Once Upon A Time, There Was A Spirit Sword Mountain

“We should go on another experiential learning.”

Wen Bao was immediately stunned. “Experiential learning? Like the trip to the Small Clear Sky Peak? So that, while gaining experience there, we can make a breakthrough?”

Wang Lu sneered. “That’s mortal’s logic! There are usually three kinds of experiential learning. The first one is ordinary experiential learning, just like what those second or third rate sects usually do by sending their disciples to the wilderness and leaving them to fend for themselves. The second one is experiential learning of character building, which is what Yue Yun did as a team leader, wherein most situations he was in control; it’s scary but not dangerous. And the last one is the experiential learning that we are going to carry out: in addition to accumulating practical experience, the most important task is to actually earn the challenge points!”

Wen Bao was bewildered. “What is this challenge points?”

“What? You don’t know about this? Don’t they divulge this to ordinary Inner Court Disciples? Simply put, the Spirit Sword Sect encourage the disciples to constantly challenge their limits. If you challenge your limits, there will be rewards. As long as you can complete a difficult challenge, you can earn special points. This special point has a much bigger value than the sect’s credit that you get from finishing your daily tasks. Many rare magical tools and skills can only be exchanged using these challenge points. And more importantly, when you accumulate enough challenge points, you can exchange it for human resources.”

“Human resources?”

“Like making your Senior do the work for you such as escorting you to do a certain experiential learning, help you refine magical treasures and so on. Of course, the price would correspond with their cultivation level. If you want the help from a Yuanying Stage cultivator, for example, the price would be astronomical.”

Wen Bao was fascinated by this explanation. “So there is such a point. However, Senior Brother Lu, with your skill, you must have accumulated a lot of challenge points, right?”

Wang Lu smiled but did not answer.

Challenge points? He indeed had a lot of them - The title of Spirit Sword’s top student was not a joke. Passing one specialized course would only be rewarded with a couple of thousands common sect credit, but if this year he passed six specialized courses and gained the title of Erudite, he would get three thousand challenge points! The value of this challenge point was much higher than common sect credit; they could even be used to exchange with spiritual treasure!

However, for a moment, these challenge points were useless to him. So, rather than wasting them arbitrarily, he tried every possible way to continue to accumulate them. Although the challenge point from the cultural education was lucrative, after he earned the title of Erudite, there was no other promising challenge, so Wang Lu didn’t want to focus too much on that.

And while he was already at the peak of the Body Refining Stage, he still hadn’t officially stepped into the rank of Immortal Cultivators. Thus, his best course, for now, was to pick the sect’s experiential challenge.

“In simple terms, to complete this experiential challenge, the sect will put you in an overwhelmingly adverse condition. Based on the result, they will calculate the corresponding challenge points. For example, if we go to the Small Clear Sky Peak without a team leader and achieve the same result as the previous time, we would get around 100 to 200 challenge points.”

Wen Bao was startled. “Without a team leader and less team members? That’s a suicide mission! Moreover, we would only get about 100 to 200 challenge points for that!?”

“I told you the value of this challenge point is much higher than common sect credit. What do you think? Are you interested?”

Wen Bao seemed hesitant. “Senior Brother, I am indeed interested in this challenge point, but this experiential learning isn’t very realistic for me. Senior Brother, you’re so amazing, and surely, you can complete it alone, wouldn’t that be better?”

Wang Lu said, “Completing the challenge alone would indeed land me with additional bonus points. But if I am alone, at most, I would only pass this experiential learning with minimum points, that would be really boring. But if it’s with you, it would be different.”

The fatty trembled. “Senior Brother, you think too highly of me. A dull-witted person like me will only hold other people back, no one could expect me to carry my part…”

Wen Bao’s cowardly remark wasn’t a surprise to Wang Lu.

“By the way, two days ago, I met Junior Sister Yue Xinyao at the Carefree Peak.”

“What?” Upon hearing the name Yue Xinyao, the fatty’s eyes suddenly lit up, and his breathing accelerated.

Wang Lu casually said, “Because we rarely met, I chatted with her for quite some time.”

Wen Bao tremblingly asked, “Senior Brother, what did you talk about with Junior Sister Yue?”

“It’s nothing, just thanking me for my effort in the Small Clear Sky Peak to turn the tide and save all the people. She also told me she deeply admired my martial arts and was very curious about it, and so on… nothing serious. Though we rarely met, I also asked her about other things…”

Wen Bao was curious. “Other things…?”

Wang Lu said, “Yes. I asked her, Junior Sister, you’re an adult now, when will you start considering about marriage?”

“Pfft!”

Wen Bao spurted on the spot. “Junior Sister Yue is only fourteen years old, yet you told her that she’s already at marriageable age, wouldn’t that be a huge loss on her part?” However, with some trepidation, he asked, “I remember… Junior Sister Yue seems to come from a certain Immortal Cultivator’s Family in the Cloud Region. Maybe she had already been engaged or something?”

Wang Lu laughed. “No, she hasn’t been engaged yet. Junior Sister Yue told me that her family is quite liberal; the elders don’t interfere in the marriage much.”

Wen Bao had a beaming smile on his face as he said, “That’s right, freedom of marriage is to be encouraged. We should not be as ignorant as those mortals.”

Wang Lu said, “And then I asked, Junior Sister, do you have someone that you like?”

Wen Bao’s heart once again beat fast. “What did Junior Sister say?”

“She said that there’s no specific candidate. But she likes those who dare to take challenges, cultivators who break through their limits again and again on the long road to Immortality. She especially looked down on those who, when faced with trouble, become afraid to move forward.”

Wen Bao suddenly went silent.

After a very long time, the fatty put on a martyr’s expression as he said, “Senior Brother, if you take the experiential learning challenge, count me in!”

“Haha, he really believed it!”

——

After he had successfully handled Wen Bao, Wang Lu’s next step was to go to the Spirit Pool Peak to register their experiential learning.

Among the twelve Spirit Sword’s Peaks, Spirit Pool Peak was second only to the Stellar Peak in terms of its importance to the sect. Although there was no spiritual energy condensation there, nor was it a beautiful paradise to cultivate, nevertheless, it was the place where the sect elders and senior disciples handled sect affairs. In other words, it was the “government office district”.

Since the number of people in the Spirit Sword Sect had been steadily decreasing, most of the sect affairs were handled by the respective Peak’s owner. However, in recent years, the sect had been promoting management standardization. Thus, more affairs needed to be handled, which resulted in the increased importance of the Spirit Pool Peak.

Of course, for the moment, this thing had nothing to do with the new disciple that was still in the Body Refining Stage. After he had arrived at the Spirit Pool Peak, he walked all the way into a quaint courtyard. On the outside, there was a broken rectangular tablet hanging horizontally over a door with the inscription that said: Heavenly Policy Hall. Within the courtyard, there were four or five buildings. Inside the main building, a senior disciple in black and white was looking down on a record. When he noticed that Wang Lu had come in, he looked up, and the corner of his lips arched up, seemingly smiling. But under the backdrop of the quaint and solemn atmosphere, the smile appeared unbearably stiff.

“May I help you?”

Wang Lu said, “I want to register an experiential learning at the Small Clear Sky Peak.”

“Then please give me the relevant information.”

Wang Lu had long prepared for this, so he passed over a stack of paper.

That seemingly thirty or forty years old disciple slightly nodded, took the information and began to check them.

“Hmm, the place is at Small Clear Sky Peak. The time, it will start this afternoon and is expected to last for a week, the number of participants… Two people!? Only the two of you?” Before he read the rest of the information, the black and white disciple hastily put down the paper and glared at Wang Lu.

Being stared at by him, Wang Lu felt a bit of pressure.

This senior disciple in black and white, who handled affairs in the Heavenly Policy Hall, was called Mu Xiao. He had been in the sect for about thirty years. Although his status was still a disciple, he was able to oversee the Spirit Pool Peak because he was already in the Xudan Stage. Just now, he accidentally released his aura, which was enough to overwhelm a novice cultivator.

However, Wang Lu instead inwardly sniggered, “Is this how you demonstrate your authority? You’re really worthy to be a government officer!”

With his Non-Phase Sword Bone and his experience of living together with a genuine Jindan Stage expert for two years, Wang Lu easily brushed off this pressure; he just casually smiled. “Yeah, it’s just the two of us.”

Mu Xiao wasn’t too surprised to see Wang Lu not being pressured by his aura, he mused, “A successor disciple is indeed a successor disciple, perhaps there’re some magical treasures in his body.”

“Where is your team leader?”

Wang Lu shrugged. “No team leader.”

Mu Xiao looked at Wang Lu with an incredulous look. After a long time, he finally realized that the other person was really serious...

“This is nonsense!”

Mu Xiao’s eyebrows jumped as he fiercely shouted, “A disciple in the ninth level of Qi Cultivating Stage and another one in the Body Refining Stage presumptuously wants to go to the Small Clear Sky Peak to do the Experiential Learning!? Who do you guys think you are!?”

Wang Lu looked stunned. “Who are we? Isn’t it clear in that information? I am Wang Lu, the Successor Disciple of the Non-Phase Peak…”

Before he finished, Mu Xiao coldly interrupted him, “I know you are Wang Lu who miraculously became a Successor Disciple two years ago. According to the sect rules, before reaching Jindan Stage, I should call you Senior Brother. But this is Spirit Pool Peak, Heavenly Policy Hall! Your Successor Disciple’s identity doesn’t apply to me!”

Wang Lu laughed. “Junior Brother, you’re too emotional, I don’t want to use my Successor Disciple status to pressure you, my dad is not Li Gang [1]. We just want to do experiential learning at Small Clear Sky Peak, so I am here to register that.”

The disciple in black and white went silent for a moment, and then he flatly refused, “No, I can’t agree to your registration request.”

Wang Lu frowned. “I remember from fifteen years ago, Spirit Sword Sect had changed the system of how disciples apply for experiential learning. From requiring them to be approved to simple registration. As long as the disciple present the relevant information when registering, then their registration will be immediately accepted. I have never heard that the disciple in charge of registration is entitled to deny the experiential learning application.”

Mu Xiao said, “In your information, you lack a team leader, so you don’t have the relevant information.”

“Haha, Junior Brother Wen Bao and I want to do the challenge mode. If we have a team leader, would a challenge mode still a challenge?”

Mu Xiao coldly returned the information. “But if there’s no information about the team leader, I can’t approve your application.”

Wang Lu cocked his head. “Ai, we really have no team leader, how could we give you the information? Senior Brother, I say, don’t be so stuck up with the rules; they are meant to be broken anyway. If you must write a team leader, why don’t you write me as the team leader, I am a peerless body refining expert going to take a young ninth level Qi Cultivating disciple, won’t that solve the problem?”

However, not only did Mu Xiao not accept this suggestion, he even slapped the table. “Solve the problem!? You have the nerve to say that would solve the problem!? Spirit Sword Sect rules are very clear about this; if you want to register as a team leader, you must be at the sixth level of Qi Cultivating Stage at the very least! And you are still in the Body Refining Stage, and has not even started Qi Cultivating yet, are your Successor Disciple status fake? If you want to be a team leader, come back to me after you practice another twenty years!”

In response to that, Wang Lu chuckled. He thought, “Yo, this management method is quite familiar; you went so far as to fool another disciple, but unfortunately, in front of you is the Spirit Sword’s top student! You think you can fool a top student with this method? Interesting!”

Wang Lu has never been this angry for a very long time. In the past two years, he got along easily with the majority of his Martial Brothers and Sisters. Wang Lu didn’t even have such a big vendetta against that retard, Zhu Qin; their mutual taunting came from habit and customs. However, this disciple Mu Xiao really got on his nerves.

He mused, “Sure enough, just like what I overheard from the talk in the Carefree Peak cafeteria, those Senior Brothers and Sisters in the Spirit Pool Peak like to make things difficult...They really want to bully me!”

“F*ck you! Do you think I, your father, am afraid of you?”

Mu Xiao eyes went wide in disbelief; he had never thought a new disciple who just entered the sect two years ago actually remembered the sect rules by heart!

However, this was still meaningless.

“Application for experiential learning challenge needs permission from the Hall Leader or above…”

Before he finished his words, Wang Lu had pulled out a seal. “This is the personal seal of the Fifth Elder of the Heavenly Sword Hall, and she approves this challenge! Are you still not going to approve my application?”

Mu Xiao was really shocked this time - Non-Phase Peak’s owner’s seal! This seal that symbolized an elder’s authority was actually in the hands of a novice disciple!?

“Yes, my Master went out wandering, and she forgot this seal, do you have a problem with that?”

“How could this thing be forgotten!?”

“Nonsense! If even Sect Leader often forgets his glasses, why can’t my Master forget to bring her seal? In short, this seal is in my hands, and you can even check its authenticity if you want.”

“Th-this Non-Phase Peak is really like what Master often said, the most ‘exotic’ place in the Spirit Sword Sect.” Mu Xiao couldn’t help but inwardly sigh.

“But, you’re using this elder’s seal to pressure me?”

Wang Lu didn’t bother to deny it. “That’s right, are you going to bend over or not?”

“You!?” Mu Xiao’s eyes went completely wide, thinking, “This kid actually dares to wield his authority in front of me! A mere Non-Phase Peak’s Body Refining Cultivator?”

However, regardless of his perception on the disciples from the Carefree Peak and Non-Phase Peak, he couldn’t deny the Fifth Elder’s seal of authority, so he had nothing to refute.

“Very well, in that case, I wish you good luck. Experiential Learning Challenge isn’t it? Hehe.” Mu Xiao sneered as he took the information from Wang Lu back and stamped it with a seal of approval.

However, Wang Lu wouldn’t let the matter go. “What are you laughing at? Did your hemorrhoid relapse again? You look down on that Fatty and I? Why don’t we make a bet then? I bet five hundred points in this experiential learning challenge.”

Mu Xiao immediately smiled. “Five hundred points? What a fool, you really don’t know how high the sky is! Wang Lu, I know that you’ve distinguished yourself in your last experiential learning, you even defeated that Full Moon Roar single-handedly… However, you’d better understand that you simply can’t replicate this kind of miracle!”

“Five hundred points is the benchmark. If I exceed that benchmark, you’ll owe me one hundred spirit stones for each point. And likewise, if I failed to reach that standard, then I’ll owe you one hundred spirit stones for each deficit point, do you or do you not dare to take this bet?”

Mu Xiao looked Wang Lu in the eyes. “Do you have fifty thousand spirit stones?”

Wang Lu laughed. “This Elder’s seal should be enough to cover that five million spirit stones, right? If I can’t pay with spirit stones, you can have this seal.”

“What a joke, what do you think I can do with this seal?”

“You can claim credit to your Master. If you can offer him Wang Wu’s seal of authority, what do you think your Master Liu Xian would reward you with?”

Mu Xiao was dumbfounded; his heart was moved!

“Okay, I’ll take the bet!”

While inwardly, he thought, “Humph! What a joke, you think you can get five hundred points? Dream on! Even after thirty years, at most, I barely acquired three hundred points… While there are true talents in this sect, such as those Successor Disciples who entered the sect ten years ago, who are able to get massive challenge points, but do you think that you can compare yourself to them with your Void Spirit Root? Even they are unlikely to get five hundred points in experiential learning challenge.”

“Boy, I want to see how you cry after this!”

On the other side, Wang Lu turned around and walked away sneering.

“What an idiot! When I achieved the maximum score at the Peach Blossom Village two years ago, you’re still a pile of sh*t!”

...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Gang_incident