Luckily, my master was a lot more hands-on after I finished assimilating the demonic core. For another few months, I learned about the basics of combat, the proper method to utilize chi, and a few other principles of cultivation I hadn’t previously known.

I swung my blade, the same thing I’ve done on repeat for almost a full year in this world now, when my master met my blade with his own, repelling me easily as I redouble my efforts and lash out at his defenses.

I know he’s at a significantly higher level than me, but I still feel like it shouldn’t be this easy for him. He repelled my attacks with one hand and without moving, countering even when I attacked in more unconventional methods like spinning low to the ground and striking at his legs.

After about 30 minutes of this training, I get frustrated and lash out with my sword in one hand, which he blocks. But while he blocks it, my other hand hits his blade on its flat side, and I activate the shockwave vibration I learned from the demonic core. I was hoping to break the weapon, instead, I found myself flat on the floor.

“Oho! Vibrating the wood chi? Interesting, listen up. Vibrating chi is an abnormal fighting style, hardly ever used for a variety of reasons.”

I got to my feet “Which are?”

“Swing at me once more, I shall demonstrate.” Doing as he told I swung into his side, he made no move to stop me and my sword impacted his side, cutting through his robe but stopping when it hit his skin. “Now, my disciple, why did the cloth cut but not the skin?”

“Chi.”

“Correct! Though admittedly even without chi an attack on your level wouldn’t hurt, however, the main reason is the utilization and flow of chi. Imbuing parts of your body with chi reinforces them enough that only attacks of equal or greater caliber can pierce your skin, the vast majority of cultivators have enough flowing through the body constantly that taking them out through conventional means is impossible, that one of the first things I taught you to do after all! Of course, you could always wear down an opponent, but that's quite the strenuous task. To attack with a chi vibration is to throw all chi to the wind for a short period. You would be affected by the reverb of the vibration as well, rendering both you and the opponent effectively mortal. And the more densely the opponent reinforced themselves, the more out of balance their internals would become, albeit temporarily.”

“That seems incredibly effective.”

“Perhaps, it's no doubt a powerful tool, however misuse could result in leaving yourself entirely undefended, not to mention a talented enough cultivator may learn how it works and disperse that section of their body of chi, and of course, the problem regarding landing the hit in the first place.”

This could be even more useful than I thought originally.

“What have you named it?”

“Pardon?”

“Your technique. What's its name?”

“It doesn’t have one.”

“Well, we can’t have that. Where's the style of throwing an attack with no name?”

“Wouldn’t it be more effective if I’m not announcing it while I fight?”

“Oh sure, it might be effective, but you need a snappy technique name to get your name out there! How are you going to be popular without one?”

“Survival is of slightly higher priority for me.”

“That's no fun! Come now, name the attack! Trust me, it’ll feel much better when you use it!”

“I-no that's ridiculous.”

“Disciple, if you don’t name it, I will, and I have quite the large vocabulary! You wouldn’t want to be seen using the Chi rupturing palm strike of order, would you?”

I took a second to think. “Shattering palm. That's as far as I go.”

“Are you certain you don’t want to add a few adjectives in there?”

“Yes.”

“No, heavenly, or earthly?”

“I'm certain master, please change the topic.”

He shrugged his shoulders before addressing me again. “That does remind me, the sect has a mission for you.”

I couldn’t help thinking that's a bit strange “A mission?”

“Indeed, no need to worry, you shouldn't face an opponent stronger than the demonic beast. You may not even need to fight at all. A small mining town called Gong Kun recently dug up a vein of Chi Infused Iron, something which effectively tripled the town's value. Gong Kun has historically existed within our sect's territory, however, it's at the very border where we interact with another heavenly sect, the Holy Guidance Sect. Seeing the chance, the heavenly sect has begun arguing for their right to control it, you and a small team are being sent down to ensure they don’t do anything untoward to get an advantage.”

If I’m going to get embroiled in political issues, I need to know everything I can, I can research for later though.

“When do I leave?”

“Tomorrow!” I inhale deeply and sigh.

“I hate this sect.”

“Oh relax! What were you going to do with a few extra days!”

“Study, prepare, get better situated with the exact issues.” My master, in his infinite wisdom, shook his head.

“Sometimes you need to simply move without thought!” How did he manage to become an elder?

I have plenty of time to think on the coming mission while needles get stuck into my back by the rather angry sect healer, who is still lecturing me for having forgotten about the weekly session when I first started meditating.

“Honestly, I say once a week, and what's the first thing you do? Hm?”

“Elder Liao, please, we’ve been over this.” She deliberately sticks one into an unnecessarily painful place, provoking a yelp from me.

“You disappear for a month! A full month! Honestly, I should just let all the idiots on this mountain die.”

“Please don’t elder. I don’t think that there’d be any of us left.” She let out a sigh before starting to remove the needles.

“...I hear you’re heading out on an expedition.”

“Yeah.”

“You must be excited.”

“Terrified.” She looked somewhat confused at that.

“Really? Not overflowing with ego? Not unshakably confident in your own ability? Are you sure you're a cultivator?” I let out a snort at that.

“It’s hard to call myself unbeatable after one hit from a large snake took me out.”

“A snake equal to 4 times your power.”

“The heavens don’t bend to me, I can’t choose what will or won’t attack me.”

“At least you know that much. Still, is there not a thrill you get from finally leaving the sect? A full year of honing your abilities and finally you get to go test them out.” I thought about it for a second.

“In a perfect world, I’d never have to fight at all.” She let out a chuckle

“That's quite the statement from a cultivator.”A few moments of silence filled the room while I thought about that. I truly do wish I’d never have to fight, I call on my old memories of Yichen’s parents.

“My parents, they live on a small farm, some countryside in the middle of nowhere, I joined to follow in my father's footsteps, he never even finished foundation building. Now that I’ve felt what battle feels like, tasted the blood in my mouth, and choked on my own spit? I see why he left. It’s far too late for that now though, not until I have some agency over my life.”

“Control eh? Can’t say it’s too unique of a motivation. That's what it means to challenge the heavens in the end, battling your fate and carving one yourself.” She spoke while continuing the acupuncture.

“It’s not anything so grand, I just wan- wait, why am I spilling my guts to you?”

“Oh, I hit a point on the base of your neck, near the throat chakra, you’ll be inclined to talk for a little while.” I let out a sigh, causing her to miss a needle and effectively just stab me, which I didn’t even react to at this point.

“I hate your healing methods.” The old woman let out a laugh.

“Many do, and yet they keep coming back!”

The sect library was on the tail end of one of the mountainous paths that litter the sect proper. The entire place is like a spider web of trails through different forested and open areas, which all lead to one specific building. The library, the regular one not the cultivation manual library, was the most out-of-the-way one I had found so far. Were it not for the whole superhuman thing, I probably would have been keeled over panting once I finally found the damn thing. Instead, I was just breathing heavily as I opened the door to the rickety old wooden shack the people here called a library.

An old man was asleep at the far end of the building. It was a bit larger than I had first thought and was crammed to the brim with various books, each book had a green cover which made the place look rather ugly. The door creaked about as loud as the rumbles from the demonic snake, which still failed to awaken the old man. I'd be worried he's already passed if not for the heaves of his chest.

Ignoring him, I start skimming the different books like an eagle hunting a rabbit. Before finally, I find my prey. “A summary of the 5 heavenly sects, history, present and possible futures” On top of that I also snagged a book dedicated just to this sect. Though given the title of it was “The divine and ethereal majesty of the Heaven guided white sect” It’s safe to say they may be slightly biased. Along the same lines, the book on the competing sect was equally biased, just the other way around. “The fractured, divided, and brutal Heaven enforcing sect” With my package secure I glanced at the napping elder, I don’t want to have to talk to another weird old person, given 2/3rds of the people I’ve held conversations with in this world are all senior citizens, but unfortunately outside of stealing there's not really an alternative.

I walk up to the desk he’s passed out on, and drop all 3 books onto it right next to his ear. He jolts awake looking side to side confused. “Books. I’d like to check them out.” He smacked his lips together a few times before squinting at me.

“You're not elder Ming.”

“No, I am not.”

“Then who are you?”

“Direct disciple of elder Huaeng, Yichen.” I bowed as was customary.

“Err, yeah yeah. Whaddya want?” I point to the books once more.

“Oh! Oh yes, my memory is a little foggy, you’ll have to forgive me.” He grabbed the three books and looked at each of them, before pulling out a blank piece of paper and an ink brush, he wrote my name and the three books. “Frankly, you don’t have to return them. The only time this is used is when someone else wants one of the books, and you're the first person to have visited in quite a long time.”

“Seems a shame, quite the wealth of knowledge in here.” The elders' eyes lit up and a smile filled his face.

“Indeed. Such a shame how much knowledge goes unfound by those most in need of it.” He seemed to think for a moment as he was handing me back the books. “Junior disciple.”

“Yes?”

“The cultivation library includes a sparse few books regarding the heaven enforcing sects martial styles and cultivation methods, I’d recommend finding those before setting out to meet them.” My eyes widened. He seemed sharper than I had given him credit for. Seeing my reaction, he laughed. “Old dogs still have a few tricks! I’ll see you around, kid.” I bowed once more before leaving.

Is everyone in the sect a mysterious elder?

That notion was luckily dispersed by the wealth of people, young people, I saw moving around the cultivation library. Outside of the cafeteria, which I had stopped using, this was likely the most populated location I’d ever seen in terms of cultivators. Each wandering around and thumbing through blue-covered novels.

It helped that the structure itself was a massive, high school-sized complex, shaped like a yin yang symbol, which, while good architecture for looking at, did make searching for books a little bit of a pain. I was stuck in the entrance area with the low-class books, but even just seeing the seemingly endless expanse of techniques and methods filled me with motivation. Motivation that was quickly replaced by annoyance once asking around revealed the other sects section. Which had the appearance of a janitor's closet they had just stuffed books into, to add insult to injury, the different sect books were bound with a gross brown cover akin to just a normal book. There was no classification either, just a small sign with “Please return at your own convenience” written on it. What is this place's obsession with discrediting useful information?!

I was tempted to just grab everything and leave if they were so loose with their books. Letting out a sigh I started to flip through a few, looking for more “Uptight religious sect” sounding names, it didn’t help that they all sounded like that. Gambling between whether Law style or Commandment style was the one the Heaven Enforcing Sect used almost made me quit on the spot, but cross-referencing what little the history book talked about their fighting style to a skim of the books landed me firmly on the law style. Which I snagged before walking out. With 4 books in hand and a happy heart, I headed to the isolated building my master and I shared.

I don’t need sleep, and I will be abusing that tonight!

Despite being so thin, the textbooks were quite sizeable, even having the whole night to work with them, I only managed to make my way through the first one, explaining the basics of all 5 sects, when I received a knock on the door, my master, smiling like he’d won the library, gave me a large and unnecessary breakfast, before ushering me to the base of the mountain once more. I looked back over my shoulder, before moving.

I passed the old inn, and post office as I saw a gathering of 2 other people in sect robes waiting around a cart. One of them, a girl, noticed me and charged straight at me. I recognized the face as Li huá too late before we both hit the floor when she impacted me with a full-force hug, knocking my books out of my hands.

“Sworn friend! It’s been far too long!” I let out a groan as she jumped to her feet.

“Good to see you too LI huá” The third member of our group bent down to look at me while I picked myself up, he was young looking, with a short ponytail that didn’t even reach his neck. He clasped his hands making the bend a bow as he smiled.

“I’ve heard a great many things about you from sister Li huá, brother Yichen. I am junior disciple Chong Zou.” He extended his hand which I took before gathering my books.

“Yichen.” He tilted his head in confusion as I walked past him and into the larger cart. I noticed the driver was the same one who brought me here in the first place, I exchanged another silent nod with him before entering and catching up on the reading I had missed.

Li huá and Chong Zou both filed in after a moment. They seemed to get along perfectly exchanging jokes and stories without pause through the entirety of the ride. It’d be lying to say that it wasn’t annoying, but a bit of enjoyment before entering a battlefield can go a long way, so I let them have their fun.