only have to come to work in the afternoon. You are a part of the Fallen Sky sect now, and you should behave that way. I will only be decreasing your pay by twenty percent, instead of half like I should. Be grateful."
Qing Shan was absolutely fine with Tang Hua's decision. He only really saw logical benefits from this new scenario. He would have much more time to devote to training, and he could still earn money. The Qing Shan from a few days ago would have still been clouded by greed, and would have tried to work a full shift for the money, while devoting nights to training. This was definitely much more logical and efficient.
Qing Shan walked to the Fallen Sky sect, and a guard directed him to Elder Kang, who had apparently been waiting for him.
"Ah, Qing Shan, was it? Your injuries are fully healed!"
Elder Kang could not hide his surprise. He had somehow forgotten about giving Qing Shan treatment for his wounds, and had just let him walk away, only for him to somehow escape the tracking of his subordinate. He had been worried that this talented boy, who had somehow killed thirty people in the trial, would have bled out. Fortunately, that did not seem to be the case. After regaining his composure, Elder Kang continued speaking.
"It is good to see you in good health. Because you missed the activities after the placement a few hours ago, I am here to direct you to where you will stay and have someone show you around."
Qing Shan mutely followed Elder Kang, who brought Qing Shan to a large group of identical buildings. There were eight buildings, in an octagon format around a center circle, which seemed to be based loosely off the stage at the arena. The only difference was that there were no stands around the stage, the stage was only half as high, and it was only about twenty meters in diameter, compared to the monstrous one hundred meters of the arena.
Elder Kang brought Qing Shan to one off the buildings on the far side of the circle.
"This is the 3rd Building of the Outer Ring, and this-
Elder Kang pointed to the octagon of buildings.
"-is the living arrangements of the Outer Ring."
For the first time since Qing Shan's emotions had been suppressed, Qing Shan had a question. The suppression of his emotions had nothing to do with this, as curiosity was not an emotion. It was just that Qing Shan had been able to deduce most of his curiosities without speaking them until now.
"Why is this the 3rd building?"
"Yes. I figured you would ask that. From 1st to 8th, the buildings contain the strongest to the weakest cultivators in the Outer Ring."
"May I ask why I have been assigned to the 3rd building."
"Of course! Due to your amazing display of ability in the trial, you have been allowed to enter the 3rd building."
"If we are going by that, then shouldn't I be in the 1st building?"
Elder Kang frowned. The problem was that Qing Shan's thinking was very logical. He had obtained over three-hundred shards in the trial, and had made a sort of history. He had wanted to allow Qing Shan into the Inner Ring, and had even made an exception to the rule and added in the competition. Unfortunately, Qing Shan had been defeated; from here he would have to climb the ranks like everyone else.
"Honestly, I understand where you are coming from. Unfortunately, my hands are tied on this matter. Besides, the 1st building is reserved for the Elders of the Outer Ring and their direct disciples. If you want to move to the 2nd building, you will have to show your strength."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Your building overseer will explain everything. If that is all, I will be off."
Elder Kang turned and walked away as Qing Shan walked forward. After entering the stone building, Qing Shan was surprised to see that the room was furnished almost entirely with wood. While it was somewhat strange, Qing Shan did not see any problem with the environment. Surprisingly, there was a man, who seemed to be in his mid-twenties, standing in the center of this room. This entrance room seemed to be a dining room, and Qing Shan noted that there were only twelve chairs at the table.
"Hello, I am Zhong Kang, the junior overseer of the 3rd building. Please call me Elder Brother Zhong, everyone here does it. Elder Kang asked me to show you around the Fallen Sky sect's populated area, so let us be off. I will introduce you to the other residents of the 3rd building later."
Even though he had just entered the building, he followed Zhong Kang out the door.
The pair walked around the sect for over an hour, and Qing Shan learned a lot of valuable information.
For instance, the stage in the center of the eight buildings was for challenge matches to improve your ranking in a building, or to move to a higher ranked building. The real arena would only be used during special events, or when someone moved up from the Outer Ring to the Inner ring. The arena would also be used by some of the stronger members of the sect. The words outer and inner for rankings did not mean anything other than rankings; there was no literal placement with the sect based on rankings.
Other than these things, Qing Shan also learned a few miscellaneous things, such as which Elders were best to go to with problems and which ones should be avoided. Zhong Kang even mentioned the best chefs and their specialties, which was definitely something that Qing Shan subconsciously memorized.
At the end of the tour, Zhong Kang told Qing Shan about the things that he wanted to know most about. There were group training drills every week, and larger drills once a month. Other than these events, sect members had to train on their own time. People could train by fighting each other, or they could go to the training halls.
There were two different types of training hall, the Open Hall, and the individual halls. The Open Hall was a tall, stone pagoda in the center of the sect. It had nine floors. The Open Hall was open to everyone in the sect, and the benefits gained were better the higher one was in the hall. Unfortunately, it became harder and harder to advance upwards the higher you went. Even the current Sect Master had only managed to get up to the sixth floor. The individual halls were also open to the whole sect, but they were only for one person at a time, which was why there was a huge number of them. They boasted privacy, and their quality increased the higher one's rank in the sect was. Of five levels of individual hall, Qing Shan was currently only able to use the first.
On top of this amazing information, Qing Shan also learned about a few of the other interesting facilities in the sect. There was the Technique Library, a three story pagoda that held different Martial skills, Martial techniques, and Cultivation techniques. Only those with sufficient overall ranking in the sect were permitted to go up a floor. Interestingly enough, the Fallen Sky sect even had its own Runic Forge.
"Alright, that concludes the tour! I hope I didn't confuse you by giving you all of that information in such a short time. I don't know about you, but I am hungry, so let's get back to Three so that I can introduce you to your building-mates."
Qing Shan followed Zhong Kang back to the 3rd building, or Three, as he called it, at a jog. The man must be really hungry if he cannot keep a walking pace while giving a tour.
Qing Shan arrived at Three and saw ten people, including Zhong Kang, looking at the food.
"Ah Qing Shan, get over here. We will not eat unless everyone is present."
Qing Shan expressed his doubt.
"This is everyone?"
"Ah, well not exactly. Our Senior Overseer, the Elder in charge of us, is not in the sect at the present time."
"No, I mean, are we the only residents of the 3rd building?"
"Of course!"
"This huge building… is for ten people!?"
Everyone at the table broke into laughter, or at least smiled.
"Haha, what, have you been living in inns all your life or something? Hi noobie, the name's Long Wan."
Qing Shan looked the man over. He seemed to be about twenty years of age, and seemed to be the oldest person here other than Zhong Kang.
Zhong Kang lightly slapped his face.
"Ugh, where are my manners. I was so hungry that I forgot to introduce you to everyone."
"That's fine. Hello. I'm Qing Shan, eighteen years old. And yes, I usually do live in an inn."
Long Wan opened his mouth in surprise, then smirked. He nudged the smaller boy next to him.
"I am Qin Yong, sixteen years old."
Qing Shan was surprised looking at the boy. He was really short, probably only one and a half meters tall. He had a boyish face, and did not really have well developed muscles. Qing Shan was not surprised that someone so young was in the sect, he was more surprised that this kid was already sixteen. However, despite appearances, the kid was definitely well-spoken for his age.
"I… am Yin Mei. Seventeen."
This next person was a girl with a small stature. She was average height and had a body that looked super light. She also seemed to be really shy.
Qing Shan listened to the names of everyone at the table, and did not ask anything further. Instead, he spoke a few words that made everyone smile.
"I don't know about all of you, but I am going to eat now."