Realms In The Firmament

Now that things were settled, everybody had different thoughts about it. That was hard to explain. However, one must eat. They had to eat so as to recover their strength and deal with the next. possible situation

It was awkwardly silent.

After the meal, they got back on the road.

Every disciple treated Ye Xiao much more kindly since he had saved Xiao Mufei’s life. They started to chat with him.

”Brother Ye, it is a good time to join our sect really…” a man giggled and spoke with jealousness.

”That’s right. The mountain gate just opened. You really are a lucky man.” Another man spoke, ”When the mountain gate closes again, you should be well-improved… What a good luck!”

Ye Xiao was confused. ”Why? Mountain gate and disciples… What’s the connection between these two?”

”A big one.” Everybody, including Fang Dalong, answered at the same time. They looked unwilling to recall something sad.

”What?”

”When the mountain gate is open, it is convenient for us to go out to the martial world, to do some tasks for the sect, and get some spiritual stones as rewards.”

Fang Dalong smiled bitterly. ”It is dangerous to enter the martial world, but at least we are free. We can go wherever we want. Gosh… When the gate is closed… That’s miserable.”

”How?” Ye Xiao really couldn’t understand.

”Well. When the gate is closed, there is no way out… We have hundreds of thousand people in the sect. What should we do in there?” Fang Dalong looked sad. ”We fight each other.”

Another man looked sad too. ”That’s right… We fight. There is a ranking system. That’s what makes it worse.”

”Ranking system?” Ye Xiao was shocked.

”Ranking of hundreds of thousand disciples…” Fang Dalong trembled. ”Each of us will have to have ten fights in a day. We must win as many fights as possible to get higher ranked.

”There is a ranking list of the whole sect. There is a ranking list of the disciples in the same year… Those who are in the bottom fight like hell to enter a higher rank. The ones in the top try everything they can to keep their position…

”Some of us are not so talented. They are weak… They are defeated in every fight everyday… But that’s the way they become strengthened.

”You rookies barely have any cultivation foundations. In those fights, you will definitely get beaten the hell out. You won’t be able to defeat anybody, yet you have to fight, so you get beaten.”

Fang Dalong said, ”When I first got into the sect, the mountain gate closed after I had cultivated half a year. Back then… I got beaten one hundred and seventy-six times in one day…”

”One hundred and seventy-six times… in a day…” Ye Xiao was shocked.

[What the hell?]

[That’s horrible!]

”Well, the saddest thing is that I can’t stop. The next day, I have to do it again… Day after day, year after year…” Fang Dalong sighed. ”The gate remained closed for fifteen years and I had been beaten for fifteen years…”

”Even when you really don’t want to fight, those who are under you will challenge you like crazy… They have to fight you… They have to get higher ranked… What a horrible memory.”

The disciples all lowered their heads, sighing. One guy looked extremely painful. He said, ”One hundred and seventy-six means nothing to me… There was a time, everyday in three months, I got beaten over two hundred times. My butt became thicker because they kept kicking them…”

The crowd burst in laughter.

Ye Xiao was terrified.

[Thank god… I luckily skipped that part. My cultivation level… If I have fight those hundreds of thousand men of Cold Moon Palace, I will definitely break that two hundred times record!]

[No wonder these men are so tough. They didn’t even care about being hit. They are used to it…]

Xiao Mufei didn’t die. The poison was dispelled. However, he had consumed too much spiritual qi. He looked solemn and grieved along the way. It seemed he was thinking about something important.

His disciples knew that he was not in a good mood, so nobody dared to bother him. They just talked in a low voice.

Ye Xiao was the only one who went over to him. He said, ”Elder Xiao, the poison… are you ok?”

Xiao Mufei looked at him. He knew he couldn’t lie to Ye Xiao about that. After all, the supreme dan bead was from Ye Xiao. Ye Xiao knew better than anybody. Xiao Mufei answered, ”The Nine Determination Dark Poison has basically vanished, but there is still a bit left inside me. It won’t kill me, but… it will be difficult to completely remove it. I have to stay alone for a long time to try to cure myself.”

Ye Xiao nodded. It was exactly like what he had expected. Xiao Mufei was safe but still poisoned. Nine Determination Dark Poison was indeed the best poison in Qing-Yun Realm. Even supreme dan bead couldn’t fully cure it.

That supreme dan bead was in average stage though. It was in supreme level, but still was not the best!

”Just keep this between you and me. We can’t let them know I am still poisoned. Otherwise… They will lose faith in this. We may never be going to make it back to the sect.” Xiao Mufei exhaled. ”There are still five thousand and six hundred miles away…”

”There is danger in every step!”

Ye Xiao said, ”Elder Xiao, I am new to this world. I must be one of the weakest ones. However, I think I still have a profound view. The seven sects are in the same league. Seven sects should almost be as powerful as each other. You are the best cultivator among us here. You are in the superior league. The others should be either in first league or the second. They are not the best cultivators in the world. The enemies we have encountered are all low-leveled cultivators. The strongest of them is just the same level as Fang Dalong, Brother Fang. In other words, their best group hasn’t shown up yet. Am I right? Otherwise, we should have been through something much difficult earlier.”

Xiao Mufei was surprised. He looked at Ye Xiao and couldn’t believe the latter could see this. He said, ”You are right. They haven’t sent their true force yet. None of their best disciples showed up.”

”There is a simple reason for that. There is a consensus among the sects. Sooner or later, people will know what happened to us.”

…

Translator’s Thoughts

Rain Rain

2nd chapter of the day! Next one in 3 hours!