“You seem dissatisfied.”

William couldn’t deny that, but neither could he admit it. Lan Yin’s cruel decisiveness slapped the reality of this world into his face, telling him that he had been lulled into complacency with the relative normalcy of the cultivators around him.

He had blocked out how Li Xinyue casually asked her master if she could kill him.

“I suppose you thought the mortal didn’t deserve death.”

Instead of saying anything that might be seen as arguing with Lan Yin, William shrugged weakly. He said, “Senior Lan said they broke the rules….”

“I had doubts whether you would walk the road of cultivation, but that has been erased. Let me give you some advice, Little Wei Liang. Do not try to form friendships with mortals. It is destined to be fruitless.”

William shifted as he thought of Wang Xiaoling, knowing he couldn’t suddenly cut ties with her, even if she was a petty miser.

“As for the mortal I killed, he fooled you. He was hoping to show off that so-called skill he was so proud of,” Lan Yin rolled her eyes, suddenly changing her image from a cruel but wise elder to a teen, “As if my Sect lacks such meager talent.”

“Fooled me?” William repeated in shock as he tried to think about any signs of deceit from Cao Rui.

Lan Yin hummed in confirmation before saying, “A manager informed me that some workers were sneaking into the forbidden area a few days after I left you there. And the one leading them was a man who always boasted loudly about his ‘skill’ to everyone who would listen. You were his target, not the spirit fruits.”

William recalled some strange occurrences he had assumed were due to Cao Rui’s kindness. An overly generous trade that bordered on dangerous if one didn’t have sufficient knowledge of spirit plants. Unreasonable indulgence toward him, a boy that had appeared out of nowhere and was quickly allowed to ‘guard’ their pickings with little care. And the most glaring, a kindness that, on second thought, seemed far too similar to bribery to buy his appreciation.

Of course, this could be William’s newfound doubts influencing his thoughts.

“What did he expect me to do? I have no power here, Senior Lan.”

“You don’t,” Lan Yin agreed bluntly, “But that mortal must have heard you were in contact with me. It wasn’t a secret that I took you away from Shao Jun.”

William grimaced but stayed silent. All of this sounded like assumptions, but that was enough for Lan Yin to eliminate Cao Rui.

“Enough about the mortal. What did you decide about Elder Huang’s offer?”

Lan Yin’s impatient tone told William that talking about Cao Rui would no longer be tolerated. With a strained smile, William said, “I would be honored to take the test, Senior Lan.”

“I see,” Lan Yin pursed her lips before sighing, “I understand the appeal of joining my Jade Healing Sect, but there will be few that can bring out the potential of your constitution.”

“I understand, but I can’t reject Elder Huang’s kindness,” William insisted, thinking Lan Yin didn’t want him to accept due to her dislike of him, or at least that’s what he thought. He really couldn’t be sure, with her expression mostly being blank.

“Gratitude is a worthwhile trait,” Lan Yin commented before adding, “If you pass the test and gain a place in the Sect, I’ll help you search for a suitable master to guide you. Allowing your talent to go to waste would be regrettable.”

William stared at Lan Yin with more than a little shock. His assumption that she disliked him was proved wrong immediately when she volunteered to help him.

“Thank you, Senior Lan,” William felt guilty that his displeasure at Cao Rui getting killed was quickly disappearing. He thought of himself as much better than the natives, but a little praise was apparently all that was needed to change his thoughts.

He forced himself off that line of thinking and realized they had been traveling for well over ten minutes. The trip to the forbidden area took far less than that.

“Are we leaving the Garden?”

“Hm,” Lan Yin nodded, “We’re heading to the Jade Healing Sect, where your testing will take place. Speaking of which, you’ll need to be in peak condition before the testing.”

“Will I get to take a Vitality Restoration Pill?” William asked with hope, eager for the constant pain to end.

“You’ve taken too many of those pills,” Lan Yin said while shaking her head, “In addition to that, you have been eating spirit plants for the past few weeks. Unless absolutely necessary, you should wait until your body recovers before taking immortal pills.”

William’s mood brightened even more, thankful that the experience reduction would only be temporary.

“When will that be, Senior Lan?”

“It depends on the individual,” Lan Yin answered impatiently, “I’ve talked with Elder Huang and let him know you are taking the test. As for when you can go back to Xuanjing City? It would depend on your luck.”

William nodded in acknowledgment as he picked up a couple things from what she said. The first was that all the talk of choosing to join a Sect other than the Jade Healing Sect was false since she had informed Elder Huang he would be taking the test before asking him. The second was luck.

The former wasn’t surprising since which Sect would want to strengthen its competitors? As for the latter, he mentally kicked himself for forgetting about adding points to his Luck attribute.

Name: Wei Liang (William Davis)

Age: 13

Level: 10

Experience: 1116/1250

Cultivation: Mortal

Health: 366/870

Strength: 20 (16)

Stamina: 10 (8)

Agility: 20 (16)

Luck: 1 (1)

Points: 21

As much as he wished to dump all of the points into Luck immediately, that would mean he wouldn’t be able to increase his Stamina if needed, especially since he wouldn’t be getting more stat points till level eleven, and eating more spirit fruits wasn’t wise.

“Senior Lan, could you tell me more about the test? What will I have to do?”

“The details are a secret, even to candidates that have Elders in the Sect,” Lan Yin replied in a bored tone as she looked off into the distance.

That was no help, and as much as he wished to probe Lan Yin, she already sounded fed up answering his questions. William would have to save ten stat points in case of an emergency.

[+11 Luck]

William was a little disappointed that the increase in Luck didn’t reduce the negative effects of his traits, but he supposed it made sense. The RNG was based on your luck, and his current traits had a consistent, flat effect.

“Here we are,” Lan Yin announced with a smile as she stood up.

William felt the spirit boat slowly descend and looked down before his breath hitched at the beautiful sight.

It was a drastic change from being surrounded by farmland and cannibal bunnies. Even the wonder of seeing Xuanjing City was nothing compared to this. He thought the Jade Healing Sect was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen.

It was a sprawling, intricately designed oasis nestled within a lush, mountainous landscape. The majority of the Sect’s buildings were situated at the foot of a tall mountain range, with the towering peaks providing a natural fortress-like defense against intruders.

Even from far up in the sky, William could see the main entrance to the Sect, a grand, imposing gatehouse made of jade stones, standing tall and proud at the foot of the mountain. As they descended closer to the ground, he lost sight of the inner structures but could now see a crowd of children accompanied by retainers, a majority looking to be in the range of ten to fifteen.

“Are they all taking the test too?”

“Of course not,” Lan Yin chuckled, “Each day, scores of mortals from Qingyun City travel here. It’s either due to sickness, or they hope to get lucky and enter the Sect if an Elder notices them.”

“Oh,” William stared at some children kowtowing near the gates.

“I have heard of a genius discovered a few hundred years ago, so it’s not too rare.”

William’s lips twitched at how Lan Yin called once in a few hundred years as ‘not rare.’ He was curious about how old Lan Yin was to say something like that, but he didn’t dare to ask.

“Follow, Little Wei Liang,” Lan Yin ordered when the spirit boat landed, “I’ll lead you to the clinic. The faster you are healed, the faster you can take the test.”