As soon as they arrived at the mountain, a female disciple appeared to receive them."Qiu Yan greets the Master," she said, bowing respectfully.
Lu Jie observed her closely. She wore a pristine white robe, her long black hair cascading down her back, and her brown eyes carried a rare and refined beauty.
[Name: Qiu Yan (Disciple of Elder Mei Lin)Age: 132 yearsCultivation: Ninth Level of the Circulation Realm]
"Ninth level of the Circulation Realm…" Lu Jie thought silently.
"These are the new disciples," Qiu Yan said with a cheerful smile. Her gaze lingered on Lu Jie. "Wow, this junior brother is really handsome."
"Yes. This is Lu Jie, and this is Su Li," Mei Lin replied casually. "Here is the inner sect cultivation technique and the sword flight technique."
Two streams of light materialized, delivering two scrolls to each of the new disciples.
"Qiu Yan, take your younger siblings to their cave residences and show them around the mountain," Mei Lin instructed before leaving.
They soon began walking."Over there is the arena. Many disciples spar there constantly. You can watch or participate if you wish," Qiu Yan explained, pointing to a vast open space.
The mountaintop was like an entire city, with disciples flying on swords, dueling, or chatting in small groups. Lu Jie watched everything intently. He didn't want to socialize, but knowing the layout was important.
"In the center is the sect's mission board. You can take missions to earn spirit stones and exchange them for spells or techniques," Qiu Yan continued brightly.
Su Li and Lu Jie followed her in silence until they reached the cave residences.
"You'll be staying here. My cave is right next door. Since I was the last disciple accepted by Master, I usually help my younger siblings. The Master's temple is in the center of the mountain, but she's rarely there."
"And where can we find her if needed?" Lu Jie asked.
"Hard to say… usually, you just have to wait until she returns."
"What an irresponsible master…" Lu Jie thought but didn't dare say aloud.
"Well, junior brothers and sisters, I'll leave you here. If you need me, just call… especially you," Qiu Yan said, glancing at Lu Jie with a playful smile.
"If I need anything, I'll let you know, senior sister. Thank you," Lu Jie replied politely before walking away.
Su Li watched him with an unreadable expression but said nothing.
Lu Jie had no interest in relationships for now. His goal was clear — grow stronger and pursue immortality. Maybe in the far future, when his cultivation reached a phenomenal stage, he would consider Dao companions.
After saying their farewells, Lu Jie entered his cave. It was simple but cozy: a rug in the center, a bed in the corner, and a few basic items. He sat cross-legged.
[Detected that you have chosen Mei Lin as your master and received: High-grade Mortal Movement Technique + Low-grade Mortal Spell + System Update.][Shattered Cloud Steps: A movement technique that manipulates spiritual Qi in the feet to create swift and smooth bursts, allowing the user to traverse distances as if stepping on clouds torn by the wind.]
"A movement technique… perfect," he murmured, choosing to inherit it. A flood of memories surged into his mind. He quickly mastered the technique.
"Truly amazing. Increases my speed by 70%, but the Qi consumption is high. I'll have to use it sparingly in a fight."
[Serpentine River Palm: A spiritual Qi manipulation technique that creates a flowing, winding attack resembling a river. It can curve around obstacles and strike targets from unexpected angles.]
Lu Jie inherited the spell, spending an entire day immersed in it until all its insights became his own.
"This palm technique is really strong, and it consumes less Qi than the Shattered Cloud Steps."
A new screen appeared before him.
[System update completed. New functions added.]
[Spiritual Bond Meter: Allows you to view the intensity and nature of the bond between you and other individuals. Scale: -100 to +100. Positive values indicate friendship, respect, or trust; negative values indicate distrust, hostility, or hatred. Values can change through actions, words, or significant events. Some values may be masked by powerful techniques or artifacts, showing as 'Undetermined' until the defenses are broken.]
[Primordial Echo: Reveals immutable and hidden aspects of the essence of beings and objects. The system will detect possible echoes of your essence. Analysis time: 30 days. Every 3 days, a new Primordial Echo will be detected. You can lock the Echo at any time before the deadline. After the deadline, the most compatible Echo will be fixed automatically.]
Curious, he opened the Spiritual Bond Meter and saw several names of disciples. He clicked on Su Li's profile.
[Name: Su Li (Inner disciple of the Celestial Sword Sect)Age: 25 yearsCultivation: Ninth level of the Opening RealmSpiritual Bond: +35 — FriendDescription: She finds you very attractive and, after seeing your fight in the outer sect, has become interested in you.]
"So that's it… she finds me attractive?" he thought, quickly brushing the idea aside.
He then called up his status.
[Name: Lu Jie (Inner disciple of the Celestial Sword Sect)Age: 21 yearsCultivation: First level of the Circulation Realm
Primordial Echo:Silent Stone Echo (Low) — Slightly increases resistance to spiritual attacks but reduces the rate of comprehension for new techniques.Unstable Flame Echo (Medium) — Provides a temporary boost to offensive power but hinders fine Qi control.
Cultivation Technique: Eternal Sutra Path
Movement Technique: Shattered Cloud Steps (High-grade Mortal) — Allows rapid and unpredictable movement, making it harder to be hit in combat.
Spells: Celestial Wind Slash (High-grade Mortal), Serpentine River Palm (Low-grade Mortal)
Treasures: None.]
"These echoes are terrible. From what the system mentioned, every three days new echoes will appear for thirty days. I hope I get something good in that time."
On the bond list, some disciples had values close to zero, others slightly higher, but nothing noteworthy. His bond with his master Mei Lin was at 30 — a considerable value. Lu Jie was satisfied; he had no interest in attracting too much attention anyway.
"The system can even detect Primordial Echoes… as far as I know, this is like a unique lineage factor. And the fact that the system can even modify my own Primordial Echo… just what are this system's origins?"
He pondered for a while but reached no clear conclusion. Another issue came to mind: after analyzing the sect's cultivation technique, he found it vastly inferior to the one the system had given him.
"What should I do? Risk it and keep cultivating the Eternal Sutra Path, or switch to the sect's technique?"
After much thought, he decided to keep the Eternal Sutra Path. He would use the system's concealment function to hide his technique when the time came.