I got up and yawned, the sun had taken me out of my deep sleep. I didn't really like sleeping because it was a waste of time, I would still sleep if I was exhausted though. My favorite part about sleeping was the first stretch of the day. It was a good feeling.
I was going to head to the mission hall when I was ready. From what I heard yesterday, contribution points were used for many important things. I needed new martial arts to practice as it was boring to just accumulate qi.
I put on my robes that had a gold circle on the back, apparently it signifies the sect master. Other disciples had silver, bronze and white circles. Core disciples had silver, inner disciples had bronze, and the outer sect disciples had white.
After getting dressed, I headed outside.
'Be back before noon.'
A sound transmission arrived almost as soon as I had stepped out of the door.
'Alright.'
I wasn't in a hurry to get to the mission hall so I took my time.
There were many disciples on the road, most of them had bronze circles embroidered on their backs. Only one or two I saw had silver circles on their back.
I only walked around for a few minutes before getting bored. There wasn't really much to do. I headed to the mission hall.
I would get the occasional glance from other disciples on the way.
The mission hall looked small, only big enough to fit a few dozen people. This confused me as this was probably one of the most important buildings in the entire Sect. It wasn't until I walked in that I realized what was going on.
The inside of the building was large enough to fit more than a few large houses inside. The walls were lined with huge boards with an uncountable number of papers on them, the wall opposite to the door was lined with other disciples sitting behind desks. The walls with the paper were split into different sections, from left to right the boards had blue, red, and black borders surrounding them, no doubt denoting the difficulty. There were at least two hundred people in here.
All of the lines were full of people almost the same amount in each line too. It didn't matter which line I went to so I just chose one at random.
The lines were moving at a snails pace, there were probably about twenty people infront of me, I wasn't even sure if I could make it back by noon now.
*sigh*
The person infront of me turned around and saw me sighing "Tell me about it, these lines always take so damn long."
"Its always like this?"
"No, there aren't really that many people in here today. Is this your first time here? I've haven't seen you before."
"Yeah, I'm new. How long have you been here?"
"Only a few years. I'm only an inner sect disciple because I had a little affinity with space but I only have a low grade spirit root."
It went silent after that, we both had nothing else to say.
It took nearly two hours for my turn in at the desk.
The person sitting at the desk was a young woman with dark circles under her eyes, she looked unethusiastic, and miserable.
"How can I help you?" She said in a monotonous voice.
"I'm new here, I heard I could get a jade slip by coming here."
*ugh* "Put your hand here."
There was a small device on the desk that had the shape of a hand imprinted on it. I placed my hand on it.
Nothing happened.
"What happened?"
"Did you come in here just to mess around?"
She sounded a bit angry this time.
"No?"
"If nothing happens it means you already have a jade slip. I'm not dealing with this shit today."
She immediately left. I was shocked, is this how you do your job? What am I supposed to do now?
It was almost noon by now so I had to go back and meet master. On the walk back I had tried to think of what could have possibly gone wrong.
Nothing came to mind, I'll just ask master when I get back.
As I was walking leisurely, it took me almost an hour to get back.
"You wanted to see me master?"
"Here take this."
He threw me something that looked like a jade slip. I caught and examined it.
It WAS a jade slip!
"Master... this isn't the jade slip from the mission hall right?"
"Thats right, what about it?"
I almost coughed up blood hearing this. I had stood in line for nearly two hours waiting for this. And I get it handed to me only after getting back?
"You!.... Never mind. Is this the only thing you have for me?"
"Not at all."
Master had a smile on his face, he probably knew what was going on and decided to do this for his own amusement.
"My master, the previous Sect Leader also had an affinity for the void. He died nearly a thousand years ago though, he was a great leader who helped eradicate a few competitor sects. This is one of the reasons it's so peaceful, we only have one sect as a competitor and they don't openly show hostility. I've been looking for a successor to inherit my late masters legacy. He created and discovered a few martial arts suitable for people with an affinity with the void. His affinity was weak but with these secret manuals he was one of the strongest beings I have ever seen. Even I am not strong enough to last a single move against him."
"So you want me to learn these secret manuals left behind by your master?"
"Precisely. He focused on graceful combat that could overwhelm enemies but also had some other techniques."
"I'm not graceful at all I'm actually quite the opposite."
"Nonsense! Everybody can be graceful if they learn the right techniques. With these manuals you too shall be graceful when they reach at least the large accomplishment realm. I have five manuals, it will probably take a few years for you to learn a single one. You can take them all but don't try learning them all at once."
"I doubt it will take me that long."
"Hahaha, you may be talented but these martial arts are more complicated than anything you could have possibly learned. You need to get as strong as you can because there will be a secret realm opening in a few years. It only opens once every hundred years, your lucky to be able to experience it."
"In how many years? Will you be coming too? How long does it last?" I couldn't hold back my questions.
"No, I won't be coming, there is a restriction on it, only those below the Soul Integration realm can go in. It will open in five or six years and you will stay for a month. The qi inside is comparable to a holy land covered with qi condensing arrays. There are many beasts inside that are extremely dangerous, you'll need to get to Nascent Soul so you can ensure your safety. It would be best to learn the movement technique first out of the things I gave you. Any more questions?"
"None for now." I took the martial arts out of masters hands.
"I don't mind if you go into seclusion. I'll come get you before the secret realm opens."
'Since master hasn't seen my talent yet he'll probably pass out from shock when I learn all of these martial arts and breakthrough before the secret realm begins.'
"I'll listen to your advice master." I cupped my fist and left for my room.
I had decided to listen to master and focus on the movement technique first.
I read through the manual, it was more complicated than I initially thought but I still learned it after reading it once.
I had to be a genius.
I circulated my qi as the book had said and tried taking a step in the void. At first I tried something simple like just going forward a little, I was used to doing this after all. I immediately felt that the transition was smoother and didn't consume as much qi. I didn't use the void for movement a lot because of the massive cost of qi and the strain it put on my body. I could now use almost half the amount of qi to travel the same distance.
After moving forward I tried something more complicated. I raised my foot to step forward but shifted to the left of where I currently was. It was weird moving sideways after a step forward. I moved to the right this time, it still felt weird. It took me a few tries to pull it off, albeit roughly.
The last thing I tried to do was raise my foot to take a step forward and shifted to the position behind me. It was a little disorienting to take a step forward only to end up behind where I was originally standing.
Even though the qi consumption was lower I was still getting tired at a rapid rate. It would be impossible to practice this to completion in one go. I forgot how much qi interacting with the void uses.
'It might take me longer than I thought to practice these to completion and breakthrough.'
It was going to be a long exhausting few years but I still liked the feeling of getting stronger, I still had to go see Zhenzhen and maybe kidnap her in the future.
I couldn't wait until I was strong enough to see her again.