Chapter 49: The Elder’s Secret
Two days later, on the sloped gallery of the Heavenly Hailstorm Mountain Peak, Han Xuhan reappeared within a group of 26 disciples. Compared to the previous time, there were a couple of differences today.
The first difference was the seating arrangements. Han Xuhan’s group, aka the rookies with no real cultivation of a Mystic Art, were seated on the topmost point of the titanic stairs, just a few meters away from Elder Kong Ye.
The remaining three groups were given the freedom to sit however they wanted. Elder Kong Ye only gave them some generalized guidance while his care for the first group was intensive. He focused on each of them individually.
The second difference was, of course, Han Xuhan’s state. He was no longer an ordinary human, but a cultivator of the Zeroth Layer of a Mystic Art! He, Mu Ran, and Xiao Wu sat side by side, eagerly for the day’s lecture.
"I assume all twenty-six of you have already purchased at least one Mystic Art from the sect...? If you don’t think you can do it within a week, you’ll have to go sit at the back of the class."
In response to Kong Ye’s questioning tone, everyone nodded vigorously. The man had extended a special favor to their group by his arrangements. Who would be foolish enough to not invest their savings into a Mystic Art and lose out on such guidance for a whole month straight?
"Then everyone must have meditated for one session at least before coming here, correct? It’s okay if you didn’t succeed in sensing or guiding qi."
"Yes, elder," the collective voice of the disciples was heard.
"Do you have your manuals with you?" He inquired.
This time, the answers didn’t come as loudly as before.
"Those of you who have left the manuals at your huts, have you memorized the meridian routes inside your body and the channeling diagrams of qi on your manuals?"