An Elder's Revolution - The Art of Sect Politics

“Well, that’s it for the storage area. I believe that makes all of the important parts of this hall, unless there is something else you are interested in?”

Though his speech had slightly bounced back from its informal extreme after he had once again remembered who he was speaking to, Guiren’s enthusiasm hadn’t waned for the entirety of their tour. It wasn’t played either, the man seemed to genuinely care about the Training Hall and his work there.

“You have yet to show me any of the training areas this hall provides to its disciples which seems counterintuitive considering its role. Any specific reason for that?”

“Oh, it’s just… I didn’t know if you wanted to see those. I mean… as an elder, you wouldn’t really have any reason to visit them, would you?” The man seemed noticeably awkward.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Uhm, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to offend you or anything…”

“Don’t worry. I’m genuinely curious as to why you think that I wouldn’t need to know.”

“Well… you know… because you don’t have a reason to ever go there as an elder. You don’t have to, like, personally train or supervise the disciples. If you ever wanted something from one of them, you could just let them be called to you.”

It made sense in a way. Considering how this sect operated, there was no way an elder would ever take the time to run after some outer disciple to advise them. Even without all the concerns about honor and status, the simple fact was that amongst the few elders who they had, they lacked the time.

A cultivator of that level had a sheer infinite number of pursuits they could devote themselves to that would benefact the sect or themselves. And that was before factoring in the immense amount of time they would usually dedicate to cultivation.

And even if all of them were to dedicate all of their time and effort towards teaching the disciples, that would still not be enough to justify them running around between training spaces. With the sect taking in an average of about a hundred new disciples in every year, and with every one of the outer disciples being given fifteen years before they were made into full members while inner disciples got twenty years, the sect constantly had over a thousand and six-hundred disciples.

Of course, even with that in mind, Liu Wei would still need to inspect the training areas regardless. If he wanted to change how this place operated, he would first need to gain a good understanding of how it currently operated and in what aspects it was lacking.

“I would like to inspect the training areas either way.”

“As you say. It’s going to be a bit of a walk though, as I didn’t plan this in our original route.”

“I don’t mind. Please lead the way. While we walk, what drove you to being an instructor?”

Guiren took a moment to consider the question.

“I decided to be one after the war against the Rising Eagle Sect.”

The Rising Eagle Sect had been a rather powerful sect that had come into a territorial dispute with the Lunar Peaks Sect. The hostilities had ultimately led the sects to war about fifteen years ago. The conflict had been brutal but not a particularly close call. By the end of it, while it had cost the lives of several hundred members, the Rising Eagle Sect had been utterly defeated and was consequently dissolved.

“Back then, I was hungry for any chance to prove myself in battle. I joined the fighting forces alongside many of my colleagues and friends. It was going well until we were caught in the open by a Dao Attunement cultivator.” He paused for a couple moments.

“I was amongst the few in my group who made it back alive. The experience shifted who I was. Previously, I had thought my purpose to lay in battle. After that, I couldn’t believe that anymore. Instead, I found a new purpose. Preparing those who come after me for… that.”

He went silent. Liu Wei didn’t disturb him; it wasn’t his place. They both walked in silence for a while. For an elder like him, war had always been mostly a matter of opportunity. Of weighing risk against potential profit. Back then, he had never thought to consider the individual fates of the less powerful. If memory served correctly, he himself had been one of the driving forces in driving the sect towards that war.

Some, he knew, considered war itself to be unjust. He couldn’t bring himself to quite agree with that just yet. Those who would refuse to fight for what they believed in would see it crumbling away. But war wasn’t glorious. It wasn’t something to calculate with. If all human lives carried an inherent value, as he had now started to believe, taking even one was a last resort.

“This is where the training area begins.” Guiren stated.

Before them were several large but simplistic buildings.

“In there is where we hold theoretical lessons. Behind that are the fields for practical training.”

“How many of each of those things do you do?”

“Theory is usually taught once a week. Practical training is each day except for Sundays.”

“How big are the groups for each of those sessions?”

“They take all of the sessions in the same groups. We split each generation in two groups of equal size. That makes roughly thirty to forty disciples per group.”

“How many instructors are there to oversee each group?”

“One instructor per group.”

Liu Wei frowned. While this was exactly what he had expected, it was still a hard pill to swallow. Inner disciples were trained by a multitude of experts in different fields, while their groups were no larger than five. Those who hailed from one of the pillar families were also given individual tutelage and training from the day they could speak. This system wasn’t designed to give everyone a fair chance. It was no wonder that the outer disciples were rarely among those to reach any significant heights in cultivation. They weren’t ever given the chance to do so.

For an organization as rich and powerful as the Lunar Peaks Sect to not be able to take care of even their own disciples was truly a sad display. How could he have lived in a system such as this for as long as he had without ever seeing that?

“That wouldn’t leave you instructors with a lot of time to cultivate yourselves, would it?”

“It’s one of the things a good instructor needs to give up on.”

“That explains reasonably well why there is such a shortage of instructors, doesn’t it?”

Guiren clearly didn’t know how to respond to this, so Liu Wei decided not to put him on the spot.

“That aside, could you tell me a little about the internal workings of this place?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I don’t have the impression that the previous leader was particularly involved with the hall. So, who made the decisions in his place?”

“I mean… most of the management is done by Chief Instructor Feng.”

“What do you think of the man?”

Guiren seemed clearly conflicted on what to answer.

“Please be honest with me.”

“Well… I don’t really like him. He can be quite controlling at times.”

“That coincides with my first impression of him. Don’t worry, this conversation will remain private. For now, I think you have shown me everything I wanted to see. You are free to go. I will remain here for a bit and look around on my own.”

“Thank you, elder.”

“It is me who needs thank you for showing me around and telling me all the things you told me. We will see each other around, of that, I am sure.”

“It’s great I could be of use to you. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

…

Chonglin let out a long groan as he got up from the ground. He took a moment to catch his breath as he stared daggers at his opponent, who had just sent him there.

Zixin’s grin only widened at that. He had just won the fifth bout in a row, even though Chonglin had tried his hardest to beat him.

“This isn’t even fair. Your cultivation is higher than mine.”

“You know full well that doesn’t make that much of a difference at our level. You just need to train more.”

At that, he raised his wooden sword and charged forward, restarting their combat.

What he had said was mostly true. While Zixin’s cultivation may have given him a slight edge over his friend, it wasn’t really that much. The main reason Zixin was currently winning over and over again was his heightened moral. Ever since Elder Wei’s apology, not only had his previous worries been solved, but he had also discovered the actual worth of the elder’s gift.

The pill he had been given wasn’t just a stronger version of the original, it worked completely differently. While the former would grant a short but intense boost to the efficiency of cultivating in the Body Reformation Realm, this one spread its effect over an extended amount of time. Even now, Zixin could still feel the effects of the pill help him whenever he cultivated. He wasn’t sure how long it would last for, but it had already helped him more than he had ever dared to imagine.

But even that was nothing in comparison to the spirit stone. Spirit stone was a kind of crystalline ore that would form underground in Qi-rich environment and that was mined for the high amounts of Qi it contained. It had many uses such as being used for the creation of artifacts and formations. For that reason, it was the main currency used by cultivators to trade other cultivation resources. Spirit stone was assigned grades that signified the amount of Qi in a single piece. Each grade signified an increase in contained qi by a magnitude of ten.

Prior to this one, Zixin had only ever owned rank one spirit stones. He had thought long and hard about what to use this sudden wealth on.

In the end, cultivation resources were the only way. While owning a powerful weapon would be nice, any weapon he bought now would not be of any use while he remained a disciple. Disciples weren’t allowed to leave sect grounds without supervision and they most certainly weren’t allowed to fight anyone even if they did.

Zixin had also decided to share some of his fortune with Chonglin. He had been the only one of his friends to stay firmly by his side when he had received the punishment and had offered to keep him up to date with what they learned in their theoretical lessons. While he might be a little lazy at times, Chonglin was brave and determined nonetheless and the whole incident had served to bring the two even closer together.

Zixin’s thoughts were abruptly interrupted when he suddenly found himself sitting on the floor. Chonglin had managed to disarm him with a sudden upwards slash and had then continued to throw all of his weight into a tackle that the distracted Zixin hadn’t even noticed.

“Now who is the one who should train more?” His friend taunted, a grin now plastered across his face.

“I was just not focused.” Zixin replied. “One more round.”

“Being able to focus is an ability in itself, not an excuse for you to fall back on.”

Zixin turned around to see that Instructor Guiren had returned.

“Now, care to show me your progress?”