Chapter 19: The Cultivation Cave

The senior outer disciple was named ‘Chang Tong’. As an outer disciple, he still didn’t qualify for a Dao name and was referred to by his secular name for now. Just now, he saw the renowned ‘Xuanji Yuqing’ personally bring Su Che here, which clearly indicated that this newly arrived junior disciple also had influential backers. Therefore, he spoke to Su Che in a rather polite manner.

After a few exchanges of pleasantries, the two became somewhat familiar. Chang Tong asked, “Junior Su, since you’ve just joined the sect, you need to choose a place for meditation on the mountain. Do you prefer a house or a cave?”

“A cave,” Su Che replied immediately.

Houses were more comfortable, with better lighting and ventilation; but caves were safer and more private. Su Che felt that given the secrecy of the pagoda in his mind, a cave was more suitable.

“Very well…”

Chang Tong nodded, turned around, and picked up a wooden talisman from a shelf, handing it to Su Che. “Junior Su, this cave is located at the highest point in our outer disciple area. The concentration of spiritual energy here is excellent, and it’s also the closest to the inner disciple area where Senior Yuqing resides.”

In other words, this cave was undoubtedly the best location within the outer disciple area, and Chang Tong was doing Su Che a favor by offering it to him.

“Thank you, senior brother.”

As Su Che took the wooden talisman, he handed over a small bag containing ten lower-grade spiritual stones—his monthly allowance, which he had just received a few hours earlier.

Su Che wasn’t stingy enough to offend others with such small gestures of reciprocity. Besides, he still had over 110 lower-grade spiritual stones in another Qiankun bag, which would suffice for the time being.

The small bag with the ten lower-grade spiritual stones was just an ordinary velvet pouch. Even without opening it, Chang Tong could sense the spiritual stones inside by holding it in his hand.

He chuckled in satisfaction and said politely, “Junior Su, that would be too formal.”

“That’s only right. In the future, I’ll need your continued support and guidance,” Su Che said sincerely.

“No problem at all!”

Chang Tong readily agreed. He then went on to explain some routine matters, such as collecting the monthly allowance at the end of each month, having one assessment of one’s contribution to the sect every six months, a personal cultivation evaluation every three years, and completing assigned sect tasks on time…

By the time all these matters were explained, it was already evening. Su Che stepped out of the building and used his true energy to activate the wooden talisman in his hand. The talisman floated automatically, drifting forward swiftly, acting like a guiding light that led Su Che toward his cave.

Xuanji Peak was truly enormous; just this section of the mountain path took Su Che over half an hour to traverse. Of course, the real reason was simply his own low level of cultivation…

In front of the cave dwelling, there was also a quite spacious platform, over a hundred steps long and wide, large enough to accommodate dozens of ordinary martial artists to practice their skills. And this was merely one of the areas in front of the cave dwelling.

But it wasn’t just the spaciousness that mattered; the scenery here was also breathtaking. To the left of the cave entrance, a mountain spring trickled out from the cracks in the rocks, with a pool below where colorful koi fish swam leisurely, and emerald lotus leaves that resembled exquisitely carved artworks…

To the right of the entrance, flowers, plants, and fruit trees were arranged in orderly layers, with vibrant blossoms and shiny fruits—all extremely tempting. This showed that the plants and creatures here also benefited from the rich spiritual energy, making them vastly different from their counterparts in the ordinary world.

“What a paradise on earth!”

Su Che took a deep breath. He really couldn’t think of a more fitting description.

Snap!

The guiding wooden talisman automatically fit into a groove in the stone wall, emitting a faint glow, indicating that this cave dwelling already had an owner. Without the owner’s permission, no one could enter at will.

Using the method recorded in the talisman, Su Che opened the stone door of the cave dwelling. Inside, there were a hall, bedrooms, a kitchen, a training room, an alchemy room, a breeding room, and more—everything one could need. There were also arrays for dust suppression, lighting, and ventilation, so one wouldn’t feel suffocated no matter how long they stayed inside.

It was already getting late. It seemed there would be no time to go to the Skill Transmission Pavilion to obtain training methods today. Moreover, after a day like this, Su Che felt mentally exhausted. As usual, he meditated for a while and tried to communicate with the small tower in his mind. Not receiving any response after a long time, he went to bed early to rest.

Early the next morning, Su Che stepped out of the cave dwelling. Just as he closed the stone door, he heard a soft exclamation behind him.

Turning around, he saw a young man at the second level of Qi cultivation, wearing a Xuanji badge around his waist—also an outer disciple of Xuanji Peak’s main summit.

This young man seemed to be two or three years older than Su Che, around sixteen or seventeen. With a smile, he stepped forward and asked, “Younger brother, are you one of the new disciples of Xuanji Peak?”

“That’s right,” Su Che replied with a bow. “I’m Su Che. It’s an honor to meet you, senior brother.”

There was no choice—so far, he was the weakest and youngest outer disciple, so he had to address everyone as senior brother or senior sister.

“My name is Lei Xiao,” the young man said with a smile. “Junior Su is quite remarkable—just after joining the sect, he was assigned to this cave dwelling.”
Su Che smiled slightly and glanced in the direction he had come from before asking, “Is Senior Lei’s residence also nearby?”
“Mm,” Lei Xiao pointed in that direction. “It’s the closest building to yours. Our residences are at about the same height. I just prefer the openness of the building and the feeling of being able to see for miles around.”
Su Che smiled in agreement. From just a few words, it was clear he was a lively person who wasn’t shy around others.
However, the fact that a disciple at the second level of Qi cultivation could be assigned such a nice residence showed that his background was quite significant. After all, the height of one’s dwelling also reflected their status and background within the sect.
Lei Xiao viewed Su Che in the same way and decided to become friends with him. He asked again, “Junior Su, you left so early. Where are you going?”
Su Che replied, “I just joined the sect, so I want to go to the Skill Transmission Pavilion to get the training methods. Also, I need to understand some of the sect’s rules as soon as possible.”
“The Skill Transmission Pavilion?” Lei Xiao nodded. “Coincidentally, I’m going there too. Let’s walk together.”
“Okay.”
The two walked side by side. Along the way, Lei Xiao told him everything he knew about the rules, talking nonstop in a very articulate and organized manner.
The “rules” mentioned here were not the official regulations of Tianxuan Sect, but rather some semi-public, hidden rules. Understanding the official rules was easy—just memorize the manuals. But these hidden rules were the most troublesome; one might inadvertently offend someone without realizing it.
By the time they reached the Skill Transmission Pavilion, Su Che and Lei Xiao, being of the same age, had already become quite familiar with each other. They agreed to keep in touch and went their separate ways.
Su Che first found the head administrator of the Skill Transmission Pavilion, “Administrator Zheng,” and subtly expressed his regards on behalf of Senior Yu Qing, offering ten lower-grade spirit stones as a gift.
Senior Chang Tong and Administrator Zheng were both important figures mentioned by Senior Yu Qing, so Su Che certainly didn’t dare to neglect them. As the saying goes, the local official isn’t as good as the one in charge—building good relationships with such people could only bring benefits. Having spent four years in the county government in the secular world, Su Che knew these tactics all too well.

“Su Che.” After receiving the gifts, Manager Zheng’s tone became much more friendly. “It seems you disdain those low-level cultivation techniques that can be obtained for free… But for slightly better techniques, faction contribution points are required…” Su Che was already aware of such rules, so he took out seven spirit herbs he had prepared earlier from his Qiankun Bag and handed them all to Manager Zheng. “Manager Zheng, these spirit herbs are over a hundred years old. I wonder how many contribution points they can be exchanged for?” “Hmm, not bad, not bad!” Manager Zheng’s expression changed as he carefully inspected the herbs. After some calculation, he said, “These seven spirit herbs are worth 2,500 contribution points. By the rules, after going through our hands, giving you 2,000 points would already be quite generous… But considering Yu Qing’s influence, I’ll give you the full 2,500 points.” “Thank you, Manager Zheng.” Su Che understood that Yu Qing’s influence was just one factor; the spirit stones given to him earlier also played a significant role. In this way, it was equivalent to getting 500 contribution points for ten lower-grade spirit stones, which was definitely a very good deal. After the contribution points were added to Su Che’s identity jade talisman, Manager Zheng pointed to a secret room not far away and said in a low voice, “The cultivation techniques in that secret room are the best among the outer sect techniques of our Xuanji Peak…”