My story begins as an infant born within our Sect. Our great and powerful Ridge Head Sect with a powerful and timeless history, where even the most powerful ancient emperors would have to kneel at the sight of the Sect leader. Throughout the many higher realms there is not one Sect nor family that does not know of the name "Ridge Head Sect" I would even claim that even the smallest bug in the furthest corner of the realms, including the furthest sealed and cursed realms would not dare go left if the Ridge Head Sect commanded them to go right.
My parents were but feeble master-tier cultivators within our Sect, but it was still a great honor to even be within the Sect. I grew up in a realm separate from the main Sect and dreamed of joining the main Sect all my life. Every time disciples from the main Sect would visit, I would be the first one to greet them from our fringe Sect. Even when my parents were punished for not meeting their quota for cultivation pills and spiritual beast pelts, I would not speak a word as I knew one day, I would be one of the central disciples and I would look down on lower tier cultivators, not even batting an eye at weak mortals.
I faced many troubles in my cultivation during my youth due to my average talent in cultivation. I would always be ecstatic when my cousins Jin Ying and Jin Yu visited from a more inner realm of our Sect, as they would bring cultivation materials and pills for me to quickly advance in cultivation to join them in furthering our names within the Sect, even then my cousins were still but medium-low tier apprentices working under a Grandmaster cultivator. Every time I consumed a pill brought by my cousins, I would feel a surge of energy but after reaching the Spiritual Condensation Realm, I faced an insurmountable wall in attempting to form a golden core within my spiritual sea.
Many people told me that I had reached the end of my natural talent, and that after this I would have to find a powerful master or consume copious amounts of pills and medicinal herbs to continue advancing my realm, but I knew that to catch the eye of a master of the inner Sect, I would have to at least become a martial Grandmaster. I had continued to cultivate, and my cousins who had been generously donating me cultivation materials were the only ones that seemed to still be supporting me.
After tens of years, I had expanded my Lower Dantian to the point that my inner spiritual sea was an infinite expanse of spiritual energy, full of tumultuous waves of internal energy. Even then, every time I try to form a golden core, it dissipates. My family had even taken me to the best apothecaries in our realm, but to no avail. They could not detect even a semblance of a golden core within me and advised me to give up on becoming an inner disciple and settle with being a servant in another fringe realm, as with my cultivation at a bottleneck like this, if I were to take over our family it would be sure to fall. Then the fateful day came. The day where my master found me during a visit towards the fringe realms where my family resided.
I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I was once again practicing my fist arts in our family's courtyard when I heard a commotion at the front gate. Usually, I would ignore this kind of disruption and let the family servants handle it, but this time I felt a mysterious energy that was even calling to me from the front gate, so I went to check it out. To my surprise a man who looked like a beggar was at our door, demanding to enter to meet a "Grand Martial Emperor" he had detected from within our premises. I harrumphed as there would be no way a Grand Martial Emperor level cultivator would even set foot into our humble realm, let alone come into our family's courtyard.
When the old beggar saw me, he exploded his aura and stunned exploded all the servants who were attempting to hold him back into blood mist. I felt a warm feeling in my chest and struggled to hold back a mouthful of blood. If it weren't for my expanded Spiritual Sea, I would have ended up like those servants too. After stabilizing my breathing, I once again looked toward the old man who looked like a beggar.
"My eyes do not see Mount Tai! I Apologize for not noticing this elder before me!"
I apologized quickly to not invoke the ire of this master in front of me. If one were to anger a master of his level, our entire family would be razed to the dust at his command. But the next words he spoke were of great surprise to me.
"So, you are the origin of the Grand Martial Emperor internal energy that I was feeling"
I was dumbfounded at his gesture as one who had almost caused me to spit up blood was acting as if I were of the same generation as him. I was stunned at his sudden change in disposition. My parents rushed to the front gate, as that energy surge that the elder had released shook the entire fringe realm that we inhabited. They quickly invited the old master in and beckoned me to enter with them.
I sat at the table staring at the old master fearfully while my parents acted like fearful, dazed rats in front of a tiger. I had thought I had seen many powerful cultivators in the past, but after feeling the aura exuded by this elder, I realized I was but a frog in a well. How would I aim to become an inner Sect disciple when I could not even recognize a powerful cultivator disguised as a beggar?
The old master got straight to the point, asking my parents what they were doing keeping one such as I in a fringe realm like this. Both my parents and I were greatly surprised at this until the elder came up to me. He placed his hand on my back and infused his internal energy into me, causing my spiritual sea and the energy within it to become agitated. As I felt I was a failure to be stuck at a bottleneck at such a low cultivation realm, I didn't dare reveal my internal energy in front of my parents before, but this action by the old master caused my internal energy to leak out. The surprised faces of my parents quickly changed multiple times, from surprise to fear, then from fear to excitement. I didn't understand this turn of events until the old master spoke once more.
"Now that you can see the efforts that this one has hidden away, allow me to take him away to the inner Sect. I am actually the Sect Leader in disguise."
"But I thought the Sect Leader was in closed-door training? How would you be out in a fringe realm such as ours?"
The man who claimed he was the Sect Leader then calmly explained that the closed-door training was just an excuse for him to disappear from public view and travel the many realms our Sect had roots in to find great talents within the next generation to become his direct disciple.
"But why would you choose one such as I, a failure who can't even reach the Golden Core realm?"
"That is because, you have been slowly poisoned over these years!"
The Sect Leader than said something that caused me to feel both surprised and despaired. How could I have been poisoned? I have always been careful with what I consumed, especially after my cultivation bottlenecked. Avoiding foods that were too oily and those which were detrimental to my health? How could I have been poisoned? Could this be the reason why my cultivation had bottlenecked?
"I know what you are thinking child. And yes, your cultivation bottlenecking is due to this poison. Have you been consuming pills that cause a surge of energy and heat on consumption in the past years?"
How did he know the effects of the pills my cousins gave me? They told me it would jumpstart my cultivation so that I could join them under their master quickly. Could that not have been the case?
"I don't believe it! My cousins would never poison me!"
"If you wish to cure your poison and become a true cultivator, come with me. Otherwise, you can stay in this fringe realm until your death!"
The Sect leader harrumphed as I denied his claims. There's no way that the cousins who were always smiling around me would poison me! I wanted to believe them, but this man claiming to be the Sect leader had sown doubt in my mind. I remembered that I still had a few of those pills from the last time my cousin visited, so I quickly ran to my room to grab them.
"These are the only pills with that effect that I consumed in my life! These were given to me by my cousins who have a Grandmaster level cultivator in our Sect as a teacher. In fact, I am even doubting your claim as the Sect leader! That burst of aura must have been a trick from demons!"
"These pills are known as the Yang Demon Inducing Pills! Though you may feel a surge of heat and energy when consuming the pill, it is using that as a disguise to build a wall within your Spiritual Sea to prevent the forming of a Golden Core!"
I fell to the ground. What he said was precisely how I felt after consuming the pills. The cousins that I had trusted this whole time. The only ones who still trusted in me after I was stuck in my bottleneck. They had been poisoning me this whole time! That day, I swore I would get revenge on those two.
"I will go with the Sect Leader! It has always been my dream to go to the inner Sect and cultivate! I apologize for my demeanor previously and pleads with the Sect Leader to give me a chance!"
Silence filled the room. I would gouge my own eyes out and live as a blind man if the Sect Leader were to leave now as I would have not only squandered an opportunity to become a direct disciple but also lost possibly my only chance to cure myself from the poison my cousins inflicted on me! The Sect Leader slowly rose out of his seat.
"That is what I have been waiting for. Some fighting spirit in the younger generation is not bad, and the fact that you have been diligent with your cultivation even during your bottleneck shows through your vast spiritual sea, way past the level of any cultivator of your level."
"I thank master for accepting this foolish one!"
And that was how I was accepted by my master as a direct disciple for the Ridge Head Sect.