By the time Lin Zhixue returned to her quarters, night had completely fallen.
The study companion dormitories were much quieter than the rest of the outer sect. A few clusters of low bamboo lined both sides of the flagstone path, and moonlight filtered through the bamboo leaves, casting fragmented shadows across the ground.
She pushed open the door. Inside, two girls were sitting on their respective beds sorting through their belongings. Seeing her enter, both looked up in unison.
“Are you the new roommate?”
The round-faced girl by the window spoke first, her eyes scanning her up and down before lingering on her Daoist robe. “What's your cultivation level?”
“Seventh level of Qi Refining.”
The round-faced girl's mouth formed a wide ‘O’.
The other girl, tall and slender, had been folding clothes, but upon hearing this, she turned her head and took a second look at her.
The round-faced girl hopped off her bed and circled her halfway. “Seventh level? You're new and already at the seventh level? I've been here for three months and I'm only at the fifth level!”
“Did you walk into the wrong room? This is the outer sect residence, not the inner sect.”
Lin Zhixue placed her bundle on the empty bed by the window.
“I'm in the right place. I'm new, and I was assigned here.”
The round-faced girl was named Zhou Xiaoyuan, fitting her name with a round face and round eyes. Once she started talking, she babbled endlessly, leaving hardly any room for anyone else to get a word in.
The tall, slender girl was named Chen Jing. She was quiet but efficient. Seeing that Lin Zhixue had just arrived and had yet to unpack, she proactively shifted her own storage bag to the side to clear off half the table for her.
Zhou Xiaoyuan continued chattering beside them, bombarding her with questions.
Where was she from? What was her spirit root? Who was her master?
Lin Zhixue answered them one by one, neither dismissive nor overly revealing.
In just a few sentences, Zhou Xiaoyuan laid out most of the outer sect's rules.
Morning classes, duty rotations, the Pill Hall, herb fields...
Lin Zhixue listened quietly.
The more she heard, the clearer things became.
In the outer sect, the time that truly belonged to oneself for cultivation was actually quite scarce.
“Are the duty rotations exhausting?” Lin Zhixue asked.
“Depends on what work you're assigned,” Chen Jing said, putting her folded clothes into the wardrobe.
“Work in the herb fields is the easiest. The Pill Hall is the most exhausting—you have to stand there sorting spirit materials for most of the day.”
“Still, it's better than back home. At least we get spirit stones.”
Lin Zhixue gave a subtle nod and did not respond.
She weighed it silently in her heart. For outer disciples, duty rotations alone consumed most of the day.
During whatever time remained, they could only fumble through cultivation methods on their own, receiving neither guidance from masters nor access to high-quality pills.
Such a situation was no different from how things were back in the Lin family; she had merely moved to a larger place.
Zhou Xiaoyuan threw out several more questions in succession, all of which Lin Zhixue answered simply.
Seeing this, Chen Jing asked no further questions either, lying back down on her bed to attend to her own matters.
As night deepened, silence settled over the room.
Both Zhou Xiaoyuan and Chen Jing had fallen asleep, their breathing steady and long.
Lin Zhixue rolled over, pulling the blanket up. Xiaoyu floated out from the jade pendant and landed beside her pillow.
“These two girls aren't bad,”
Xiaoyu lowered its voice. “Much better than those people at the Lin manor.”
“Mm.”
“Zhixue,” Xiaoyu floated in front of her, dropping its voice even lower.
“Did you look at that sect handbook today? The difference in treatment between outer disciples and inner disciples is huge!”
“Three times the spirit stones, a full grade higher in pills, and the cultivation rooms aren't even comparable!”
“As long as you stay in the outer sect, your resources won't keep up, and your cultivation speed will eventually be dragged down.”
She suddenly remembered the moment they parted at the square earlier that day.
Gu Yanqing had gone to another peak.
While she had come here.
Though they had entered the sect on the exact same day, it felt as if they had embarked on two entirely different paths.
Lin Zhixue did not answer. Of course she knew how vast the gap was.
But she was too tired today. From the morning assessment until now, she hadn't stopped for a single moment, and all she wanted to do was sleep.
Xiaoyu was still muttering away, but she couldn't make out the words.
Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and Xiaoyu's voice gradually blurred into a distant murmur. Turning onto her side, she drifted into a deep sleep.
...
Early the next morning, Gu Yanqing entered the inner sect's Lecture Hall just as the bell signaled the Mao hour.
Inside, over twenty inner disciples were already seated, including Foundation Establishment cultivators and a few at early Golden Core.
The instructor was an elder with graying hair and beard. Though he was lecturing on basic mental cultivation methods, his depth was remarkable.
The subtle nuances of spiritual energy circulation, the differences in meridians based on spirit root attributes, the compatibility between cultivation techniques and physical constitutions—he broke down and explained every point in painstaking detail, while the disciples below listened intently.
Several Foundation Establishment disciples seated nearby were taking notes rapidly, the spiritual light on their jade slips flashing continuously.
As Gu Yanqing listened, however, his mind began to wander elsewhere.
Morning classes in the inner sect were divided according to spirit root attributes, allowing every disciple to receive guidance tailored to their innate talent.
In contrast, outer sect morning classes were large, mixed lectures where dozens or even hundreds of disciples crammed into a single Lecture Hall. What they were taught was the most basic mental method—uniform instruction regardless of spirit root or aptitude.
Not to mention the gap in resources.
He received thirty spirit stones and a bottle of mid-grade Qi Gathering Pills each month, whereas Lin Zhixue got ten spirit stones and a bottle of low-grade ones.
The spiritual energy concentration in his cultivation room was double that of the outer sect. He could browse techniques on the third floor of the Scripture Pavilion, while she could only inspect damaged scrolls in the outer sect pavilion.
To say nothing of assignments from the Mission Hall.
High-reward missions were prioritized for the inner sect, leaving outer disciples with only the scraps.
And there was one more point that was most easily overlooked.
Those sitting around him were all Foundation Establishment or even Golden Core disciples, and exchanging cultivation insights or sparring with one another was a daily occurrence.
Her companions, on the other hand, were merely a group of Qi Refining disciples who hadn't even solidly established their foundations.
According to the original plot, Lin Zhixue was supposed to enter the inner sect in the first place.
It wasn't that she lacked talent; she simply lacked an opportunity.
If he left her out there, those mundane chores would fill her time like sand, leaving her no time to cultivate, study, or grow.
He recalled that in the original novel, her rapid growth in the inner sect relied not only on the jade pendant and lucky opportunities, but more importantly on having resources, the right environment, and guidance from masters.
And now, he had already brought her into the Yunxiao Sect, exposing her to the sect, cultivation methods, and secret realms ahead of schedule.
If he washed his hands of her now, everything he had done so far would only be half-finished.
Since he had helped her, he might as well see it through to the end.
On the dais, the elder finished a section of his lecture and paused to take a sip of tea.
Gu Yanqing snapped back to reality, only to discover that the jade slip in front of him was completely blank—he hadn't recorded a single word.
...
After morning class ended, he stood up and walked outside. As he walked through the bamboo grove, he casually retrieved the 《Overview of Yunxiao Sect Rules》 he had received upon entering the sect from his storage bag.
He had tossed it into his bag yesterday after receiving it and hadn't opened it once, only remembering its existence now.
He flipped to the table of contents and glanced over it.
Sect rules, etiquette, cultivation resource allocation, disciple rank divisions, Mission Hall rules... then his eyes halted on a certain page.
It stated that inner disciples could apply for a study companion disciple to assist with daily cultivation affairs.
The study companion was designated by the inner disciple and took effect once approved by the Hall of Deacons; during their tenure, the study companion would enjoy a portion of the inner sect resource subsidies.
He shut the book, his pace quickening.
He already knew what his next step would be.
Rate on N.U.
