Chapter 2 - Central District

  .

  .

  .

  Gu Xuan, after deciding on his next course of action, walked out of the door.

  As soon as he walked out of his house, he heard the voice of a teenager that was laughing out loud, “Gu Xuan! You’re finally out! Are you still sticking to your pointless diligent cultivation? You’ve cultivated for 9 years since you were 5 years old and haven’t yet broken through, just give up like us and take our time.”

  Gu Xuan turned his head to the direction of the voice. He saw that it was from his neighbor in the lower district who was the same age as him.

  Around him were his peers chuckling at his words until one of them chimed, “That’s right, come with us, Gu Xuan! Let’s go have some fun, I’ll introduce you to a beautiful female disciple from the West District.”

  There were three of them, since the two had already spoken, the remaining one added, “What are you talking about? Don’t you know, Gu Xuan is a chicken, he won’t come with us.”

  Then they laughed out loud in groups as most teenagers would.

  The Moonlight Sect was divided into 5 districts. The North District, South, East, and West. Meanwhile, the Central District or most commonly known in the lower district as the upper district where the Official Disciples who had broken through the 1st Layer, Elders, and the Sect Master resides.

  His late parents' house when they were young was located in the North District of the lower district, his current address. Because Gu Xuan no longer had them, he obviously couldn’t stay in the Central District so he could only stay in their house in the lower district.

  Gu Xuan simply rolled his eyes at them and walked away as he retorted in an annoyed tone, “What do you mean pointless? I’ve broken through, I’m climbing the Upper District today.”

  Although Gu Xuan liked to be alone so he could have more time to cultivate, he wasn’t anti-social. Because he doesn’t hang out with them a lot of the time, he can still be considered close acquaintances with them if not friends.

  The three teenagers looked at Gu Xuan’s leaving back in shock then looked at each other’s eyes in confusion. After repeating such actions for quite some time until Gu Xuan eventually disappeared, his neighbor who was the same age as him slapped his friend hard in the face.

  “Ouch! What the hell was that for?!”

  The teenager remaining on the side woke up from his stupor and said as he came to a realization, “What? It’s not a dream?!”

  “Bunch of bastards! You should slap yourselves and not me to see if it’s a dream!”

  They then looked in the direction of the path that Gu Xuan left for with envious gazes, “Should we have cultivated diligently as well?”

  One of them retorted, “Stupid, you think you could do what Gu Xuan did? Don’t you see him when his windows are open? He sits all day and everyday, cultivating diligently without missing a single day. If he didn’t need to eat or bathe, he would have married the bed he sits on daily.”

  “...”

  ”That’s true, I definitely wouldn’t be able to do like he did.”

  “Looks like Gu Xuan is a rising dragon?”

  “Yeah…”

  “We’re all salted fishes after all but seeing Gu Xuan succeed, maybe we can at least try a little harder?”

  “...”

  After walking for a while, Gu Xuan reached the start of the path leading up to the mountain in the South District of the Lower District.

  The path to the Upper District coiled around the mountain like a snake. The incline of the path was also quite steep. As for the height of the mountain, it pierced through the sky to the point that one couldn’t see the top from the bottom.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  For ordinary people, and even seasoned climbers, this would be a difficult climb that will take them hours but Gu Xuan’s strength was very strong compared to average mortals so even if he climbed this mountain, he wouldn’t even break a sweat.

  He looked at the building near the start of the coiled path in familiarity and decided to pay a visit before he went up the mountain.

  “Uncle Chen, you there?” He called out as he entered the building.

  “Hm?” A middle-aged man looked at the entrance and saw that it was Gu Xuan who walked in and then asked heartily, “What’s wrong? Do you have more fresh meat for me to cut? I don’t see you carrying one though.”

  This was Chen De, the main butcher in the lower district, although is a great martial artist, hasn’t reached the level wherein he could break through so he took this position within the lower district.

  Gu Xuan honestly didn’t understand, but most likely, when one is above the age of 20, it’s difficult to break through considering that there are so many middle-aged people who don't break through to the 1st Layer or maybe… They don’t even have average talent in cultivation.

  Thinking of this, and if that is the case, Gu Xuan considered himself lucky for having at least the average talent in cultivation even if it takes him quite a long time to break through each minor layer.

  The butcher building was also deliberately positioned here so that lower district disciples can bring the meat cut to the Upper District freshly.

  Gu Xuan shook his head and smiled, “No, I’m just paying a visit before I climbed the upper district.”

  Hearing his words, Chen De froze for a moment before he looked at Gu Xuan with a mix of envy, admiration, and pride for Gu Xuan’s achievement, “After all your diligent cultivation, it’s only natural for you to break through even if it took some time. I’m happy for you.”

  “Thank you, Uncle Chen. Then, I’ll go first. I just went to say hello before I climbed the coiled path.”

  “Go! Good luck with your cultivation!” Chen De cheered, meanwhile Gu Xuan just nodded his head with a smile on his face before walking away.

  He was once again, at the bottom of the mountain’s coiling path.

  He looked up the steep slope for a moment before he began climbing stably. One step at a time patiently without showing signs of impatience.

  Before he could realize it, he had already passed by a lot of lower district disciples who were doing their daily chores and had reached the Central District’s Gate.

  Standing before the Central District’s Gate, stood two disciples wearing Central District Uniforms. They wore pure white robes with fine linen unlike their coarse linen in the lower district. The crescent moon symbol in the upper left chest also stood out.

  As they saw Gu Xuan, the two disciples looked at him with a sharp gaze until one of them noticed that Gu Xuan was trying to enter through the main gates and said, “Stop! Identify yourself and why you’re entering through the main gate of the Central District! The gate for the chores is on the left side!”

  Gu Xuan stopped in his tracks and nodded towards the guard humbly before introducing himself as he cupped his fist, “My name is Gu Xuan, from the North District. I'm 14 years old and have broken through today and would like to enter the Central District to become a Central District Disciple.”

  The two guards’ eyes flickered slightly hearing that Gu Xuan had already reached the Qi Gathering Realm at the age of 14.

  When they were his age, they were still with their immature groups, chattering around as if they had no dreams.

  It wasn’t until their late twenties that they broke through to the 1st Layer.

  The guard who first spoke, lowered his tone since Gu Xuan was a possibly greater talent compared to them and said softly, “Prove it.”

  Gu Xuan had no issue and stepped onto the ground at shoulder’s length then closed his eyes.

  After taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes again and slowly shrouded his entire body with a thin layer of inner qi.

  As this happened, his entire body was wrapped with a blue colored paper thin bluish aura. This was a technique that most cultivators would learn upon breaking through to the 1st Layer of Qi Gathering Realm as if it was their instinct.

  He honestly had always wondered what it felt like when main characters in novels suddenly gain skill-like abilities.

  And after experiencing it himself, it was simply like so, a skill in a game that needed to be clicked or a light switch needing to be turned on.

  Although Gu Xuan doesn’t know how much, he could feel that this technique boosted the physical body’s strength by at least twice.

  According to other people’s chitchats in the lower district that Gu Xuan would hear from time to time, he heard that a skilled and experienced cultivator can boost their strength even 5 times but Gu Xuan hasn’t yet tried it since he was focusing on absorbing spiritual qi and refining inner qi.

  The two guards looked at Gu Xuan in amazement and returned his previous humble greeting and cupped their fists simultaneously, “Congratulations on your breakthrough, fellow disciple Gu Xuan.”

  Gu Xuan was quite surprised at their sudden change of attitude but at the same time, he was not, after all, the cultivation world followed the law of the jungle. The strong prey on the weak.

  Maybe… his previous life also followed such a rule but just on different terms.

  Because he hasn’t been quite social, he didn’t know what to say so he simply scratched the back of his head and nodded his head, “Thank you, senior brothers.”

  .

  .

  .