Grandpa on the move
Xiao Feng finished sealing the upper three levels of the library and then provided updated formation keys for the lower six levels to the Elder that would be in charge of the Sect's library in his absence. He went through the procedures twice as this particular Elder wasn't even born the last time Feng left the Sect grounds.
Squinching up his face in a sceptical expression, he peered at the younger man. Was this okay? Because, to Feng, it seemed to him like it was just yesterday that he dangled a rambunctious twelve-year-old Outer Sect disciple boy by his ankles in a pocket dimension for eating food in the library, and now he is supposed to trust him with his books?
As though the other man could read his thoughts, or more likely his face, he said, "That was over six hundred years ago, Grand Elder! Everything will be fine. I've been helping you here for two hundred years! You are my son's godfather!"
Had it been that long? Feng mentally weighed six hundred years of good behaviour against greasy pork skewers around his books and scrolls. Finally, he sighed, "Fine! Yes, of course! Good luck, don't let the brats go wild when I am gone. It should only be three to six months at the most."
The younger man smiled, "What is so important that they're sending you on a mission anyway, Grandpa Feng? There are dozens of Sacred Lord level elders the Sect Leader could send. Shouldn't you be enjoying your retirement, anyway?"
Feng scrunched up his face again. It took him a moment to realise that perhaps it has been so long since he joined the Pure Life Spiritual Sect that most everyone has forgotten his actual cultivation. He wasn't a Sacred Lord level cultivator but one large realm higher.
At the culmination of the Sacred Lord level of cultivation, one must endure a particularly difficult Heavenly Tribulation. If one succeeded, then they stepped into the True Immortal realm. If one failed, then nine out of ten times their soul was destroyed irrevocably… however, if a person survived this failed tribulation, they would become a False Immortal.
While False Immortals have comparable strength and longevity with actual Immortals, their immortal path has been severed at that step, and it is impossible to take one step beyond it in their lives. Most people, out of politeness, refer to cultivators like this as Earth Immortals, an Immortal that has failed to ascend to Heaven and must remain on Earth. Feng thought it was a nice platitude but refuses to call himself that.
This wasn't enough for Xiao Feng who went one step further. He only ever wore the badges and markings of a Sacred Lord on his clothing. He only took the compensation and honours of this level of cultivation from the Sect as a personal statement and reminder that attempting to face the tribulation when he did was one of the worst decision he ever made. Not only was it one of the worst decisions, but he made it for the worst possible reasons, and it predicated the very worst decision he ever made, which to this day makes his mind short circuit slightly thinking of that period of his life. So many people died, and was it even really necessary?
He hadn't even discussed this part of his life with his best friend Chen, the Sect Leader, three Sect Leaders ago, so he wasn't about to discuss it with a greasy fingered brat. Feng barely trusted him with the Sect's books, much less his personal reverse scales. He could practically smell the pork skewers on this boy, still!
But, he needed to go. This was an emergency that required potentially the highest combat and formations power of the Sect and total discretion. Although the Sect had over two hundred Sacred Lord level cultivators there were only three at the Immortal realm, Feng being one, the Sect Leader being the other and the final one being the previous Sect Leader who might not even be in this realm anymore.
Feng decided to keep his reply simple, "It has to be me, sad to say. I have particular abilities that make anyone else a poor choice. Well, I'm going to be off." Feng lowered his voice to a chilly octave, "Remember what I said! I'll be checking when I get back!"
Feng left the library via a formation; it was, in fact, the only way to enter and leave it at all. The Library was a Small World, or pocket dimension, that Feng personally designed over a thousand years ago that was connected to the Sect Grounds. Feng was so connected to the formations that made up the artefact that housed the Library that he could step in and out at will from anywhere in the Sect, but everyone else could only enter and leave from one particular spot.
Feng usually used this ability as a shortcut to walk around the Sect, especially to get the first bites from the disciples who were walking down the path of being an Immortal Chef whenever they handed out their practice creations. This time he stepped out next to the Sect Leader's courtyard, sending a polite mental knock with his divine sense.
Feng sighed. A thousand years of the Sect Leader calling you Grandpa or Grandpa Feng, hardly anyone in the Sect called him anything else.
Feng stepped in, finding Sect Leader Chen doting on his daughter. He had seven or eight sons, but this eleven-year-old was his only daughter. She squealed, "Grampa!" and ran over to him, leaping up at him like a puppy. He couldn't help but smile as he caught her, "Ohohoho, Meimei, you're looking pretty good in those robes!" He congratulated her. She was wearing Inner Disciple robes.
Generally speaking, the youngest the Pure Life Spiritual Sect would accept a Disciple was 12, and that was as Outer Sect disciple. However, the average was closer to twenty, with cultivation close to reaching Foundation Establishment. Of course, the treatment of any son or daughter of an Immortal would be highly different even if they weren't the daughter of the Sect Leader.
Feng used his divine sense to inspect Meimei's progress since the last time he saw her. She was just as much a prodigy as her monster of a father was! She was already getting close to establishing her Foundation.
Honestly, a position as an Inner Sect disciple was probably a step down for her considering she got personal one-on-one instruction and advice from two Immortal level cultivators regularly.
Her Qi was very pure and unaspected. It was clear that she was still cultivating using the Pure Spirit Mantra, which all disciples were encouraged to use during their Qi Gathering and Qi Disciple phases before building their Foundation. Many times a person's talents for their particular aspect of Qi weren't readily apparent until close to Foundation establishment, so cultivating this neutral method kept the maximum amount of doors open.
Feng could tell Meimei's talents and ideal Qi aspect even before she entered the Qi Disciple realm, and if he was honest, he could tell before she even started cultivating. He had expected her father to impart a new cultivation method before now. If little Chen had, then he wouldn't be so conflicted.
Feng had a perfect cultivation method for her, a complete one that she could take even past the True Immortal realm, and it was a higher grade than any currently in Library. It was likely the inheritance of some cultivator beyond this realm, although he did not know for certain.
He hesitated so because he hated even thinking about it, much like any part of his life before roughly two thousand years ago. But this, especially. The moment he acquired this cultivation method while exploring a Small World was the moment his life went to shit. He still tried to fool himself into believing that acquiring this method started a causal chain of events that led to the death of his wife, his friend and most of her family and ultimately the end of his path as a cultivator.
Perhaps if they had never entered that Small World, he might not have needed to take the actions he did to get stronger so quickly. A lot of people who died might not have. His failures as a cultivator were nothing compared to his failures as a human being. The funniest thing about it was the method was incredibly unsuited to him personally.
But he couldn't put it off any longer. Feng set Meimei back down and looked up, "Little Chen, I have a cultivation method I want to impart to Meimei. I think it would suit her very much. Would you take a look?"
The Sect Leader blinked, "Really? I've been trying to make a decision myself but I have been having some indecision, I thought we'd have more time to pick, but little Mei surprises us all."
Meimei grinned her dimples proudly, "Heh-heh! Meimei is the best!"
Feng made a gesture with his finger, and his divine sense projected the full contents of a cultivation method called Heavenly Dance of Moonlight Scripture directly to the Sect Leader's mind. It was such a Yin-aspected cultivation method that perhaps only men who were eunuch's could utilise it properly.
Sect Leader Chen rocked on his heels, shocked. "This isn't from the Library." But he didn't say anything else. Little Chen knew enough about my past that he knew I didn't like talking about it.
All Feng said was, "En."
"This is perfect, though. Better than anything we have, and not just because it suits Little Mei so well." Chen rubbed the back of his head, "I don't suppose you have anything at this level that is… well, suitable for men?"
Feng shook his head dourly, "No. All the other orthodox cultivation methods and techniques I know of I've long since logged into the library, I had personal reasons for trying to forget this one existed. But before I came here I placed a copy in the top floor of the library, under a seal only you can access. I confer this to you personally and to the Sect generally." Feng trails off before finishing, "... I should have done so a long time ago, too."
Speaking in terms of the traditions and ethics of orthodox cultivators conferring a technique is a level more intimate than simply teaching or giving it to someone. If you confer a technique to someone that gives them the right to do with it what they will, to teach or confer it to others. If you simply teach or give a technique to someone then it is generally speaking taboo for them to teach it to someone else without either getting your approval or satisfying some condition inside the technique. Many common techniques include a clause that considers anyone with a certain level of mastery to have been conferred the technique. But these are usually low-quality products.
Meimei spent the conversation looking between Feng and her father, slowly getting more annoyed at being ignored. Hands were already at her hips, and she might stomp her foot at any moment, so the Sect Leader made a gesture, "Go ahead and give Meimei the manual up to Core Forming, then. I'll figure out an appropriate value and credit you with Sect contribution points for the donation."
Feng snorted. He hadn't bought anything using contribution points in hundreds of years. His balance was already considerable, and undoubtedly an appropriate value for the cultivation method would have the Sect accountants nervous if Feng got a wild hair up his butt and decided to spend everything at once. Although it might privately amuse Feng to cause the Sect a temporary liquidity crisis, it would be in poor taste.
"Come here, Meimei." Feng made a come hither motion and Mei walked up next to him. Memory transfer by a senior cultivator's divine sense is another privilege most new cultivators can't hope to receive. Although the cost is small, it permanently uses up a portion of a cultivator's divinity field. Normally only perhaps a day of natural growth for someone like Feng. However, Feng charged his finger with at least a week's worth of energy before flicking Meimei right in the forehead.
"Owe! Grandpa! That hurt!" Meimei complained. She rubbed her forehead and glowered up at Feng, then got a look of concentration on her face and started staring off into space.
Feng chortled. Except for those who cultivated the soul specifically before the Nascent Soul realm, cultivators were more or less limited by such fleshy concerns as remembering things and thinking with their brains instead of their souls. Needless to say, the speed of your soul was significantly faster than the speed of thought — this was one of the main reasons it was almost impossible for even a peak Golden Core cultivator to cross realms and fight the crappiest of Nascent Soul cultivators. And your memory was better, too.
One of the fundamental truths a cultivator has to know to face the Tribulation separating Golden Core and Nascent Soul is that a person is a soul that has a body, not a body that has a soul. You have to know this down to your bones, too, and not just intellectually or you will die a dog's death. It sounds like a subtle nuance but it is nothing of the sort.
By infusing and surrounding the memory with his own divinity field Meimei would have more or less total recall of the entire cultivation method for as long as that energy lasted, just like a Nascent Soul cultivator. The duration might be as much as a year for her with as much energy as he put in that forehead flick. It's not like Feng can grow his divinity field any further anyway, and it will refill in a week.
Feng smirked down at Mei; he knew that expression on her face. At this age, it might be hours before little Mei came up for air. If it were Feng, it might have been months, not that Feng got any sudden bouts of enlightenment anymore on anything except the Dao of Avoiding Work. He sighed jealously.
Feng stood up a little straighter, and his voice carried the tone of a subordinate reporting. "I'm going to head out now, I want to get there quickly and confirm reports. If they're true, I'll set up concealment and protection formations around the whole area. You'll have to start thinking about whether we want to swallow this whole pie ourselves or who we'll rope in if it's big enough to cause us to choke."
The Sect Leader nodded, "En. We need to know if the reports are true. There is a world of difference between a simple high-grade spirit stone mine and an immortal spirit stone mine."
Sometimes Feng felt that Little Chen had a real gift for stating the obvious. High grade spirit stones were the normal highest grade currency generally used in the third level of realms in the Myriad Heavens. Immortal spirit stones were the normal currency of the next realm higher. To find an immortal spirit stone mine in this realm is like finding an imperial princess mucking out shit from a stable — it is physically possible but highly unlikely.
Also, a spirit stone mine was only finite in it's dimensions. It had a defined cubic in the earth but the spirit stones removed from a spirit stone mine would regenerate over time so even finding a regular spirit stone mine would provide income for generations to anyone who could hold it. Over thousands of years occasionally a spirit stone mine would get played out but it was the considered opinion of scholars that at the same time a new one would form somewhere else.
Feng manfully avoided rolling his eyes at his sworn liege and nodded. He vanished from the room, stepping a foot in the library briefly before appearing near the front gate of the Sect. He followed proper procedure in signing himself out of the Sect before vanishing again.
The ways for high level cultivators to move quickly are as varied as high level cultivators themselves. Many fly, some just can run tens of thousands of li an hour and fly by you before you even hear the sound of their passing if you're using mortal senses. Feng folded space.
If Feng could see a place with his eyes or divine sense he could twist spacetime and instantly appear there. The only way to detect this movement at all, as far as Feng knew, was the telltale flutter of his divine sense as he locked in a destination and the vibration of spacetime itself that preceded his arrival. In combat at close range, simply moving quickly was quicker and more effective against an opponent who knew about and expected Feng's ability, which is why Feng tried to make sure any enemy who saw his ability died. Although it has been so long he doubts many people remember him at all. Hell, the only one he spars with on a regular basis is Little Chen anyway.
The maximum he can sense is a little more than a thousand li in all three directions, in ideal conditions. Although that far out is so coarse that he couldn't tell a person from an oxen Feng's way of traveling remains perhaps the fastest of any cultivator in his realm, except those who are more highly attained in the Dao of Spacetime than him and can simply open portals from one place to another. Or that asshole from the Winter Falls Realm who could be in several places at the same time, somehow. Feng used to want to learn how to open portals so badly but living the hikikomori lifestyle in the Sect gradually made him forget about it.
It was a general rule of thumb, although not a universal one, that the larger a natural realm was the more dense it's qi. Although the scale is not linear at all. The Glen Island realm that housed the Pure Life Spiritual Sect was far larger than the first tier realm Feng was born into, to such an extent that it was essentially impossible to even guess how many people lived in this one realm in the Myriad Heavens and yet most of it was still unutilized and unpopulated wilderness.
So, even moving as fast as Feng can move it will still take him a week to get to the reported site of the spirit stone mine. He could have used a teleportation formation to the nearest city but this was such a hot potato that being discreet was essential. Plus, hardly anybody realised how fast he could move when he was motivated. He'll get there with plenty of time to conduct the survey.