43 Back to the sect
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"Words cannot express how thankful this Old Man is, this favor would never be forgotten, if Little Friends needed assistance then do not hesitate to tell this Old Man about it, We, the Luo Clan would do our best to help you." Luo Cao bowed in front of Sieg and his companions, he absolutely didn't care about his seniority at all, he only felt a deep gratitude for them.
Of course this is because Sieg and company handed over two Jade Annulus, to be totally honest one Jade Annulus is all they need to ensure they could safely cultivate their inheritance for 100 years, and now that they had two of them? Then Luo Cao could breath in a sigh of relief for quite some time. Their serious predicament was solved already, of course Sieg and company was the reason for that.
"What are these words Clan Head? It's only natural we fulfill our duty as Inner Disciples. If the Luo Clan encountered another predicament, then please don't hesitate to tell the sect, we would help you in any way possible." Gwen said politely and the rest nodded.
"Of course, of course! Oh, these are for you, It's not much, but please accept it." Luo Cao waved his hand then the rewards he promised appeared, there is box full of gold, 3 Demonic Beast Cores, and 4 Bright Sun Pills. He also continued by saying: "I would also inform the sect to raise the merit points rewards to at least make it up for your efforts."
Upon hearing their merit points will be raised, caused them to feel gratified, they clasped their hands towards Luo Clan, expressed their thanks and left with the rewards.
They sat on the back of their horses and started their journey back to the sect. All of them felt a bit refreshed because of their significant harvest. Luo Cao handed them a box full of gold which contained exactly 400, after distributing these equally, Sieg only grabbed one Bright Sun Pill and leave the three to distribute the rewards amongst themselves. This didn't matter anyway since he already got his share of gold, beast core of the Millipede, and the pill, so at the end of the day, the rewards are equally divided.
"Hey! Thanks a lot, to be totally honest were fine if you take all the gold." Gwen said as she approached Sieg.
"Don't bother, keep it, I have a lot of gold anyway." Sieg replied calmly.
"If that's the case, then this brother would shamelessly accept, if you want to know anything then just look for me, I'm considered as the messenger of the sect. I keep tabs on all events that would happen." Zhu Fang said while smiling.
"Right! I also owe Junior Brother so come visit me at the Jewelsmith's Pavilion, I would give you a massive discount." This time it is Ji Potian who spoke. Their previous hate and jealousy to Sieg is completely gone right now and was replaced with deep respect towards him.
Well, if the same events happened to anyone then they might've done the same if not more. Even though they call Sieg as Junior Brother, in their hearts he is a person that they already idolized.
"All right." Sieg nodded to the two, it is nice knowing that their attitudes changed for the better, and the overall atmosphere of the group is now different. This placed Sieg's heart in a peaceful state.
"By the way, how much do you guys think they would raise the merit points rewards?" Gwen asked them curiously. This made everyone ponder a bit.
"It should be a lot right? I mean, that's almost an S-class mission, don't get me wrong the rewards that Luo Clan gave was good. Bright Sun Pill that could only be concocted by an Expert Alchemist, Demonic Beast Core, and gold. But to be totally honest, these aren't enough for a mission like this, plus they made us hunt a Jade Annulus, these item is also valuable for our sect is it not?" Ji Potian said after a while of thinking.
"Right! We could sell a Jade Annulus to the sect for a lot of merit points! Why don't we do that instead of selling it for gold?"
"Right, right! We could just divide it amongst us and it would fine, after all the original reward for this mission is just 50 merit points, not to mention that it would also be divided amongst the members who participated for the mission which is pitifully low. If we sell the Jade Annulus in exchange of merit points then we no longer have to worry about our rents for quite some time and focus more on our cultivation." Gwen said with a little bit of excitement.
As Sieg heard this, he thought that exchanging for merit points isn't really a bad idea, but there's ome thing from Gwen's words that confused him.
"Rent?"
His companions looked at him with surprise, after which they looked at each other and understood why Sieg asked about this.
"We nearly forgot that you're new to the sect Junior Brother. The cultivation cave that you are using is only available for you on your first year inside the sect." Gwen said.
Zhu Fang bitterly smiled and said: "When we were promoted as Inner Disciples, we also didn't knew about this, in fact we were only informed after our first year is over."
"This is one of the ways on how the sect punishes those who are goofing around. The cultivation cave that we have is worth 10 merit points a month." Ji Potian added.
This information made Sieg nod in understanding, well it wasn't like an unfair deal for people really, in the end, the Sect Director told them that the sect is on decline so wasting resources to some useless people is something they can't afford to do.
"If that's the case, then why do you guys don't step outside the sect at all?
"It not like we don't to, it's because there isn't a need to. While the merit point rewards for finishing a mission is great, it is not the only source of merit points. Take me for example, being one of the many Jewel smiths of the sect gave me an allowance of 20 merit points and some gold every month. The workload is so huge that we barely have any time to properly cultivate, let alone go in a mission. We only went this time because out workshops closed because of an important manner." Ji Potian said awkwardly.
"As Inner Disciples, we are faced by demotion if we didn't reach Heavenly Foundation Realm by our 30's. We are already on our 20's by now, so we have less than 10 years remaining, while that amount of time considered very long we are just on the edges of Mortal Foundation Realm for years now. Judging by our speed, if we don't fight for scraps then we might be thrown out of the sect for real." Zhu Fang bitterly laughed as he explained.
"On top of doing our daily chores for our jobs, we need to find time to properly cultivate. We also needed to accumulate enough merit points to buy pills that could aid our cultivation. With these facts alone, we already don't have enough time to go outside the sect." Gwen added.
A gloomy atmosphere descended on the group, now Sieg finally understood why behaved like that the first time they met. They really had it rough.
Knowing the fact that they cannot keep their positions already placed a large mental pressure for them, they also needed to fight for every single scrap they could get to aid their cultivation. Sieg couldn't really empathize though.
The reason why is because, first his past experiences were different, while they had a hard time fighting for their place inside the sect, Sieg needed to fight for his very existence because of how deadly his training is.
Second, he never really needed any resources. From his guess, he might already be at the Mid-Earth Foundation Realm by now if he could actively cultivate, but that would also mean that his foundations would be very weak. This is also why he allowed them to equally divide the rewards. If he wanted to, he could certainly take majority of those resources for himself, but the thing is he had no use for them, and his conscience might never let him rest. So he took what he could get and walked away satisfied.
"You see, merit points is actually the main currency inside the sect, in fact gold is only second to that. My advice for Junior Brother is that spend your merit points wisely. If you needed cultivations pills, then just buy one and consume them when you face a breakthrough, that way you could save a lot." Ji Potian said.
"It would be really nice if they could also give some time inside the Cultivation Chambers." Zhu Fang said.
"Cultivation Chambers?" Sieg asked, this is a name that Fatty Wuhen never mentioned when he gave Sieg and Xu Qing a tour inside the sect.
"Yes." Zhu Fang nodded and explained: "Cultivation Chambers is just what the name implies, although it is famous because the Yin Ki inside is gentle and dense, that's only one of it's purposes."
"It could also be used to make your body tougher, it could also be used to get rid of the impurities inside your body and many more. We only know these few since these are the only rooms that is commonly used." Ji Potian added as well.
"If you are interested in entering, then you need to pay 10 merit points and hour. But that only applies to the chambers we know, if you want to use a different one then you could ask the attendant in there for more informations." Gwen said.
"Cultivation Chambers huh." Sieg mused, it seems like he needed to roam around the sect some more, now that he already changed his ki manual and finished a mission, he got some time in his hand so he could definitely visit some places.
The team looked for a good place to rest, upon finding one, they got off from their horses and set up a camp, then as usual, tasks were divided to the team and the night came.
While the three people are sleeping Sieg sat under the shade of fully grown tree, basking in the light of stars, ever since he began his training, sleep was not a thing for him anymore and was replaced by meditation, this allowed him to constantly clear his mind from distractions.
Sieg wasn't meditating yet, he's lying down while looking at the stars. He started to reminisce about his past a little bit and did some reflections. After that, he sat down, closed his eyes and meditated.
***
Sieg and his companions trip went on for a couple more days before they finally arrived back to the sect. All of their taut nerves loosened up once they felt that familiar chilling wind and saw that blanket of snow that's covering the whole mountain top.
"Haah. It feels nice to be back." Zhu Fang teared up a bit, he suddenly felt his energy rushing back to him, ready to tackle the task he left behind before going on a mission.
"I feel you on that one, I'm just curious if the shop is now open, I miss creating jewel artifacts." Ji Potian said with a tinge of longing.
"Nevermind that! First, merit points let's go!" Gwen said cheerfully and walked ahead of them whole the rest followed.
They went inside the Mission Requesting Pavilion and informed them about the events that took place, they also showed them proofs like the head of the Millipede, the Luo Clan's seal of approval and Luo Cao's personal letter that he handed over them.
After verifying these, the sect rewarded them for their bravery and raised the merit point reward to 50 merit points a person instead of the original 10 each person. (The yellow haired guy who died, was included in previous calculations.) This made the group broke in to cheers, of course with the exception of Sieg.
And then finally, they decided to go to a place where they could exchange the Jade Annulus for merit points, just thinking about the total amount of merit points they could have, already left them floating.
