Chapter 4

Fang Tannan knew that the reason for his treatment was not only due to the unfriendly nature of the outer sect steward, but more fundamentally, the sect did not value those who advanced to the outer sect through a thousand contribution points as much as those who were promoted due to their outstanding talent and potential shown during the tests.

The path of cultivation is indeed extremely difficult. Without a certain level of talent and potential, the chance of becoming a master through sheer effort alone is exceedingly slim.

However, for Fang Tannan, becoming an outer sect disciple of the Green Cloud Sect marked a new beginning. A new residence awaited him to move into, and a new life with new challenges awaited him to adapt to and experience.

He carefully examined the information on the plaque, which was similar to the identity token, including his name, bone age, and contribution points that had been reset to zero. The thousand contribution points he previously had were gone, but in return, he would receive the sect's regular benefits as an outer sect disciple, which could be claimed once a month.

These benefits included elixirs and martial techniques.

As for the identity token representing ordinary disciples, it had been reclaimed by the sect. Fang Tannan had no reason to be disappointed; the plaque and token, though differing by only one character, symbolized different statuses. As long as his status as an outer sect disciple remained, the sect's benefits would not disappear.

If he wanted to obtain items beyond the basic benefits from the sect, he would need to earn contribution points through his own efforts and exchange them with the sect. If he could not break through to the Human Essence Realm by the age of thirty, he would have two options.

The first was to leave the sect voluntarily and return to the ordinary world to live out the rest of his life; the second was to take up a position within the sect and continue to contribute to its development. To be precise, the position held by the familiar Shopkeeper Meng was of this type.

In short, the sect did not support those who were of no use.

These rules were all written in the "New Disciple Handbook." Additionally, it was clearly stated that on the first day of each month, benefits could be claimed from the Green Cloud Pavilion, and on the last day of each month, the outer sect steward would arrange accommodation for all newly promoted outer sect disciples. The rights and obligations of outer sect disciples when facing other sect members were also clearly detailed.

Fang Tannan needed to read through all these details carefully.

...

Leaving the grand and magnificent square, he turned down a relatively wide street and entered a dark and damp alley, eventually arriving at a row of low, old, and dilapidated houses. Fang Tannan pushed open the wooden door on the easternmost side and walked in.

By this time, the sky had gradually darkened. The winding alley was eerily quiet.

Inside Fang Tannan's room, an oil lamp was lit. The neighboring houses were inhabited by ordinary disciples of the Green Cloud Sect, who had varying amounts of contribution points. Over the past three years, Fang Tannan had witnessed new disciples move into such houses with great enthusiasm and others who could not withstand the harsh passage of time and left.

Some disciples liked to gather in groups, while Fang Tannan was accustomed to the solitude. Just like the pitch-black night, the room was silent. Only the flickering flame of the oil lamp, like Fang Tannan's proud heart, declared its defiance to the darkness.

Sitting on a wooden bed against the wall, in front of Fang Tannan was only a wooden table and a chair. The room's furnishings were extremely simple.

After some thought, Fang Tannan took out two small crystals from his pocket, which were the light stones he had exchanged with Shopkeeper Meng. However, he had originally carried four, in case of emergencies. Now, only two remained. One was no different from the one he had traded with Shopkeeper Meng, while the other was much more lustrous.

Fang Tannan's acquisition of these light stones was purely accidental, just like his unexpected discovery of the third-stage Earth Dragon's tail, which had delighted him immensely.

This happened in a secluded valley within the Netherworld Mountains. Although it was called secluded, it was not entirely so. The Netherworld Mountains were vast, and at almost any time, young disciples from the Green Cloud Sect, the Blue Sea Sect, and the Taihang Gang would be traversing them, hunting low-level demonic beasts and searching for various herbs and minerals.

The valley Fang Tannan entered appeared to be rarely visited, if at all.

What led Fang Tannan into the valley was a mid-rank first-stage demonic beast, the Moon Illusion Fox. At the time, Fang Tannan was carefully pursuing the Moon Illusion Fox, but due to its speed, it quickly disappeared into the dense grass, managing to escape. Fang Tannan was quite frustrated, regretting the loss of two contribution points, when he suddenly noticed Yin-Yang Grass growing on a cliff face in the valley. The key point was that some of the Yin-Yang Grass was behaving abnormally in the wind.

Out of curiosity, Fang Tannan cautiously discovered a hidden cave on the cliff face. The entrance was narrow, requiring him to crawl in. The cave was not deep, and there were a few glowing points, which turned out to be light stones. At the time, Fang Tannan did not know what these small crystals were.

What surprised Fang Tannan was that when he touched one of the light stones, he could distinctly feel warm energy from the crystal nourishing his meridians and even seeping into his blood.

When the surface of the crystal stopped glowing, the warm energy also disappeared. When Fang Tannan picked up a new light stone, he found that the absorption of energy was much slower and eventually became imperceptible.

Fang Tannan immediately realized that these light stones must be something extraordinary. He carefully searched the cave for all the glowing crystals, collecting a total of fifteen, including the one that had been absorbed. Later, he exchanged the light stones with Shopkeeper Meng for contribution points.

First, he was genuinely curious about the specific name and function of the crystals. Second, the light stones that had already been absorbed by him would not change even if held again, and he wanted to understand the reason.

Moreover, when he exchanged the light stones, he used the ones that had already been used. Unexpectedly, he learned their name and purpose, but they were of little use to him. Fang Tannan was surprised that his body could absorb the energy from the light stones, which most martial artists could not.

This left Fang Tannan feeling helpless, unsure whether to lament his mediocre talent or to be grateful for his unique constitution.

Even more surprising was that Shopkeeper Meng could not tell that the light stones had already been absorbed, which was quite unexpected. Even the elaborate story he had prepared was unnecessary. It seemed that the properties of the light stones were very deceptive to most martial artists.

...

After learning the characteristics of the light stones from Shopkeeper Meng, Fang Tannan decided that he would only take them out in public if absolutely necessary or if he had enough strength to ensure that it would not attract the covetous eyes of other martial artists.

At the same time, Fang Tannan discovered that although he had absorbed more than one light stone in the valley, his body had reached saturation. However, when he returned to Green Cloud Town and held the light stone again, he subconsciously felt a subtle absorption of energy.

It was just not as smooth as when he absorbed the first light stone.

Through continuous experimentation, Fang Tannan gradually understood that once his internal energy was consumed or his cultivation level advanced, he could still absorb the energy from new light stones. In other words, his body was like a large container, and as long as the energy inside was consumed or the container grew larger, he could add more energy.

Thus, over the next month, Fang Tannan absorbed the energy from about one and a half light stones, and his strength successfully advanced from the Bright Force stage to the Dark Force stage.

Thinking that he only had one and a half months left until his 18th birthday, Fang Tannan re-entered the Netherworld Mountains. After nearly a month of searching for exchange materials, he subconsciously thought about visiting the valley where he had found the light stones.

It was not that he was hoping to find more light stones. He had searched the area thoroughly the first time, and Shopkeeper Meng had explained that light stones could only be formed in special environments. Fang Tannan suspected that light stones would not appear in other places besides that cave.

However, over the past month, Fang Tannan had noticed that after absorbing the warm energy from the light stones, his own energy seemed to have changed in nature. Originally, the energy he cultivated had no specific attributes.

This was why his talent was assessed as ordinary.

Generally, martial artists with outstanding talent would exhibit certain energy attributes when they cultivated their energy. Common attributes included the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, while less common ones included wind, lightning, and ice. A few martial artists might even exhibit more than one energy attribute.

In essence, all types of energy attributes were equal, but the strength of the energy attributes exhibited by the internal energy indicated the talent of the martial artist. The purer the energy attribute, the more outstanding the talent, and the brighter the future in cultivation.

Over the past month, while digging for first-stage herbs, Fang Tannan did not notice a significant change in his energy attributes. However, when he killed a high-rank first-stage demonic beast, the Bone-Eroding Worm, he clearly felt that the energy he released had a Yang attribute.

Could this be due to absorbing the energy from the light stones?

Fang Tannan was secretly delighted. During his training in the Netherworld Mountains, he never forgot to absorb the energy from the light stones and successfully absorbed another one. Thus, besides the one he had traded with Shopkeeper Meng two months ago, he now had three more light stones that had been completely absorbed.