Despairing rewards

"The ranks are now set for this month, if you wish to improve your ranking then train and challenge those above you. The rewards will be released monthly. For those who achieved lesser results, you can blame no one apart from yourself." The elder's words shocked and stunned many of the disciples, they hadn't realised that the ranking would have such an effect on their cultivation. Predatory glances were shot around as many disciples eyed each other up, seeking to claim the rewards of the others.

With a wave of his arm the disciples found themselves placed into nine groups. On the left were three disciples stood on their own, Zhao Lin, Zhao Yun and the only male disciple on his own, Li Feng. Further down were groups of disciples that gradually grew in number until it left a group of disciples in a miserable state due to the blood on their bodies and their inability to stand upright, these were the lowest ranked disciples with Wang Lei lying forgotten on the floor.

"The rewards for rank 1 Zhao Lin per month are 5 lower essence pills and 1 mid tier essence pill. The rewards for rank 2 Zhao Yun, 5 lower essence pills. The rewards for rank 3 Li Feng, 4 lower essence pills." Elder Chen spoke slowly and powerfully letting his words sink into the disciples minds. They all received 1 essence pill a month to help with their cultivation yet the higher ranks obtained so much more, greed and envy now raising its head in many disciples hearts.

Elder Chen went on and explained the rewards to the other groups, working down from the top 3 ranks were ranks 4 to 20 who all received 2 lower essence pills, rank 21 to 100 obtained only 1 lower essence pill. After this came the group of disciples who placed 101 to 250 who only received 4 purple vein leaves, ranks 251 to 400 received 2 purple vein leaves whilst ranks 401 to 450 received even less and just got the one.

Purple vein leaves were similar to essence pills but they contained less essence and had to be boiled and drank to obtain any benefits, making it a time consuming and slow process.

Finally Elder Chen's eyes came to settle on the final group of disciples, even now none had the ability to stand. Rather than give them cultivation resources which in Elder Chen's eyes was an absolute waste, he pulled out a long stack of old and crumpled notes from his sleeve.

"Ranks 451 to 500 receive no resources, you must train harder and strive to catch up, instead I am giving you notes from elder cultivators about their experiences in the 1st and 2nd stage human realm. Learn well."

This was dealing with two birds using one stone, he could use the resources that should have gone to the lowest ranked and pass them onto Zhao Lin and Zhao Yun instead, whilst also disposing of the trash notes that outer disciples kept piling up and leaving behind when they were promoted in the sect.

With a wave of his arm the rewards were handed out flying to each disciple and their awaiting arms. As many disciples had received their prize they started to descend the mountain as the Elders final words hit them, "You are no longer restricted on this mountain, but beware as there are demonic beasts roaming who will attack if you enter their territories. In six months time there will be another ranking, if you want to succeed then try harder." With these final words Elder Chen flew back up into the sky, leaving a trail of paper notes as they floated down covering the group of disciples lying on the floor, struggling to move.

With moans and groans these disciples lurched and limped down the mountain, their bodies bruised and bleeding but luckily not broken as the disciples essence wasn't that strong yet. Many looked at the notes before leaving with contempt and crushing them into the floor, it was all stuff they knew, such as how to meditate and feel for essence. Even worse was that some pieces of paper were random scribblings that had the different questions written over and over again, 'Why do we cultivate?', 'Does essence taste good?', 'Does Wu Chen love me?'

Truly these pieces of paper were just trash and the ramblings of mad men. Receiving nothing this last group of disciples left the mountain plateau, only Wang Lei was left, unconscious and unmoving. No one cared about the lowest ranked disciple. All their attention was focused on sucking up to the Zhao sisters and Li Feng hoping for guidance and help.

Eventually quiet and solemnity returned to the mountain plateau, just one blood stained disciple stood out against the clouds hovering above.

…

Pain.

Pain is what Wang Lei felt as he awoke. The pain of his body as it screamed at him, then the pain of his mind as memories rushed back to him about his miserable defeat and the look of ridicule on everyone's faces.

Tears ran hot down his cheek, parting the dust that had settled there, was it truly so wrong to believe in himself? Why was his cultivation at the 3rd stage useless when compared to everyone else's. Kneeling in the dirt of the plateau and staring up he saw the mountains standing tall above him, their majestic aura weighing down upon him, making him feel smaller… why had he come here? Why did he leave his home? Just for the dream of being an immortal, if it meant he had to feel like this forever then what was the point.

Despair running amok in his mind Wang Lei let out great shouts of pain as his self-confidence crumbled, at the tender age of 13 his dreams had been crushed. His cries carried on long into the night as the sun set below the plateau, any that heard the cries simply put it down to the wails of a sorrowful beast as it shed its last breath.

The sun rose high over the plateau, it revealed the body of Wang Lei still covered in blood and dust, head hanging down as he remained on his knees the entire night. That night had changed him, gone were his childish dreams of grandeur and power, gone were his hopes of becoming a sky warrior, even his cultivation of the 3rd stage had regressed as his heart had closed up…he no longer had a reason to cultivate.

Standing up he shuffled around and collected the papers on the ground, not for their teachings or wisdom, instead he just wanted to use them for fire and warmth. Having them all in his arms Wang Lei stumbled away, his legs and body numb from the cold night, he didn't stumble down the mountain towards the other disciples he chose another route further away. He didn't want them to laugh and ridicule him, to wound him even further, instead he chose the path of solitude and went his own way.

He had closed himself off to the world and just wanted to be alone.

…

Six months had passed in a flash for the other disciples, desperately competing and fighting amongst one another to gain better ranks or dominate the others, taking cultivation resources by force.

Many groups and sub-divisions had been created, some weaker groups joining together to defend and help themselves whilst the strong stayed independent and enjoyed the privileges of their higher ranks.

The memory and disappearance of Wang Lei all but forgotten from their minds. After all many disciples had strayed away from the others seeking treasures on the mountain or sought to test their skills against demonic beasts and paid the ultimate price. Death wasn't an uncommon factor in this world, even Zhao Yun had been injured by a demonic beast, luckily Zhao Lin obtained medicine from somewhere that saved Zhao Yun and stabilised her cultivation.

Many assumed that Elder Chen had lent a helping hand but none could prove it or even dare to complain, as they were just too weak.

The rankings constantly shifted but the top 3 never changed, they only pulled away from the rest as their cultivations improved, leaving the rest behind watching in awe.

BONG!BONG!

The bell once again reverberated across the mountain, the ranking test began again.

Once again working their way up the mountain the outer disciples came to the top of the plateau, watching as Elder Chen descended from the sky, ready to test and reward them.

Many disciples looked at each other, wariness and caution more evident now, the life on the mountain had begun to temper them as relationships were formed and broken, proving to them who they could and couldn't trust.

Observing the disciples below Elder Chen was pleased to see their progress as many had reached the 3rd to 4th stages, even their temperaments had obviously improved. Even though he could only sense 380 of the original 500 on the mountain plateau, it was still better than the previous years.

"The second-ranking begins now, from the lowest ranking disciple to the highest you can request a challenge. Challenges cannot be refused but the same person cannot be challenged more than three times, whilst you only have the ability to challenge someone once. Those who have just participated in battle are exempt for two battles only. If you win then you can take that persons rank whilst everyone below moves down one rank," the disciples took a few seconds to absorb this new information. If they aimed too low then they might stay or get pushed back into the bottom whilst if they aimed too high and lost then they wouldn't have a chance of moving up at all. This truly was unfair for lower ranked disciples, but that was their fault for not having enough strength in this world.

The matches were more brutal than when they had first fought each other on the plateau, many disciples had now been given time to improve their essence and use of martial arts meaning that more injuries occurred as limbs were broken and bones smashed, even if a life was lost Elder Chen didn't blink an eye, this was how disciples were raised in the Mistfire sect. They had to understand that without strength they were nothing.

The most notorious matches were that of the giant that had suffered at the hands of Zhao Yun six months before, only to then follow and serve her, as he fought another disciple ranked fourth named Lai Xing. Lai Xing had taken a fancy to Zhao Yun and threatened to enjoy her if he came across her alone, this was partly the reason of how she had become injured as Lai Xing ambushed her as she fought with a demonic beast. Luckily Zhao Lin had arrived in time.

With his essence revolving around himself the giant let out a roar as he charged towards Lai Xing, the small pieces of steely grey essence even merging into his body as he charged forwards. Lai Xing merely snorted as his azure essence streamed forward trying to tie up the giant's limbs, a move that many disciples feared as they couldn't break his essence or control theirs as well as he could. Unfortunately, Lai Xing underestimated the strength of the giant as he ripped through the blue essence and smashed Lai Xing into the stage as the backlash of having his essence torn apart froze him, consequent hits brought Lai Xing to the edge of death until Elder Chen intervened to save him.

He would let standard trash disciples die but talents such as Lai Xing had to be cultivated and grown over time, today's defeat would either aid him in wanting to become stronger or scar him, either way Elder Chen impassively watched on as more matches took place.

Li Feng the third-ranked disciple challenged Zhao Yun, they were both at the 5th stage of the human realm whilst Zhao Lin was at the 6th and untouchable by any disciple. Her place as Rank one firmly set in stone.

Their two essences fiercely clashed as they exchanged blows, Zhao Yun's verdant essence aided her as she flitted around the stage granting her strange agility and effortless movement whilst Li Feng's dark aura slowly spread its dark grasp across the stage giving her less and less room to manoeuvre. Over time Li Feng's dark aura spread until the entire stage was covered and Zhao Yun was trapped inside, growing more dizzy and disorientated as time dragged on, until she fell unconscious under its strange power.

With this victory Li Feng took Zhao Yun's rank and earned the ire of Zhao Lin as she stared down at him, almost daring him to come and challenge her. Unfortunately, Li Feng and the other disciples had more sense than that as no one had ever been able to defeat her, even though many had tried at the start only to be mercilessly beaten down.

With this, the second outer disciple ranking was finished, with mixed feelings of joy and resentment they could only listen to the elder's words as he spoke.

"Congratulations on everyone's achievements this time around, those of you who have put in more effort will definitely get a reward. The next ranking tournament will take place in another six months, though I advise you all to take caution and look after yourselves as the next inner court promotion competition will start within three years time. Disciples from each outer court mountain can compete, if you prove yourselves then you will be promoted to an inner court disciple and then choose from your fellow disciples to follow and work under you."

"If you can't find ways to work together and increase your strength then you won't survive in the inner court," the elder's words were originally meant as a warning but for the sake of the talents that were here he added in more words of wisdom hoping that they would them grow and survive.

With a wave of his sleeve rewards came raining down as all the disciples who participated got at least 3 lower essence pills, whilst the top disciples that had displayed remarkable talents or essence control even gained other human level martial skills that coincided with their essence. Any heavily injured disciples like Lai Xing that had performed well also received 1 lower tier flesh pill to help with their injuries if they were lucky enough and had earned the elders favour.

As for those disciples who had died they were thrown off the plateau with a gust of wind from the elders sleeves, any items that they had on them would have to be hunted for and found by the other disciples before demonic beasts got there first.

There was no such thing as a free meal in this world.

This concluded the second ranking test, many disciples starting to feel the heavy responsibility and burden of the Mistfire sect, if they didn't improve then they would die or be cast aside and treated like nothing. Nobody wanted this so they had to try harder.

With new found determination the disciples descended the mountain, if they failed now then they may never get another chance.