As the forest clearing ended the four individuals reached what seemed to be an incredibly tall mountain, unlike the previous mountain which was riddled with trees everywhere this peak stood firmly composed purely of stone.
"Elder Kong, it is disciple Pyari, disciple Kun Faya, disciple Roshini and we have returned with an honored guest please lift the formation gate."
As she said this the portion of the mountain they were looking at faded instantly and revealed a settlement inside the mountain.
The size of the settlement was no less than the capital of Tianchi.
"Amazing." Zhishi Wu thought to himself.
He slowly walked into the mountain and looked around, the mountain he saw outside was only about a fourth of the size of the city inside it.
"It has to be some sort of spatial warping." he whispered under his breath.
While Zhishi Wu was marveling at the sight of this phenomenon the three disciples walked towards the elder at the entrance of the settlement.
"Greetings Elder Kong, we have returned from the mission and have eliminated the Kunlun bandit group."
The elder had a very friendly face, and a medium sized beard, he was relatively short standing at around 5'5 and had a round belly, he perfectly fit the image of a friendly old grandpa.
Pyari spoke to the elder while the others stood behind her.
"It seems you have picked up a friend, " the elder looked Zhishi Wu up and down.
Zhishi Wu was still dressed in the grey robes and had the mask with serpent like features on.
"Yes, this senior is known as the great Sage of Kunlun mountain. He did us a great service as he saved my life from a terrible internal energy."
Zhishi Wu nodded at the elder slightly.
"I was invited by your disciples to visit the sect, since I am a voyager I decided to entertain the request." Zhishi Wu spoke in a tone that wasn't arrogant but wasn't reserved either.
"Good, good, follow me I'll take you to the sect master."
"Elder Kong, we have scouted a potential disciple a day away from here, is it possible for my team to go retrieve them?"
"Go on child, I will take care of the Sage."
"I hope you will enjoy your stay at the sect senior." Pyari said as she exited the sect with Kun Faya and Roshini.
…
As they walked through the settlement Zhishi Wu scanned the environment, there were regular people here, people who weren't body cultivators just regular people living in the city. In addition, the people here were of all colors and ethnicities, Zhishi Wu had not known that this world had this degree of diversity.
Children chased each other in the streets, adults sat on the side of the path sipping tea and even the occasional couple walked by with their fingers interlocked.
"It seems that the sect leader is quite merciful." Zhishi Wu decided to make conversation with the Elder.
"No, no, not at all, we merely do what we can. There are still many people that die beyond the walls of this mountain, Sir Grea-"
Zhishi Wu waved his hand "Feel free to call me Wu, I have no use of honorifics or glorious titles, even my title of sage was given to me by locals."
The Elder nodded, now they had reached an area in which a waterfall poured from the peak of the mountain into the settlement.
"Do you believe it's possible to save everyone Elder?"
The Elder stopped, looked at him and laughed.
"A Sage indeed, Even the questions you ask are thought provoking. Do I believe it?"
He stroked his beard for a moment and looked deep into the waterfall.
"No I do not."
They both walked in silence for a moment, as the waterfall fell beside them captivating their attention.
"Even still, I believe that trying to save everyone is the correct path."
"But isn't that a pointless struggle. It will all be washed away eventually." Zhishi Wu responded as he reached out his hand attempting to grasp the falling water from the waterfall.
The elder imitated him and held his hand out below the waterfall.
"The water may flow out of our hands, however what will never flow away is the feeling you experienced for that split second the water was in your hand. When you have satisfied your conscience what have you to lose?"
Zhishi Wu chuckled at the elder's answer. And they started to walk past the waterfall.
The Elder waved his hand "Alternatively, if one has enough power, dealing in absolutes isn't impossible either." The waterfall which was gigantic came to a complete halt.
"But that kind of power is nigh impossible to reach." the Elder lowered his hand and continued walking.
As they continued to walk Zhishi Wu remembered another question he had.
"Forgive me if this is an offensive question but may I ask how this giant city is contained within that relatively small mountain outside?"
The elder speed up as he and Zhishi Wu started to scale a giant staircase .
"No offense at all Sage Wu, however neither me nor the sect master will be able to answer your question, we have a treasure that maintains this effect and the treasure is a heirloom within the sect master's family."
"Greeting elder." a disciple who was descending the staircase said as he walked by.
Zhishi Wu was amazed once again, the city he had seen was but the tip of the iceberg, this inner part of the sect seemed to be the place where cultivators resided.
"The Qi here is dense." Zhishi Wu thought to himself as he circulated it within his body, it felt oddly refreshing.
The surrounding environment was similar to how he imagined a sect would be, disciples sparring with each other, disciples cultivating in courtyards and even some disciples eating their meals.
This environment reminded him of his time within school, a strange sense of nostalgia hit him, but as soon as his smile appeared it was gone.
When he had attempted to remember the good time he had with his friends he also remembered how he and his friends had grown apart overtime.
The faces of these disciples laughing as they ate together reminded him of what he had forsaken in his lust for knowledge.
As they continued to walk a disciple walked up to Elder Kong.
"Elder Kong I have hit a bottleneck in my cultivation, I am unable to figure out how to achieve the middle stage of Qi condensation."
The Elder was about to answer but he halted.
"Sage Wu, do you have any advice for this child." he asked with a smile.
Zhishi Wu wasn't sure what had brought this on, maybe he was scoping his abilities.
"I would recommend that you stop trying so hard to condense your Qi within your body as a whole, visualize a specific body part like hands or feet."
The elder nodded.
"Thank you, Senior." the disciple bowed and returned to his cultivation."
"It seems that this place provides good guidance to its disciples. Not to mention preaches the opposite of every other major cultivation sect. Is allowing your disciples to sympathize with and interfere in mortal affairs part of their cultivation."
The Elder tossed a sword that a disciple had lost control of back to him.
"Indeed we may seem unorthodox, but the protection of mortals is something our sect is based upon, the other sects do it so a mortal's death may not alter the dao heart of their disciples. Although that risk exists, we do not want our disciples."
The elder sighed.
"Many of which have stemmed from these war torn mortal roots to abandon the voice in their heart and ignore suffering. There's a real chance of developing a heart demon if they compromise their morals."
Zhishi Wu put his hand behind his back.
"So changing your morals is not an option for cultivators."
"It is possible however the change must be genuine otherwise it's dangerous to the cultivator. A cultivator who is good hearted may end up losing his cultivation if he kills an innocent mortal. Indeed, as a Sage you should understand that half of cultivation is spirituality while the other half is your physique and Qi cultivation."
Zhishi Wu nodded.
"Compromise my morals." he thought to himself with a grim expression.
…
"DAMN IT HOW COULD A BODY REFINER VANISH FROM THE COUNTRY IN AN INSTANT!" Zumo Tian was enraged as he sat in Lan's Café.
The café was now barren and almost the entire building was torn to shreds by him.
"Quiet down."
The elder in a white robe that accompanied him smacked him across his face and he landed face first on the ground in the corner of the shop.
"Elder Mu, when I return I will snitch to the se-"
Before Zumo Tian Finished he noticed something, a long strand of blond hair, a strand of hair that radiated enough pressure to practically kill him, he was lucky he did not make contact otherwise he might have suffered far more.
The elder noticed this and reached out to grab it however as soon as she did the strand of the hair flew up and vanished, faster than they could even think.
"This bastard acted like a sheep to eat the wolf." Zumo Tian sighed and rubbed his forehead in defeat.