Chapter 2 Mo sect
"His name is Mo Yuan, I don't know his current whereabouts or his position in the sect, but if you see him, you give him this letter " Tian Lie handed over a map, letter, and some bronze coins to Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen carefully examined the map. It was made of beast skin and Mo sect was located at the North of the village.
"You need to cross a portion of Shadowed Jade Woods, the path shown on the map is safe and used by merchants often," said Tian Lei
On the first daybreak next day, Xiao Chen packed his rations and said goodbye to the village chief and others. Set out for Mo Sect, after looking map, he walked towards Shadowed Jade woods.
After a while, he saw a merchant crossing the path, Merchant wagon was a part of the wang clan. One of the wealthiest clans in the Verdant Sky Empire, they have branches all around the country in different counties. He knows such information from the village chef Tian Lei.
Seeing young Xiao Chen alone, they offered to travel together. Xiao Chen thanked them and accepted the offer. Wang Le, the elder in charge of Shi and other neighboring villages asked about his name and location where to travel to.
Xiao Chen explained, "I am Xiao Chen and my destination is Mo Sect". After they exchanged some words.
By dawn, Xiao Chen and wang members got separate ways after reaching Xiao Chen's destination point. He stood in front of a gigantic gate written "Mo Sect".
He climbed the stairs. Reaching the top to find a large area with 8 buildings on the sides at the center, he saw an area to practice martial arts, 2 were practicing, and 2 others were cheering. An old man can be seen watching from the sides.
Buildings were ancient and past their glory, dusted in time.
Seeing Xiao Chen, he greeted him and asked his name and the purpose of the visit.
" I am Xiao Chen, I like to join the Mo sect," said Xiao Chen.
"My name is Mo Yuan, current sect master of Mo sect, let me examine your body. Can show your hands" said Mo Yuan.
Xiao Chen handed over the letter to Sect Master Mo Yuan
Mo Yuan used his Qi to check Xiao Chen.
"Good, Good.. " said Mo Yuan smilingly.
"You are now the disciples of Mo Sect. Tian Li, He was once the outer disciple of our sect," said Mo Yuan
Mo Yuan continued "That was once when our Sect was still in glory. Zhou Tianchen, Wei Junhao, Mei Ling, Yan Rong come here and meet your new junior brother Xiao Chen".
"Zhou Tianchen will show you around," said Mo Yuan.
After saying that sect master Mo Yuan returned to the main hall.
"Greeting junior brother, This is Wei Junhao, he also practices swords with me, Others are your senior sisters Mei Ling and Yan Rong ".
"This junior brother looks cute and has a pretty face, I think he will be handsome in future," said Yan Rong
Mei Ling rolled her eyes and nudged the Yan Rong to keep quiet.
"Come on junior brother, I will show you your room," said Zhou Tianchen and Xiao Chen followed.
"At the center, behind the training arena, is the Core Sect Pavilion," Zhou Tianchen explained. "To the left, you'll find the Weapon Pavilion, the Apothecary Pavilion, and the Alchemy Pavilion. On the right, we have the sect library, the food court, and the dormitory for core disciples."
Zhou Tianchen continued, "If you look back, you can see the five peaks that once belonged to the core disciples, but they now lie in ruins. Two hundred years ago, this sect stood among the top in the kingdom. Unfortunately, a tragic betrayal by some elders and the vice sect leader brought disaster upon us. The sect leader at that time was severely injured and eventually succumbed to his wounds. We also lost our resources in the ensuing battle, leading to the decline you see today."
After walking a while they reached the dormitory and Zhou Tianchen pointed out the right room and said "That's your room".
"I will bring you the basic cultivation book and Sect token" saying that Zhou Tianchen left. After some time he came back with a worn-out book and Mo sect identification token handed over to Xiaochen.
"Also Sect master asked you to meet him tomorrow morning, since we are only a total 5 disciples here we also regarded as core disciples , thus you are allowed to go to the library at any time," said Zhou Tianchen.
Zhou Tianchen "Junior brother Xiao Chen, you are not allowed to wander off deep valley behind our sect, which is considered as one of the sect's forbidden areas"
Zhou Tianchen left after that.
Xiao Chen took a look at the book written 'Qi Gathering Palm' which contains 3 parts. The first part explains Qi breathing and 2nd, and 3rd part teaches the fundamentals of channeling and gathering Qi into the palms for basic attack and defense techniques.
Xiao Chen started to meditate and tried to follow the book, After a minute he was able to achieve success in gathering Qi in the dantian and he practiced the later parts of the books.
Xiao Chen, still retaining the benefits of the AI chip from his previous life, may lack the AI voice and screen interface he once had, but he continues to possess an eidetic memory along with an extraordinary IQ and an inhuman ability to grasp new concepts.
Within an hour, he achieved 100% mastery and directly broke through to the third stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. His mastery of the realm and spirit sense increased. While he isn't familiar with all the levels yet, he has a general understanding. After finishing his practice, he headed straight to the library. Despite being an old building, it still retained its majesty. An elderly man was dozing off inside.
As soon as he stepped forward, the elder asked "Are you a new disciple, It seems Mo Yuan picked a gem now, you already broken through Qi Realm 3rd Stage".
"Yes, my name is Xiao Chen" greeted Xiao Chen.
"You may go in," said the elder without even looking.
Inside the building was spacious, He didn't find as many books as expected, Other than martial books there were some sect history-related books and foundational-level books that Xiao Chen needed to expand his horizons. Thanks to that he was able to figure out the current realms in the Ti Dynasty quickly. Each realm has 10 stages.
1. Qi Realm
2. Foundation Establishment Realm
3. Core Formation Realm
4. Nascent Soul Realm
5. Soul Transformation Realm
6. Spirit King Realm
7. Spirit Emperor Realm
8. Void Tribulation Realm
There seems to be a stage above Void Tribulation but I don't have much information on it. Similarly, martial arts are divided into :
1. Yellow Grade Martial Technique
2. Profound Grade Martial Technique
3. Earth Grade Martial Technique
4. Heaven Grade Martial Technique
5. Saint Grade Martial Technique
6. Emperor Grade Martial Technique
For the last 500 years, nobody has seen an Emperor Grade Martial technique, Very few sects or clans even have Saint grade martial techniques. During its peak, a semi-saint grade technique, 5 Heaven grade techniques. Now it is reduced to a single incomplete Heaven-rank technique. 4 Earth-grade techniques and a handful of lower techniques than other Sects.
When it comes to occupations, in this world, there are four categories of occupations:
Upper path - Alchemy, Blacksmith, Beast tamer, Formation, Talisman, Seer
Middle path - Appraiser, Painter and calligraphy, Tunist
Lower path - Gourmet, Poison Master, Spirit Awakener
Unknown path - Soul Oracle, landscaper, and other incomplete paths
Unknown paths are categorized as occupations that are either lost in time or incomplete. Some of them are now considered mortal arts. There is also a Demonic path that uses the same occupation as other paths but with demonic Qi.
Proficiency in each occupation is graded by the star system, with a 10-star master considered the pinnacle of their field. In rare cases, some occupations may have classifications that go beyond the 10-star tier. This mastery is symbolized by a corresponding badge, awarded by the official institute governing that particular occupation.
This information broadened his horizons about this Ironroot world. he lucky found an incomplete copy of the 2 star compendium of Alchemy, Apothecary, and Blacksmithing. He took them to read later Since he didn't have much basic understanding of each of this jobs.
Then he started to look for martial arts books.
Currently, he can only browse yellow-grade techniques due to restrictions to other areas. He read all and remembered everything in detail due to his AI-given abilities but didn't practice. He took a random one, to appease the elder outside.
He didn't want others to know about this superpower, it's like a cheat. he believes that either the AI chip is dormant somewhere or it's gone for good and somehow in this life it becomes part of his biological superpower, enhancing his brain capability.