31 Summit

*Things like sexism and racism are purely for worldbuilding and to make it more realistic. Thank you for your understanding.*

Qingpu Planet.

A young cultivator slowly ascended the steps toward the towering main pagoda within Qingshan City, the heart of the entire Qing Clan.

A determined and yearning expression was worn on his face, yet there was an excited smile within. Ascending each stone-paved step toward the huge red and black pagoda that was shimmering with dense formations, it was as though his life so far had been building up to this moment.

How could it not? After all, this young cultivator had just broken through to Stage 2 and could finally accept missions from the Internal Hall of Affairs. Now, he could exchange his strength for resources to further his cultivation and finally put his future into his own hands!

However, the reason his face was serious on the outside was that now that he was Stage 2, he had a responsibility to build his reputation by amassing achievements. Every clansmen had a record of their missions within the Internal Hall of Affairs, personally guarded by the Hall Elder, that recorded all of their achievements and contributions to the Clan.

Someone like Qing Fang had an outstanding record of achievements which qualified him for special treatment among Stage 3s. Naturally, this "special treatment" was relative and he was still a mere Stage 3 in the eyes of the Clan. However, to righteous forces like Qing Clan, reputation was extremely important.

However, people like Qing Fang would even get missions specially requested of them. Truth be told, many of Qing Fang's "search and assassinate" missions were dispensed by a few recurring clients, either independent figures or sectarian policers who hired clansmen to get rid of criminals to save manpower. In actuality, Qing Fang had quite the reputation for being an expert tracker; which Li Shan would also eventually take advantage of.

Naturally, the young cultivator saw this as a possible way for him to completely send his life down the drain already. If he messed up on his first mission, that stain would forever be on his record. Just coming into the world out of the cultivation academy after reaching Stage 2, the young cultivator wanted to make sure his first mission was an absolute success.

And now he was finally ascending the steps to the main pagoda, where he would select his mission. Although missions for early Stage 2s like him were mostly miscellaneous and most likely physical labour, his mind couldn't help but think of unrealistic scenarios in which he would somehow fail.

'What if the overseer of the mission decides he doesn't like me? What if I suddenly feel ill? No, that's ridiculous. If by some chance, I actually fell ill, I would just resist it. But...what if it's really bad and I pass out? Oh, god...' These were the thoughts that were constantly running through his head, begging him to have an anxiety attack.

In fact, his chest was already feeling a bit tight and his breathing was speeding up.

Inwardly shaking his head of these thoughts while smiling and bowing politely to any senior brothers that glance his way, the young cultivator progressed on toward the main pagoda that was getting bigger and bigger in his eyes.

Although there were many huge buildings within Qingshan City, the main pagoda was by far the largest. It was visible from any building within the entire city, even a small house surrounded by big buildings on all sides. The huge red and black pagoda would still be visible.

During his days in the academy, the young cultivator began to dread the huge structure and couldn't look at it for long. Growing up, he had always looked at it with ambition when he had decided to embark upon the torturous path of cultivation.

And now, those feelings had returned. No longer was he an anxious youth, he thought. He had already been thrown into the world! All he had to do was keep his head straight and he would surely find his place within the Clan.

Having neared the top of the huge stairway to the main pagoda that spanned half of the city, the young cultivator could finally gaze inside. Children and non-cultivators were not permitted to enter the main pagoda and it was viewed and some sort of validation of finally entering the luxurious halls where many experts had set foot before.

Even those immensely powerful cultivators that could leave the planet had probably stood in them!

Thinking of the godly power it must require to tear through a planet's atmosphere and then have the strength to survive in space, the young cultivator was in awe. Of course, he knew that the speed required to actually do any travelling at all in space was the most impressive, but it wasn't as cool as tearing through an atmosphere, he thought.

To the current him, that realm of cultivation would always remain a dream. And he was probably right. Stage 6 was the cultivation required to leave a planet and out of the trillions of clansmen that spanned the hundreds of planets that Qing Clan had power on, there were less than a thousand Stage 6s.

A wide paved courtyard a few dozen square kilometres separated the main pagoda from the nearest buildings as well as the top of the stairway that the young cultivator had just emerged from.

And what graced his eyes were thousands of cultivators going about their business within the clan. Hundreds of people entered and exited the main pagoda every second and frankly, it was too much for the young cultivator.

In the academy, those Stage 3 professors that would teach him always amazed him. In his eyes, they had achieved a higher level of existence through cultivation!

But now, hundreds of Stage 3s and even a few Stage 4s could be seen walking about. He, just a newly-ascended Stage 2 didn't feel he was qualified to be here. The tight feeling in his chest was clenching his lungs and making his fast and shallow breathing even faster.

Knowing that he was stupid and childish for being so freaked out by such a scene, the young cultivator ridiculed himself while pulling it together. The main reason that he managed to overcome his anxiety was the unity he felt from his Clansmen. They all, thousands of them, shared the blood of the founding fathers of the Qing Clan.

That was what allowed him to take that step into the tide of strength that could crush a city a hundred times over.

He walked through the masses of cultivators with his destination being the wide doors of the main pagoda. Even though the place was swarming with people, walking through was quite easy. However, the young cultivator got a few glances as he still maintained decorum and bowed to the senior brothers and sisters he crossed paths with.

But, he didn't notice it. He felt as though everything was going swimmingly and that he was finally a warrior of the Clan within the sea of cultivators. His sense of belonging wasn't anything extraordinary, as it was preached in the academy and by many people every day. When you lived in a Clan, people you had never seen before weren't strangers. Even if you were a criminal, people would treat you with some kindness as you were one of them.

Well, on the other hand, it had to be said that most clans were extremely xenophobic. But this was a natural effect when groups of people come into contact with each other. Unsolicited conflict and hate were bound to be brewed solely due to the loyalty they felt for their own group. It was a sort of animal instinct that humans, as herd animals, possessed.

The smile on the young cultivator's face was getting brighter and brighter as he finally found where he fitted into a machine of innumerable cogs. Everything was going just as he had dreamed as a child, and he was loving every second of it.

But all good things come to an end.

"Oh-! Oh my, I'm extremely sorry!" The young cultivator had accidentally bumped into a young woman as the wades of people got thicker as he neared the doors. He knew that he hadn't injured the young woman but he still apologised. How arrogant would he appear to be if he treated it as a common mistake and quickly went on his way? He didn't want to get a bad image. The faces of the arrogant are not long forgotten.

The girl slowly turned around to face him. The young cultivator expected a forgiving laugh as she replied that it was okay. Worst case: she would be mildly annoyed and maybe berate him. But that didn't mind the young cultivator. He was a new cog in the machine and could take a bit of verbal abuse with a smile on his face. It was only natural.

"What do you think you're doing?! Do you know who I am?!" The young woman turned around to reveal a beautiful face with soft and delicate features that told the young cultivator that she was definitely younger than him. Her nice features were disfigured into an ugly expression that stared at him like he was a piece of dog shit that she had just stepped on.

The phrase "expect the unexpected" was a cruel irony that made the young cultivator burst out in cold sweat. He couldn't make enemies on his first day. He didn't even want any enemies on any days! Only friends...and maybe girlfriends!

"Senior sister, please forgive me. This junior brother was reckless for running without looking where he was going." The young cultivator bowed as he asked for forgiveness with an audibly nervous voice. His worst nightmare was coming true, but maybe he could remedy it with the overwhelming decorum that he always displayed.

A sneer appeared on the face of the young girl. "First day, huh? How old are you?" She scoffed as she spoke and followed with a question. Her tone told the young cultivator that he had obviously fallen into a pit, the pit of a spiteful woman. Thus, the deepest of pits.

"I am eighteen years old, senior sister." The young cultivator replied honestly. He couldn't find the strength to get in a verbal fight with a young entitled girl. He, himself, was quite bashful and not good with confrontation. He would've tried to pacify the situation against anyone else, but against a bratty girl? He couldn't find the energy to respond, as though his soul had already left his body.

The girl scoffed loudly. The attention of a few surrounding cultivators gathered on the both of them, which made the girl puff out her chest and the young cultivator wish he was dead. A feeling of impending doom was racking his mind. Even if he sincerely apologised, someone, those spiteful would not hesitate to make a fool of him just for fun.

He hated that. The fact that this situation could not be remedied without making enemies or embarrassing himself.

"Eighteen years old and only just becoming Stage 2? That's truly pitiful. It's obvious that you have no future in cultivation so why did you even bother pursuing it? Are you just resentful of the fact that others can do it but you can't? Or maybe you're just hopeful. In either case, you should just quit." Her voice coiled around one's eardrums like a feather, irritating it to no end. The usually shy and bashful youth had the urge to smack this woman to the floor with all the force he could muster.

Naturally, he couldn't do that and calmed himself.

And in that overbearingly annoying voice that reeked of arrogance and narcissism, the girl continued to brag. "You know how old I was when I left the academy, hmm? I was fourteen. Unlike you, I actually have a future in cultivation. And from the looks of you, you're not that pleasing on the eyes either... Haha, oh my god that's so embarrassing. So, what do you have going for you then?" Her voice dripped with poison and the young cultivator's head hung low when his appearance was made fun of.

And yet, no one stepped up to stop the abuse that he was facing. He didn't feel betrayed, just depressed. The worst part of it all was that this bratty girl was so unreasonable. He'd been nothing but sincere, so why did this bitch have to embarrass him like this?!

"Hmmm? Well? You can't just stand there like an idi-" The girl was brutally cut off when a thin scholar walked past her quickly and accidentally knocked her shoulder, pushing her forward and making her choke on her words.

The young cultivator just looked at the back of the scholar who was just walking away after bumping into her. Maybe he should be more like him and just not care... But he was not that kind of person so he couldn't keep pretending like that. In his eyes, it took a form of arrogance to be that uncaring of opinion.

"Hey! Stop! You just hit me, you asshole! What do you think you're doing?!" The girl screamed after the scholar with a hysterical voice that exposed her fragile ego for all to see. But many just ignored it, they had seen it all before or maybe even been that girl when they were younger. But that didn't stop them from paying attention to the hilarious scene of a little girl angrily scolding a scholar that looked to be middle-aged.

The scholar, who already looked visibly irritated and annoyed before he bumped into the young girl, clenched his fists as he carried on walking away, seeming to suppress an uncontrollable rage.

"Stop running and apologise, you coward!" The relentless screams of the girl finally seemed to shatter the last bit of tolerance that the scholar had. He was now just over twenty meters away from the young girl and turned around to face, her showing her his face.

A cold look was in his eyes that looked at the girl with an intimidating gaze. His face was ashen and many black lines were on his forehead as his ruthless glance aimed to scare the girl. The thin eyebrows of the scholar and his sharp features only fueled his already ruthless gaze into one that gave the impression that he mustn't be aggravated.

"Haah? Do you think you can scare me with your stupid faces? Just apologise already or-" The voice that hit the young cultivator like a fork on a chalkboard sounded again, now ridiculing the scholar's looks. Why does this girl even come out in public? The young cultivator thought. Surely she would just end up in a never-ending chain of encounters like this every day, right?

However, she and everybody else in the courtyard suddenly lost their train of thought. Many aghast gazes fell onto the scholar who was looking at the annoying girl with resentment. A strange feeling pervaded the atmosphere and people couldn't help but look over.

The reason was that they felt killing intent.

Cultivators in the courtyard were about to scold the scholar for even daring to direct killing intent toward clansmen, let alone a little girl that didn't know what was good for her. The thing about killing intent was that it couldn't be faked. The cultivators, and the girl, knew that the scholar genuinely wanted to kill her.

"Silence!!" However, before anyone present could voice their outrage, a domineering voice came from the scholar as an extremely powerful aura burst forth!

Like ice freezing over all present, they stood completely still and breathed heavily, hoping to catch some air before they fainted from the pressure. Some even felt like they were suffocating, the young cultivator was once of them.

Everyone dropped down to their knees powerlessly and struggled to cope with the danger they were feeling. A few cultivators had even fallen straight to the floor, pushed down by a non-existent force.

Minds froze and the place became deathly silent as people looked on with wide and disbelieving gazes at the scholar. The scholar just stood there, staring with ire at the entitled young girl.

However, the terrifying aura that felt like spears of ice was pressed against the hearts of all those present suddenly receded. The scholar had a face that showed regret. He didn't want to make a scene, he truly didn't. It was just that insipid girl berating him. Her? Berating him? It was inconceivable, and he had impulsively burst out.

If he had kept on going, some people might have even died from panic hyperventilation or suffocation. He had been reckless.

Sparing no more than a distasteful glance at the courtyard of kneeling and collapsed cultivators, the scholar turned and left without another word. The only sounds that could be heard were the sound of the scholar's footsteps as he walked and the blowing of the wind.

The animals had long fled while the cultivators hadn't the power to. Being so close to that ice-cold monster had crippled their ability to think, let alone walk or escape. The face of that monster had engraved itself into the minds of all those who were still conscious.

The young cultivator was still unconscious as silence reigned, not giving rise to any noise that might wake him up. It seems that today will not be his first day after all.

...

The scholar walked up the staircase at the centre of the main pagoda. He passed floor after floor as many gave him doubting gazes as to whether he was allowed up there.

Some had even tried to stop him and question who he was and what authority he had, however, he had just ignored them. Walking up the floors, they daren't follow.

Finally, the scholar reached the top floor where a marble hall filled with furniture coloured blue and gold dotted the room. Chandeliers of diamond sparkled and refracted little beams of light in beautiful patterns.

At the end of the marble hall, a set of doors that were not too tall but looked extremely thick and heavy. They seemed to be made of solid metal as they glistened with the existence of a formation. Since there was a formation attached to the doors, whatever room lay behind must be of extreme importance to the Clan.

As he neared the doors, they opened on their own as if they recognised him.

Before taking any steps forward, the scholar took the chance to fix his robes and make them impeccably neat. He looked refined and scholarly, his sharp features fitting well with his robe that was a pale-blue colour, like that of the sky and ice.

Walking into the room, the scholar was suddenly faced with a voice that he couldn't ignore.

"Quite a ruckus you made, Elder Bing."

He bowed to the figure, his head going lower than it had done for decades.

"I am terribly sorry, Lord Patriarch. My impatience and impulsive nature got the best of me. I hope you and the Clan can pardon that small incident."

Many pairs of eyes fell onto Elder Bing as he kept his eyes closed with a neutral expression on his face that didn't contradict the sincerity in his voice. A certain pair of eyes narrowed as they looked at him before soothing.

"Take a seat."

*3,264/3,000 words*