Nicten, Rucia and I are all on the list to join the Free Sword Sect. Once we expressed wanting to join the sect, they were happy to accept us. Normally, only inner disciples have reached Beyond Mortal Realm around 20 in this sect. Nicten is the same age as Rucia, 19, so we’re all very much welcomed. Although we’ll start out as just inner disciples, it’s almost certain that Nicten will be accepted as core or direct disciple almost immediately because he’s a demi-human. I’m sure of this, but not of where me and Rucia will be accepted. Whether we’ll just be inner disciples or core disciples is up in the air.

After our cultivation was checked, we still had to go through the normal test, which was easy. Since we passed the test with flying colors, one of the elders in charge of disciple came personally to watch us. Because he only came after the first time, we had to redo the test. But it was such a breeze, we could go through it again and again without resting for quite a few times. The disciplinary elder was really impressed at our performance, so he let us join immediately. He even said that he would recommend us to a higher ranking elder. We might actually become core disciples, might.

So, we got accepted and were brought to the actual sect location along with a bunch of little mortal kids who would join the outer sect. We went through the procedures and got a bag of holding, a sect robe for inner disciples -Nicten immediately got a core disciple robe- and a flying sword. Nicten was allowed to choose one treasure from the sect’s vaults, and was taken there immediately. That little bastard… even though I’m technically his master, he just had to be accepted as a core disciple while me and Rucia are still inner disciples.

Haah… Well, it isn’t really his fault. Anyway, after all that happened, we were escorted to our respective dwellings. Rucia’s was surprisingly far away from mine, but was close to the mountain that Nicten had for himself. Dude got a whole damn mountain for himself! A whole damn mountain! What is even going to do up there that requires an entire mountain?!

Anyway, all that happened a week ago. Until now, all I was doing was peacefully cultivating. Previously, I had been breaking through the stages without a care, but now I’ve reached a bottleneck. It’s only a small one though. I’ve reached the peak of Beyond Mortal Realm, Qi Spiritualization. All that’s left for me to do is break through into Vanquish Tribulations Realm. Vanquish Tribulations is separated into nine different tribulations. In order, they are Mortal, Demonheart, Death, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and finally the Lightning Tribulation. The Mortal Tribulation puts the cultivator in an illusion where they try and resist the seven desires of mortality. Basically, you try not to succumb to your urges. The seven desires are the same as the seven deadly sins from Earth. The Demonheart Tribulation is all about internal demons. You just have to kill off some internal demons, nothing else. The Death Tribulation forces you to resist the aura of death, which is slowly killing you. Normally, if an aura of death appears on someone, they have less than .000001% of their life left, or some super small number like that. You just have to survive longer than that arbitrarily small number. Then the five elements tribulation, which is Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water Tribulations. They just physically attack you with the five elements. The Lightning Tribulation is the hardest. All you have to do is survive nine lightning bolts. But they are extremely strong. Over three quarters of Vanquish Tribulation cultivators are killed here.

I was planning on kicking the tribulations in the dick, but someone is at my door. I don’t know who they are, but they definitely don’t have good intentions. I can tell by those evil grins on their faces. I don’t think someone smiles like that normally, so it’s probably an evil grin. They haven’t done anything but stand in front of my door, but because I set down a formation to protect myself -granted, it’s not very strong- I can see everything happening within it. There are five of them, and they are all wearing the robes of inner disciples. By the way, outer disciples have dark red robes, inner disciples have dark red robes with white lining, core disciples have dark blue robes, and direct disciples have dark blue robes lined with the main color of their master’s robe, which is based on their ranking. I have never interacted with fellow disciples, so I have no clue if these people are important or not. However, since we are a part of the same sect, I should greet them. If they come to greet me.

The leader knocks on my door and says: “Disciple Hayden has come to visit junior apprentice-brother Ardven. Open up.”

How do they know my name…? I stand up and walk to the door. Although I don’t want to open it, I’ll make enemies if I don’t. I’ve only been here a week, a new disciple like me has no backer. Actually, a core disciple with the initials NT is my retainer, so I do have the support of a core disciple. However, I would loathe to rely on him because of his position. It’s a matter of pride. I can’t have my retainer, who is supposed to be lower than me, use his position to help me out. That’s disgraceful. Since this is the case, I open the door to welcome the five in.

“Disciple Ardven greets senior apprentice-brother Hayden and friends.” I greet them normally.

“Hmph. Let us in.” Hayden and his pals barge in.

These fucks…

“Apologies senior apprentice-brothers, but I do believe I welcomed you in?”

“It is common courtesy to let fellow disciples in after greetings, is it not?”

“Senior apprentice-brother is correct, we all welcome our senior apprentice-brothers and junior apprentice-brothers when they come calling.” One of Hayden’s cronies says.

“You senior apprentice-brothers may follow that line of thinking, but I do not. However, since you senior apprentice-brothers have come for me, I will humor you. What might you senior apprentice-brothers need from this junior?”

“Hmph. You certainly have quite a big tone for someone who has just joined the sect. I think you need to learn to respect your fellow apprentice-brothers.” Hayden stands up, walks in front of me and says.

“Thank you for the offer senior apprentice-brother, but how would you go about teaching me this?”

“Obviously you do not learn well through words, so I will instead teach you through a spar.”

“A spar?”

He actually wants to spar with me? My bag of holding held the sect’s cultivation method, sword arts, and a few low-level pills. I honestly didn’t even need the pills and my cultivation method is far superior, so I only looked over the sword arts. The reason it took me a week to reach the peak of Beyond Mortal was because I was also studying the sword arts. The basic ones were inferior overall to my personal sword art, but it had some good ideas that I integrated into mine. There were others that were a part of a bigger sword art, but were held back. Those gave me lots of insight, and my sword art improved rapidly. Right now, my sword art should be more powerful than anything an inner disciple has, unless they’ve completely mastered the entirety of the full version of one of the incomplete sword arts. Even if their sword arts were better than mine, they are all below Qi Spiritualization, so I’m physically superior to them as well. I’m confident that I’ll win. However, this might be a good chance to actually see some of the sword arts in action.

“Yes, a spar. What, are you too scared?”

“No, I didn’t mean to give you that impression. I was simply shocked that senior apprentice-brother would be so eager to be humiliated by me.”

With this, he now has no way of escaping. He’d be too angry to think straight and immediately get on with the spar. That is, if he follows the template.

“You...” He points his finger at me in anger.

“Yes, what about me?”

Hah! He’s a perfect template!

“You’ll regret making a fool of me! Senior apprentice-brother Jaron will not let you off!”

Jaron? Who is this… AH!

“Ah, I see why you came. You are just a lackey this senior apprentice-brother Jaron. Tell me, is he a core or direct disciple? Or is he perhaps an apprentice-brother with a rule of force in the inner sect? Or does he perhaps have familial connections with one or more of the elders? Is he the heir to a powerful clan? No matter what he is, I do not plan on becoming his errand boy like you! A cultivator should be proud, not willing to stoop so low as to shamelessly recruit a new disciple for your faction through force! If you dare call yourself a genius, then you can scram before me!”

Fuck this guy!

“You dare-?!”

“Of course I dare! What is a man without pride or courage?! It’s obvious you cannot tell me, as you lack those unless this senior apprentice-brother Jaron is there to manipulate your strings!”

“How dare you?!”

Hayden is fuming red at this point. His sword is already in his hands, and he probably would’ve tried to kill me if the sect laws did not restrict it.

“Now now senior apprentice-brother, cool your anger, save it for the spar. Or would you like to change it to a duel?”

Normally, the sect laws prevent killing among inner disciples and higher. However, inner disciples can challenge another inner disciple to a duel. In a duel, as long as it is supervised by an elder, then it will go on. In a duel, inner disciples are allowed to kill or cripple the enemy. Normally, a duel is not initiated unless there is a life or death grudge. However, Hayden has been angered greatly, and there is no chance he will deny this offer. He might want to cancel it later, but if he does, he will be left with no face. It’ll seem as though he is scared of a newly initiated disciple. As a man that latches onto someone else, their face and life are the two most important things to them.

Now, template Hayden, will you accept?

“You’re going to regret even challenging me to a duel. You’re on!”

“You’re right, I will regret it.”

“Huh?”

“I will most certainly regret showing that our sect has incompetent inner sect disciples that, despite having a backer, fall so easily to a newly recruited junior apprentice-brother.”

“Tomorrow! Sect area! You’re dead!”

“Understood, senior apprentice-brother.”

Hayden and his cronies storm off. I’ll look forward to this duel.