Vessel of Worlds

"Xin'er? Is that you? What are you doing at the Taixu Sect?"

The female cultivator flying toward him was none other than Jian Xin'er—his closest companion from his years with the Jian clan. She had grown considerably since he last saw her, her delicate features losing much of their childishness, and she had become a tall, graceful young woman. Because cultivators aged slowly, she looked no more than seventeen or eighteen despite being not much younger than Andy. Even after years apart, he recognized her at once.

The girl broke into a radiant smile, dimples and all, and flashed the mischievous expression Andy remembered so well. In a sweet voice tinged with playful reproach she said: "I should be asking you that! How did you get into the Taixu Sect? And—wait, how are you at the eleventh layer of Qi Refinement already? I really did almost lose to you." She had only just noticed the spiritual fluctuations coming off him. She herself had spent these seven-odd years in painstaking cultivation to advance from the eighth layer to the eleventh. Yet here was "Brother Wugen," whose aptitude was supposedly terrible, having leapt from the fourth layer to the eleventh in the same span of time. She was delighted to see him, but couldn't hide her shock.

Andy laughed. "So you actually remember what I said the day I left. I was just talking big—I never really expected us to meet again. Reaching this level wasn't something I planned on either. But never mind all that for now—tell me, why aren't you back at the Jian clan practicing hard? What brought you all the way to the Taixu Sect?"

A flicker of something—weariness, resignation—crossed her beaming face, so briefly it was almost invisible. "We shouldn't talk up here in midair. Go wait for me by Gulian Spring, Brother Wugen. I need to take care of a small errand for a senior uncle—it won't take half a shichen. We can talk properly when I get there."

Andy nodded. "All right. Gulian Spring is on Gulian Peak to the west, yes? I'll head there now."

Gulian Peak was not especially tall, only a few hundred zhang, but a waterfall like a ribbon of silver poured from its midpoint, plunging into a pool of crystal-clear water below. This was Gulian Spring, one of the three famous spirit springs of the Kuanglu Mountains. The spiritual energy emanating from its waters rivaled that of a decent mid-grade spirit vein.

Andy was sitting on a broad slab of rock that jutted out over the edge of the waterfall, quietly waiting for Jian Xin'er to arrive.

Less than half a shichen later, she appeared as promised. The two sat side by side just as they had in childhood, and began catching up on the years they had spent apart.

After Andy left the Jian clan seven-odd years ago, Jian Xin'er had continued to devote the vast majority of her time to diligent cultivation. Her aptitude was strong, and as one of the clan's key disciples, she received a far more generous supply of pills than the average member. On this foundation, her progress had been relatively smooth, and just over a year ago she had reached the eleventh layer of Qi Refinement.

With her aptitude and cultivation speed, she should have been given priority attention and rewarded with a Foundation Establishment Pill to prepare for her future breakthrough.

But the clan's elders had poured nearly all their resources into Jian Yun, the Variant Spirit Root prodigy. And Jian Yun had indeed lived up to their investment—with the aid of two Foundation Establishment Pills, he had successfully reached Foundation Establishment at the age of twenty, becoming the youngest Foundation Establishment cultivator in the clan's history. On top of that, the clan elders had gone to great lengths to arrange a marriage for him. His bride-to-be was also a Variant Spirit Root cultivator—and of the most offensively powerful kind at that, a Lightning Spirit Root.

This young woman came from a tiny, obscure cultivation family called the Han family. Aside from herself and an elder brother, the family had no other young cultivators. She was three years younger than Jian Yun and had already reached the tenth layer of Qi Refinement. If the two became cultivation partners and together supported the Jian clan, the clan's prosperity for centuries to come would be all but assured.

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Everything had been proceeding smoothly and by mutual consent—until the Han family delivered the young woman to the Jian clan, and her elder brother caught sight of Jian Xin'er. Captivated by her beauty, he begged his father relentlessly until the old man agreed to approach the Jian clan with a proposal: a marriage exchange. The Han family's Lightning Spirit Root daughter would marry Jian Yun, and in return, the Han family's son would marry Jian Xin'er.

This "young master" of the Han family had mediocre aptitude, a pitiful fourth-layer cultivation, and the sort of face that fancied itself dashing but was actually thoroughly repellant. He was in no way a suitable match for Jian Xin'er. But the Jian clan's elders, focused on the clan's long-term prosperity, agreed to the arrangement—without consulting Jian Xin'er at all.

When Jian Xin'er found out, she was both shocked and furious. She rushed to the Third Elder, who had always doted on her most, and pleaded for his help. But even he was powerless to change the decision. In a rage, Jian Xin'er swore a solemn oath in front of the Han family delegation that she would die before she married into their family—and that if they pressed the matter, she would take her own life on the wedding day itself.

For a time, the conflict between Jian Xin'er and the Han family's son threatened to derail the entire arrangement, and Jian Yun's marriage to the Han daughter nearly fell through. In the end, the Jian clan was forced to offer a different young woman—one slightly less striking than Jian Xin'er—to the Han family's son before the Lightning Spirit Root bride was finally secured.

Jian Xin'er's defiance had burned every bridge within the clan. The elder council declared that her refusal to comply with the family's arrangements warranted an indefinite suspension of all cultivation resources.

Left with no choice, Jian Xin'er had volunteered to leave the clan for "outside experience."

Though more than a year had passed, the anger was still fresh in her voice as she recounted the story. When she reached the most painful parts, a few glistening tears slipped from the corners of her eyes.

Andy said nothing. Elders arranging marriages for their juniors without regard for the juniors' feelings was utterly commonplace in the cultivation world. Every year, countless young cultivators found themselves in exactly this situation.

To steer the conversation elsewhere, Andy asked: "What happened after that? How did you end up joining the Taixu Sect?"

The girl wiped her tears and said: "For the Foundation Establishment Pill, of course. You know as well as I do, Brother Wugen—for low-level cultivators like us, the Foundation Establishment Pill might as well be called the Ascension Pill. For anyone with hopes of reaching Foundation Establishment, it's the one thing they absolutely must have. Without one, the odds of breaking through are less than one in a hundred. With one, they say the odds increase more than tenfold. So the Foundation Establishment Pill directly determines whether a high-stage Qi Refinement cultivator can take that next step. The trouble is, the key spirit herbs needed to refine it are so rare they're virtually nonexistent on the open market. Only the Three Sects and Four Gates each maintain a small medicinal valley capable of producing limited quantities. Even the Jian clan's Foundation Establishment Pills were obtained by the clan elders trading precious treasures to one of the seven great factions. Among the seven, the Taixu Sect has the largest medicinal valley and the highest output of spirit herbs, which means it can refine more Foundation Establishment Pills than anyone else—and that's exactly what made it the most powerful of the seven. I came all this way to give myself a chance at reaching Foundation Establishment someday. I've been an outer-sect disciple here for about a year now." She paused and turned the question back on him. "What about you, Brother Wugen? You still haven't told me how you advanced so quickly, or what brought you to the Taixu Sect."

Andy smiled. "I picked up a bit of skill in talisman making—enough to reliably produce low- and mid-grade Qi Refinement talismans. That earned me a decent amount of spirit stones, which I traded for pills at the market and used to push my cultivation forward. I'm not sure why, but my cultivation speed has been much faster lately than it used to be. Maybe my aptitude isn't as bad as everyone thought." He kept his account of the past several years deliberately vague.

"As for joining the Taixu Sect—my reason is exactly the same as yours. The Foundation Establishment Pill. But I've heard that the Taixu Sect only refines a batch every five years, and even then the quantity is quite limited—far from enough for all the high-stage Qi Refinement disciples who need them. So getting one requires passing some kind of internal competition, is that right?"

"That's right. All outer-sect disciples have to compete in the Foundation Establishment Trial. Only those who place near the top receive a Foundation Establishment Pill as their reward. Inner-sect disciples have it completely different—no menial duties, nothing to worry about except cultivation, and they're each guaranteed a pill. We outer-sect disciples might not show it outwardly, but every one of us is secretly preparing for the trial that comes once every five years." A slight furrow appeared between her brows, as though she had thought of something troubling.