The old man's voice was authoritative, it was as if he held power over the surrounding itself, from just his words alone it felt as if he was speaking a commitment rather than an order. The power a cultivator held over normal mortals was just too large that many wanted to get there, however it was hard for people to become a cultivator.
This continent housed about 1 billion people, and taking that into account only 5% can become cultivators even though the amount of cultivators this continent can produce will be up to millions it wouldn't be reach the hundred millions.
But in small local places like average towns and normal villages, the amount of Qi in the environment passively improved the chances of people becoming cultivators, unlike cities that took that Qi and put it into medicine so that it would improve someone's chances tremendously while decreasing other peoples chances by depriving a lot of other people.
That was the reason why this town housed so many cultivators in just one of its centers.
"The current economical conditions of the town has made it hard for us to gather enough money to grant all of you a good cultivation manual freely, if we were to do that we would enter a season of famine, then we would be forced to send you 'children' into the wilderness with a horrible cultivation stage which would result in many losses for the cultivator's this town produces.
We would advise all of you to join the guild to ensure that we will get enough money to survive, it would also give you valuable life and death experience and with enough money you will be able to buy a standard cultivation manual." The old man explained.
As soon as he said that all the respect he had been accumulating since the beginning because of his high cultivation level dropped to 0.
'The way he said children was sickening, his expression also faltered for a second while saying that word... like he sees us as no more than machines. He also changed his wording, from the word good to standard, it might not look like much but it means the world to a cultivator because one needs to reach half of the cultivation stage before being able to change the cultivation technique. And at that you would also fall down a rank.'
Su Lie was filled with disgust for the elders of this village, normally as someone who had watched the read the Jujutsu Kaisen manga he understood that higher-ups were trash. But the fact that a group of people as disgusting as that existed made him feel disgusted.
Li Chen on the other hand was filled with respect for the dignified way the man presented himself.
"Hey brother, one day I'll become an elder. It's a nice goal, right?" Li Chen claimed proudly.
"If you become as despicable as this old fart, I will kill you!" Su Lie muttered the threat.
As someone he found very important in his life, being someone as despicable as the old man who would sacrifice people while giving them a non-existent excuse is pure evil as every life is precious. At least give them a Captain Erwin speech so that the morale will go up.
"I didn't hear what you said?"
"I just said: you should aim for something more higher."
Li Chen thought about it for a few seconds.
"Of course, my original goal was to become an immortal cultivator so this is kind of sub-par? Or maybe quarter-par?" He asked himself.
After a minute the old man finally left and a low-grade teleportation talisman was left in his place, everyone finally figured out they were supposed to use it to leave.
Su Lie bid farewell to Li Chen and Jiang Mei before leaving, he had a long day ahead of himself. The plan his parents had cooked up would only work if he was a cultivator, if he was not a cultivator the elders would use him as human bait.
He decided that because this was the deciding day in his life it needed to be special, and not only would only be special if he decided to surprise his parents.
At first he wanted to go home but he realized that his acting wouldn't be good and his parents might see through him if he decided to do do it without practicing enough.
His parents were used to his tricks so they wouldn't be fooled if he hadn't prepared enough, with those thoughts in mind he decided to check if Jiang Mei was still in the vicinity so he could talk to her while figuring out a plan.
However much to his surprise he found out that not only were the streets empty, but everyone in a 7 mile radius had vanished as if he they were taken out.
With no one to talk to Su Lie begrudgingly went back annoyed that he had wasted his time.
As soon as he arrived home; it was made out of the standard material but still managed to keep some charm, it had been painted orange but it still kept its charm.
Su Lie suddenly changed his appearance, as if a powerful cultivator had just told him he wouldn't amount to anything.
He stepped into the house, his mother was in the kitchen cooking up a meal when he entered he could tell that his father was cultivating, these days his old man had reached a bottleneck and he left his casual cultivation scheme to a more frequent level.
As soon as she heard the door his mother burst into the sitting room, she met her son there with a sullen expression on his face. It pained her when she realized that her only son wasn't a cultivator, after all the planning they had done to make sure that he would at least...
"My baby!" She yelled.
She then put Su Lie on her non-existent chest and began to coddle him, she spoke words of encouragement to him but did not mention anything about his "failing to pass" the requirements for a cultivator.
His father soon came down after he stopped cultivating to eat dinner, however he was met by a depressed son and a mother gently holding him. He quickly put the pieces together and sat by his wife and son's side, though he did not say anything it was clear that he was supporting his son, in his own way.
A little over an hour passed before they said anything more.
"There's nothing to worry about, being a cultivator isn't everything. There are lots of other things you could do." She consoled.
"Ehh?!"
"I never said that I didn't pass!" Su Lie exclaimed.
His parents even after several seconds could not comprehend the language their son was speaking so he added.
"Infact, I even awakened two elements!"
His mother's eyes suddenly snapped open as if before there was something holding him back.
"Su Lie can you give us a minute?" She asked sweetly.
Su Lie sweat dropped, since when did his mother call him by his full name.
"I said give us a minute!" She said a bit more fiercely.
Su Lie could feel the venom from her voice alone so he practically flew away.
He heard a lot of whispers so all the excitement he gained from building up the feeling practically left his body like an open tap. He tried to listen but all he could hear was hard and a few other nonsensical words that hardly summed up what he was expecting.
He tried to calm down, he was not expecting such a reply from his parents. They were use to his pranks so much that he expected himself to be laughing them in their faces right now, telling them how their faces looked like.
Trying to clam himself down he did what he always did when he was younger, he made baseless cultivation manuals.
He did not dare implement them since he didn't know if they would work or if they did he might end up with a worthless cultivation manual. This secret joy was something he relished in while he was younger, imagining fighting powerful foes.
From any anime or book he read in his previous life he was able to remember the cultivation manual somewhat.
Now, he had sat cross-legged in his room and began uttering a cultivation manual from his memory of a novel he read.
He had his eyes open so he wouldn't fall into deep concentration mode while chanting the mantra and actually begin cultivating for real.