Faust sighed deeply, turning over in his bed to hide his face from the sunlight.

  Birds chimed from the cherry trees and the cold side of the pillow quickly warmed up however.

  After a deep breath, Faust threw himself out of bed.

  “Aaaarghh….” He stretched his stiff limbs in the morning hours.

  Well.

  Faust was pretty sure it was morning. Birds were chirping outside and he didn’t hear any chatter from the crowds of sect disciples that would otherwise be swarming the streets.

  Maybe it was late afternoon instead? No. There wouldn’t be sunlight through his window then. The disciples' lodges were on the side of a mountain afterall.

  Faust guessed it was his fault for not knowing the time well. Since reaching the peak of the Meridian Opening realm he’d only need to sleep 8 hours a week or so. As such, he had, as was perfectly reasonable, rushed a month-long mission by going without sleep for two weeks.

  Easy enough.

  Faust pulled open the curtains fully, letting the sun's warmth bathe his room and body in orange light while revealing Jade Road outside. A road which wound around the mountain and connected a little over a thousand outer sect dwellings.

  It was a modest, first rate sect. Though only 1 in a hundred would ever get past the Meridian Opening realm within the sect’s time limit, entering the Inner Sect, there were also tens of thousands of dwellings at the base of the mountain, where peripheral disciples who refused to give up on their dream of immortality lived.

  Faust nodded to himself while yawning, stepping away from the window and snapping his fingers to ignite the hearth. With another flick of his wrist, water from the sealed barrel of water, in the room's corner, flew out and filled the iron pot above the hearth, letting it boil. A second flick sent a handful of rice in.

  “Haaaah!” Faust stretched one more time as he changed, feeling his abused bones from the last mission cracking into place after a nice rest.

  “Those Clear Dew herbs really do work.” Faust mumbled.

  Two weeks of exhaustion gone in a single night. Faust flicked his wrist again and threw a few of the Clear Dew herbs from the pile he had been gifted into the pot of rice.

  Knock! Knock!

  There was a loud banging on the door.

  Faust looked over, before putting down the egg and metal pan he was holding.

  “Good morning, senior brother!” A youth bowed, cupping one hand over a fist as Faust opened the door. They wore loose, light pink and gold, outer robes with white inner robes and trousers beneath. The uniform of the Clear Mirror’s outer sect disciples.

  Faust wore something similar, except missing his light pink outer robe which was lying in his closet somewhere.

  “A letter from Fallen Petal Ridge.” The youth presented a letter.

  “Oh!” Faust’s head perked up and the fog in his mind cleared. He snatched the letter and opened it on the spot.

  “Dear Faust. This letter is penned by the imperial delivery service on behalf of Miss Fauna the Tailor and Sir Preston the Potter.” The letter began. Since Faust came from a small family of pot makers, they weren’t particularly literate, a transcriber writing the letters on their behalf.

  “Faust! Your little sister Foria is setting out for the Clear Mirror sects recruitment trial in two days! She’s going with a group of merchants who’ll be participating in the festival in Vibrant Mirror city not too far from the sect! Please, please, please! Take care of her!”

  “Son. We know you don’t have many opportunities to visit home and haven't met your sister more than a few times, but if she does manage to enter the sect, please take care of her. The money you sent before helped us expand the business. I have several apprentices and even two who could be considered master potters working for me now. We moved into a small courtyard manor and your mother spoiled Foria a lot. With the news our son is a senior disciple of the Clear Mirror sect, the guards have also been polite to our family so your sister hasn’t witnessed much of the world's dark side yet. Even if you don’t progress any further along the path or to immortality or whatever cultivators aim for. We’re proud to call you our son and hope you and Foria can find a way to visit us in the future. I’ve spent the last few weeks working on a gold inlaid porcelain tea set. I hope it doesn’t embarrass you when serving tea to others.”

  The letter ended and Faust felt a smile unconsciously form on his lips. He shook his head. His father worried too much about face and reputation.

  Faust looked back to the disciple who was now holding a large wooden box, which Faust took with care.

  “Have a good day, senior brother, I wish you luck on your path.” The young disciple turned to leave.

  “You as well junior.”

  Faust turned back inside, feeling butterflies of excitement in his chest as he re-read the letter.

  He had a younger sibling!

  He had been in complete disbelief 15 years ago when he had first gotten the letter.

  It was Faust’s greatest disappointment in life that it took him almost a year to find the perfect sect mission which let him briefly stop by his family home on the return trip, meeting his baby sister for the first time.

  If only he was less paranoid about his foundation, he would have already become an Inner Sect disciple and been able to leave the sect without taking a mission.

  “Huuh…” Faust exhaled deeply.

  After a few deep breaths, the butterflies in his stomach went away and Faust hardened his gaze. He closed his eyes and turned his senses inward as he lay the letter and box down on a small table.

  Faust was well aware of his own limits which was why even though it had only taken 3 years from joining the sect to reaching the peak of the Meridian Opening realm, he had spent 11 more years polishing, researching, even closing and rebuilding some of his meridian channels.

  The next step of establishing the foundation would be to break into the Open Palace realm. However Faust had been wary of breaking through too early.

  If he had made any mistakes or had any flaws in his meridian channels, once he laid the foundation of his inner palace, they would be, almost literally, carved in stone, unable to be changed.

  But…

  Faust looked out the window. He was 29 now. If one didn’t break through to the Open Palace realm by 30, the sect would consider them as poor talent.

  Disciples with poor talent would become sect deacons or administrators.

  Poor talent was still better than those who failed to reach the Meridian Opening by the age of 20. They were called, to their faces, Wastes. Wastes were demoted to peripheral disciples, responsible for menial labour of the sect. Some stayed, others left as soon as they saved enough money to pay the sect’s severance fee.

  The world went quiet as Faust immersed his senses into his own cultivation.

  Soon, only the gentle sloshing and splashing of Faust’s Spirit Qi remained. Looking through his mind’s eye, Faust saw his Dan-Tian, his main node, reminiscent of a wide basin filled with liquid Spirit Qi.

  From the Dan-Tian, wide channels, built like oversized bridges of perfectly cut granite and forged steel, led Spirit Qi out of the Dan-Tian and connected to several smaller reservoirs of Spirit Qi at key acupoints Faust had refined, following the humans natural meridians.

  Faust had spent years obtaining multiple different channel formation charts and diagrams, while most others used the first one they got their hands on.

  Faust smiled nervously to himself, finishing frying his eggs and adding them to a bowl of rice. 11 years at the peak of the Meridian Opening realm hadn’t been in vain.

  The meridians Faust had followed, joining key acupoints with massive channels, were the best his means as a commoner with little background allowed and to his knowledge, perfectly suited to himself.

  Through his mind’s eye, Faust could see the extensive framework of tempered metal that went all across his spiritual body, anchored to the robust bridges that formed the major channels, forming countless minor channels.

  The network of minor channels Faust had built, rebuilt, polished and refined over a decade, branched out to form three arrays within Faust’s spiritual body. One for accelerating qi he could gather from the environment. Another array to refine Environmental Qi into Faust’s own Innate Qi and the final array was to further reinforce his already comically robust qi channels.

  With 12 major nodes made up interlinked by major channels and 3 arrays made up of minor channels, it was what others would call a Three-Twelve foundation. With three arrays and twelve nodes.

  Finishing his breakfast, Faust compared his current foundation to those of other disciples.

  Compared to the One-Three foundations common in the outer sect for those without any backing, or the Two-Six even for relatively wealthy disciples, Faust had basically performed a miracle. He didn’t know what the core disciples were given, but he suspected it was a Four-Eight foundation, not too much better or worse than what he had managed.

  “Huuuh… It's time.” Faust returned to his normal senses, the sounds of the world returning. He had put it off long enough. If he wanted to receive more support from the sect he had to break through before he turned 30 on his next birthday.

  Cleaning his breakfast and putting on his outer robe, Faust stepped outside holding his favorite White Jade fan, where the road was starting to fill with disciples beginning their day.

  ??????????????

  “Hmmm…” Faust thought as he ascended Jade road up the mountain. “I have Golden Sand, Crushed Spirit Jade and several jugs of Steelpine Sap…” He began going through what he planned to use for his breakthrough materials to form his foundation, fanning himself gently to stave off the blistering summer heat. “I still have plenty of Star Iron and Dark Slate from forging Pastel…”

  Soon, Faust came across a massive bridge that stretched to another mountain, the Clear Jade Bridge. If Jade road mountain was the outer sect residential district, then Diamond Mountain, where Jade Mountain connected to, was the market district, as well as where all the sect administration was set up.

  “Alright… So I just need deep sea Minotaur Clam shell powder and Iridescent Ashes.” Faust concluded. To break into the early stage Open Palace realm from the peak Meridian Opening realm, one needed to lay the foundation of their inner palace over the top of their qi nodes and channels opened and forged throughout the Meridian Opening realm.

  Faust had witnessed a new invention west of the empire during a mission three years ago. The liquid rock the locals called concrete. He evidently hadn’t been the only one inspired either since he managed to snag an Inner Palace foundation laying method in a local auction that incorporated the same principles as concrete.

  Unlike the Meridian Opening diagram which Faust had more or less created himself to suit himself perfectly, he was very happy with the foundation laying method he had obtained, which, while lacking any unique abilities like other foundation laying methods, was imagined to bear any load. Even if Faust came across some massive opportunity to form a Heavenly grade golden core, his foundation would be able to withstand it, letting him go that much further on the path to immortality.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Faust’s only modifications to it were that he would complete the early stage in 3 layers instead of 1. He would use Spirit Glazed Platinum on each layer to engrave three additional arrays. They wouldn’t be divine abilities, but they would let him artificially improve his meridian channels by giving him a pseudo six-twelve foundation without affecting his Inner Palaces foundation too much.

  ??????????????

  “Freshly picked Spiritual Peaches! Only twenty four sect contribution points!” Someone yelled as Faust entered the market area.

  “New batch of Star Iron! Limited amounts of Dark Star Iron available too! Buy before it all sells out!”

  Several sect sanctioned merchants called out from their stalls. Wide parasols and hastily erected tarps shielded from the worst of the blazing sun, but there was only so much to be done when most of the sect was in mountains so high the clouds couldn’t shield them.

  Faust passed by mortal merchants were sweating while the wealthier outer disciples walked around with small leisure artifacts, letting a cool breeze swirl around that occasionally touched Faust, making part of his body cold as they passed each other.

  Faust began searching through the stores from a distance, looking for the two materials he was missing for his planned breakthrough.

  “Faust!” Faust was interrupted by a distant voice. He turned around to see a young woman, in a vibrant purple outer robe with golden embroidery, approaching him.

  Other disciples in light pink robes jumped out of the woman’s way like she was the plague. The aura of an early stage Open Palace cultivator and the inner sect disciple robes marked her as overwhelmingly more important compared to the majority of outer sect disciples who frequented this mountain.

  “Ah, Phalecia. It’s good to see you.” Faust greeted, giving a small bow and cupping a fist in one hand, folding his fan away. She was someone five years younger than Faust, who joined in the following sect recruitment and had immense talent in alchemy. Because of that talent, she had been directly invited to the Inner Sect while still at the Qi Refining realm.

  “You as well.” Phalecia greeted stiffly as she came up beside him, her short, muted gray hair in a tangled mess behind her.

  “Is there something you needed?” Faust asked, continuing to walk through the market with Phalecia beside him.

  “Not particularly. I’ve simply been told to greet familiar faces as a matter of courtesy.” Phalecia responded with a shrug of her shoulders, her expression as neutral as always.

  “Who told you that?”

  “Sirius.”

  “Ah… Really, what part of her is serious?”

  “Its one of the Inner Sect’s seven mysteries.”

  “Have you seen Minotaur Clam shell powder or Iridescent Ashes in the market somewhere?”

  “Not in the market. But the alchemy hall has a stockpile.”

  “I see. I might need to purchase from them then.” Faust sighed. Purchasing ingredients from the alchemy hall guaranteed the price was going to be ridiculous.

  “What do you need them for?”

  “I’m planning to break through before the next sect recruitment. I need them for the Inner Palace foundation laying method I plan to use.”

  Phalecia stopped abruptly while Faust continued forward.

  A handful of nearby disciples who Faust was acquainted with also paused in their step.

  Faust stopped, feeling something wrong. He turned back to face Phalecia.

  “...You're breaking through?” She confirmed, her expression neutral and tone flat.

  Faust narrowed his eyes slightly. “Yes?” He answered.

  On the side…

  “He’s Faust right?”

  “Yeah. He’s been at the peak of Meridian Opening longer than most outer disciples have been at the sect.”

  The other disciples who had suddenly paused immediately started whispering to each other before shuffling along at Faust’s gaze.

  Phalecia suddenly raised a talisman from her sleeve. “Faust just said he’s preparing to break through.” The talisman lit up as she spoke into it.

  “...Who was that to?” Faust asked, his eyes narrowing even more as he looked at her suspiciously.

  “Sirius.”

  Faust’s expression changed. First to surprise, then dread, then settled on confusion and helplessness. “...Why would you do that?” He asked.

  “This is monumental news. Many believe you've been at the peak of the Meridian Opening realm longer than they’ve been alive.”

  “It's only been 13 years…” Faust defended himself.

  “So you’ll have really been at the peak of the Meridian Opening realm for nearly as long as the next batch of disciples has been alive?”

  “...” Faust stared Phalecia in the eyes. Phalecia stared back, her expression unchanging. As expressive as she was however, Faust may as well have been staring at a statue.

  Faust felt his lip twitch before he closed his eyes and turned back around. “Nearly as long as they’ve been alive is different to as long as they’ve been alive.” He shouted exasperatedly as he continued forward.

  Unfortunately, he didn’t leave fast enough.

  “Is it true!” A voice shouted from the sky as another young woman appeared in the sky flying atop a sword and diving towards Faust, followed by a young man and woman.

  The newly arrived group were all people Faust recognised. The young man was Persius, with long, dark green hair. The woman next to him was Mue Dian, with dark brown hair tied into a neat bun.

  More importantly however, was the young woman who had shouted, Sirius, her bright pink hair tied into twin tails fluttering as she landed roughly in front of Faust.

  Faust felt his lip twitch. Sirius, Persius and Dian were three of the people who had joined the sect in the same group as Faust had. The four had even gone on several missions together back in the day before they had entered the Inner sect and even still called him senior brother.

  “Is it true!” Sirius grabbed Faust and violently shook him. Despite her short frame she wasn’t exactly petite and with her cultivation at the middle of the Open Palace realm, she was easily five times Faust’s own physical strength despite her not tempering her body anywhere near as much as Faust had.

  “WELL! TELL ME! Why are you staying silent!”

  “...” Faust let himself be shaken like a doll for a moment before sighing. He still had easily two heads of height over Sirius and gently pushed her face away from him despite her attempts to hold onto his robes.

  “If you must know… My little sister is joining the sect in the coming batch of disciples. I also only have until my next birthday to advance if I want to remain a disciple of the sect. As such I plan to complete my breakthrough within the next 2 months so I can take the Inner Sect mission to induct the new disciples into the sect.” Faust explained.

  “I see.” Persius responded, stroking his chin in thought while Dian gave a small nod. The two reactions were within Faust’s expectations. One was a man of few words and the other a woman he wondered was mute. They also both used spears as their main weapons, truly a match made in heaven.

  Sirius on the other hand… “Little Sister! You have a LITTLE SISTER!” suddenly started shouting as she began shaking Faust’s robes again. “Since when did you have siblings! I thought you were an only child!”

  Faust felt countless stares on the group and an uncomfortable sensation spread up his spine, he pushed harder on Sirius’s face, using his height over her to push at an awkward angle even having ten times the strength wouldn’t easily overcome.

  “Argh!” Sirius fell backwards with a yelp onto the pavement and Faust dusted off the hand he had used.

  “May we talk someplace else at least…” Faust sighed, continuing to walk through the stalls. Though Phalecia claimed not to have found any of the materials he was looking for, he was still hopeful about not having to purchase from the alchemy hall.

  The market filled mostly with outer sect disciples parted before the group of mostly Inner Sect disciples. Sirius was chattering away about something loudly. Mostly gossip around the Inner Sect.

  “Why is everyone jumping out of the way like you guys are going to bite them?” Faust shook his head. Maybe because he dealt with them so many times and had juniors he was on good terms within the Inner Sect, Faust couldn’t take them anywhere near as seriously as most the outer sect did.

  The four Inner disciples around Faust stared at him intently. Even Sirius stopped talking for a minute.

  “What?” Faust asked.

  “You’re the abnormal one.” Phalecia spoke plainly, getting soft nods from Persius and Dian while Sirius whipped her head up and down in agreement.

  “Oh? Am I?” Faust raised a brow.

  “Two years ago, before Persius and Dian broke through and joined the Inner Sect.”

  “Uh-huh. I’m following.”

  “That wealthy heir from the Redroot family was beating up Persius and Dian after they interfered with his bullying of other outer sect disciples."

  “Yes. I remember the guy.”

  “He was an Inner Sect disciple at the early Open Palace realm.”

  “Yep.”

  “You defeated him.”

  “Yes. I did.”

  “Thats why all the younger members of the Inner Sect still call you senior brother.”

  “...I’m not following.”

  Phalecia looked Faust in the eyes and he looked back into hers. She looked away unimpressed however, focusing on one of the stalls before briefly separating to purchase something.

  “Welll duhhhh!” Sirius continued from where Phalecia had left off, skipping ahead and walking backwards. “You beat— an Open Palace disciple. While— at the Meridian Opening realm.” She punctuated each point clearly.

  “...I still don’t follow.” Faust replied frankly.

  “He was a major realm above you! And you won!” Sirius exclaimed. Loud enough that everyone around could hear and a side eye from some merchants who had to raise their voice further to still be heard over her high pitched shouts.

  “So?” Faust asked, flicking open his fan and covering part of his face unconsciously. In his opinion, it was an old story.

  “So! How did you do it!”

  “His foundation was made of cardboard and he had neglected his external arts and any body tempering.” Faust said, stepping around Sirius as he waved his fan.

  “He had a Two-Three foundation though. Is that bad?” Sirius asked, bouncing beside Faust as they walked.

  Faust thought it over. A Two-Three foundation was better than most. The most common type was a Zero-Three foundation, where one simply connected their three major acupoints. It was the sect’s grace that most outer sect disciples formed a One-Three foundation.

  “It's more his Inner Palace’s foundation that was poor, not his meridian channels. Little more than solidified Innate Qi with no supporting materials. Nowhere near dense enough either.” Faust eventually responded.

  “Isn’t that a pretty standard practice?” Sirius tilted her head to the side. Even Persius and Dian looked to each other in confusion, before returning their gaze to Faust.

  Snapping his fan closed, Faust tapped it against his chin while he hummed in thought. “Only for those who don’t invest in researching a foundation laying method. Does that young master’s wealthy family have any Golden Core cultivators?” He asked.

  “Not that I know of. I remember hearing the strongest in his family was at the peak of the Open Palace realm.” Sirius skipped ahead while speaking.

  “Not using proper external materials as aids, or using external materials without a proper method. Both are dangerous.”

  “Wow! Senior brother is so wise!” Sirius explained once more, cupping a fist in one hand in a gesture of apparent respect.

  “...” Faust couldn’t tell if it was sarcasm or not. Anyone who bothered to attend lectures even somewhat regularly or study at even the Outer Sect’s free library would know this information. Once he finished laying his inner palace's foundations he planned to study at the grand archive outside the empire’s capital for a year or two.

  “Still. How did you defeat him? Even if his foundation was weak, he should still have been stronger?” Sirius asked while looking at a stall filled with intricate accessories.

  “His spiritual arts were powerful and well practiced, but his external arts were poor and the lack of body refinement meant he wasn’t that much physically stronger than me either. Defeating him was rather trivial when the normal realm difference was narrowed so much.”

  “Mmmhhh…” Sirius hummed, clearly conflicted while Persius and Dian exchanged a glance behind Faust’s back. Was that really enough to overwhelm a major realm difference? They wondered. It was so rare for someone to defeat someone of a higher realm that they found it hard to believe. Just having the foundation of the inner palace down would solidify the meridian channels enough they could handle up to 10 times the amount of qi rushing through.

  The group reached the end of the market road, with no more stalls or shops hawking their products.

  “Told you.” Phalecia said, having rejoined the group.

  Faust sighed, tapping his fan against his head. He really didn’t want to purchase from the alchemy hall.

  “Since I’m a third rank alchemist, the alchemy hall gives me discounts, should I purchase some Minotaur Clam powder and Iridescent Ashes for you?” Phalecia offered.

  “You’d do that for me?” Faust looked at her, placing a hand over his heart in wonder.

  “You’ve done a lot for us as well, Senior Brother.” Phalecia gave a small bow.

  Faust cleared his throat, hiding his mouth with his fan. “Then. I won’t stand on ceremony.” He returned the bow.

  “Yeah, yeah! So!” Sirius cut in. “You're definitely going to break through within 2 months?” She asked, grabbing Faust’s collar and bringing his face down to her eye level.

  Faust nodded, uncurling her fingers from his collar. “Could I ask you if you could accept the mission to induct the new disciples this year in my stead?”

  “Of course Senior Brother!” Sirius agreed without hesitation.

  …

  With Faust’s ‘shocking revelation’ concluded, Dian and Persius dragged Sirius away. Apparently they were just leaving for a sect mission, leaving Faust and Phalecia at the end of the market street.

  ““...”” Faust and Phalecia watched them go.

  “Is she really going on a mission dressed like that.” Phalecia asked evenly. Her tone was so neutral Faust took a moment to register she was asking a question.

  “I guess so.” He responded blankly, turning the other way to reach the alchemy hall.

  “As her senior brother, shouldn’t you tell her to wear something less scandalous?”

  “Been there, done that.”

  “Does the empire allow skirts that short in public.”

  “Imperial law states as long as elbows, knees, crotch and buds are covered… Any man or woman is considered modest. Else… All goes…”

  “I could see her knees.”

  “You could see the shape of her knees through the thigh highs. But technically. They were covered.”

  “...”

  “Ask a senior sister of yours. I have nine identical sets of clothes. Long white pants and inner robes under the outer sect uniform robes.” Faust ended the topic there. He didn’t want an innocent youth like Phalecia to be tainted by poor role models like Sirius.