After the group was directed into the open hallway, they walked for a few minutes before they came to an opening to the outside, they seemed to be inside some kind of valley filled with well-tended to greenery and worn paths from people who had walked through, they had been greeted by another sect member that had led them to a smaller building.
They had been told that soon their sect robes would be delivered to them, and that they'd need to clean themselves up for the induction, and to that affect they were taken here, a bath house that was used by the entire sect, though there were many dotted around.
After all it's not like cultivators could magically clean themselves, at least not at their level, with the missions they take on and the strenuous training they put themselves through it's a given they could become filthy.
Sure, they person that smells might not care but if it began to disturb others then it's a problem, especially if it's bad enough to interrupt cultivation.
Apparently such a thing had happened in the past, leading to someone suffering cultivation deviation.
Thus, the sect bath houses exist.
Shu He for one, was very happy with their existence.
'For the first time In this world I can take a proper bath!' He hummed as he undressed in the dressing room.
Even when he moved to Orefine, he couldn't afford a house with a proper bathing system since they were quite expensive, so he was still stuck with a bucket of water and a scrubbing brush.
"Why do you seem so happy?" Wei Yu asked as he carefully undressed besides him, though he seemed reluctant.
"Because I can use a real bath" Shu He replied, pulling off his shirt that was caked in sweat.
"But… a bath is a bath?" Wei Yu was confused still.
"You probably don't get it since you probably have one where you lived before, but having to scrub yourself down with a bucket water every day isn't the same" Shu He explained.
"He's right, such a dull way of cleaning oneself day after day can harm ones mind, relaxing in the warm embrace of a heated bath is just bliss!" A man with long black hair chimed in on the conversation.
"Uh… Tai Hui right?" Shu He spoke as he paused to look at the man who had already shed his clothes and stood stark naked with an excited look on his face.
"That's right young man, Shu He and Wei Yu right? You should make sure to enjoy a bath whenever you can!" he stated before he began laughing.
"Aren't you embarrassed?!" Wei Yu blurted out.
"Embarrassed? Why should I be embarrassed about my own body!" his laughing continued.
"Shu He, don't tell me you're like him?!" Wei Yu turned to him with a panicked look.
"No… I think he's just on a high from passing" Shu He only looked at Tai Hui out of the corner of his eye.
'At least cover up! You're blatantly showing off!' he yelled inside his head.
He didn't even want to get into the fact that he was an older man.
"Well, meet you in there!" Tai Hui set off through the set of doors towards the bath leaving them behind.
"… Do you really not feel at all embarrassed bathing with all these people?" Wei Yu asked him once more.
"I get what you mean but… I am just used to it I guess; did you not have servants bathe you where you lived, I thought that was common for rich people?"
"God no! I can bathe myself! What kind of fetish is that?!" Wei Yu responded with a look of horror.
"…Never mind" Shu He put a mental note in the back of his mind that not all the rich are the same.
In truth, at one point in his life, in his past life, Shu He would have acted like Wei Yu, but right now he had absolutely no reservations left.
After all he was stuck to a hospital bed for the last few months of his life and a lot of time in and out before that, the amount of people that he didn't know that handled and looked at every inch of his body, the injections and tubes stuffed everywhere, the samples and assistance he was given to perform normal human functions… there was no way he could still hold a hint of dignity, it was thoroughly destroyed.
So, bathing in a bath with others? What a joke, there's no way he'd be embarrassed.
"Anyway, I'm going in, don't take too long or you'll miss the induction" He waved as he headed in.
Hearing that Wei Yu paused for a second, before throwing off his clothes as fast as he could.
…
"Ahhh~ That feels good, it's great that there aren't many others, so we get this bath all to ourselves".
A black-haired girl stretched her arms as her hair was tied up so it wouldn't soak in the water.
This was the girls side of the bath, since it was split between genders.
Though apparently there were mixed gender baths here and there in the sect.
There were only three girls that had passed the exam so it was fairly open.
Mei Ling laid back as she stared at the ceiling thinking about what happened during the entrance examination.
'Just like she said there were none entering from the main clan… finally…"
She thought about what she had escaped and began to feel the pressure on her shoulders get weaker.
'No! I can't let my guard down… I need to get stronger so they can't just pull me back!'
She said while balling her fist.
"What are you doing?" A rather quiet voice came from besides her, she turned to see two blue eyes staring at her with curiosity.
Mei Ling jumped a foot out of the back in surprise before crashing down.
"…What's with the over-reaction" Bai Lian spoke with an unimpressed expression since she had gotten soaked head to toe.
"Don't get that close to people all of a sudden!" Mei Ling complained.
"Do you have something to hide?" the white-haired girl asked with cocking her head to the side.
"No!"
"Then it's fine isn't it?"
"… What did you want?" Mei Ling gave up then asked.
"I was just curious, you're 'Huo' right?" Bai Lian asked while narrowing her eyes.
"No, I'm 'Mei'" Mei Ling vehemently denied.
"Good, then I don't need to hate you" A smile appeared on her face, a sense of hollowness hidden behind it.
"…Right, you're 'Bai', did something happen between you and the Huo clan?" Mei Ling asked while getting back into a relaxed position.
Bai Lian sighed as he sat next to her "What hasn't happened between the two? We're polar opposites not just in element but in our treatment of clansmen…"
"I've heard, but I don't get why you would go out of your way to hate every one of them you come across".
Mei Ling spoke but she didn't receive a reply immediately, but after about 30 seconds she felt something change, the temperature around them seemed to drop as drops of ice began to appear in the hot water.
She looked up at Bai Lian's face and saw an expression of anguish as her teeth grinded together.
"They stole my mother!"
…
An hour later the entire group had gathered up, except there was one major difference for all of them.
Each and every one now donned a white robe with grey trims, their chest printed with the symbol for 'Metal', they were spending time looked around the clothes and getting used to them.
"Pfft, I didn't think I'd ever see you in clothes like this" Shu He said while chuckling, he saw pointing at Gang Bo who seemed incredibly mismatched for daoist robes with his large stature and bald head.
"Hmph, you're lucky that you suit it, I thought it'd be like seeing a rat in clothes with how much you liked wearing cloaks" He said while sulking.
"A rat?!" Shu He couldn't believe what he was hearing, how could he be compared to a rat!
"These robes are really well made, even better than what I'd normally have to wear… the sect really didn't spare the resources" Wei Yu spoke while finely inspecting the craftsmanship of the sleeves he was wearing.
"Indeed, I've head that it's made of Lunar Moth's silk so it's having low resistance to all elements and it's quite tough, enough to withstand normal attacks with blades with ease". Tai Hui added as he tidily organised his clothes, out of everyone here they seemed to fit him the most with his long black hair.
"That's right, so if you damage your robes you must pay a pretty penny to repair them, if you want to use mortal currency that is".
A voice came from the distance as they all stood outside, the group looked over to see another person walking casually towards them.
Yet when their eyes locked on to the figure, many of them suddenly jumped in shock.
She had pure silver hair and green jade eyes, a mole resting carefully underneath her right eye, on her back she carried a massive blade on her back in a sheathe.
The unknowing stood still as they waited for the unknown woman to approach.
The others however, rushed forward as the others watched in confusion and bowed their heads.
"Junior greets Sect Master!" They shouted in unison.
'Sect Master? This woman is the sect master?!' Shu He said as his eyes widened and pupils dilated, his thoughts were mirrored by the few others that didn't know including Gang Go.
She walked before all of them and then stopped, her eyes glinted as she swept the group with her gaze causing all of them to feel a chill creep up their spines.
"That's enough for now, I'll spare you the pleasantries since I don't feel like it so raise your heads."
They all did so without a moments hesitance and returned to group up.
"Since some of you don't seem to know, I am indeed the Sect Master of the Titanic Steel Sect, my name is Rong Jia though none of you should ever call me that." She said with a slight smile.
"Normally another elder would guide you through induction however today I made a decision to do so myself because…"
Her eyes locked on to a bald head in the crowd.
"… I just felt like it".
"Seems like you've found your master" Shu He whispered to Gang Go.
"I-I don't know whether that's good or bad" He replied in whisper while shaking slightly.
"Oh, it's definitely good" Rong Jia spoke, clearly hearing the two's whispers causing them to shut up.
"First of all, everyone follow me" She ordered, and everyone did so.
They seemed to go deeper into the valley before it opened up to a wider area, it was like a pit within a mountain with stone walls surrounding it yet the area was so large it didn't feel like it at all.
They headed over to a large pagoda that was situated near the centre.
'So tall! It's almost like a skyscraper; just how many layers are there to this place?!' Shu He looked up to the sky while walking.
"I can't even see the top" Gang Bo mentioned as he covered his eyes from the sun.
"This here is the Crested Dragon Pagoda, it's where you'll come a lot in the future if you ever want to purchase any resources".
'So it's the shop' Shu He nodded to himself in understanding.
They then entered inside, there were already other sect members inside standing and speaking to one another, others purchasing stuff at the counter, there were tens of counters with clerks standing behind a nicely decorated wooden display.
When they all saw the sect master enter, they all lined up and greeted her.
"We greet the Sect Master!" They spoke in unison almost shaking the place with their voiced.
"At ease" She waved them away, looking slightly bored.
Suddenly one of the closed doors near the counter opened up and a hunch backed old man with a whisker moustache walked over to Rong Jia.
"My my, to what do we owe the pleasure of having our glorious Sect Master visit our humble pagoda today?" He chuckled while emphasising glorious and humble.
"Cut the crap old man Yu, you should know I'm here to induct the new members." Rong Jia spoke with a slightly annoyed tone.
"Yes, yes, I've heard and that made me a bit curious as to why, but… it seems you've found a valuable seed" He said, while looking over at Gang Bo.
"Quite a shiny seed." He commented.
"To think that the small dainty girl from back then that always cried is now the sect master and is even planning to take a disciple… why I'm really getting old-"
"Shut up and bring out the tokens!" Rong Jia shouted, a vein popping on her slightly red face.
"Yes, okay, I'll do it" Old Yu said while chuckling to himself.
"Ignore everything he said" She spoke to no-one in particular, yet everyone in the room unanimously agreed to keep silent.
A few minutes later the old man walked out with a trolley and on top were a bunch of objects, all of them shaped like a rectangular stick about three inches high, on one side in white text was the words "Titanic Steel" engraved.
"Each one of you here take one of these and channel your qi while holding it"
The group orderly took turns picking one up until everyone had one.
Shu He stared at the rectangular stick in his hand, he observed it using his sight.
Right now, he couldn't see much, but he could faintly make out grooves covering the entire thing.
Next he channelled his Qi, sending it cycling through his body and the stick picked it up, absorbing a bit of it, it was the exact same process he had used for the referral token for the exam.
His Qi lit up the grooves in the token, showing off an intricate circuit board like formation covering the entire thing, a number flashed on the side of the token showing '100'.
It wasn't just him, as everyone registered their token they were shown the same number.
"Now that you've all registered the tokens, I'm sure you've all seen the number that appeared on the side when you channelled your Qi".
Everyone nodded.
"That number represents the amount of contribution points that you have, this is the currency you will be using inside the sect to buy items, services or access to areas, right now you only have 100 but you can earn more by performing tasks within the sect, competing in events or doing missions, though you will not be able to participate in missions until you have reached inner disciple rank, currently you are all outer disciples."
One of the members held his hand up and asked, "Can we use spirit coins?"
Shu He's ears perked up at the mention of them.
'I haven't seen them myself but Bai Shun mentioned them, the currency cultivators use over the mortal currency.'
He thought about the details briefly, he wasn't too clear unfortunately.
He knew they had ranks like normal currency, but they weren't superficial, the spirit coins were made up of a valuable material that could be used to make weapons or equipment, even formations for cultivators so each coin can hold immense value based on the quality.
"No, you cannot use spirit coins to purchase things within the sect; The environment here is created out of equality, allowing someone to use their external wealth here would be against that." She explained, carrying a slight hint of distain.
The person who asked looked slightly disappointed but didn't make a fuss.
"Now, please go to the counter over there to receive your rewards for the entrance exam and have your names engraved on the token." She directed them to an off the side counter that had no visitors.
"Rewards?" Shu He asked.
"Yes, you will receive extra contribution points based on where you reached at the Steps of Ascension, 1 for every step past 750; for those of you that reached the gates you will be granted an extra 500!"
The crowd became a bit rowdy, everyone here would be receiving extra points but those of them that barely passed wouldn't get many, whereas those that reached the end would receive a lot more.
Shu He, Gang Bo and Mei Ling in particular felt very happy.