Chapter 3: Style of the Demonic Sect

When Lu Yang stepped out of the meditation chamber, he discovered someone was already waiting outside the door.

Lu Yang's heart instantly leaped in alarm; the visitor wore a black Daoist robe and bore a sinister expression—it was none other than the black-robed Daoist who had previously assigned him to the Hehuan Hall!

"Greetings, Senior Brother," Lu Yang hurriedly bowed.

"You are quite impressive; you are a talent."

The black-robed Daoist said with a smile: "I originally heard that Yu Suzhen had dragged a very capable young man into her room, and that his breakthrough to Qi Refining was imminent."

"But I never expected that poisonous woman to fail."

Speaking thus, the black-robed Daoist looked at Lu Yang with an expression full of oddity.

Three days; a full three days!

Yu Suzhen's screams could even be heard outside the meditation chamber; even though the black-robed Daoist considered himself well-traveled and knowledgeable, he could not help but feel a degree of admiration at this moment.

If this youth does not die, he will surely become a pillar of the Holy Sect in the future!

"Follow me."

The black-robed Daoist was named Liu Xin, a formal disciple of Senior Butian Peak, one of the four inner sect peaks, responsible for guiding promoted probationary disciples and explaining sect matters.

"The four outer sect halls and the four inner sect peaks correspond to each other."

Along the way, Liu Xin introduced to Lu Yang with great interest: "Aside from the Holy Fire Cliff where the Sect Master resides, our Holy Sect revolves primarily around the four inner sect peaks."

"Since you came from the Hehuan Hall, you naturally belong to my Senior Butian Peak; I will first take you to update the registry."

With someone to guide him, Lu Yang was naturally delighted: "Thank you, Senior Brother Liu."

"It is merely my duty."

Liu Xin said indifferently: "After updating the registry, I will take you to the other three halls; the benefits for formal disciples are considerable, considered a welfare distribution by the Holy Sect."

"According to the rules, every formal disciple can only claim these once." Speaking thus, Liu Xin's expression became somewhat melancholy: "After you enter the inner sect, if you wish to obtain items of the same tier, you must complete missions issued by the Holy Sect and earn contribution points to exchange for them."

Lu Yang frowned: "Contribution points?"

"They are the currency issued by the Holy Sect," Liu Xin explained: "After you update your registry, Junior Brother, you should be able to view them through your disciple token."

Curiosity arising in his heart, Lu Yang immediately followed Liu Xin to update the registry.

The process was very simple; it essentially involved moving the life lamp he had lit upon joining the sect from the outer sect area to the inner sect area.

Subsequently, Lu Yang infused a strand of true qi into the token at his waist, and a line of text immediately appeared on its surface:

"Formal Disciple, Lu Yang."

"As a formal disciple, the Holy Sect grants you 50 contribution points free of charge; contribution points can be used to exchange for spirit stones, cultivation techniques, magic treasures, cultivation caves, and so on."

"After entering the inner sect, you must pay contribution points to rent a cultivation cave; the rent is 30 contribution points per month. Of course, you may also choose to purchase a cultivation cave; as a newly promoted inner sect disciple, you can enjoy a discount requiring only a 20% down payment if you purchase within ten years."

—Introductions such as these filled over ten pages.

After reading them carefully, Lu Yang drew a conclusion: "This inner sect only cares about money!"

With contribution points, one could roam the world freely, with cultivation techniques, elixirs, and magic treasures available in abundance; without them, one could hardly move a step, unable even to afford a cave dwelling.

At the same time, Lu Yang also understood what Liu Xin meant by "welfare."

Every probationary disciple, upon promotion to formal disciple, could use their disciple token to select one magic treasure from the Lianbao Hall, one elixir from the Liandan Hall, one companion spirit beast from the Yushou Hall, and one dual-cultivation cauldron from the Hehuan Hall, all without paying any contribution points.

"Looking at it this way, it truly is a welfare."

A thought moving in his mind, Lu Yang used the disciple token to open the list of items exchangeable for contribution points, and rows of corresponding text immediately appeared.

Cultivation techniques, magic treasures, elixirs, spirit beasts, and cauldrons; even the cheapest required 100 contribution points.

In contrast, the rewards for missions within the Holy Sect were pitifully small, all consisting of single-digit contribution points, with very few reaching double digits.

From this, it was evident that the free four-piece set received after promoting to formal disciple was worth at least 400 contribution points, constituting a huge sum for a formal disciple.

While pondering this, Lu Yang had already followed Liu Xin to the Lianbao Hall.

The person responsible for receiving them was named Chen Hao, an administrator of the Lianbao Hall; rumor had it he was also a formal disciple, and serving as the Lianbao Hall administrator was his mission.

According to Liu Xin, fixed-post missions like this were the most profitable in the inner sect; not only did they yield many contribution points—often enough from a single mission to support a formal disciple—but they were also stable, akin to an iron rice bowl. Unfortunately, there were many monks but little gruel; without connections, one could never obtain such a mission.

"Senior Brother Liu? Long time no see."

Walking into the Lianbao Hall, Lu Yang noticed Chen Hao first glanced at him, then turned to Liu Xin and said warmly: "Bringing new disciples again?"

"Indeed."

Liu Xin grinned, his words seeming to carry a hidden meaning: "Since you know, why not quickly bring out the finest magic treasures in the Lianbao Hall for Junior Brother Lu to inspect?"

"Got it!"

Chen Hao nodded eagerly, then led the group into the inner courtyard of the Lianbao Hall; however, as they walked, Lu Yang surprisingly furrowed his brow:

"This place... isn't it the disciples' meditation chambers?"

Shouldn't retrieving magic treasures happen in a warehouse or similar location?

Hearing this, Chen Hao first looked confused, then suddenly realized, laughing loudly: "Junior Brother Lu does not know; the finest magic treasures are all right here."

Before his voice had faded, the three stopped in front of a cultivation room.

"The junior brother in this room has seniority; he served as a probationary disciple in the outer sect for three years, but unfortunately, he was a bit stubborn and took a wrong path in his cultivation technique."

Finishing his sentence, Chen Hao directly pushed open the door.

Then Lu Yang saw that in the center of the room, on a meditation cushion, a Daoist sat with eyes tightly closed, muttering to himself, seemingly trapped in a dreamlike delirium.

"Success... I am about to succeed..."

Immediately after, Chen Hao formed a hand seal with his fingers, and the Daoist in the room suddenly opened his eyes; his originally blank face instantly revealed a look of ecstatic joy:

"Haha! This Daoist has succeeded!"

Boom!

Before his voice could fade, his entire body explosively detonated, flesh and blood scattering everywhere, only to swirl back and merge entirely into the skeleton remaining in place.

In moments, a living person vanished.

In his place, a "bone sword," crystal clear like jade and segmented in an orderly fashion, gently landed on the meditation cushion, radiating dazzling magic treasure light.

Chen Hao stepped forward, picked up the "bone sword," and handed it to Lu Yang, then said with satisfaction: "The magic treasure 'Bone Jade Sword' is considered superior even within the 'Book of Hundred Treasures of Dongzhen'; this junior brother was indeed a talent, cultivating bitterly for so many years with profound skill, otherwise the light of the magic treasure would not be so pure."

Lu Yang: "..."

Looking at the Bone Jade Sword in Chen Hao's hand and recalling his experiences from his previous life, Lu Yang felt a chill penetrate to his bones, gaining an even deeper understanding of the Chusheng Sect's style.

To summarize, it boiled down to eight words: the weak are meat, the strong eat; make full use of everything!

The sect spends resources to cultivate you probationary disciples, so you must create value for the sect; if you cannot create value, the sect will help you create it!

If you break through and promote to formal disciple, naturally everyone is happy.

If you cannot break through, the sect certainly will not support you for life; naturally, they must recover the resources spent on you from your very body, ensuring the sect does not suffer a loss.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Chusheng Sect, some disciples in the sect are clouds, some are water; they simply perform different tasks, but all are talents, none are waste.

"This truly is... a sect living up to its name."

Lu Yang closed his eyes, deeply exhaling a mouthful of turbid air; thinking that he still had the Book of Hundred Lives as a safety net, when he opened his eyes again, he had already regained his composure.

"Junior Brother has a good disposition; indeed, he is a remarkable talent!"

On the other side, seeing Lu Yang calm his emotions so quickly, a flash of surprise first passed through Liu Xin's eyes, after which the smile on his face became even more brilliant.

Subsequently, Lu Yang followed Liu Xin to the Liandan Hall and the Yushou Hall in succession, receiving one "Qi-Replenishing Pill" and one "Human-Faced Owl" respectively; the former nourishes true qi upon ingestion, while the latter acts like a carrier pigeon, typically used by formal disciples to transmit messages.

It was not until the final item, the cauldron, that Liu Xin encountered difficulty.

"Junior Brother, you broke through too quickly."

Liu Xin shook his head, saying: "You only just joined the outer sect, achieving Qi Refining in one day; the speed is too fast, and the cauldrons reserved by the Hehuan Hall have not yet arrived."

"Why don't you wait a few days, Junior Brother?"

As for what cauldron, Lu Yang naturally did not care, immediately cupping his hands and saying: "I leave it entirely to Senior Brother's arrangement."

Liu Xin immediately laughed loudly, then took out a jade slip and stuffed it into Lu Yang's hand: "This is the secret true technique of my Senior Butian Peak; take it back and cultivate diligently."

Lu Yang took the jade slip and immediately circulated his spiritual sense to inspect it.

The next second, an extremely complex cultivation technique appeared in his mind.

"Primordial Dao Scripture."

(End of Chapter)