Chapter 17 Lessons
"Ah, why is Brother Tang Ze bruised though?"
"Didn't you hear? He tried to confess his love to Tang Ru and she beat him like a dog!" This statement was not correct, but it was the version of events.
"Oh, I see - Tang Ze is a masochist who likes it when girls beat him."
"No, that beating was not an expression of love - she rejected him and then she did that to him. She's always been a cold-hearted harpy."
"Hmm... she is pretty though - and has a really nice rear."
"True, likely why Brother Tang Ze fell for her in the first place."
"But to thrash him so thoroughly after he confessed to her, Tang Ru might have the appearance of a sura, but she has the personality and temperament of an asura!"
The suras were divine beings who were noted to be beautiful, powerful, serene, benevolent, wise, and restrained. They ruled over heaven, and Indra was said to be their king. They were often mentioned in the mythology of this world, though no one in living memory could be reliably said to have seen one for themselves.
The asuras, in contrast, were deformed, demonic, violent, ruthless, malevolent, ill-tempered, and cruel. It was said that long before the Raswatian Empire was founded the asuras were engaged in a massive war with humanity. The asuras not only eventually lost said war, but were also completely eliminated by its end. Archeologists would occasionally find the remains of the asuras, so unlike with the suras, there was at least concrete evidence that they had, at one point, existed.
"Wait- their names are Tang Ze and Tang Ru, no? Aren't they related? Why was Tang Ze confessing his feelings to her?"
"No, no, they just coincidentally share the surname 'Tang', they aren't actually related… at least I hope so."
When all of it was over, there were so many rumors and misunderstandings from this one simple incident that Tang Ze himself had trouble keeping his own head on right as to what actually had happened.
And yet, no matter what Tang Ze did, he couldn't straighten things out. Many of the men respected him for crossing over to the women's side and confessing his feelings to a girl- something a lot of them fantasized of doing but were never bold enough to carry out. The fact that Tang Ru had 'rejected his love' also made it so that he garnered some of their sympathies- and the others thought that even if he had been rejected in the end, he had at least been bold enough to put his heart on the table.
Of course, these people didn't understand what actually happened, nor would they believe it even if Tang Ze told them.
And while Tang Ze's reputation amongst the men might have skyrocketed, his reputation in the eyes of the women was now lower than even the piles of mud that one would find after the rainwater had dried up!
'Nasty pig', 'pervert', and 'heartless boor' were some of the nicer things that they called him.
There were quite a number of downsides to joining a sect, Tang Ze had soon realized this after joining - but there was quite a bit of upside as well.
One such upside were the lessons.
Lessons were sparse and not as frequent as Tang Ze would've liked - usually only two or three per week, but the fruit of such was quite rich.
The best part was definitely the attitude of the teacher's - Tang Ze had initially been worried, or perhaps it was from the influence of consuming media back in his world, that the teachers here would be overly strict and arrogant.
But it was not so!
As an example, when they had a lesson about cultivating, the teacher did not seem to be the slightest bit fazed when he found that Tang Ze was at the Zeroth Realm.
He did not scoff at Tang Ze or dismiss him as being hopeless.
Instead, the teacher gave Tang Ze some even more basic pointers than everyone else, based on what he thought Tang Ze could do to get to the first minor realm of Qi Condensation quicker.
In truth, even his teacher didn't have much to say to him in that regard, because something like this was not a problem that people usually encountered.
However, even a few pointers went a long way to someone like Tang Ze - who felt like he was stuck with no real guidance on how to move forward.
"Cultivation, at its core is about knowing oneself," his teacher told him. "If one does not know oneself, how can one understand the vastness of Heaven and Earth?"
There was a technique called mirror-meditating that worked well for the same.
The concept was simple, one had to sit in front of a mirror - which were not that common in this world, so most people preferred to sit in front of a small pond or lake, so that there was the added benefit of being surrounded by nature.
And then, one would look at one's reflection, contemplating every inch of it, and thinking of one's past experiences.
The goal was to get to know oneself better.
"Once you have become comfortable with that, the next step is to understand the world around you," the teacher continued. "But, that is jumping far too quickly ahead. For now, focus upon yourself."
Additionally, the teacher noted that Tang Ze's dantian and meridians were quite weak right now, and much like Yin Tiang, also advised against the use of pills. "Your meridians are weak - just like the bones of a baby are much weaker than that of an adult. Put too much stress on them, and they may be irreparably damaged."
As for the baby oil, the teacher noted that he wasn't really sure whether it would work or not, but at the very least it wouldn't hurt either. "My knowledge has limits, you know," he said with an apologetic tone.
However, that only made his image rise higher in Tang Ze's eyes.
In Tang Ze's experience, not just from this world, but also back on Earth - a teacher who couldn't admit they didn't know something was usually not a very good one. They might make up an answer, or get angry and deflect the question - but this man wasn't like that.
That told Tang Ze that he likely knew what he was talking about, and he continued to try to meditate daily, hoping that he would soon be able to use the more advanced techniques that Zhang Long and his other squad members could use.
In the meanwhile, he continued to try to strengthen himself with the help of making new costumes. However, he was now running into some issues with this that he hadn't foreseen earlier.
For one - while it was fine enough to make new costumes for different characters, the fact remained that some were far more powerful than others!
As an example, he had purchased a large amount of orange cloth to make an outfit that was based on a certain character who was even more powerful than the superhero he had first emulated. This character was based off of Sun Wukong - and for some reason was quite beloved by cartels back on Earth. He could even use Qi to some extent, though was still weak to most magical and spiritual abilities.
But because some characters were so much better than others, it led to the issue that there was little point in making dozens of costumes. Better to just make one and absorb that one's power completely!
On top of that, he hadn't figured out a way to make things go faster. It would take about three hundred years for him to absorb this new character's power quickly, but because the ceiling was much higher- it still meant that he got stronger faster with this costume than with the previous one.
But, it was extremely frustrating to do nothing but wear a costume and wait to get stronger!
On top of which, it wasn't just strength he was after. But when it came to thinking of other abilities, he was so spoiled for choice that it was hard to decide. He had the opposite problem here - there being too much choice, and not too little. He didn't know what might be useful in the future.
The downside of having a unique talent such as this was of course, that there was no one who could guide him further on what to do here.
Tang Ze would have to learn by trial and error.
It was here that a teacher could've helped him - but if he was the only one with such a talent which truly did seem to be the case, he could rely only upon himself.
If the student was unwilling to learn or was completely hopeless, it wouldn't matter how good the teacher was - that student would not go far.
Conversely, even if there was no teacher, a willing and good student could eventually accomplish or figure out most things for themselves.
But that would take time!
The role of a good teacher in that kind of scenario was to make the few things that a student couldn't figure out on their own clear - and to shorten the amount of effort and time needed to understand things.
A good teacher could take something that might take hours to understand comprehensible in a few minutes!
And even in this world, where people could potentially live for thousands of years, time was not a luxury that could casually be discarded.
When it came to his talent, Tang Ze would have stumble in the dark to find what worked and what didn't. There would be no help on that front.
Other than the cultivation lectures, they had had a basic alchemy lesson as well.
This was a 'basic lesson' with the more advanced ones reserved for those like Yin Tiang who showed that they were ready to actually specialize as being alchemists.
These basic lessons were, as the teacher said, more for making sure that they all didn't make a dumb mistake like eating or drinking something that could kill them, and to ensure that they wouldn't be swindled when buying or selling such objects either.
After all, sect missions did involve things like collecting herbs - which is what Zhang Long had been doing when he had run into Tang Ze in the first place.
They could not do these jobs correctly if they could not, to some extent, identify the plants which were relevant to cultivation.
Tang Ze found this whole class to be quite boring - as it was just the teacher handing out a plant, going into details about it, asking them to memorize its name, appearance, and properties, and this would continue for another forty plants.
Tang Ze's ability to rote memorize things were not good - he could've been a much better student back on Earth had that been the case.
Zhang Long and Yin Tiang shared much of the same predilections as him when it came to this lesson, but because they had been born in this world and had been raised in it, they had some ideas of these plants as they had seen them before.
Tang Ze was approaching this subject as a total newcomer, and things that would've been otherwise very obvious to even an ordinary mortal were foreign to him.
The teacher though, didn't seem to care and kept droning on, hoping that by showing them things again and again often enough they would get a hang of it.
And for those who would reach the Golden Core stage - there was likely some truth to that. After looking at plants over and over again for potentially hundreds of years, even if you weren't actively trying, you would be able to get quite a bit of information on them.
Tang Ze did not particularly like this class - mainly because he wasn't too good at it. It was much the same with the cultivation lessons, only he was far more interested in those as that was a definitive requirement of this world if he wanted to go forward.
In contrast to those two, there were the martial arts lessons. Tang Ze did reasonably well with these, though, in this instance, he had the opposite problem. While he was happy, his teacher was quite annoyed with him.
The martial arts instructor walked up to Tang Ze after telling everyone else to pair up to practice, and he had a sour expression on his face.
Chapter 18 Martial Arts Training
"Where did you get those bruises?" the martial arts instructor asked Tang Ze.
"Ah - I uh, got into a fight," Tang Ze said awkwardly. By now, everyone in the sect knew how he had gotten those bruises, so he knew that this had been a rhetorical question.
The martial arts instructor sighed and put a hand to his forehead. "You do realize how it looks like, don't you? To have lost to a woman? And how that reflects on me!?"
Why was the martial arts instructor so ticked off at Tang Ze?
The reason was that back during their last lesson, which had occurred before the whole incident with Xu Feng, the martial arts instructor had noted Tang Ze's lack of cultivation, and then asked him to spar with him to demonstrate some techniques to the rest of the class.
While doing so, the martial arts instructor had said the classic line he had said so many times before, "If you want to have a chance of putting up an actual fight - you'll have to come at me with killing intent. Attack me as if you're trying to kill me Junior Tang Ze!"
The martial arts instructor knew that Tang Ze was stronger than a normal person - but how much could that possible be? Two times? Five times? At most maybe ten times.
Not nearly enough to bridge the gap between them, especially given the martial arts instructor's experience. So what was there to worry about?
The martial arts instructor knew that Tang Ze's cultivation base was weak, but by showing him that his physical strength could be a great attribute, he hoped to inspire the other Initiates to train harder, and also to raise Tang Ze's morale in the same way.
The problem was that during martial arts lessons, the restrictions on having to wear the sect's uniform were lifted to a certain extent to allow for comfort during movement.
And that was why Tang Ze had been able to modify a part of it to resemble a costume. He was only about two percent of full strength, but the problem was that Tang Ze was so hyped he took 'come at me like you're trying to kill me' seriously. Tang Ze had mistakenly thought that the martial arts instructor would have some way to handle it.
The result was that he ended up nearly crippling the martial arts instructor in one blow.
The kicker?
Tang Ze hadn't even been fighting at his full two percent of strength. He had still been holding back. After all, there was no way he could actually fight someone with the intention of killing them right now. On top of which he was a novice when it came to actual fighting.
The strike had also been so strong it collapsed a part of the dojo, which is why this lesson was taking place outside in a courtyard while the damage that Tang Ze had done was being repaired.
As you can imagine, these two facts did nothing to endear Tang Ze to the martial arts instructor, which was why he had such a sour expression when compared to Tang Ze's other teachers while dealing with him. It was one thing to be bad at the subject the teacher was teaching - that could be excused, after all, they were there to learn in the first place. It was much harder for a teacher to overlook their student nearly killing them.
But that wasn't why he was upset at Tang Ze today. At least, it wasn't the entire reason.
You see, Tang Ze could clearly defeat the martial arts instructor. There was no way for the latter to deny that after what had happened last lesson.
And so, if Tang Ze lost easily afterwards - that was like the martial arts instructor losing easily!
This was like a slap to his face - because people would measure him using Tang Ze's feats as a ruler of comparison of sorts.
He was an 'instructor' after all - what would it look like if he had lost to someone at Qi Refinement stage who was at a lower minor realm than he was?
Of course, it could be noted that Tang Ze was even lower at the Zeroth Realm, but he was an exception that was relatively well known about. No one would fault a loss to him - but this made it look like nearly anyone could beat the martial arts instructor!
"I wasn't able to fight at full strength," Tang Ze protested. He hadn't been wearing something suited for combat at the time, and had been taken by surprise by Tang Ru. Also, he had just started passively absorbing a costume's full power, and all of this meant he had not been able to keep up with her.
The martial arts instructor shook his head, "Just keep that in mind in the future, alright?"
"I will," Tang Ze said. "With that said - is it alright if I can ask you a question?"
This seemed like Tang Ze was trying to change the topic as quickly as possible, but Tang Ze did in fact genuinely have a question.
"What is it?"
"If someone were to say… charge at us with a knife and we were unarmed? What would be the best way to stop them? I mean, assuming we can't use any skills?" Tang Ze asked.
"With your strength you wouldn't have to worry about it," the instructor said. "You should be more worried about swords and lances-"
"I get that but, say, let's say that I was fighting someone about as strong as I was, with a knife, and they ran at me - what's the best way to block them?" Tang Ze asked, wording his question differently.
"Why would they run at you with a knife instead of throwing half a mountain at you?" the instructor asked, confused as to why Tang Ze would be pursuing this line of questioning.
"Let's just suppose so," Tang Ze said, insisting on that. "Or if it was some other kind of small object that could hurt me. What's the best kind of maneuver to do to avoid it?"
"Alright, let's see," the martial arts instructor said, handing Tang Ze a small cone he had made out of parchment. "Pretend that that's a dagger, and try to stab me." He then hastily added. "But please, hold back!"
Tang Ze nodded and then tried to approach with the 'dagger', to have the martial arts instructor twist his arm and then show how Tang Ze could then be forced to the ground.
There were some other variations of this, such as sweeping out his legs from under him.
All throughout, the martial arts instructor mentioned that the most important thing was to keep the tip of the knife away from his vital organs, especially if he wasn't wearing armor.
Tang Ze did his best to try to understand them, but many of these techniques relied on one's strength and speed.
Even if Tang Ze had known this back on Earth, would he have been able to make any difference back then?
Perhaps not - but he continued to practice this regardless.
Speaking of the martial arts lesson, Elder He Xuan was currently examining the damage done by Tang Ze from the previous martial arts lesson.
He had been told of the same before, but had only had time to personally come and inspect it today.
"This Tang Ze is far too much," a prefect complained to He Xuan. "In the short time that he has been here he has violated two major rules - one, he has caused such damage to the training hall. And two, he snuck into the women's division past hours!"
The dojo had taken quite an investment to get it up to shape, with the martial arts instructor having to repeatedly ask for the funds for it - and to see it destroyed in a single blow; no wonder the martial arts instructor was in a bad mood.
"Was this damage really caused by a single blow?" Elder He Xuan wondered.
He could potentially do something like this, but he was at the Golden Core realm. For someone at the Zeroth Realm to accomplish this kind of feat…
He Xuan knew that Tang Ze was strong for his cultivation level, but he had clearly underestimated how strong.
The reason for this was simple - there had not been an opportunity for Tang Ze to use his full strength as of yet.
As a matter of fact, even this damage was not caused by his full strength.
"Indeed, Elder He Xuan!" the prefect said. "A second offense so soon after the first - we cannot let this slide easily!"
The prefects were the upholders of the sect rules, so no doubt they found Tang Ze's presence quite frustrating.
Tang Ze, for all of his faults - was not actually a habitual rule breaker.
He hadn't been like that back on Earth, and he wasn't like this right now either. While he might've gotten into trouble for sleeping in class or being late, he never caused any kind of severe trouble like a delinquent.
The trespassing incident was entirely because Xu Feng had tricked him, and the dojo incident was because he had overestimated what the martial arts instructor could do and used too much of his strength.
However, as they say, 'you only get to make one first impression.' The fact that these two incidents had happened so quickly in succession to Tang Ze joining the sect marked him as a severe problem child in the eyes of the prefects and many of the other staff.
He was now viewed as someone who would cause nothing but trouble - even if this was not true.
Not to mention it had been the prefects who had spent several days setting up traps for the entrance test, and Tang Ze bypassing all of them by flying, they felt, was like spitting in the face of all of their hard work.
"If he is so strong at the Zeroth Realm," Elder He Xuan said. "Imagine what he could do if he ascended even higher? Perhaps one day he really will be able to…" He Xuan trailed off, deep in thought.
Advancing along the realms of cultivation did make one strong - but that was not the only way to get stronger. The multipliers to one's strength were multiplying a person's base strength. A person could actually get much stronger, at least when it came to the Qi Condensation realm, by doing exercises and weight training rather than cultivating. Of course, as one got further along the multipliers became almost ridiculous to the point they were more important than anything else, but the amplification was more useful the stronger you were naturally.
So, if Tang Ze was this strong at the Zeroth Realm, what would happen when he was two-and-a-half times stronger at the final realm of Qi Condensation? Or for that matter five times stronger by reaching Qi Refinement? Or even sixty times stronger than this at Golden Core - He Xuan shuddered at what the outcome would be!
"Alright then," He Xuan said, finally coming to a decision. Tang Ze had already been punished for trespassing, but had not been handed a punishment for this as of yet. "As punishment for this, cut down his monthly compensation for this month by ten percent."
Members of the sect did not get an income for what they did. Almost all they owned, especially at the lower levels, was owned by the sect. If they found a large treasure, they were usually expected to hand it over to the sect itself which would then distribute said treasure - though this usually only applied for treasures on the higher side.
Instead of a salary, resources were distributed to them every month - such as in the form of sect merit points which could be exchanged for various goods and services later. These points were kept track of strictly by the prefects - though they had no value outside of the sect, they also could not be stolen either. And it was a way to disincentivize people from changing sects- as these merit points would not carry over.
He Xuan was saying that these rewards, which were already rather pitiful for a probationary Initiate, would be reduced to ninety percent of what they would normally be.
"Sect Elder!" the prefect cried out. "What manner of punishment is this? It is hardly anything!"
The prefect had secretly been hoping to have Tang Ze thrown out of the sect entirely, that was how much a problem they anticipated that Tang Ze would eventually become!
It was much harder to throw someone out once their probationary period was over, which is why they felt the need to put tacit pressure upon Elder He Xuan, who was overall in charge of this outer division of the Rising Phoenix Sect and could make that kind of decision.
Chapter 19 Introduction to the Mercury Kingdom
Once Tang Ze became a regular Initiate, it was much harder to kick him out without a good reason. During his probationary period, a decision from Elder He Xuan could terminate his membership as one of the sect. However, once he became a proper Initiate, it would take a decision from three Elders to revoke his membership.
Naturally the prefects wanted to nip the problem in the bud, so to speak, as from their perspective Tang Ze was a hopeless case who would only cause them more problems in the future.
Elder He Xuan scoffed, not moved at all by the prefect's words. "I don't see a reason to punish him any more than what I have already decreed - one can also argue that it is debatable if he should be punished or not at all."
"Division Elder - with the damage he has caused and the resources it will take to repair this, how can you say that?"
"With the matter of him trespassing, he needed to be punished, and I agreed to the same," Elder He Xuan said. "But this? This was not done intentionally, first of all, nor was it malicious. It is normal for accidents to happen in training - I can only count this as yet another one of the same."
The prefect sputtered. Elder He Xuan had a reputation for being a bit softer than the other division heads, likely because at only two hundred and twenty-four, he was much younger than the rest of them. But the prefect still felt that this was far too lenient even for him. "What if he had killed his teacher?"
"Did he though?" He Xuan asked. "During sparring, accidents can naturally happen and are even expected to a certain degree. Thankfully a death has not occurred in the past few decades, but there is always the chance of that happening. Should we stop the martial arts lessons altogether because something like that might happen? Of course not! Naturally if we determined that someone was doing such a thing purposefully, they would be punished. But Tang Ze had been asked to come at his teacher with killing intent - and was he not then just doing what his teacher asked?"
"But-but-" the prefect sputtered. This was going in an entirely different direction, as if Elder He Xuan was secretly praising Tang Ze.
What the prefect did not know what indeed, Elder He Xuan was in great admiration of Tang Ze's physical strength.
After all, Elder He Xuan had future plans that might involve Tang Ze, so naturally he was not going to kick him out!
As a matter of fact, it could actually be said that Tang Ze's position in the sect was nearly untouchable so long as Elder He Xuan was the division elder. Of course, if Tang Ze did something egregiously bad Elder He Xuan would have to step in but barring that, Tang Ze was not going to be thrown out anytime soon.
Of course, no one other than Elder He Xuan was aware of this.
"Even the martial arts instructor," Elder He Xuan said, "although he greatly chastised Tang Ze, did not once question the boy's talent. If anything, he asked if he could take Tang Ze aside for more personalized one-on-one training to bring out his potential and so that he didn't cause anymore accidents. I don't know if he's ready for that yet - or if I should agree to that given it could be seen as a reward, but it is clear that the boy has the potential to become the strongest body cultivator of this generation."
The prefect realized that there was no use in arguing further. "And about the cost of repairing this place…" Even if they confiscated the resources they gave Tang Ze for a whole year, it still wouldn't pay for the repairs.
"What of it? Don't accidents happen? If the wind blew and a tree fell, crushing the roof of a building - would we sue the god of wind for damages? Write this off accordingly," Elder He Xuan said.
As he was about to consider the matter dismissed, an idea crossed his mind. "Let those Initiates know that I will be giving them a ah… special lecture next week!"
"It will be done," the prefect said, not daring to protest any further.
The next week, the Initiates were sitting, completely focused on Elder He Xuan as he walked into the room.
Even those who had been there for a few years had not known a single instance in which Elder He Xuan had come to personally teach them.
Without a doubt - this was not a lecture worth missing!
Even those who might have otherwise played truant had made it a point to attend.
What kind of knowledge would Elder He Xuan impart to them? Some secret fighting technique? Or some deep insight into the Dao? Or a way to cultivate more efficiently?
They all waited with bated breath in excitement!
Only… they were soon disappointed.
The lecture wasn't really about anything that they could think of as being interesting or useful.
Elder He Xuan was giving them a history lesson.
"Before the Raswatian Empire stood, there was a great civilization before us," He Xuan said.
He was talking about the remnants of the kingdom that had stood before the Raswatian Empire had been founded.
No one was really sure what had happened to it - as most artifacts and relics from that era had been destroyed and knowledge of the same was lost to time.
What they did know was that there had been a series of calamities that occurred that lead to their downfall which likely involved the asuras in some way, and for several hundred years the area that would eventually become the Raswatian Empire was in a state of chaos and anarchy. Kingdoms would rise and fall in the matter of a few years or decades during this 'warring states period', until finally stability was achieved and the Raswatian Empire was founded.
Things were so bad regarding the knowledge of this ancient civilization that they didn't even know what those people called themselves - but because many of their artifacts and relics, at least those that survived, contained mercury, it was called the Mercury Kingdom by many archaeologists.
Elder He Xuan personally had something to add to this field, as he had written several books on them, conducted his own research into the matter, and also had his own theories on what they may have been like.
Tang Ze found the subject to be mildly interesting given how little he knew of this world - it was fascinating to learn a bit about its history. However, he could tell that his comrades did not feel the same, as many of them were visibly struggling to stay awake.
And after two hours of that, they were dismissed.
Many of the people had forlorn looks on their faces.
Why had they been forced to sit through something like that? What was the point?
They had come in with such high expectations for the lesson, but left empty-handed, or rather empty-brained, in their opinions.
Tang Ze didn't feel like it was a total waste of time, but he also couldn't see the application of anything that they had been taught.
Before Tang Ze stepped out, Elder He Xuan called out to him. "Tell me, Junior Tang Ze - how did you find the lesson?"
"Ah… quite fascinating!" Tang Ze said, trying to sound more eager than he actually was.
"Yes, we greatly benefited from Sect Elder's wisdom!"
"Truly, I think I speak for everyone when I say that I feel enlightened!"
"I think I nearly jumped up a minor realm through this lecture!"
Such toadying echoed from the other stragglers around Tang Ze, though Elder He Xuan ignored them completely. "I hope that you reflect on what I taught you, Junior Tang Ze."
Tang Ze couldn't help but think there was a deeper meaning to what Elder He Xuan was saying.
Was there a reason he should be interested in the Mercury Kingdom in the first place?
Did it have some sort of ties to Tang Ze?
Elder He Xuan didn't say anything more, but gave Tang Ze a small nod as there was a twinkle in his eyes.
That confirmed to Tang Ze that there definitely was some concept or reason behind this lesson which he wasn't seeing that Elder He Xuan expected him to - or that it would be important for him to know in the future.
Given this, Tang Ze did try to find out more about the people of the Mercury Kingdom, but they were quite obscure, and what Elder He Xuan had already told him made up the bulk of what he could find in the sect's libraries.
He still couldn't find a deeper meaning behind any of He Xuan's teachings, however.
But perhaps, with time, the answers would come to him.
As part of their work for the sect, not only were sect members sent out on missions or assigned tasks as groups, but also alone as well sometimes.
This was because while the squad system was intended to foster bonds between members of the sect, the fact remained that the journey of cultivation was one which was ultimately an individual's road to travel on their lonesome.
As such, it was also important that Initiates learn how to work alone, and not just as a group.
Well, that was probably the intention - but it wasn't like Tang Ze had been with his group for very long before he had been assigned this post. So it felt like he had been separated from them before even getting to properly know them.
Not that this role was difficult.
There was a bridge that crossed a river, which was the shortest route between two large trading centers. If one wanted to avoid using the bridge, they would have to risk the treacherous currents of the river, which was almost certainly going to lead to death, or to go the long route through the mountains.
The mountains might've been slightly safer than the river, but there still was the risk of running into wild beasts and the like, not to mention there was no good trail. What would take a day to traverse would instead take about a week to do if one triad traipsing through the mountains.
This was one of the peak traffic seasons for the bridge, and said bridge had been built and maintained by the Rising Phoenix sect.
Tang Ze's job was to operate the toll booth and collect a toll from the people who used said bridge.
It was hardly a job that on paper would require someone strong to do it, but there was the slight risk of bandit attacks or animals wandering near the bridge or booth.
This job would usually only be given to someone of Qi Refinement rank, but the prefect in charge of distributing tasks just said, "Ah, but we've seen how strong you are, I'm sure you can handle it Junior Brother Tang Ze."
One person who was approaching said bridge was a woman by the name of Zheng Mei.
Her family owned a small farm, and she was transporting some of their produce to sell. That was how relatively safe the area was kept - even a lone woman could travel like this without having any major worries. Any major bandit or animal attacks would usually be taken care of whoever manned the bridge before it could lead to problems.
After all, the bridge was an important source of income for the sect for relatively little work, and they would not want one of their golden geese to croak, now then would they? So whenever a problem occurred, the sect would swiftly deal with it.
Zheng Mai saw the toll booth up ahead, but she was not worried.
She had used her feminine charms to sneak past without having to pay anything many times in the past. After all, the toll booth was usually manned by a single male cultivator, and one who was rather low-ranking as well.
A few sweet words, and Zheng Mei was sure that she could slide on by without having to part with a single coin.
"Hello," Tang Ze said as she approached. Tang Ze calculated the toll required for a person and a cart in his head, and after an inspection of the luggage, told her how much she needed to pay.
"Oh dearest me!" Zheng Mei suddenly said with an exaggerated look. "I don't seem to have any coin on me."
"Alright then," Tang Ze said without batting an eye. "You'll have to leave a portion of your goods instead then." Most farmers did not do much business with actual coinage and instead bartered, so the sect did allow people to pay tolls and taxes with produce instead most of the time.
Zheng Mei sighed, fluttering her eyelids. "You know… I've heard that beautiful girls don't need to pay the bridge toll."
Tang Ze knew there was no such rule, but decided to humor her regardless. "That's right. So if you see a beautiful girl, let her know that she doesn't need to pay. Now, the toll please!"
Chapter 20 Arrogant Young Master, Where Art Thou?
Zheng Mei scowled. What was wrong with this man? He seemed to have eyes but could not see Mt. Tai if he did not acknowledge her beauty!
She was used to the toll keepers letting her pass without her even having to ask for this kind of favor!
In truth, it wasn't like Tang Ze didn't acknowledge her beauty. She was quite cute… but the issue was that with like most 'beauties' of this world, there was something - for lack of a better word, unreal about her.
He couldn't quite put his finger on it. If Tang Ze was asked the question, "Is Zhang Mei beautiful?" his answer would no doubt be 'yes.' But if asked if she was his type, the answer would be 'no.'
Standards of beauty varied of course, Tang Ze acknowledged that, and what was considered beautiful in this world was slightly… uncanny for a lack of a better word. Skin like jade, a thin waist, wide eyes, and delicate eyelashes - these features were valued in this world just like on Earth but were exaggerated to the point that Tang Ze thought that many of such girls appeared somewhat alien.
Now, Tang Ze had average to below average looks, he knew that and while he wasn't in a position to judge others by appearance, a lifetime of consuming media had primed him to expect otherworldly beauties in a different world.
And they were otherworldly alright- in a strange, exotic way.
Compared to this woman, Jin Zhen, although she could be said to be only average in looks at best, at least looked like an actual person.
Or maybe it was just Tang Ze who was wrong? He thought that was a possibility given this could just be his experience from Earth coloring his judgement.
Zheng Mei sighed. "I really don't have the money - and my family can't afford to give up some of our goods. Can't I just go through?" She even brought out a few crocodile tears to try to appeal towards Tang Ze's sympathy.
Tang Ze sighed. "Lady, if it was up to me, I wouldn't get a toll from anyone - but this isn't my bridge, it's the sect's and I just can't let anyone pass."
"Please?"
"Well," Tang Ze said, considering things and giving her an odd look. "Maybe you can pay me back… in a different way?"
Zheng Mei recoiled. Could this man really be trying to take advantage of her like that?
Despicable!
All of a sudden, Tang Ze pointed at her and screamed, "Junior, you dare! You are courting death!"
Zheng Mei backed up. Courting death? What had she done to get that kind of reaction from him?
Tang Ze sighed. "I've been in this world for so long, and yet, no one has said those words to me. My ears have been starved for them, much like a wandered in the desert thirsts for water. In all the media I've consumed, shouldn't that be a staple in a cultivation world? Is it too much to ask for an arrogant young master to appear and say those words? Last week, I was in the sect mess hall and accidentally bumped into someone, spilling some soup on their clothes. Do you know what they said?"
"What?" Zheng Mei asked, bewildered by this turn of events.
"They said, 'no issue' and then walked on with their day without asking me to kowtow ten thousand times or to break my arms for forgiveness! Who does that? Why were they being so reasonable and calm? They even looked somewhat wealthy and powerful!" Tang Ze vented. "If I ran into someone who was like that though, I might be able to make more progress!" After all, that was how these stories went, right?
Zheng Mei was sure that this man had a screw loose somewhere, but if that was all he was asking for…
"Junior, you dare!" Zhang Mei asked. "Asking for a toll from someone like me? Don't you know who I am? You're courting death!"
Tang Ze sighed. "It just doesn't feel real when you say it." It was clear that Zheng Mei didn't truly mean those words, which was what he was looking for. "Ah, whatever, at least you tried- go on ahead."
Zheng Mei crossed the bridge before that man could say anything even weirder.
Tang Ze watched her go and sighed.
Was he really just going crazy being stationed out here?
While it was normal for Initiates to be given individual assignments, he was the only one who had been assigned to a post so far away from the sect.
It was so out of the way that he had to travel two days to get here - or would have, if he didn't fly the way here. That was easy enough given that he could just swap into his uniform once he got here, though he still kept his cape on.
Although the prefects hadn't outwardly said this, Tang Ze was sure that this assignment was a form of punishment for his actions up till now.
He was here, in a toll both, away from most civilization. During the day he would just sit there, collecting the necessary toll.
The only people he could talk to was the occasional person who wanted to cross the bridge, and once night would fall he would close it down and fall asleep near a shack near the toll booth.
Because of this, while he was working, there was really little that he could do other than wait for people to come. They came regularly enough for him to be unable to do something like cultivate or work on anything.
On top of that he was not near any major trading hub himself to buy things to either cultivate or make costumes with. Even if that were the case, he couldn't really buy anything as he didn't have much in this world's currency. Much of his 'wealth' was in the form of merit points with the sect, which he couldn't use out here.
He didn't dare touch the stash of the toll coins that he had gotten - those were to be given to the sect, and he didn't want to get into more trouble for appropriating funds. He was on thin ice as it was when it came to his reputation in the sect.
Come to think of it, he had probably made a mistake letting that girl go by without paying the toll - but he really had wanted to hear those words.
Why was that?
The truth was that he was quite disappointed with his stay in this world up till now. Part of that could be because his expectations were too high, but there was also the fact that till now, he seemed to have quite a run of rotten luck.
There were quite a few things which contributed to his despondent mood.
The biggest was that he was out here, alone. Although it wasn't like things with his squad were perfect, at least they were people he could talk to.
Most of the other people in the sect didn't like him very much- he could tell even if they didn't openly say it. The women openly gave him looks of disdain because of what had happened with Xu Feng, even if his intentions had been only to help out a friend at that time.
His heart flared up in anger the moment he thought of Xu Feng. That man had taken advantage of Tang Ze's naivety and sense of doing right by people. When Tang Ze had first come to this world, he had been wary of potentially being taken advantage of by people, but hadn't run into anyone till that point who was like that. Since Xu Feng was a ghost and Tang Ze had some sympathy for him, Tang Ze had quickly trusted him. After all, he was one of the former members of the squad- just like Zhang Long, Yin Tiang, and Chen Yu, so Xu Feng also had to be trustworthy like them, right?
Tang Ze did not have 'being tricked by a ghost' on the list of things he thought might happen if he was ever transported to another world.
In the future, Tang Ze swore to be more mindful of anyone asking for his help. If it was someone he trusted, like his current squad members, it was fine to lend them a hand - but anyone else, he would need to be more wary of.
As for Tang Ru, he harbored great resentment towards her as well, though he had to note that given what Xu Feng had made him say to her, her reaction couldn't entirely be faulted. If someone had said such things about Tang Ze's family, he too would've likely flown into a rage.
He had tried reaching out once to her via letter, explaining what had happened, and in return all he got was this world's version of a restraining order telling him that he was no longer allowed to send her letters any longer.
Evidently she did not believe his explanation.
It wasn't just the women though, the higher-ups on the male side also looked at him with distrustful gazes - if his posting here wasn't a punishment, it was almost certainly a way to get him out of sight and away from where he could potentially cause them trouble.
If they were feeling particularly vengeful, they might even arrange for some trouble to occur here in this place. Tang Ze didn't feel like that was very likely, but he had difficulty keeping down the paranoid thoughts.
If only he had had more of a chance to prove himself - Tang Ze felt that he would be thought of more highly. Right now though, on paper all he was known for was for taking down some of the rival Diamond Dust clan members, a feat that didn't earn him much renown as it occurred before he had joined.
He had lots of strength, potentially more than even a Hinayana cultivator, yet the right opportunity to show it off hadn't presented itself.
If anything, his strength had been more of a hindrance than anything else as demonstrated with him accidentally destroying part of the dojo.
His lack of cultivation progress was also bringing his mood down. Right here, where he was, out and away from most people - this would technically be one of the better places to try to cultivate by meditating, but if anything, just sitting here brought out more negative thoughts within him than positive. He was still at the Zeroth Realm - and it wasn't like he could console himself and say that his rate of growth was good so that he'd eventually outdo his peers. It didn't bother him that much that his cultivation was the lowest in his squad….
…no, that was a lie, it bothered him a lot!
And the fact that during the time he had joined, it looked like his squad members were each going to go up a minor realm, with Zhang Long having even done so with his assistance, while he was still stuck behind even where a child would be - it stung his heart greatly!
Could he compensate for all of this with his cosplaying talent - maybe, but since coming to this world the talent had already been defeated two times.
Once, by Elder He Xuan using a technique that didn't rely on physical strength. And secondly by Tang Ru; although that was because of the circumstances and him being caught off guard, it was a weakness nonetheless.
It was clear that he couldn't just coast on his talent in the future as these two losses exposed some glaring weaknesses with it.
Chapter 21 Mistakes of the Past
Perhaps all of his worries, while somewhat rooted in what was going on in this world, were a symptom of a much deeper problem.
Tang Ze was still the person he had been back on Earth. Talent or no talent, cultivation or no cultivation, he could not escape who he was.
The disdainful glances from the other sect members - though painful, were nothing compared to the looks his parents gave him back home.
They had never said anything outwardly, but Tang Ze had always thought that he could feel their resentment towards him whenever he locked eyes with them.
Tang Ze's parents…
He couldn't help but wonder how they were doing right now - though the moment his thoughts went in that direction, he realized what they must be going through, and immediately severed that train of thought.
He would prefer to never think about that ever again, and buried that line of questioning deep within his mind, where hopefully it would never bother him again.
He could only turn to the here and now for comfort - but there was little comfort to be found here.
Here Tang Ze was, repeating many of the same mistakes as back in his earlier life.
Complaining about getting up early - which had been such an issue in his past life that he would sometimes miss morning classes because of it.
Secondly, he was being extremely impatient with things just like he had been back home. If he couldn't understand something in a few week's time back home, he would usually give up on it and move on to other things.
Tang Ze really couldn't do that here.
This world was a cultivation world, and cultivation took time. Even if he was bad at it, he had to keep walking on that path. Elder He Xuan's words from the entrance test echoed - he could be strong, but just being strong was not the point of joining a sect, at least not physically.
Cultivation was a journey that was unfathomably long. As an example, one would remain an Initiate until one had either served for thirty years, or gotten to Qi Refinement stage. Most people did not meet that second criteria unless they had gotten significant help from their families or lucked out with immense talent, meaning most people took longer than thirty years to get to Qi Refinement stage.
In practice, it was actually expected for someone to take about forty or fifty years to reach Qi Refinement stage. Most would never reach the Golden Core stage before dying of old age.
To put things into perspective, back on Earth, his father had once tried to encourage him to enter the medical field. His father had aspired to become a doctor at one point, though hadn't been able to because of some personal issues at the time. But the time investment required - nearly a decade or more of study, had been more than enough to scare Tang Ze off from even considering going into it!
His father had been disappointed, though not to the point of trying to force Tang Ze onto that route.
Instead, his father's aspirations had been shifted to his younger brother - who might've been able to accomplish them.
When it came to the things that actually mattered, like doing well in school, or getting good grades, studying, or extracurriculars that didn't involve cosplaying - his younger brother far outshone him.
Tang Ze felt a sharp pain in his chest at the memory of his brother.
For a moment, he thought he could even see traces of his brother's blood on his hands and clothes. The sounds of an ambulance almost began to ring in his ears as well.
He immediately shook his head.
If his mind went down that route, it would lead to even more pain. He gave himself a gentle slap, trying to get back to the original point he was thinking of.
Point being, if around a decade was too long a time to wait on Earth, what was the centuries or even millennia that would need to be invested to become a cultivator about?
While he hadn't necessarily imagined himself soaring through the realms with no effort, he didn't think he'd be stuck at the Zeroth Realm for this long. He was essentially worse than even the lowest cultivator in the sect, worse than many children as a matter of fact, as he was right now.
True, it had only been a little over two months - and in cultivator terms that was nothing, but Tang Ze was still someone who came from Earth. And to have made essentially no progress up till now was extremely frustrating.
Video games, web novels, anime, movies - all of them had been an escape from life back home.
His hobby of making costumes and cosplaying was also that - an escape.
Eventually, he remembered that life had become so painful that even those windows of escape had lost their flavor for him.
And that had been all that he wanted to do - to escape.
This was the ultimate escape though, to be in a whole different world. Where he could be someone completely different.
For a time, he even believed that he was someone different. When he had helped Zhang Long, it had felt incredible - like he was on top of the world!
As if he really had reinvented himself!
As if his problems had vanished instantly.
Tang Ze felt back then that if his family could see him now, as he was in this world, they might actually be proud of him. That he had finally, in some way, lived up to their expectations.
That he had come one step closer to redeeming himself in his own eyes…
The high from that had faded off quickly, and been replaced by the dour reality of this world.
It was certainly not a bed of roses.
Living in a cultivation world had its own problems, he was well aware of them now.
The sheen of coming to a new world had worn off, and its mundane reality was now staring him back.
A reality that was not completely hopeless, but was disappointing nonetheless.
Most of the jobs they were given were hard, pointless, and also not the kind he'd normally want to do. He remembered having to clean out pegasi during the time he and his squad had been asked to clean up the stables.
That was just considered to be 'paying one's dues' as an Initiate, though as he understood it while things might get better in the sense that the amount of scut work would go down as one moved up the ranks, they would be saddled with different responsibilities then instead. So it seemed that cultivation never truly got easier, because people never truly thought that they were finished. There was always another minor or major realm for them to go up. There was always another rare plant or animal they could be hunting down that could be the ingredient for a valuable pill.
And so, they would run like that, just like a hamster on a wheel, until they died.
In that regard, this world wasn't too different from back on Earth. The only thing was that here, people aspired to be immortal instead of filling their days with work and family, though no one ever had achieved true immortality in this world. The Mahayana realm, after all, was largely considered to just be a myth.
This job wasn't too bad on paper, though Tang Ze didn't think that his days in this new world would be spent as a glorified toll booth operator.
That was why he had gone off on that girl earlier. Maybe - he thought, if he encountered something like an arrogant young master and put them in their place, or beat an old monster - he'd finally either make some progress or get some recognition from people. He didn't want to be seen as the black sheep of the sect.
He was just so tired of how slowly he was making progress.
Was Tang Ze being unrealistic?
He absolutely was! Without a doubt, even he knew this.
A few tiny setbacks like this shouldn't have derailed someone's ambition to succeed.
But, that didn't change that he felt how he felt. He hadn't yet grasped the mental fortitude needed, despite all of his lessons, to be able to change that.
And truth be told, he hadn't been in the best mental state before coming into this world either.
That part of him hadn't been magically fixed by coming here.
Cultivation was about being true to yourself, apparently - though when thinking of who he was, all that came to his mind was 'worthless trash.'
What was he going to do about it, though?
Even if a portal opened up somewhere that would take him back to Earth, he would not have done so. There was no way that he could face his parents again after what he had done.
The sun set after he collected the toll from a few more travelers. Some of them were just walking on foot, and grumble about having to pay just to walk, but Tang Ze gave them the same answer he'd given Zheng Mai. If it was up to him, he would just let them pass - but the sect demanded its dues.
Once it was nighttime, he closed the bridge through a mechanism that lifted up the half closer to him up in the air. With that, he went to the adjoining cottage, which was more of a glorified shed than anything else.
All it had in terms of furniture was a bed and supplies needed to change the linen. There was enough food for the maximum time he would be expected to be here, and things like lamp oil and the like were brought in periodically.
The most important thing to do was to lock up the coinage in a special box kept in the cottage. The box couldn't be opened easily, and was bolted to the ground making it very difficult to steal.
As for the produce, that had to be kept in storage, and would be taken away by the same people who would come to resupply the cottage.
The door to the cottage was made of iron and could be barred shut, making it very difficult to knock down. This would also meant that Tang Ze would be forewarned if anyone tried to knock it down. Not that he thought such a thing was likely - this was supposed to be a relatively safe area, after all, though the sect did leave a staff, sword, and other such basic weaponry in a corner for protecting himself need be.
Though, for Tang Ze, his costumes were far more effective weapons than such things.
That was why he still slept in modified pajamas, so he could be fighting ready if need be even in the middle of the night.
Tang Ze went to bed after preparing a meal, wondering what to do. A diligent person would've tried cultivating for even just an hour, but he just felt so drained despite not having done anything that should've caused him to feel such in the entire day. He tossed and turned in bed, but despite his fatigue, found it hard to sleep.
He sighed and wondered what the others were up to.
How were Zhang Long, Ying Tiang, and Chen Yu handling their missions?
Chapter 22 Ironthorn Fruit: Part One
The others had also been assigned to solo missions, though they were far closer to the sect.
Chen Yu had been assigned the same mission this time as he had been last year, though this had been within his expectations.
When news had reached the group that Tang Ze was being assigned to a faraway outpost, Chen Yu had been shocked along with the others.
Why were they sending Tang Ze so far away? Not only that, but it was a mission usually given to those at the Qi Refinement realm. Tang Ze wasn't even at the Qi Condensation realm yet, so this seemed doubly odd.
This was clearly some form of retribution - though for what, he couldn't really fathom.
There was the incident with Tang Ze crossing into the women's side, but in his opinion, that wasn't that much of a major breach. Not to mention that all of them had been punished for that, not just Tang Ze, but Tang Ze was the only one who had been sent far away to a remote location.
As for the incident with the martial arts dojo - even Elder He Xuan didn't seem to be so mad about it, so what gives?
Maybe it was just because Tang Ze had no deep foundations within the sect, and was also in his probationary period that they were so made at him?
There was also his complete lack of cultivating ability that caused many people to look down on him.
The thing was that Chen Yu was underestimating how petty the prefects could be sometimes.
They had made up their minds about Tang Ze being a problematic new recruit, and wanted to try every legal method in the book to throw him out. However, they had been unable to do so.
But if they couldn't do that, they could try to make things as miserable for Tang Ze as possible, in the hope that he would voluntarily leave.
Chen Yu sighed. Regardless of how they felt about things, there was little that they could do.
At the very least, there was a silver lining to all of this in that Tang Ze couldn't be stuck in that outpost forever.
There was a certain ratio of group to solo tasks that Initiates had to do, so at most Tang Ze would be away for a month.
Also, Tang Ze had the benefit of being able to fly there quickly and get back, so he wouldn't be wasting as much time as someone else would who'd have to walk or ride all the way out there. That allowed him to depart for the mission a lot later than he otherwise would have, and would also let him come back earlier too.
In all of his time in the sect though, Chen Yu hadn't heard of a Qi Condensation stage cultivator getting a mission usually assigned for Qi Refinement stage cultivators. However, even if it wasn't typical, it was not against the rules - Zhang Long had dived into this aspect to see if he could help Tang Ze, but hadn't really found anything.
They all had to basically give up and accept whatever fate had in store at that point.
So what was Chen Yu's task during this time?
It was one that he was especially suited for, which is why it was only natural that the sect had assigned him to it once again.
Although Chen Yu was at the fourth minor realm of Qi Condensation along with Yin Tiang, and Zhang Long had run ahead of the two of them by two minor realms despite being two years younger than either - realms were not everything when it came to fighting.
Especially when it came to the lower realms of Qi Condensation.
Before Tang Ze had joined their group, Chen Yu had been quite confident that if it came to one-on-one fights, he was the strongest and would be able to beat any of the others.
That was because Chen Yu had a trump card that the others simply did not.
Chen Yu was the youngest of four brothers, and yet, his family had poured a disproportionate amount of resources into him. The baby oil had just been a part of this - he had had access to teachers and the like as well as anything that his parents thought could've even given him a hair's breadth worth of advantage over his peers.
Most of this money had been a huge waste - even Chen Yu felt like that was the case for much of it, but he couldn't blame his family.
Despite being technically in the line of Imperial succession, they had nothing else that could really give them a leg up when it came to this world.
After all, they were so far down the list when it came to succession that Chen Yu was sure the list only went so far into detail so some bureaucrats could keep their jobs maintaining it - they got virtually no benefits from the same.
There were many times when it had come as a hindrance, however.
People dealing with them suddenly assumed that they were swimming in money and would jack up the prices of things two or three times.
There were also some jobs and opportunities that they could not avail of simply because they would be seen as 'beneath them' despite the fact that they were in all practical terms no different from an ordinary family.
For example, because they were not within one hundred ranks of succession, they still had to pay taxes! So they didn't even get a reprieve from that.
They also had a financial penalty in the sense that there were things that his family had to do to keep up appearances - including making a certain amount of charitable donations to the poor or hosting certain events. Not all of these things were necessarily negatives - though it all did strain their finances.
Chen Yu and his brothers all knew they had to put forward their best efforts to keep the family name afloat - though Chen Yu had essentially bore the entire weight of his family's expectations since the moment he was born.
That was because Chen Yu's birth had been special.
In this world, certain talents and techniques could be passed through bloodlines.
Chen Yu was descended from the Imperial Family, by a number of degrees of separation of course, but they could still trace their lineage to the founder of the Raswatian Empire.
He was called the Emperor of Five Attributes.
He was a Hinayana realm cultivator, though it was said that his strength could somewhat reach a shadow of what the Mahayana realm could achieve - not that many knew what it was exactly that the Mahayana realm could do given that there were only sparse tales of people who had reached that far. No one in the Raswatian Empire's history had ever become a Mahayana realm cultivator. As a matter of fact, they had no reliable records of anyone becoming a Mahayana realm cultivator even outside their empire's history, but if such records had ever existed, it was likely that they wouldn't have stood the test of time.
Regarding the first emperor, it was thanks to his mastery of the 'Five Attributes' that he had united the warring states at the time and placed them all under the rule of a single iron fist.
The Five Attributes were - One, to strike as fast as lightning; two, to be as swift as the wind; three, to be as strong as a mountain; four, to be as tough as steel; and five, to be as calm as ice.
These attributes manifested themselves into various techniques, and the attributes themselves were carried through his bloodline. People descended from him would occasionally be born with the ability to use one of the Five Attributes.
No one currently alive was able to utilize any of them to the full ability of what the Emperor of Five Attributes could, and with time as his bloodline diluted, fewer and fewer people were born with the ability to use them.
On very rare occasions though - there might be people born with not just one, but two out of the Five Attributes. Thirty-five thousand years ago, a person had been born with three out of five of them, though the Imperial Family at the time had feared their rise and had them executed once they were only twelve years of age; before they could get powerful to the extent that they could become a major threat to their rule.
It just went to show that in this world, sometimes, it was best to keep your strength hidden!
Chen Yu shuddered as he thought of the cruelty of that decision - thankfully times were now different, and such a thing wouldn't have likely been permitted in this day and age.
After a hundred thousand years of diluting bloodlines, it was now quite rare to find someone who was born with even one of the Five Attributes.
So you can imagine how happy Chen Yu's family had been when he had been born with one of the Five Attributes - he had number four of the five attributes; to be as tough as steel!
His parents had thrown a grand party at the time of his birth as they had been unable to contain their joy at the time.
This was a powerful defensive attribute, and could be honed into various techniques.
Ever since then, Chen Yu had bore the weight of his family's expectations on his shoulder.
Not to say that everything had all been bad because of this, he had been given quite the bit of favoritism from his parents because of the same.
He could get away with things that his brothers couldn't and he usually got his way when it came to conflicts - to the point where his brothers nicknamed him 'Little Emperor' because of this golden child treatment.
His parents also tried to give him anything that they felt might give him the upper hand later in life - the baby oil had been an example of that. Something that was likely useless, but they were willing to try anything that might give him even the slightest bit of an edge - much like some parents back on Earth would have their children listen to classical music when they were just a few months old in the hope that it would help them become smarter later in life.
Speaking of such bloodline abilities though - Chen Yu highly suspected that Tang Ze's strange potential to draw powers from fictional characters he was 'cosplaying' as (as Tang Ze described it, a term for what he was doing) was also some kind of bloodline ability. Just one that he had not heard of before.
Tang Ze was strangely distant whenever asked about his family for some reason - which Chen Yu found odd. It wasn't like Chen Yu was particularly interested in Tang Ze's heritage, it was just one of the first things that people would ask about in this world. After all, people usually identified themselves first with their family, then with their village, and after that with their sect. The two of them already belonged to the same sect, so that left only two things to inquire about.
From what he could tell though, Tang Ze seemed to talk of his mother and father with no issues, though when asked about siblings, his face would suddenly become cloudy and his mood would become gloomy.
Chen Yu wasn't sure if it was because Tang Ze didn't have a good relationship with his siblings or if something tragic had happened - as it was, he was sure that Tang Ze would tell them when he felt comfortable.
Chen Yu had no desire to meddle into other people's affairs, especially if they might make someone uncomfortable.
And it looked like Tang Ze had enough problems on his hands without being given extra stress.
"Young Master Chen Yu, are you ready to begin?" one of the farmers asked, snapping him out of his reverie.