Nobody spoke of what happened to me in the dining hall. It was as if it never happened or nobody cared. The three elders soon arrived and the cultivators said their goodbyes to the people who they had decided to bring back to their respective immortal sect and left. Elder Yu then brought us to where his stingray bird monster beast was and told us to get up on its back.
The children who were chosen would only meet up with the cultivators again three days later to leave for their respective sect. This was because they needed to pack their belongings and say goodbye to their family and friends. On the back of the bird, there was a stark difference between the mood of those who were successful in joining a sect and those who did not manage to join a sect like me.
The people who had joined a sect were excited and jubilant, they were happily chatting with big smiles plastered all over their faces, thinking of the glorious future that awaited them. While those who had failed were quiet and depressed. A few of the older participants who had failed went over to those who passed in an attempt to flatter them in a bid to try and build a connection with them so that they could approach them for help in the future.
Personally, the journey home was a long and depressing journey. Yue er did make me feel better, but she was just someone whom I had only met and I am not sure if I will ever meet her again.
…
I was quiet the entire way home as I was depressed. I didn’t blame my father but I could not help but wonder why he did not teach me any cultivation techniques. Did he sabotage my chances of joining the immortal sects on purpose? But the system had clearly said that he wanted me to join an immortal sect and he had wished for it that the system had helped me master Drill Punch. While it is clear that the system is not similar to the cheat novels in the novels I read in my last life, the system has never lied to me because in the end, it believes it is superior to me and wants me to live as long as possible.
As we reach the Shang Family estate, elder Yu directs the giant stingray to land at the main gate of the estate.
Once everyone has dispersed and the majority of people had left, elder Yu came up to me and gave me a pat on my shoulder. He made a gentle face and softly said, “Shi er, I heard about what happened in the dining hall. You must understand that what Di Xin said is right. Once a person has joined an immortal sect, even the emperor will do his best to avoid offending him as they have the power to wipe out the entire empire if they wanted to.”
He sighs and looks towards the north where the royal palace is, making a disappointed expression as his fists tighten.
“One of the biggest reasons why there are many poor people in our country is because the emperor decided to give tributes to all five immortal sects that are surrounding the empire instead of just allying the empire to one immortal sect. This is so that they would not attack us without the consent of the other immortal sects as attacking us without the consent of the other immortal sects would be protested as they would suffer losses if we are destroyed.” Elder Yu says with frustration.
He looks at me and gives me a soft smile, “you need to remember, the immortal sects are the best place for cultivation. They have both the cultivation techniques to help you soar and the martial techniques to help you survive in this world. No matter how many of our people we send to the immortal sects, it only takes a day for them to ruin the empire. It would be too late even if they ran at their fastest speed to help us so few people would want to offend the cultivators from the immortal sects.”
“You should return home now, I have to go to the main hall and make a report about the disciple selection.” He flies away after his piece. Watching him giving me his heartfelt advice, I couldn’t help but think about the Shang family.
To be honest, I have conflicting feelings regarding the Shang family. Born in a branch family, while it wasn’t as bad as the web novels I’ve read in my past life, nobody had been good to us. We were just ignored by everyone else and had no contact with any other member of the family.
My father was a capable magistrate and has been recently promoted to the position of governor. While he would have gotten the job even without the family’s help, I guess being part of the Shang family did assist him with getting the promotion, as the reputation and face of the Shang family would be considered by the evaluators if they wanted to push someone else into the position due to their connections or bribes, as the Shang family would often look into matters that concern the position and power of the family.
As for my mother, my parents never talked about my mother’s family but during the birth of my siblings, the family elders seemed to be afraid of my mother. Looking at how she took charge of things after the birth of my brother and sister, my mother seemed to be a person who could be put in charge of important matters. Outside of the servants, nobody from the family has ever visited us. Even during my thirteenth month birthday celebration, only my father’s subordinates came to celebrate.
…
As I reach the entrance to my house, I see my parents waiting for me at the door with a smile. They wave at me happily and walk up to me. They realize that I am not smiling and instead look sad as I am frowning.
“Shi er, what’s wrong? You have worked hard and you should have been selected by one of the immortal sects so why the sad face?” my mother asks.
hearing about all the efforts I put into practising makes me even sadder, it feels like someone had stabbed my heart with a blunt dagger and I feel like crying. I look at my dad and say “I failed, dad, why didn’t you teach me a cultivation technique?”
My father gawks in shock with his mouth wide open. Ahh, everything is clear now. It is obvious that he forgot. My father’s forgetfulness ruined my life. How wonderful. I dive into my mother’s chest and cry silently.
My mother pats my back and comforts me. “There, there. Don’t cry anymore. Staying at home with your mother is fine too. The life in the immortal sects isn’t as great as it sounds. It is competitive and cutthroat there.” She gives my father a dirty look and brings me into the house as she talks.
…
At home during dinner, while we are eating my father starts talking to me. “Shi er, I forgot to teach you a cultivation technique because you did not have enough qi to execute the Drill Punch. You are aware that the immortal sects use the speed of absorbing a spirit stone to gauge talent right?”
“This is because the quantity of qi you have in your body affects the rate at which you can cycle the cultivation technique so those with more qi will cycle their cultivation technique faster than others and absorb much more qi from the heavens and earth than others. This will also subsequently help them reach the later realms quicker than the others, so talent players a huge part.” He continues explaining.
“Since you had so little qi that you couldn’t even execute drill punch, I taught you a method to increase the amount of qi you have instead of a cultivation technique. This method was created by an old friend who is so lazy that he couldn’t even be bothered to absorb spirit stones the normal way and decided to just eat them. He accidentally found this method out when he was attacked while eating some spirit stones and executed some martial technique to fight back.” My father explains.
