Chapter 107: The Deeper You Go, The More Snow To Plow

The day was as bright as Han Xuhan's expression, with dark clouds splattered on the sky like ketchup and the sun too busy chilling somewhere on the west horizon.

The meeting with Mu Ran had left him with some issues that he'd been afraid of ever since the day he had started calling him 'boss', namely, arrogant-young-masters-out-for-revenge.

It was one of the main reasons why he had been hesitant to join the rank of an underling of an MC. But he was pretty desperate back then. It'd be harsh to call his past self a fool, not with the benefits he had reaped so far.

"On the bright side, I still have my reputation for being a trash. Who'd care if I surrender at the first battle of the first round?"

Consoling himself, Xuhan was just about to return home when he noticed Xiao Wu on the way to his hut as well. Deciding to strike right then and there, he sped up and caught up to the big guy.

"Martial brother Wu, what a surprise to see you here! You don't show up outside often these days ."

Xiao Wu whipped around, his surprise evident on his face having been caught off guard. But a wide smile replaced it immediately.

"Ohh, Xuhan! I was just about to go look for you!"

Exchanging some long-winded greetings, they reached the hut and sat down outside. To ease him into the discussion about apprenticeship, Han Xuhan initiated some roundabout conversations.

"So, brother Wu, how have you been these days?"

"I've been well, Xuhan. Doing the usual, you know? Cultivating in the morning, cultivating in the noon, cultivating during the evening, and cultivating during the night. And oh, did I mention that I am cultivating?"

"You sound quite fed up with cultivating, Wu."

"OF COURSE I AM!" Xiao Wu let out a frustrated shout.

"When I was younger, my ideas of cultivating in a sect involved a lot more action, exciting adventures, and heaven-defying treasures. I joined this sect exactly because it looked like it might go through a new phase of expansion where spirit and enthusiasm would be valued, battles would be frequent, and resources would be easy to grab amidst the chaos. But who could have thought it would be so stable that I wouldn't even be able to advance from the rank of an outer court disciple despite months of effort? What else can I do except to sit in a cave and keep cultivating ceaselessly hoping that they'll value me more once I'm strong enough?"

Slightly taken aback by Xiao Wu's depressed lamentations, Xuhan decided to steer the conversation in another direction.

"It has always confounded me how cultivation sects operate as a whole over the centuries. From what I've heard, the Crimson Snow sect takes in new disciples once every five to seven years. What do these disciples do after that? When I was a simple mortal who had no idea what actually happens inside a sect, I theorized that it would probably include lavish palaces, untold riches, power and influence beyond imagination, and a hermit-like lifestyle.

"But now that I think about it, if a tradition like this goes on for a couple of centuries, wouldn't the sect be unable to house the inflated population inside it?

"What do the older, powerful disciples with high cultivation do after reaching a realm close to the elders or even surpassing them? Would they take over their jobs? It's not as if there's much variety in the career criteria once you join a sect to became a cultivator.

"But is everybody content to sit inside a hut and meditate for centuries while everyone and everything they knew outside slowly fade away with time as mortals do?"

Xiao Wu stared blankly at him for a good few seconds before bursting out with laughter.

"Xuhan, you should've read some of those books in the archives if you're that ignorant about sect management," he managed to say while wheezing.

Han Xuhan actually did have some rough ideas from all of his research in the archives. But he stuck to the plan of action and kept badgering Xiao Wu.

"Not everyone comes from a family of cultivators, Brother Wu."

That sobered him up, just as Xuhan expected. Family was a sensitive topic to Xiao Wu, although he never actually mentioned the reason. Wiping off the smile from his face, Xiao Wu thought for a while before explaining it to him.

"Generally, the lifetime of a sect can be divided into two phases. One is the peaceful 'consolidation' phase, where the authorities recruit young disciples with potential from all over the regions they have influence in. Initially, there would be enough resources and space for growth for all the new disciples. But after a few decades, resources dedicated to each disciple will definitely decline, and the regions they have influence in will become too small to hold them there.

"At this time, the higher-ups in the sect will choose to start the second phase, the 'expansion'. In this phase, disciples will be encouraged to fight over resources with disciples of other neighboring sects who are similar in terms of overall power and influence. In lower-level sects, this phase is full of bloody battles and tragedies. But the party that comes out as the winner in the long run will be able to go through their expansion phase as a whole and reach a higher level of quality in terms of influence and average manpower.

"Unnecessary to say, the ones who survive the chaos will almost always be stronger and more reliable than the ones who didn't. This will ensure that the prime aim of every sect has been accomplished. The survivors will have many times more resources to grow after taking over the conquered territories. With their experience and considerable foundation, they'll keep the sect afloat for a long time while the sect again retreats into the 'consolidation' phase to tackle a higher target. If the sect cannot house too many of these talented disciples, they will open a subsidiary branch and elevate the powerful disciples to the positions of elders there to placate them. Per expansion, the higher-ups will also set a higher bar of qualification for both disciples and elders so that the same situation doesn't happen again anytime soon.

"Of course, the entire explanation sounds simple enough in words. But to implement the changes and go through the ordeal is something few average sects can achieve. Most of them never rise up to a high position after a couple of expansions. The longer a sect survives, the more ties it creates in the mortal world that hold it back. Families of the disciples, affiliated organizations that work in the regular towns and cities under the sect's banner, countless mortals who live under the sect's protection....It takes centuries of rigorous maintenance of quality, strict discipline, properly nurturing capable disciples, and some brilliant tactics over the centuries to continue to advance as a sect."

In one breath, Xiao Wu fired off an explanation much more detailed than Xuhan expected him to come up with. But once he really thought about it from this new perspective, a question popped up.

"Wait a minute, brother Wu...What phase is our sect in right now? The peaceful one, right? Then when was the last expansion, and when is the next one?"

In his mind, Xuhan could already see another huge disaster looming on the horizon. Surely, he wouldn't be that unlucky....No! He had to stop jinxing himself like that!

An odd expression appeared on Xiao Wu's face.

"The thing is, I have no idea! It's been bugging me ever since I became a disciple of this sect. As far as I can tell, in the last two centuries, the Crimson Snow Sect has never tried to expand itself or attack other sects of similar caliber. Before that, my ancestors lived in a faraway place. So I'm not sure if the expansion phase had taken place that many years ago. One of the reasons I joined this sect is because I was sure that it was close to another expansion phase since two hundred years is more than enough to fill up these mountains with talented, ambitious cultivators. I wanted to take my chances in the chaos that I presumed would ensue soon. But after entering here, I realized that no such things were happening! The mountains look spacious enough to hold ten times more disciples. The inflow of resources seems more than enough to support everybody. We've been here for so long, yet no official martial arts training regimen has been implemented to harden us for battles and duels. It's pretty suspicious if you think about it!"

Han Xuhan didn't know whether to feel relieved or even more worried. A situation that can be predicted is a situation that can be fought against. But when one had no idea what was even going on, it was hard to prepare for the sudden changes that might take place.

"Recently, I've done a bit of digging for old news and apparently, this sect has maintained the same quality and quantity for as long as it has existed. Over the centuries, some small ups and downs happened of course, but the balance returned as quickly as possible. Even when other ambitious sects tried to fight over these good chunks of resourceful regions, the sect never wavered from its position as one of the better sects on this continent. It might not be the strongest and most powerful sect you'll find on this planet, but it definitely is the most stable one, which, if you ask me, is a tad too questionable."

Xiao Wu's voice had gone down by a couple of notches over the length of their discussion, now barely a whisper that Xuhan had to strain his ears to hear.

Looking around furtively, he gestured to Xuhan to get closer before continuing again.

"You ever wondered where the inner court is? Of course, you did. Most of us have seen one or two inner court disciples passing by during our time in the sect. But where do they come from? They surely don't live here near the mountains, judging by how mismatched their attire seems compared to the current season or fashion trends here. Have you ever spoken to any of them? If you did, you'd notice a slight foreign accent that doesn't match any of the localities around here either ."

The more Xuhan listened, the wider his eyes got. He had noticed some of these details too, but never really put much thought into it or tried to deduct any clues from them. After being guided toward the entire issue, the whole thing did look much more complicated than he'd imagined.

For the first time since becoming friends with the big guy, Xuhan came to realize how perceptive and sharp he truly was. It was a side of him that he had never thought would exist. Xiao Wu's easygoing, goofy nature was much too thick a facade to see past easily.

"You're saying that our sect has a secret base full of stronger experts somewhere else?" He finally asked his oddly excited friend.

"Not just somewhere else," Xiao Wu said with a wink.

"Some er...reliable clues suggest that it's not even on this planet. It is a force that exists amidst the stars above, much like the celestials in fairy tales."

That finally did it for Xuhan. The dots connected in his mind.

Of course! It all made sense now! Due to his knowledge of xianxia world settings, he had assumed the galactic-level portions of his adventures would be a concern far too distant to put any thought into. But real life proved to be different again, leaving him feeling foolish.

Heavens, it's been barely months since Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou started cultivating. Why are the galactic-level conspiracies appearing so soon? This is supposed to be the tutorial stage for the protagonists, not the fucking endgame! This tutorial is too hard!

Seeing him staring at the sky nervously, Xiao Wu chuckled.

"If you're worried about unfriendly celestials raining from the sky, relax. We're so weak and tiny compared to them that unless they're determined to wipe off our sect specifically, they won't bother to harm us."

Xuhan broke out of his reverie and gave Xiao Wu an appraising look.

Didn't this guy seem a bit too well-informed about secrets no one else seemed to know about? Xiao Wu definitely couldn't be the first person to have figured out the discrepancies about the inner court of the sect. But how come this wasn't a more well-known topic by now?

The only reasonable explanation was....somebody, perhaps the authorities of the sect themselves, were doing their best to keep it under wraps. Disciples who ask around for secrets like this may not be treated very kindly after being found out. A simple memory wipe would be all it took. Although such spells were forbidden by most sects, that was just to discourage the widespread practice of morally questionable techniques like those.

And seeing how perceptive and insightful Xiao Wu was, he had surely figured it out too....

The threads connected in his mind, one after one, spinning a rough picture. Xiao Wu, one of the trashes of the generation, investigating secrets better left buried and then going out of his way to leave the knowledge to somebody else he could trust. Somebody as trashy as him, but known for being resourceful and valued by the sect. Behind Xiao Wu stood the Black Sheep Mountain Peak in all its inconspicuous glory. The silhouette of Elder Kong Ye and Xuan Zi flickered in the background. Mu Ran, Yuen Zhou, and Han Xuhan himself stood together in the imaginary picture, and now Xiao Wu had joined them too. But the veil of mystery hanging around him was still far too thick to make the picture comprehensible.

All in due time, perhaps...

How deep was the snow in Crimson Snow Sect?