Pathway

The grand elder continued his welcome speech after the sect masters finished their introduction.

"Simplicity, patience and compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, and you will reconcile all beings in the world."

The grand elder directed the new disciples towards the centre of the hall where there was a circular ring on the floor with himself at the front of the ring. The disciples would stand in the middle of the ring to determine their element affiliate in the view of others, and they would say their names to the grand elder. Then, the grand elder would call out their names and elements affiliation for the houses' acolytes to register. Afterwards, sects badges would be handed to the disciples by the acolytes.

When it was Ju Feng's turn, he stepped into the circular ring, and it flared softly.

"Ju Feng. Light and lightning."

The disciples continued to step into the circle to fully determine their affinities. House of air, house of terra, and house of fire, had thirteen disciples each. House of water, house of light, house of ice, house of woods, and house of metal, had eight students each. House of lightning and house of shadows had five students each. House of dreams and illusions, house of flora, and house of necrosism, had three disciples each. And the house of space-time had two disciples.

There were eighty five disciples of one element affiliation, thirteen disciples with two elements, and two disciples with three elements affiliation. Although the disciples with two elements were also hard to come by, disciples with three elements were the most revered and coveted in the sect, their potential were limitless.

Lost in his own mind, Ju Feng began to wonder. Wow, three affinities. What would happen if he could add fire to his own? Fire, lightning and light, he would be able to create ribbons of fire with some lightning and light. Hehehe, that would have been a pretty sight. He could even create a fire dragon, head of fire, body of light and tail of lightning. Hahaha...impressive stuff. Jufeng broke away from his daydreams in time to hear the grand elder's words.

"Now that you have all registered for the admission, the sect doors will be opening a week from now. Go and make necessary preparations, you will be here for five months from admission date. You will be given two months break after which you are expected to return for second phase of another five months. And when you are coming, bring twenty five gold coins for the first phase and after the break, another twenty five gold coins which makes fifty gold coins every year. If you are having trouble paying, see your house master. Once again, you are all welcome. You can all leave orderly now."

With all eagerness, Ju Feng was happy to inform his mother and grandparents about it. They were already waiting for him near the entrance when he came out, and quickly joined them.

"Ma, grandpa, grandma, I've been accepted."

"Congratulations."

They chorused happily in support.

"And we will start a week from now."

"This is good news. We will celebrate this when we get home. It's getting late now."

"Yes, we will celebrate it at home."

They rode swords lights out of the sect's area, before Zhang Xiu Ying used minor teleprtation to take them home. This way was necessary for her to keep her nature quiet. And in minutes, they had reached home. They celebrated his admission in the usual way of magical turtle's meat, cooked with lily tubers, and ground lily leaves. Added on top of the meat was the delicious wasp honey.

It was a true celebration all night.

The following morning, Zhang Xiu Ying informed the titan lord through the mind voice of Ju Feng's admission.

"Oh, that's good news. This will benefit him a lot, Xiu Ying. I'll come over later in the evening."

"Okay, uncle Primus."

Since waking up, he had been checking everything he would need before leaving for the sect. Robe. His mother would take care of a new robe for him. Not that he would need much robe anyways, since they would give them sect robes. These personal robes would be for informal ocassions. He would also need some writing parchments and a quill. The more he prepared, the more he realized he would need many things, and a bigger bag.

Since he couldn't think properly enough of what he needed, he decided to go and train his body using the no-name technique they recieved from his uncle, lord Primus. Ju Feng's body had already become extremely strong and powerful, and his strength could rival that of a zhuji cultivator. Despite this, he continued training until late afternoon before leaving for the pond side.

On the way to the pond, his mind wandered off again to what he needed to take with him to the sect. He would surely take his two robes, he would pack some turtle meat, some lily tubers, and leaves. What more could he take? He wanted to take many things but there was nothing much left to take, except more turtle meat and lily tubers. Maybe, he would have to think properly.

Reaching the pond area, he sat down in lotus position to clear his mind. What if he could pack a whole turtle's meat with him? That would have been better. Or, his mother could be bringing him more meat. No, not ideal. He had to look for a bigger bag. Ju Feng closed his eyes, and clear his mind as he began to meditate. However, he couldn't meditate for long before deciding it was enough. He was on his way back to the cave when lord Primus arrived.

"Uncle Primus!"

"Ju Feng, good to see you. How is my nephew doing?"

"Very good, uncle. You know what, uncle. I was accepted into the Last Sword sect."

"Yes, your mother told me. I'm very proud of you Ju Feng. That's why I brought you a small gift."

Lord Primus flicked his hand, and a small bag appeared in his hand, the size of his palm.

"Here, take it. Go ahead."

With shaky hands, Ju Feng took the small bag from his uncle, and continued to look at it totally dumbstruck.

"Yes, it's a spatial sac. I thought you might need something like that to pack the things you need."

Ju Feng's mind was in ecstasy, and didn't even know when he fell on his knees in front of his uncle with teary eyes, and bowed. This would have cost a big fortune. How could he recieve this for nothing?

"Aww, no need for that now. After all, you are my nephew. I should be doing this for you anyway. Now, stand up. Come on, stand up."

As if in a deep trance, Ju Feng stood up slowly as the rest of the family arrived at the scene. Meeting the two of them this way, the rest were a little bit curious.

"Lord Primus, we meet you well. Welcome."

"Lord Primus, we welcome you."

"Uncle Primus. You are here."

Zhang Xiu Ying looked from lord Primus, who was smiling, to Ju Feng who had tears of joy.

"Is everything okay, uncle Primus?"

"Nothing Xiu Ying, Ju Feng was just too excited that I brought him a spatial bag. You see, there's nothing wrong."

"..." Zhang Xiu Ying.

"..." Zhang Li Qiang.

"..." Zhang Wang Jing.

"Hehehe. I told you, it was nothing."