Along The Way

The moment the first bid reached his ears, Tim could not believe it. He turned to Master Day and asked shocked, "did someone just bid 100 silver notes?" For the Lee Pavillion, making 100 silver notes in a month is considered decent business and this person just threw out for three qi pills. Seeing his shocked expression, Master Day explains calmly, "while qi enhancing pills aren't rare, those of earth essence rank are. Having them at such a high grade is a very big blessing." Tim stands up and looks at his reflection in the mirror, looking into his own eyes with great astonishment. He quickly snaps back to reality as a 3rd level guest declared, "1,000 silver!" Seconds after, another shouted "1,500!" Ending this round, a man appeared on level 4 and said domineeringly, "100,000 silver!" 

Although he did not shout, his voice still echoed throughout the hall, causing a slight disturbance in the air. Looking at that man, Tim could tell that he is already at the mid Earth Resonant Stage of cultivation. After taking these three pills, he will no doubt break through to the early Bodiless Realm. With no higher bids, the young lady on the stage announced, "the first round is won by Young Master Seon Ein." Hearing his name, everyone bowed and acknowledged, "congratulations young master!" The young man on the stage declares, "the next round begins!" Immediately, someone yells, "2,000 silver!" After several bids, the second rounded ended at 13,000 silver notes, kick starting the final round. The moment the round started, another figure appeared and dominated. It was a young lady that Tim recognized all too well. It was the Young Miss of the Chen Clan, Kepa Chen. 

Despite her high background and vast wealth, there was one thing that the young miss envied. It was Kay Lynn's widely recognized peerless beauty. A jealousy that Tim has felt several times as he thwarted the many attacks against Kay, ordered by Kepa. Before the bid could start, Tim requests that a change be made. This change blocked another bid from the third and fourth level guests of the hall. Master Day grinned and gave a signal to the presenters to restrict the bid levels as requested. Of course, Kepa was infuriated but she dared not make a scene in the Nebula Auction House. After the pills were sold, Tim earned a total of 108,000 silver notes after the auction house took their service fee of 13,000. Satisfied with his earnings, Tim departs and makes his way home.

For the Lee Clan on a whole, this amount of silver notes meant everything. Half of the silver notes were converted to gold notes totaling 720. This number is significant, because it means that they have more than met wealth requirement to be considered a class one clan. They now need to ensure that they remain above 500 gold notes at all times to keep their classification. As a class one clan, they now have a voice and a vote in their county affairs. Their county has been entirely made up of unrecognized clans, so they are essentially the leaders by default. After securing their gold in the Imperial Bank and receiving his class one badge, Clan Leader Kan took the initiative to set up an official office in the county, calling a meeting with the other clan leaders.

For the first time since the county was formed, they now have a mayor. Typically, it requires the votes of other ranked clans in the county, but the Lee Clan is the only one. In order to maintain his clan's position outside of wealth alone, Tim announces that he will retake the qualifying exam to become an inner disciple of the Giib Academy. Clan Leader Kan has no children, so Tim being the son of Master Tian puts him next in line for the position. While that alone would qualify him for the job, he wants to eliminate all doubts about his and his clan's capabilities. His mysterious treasure has already changed his life this much and he has not yet begun the journey of true cultivation. At 16 years old, Tim managed to finally break through the soul refining realm to level 4 and has also helped his clansmen to breakthrough as well. 

Before leaving for the exams, Leader Kan and Leader Kitana approves the engagement of Tim and Kay but will only allow marriage after he graduates from the academy. With a short sword and 5,000 silver notes in his storge bag, Tim begins his long journey to the very north of the Twin Dragon state, where the academy is located in its own little corner. Though located outside of Dere City, the Giib Academy was founded by the Dere Clan 6,000 years ago and thus follows their laws and traditions. On the entire June Continent, the Giib Academy enjoys the highest academic prestige as various imperial families and imperial cultivators have graduated from there. In fact, 12 princes are currently studying at the academy. 

On this journey, he stumbles upon a village he did not know existed. In fact, the village has no official name or an official plaque of establishment. Instead, they would call themselves "Sect of Wanderers". As its name suggests, many cultivators would stop here during their long journeys to rest. Even if their destination is far off this path, they would still visit the sect to acquire information and other things before proceeding. Or at least, they hope to. Tim seizes the opportunity and decides to take rest there before continuing on. After all, his next rest stop would be Lizz Ann Village, which is about 27 miles away. Just three hours in the village and Tim could tell just how drastically different the outside world is when compared to Dere City.

At the center of the village, is a large square shaped platform surrounded by a crowd on three sides. On the fourth, were three throne like seats, with only the left seat occupied by a peak stage Bodiless Realm cultivator. By the looks of things, he seemed to be overseeing a fight of sorts, so Tim moves as close as he could to the front. Sure enough, it is a battle platform and one of life and death. Accepting or issuing a challenge in this arena could mean certain death to one or sometimes both parties. Today in particular is the start of the recruitment period for the direct disciples of the Sect of Wanderers. There are 14 divisions in the sect and one master per division. Each master can only take in 3 disciples every recruitment year, which occurs every 7 years. However, most masters only recruit one disciple during the first day of the tournament, in case two more genius emerges after. 

That voice, which had been quiet for some time, suddenly sounded. "Joining a sect before returning to the academy could be quite beneficial for you. This sect may also be just the one for you. You will find some unique cultivation opportunities with them. Find a place to meditate, I will teach you some techniques and help you level up again." In this village, the best place is the highly respected Heavenly Smiles Inn. Coincidently, this is also where you may sign up for the recruitment battles. Similar to the Nebula Auction, Heavenly Smiles Inn is a branch from the Imperial City. It is also only through the inn that communication with the outside world is possible. After finding a room to cultivate, Tim follows every instruction given by his benefactor, managing to breakthrough to the peak of the Soul Refining Realm over the course of seven days. 

Anyone who noticed Tim before, was astonished by his cultivation speed, managing to move up three levels in one week. However, the benefactor still wouldn't let him compete, advising him, "wait till the last day."