As Shen's descended the staircase, yellowish-golden rays of light fell down on his face.
He had been walking down the mountain for the past few hours.
The structure of the mountain was rather simple, from down to up there was a huge circular staircase circling the mountain.
At set intervals there were cave abodes digging into the mountain's body.
The steps in front of the cave abodes were in the same plane, thus if one steps of the staircase were visibly longer than usual, that meant an entrance to the cave abode.
Even though the mountain was small, it was a mountain nonetheless.
Coupled with the face that Shen was not in a rush and wanted to enjoy the beautiful windy night while walking at a rather slow pace, it was reasonable for him to take a few hours to go down.
According to his previous memories, this was mountain was called Tranquil Peak.
It was specifically designed for disciples of the sect to comprehend cultivation techniques or meditate in peace.
Mediation was an essential part of being a cultivator, it helped in introspection and keeping one's thoughts and emotions in control, helping one achieve calmness and tranquility.
A calm mind was one of the foundation for better comprehension, and comprehension was one of the foundations of cultivation.
As Shen was lost in his thoughts, his eyes were pierced by warmth and brightness of sunlight, bringing him out of his thoughts.
By now he only had a few hundred steps to walk and he would be at the base of the mountain.
As Shen kept walking, he looked at his own body, well not his entire body since he did not have a mirror on him.
But he could see that he had somewhat long hair, his jet black hair flowed like a river from his head to a few inches below his shoulders.
He then lowered his head to have a look at his clothing, since it was nighttime earlier he could not see it however now that the sun was gracing him with it's brightness he had no problems seeing himself.
According to his memories the robes of outer sect disciples of Lake Lotus Sect was a testament to their lowly status.
His robes had a humble shade of pale blue, signifying Shen's novice status in the art of cultivation.
These robes were made of simple, unadorned fabric, with no intricate embroidery or embellishments, except for a simple lotus design on their left chest.
Around the waist, Shen wore a plain sash in a shade of cyan, and a belt of the same color which kept his robe secure.
As for the sleeves, they were wide and billowy, allowing for ease of movement during menial tasks and rudimentary training.
The lower part of the robe flowed loosely, hid his feet.
For legs, the disciples wore white colored, baggy Hanfu trousers with comfortable black boots.
Shen also had a small bag tied around his waist which contained his outer sect's plaque as a proof of his identity and a small token he had received before coming into the cave.
A pair of clothes were given to each disciple when they entered the sect, although the details were different for male and female disciples, the basic design remained the same.
This clothing gave Shen high mobility, and it was extremely light.
If he didn't active try to feel the clothes through his skin's senses, he didn't even feel like he was wearing anything.
An interesting thing about these clothes was that they were made inside the sect by outer sect disciples themselves.
In fact they had an entire pavilion dedicated for cloth making which was under the direct supervision of an outer sect elder.
According to his memories, when he went to receive the clothes from the Clothing Pavilion the disciples there told him interesting things about the clothes that he was receiving.
They told him that although the outer sect's disciple clothing was of the lowest grade that a disciple could receive, it was worth hundreds of thousands of gold taels of mortal countries.
The reason for this was simple.
If one was to ask a mortal about the most expensive clothing, their reply would be simple - Silk.
Silk was controlled directly by the emperor and people didn't even know how it was made as the secret was buried inside the castle's walls.
However the material from which an outer sect's clothes was made was exponentially more expensive, as it was made from a magical material.
Spiritual Silk.
As the previous Shen tied to question the clothing pavilion's disciple about this, his reply was simple.
" Join the clothing pavilion and we'll teach you all about it ! "
It was basically just a recruitment offer.
But nonetheless it still widened the previous Shen's perspective.
His family was nowhere near as rich as the emperor's and just his clothes were exponentially more expensive than the emperor's.
It left him baffled for a good while, he felt very grateful for the sect for improving his living standards so much.
However the current him was different.
" It was a way to nurture loyalty towards the sect, by taking him from 1 to 100 overnight the sect wanted 'me' to feet eternally grateful to them and never betray the sect under any circumstances "
Shen muttered under his breath.
" A majority of the old Shen's memories is full of praises towards the sect, after all no one would trust their lives into hands of an organization who didn't treat them well, even though the disciples of the sect have fierce competition between themselves and even irreconcilable grudges, their loyalty to the sect is undoubtable. "
Shen had reached the ground, he took a few deep breaths to freshen up his mind from all of the thinking.
" Anyways, the clothes do look pretty cool "
Shen talked to himself and looked around.
About 20 steps away there was a stall where another person, wearing similar clothing as Shen was positioned.
The area between the stall and the entrance of the stairs was also surrounded by dense sandstone which was around 3 meters high.
Shen walked towards the stall and took out the small token he had in his bag and gave it to the person standing at the stall with both of his hands.
The person looked at him and politely accepted the token and had a look at it.
"Greetings fellow disciple, I hope you had a fruitful session in the Tranquil Peak. Let see, you issued this token 10 days ago. "
"Wow, brother just rented a high grade cave abode, you must be rich! "
"Ah! I'm sorry it's just the first time I've seen someone rent this room, I just started working here a couple of days ago. I'm Wan Tong, sorry for my rudeness "
Wan Tong had a round face and a plump physique, his smile was wide and innocent, he seemed like a nice guy.
" I'm Shen Wang, was at a critical point of comprehending my cultivation technique and will be spending months of my savings for this."
Shen replied politely with a slightly nervous smile.
" Brother Shen, then I can only hope that your gains were worth it please lend me your Outer Disciple Plaque so that I can deduct your Sect Merit points. "
"Of Course!"
Shen hurriedly took out his disciple plaque and gave it to Wan Tong.
" 10 merit for one day ..... let me deduct a hundred sect merit .... aaaand Done! "
" There you go brother, enjoy your day! "
Wan Tong gave Shen his plaque back and gave him a slight bow.
" Thank you Brother Wan, you too"
Shen smiled and returned the bow Wan Tong gave him and started to leave.
As he moved out of the area surrounded by sandstone walls, he saw two disciples guarding the entrance.
After exchanging greetings with them Shen moved out.
As he was walking towards 'his' house whose route he remembered from his memories he took out his disciple plaque and looked at it.
It was long and had a small silk brush under it, it was carved out of gold and had his name written on it as well as his merit points.
Merit points was the currency used inside the sect, it's system was rather simple.
You choose what work you want to provide for the sect from the options available in the Outer Sect Management Pavilion.
You do the work, thus providing services for the sect and the sect would pay you Merit points or just wait for the monthly allowance which was 10 merit points per disciple.
Then you exchange the Merit points for resources or services.
Merit points also functioned as a medium of transaction between disciples.
This system of merit also provided security to the sect as a disciple could only use the merit points inside the Lake Lotus Sect and nowhere else.
So if a disciple was killed or decided to desert the sect, no one would be able to take much advantage as merit points were worthless outside.
Shen walked around, instead of directly going inside his house he decided to roam the outer sect today.
He was not in any hurry, nor was he feeling homesick.
Rather he wanted to explore this new place.
Outside the Tranquil Peak was a very small forest, there were two more mountains near the Tranquil Peak.
He had time so he decided to take a walk to to both of them to have a look.
One of them was the Spiritual Peak which was meant for cultivation, it had mechanisms and arrays which made the spiritual qi inside the cave adobes of the Spiritual Peak very dense.
This one's caves abodes were 3 times more expensive than Tranquil Peak's.
Low-Grade Caves had a rent of 9 merit points for one day
Middle-Grade Caves had a rent of 18 merit points for one day
High-Grade Caves needed 30 merit points for one day
Top-Grade Caves needed 36 merit points for one day
As Shen asked the reason for three times the price, the disciples told him that density of spiritual does not only have a quantitative but also a qualitative benefit on one's cultivation.
Shen had received 3 free-trial of one day to the top grade cave abode from the sect due to his high-grade lightening aptitude.
The previous him had already used 2 out of 3 chances.
This was the main reason he could cultivate to 5th stage of Qi Condensation so quickly in just a year and a half.
Although it was tempting, Shen decided to postpone this remaining free-trial he had remaining for the future.
After walking for an hour or so he reached the last of the three peaks.
The last one was called Body Tempering Peak which was meant for cultivating the body, it was a quite different from the other two peaks.
Unlike the two which had cultivation adobes and needed Merit points to rent them, this one was completely free to use.
Anyone could go in there and start tempering their bodies, however there was a catch.
There were no stairs there, one had to climb over a slant surface with weights on their shoulders which differed for each stage of cultivation.
In the initial stages of Qi Condensation which were 1st and 3rd one had to carry no less than 100 kilograms on their shoulders.
The early stages of Qi Condensation which were 4th and 5th one had to carry at least 150 kilograms on their shoulders.
The middle stages of Qi Condensation which were 6th and 7th, one had to carry at least 250 kilograms on their shoulders .
The late stages of Qi Condensation which were 8th and 9th, one had to carry at least 400 kilograms on their shoulders.
Finally, the peak stage of Qi Condensation which was 10th, one had to carry at least 600 kilograms on their shoulders.
Apparently, at a certain height, the surface of the mountain became flat and there were a lot of instruments and weights there to train the bodies.
From the previous Shen's memories, Shen knew that it was one of Shen's strongest desire to reach that place.
After all it was free and anyone could temper themselves for as long as they didn't break anything.
Shen quietly made a mental note of going up the Body tempering peak sometime soon.
By then it was already noon, the sun was shining with a dazzling light in the middle of the sky, the sky was clear without many clouds so it was rather hot.
Even though cultivators at high levels were quite resistant to heat and cold, Shen was still only at the 5th stage of Qi condensation so he still felt rather hot.
According to previous Shen's memories, there was a small lake nearby.
This lake functioned as a breeding ground for fishes, which were a source of food supply.
There were a lot of lakes in the Lake Lotus Sect, as one could naturally tell by looking at the name of the Sect, most of the ones in the Outer Sect only functioned to breed different breeds of fishes.
Furthermore, by all the sweating under the sun, he really wanted to freshen up before making any other plans for the day.
Without thinking too much, he decided to walk towards the location of the lake from his memories.
Under the slight shade of trees beams of sunlight could be seen with very small dust particles floating in them.
" It's a great day for an adventure ! "
Shen spoke as his graze kept sweeping around.
With curiosity and excitement in his eyes, Shen did not stop walking towards the lake while lost in the delicate aroma of the trees.