After these immortal seedlings were assigned, the batch of outer sect disciples was led to the next mountain peak.
The Ascension Path they had just climbed was merely the outskirts of Piaomiao Mountain, part of the mountain gate.
Immortal Seedling Peak was on yet another mountain top.
A flock of cranes came flying in. Each of these cranes was larger than a grown man, with a wingspan of nearly five to six meters, and a saddle on its back.
"These are spirit cranes, raised by the sect. They are essential for travel between the peaks of the mountain gate. Early Qi Condensation disciples are not yet able to fly on magical instruments, so there are these cranes. You may use spirit stones or merit points to rent spirit crane tokens at the Crane Terraces on each peak."
"We will now take you to the Patriarch's Grand Hall on Immortal Seedling Peak. After paying respects to the Patriarch, you will officially become outer sect disciples. At that time, you will be issued outer sect disciple identity tokens and robes, and assigned living quarters."
"Immortal Seedling Peak is where Fetal Breath Realm cultivation takes place. Once there, you must study diligently and not idle away your time. There is an assessment every hundred days. Those who show no progress will have their outer sect disciple status revoked and be demoted to menial servants."
"Once you reach the first layer of Qi Condensation, you may go listen to lectures at Lingxi Peak, near Immortal Seedling Peak."
"The entire immortal seedling cultivation period lasts two years. After two years, outer sect tasks will begin to be assigned, and at that point you may select cave dwellings to live in among the various outer sect peaks."
……
Lin Donglai climbed onto a crane's back and gripped the feathers tightly, only daring to look around after the crane had been airborne for a long while.
He saw mountains shrouded in mist, the sky an eternal azure.
When the cranes arrived at Immortal Seedling Peak and deposited the immortal seedlings, they each flew away.
The flock of cranes spiraled off into the distance.
Only then did many of the disciples come back to their senses.
At the Patriarch's Hall on Immortal Seedling Peak, an outer sect elder took over this batch of immortal seedlings from Elder Ma.
He then led everyone to the Patriarch's Grand Hall, where they offered incense and paid homage, bowing three times and kowtowing nine times.
Having paid respects to the Patriarch, they were considered to have entered the outer sect. The outer sect Elder Qin of the Patriarch's Hall then lectured on the Patriarch's glorious deeds and the arduous pioneering of the sect since its founding.
He spoke for over half a shichen before issuing everyone their outer sect disciple identity tokens, three sets of outer sect disciple shoes and robes, a sect rulebook, and a cultivation compendium.
After receiving their items, living quarters were assigned, and they were told the locations of the dining hall and the school.
The school, in addition to teaching the illiterate immortal seedlings how to read, also provided instruction on the human body's meridians, organ structures, and acupoints.
If one didn't understand even these, they might as well forget about cultivating immortality—they likely wouldn't be able to comprehend even a single cultivation manual.
The living quarters were courtyards, with each person having their own side room. After all, in the cultivation world, the greatest taboo during cultivation was being disturbed.
As expected, Lin Donglai was assigned to the same courtyard as Ding Zhen. Also in the same courtyard were a tall, stout fatty and a skinny beanpole of a man.
Since they lived in the same courtyard, the four of them exchanged some basic information before going to check out their pre-selected rooms.
The fatty was named Luo Jie, with five spirit roots of inferior aptitude, his five elements favoring metal.
The skinny man was called Yu Jiang, also with five spirit roots of inferior aptitude, his five elements favoring water.
It seemed they had a courtyard full of five-spirit-root cultivators.
Lin Donglai's side room faced east. It was fully equipped—bed and furnishings were all complete, and there were even some additions left behind by immortal seedlings from previous years, though everything had been cleaned thoroughly, with no trace of the previous occupants' lives.
Lin Donglai, having climbed all those steps, was utterly exhausted. Lying on the bed, he daydreamed about the future for a while and fell asleep without realizing it.
When he woke, it was to the sound of Ding Zhen knocking at his door: "Brother Dong! Time to eat at the dining hall!"
Only then did Lin Donglai get up.
After all, eating was a matter of importance!
When he arrived at the courtyard, the other three had already gotten acquainted. Seeing that Lin Donglai was up, they all went together to the Immortal Seedling Peak dining hall to eat.
The inner sect disciples had told them before how nourishing the food at Immortal Seedling Peak was, how it aided the Origin-Nourishing Breathing Technique and the Muscle-Tendon Tempering Stake Art. Even the rice was special—jade japonica rice steamed and sun-dried nine times over, steeped in half-strength medicinal elixir.
Only by eating well could one cultivate better, achieving Muscle-Tendon Cleansing and Marrow Washing sooner, condensing essence-blood, and refining one's natal dao seed.
When the group arrived at the dining hall and entered, they discovered it was actually divided into two areas. The first area was free, and its offerings were no different from what they had eaten at the Daoist temple—century-old ginseng stewed chicken with jade japonica rice and the like.
The second area allowed one to spend spirit stones on secret-recipe spirit meals, made from true spirit rice, spirit meat, and spirit vegetables.
A poor boy from a remote backwater like Lin Donglai obviously couldn't afford secret-recipe spirit meals.
But he was still somewhat stung by the sight: "So everywhere has its hierarchy of ranks."
Fortunately, even the free dining hall food was far tastier than the farm food back in the countryside, let alone its nourishing properties and benefits for cultivation.
Even Lin Donglai felt a surge of warmth in his lower abdomen after eating.
"Senior Sister Jiang said I'm suited for growing spirit herbs. If I can get some seeds, I could try growing a few myself! But everything must take second place to refining my dao seed."
"Among this batch of immortal seedlings, we all just barely scraped in." Luo Jie, the fatty, sighed. "Five years ago, the minimum requirement for outer sect disciples was four spirit roots of inferior aptitude. Five spirit roots of inferior aptitude wouldn't even qualify to walk the Ascension Path—even becoming a menial servant required connections and bribing the outer sect stewards."
"The top ten who summited this time all have good spirit root aptitude. The first place is a superior-grade dual water-wood spirit root with the Azure Yang Dao Body! He's already been taken as a disciple by the Grand Elder."
"As for the other few, after two years of cultivation during the immortal seedling period, they'll most likely be taken as disciples by inner sect elders too."
"Those of us like this, I'm afraid we're fated to be outer sect disciples for life."
"How do you know all this?" Ding Zhen asked Luo Jie.
"While you all were resting, I went around asking. On this Immortal Seedling Peak, there's always someone well-informed!"
Luo Jie sighed. "For five spirit roots of inferior aptitude like ours, based on how the menial servants have fared in the past, even cultivating diligently without pills to assist, it would take at least two or three years to complete the Fetal Breath Realm and reach the first layer of Qi Condensation."
"We're better off than the menial servants—we have a two-year immortal seedling cultivation period. But if we haven't reached the second layer of Qi Condensation by then, I'm afraid we won't even be able to use spells."
"Even the cheap, dime-a-dozen Lesser Cloud Rain Art requires at least the second layer of Qi Condensation to cast successfully."
"Alas!" Yu Jiang, hearing this, couldn't help but sigh. "We've been blinded by the immortal sects! If I'd known, I'd have gone to be a live-in son-in-law for a cultivation family."
"A spirit-root son-in-law?"
Someone nearby who overheard the conversation couldn't help but interject: "That just makes you a breeding stud. First they marry you to three wives, and once all three are pregnant, they give you three more, and once those three are pregnant, they give you three more. With that kind of depletion, you'd become an invalid within three years."
"Even with kidneys of iron, you'd just be medicinal dregs. Even if you sired spirit-root children, they'd be someone else's sons—they'd never acknowledge you as their father."
"Besides, a washed-up spirit-root son-in-law is worse than a dog. The next time the Azure Wood Gate tests for spirit roots, there'll be another batch of newcomers, heh heh..."
This talk sent a chill through everyone.
Was the cultivation world really this nakedly cruel?
Time flew by, and ten days had passed. Lin Donglai spent all his time on Immortal Seedling Peak practicing and studying, every day following the same three-point routine of school, dining hall, and quarters.
Each day he practiced the Origin-Nourishing Breathing Technique and the Muscle-Tendon Tempering Stake Art, while also learning some common knowledge of the cultivation world.
The school at Immortal Seedling Peak mostly taught cultivation fundamentals—the five elements, yin and yang, the structure of the human body, and the history of the Azure Wood Gate.
There were also dedicated lectures on the Origin-Nourishing Breathing Technique and the Muscle-Tendon Tempering Stake Art, but each was only taught once, with the instructor leaving behind a single line—"The master leads you through the door; cultivation depends on the individual"—and no such classes were held again.
Those with good spirit root aptitude and good comprehension would naturally grasp it on their own, without needing things spelled out for them. Those with poor spirit root aptitude and poor comprehension—teaching them more would be useless anyway.
Lin Donglai often visited the school. Besides listening to lectures on cultivation knowledge, he spent most of his time browsing the various travelogues and encyclopedias in the school's library.
Herb encyclopedias, demonic beast encyclopedias, mineral encyclopedias, and the like—at the very least, he needed to be able to recognize them.
He read these books for no other reason than to absorb knowledge and adapt as much as possible to the Azure Wood Gate, and to the entire cultivation world he would come into contact with in the future.