Chapter 129: Preparations (Patreon)

The serene tones of a zither rung through out of the pagoda deep in the forest. Nature kept silent, listening attentively to the clear yet somber melody, only the leaves rustled occasionally under a gust of nightly wind.

Qi whirled wildly, shivering under every note and underneath it the Dao of Fire twirled and spun, following the tune in its own inscrutable dance. At the center of it all sat an old man, sitting with his legs crossed in a lotus pose, the instrument resting on his lap as his nimble hands plucked at the strings. Wisps of fire rose from his hands and his long white beard, joining what seemed like a natural dim glow coming off his body in lighting up the otherwise dark room.

The old man, the strongest elder of the Lunar Peaks Sect, was immersed deeply in his cultivation, pondering the Dao of Fire as he played, every note an interrogation, answering questions and bringing up new ones. As the immense tree of his understanding slowly branched outwards, his mind seemed severed from the normal flow of time, minutes stretching into eternity and yet hours passing in what seemed like seconds.

The light of the stars dimmed and retreated as dawn slowly crept over the horizon. The sun rose to reclaim its sovereignty over a new day, and its light didn’t halt before the pagoda and its mystical tunes. When the first ray of sunlight made it through the window and landed on the old man’s face, he was drawn from his meditative trance.

A last couple of notes rounded out the melody before his hands rested and silence fell over the pagoda. Soon, it was broken by the forest that only now seemed to truly awaken from the night. Insects buzzed, rodents rushed through the underbrush and many a bird eagerly made to sing its own song, as if inspired by the nightly concert.

Liu Wei lingered for a moment, taking in the changing atmosphere and enjoying the feeling of the sun on his skin. He had progressed well once again, the zither having propelled his cultivation speed to unprecedented levels.

Since the artifact functioned effectively as a tool of assisting the regular cultivation process, Liu Wei had quickly found that its effectiveness greatly depended on the user’s pre-existing ability to comprehend the Dao. In other words, it was an amplifier of natural talent, something Liu Wei luckily possessed plenty of. In the five years since the war, he had already pushed about halfway through the eighth stage.

As much as Liu Wei would have liked to continue sitting there and enjoy the sun, there was much to do today and the world wouldn’t wait for him, so he cracked his shoulders and rose from the floor. He returned the zither to his spatial ring – he always kept it on his person, the instrument being far too valuable to store even in his rather well-protected treasury – and adjusted his robes. Soon, he stepped out of the pagoda and into the waking forest.

Before he headed off, he took a stroll through the surrounding nature, checking on the flowers and herbs that were blooming around his home. He’d originally planned on blocking the sound of the zither from spilling out of the pagoda, but he had soon shelved that plan when he had realized that the plant-live was reacting to it in the most spectacular way.

The many Spirit herbs and flowers in the vicinity had begun growing at unprecedented rates, as if a true master herbalist had been taking care of them. Not just that, many of them had also begun taking on fire-aspects much sooner in their development than one would expect them to develop elemental affinities, turning them into truly valuable alchemical ingredients that would normally only be found in extremely Fire Qi-rich environments.

Some of them were types of plants that, as far as Liu Wei knew, weren’t even known to take on the element of fire at all under natural conditions. It was a shame Ma Rong was still locked in isolated cultivation, because he would have loved to show him these curiosities.

Once he was done inspecting his little garden, Liu Wei took to the air and made his way to the Training Hall’s grounds. He had a meeting with some of the instructor’s scheduled later this morning and he wanted to prepare some paperwork beforehand.

In less than a month, the yearly disciple admittance exam would be held, and while that was plenty of time to prepare, it was prudent to start early so that they wouldn’t run into problems in the end.

The admittance exam was the largest periodical event hosted by the Training Hall and also the one that drew by far the most eyes, both from the sect members and from the many minor and major noble families that had their children participate in the hopes that they would be able to enroll into the sect. Meanwhile, the halls were always on the lookout for young talent to draw into their ranks and bargaining over the occasional outstanding talent could turn into quite the ordeal.

In the past, the Training Hall had been required to share the hosting of the exams with the Outer Relations Hall, but with Ning Bai’s recent downfall, they had taken over the entire responsibility from this year onwards. While that did afford them a good amount of funding from the sect and some political sway, it also meant a lot more work fell on Liu Wei and the Training Hall’s members, so he normally wouldn’t have pushed for it.

However, in the years he had headed the Training Hall now, he’d become privy to quite a lot of corrupt practices surrounding the event, disciples from influential families being afforded preferential treatment, and he hadn’t wanted to stand at the sidelines regarding this any longer.

Having arrived at the Training Hall’s headquarters Liu Wei quickly entered his office, where his assistant was already waiting for him.

“Greetings, Elder Wei!”

“Good morning, Chao.”

“Would you like a red tea, as usual?”

“Very much, thank you.”

He sat down at his desk and looked over the stack of paperwork that awaited him. He really needed to find someone trustworthy who he could delegate some of this stuff to. Once more he lamented that Qingge was working for Elder Shi at the Enforcement Hall.

“Your tea, Elder.”

“Thank you.”

Liu Wei grabbed the cup and took a sip while he read through the adjusted schedule for the first day of the exam.

“Chao, remind me, do I have anything on my schedule after the meeting with the instructors today?”

It would be nice if he could wrap up today’s responsibilities quickly, as he really needed to check on Qingge’s cultivation progress sometime soon.

“Elder Lai has requested that you assist him with the brewing of true harmonization pills at noon.”

“Oh yes, I remember.”

Guang Lai had recently reached the second stage of Dao Contemplation and had since increased his activity as an alchemist by a lot. Since Ma Rong wasn’t there to work his miracles, his disciple’s output was critical to maintaining the standing of the Alchemy Hall, so Liu Wei was frequently offering his valuable help as a fire cultivator.

“Anything else?”

“Yes, you wanted to meet up with Professor Lei afterwards.”

“Ah… that was today.”

Liu Wei sighed, mentally crossing out a visit to his own disciple for today. That meeting would undoubtedly turn out to be a long one. Geming Lei always had a couple of concerns when they met. He was still working on his chronicle of the war with the Roaring Thunder Sect – Liu Wei could only imagine it would be a truly monumental work once it was finished – and he always wanted to discuss the results of the discussion-rounds he had started hosting among interested members.

Beyond that, the mortal professor had, over the past years, turned into perhaps the most active and engaged theorist behind the reform faction – or perhaps his role was more aptly described by the term ‘philosophical strategist’ – and Liu Wei had found it immensely worthwhile to exchange his thoughts on their direction once in a while. In fact, the idea for the Reform Faction’s recent flagship item had originated from such a conversation: The general sect assembly.

In the aftermath of the war, with the pillar families’ faction still in disarray after the death of Elder Jiang Peng and the downfall of Ning Bai, they had convinced the council to approve the creation of a new sect-wide event: The so-called ‘general sect assembly’, a yearly assembly of all members of the Lunar Peaks Sect.

It was intended to be a ritualistic event where the elders and the Patriarch would inform the sect members of the recent developments within the sect and proclaim important decisions of the council.

It wasn’t especially revolutionary just yet, but it certainly had the potential get there. It was essentially an institution that they could continuously work on expanding whenever possible. In the version of the assembly that Liu Wei and Professor Lei had envisioned, ordinary sect members would have the chance to speak before the assembly to address concerns, hold debates or, perhaps in the far future, even referendums.

Even in its current form, the assembly already had the potential to form the sect member’s opinion on any issue discussed before it. After a long time in which various elders had addressed various concerns, it was scheduled to be held, for the first time ever, in just over two months from now, which was the primary reason Liu Wei had scheduled the meeting with Professor Lei today.

Liu Wei took another sip of tea as he refocused on the paper before him.

“Does the planning committee really think it’s a good idea to schedule the physical examination and the right after one another?”, he asked, speaking more to himself than to Chao.

He was going to need to speak to them about this at the meeting. Liu Wei sighed as he grabbed the next part of the exam schedule from the stack of paper that still loomed before him. This was going to be a long day.

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Just to write it in the first early-access-chapter as well: The regular author notes and public polls will remain exclusively on Roal Road, it's too much of a hassle trying to replicate them here.