Spirit Gathering Valley

"What a group of audacious young people!" Rong Yiyang exclaimed as he sighed dramatically and watched the horse riders ride away.

Rong Yihe smiled faintly and asked, "Who wasn't bold and gutsy when they were young? You were no better when you were their age."

Rong Yiyang looked a little embarrassed and upset. "Eldest Brother!"

"Ha-ha!" Rong Yihe laughed loudly, and even Fang Xiuli chuckled.

Rong Yihe stopped laughing. His expression slowly turned grim as he asked, "Kaixuan, now you know who Rong Kaijie is, right?"

Rong Kaixuan nodded gravely and replied, "He's Rong Yitie's son and Rong Kaixin's older brother."

"That's right." There was a glint in Rong Yihe's eyes as he said, "He also has another identity. He is the most powerful Spirit Spellcaster among his generation."

"The most powerful?" Fang Xiuli looked worriedly at her son and was frightened by those words.

Rong Kaixuan smiled faintly and said, "Mother, don't worry. There are no more than 30 Spiritualists in the entire Rong clan's Hall of Spiritualists, and he's just the most powerful in his generation. Besides…" Rong Kaixuan emphasized his next words. "Soon enough, he won't be anymore."

"Why?" Fang Xiuli asked in surprise. She looked at how determined her son seemed and was a little assured.

"Your son is going to enter the Hall of Spiritualists soon," Rong Kaixuan proudly declared. "Since I'm going in, that label of being the top whatever won't have anything to do with him soon."

Everyone was surprised and didn't think that Rong Kaixuan would have such tremendous confidence in himself.

Even though he was an extremely rare Spirit Gatherer, Rong Kaijie was a Spirit Spellcaster. Those two roles couldn't really be compared.

Rong Yiyang cleared his throat and said, "Enough of this nonsense."

Rong Kaixuan smiled gently and didn't argue back.

Some things were better for him to just do and not say too much. Saying any more would make him more embarrassed.

Rong Yiyang suddenly said, "Eldest Brother, I noticed that this Rong Kaijie seems to be fairly respectful toward Lady Wang. Who is Lady Wang?"

Rong Yihe sighed quietly and said, "Lady Wang is a relative of the Clan Head. As for her parents…" He shook his head and said, "I don't know either."

Rong Yiyang was surprised. He frowned and asked, "If she's just a relative of the Clan Head, how could spoiled brats like Rong Kaijie be so afraid of offending her?"

When Lady Wang stopped her horse, all the other men also stopped. That was certainly not a coincidence.

Rong Yihe hummed to himself for a while. He awkwardly smiled and said, "Father might know a thing or two, but he has always warned us never to offend Lady Wang."

Everyone looked at one another and exchanged glances.

It was clear that Lady Wang's background was not ordinary and she wasn't just any relative of the Clan Head's.

Yet, nobody knew exactly where she was from or why she was so feared and revered by so many people.

Rong Yihe waved his arm and said, "Alright now, let's not talk about this anymore. Kaixuan, go to the Hall of Spiritualists tomorrow. Heh-heh, I remember what you said earlier very clearly. Since you're going to enter the hall, make sure that fellow doesn't get anything."

"Got it," Rong Kaixuan replied solemnly. There was a bright sparkle in his eyes.

****

The next morning, Rong Kaixuan was surprised to find that the one who welcomed him wasn't Elder Rong Jiexuan. Instead, it was the Spiritualist Mentor who was on duty that day, Rong Yiyao.

Even though Rong Kaixuan was a little disappointed, he was still polite toward the senior Spiritualist Mentor and made sure to stay sharp and alert.

Rong Yiyao smiled and said, "Kaixuan, Elder Jiexuan has already given instructions about you. Since we don't have a hall for Spirit Gatherers, you will enter the hall for Spirit Spellcasters for training first." He paused for a while before saying, "As for the techniques that are related to Spirit Gathering, Elder Jiexuan said that once you reach Advanced Stage Spiritualist level, you can go in and out of the Manuals Library whenever you like to pick a manual to read."

Rong Kaixuan nodded and replied, "Got it. I will go with everything that has been arranged for me."

Rong Yiyao nodded slowly and thought to himself that the young fellow was very calm and steady. His expression didn't even change when he was told that he could go in and out of the Manuals Library to pick a manual anytime. He seemed to be unaffected by those words.

Rong Yiyao didn't know that Rong Kaixuan didn't even understand the value of what Rong Yiyao had just told him, so it was only natural that Rong Kaixuan's emotions weren't affected.

"Come with me now."

Rong Yiyang led the way ahead. They soon reached a large courtyard.

The courtyard was an extremely strange place. Even though the sun, sky, and clouds were visible when one looked up, there seemed to be a thin membrane in the air. It made the place look surreal.

"Kaixuan, this place is the Spirit Gathering Valley, and it has the highest concentration of Spirit Power of Heaven and Earth in the entire Rong house," Rong Yiyao proudly explained. "The Rong clan's Spiritualist ancestors put in a lot of effort into creating this place. Up to 20 Spiritualists can cultivate here at the same time."

Rong Kaixuan had already read a couple of manuals by now, so he knew a thing or two about Spiritualists.

When Spiritualists were cultivating, the higher the concentration of Spirit Power of Heaven and Earth, the better. Their ancestors must have paid a huge price to create this special environment for future generations.

"Kaixuan, before you reach Spiritualist Mentor stage, you can cultivate with everyone else here," Rong Yiyao said in a low voice.

"Got it."

Rong Kaixuan nodded and stole a glance at the courtyard.

Besides the two of them, seven others were sitting cross-legged in the courtyard. Bright sparkles were surrounding each of them. They were clearly refining Spirit Power.

Rong Kaixuan's eyes immediately recognized two of them.

Even though her face was veiled, he recognized Lady Wang's beautiful posture and elegant manner, as well as the tall and handsome Rong Kaijie seated not too far off from her.

Rong Yiyao seemed to have noticed what Rong Kaixuan was looking at and said with a smile, "Kaixuan, among the Spiritualists who are from the third generation and those who are not from this family, these two are the most powerful." He quietly added, "These two have not cultivated Spirit Power for a long time. They have both only cultivated for no more than 10 years. Also, they are fairly young. Rong Kaijie is only 20 this year while Lady Wang is only 18. But they are both Peak Stage Spiritualists now. Once the conditions are right and they have accumulated sufficiently, they may reach the Spiritualist Mentor stage anytime."

Rong Kaixuan's expression changed slightly. They were Peak Stage Spiritualists, and they were on the verge of reaching the next level.

Compared to himself, he was really just a lowly Elementary Stage Spiritualist whom nobody would care about.

He looked around and noticed that the remaining five people in the courtyard were between 20 and 30 years of age. The Spirit Power and aura around them varied in strength, but all of them were certainly more powerful than he was.

Rong Yiyao had an experienced eye. When he saw Rong Kaixuan's expression, he chuckled and said, "Kaixuan, you don't have to envy them. As long as you work hard at cultivation, you can overtake them in no time."

Rong Kaixuan's eyes lit up as he responded, "Got it."

He was extremely confident of himself. Of course, this confidence came from the mysterious energy within the little round ball that was between his eyebrows.

"You can start absorbing Spirit Power too," Rong Yiyao said. "Once you're all done with this, I'll introduce all of you."

Rong Kaixuan nodded. He proceeded to sit cross-legged on the ground.

Soon enough, his body was enveloped in a myriad of bright sparkles.

The brightness and thickness of Rong Kaixuan's glow weren't any less than Lady Wang's or Rong Kaijie's.

Rong Yiyao took a few steps back and was shocked when he saw that.

Rong Kaixuan was only an Elementary Stage Spiritualist who had just started his training, but the speed and quality of his absorption of Spirit Power of Heaven and Earth were no less than a Peak Stage Spiritualist.

His gift was incredible. It was little wonder that Elder Jiexuan was so interested in this boy and even wanted him to become a disciple of that powerful master.

The main aim of a Spiritualist's cultivation was to turn the Spirit Power of Heaven and Earth into one's own power.

Since a human's body was only so large, there was a limit to how much one could absorb and convert.

That meant that a Spiritualist could only go through the process of conversion and refinement for a certain number of hours a day. If one continued past this limit, the process would mean more harm to the body than good.

After two hours, the people sitting in the courtyard stopped and started getting up.

Everyone who got up immediately spotted Rong Yiyao and quickly went up to greet him. After that, their gazes were all drawn toward Rong Kaixuan, who was still absorbing Spirit Power of Heaven and Earth.

Their faces were soon filled with shock.

Everyone could see that the speed and quality of Rong Kaixuan's absorption of Spirit Power were ridiculously high.

After a few moments, Lady Wang and Rong Kaijie also stopped and got up. When they saw the scene in front of them, their emotions were different.

There was an excited and surprised expression on Lady Wang's incredibly beautiful face, which was hidden by her veil.

Rong Kaixuan always managed to surprise her every time they met.

On the other hand, Rong Kaijie's expression started to darken. He hid it well, but the hatred and wariness in his heart started to grow.

"Brother Kaijie, judging from his aura, he's probably only an Elementary Stage Spiritualist. If he absorbs Spirit Power of Heaven and Earth at this rate, will he end up being swallowed by Spirit Power instead?"

One of the Spiritualists close to Rong Kaijie asked the question in a low voice.

Rong Kaijie hummed to himself for a moment. Even though he wished that the boy would die from being unable to control this ridiculous amount of Spirit Power, he had to suppress the wicked thoughts in his heart in front of everyone else and use a gentle voice to reply. "My brother, every Spiritualist is gifted differently, so there is a difference in how much or how quickly each person absorbs Spirit Power of Heaven and Earth. From what I can tell, our brother, Rong Kaixuan, has a special gift. His absorption rate and quality are higher than ours, and the amount of Spirit Power his body can contain is also higher than ours."

There was no fixed amount as to how much Spirit Power a Spiritualist's body could contain.

It was quite similar to alcohol tolerance, and it could be trained up at a later stage. But how much one started with was of great importance.

The Spiritualist Mentors all nodded and started to look at Rong Kaixuan enviously.

Of course, there was also indescribable jealousy hidden inside that envy.

Thoughts about why they didn't have this sort of gift or how unfair life was started to fill their minds.

"Phew…"

Rong Kaixuan exhaled deeply. The glowing sparkles around his body slowly faded and disappeared.