The Celestial Gateway technique was not particularly complicated in comparison to most of the techniques Xuhan was familiar with. But it was unique in the sense that he could neither test nor raise his proficiency in it by cooping up inside his hut all by himself and burning resources.
The sun during high noon felt like a torture device strapped to his head despite his improved physique. Bent over and sweating profusely, Han Xuhan continued to design small units of the qi formation that would soon encompass the entire sect if all the disciples did their job properly.
The Heavenly Hailstorm mountain peak, his current home, only housed four disciples in total. Despite being smaller than the rest, it was still a large area, and the workload that fell on each disciple of the peak was much higher as well. Elder Kong did more than half the work on his own, seemingly having comprehended the technique unnaturally fast. Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou were neck to neck in terms of apparent talent and speed while Xiao Wu stayed barely ahead of Xuhan in terms of progress.
Each of them was to practice the technique on paper first. Once their proficiency had reached a certain level and they broke through to the first layer, they'd go outside and start designing qi formations for the main spell. A practitioner at the first layer could only design the lowest level of formations which would form the first-level domain.
During the execution of the main spell, this domain could only be considered a dead addition to the sect. A sect that sported a large area of first-level domain in the tournament would be considered a bottom-of-the-barrel sect. No one would take them seriously.
A practitioner at the second layer could actually affect the three-dimensional space around the second-level formations, thus forming a domain that could be considered high-quality. Wherever a second-level formation is laid down, the soil below it and the air above it would fall under the second-level domain.
Most of the decent sects would want to have at least 50% of their domains at the second level.
A practitioner at the third and final layer could actually manipulate and modify the affected space based on their mental influence upon the execution of the spell.
Han Xuhan, currently a beginner at the first layer, had designed enough formations to cover an area of fifty square meters since the morning, and that didn’t even cover two percent of the area he had to cover by the next three days.
He had taken far too long to reach the first layer of the Celestial Gateway technique, which had cut down his original time before the deadline by half. The lack of talent was a curse he couldn’t get rid of no matter what.
Just as he was about to give up trying to absorb any more qi, the sound of footsteps came from behind. Xuhan didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. His increased sense of perception, coupled with the distinct uniqueness of the approaching person made it far too easy to detect his identity.
"Boss! How is it going?” Jumping up, Xuhan shook his arms and stretched his back as he greeted Mu Ran.
Mu Ran had a wide smile plastered on his face for some reason. Experience told Han Xuhan that either something really good had happened, or some serious shit was about to go down soon.
"Underling Xuhan! Still struggling at the first layer of this simple technique, I see."
"Ah well, boss. What can I say? The heavens blessed me with nothing but with the wisdom that recognizes mountain Tai such as yourself. How could I even match your speed in cultivation? I reached the first layer just today while you...."
Xuhan trailed off, not finishing the sentence. He was curious to know which realm his boss had reached.
While their relationship was pretty good, Mu Ran usually tried to hide his relevant accomplishments whenever possible, something that greatly puzzled Xuhan. Once he had even enquired about it to Mu Ran himself. The answer he had gotten was ridiculous.
Apparently, Mu Ran just found it extremely entertaining to observe mediocre cultivators being hailed as a genius and showing off their accomplishments in fields of cultivation where Mu Ran had already treaded far longer paths. In many cases, he would find opportunities to slap these mediocre talents in the face, both figuratively and literally, with his superior accomplishments.
''It's my main hobby, to be honest. A man's gotta have a source of entertainment in these barren worlds.''
That had been Mu Ran's justification.
Mu Ran's smile widened and a hint of embarrassment appeared on his face.
"Hey now, stop with all that praises, Xuhan. Sometimes you take them too far. I just consolidated my proficiency in the second layer. That's not as awesome as you’re making it out to be. I have reasons to suspect that martial sister Zhou has already reached the final layer!"
His heart in woe, Xuhan maintained his standard brilliant, honest, down-to-earth smile and said what Mu Ran wanted to hear. The guy was so easy to see through.
"Hah! I bet her foundation isn’t half as solid as Bos's. She might be a crouching white tiger but you are the hidden azure dragon!"
"Aiya~ I told you to stop...."
While Mu Ran laughed in deep satisfaction, Han Xuhan changed his expression and slipped into a serious, worried demeanor.
"But what about me, boss? I've barely managed to cover this tiny bit of area here. How am I going to cover the entire area that fell into my quota? Besides, Xiao Wu said every mountain peak will earn the respect of the opponents through these formations. If all of my formations are at the lowest level while the rest of you beautify the mountain peak with your high-level formations, wouldn’t we attract ridicule from everybody?" In an anxious tone, Xuhan began his tirade of worries that he had 'bottled up' long ago.
Mu Ran fell silent, his brows creasing as he contemplated the issue.
"That....that doesn't actually sound like a bad idea!"
"I know, righ-wait, come again?"
"That is such a precious opportunity to slap some faces and leave the biggest impression on everybody else! Incredible! You truly are a godsend Xuhan. How do you even think of these ideas?"
"I uh-" Han Xuhan wanted to say that it was Kong Ye who had refused to cut down a portion of his work despite knowing Xuhan had a pretty low chance of completing it. That man was still seething over the 'small' incident where Han Xuhan had squeezed out several precious cultivation techniques from him in one go. How childish!
Han Xuhan could only choose to be the mature, understanding disciple in that incident and carry the weight of his master's childish antics, as well as the weight of those heavy, priceless scrolls; a small price to pay for cultivation.
"Hehehe~ my so-called peers in this entire planet, just you wait, just you wait...."
While Mu Ran creepily muttered to himself with a manic grin, Han Xuhan decided to throw in a few spices of his own into the mixture.
"Boss! I have an even better idea! What if we disguise this area as the ugly, low-tier region of our peak using the third layer's proficiency?"
"What?" Mu Ran asked in confusion.
"Think about it, boss. We shall enter the tournament with everybody else, showing our ugly, first-level domain intentionally in order to attract ridicule. But then we're going to stun those snobs by revealing that our domain is actually covered by third-level formations!"
"....Woah...."
A dreamy look appeared on Mu Ran's face as he stared up at the sky, seemingly immersed in Imagining the epic scene. Xuhan nodded eagerly. He could almost sense the cogs and wheels turning slowly in Mu Ran's rusty mind.
Come on, boss. Find out that gargantuan flaw in that proposition...
"But underling, your proficiency is obviously at the first layer. How are you going to reach the third layer of this technique within three days and execute this grand plan? I admit I'm the best teacher around here but even I can't help you learn it so fast," Mu Ran finally spoke, discovering the problem Han Xuhan had handed to him.
"Yeah, but you can easily reach the third layer and do it instead of me, can't you?"
Han Xuhan replied, a very honest grin growing on his face.
Finally, the fish had been hooked. Now he could just sit and enjoy himself while the fish did what it would naturally do. It was going to rush around, jump up and down, struggle instinctively while Xuhan's only job was to keep a firm grip on the rod....No, something seemed crooked about that metaphor.
"BRILLIANT!" Meanwhile, awash with the impactful realization, Mu Ran leaped upwards and threw a fist in the air.
"This tiny area of land? I could modify it within a few hours! Let's start right now!"
Han Xuhan threw him a dirty look.
"I thought you were at the second layer, boss."
"No, when did I-oh, right, right. But don't worry, underling. I'll definitely break through to the third layer in time and execute our brilliant plan. Our glory, our superiority, will dazzle this world in one fell swoop right at the entrance!"
"Definitely, yeah. Definitely." Han Xuhan nodded along like a chicken.
Mu Ran was about to turn around and leave in order to keep up his act. After all, he had to pretend to make a breakthrough soon and show his expertise in the third layer. But then he seemed to remember his original intentions for coming to meet Xuhan.
"Hey underling, do you remember that whole credit earning system we had in the sect? What's the amount of credits we've amassed so far?"
Han Xuhan scratched his head, trying to remember the relevant information. Piling up credits was the only known method for outer court disciples to reach the inner court without cultivating to any particularly high realm. But the amount of trauma his first attempt at earning credits had left him was enough to cut down most of that enthusiasm. He was doing just fine as a weakling in the outer court. The inner court would definitely be a more dangerous place full of treacherous, experienced cultivators who are hard to scam.
"Give me a second, boss," Xuhan nodded confidently as he sat down in a meditative pose and closed his eyes.
A couple of seconds later, Tun Shi Tian flew out of his back like a bullet and disappeared from their sight. Natural owls were definitely not that fast. But Tun Shi Tian was a cultivator owl with the intelligence of a human, albeit not a very smart one. But its speed could even match the fastest of birds after training.
Mu Ran followed the skeleton owl's trails with his eyes, puzzlement apparent on his face.
"Underling, what's your minion supposed to do? Isn't the investigation of the credits of others forbidden? Moreover, the senior disciple who handles the calculation of credits is someone who got into the sect using his uncle's connections. Just half an hour ago, I myself visited the pavilion and enquired about the credits myself. The rumors about that guy actually turned out to be accurate. He is a disrespectful, lazy, greedy, asshat. When I snorted in annoyance at his wishy-washy work ethics and released my full aura, he actually stopped looking for our information and straight-up threatened me with his uncle's name! The guy had the nerves to not return the bribe I gave him earlier for trespassing the rules to learn my credit scores too!"
Mu Ran got extremely worked up as he vented the anger in his heart. Han Xuhan could only shake his head at the stupidity of the guy in charge of credit calculations. It was one thing to take bribes and break the rules, but not doing your job even after taking the bribe was a big no-no. This guy wouldn't survive long in that business.
But that was actually a good thing for Xuhan.
Tun Shi Tian flew back soon by the time Mu Ran had finished his rant about killing the senior disciple, his uncle, as well as their families including chickens and dogs if that's what it took.
"It would be great if you just left the dogs alone, boss. And we could even start a farming business if we just gather all the chickens and use the dogs as guards. We'd be able to dine on some decent meals every now and then instead of being reliant on the sect's kitchens."
With that morbid suggestion to a man swearing he'd commit genocide, Han Xuhan turned to look at little Tian who had just landed disastrously on the ground after catching the conversation about the massacre of its living avian siblings.
"Report," he said to the shaken owl with an evil grin.
"Wha-right, reporting to m-master. As of now, your credit score is 300. It was a bit higher earlier, but your constant absence in daily tasks and occasional mandatory missions had a negative impact on it despite your punctual fines."
"Three hundred? How the hell did it get that high? I only did one botched mission that offered one-tenth of that amount." Xuhan was quite surprised.
"Big brother Lin mentioned that the entirety of your credit score comes from the changed rewards of that mission," Tun Shi Tian answered immediately.
"Who the fuck is big brother Lin? How did he get this information?" Mu Ran asked, dumbfounded.
"Boss, did you forget that senior who used to work in the archives? He handled the sales and purchases of our cultivation techniques,"
Xuhan answered.
"Why would I bother to remember him?"
"....Right. We established a pretty good relationship with him back when we sold the law technique to the sect. He is one of the few disciples who handle these calculations. Since I kept in touch with him all this time, I can occasionally ask him for favors like this, hehehe."
"Nice! So what's my credit score?" Mu Ran asked eagerly, giving Xuhan a thumbs up.
"Seven hundred," Tun Shi Tian answered.
"....Isn't that a bit too small? Underling Xuhan did only one mission, that too with me. I myself completed at least five more missions of similar caliber-"
"But I saw the register. Your account revealed that apart from the first mission with master, all of the missions you completed were shady, vague, and pretty average level...."
"..... "
Mu Ran opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, he simply seemed to swallow a torrent of emotional tales. His eyes reddening in grief, he stomped away, leaving inches-deep footprints into the hard, rocky mountainback.
The Celestial Gateway technique was not particularly complicated in comparison to most of the techniques Xuhan was familiar with. But it was unique in the sense that he could neither test nor raise his proficiency in it by cooping up inside his hut all by himself and burning resources.
The sun during high noon felt like a torture device strapped to his head despite his improved physique. Bent over and sweating profusely, Han Xuhan continued to design small units of the qi formation that would soon encompass the entire sect if all the disciples did their job properly.
The Heavenly Hailstorm mountain peak, his current home, only housed four disciples in total. Despite being smaller than the rest, it was still a large area, and the workload that fell on each disciple of the peak was much higher as well. Elder Kong did more than half the work on his own, seemingly having comprehended the technique unnaturally fast. Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou were neck to neck in terms of apparent talent and speed while Xiao Wu stayed barely ahead of Xuhan in terms of progress.
Each of them was to practice the technique on paper first. Once their proficiency had reached a certain level and they broke through to the first layer, they'd go outside and start designing qi formations for the main spell. A practitioner at the first layer could only design the lowest level of formations which would form the first-level domain.
During the execution of the main spell, this domain could only be considered a dead addition to the sect. A sect that sported a large area of first-level domain in the tournament would be considered a bottom-of-the-barrel sect. No one would take them seriously.
A practitioner at the second layer could actually affect the three-dimensional space around the second-level formations, thus forming a domain that could be considered high-quality. Wherever a second-level formation is laid down, the soil below it and the air above it would fall under the second-level domain.
Most of the decent sects would want to have at least 50% of their domains at the second level.
A practitioner at the third and final layer could actually manipulate and modify the affected space based on their mental influence upon the execution of the spell.
Han Xuhan, currently a beginner at the first layer, had designed enough formations to cover an area of fifty square meters since the morning, and that didn’t even cover two percent of the area he had to cover by the next three days.
He had taken far too long to reach the first layer of the Celestial Gateway technique, which had cut down his original time before the deadline by half. The lack of talent was a curse he couldn’t get rid of no matter what.
Just as he was about to give up trying to absorb any more qi, the sound of footsteps came from behind. Xuhan didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. His increased sense of perception, coupled with the distinct uniqueness of the approaching person made it far too easy to detect his identity.
"Boss! How is it going?” Jumping up, Xuhan shook his arms and stretched his back as he greeted Mu Ran.
Mu Ran had a wide smile plastered on his face for some reason. Experience told Han Xuhan that either something really good had happened, or some serious shit was about to go down soon.
"Underling Xuhan! Still struggling at the first layer of this simple technique, I see."
"Ah well, boss. What can I say? The heavens blessed me with nothing but with the wisdom that recognizes mountain Tai such as yourself. How could I even match your speed in cultivation? I reached the first layer just today while you...."
Xuhan trailed off, not finishing the sentence. He was curious to know which realm his boss had reached.
While their relationship was pretty good, Mu Ran usually tried to hide his relevant accomplishments whenever possible, something that greatly puzzled Xuhan. Once he had even enquired about it to Mu Ran himself. The answer he had gotten was ridiculous.
Apparently, Mu Ran just found it extremely entertaining to observe mediocre cultivators being hailed as a genius and showing off their accomplishments in fields of cultivation where Mu Ran had already treaded far longer paths. In many cases, he would find opportunities to slap these mediocre talents in the face, both figuratively and literally, with his superior accomplishments.
''It's my main hobby, to be honest. A man's gotta have a source of entertainment in these barren worlds.''
That had been Mu Ran's justification.
Mu Ran's smile widened and a hint of embarrassment appeared on his face.
"Hey now, stop with all that praises, Xuhan. Sometimes you take them too far. I just consolidated my proficiency in the second layer. That's not as awesome as you’re making it out to be. I have reasons to suspect that martial sister Zhou has already reached the final layer!"
His heart in woe, Xuhan maintained his standard brilliant, honest, down-to-earth smile and said what Mu Ran wanted to hear. The guy was so easy to see through.
"Hah! I bet her foundation isn’t half as solid as Bos's. She might be a crouching white tiger but you are the hidden azure dragon!"
"Aiya~ I told you to stop...."
While Mu Ran laughed in deep satisfaction, Han Xuhan changed his expression and slipped into a serious, worried demeanor.
"But what about me, boss? I've barely managed to cover this tiny bit of area here. How am I going to cover the entire area that fell into my quota? Besides, Xiao Wu said every mountain peak will earn the respect of the opponents through these formations. If all of my formations are at the lowest level while the rest of you beautify the mountain peak with your high-level formations, wouldn’t we attract ridicule from everybody?" In an anxious tone, Xuhan began his tirade of worries that he had 'bottled up' long ago.
Mu Ran fell silent, his brows creasing as he contemplated the issue.
"That....that doesn't actually sound like a bad idea!"
"I know, righ-wait, come again?"
"That is such a precious opportunity to slap some faces and leave the biggest impression on everybody else! Incredible! You truly are a godsend Xuhan. How do you even think of these ideas?"
"I uh-" Han Xuhan wanted to say that it was Kong Ye who had refused to cut down a portion of his work despite knowing Xuhan had a pretty low chance of completing it. That man was still seething over the 'small' incident where Han Xuhan had squeezed out several precious cultivation techniques from him in one go. How childish!
Han Xuhan could only choose to be the mature, understanding disciple in that incident and carry the weight of his master's childish antics, as well as the weight of those heavy, priceless scrolls; a small price to pay for cultivation.
"Hehehe~ my so-called peers in this entire planet, just you wait, just you wait...."
While Mu Ran creepily muttered to himself with a manic grin, Han Xuhan decided to throw in a few spices of his own into the mixture.
"Boss! I have an even better idea! What if we disguise this area as the ugly, low-tier region of our peak using the third layer's proficiency?"
"What?" Mu Ran asked in confusion.
"Think about it, boss. We shall enter the tournament with everybody else, showing our ugly, first-level domain intentionally in order to attract ridicule. But then we're going to stun those snobs by revealing that our domain is actually covered by third-level formations!"
"....Woah...."
A dreamy look appeared on Mu Ran's face as he stared up at the sky, seemingly immersed in Imagining the epic scene. Xuhan nodded eagerly. He could almost sense the cogs and wheels turning slowly in Mu Ran's rusty mind.
Come on, boss. Find out that gargantuan flaw in that proposition...
"But underling, your proficiency is obviously at the first layer. How are you going to reach the third layer of this technique within three days and execute this grand plan? I admit I'm the best teacher around here but even I can't help you learn it so fast," Mu Ran finally spoke, discovering the problem Han Xuhan had handed to him.
"Yeah, but you can easily reach the third layer and do it instead of me, can't you?"
Han Xuhan replied, a very honest grin growing on his face.
Finally, the fish had been hooked. Now he could just sit and enjoy himself while the fish did what it would naturally do. It was going to rush around, jump up and down, struggle instinctively while Xuhan's only job was to keep a firm grip on the rod....No, something seemed crooked about that metaphor.
"BRILLIANT!" Meanwhile, awash with the impactful realization, Mu Ran leaped upwards and threw a fist in the air.
"This tiny area of land? I could modify it within a few hours! Let's start right now!"
Han Xuhan threw him a dirty look.
"I thought you were at the second layer, boss."
"No, when did I-oh, right, right. But don't worry, underling. I'll definitely break through to the third layer in time and execute our brilliant plan. Our glory, our superiority, will dazzle this world in one fell swoop right at the entrance!"
"Definitely, yeah. Definitely." Han Xuhan nodded along like a chicken.
Mu Ran was about to turn around and leave in order to keep up his act. After all, he had to pretend to make a breakthrough soon and show his expertise in the third layer. But then he seemed to remember his original intentions for coming to meet Xuhan.
"Hey underling, do you remember that whole credit earning system we had in the sect? What's the amount of credits we've amassed so far?"
Han Xuhan scratched his head, trying to remember the relevant information. Piling up credits was the only known method for outer court disciples to reach the inner court without cultivating to any particularly high realm. But the amount of trauma his first attempt at earning credits had left him was enough to cut down most of that enthusiasm. He was doing just fine as a weakling in the outer court. The inner court would definitely be a more dangerous place full of treacherous, experienced cultivators who are hard to scam.
"Give me a second, boss," Xuhan nodded confidently as he sat down in a meditative pose and closed his eyes.
A couple of seconds later, Tun Shi Tian flew out of his back like a bullet and disappeared from their sight. Natural owls were definitely not that fast. But Tun Shi Tian was a cultivator owl with the intelligence of a human, albeit not a very smart one. But its speed could even match the fastest of birds after training.
Mu Ran followed the skeleton owl's trails with his eyes, puzzlement apparent on his face.
"Underling, what's your minion supposed to do? Isn't the investigation of the credits of others forbidden? Moreover, the senior disciple who handles the calculation of credits is someone who got into the sect using his uncle's connections. Just half an hour ago, I myself visited the pavilion and enquired about the credits myself. The rumors about that guy actually turned out to be accurate. He is a disrespectful, lazy, greedy, asshat. When I snorted in annoyance at his wishy-washy work ethics and released my full aura, he actually stopped looking for our information and straight-up threatened me with his uncle's name! The guy had the nerves to not return the bribe I gave him earlier for trespassing the rules to learn my credit scores too!"
Mu Ran got extremely worked up as he vented the anger in his heart. Han Xuhan could only shake his head at the stupidity of the guy in charge of credit calculations. It was one thing to take bribes and break the rules, but not doing your job even after taking the bribe was a big no-no. This guy wouldn't survive long in that business.
But that was actually a good thing for Xuhan.
Tun Shi Tian flew back soon by the time Mu Ran had finished his rant about killing the senior disciple, his uncle, as well as their families including chickens and dogs if that's what it took.
"It would be great if you just left the dogs alone, boss. And we could even start a farming business if we just gather all the chickens and use the dogs as guards. We'd be able to dine on some decent meals every now and then instead of being reliant on the sect's kitchens."
With that morbid suggestion to a man swearing he'd commit genocide, Han Xuhan turned to look at little Tian who had just landed disastrously on the ground after catching the conversation about the massacre of its living avian siblings.
"Report," he said to the shaken owl with an evil grin.
"Wha-right, reporting to m-master. As of now, your credit score is 300. It was a bit higher earlier, but your constant absence in daily tasks and occasional mandatory missions had a negative impact on it despite your punctual fines."
"Three hundred? How the hell did it get that high? I only did one botched mission that offered one-tenth of that amount." Xuhan was quite surprised.
"Big brother Lin mentioned that the entirety of your credit score comes from the changed rewards of that mission," Tun Shi Tian answered immediately.
"Who the fuck is big brother Lin? How did he get this information?" Mu Ran asked, dumbfounded.
"Boss, did you forget that senior who used to work in the archives? He handled the sales and purchases of our cultivation techniques,"
Xuhan answered.
"Why would I bother to remember him?"
"....Right. We established a pretty good relationship with him back when we sold the law technique to the sect. He is one of the few disciples who handle these calculations. Since I kept in touch with him all this time, I can occasionally ask him for favors like this, hehehe."
"Nice! So what's my credit score?" Mu Ran asked eagerly, giving Xuhan a thumbs up.
"Seven hundred," Tun Shi Tian answered.
"....Isn't that a bit too small? Underling Xuhan did only one mission, that too with me. I myself completed at least five more missions of similar caliber-"
"But I saw the register. Your account revealed that apart from the first mission with master, all of the missions you completed were shady, vague, and pretty average level...."
"..... "
Mu Ran opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, he simply seemed to swallow a torrent of emotional tales. His eyes reddening in grief, he stomped away, leaving inches-deep footprints into the hard, rocky mountainback.
