Watching Lan Yue leave, he felt a bit lost. This was his first step into the cultivation world alone. In the city, he was always under protection and escort, but here, he knew no one.
Taking a deep breath, he walked forward, entering the sea of people in the plaza.
Everyone was bustling, running, and talking. Others sat in groups, drinking tea and discussing matters he didn't understand.
"You're new, right?" a man asked him, inspecting him closely.
"How did you tell?" Fang Hao asked, thinking they had noticed him arriving with Lan Yue. The person shook their head, pointing at his clothes.
"You're not wearing the sect clothes. Hurry to your new home before you come out. You're drawing too many looks," he said with a light laugh.
Fang Hao noticed a few glares inspecting him, looked at his clothes, nodded, and then headed toward the caves.
Walking along the path, Fang Hao's eyes widened as he observed the lives of cultivators. Their eyes brimmed with life and energy, and they possessed a focused and sharp look.
Spotting Fang Hao on the path ahead, many of them furrowed their brows and had to slightly change direction to avoid colliding with him.
Noticing their glances, he lowered his head, quickened his pace, and reached the living quarters.
Noticing their looks he put the head down making faster steps and reached the living quarters.
Rows of caves adorned the mountain wall, each marked with a number. The caves varied in size, with none of them being identical.
As he walked deeper, passing by several cultivators who were enjoying tea, they nodded to him, and he hurriedly nodded back to his new neighbors.
They observed him as he walked by, engaging in small talk among themselves.
"It's that time of the year—the new disciples will join. He should be the first one," a scarred male commented, lightly sipping his tea.
"Indeed, years fly by. I should take a mission to check how the outside world is doing," a youth with a small mole near his eye smiled. However, the female in the group merely snorted.
"You? You'll probably be looking for girls," she remarked, clearly not believing him, and shook her head, causing him to scratch the back of his head.
"Since when has Wang Xiuwen been interested in what I do?" the youth replied playfully, his voice hinting that she liked him.
"You..." Wang Xiuwen was about to stand up, only to be interrupted.
"Enough about that. We have a tournament coming up in 5 years. Do you think any of the new recruits will be able to show anything worthy?" the scar-faced man inquired, interested in changing the subject.
"Why do you care? You have the best potential of us three to reach the next realm," the youth replied with a hint of despondency.
"We all have the same potential. It depends on your efforts. We do have the same talent, after all," he commented, shaking his head, fully aware that they tended to be a bit lazy.
"Only you, Crazy Tianming, dare say this. We all know how close you've come to death multiple times," the girl retorted, pointing at the scar on his face.
As they continued their conversation, Fang Hao moved beyond their sight, covering more ground.
Eventually, he came across a cave labeled with the number 4050 written on a wood sign outside it.
A barrier concealed it, and he understood it to be an advanced formation—one that hid the view of the cave and a small garden beyond.
Looking at the place, he made sure it was his and used the token to open the barrier. However, just as he was about to enter, a voice stopped him.
"Oh, so the previous owner died," a cultivator sitting cross-legged in the next cave remarked nonchalantly upon seeing Fang Hao open the barrier.
"Died?" Fang Hao stopped and looked at him, and the man nodded, pointing to the cave next to Fang Hao's, indicating that someone had lived there.
"You are the new owner. You might be lucky; that person might have stored some items in there," the male explained to Hao.
He clarified that the sect didn't clean out the caves; it was now Hao's responsibility.
"I see," Fang Hao nodded and thanked him before entering, subsequently closing the barrier behind him.
A small garden adorned with various flowers appeared first, instantly lightening his mood as he progressed toward the darkness of the cave entrance.
Walking in, a faint light was mounted on the wall, powered by a low-ranked spiritual stone.
The chamber was more spacious than his room in the castle, featuring an empty chest resting against one of the walls.
The ground was covered with hard stone, causing Hao's steps to echo eerily as he ventured deeper.
In the second room, a simple meditation mat lay on the floor, accompanied by candles positioned nearby. near it was a stone bed, though he quickly dismissed the notion that it would be comfortable.
"I see, no bed," he muttered, his gaze falling on the stone bed. His eye twitched as he realized that cultivators didn't require sleep.
"Why do they not have furniture?" he wondered aloud, surveying the space with its empty, gray, rocky walls, having only by a mirror.
"Is it to ensure they focus solely on cultivation?" he mused, voicing his thoughts out loud, but he found that answer to be closer to reality.
While inspecting his new abode, he came across a few old items left behind by the previous owner.
However, he found nothing of value except for some spiritual rice.
Fang Hao tossed it into his spatial ring, observing how rotten it had become before deciding to discard it.
"This is my new home," he said, changing into his new robes and studying himself in the mirror.
Finding the white robes comfortable, he settled into a cross-legged position on the meditation mat and closed his eyes.
He intended to have a brief rest before making his way to the library to obtain a cultivation manual.
While Fang Hao was meditating, letters began to form on the mirror behind him, forming the words, 'Who are you?'
They quickly vanished once formed as Hao didn't notice them.