The fog that surrounded the forest seemed to obscure all vision as they walked inside. The man who was leading them seemed undeterred.
Eventually, they came upon a row of buildings hidden in a clearing in the forest.
"Gong Bai, you brought back the new disciples?"
The words came from a man in front of Yunyue who had walked towards them from the buildings. He was a younger man who was wearing the same clothes as the old man.
"Mhmm, I brought some, the boy has some decent talent, but the girl is middling."
The man who was talking to them gave them a cursory look.
"I see"
He tapped the bag on his side, and two paper manuals flew out and into the hands of Yuyue and Fan Chu.
The manuals were old and pockmarked obviously they had been well used, and along with the manuals came two keys.
"You boy, will have room 341 in the male dorms, and girl you will have room 477, I will send a disciple to send you to the treasure pavilion soon. You will choose a job after."
The Yuyue and the boy nodded toward the man before he left them.
The Gong Bai, the old man who had brought them to the sect also began to walk off.
"Wait!" Fan Chu yelled out.
"Mhm?" the man said turning around
"Don't we have a teacher or something?" the boy asked.
Gong Bai only laughed.
"What? Do you think you're an inner sect disciple? You don't even have the first step of Qi development cultivated and you think you deserve a teacher."
Scoffing, he walked off leaving Yuyue and Fan Chu alone.
Fan Chu's face was crestfallen, it seemed like he had some delusions of grandeur after being told he was a good talent.
Yuyue ignored the boy and began to walk toward the dorms they have been given. There were a few outer sect disciples milling about, a few raised their eyebrows as they noticed Yuyue walking in. She was a new girl so naturally, she would raise attention.
Yuyue noticed the female disciple dorm was smaller than the male disciple's dorm, it seemed like there were fewer female disciples than male disciples in this sect.
She quickly entered her room and shut the door behind her. Yuyue found herself sighing as she saw the barebones room. There was only a table with a beaten-up metal water pitcher on it, along with a straw bed, the bed had a set of clothing on it which she immediately wore.
She was now the disciple of the fog forest sect and needed to look like such.
As the daughter of a magistrate, it was the first time that Yuyue had lived in such poor living conditions.
Still, she had chosen this path for herself and she had no right to complain.
Plopping down on the straw mattress she began to read the manual that had been given for them.
The manual describes 4 steps of something called "Qi development" apparent it was a technique that allowed one to take the natural Qi of the world into their body and develop their own Qi base.
Such a technique allowed the body to strengthen and at the fourth step it would even allow someone to run along with the air
Apparently if one cultivated to a high enough level, they would become immortal!
Reading the manual Yuyue realized that the old man, Gong Bai must've been at the 4th step of Qi development.
The manual was incredible, it described techniques that countries would salivate over, Yuyue was surprised that this small sect had not been invaded.
Still, to gain such power Yuyue would have to cultivate herself. She quickly sat cross-legged on the straw mattress and began to cultivate the Qi technique described in the book.
As she sat on the bed she was surprised to find herself surrounded by Qi, still, it was foggy and wispy and difficult for her to grasp.
The manual had said that since mortals did not have their own Qi meridians they would have to develop them with the Qi from the environment. This was the first step of the Qi development stage.
Yuyue began creating Qi meridian paths in her body as described in the manual.
Instantly her body began to fill with a pleasant feeling though, suddenly while cultivating Yuyue found herself beset with images.
She was standing on a pagoda atop a mountain looking out at a large tower, The image faded and she was surprised to find the image of a beautiful woman staring at her, the woman had a loving gaze like she was looking at a child and cooed as she spoke in some language that Yuyue didn't understand, the image disappeared and Yuyue found herself falling into darkness, it was a terrifying scene and she found herself surrounded in darkness.
Soon, she felt a warmth in her chest, from her talisman necklace, Yuyue flickered and opened her eyes and was surprised to find the talisman was glowing with a soft warm light.
Her heart which had been uneasy was now at ease. Yuyue found herself sighing again.
These images were not new to her, once they had been childhood nightmares and had faded with time as she aged, but it seems like they had come back.
She could only blame it on her unsteady heart.
She assessed her Qi meridians to find the very vaguest imprint of them had been formed, it was barely noticeable but it was proof she had cultivated them successfully.
Looking outside she was shocked to realize that it was almost evening, she had cultivated for a whole day without realizing it.
Suddenly, she heard a knock at her door"
"Hello! I've come to bring you to the treasure pavilion!"