Pathway

Ju Feng brought out his parchment and began writing down permutations of materials. Only if he could actually make his own legendary sword. He remembered the phoenix feather sword of his mother, and the white wyvern sword of his grandfather.

Letting out a deep breath, he put his parchment away and finished the rest of the turtle meat and lily tubers. Subsequently, he closed his eyes and started meditating using soul serenity technique, activating the inner peace. The following day, the grand elder would be addressing the new disciples at the main hall. He would sleep early to wake up early.

The next day, all the new disciples gathered in the main hall where they would be addressed by the grand elder. They just finished exchanging greetings among themselves when the grand elder arrived.

"Good morning to you all. It's been around a week since you became a member of the Last-Sword sect. It's our tradition to give each new disciple one heavenly root spirit pill and two golden fountain medicinal pills, a week after the admission. This is to allow any new disciple with a change of mind time to leave. Any disciple who stayed after a week has all the possibilities of staying, that's our belief. These pills are the traditional welcoming ceremony for new disciples. You are now true Last-Swords"

He signalled the elders of the houses who then monitored the acolytes in distributing the pills accordingly.

"These pills are some of the treasures of our sect for you to use. This is the reason we asked for our new disciples' levels to be from the Lianchi stage to the Ningchi stage. It is very important that you take the heavenly root spirit pill before you reach the Zhuji stage. It will help you form a perfect foundation for your subsequent advancement. These were just a sample of what we have in store for you all."

The grand elder nodded after seeing their happy faces.

"And as you already know, more greater benefits await those who endeavour to carve a path for themselves. Every step you take is on the path. Hence, I ask you, are you ready to take the steps? Study hard and train harder, and everything will be in your hold."

He raised a finger to calm them down.

"Now that we have that settled, there is a sect competition, once every three months from sect resumption. This competition determines the members of the inner and core disciples. Don't get me wrong, there's no difference among our members. All our members are very important and unique. This competition is only extra motivation for you. Already, there are many great benefits of being a last-sword, but if you want to go extra mile for yourselves and for the sect, then you need to be ready to participate."

He paused for a moment, then continued.

"And in general, as a sect, we will be assigning some tasks to you, and after their completion, you will be rewarded accordingly. As we prepare you in the study hall for the conjecture , we will also prepare you in the field out there. Out there, is where you put all you have learned in the study hall to the use. Remember, there are many benefits you get from doing all these. Thus, I say again, study hard and train harder."

After receiving a loud shout of acknowledgement, he concluded his speech.

"Go and enjoy the day."

The new disciples were streaking out of the massive main hall, when two of the new house of light disciples came up to Ju Feng.

"Ju Feng, hold up."

"Da Xia, Cheung."

"We are going to the cafeteria, do you care to join in?"

Asked the blue-eyed Lin Da Xia.

"I guess so, I'm starting to get hungry too."

Ju Feng laughed in reply.

As they were about to leave for the cafeteria, he noticed one of the other two new disciples of the house of lightning.

"Yingjie, are you in a hurry?"

Ju Feng asked.

"Not really."

"We are going to the cafeteria. Do you want to join us?"

"Okay."

At the cafeteria, they chose a spot at the corner, and settled on their food.

"The Heavenly Root pill is enough for any disciple to join the Last-Sword sect."

"I heard other sects have pills for the foundation stage too, but the Last-Sword sect have the best foundation pills."

"I also heard that they have the pills for every stage of advancement."

"If you become a core disciple, you will even have your own immortal cave"

"True, there are tens of immortal caves for the disciples at the valley of immortals. The elders have their caves at the Haze mountains and the acolytes at the Shroud River plain."

Fu Yingjie who had been quiet since they arrived, indicated.

"I have decided to participate in the competition. I want to enjoy all those benefits."

Lin Cheung looked around the table with a knitted brow.

"Maybe I'll participate, I'm not sure yet. I'll think about it."

Lin Da Xia put in.

"I'll be happy to participate. There's no harm in participating, after all, it's a friendly competition."

Ju Feng uttered with a smile before turning to Fu Yingjie.

"What about you, Yingjie?"

Fu Yingjie shrugged in reply as Ju Feng continued.

"Well, no matter what happens in life only one thing comes out of it, friendship."

They all laughed at that as they began devouring their food. They finished eating, and gladly departed to their different ways. Ju Feng left for his room with his heart full of joy. Finally, he had friends. He could now relax his mind.

Inside his room, he took out the white colored heavenly root spirit pill, swallowed it and sat in lotus position to meditate. Within few minutes, different colours started radiating from his body as his dantian was experiencing a cosmic transformation. The big orb of condensed Chi that was formed in his dantian after reaching the Ningchi stage, started to change in appearance.

The big orb was already many times bigger than that of normal cultivator, began to expand until it reached gigantic size. The transformation had also advanced him to the late stage of Ningchi.

He opened his eyes, and laughed mildly.

Everything was going smoothly for him. What could go wrong?