Journey Towards Dao

Auslen fastened the last button on his collar before he stepped back from the mirror in self-examination.

He was wearing the standard Outer Sect uniform, a loose set of navy blue robes with a high collar. Subtle intricate patterns were faintly noticeable on the expensive linen fabrics, as well as on the pair of black boots that covered his feet. Two silver Low Grade Mystic Artifacts hung on his earlobes, and hidden within his robes, was a slim, dark green armband encircling his left upper arm, looking quite similar to his previous Soul Force-disguising ring.

“How’d I do?”

Auslen turned around to face Vincent, who was observing Auslen’s attempt at dressing himself for the first time.

“It looks fine, Your… Auslen, but it would have been faster if I—”

“Drop it, Vincent. There are other matters that I’ll need your assistance with in the future, so there’s no need for you to continue performing such a menial task. I’d far prefer that you focus on your Qi Refinement studies. You’ll be much more useful to me once you successfully become a practitioner.”

Auslen turned to walk towards the bedroom door, tightening his dark blue ribbon along the way. But before he left, he turned and gave Vincent a familiar smile.

“And besides, I’ll be seven in half a year! It’ll be embarrassing if I can’t even dress myself by then.”

…

“Why’s Vincent not coming with us?”

The similarly dressed Nathaniel was standing in the leafy yard outside their cave, seeming somewhat upset as he waited for Auslen to close the entrance.

Auslen turned around as he put away his medallion in his spatial ring, a tiny silver boat instantly replacing its previous location on his palm.

Glancing at his cousin, he explained, “Vincent’s learning how to refine Profound Qi, so he doesn’t have time to follow us all day! He’ll still be here when we come back.”

As he finished speaking, he circulated a strand of Profound Qi within his palm before throwing out the silver boat, watching as its finger-sized frame rapidly expanded to 3 meters in length, scattering a few leaves around as it floated silently just above the yard. The boat’s silver body was filled with dense patterns, emitting sparse motes of glittery light into the surroundings that were dimly illuminated by daybreak in the distant horizon.

Auslen had plenty of time over the past few months to practice with the birthday gift Tobias gave him, and he found that the boat was very easy and even enjoyable to use. This was novel, as every other time he had used a Mystic Artifact, he always found himself dead tired by the end.

However, he had noticed that this flight-type Mystic Artifact was a bit different from the Mystic Artifacts that his parents had given him. The silver boat required the usage of Soul Force as well as the consistent circulation of Profound Qi to get it working. But, that was never the case from his previous experiences.

He made a mental note to attend a Mystic Artifact Lecture whenever he had the time.

Auslen turned his gaze and smiled at his visibly jealous cousin and exclaimed, “Let’s go!”

As they were climbing into their seats, Nathaniel complained, “No fair! Why’d grandpa not give me a flying boat?”

“Maybe because you never listen to him?”

Nathaniel flushed slightly at this accusation before fearfully asking, “You’ll tell grandpa I’m being good though, right? If you don’t and he comes here to spank me, Mom and Dad won’t be around to save me! ”

Auslen chose to ignore his cousin in favor of focusing his attention on the boat, which slowly floated up higher in the air in immediate reaction. Soon after, the boat took off through the nearby trees and up the mountain at a slow pace.

Nathaniel’s fretful thoughts were quickly forgotten as he gazed outside of the boat in childish awe.

Their boat was slightly eye-catching, so Auslen chose to fly under the canopy of trees to refrain from drawing too much attention to themselves, weaving through the forest and up the mountainous terrain in silent but steady progress.

Auslen occasionally glanced at the map drawn within the Sect Handbook, reassuring himself of their current path. Their cave abode was located nearly 3/4th’s the way up the mountain, and this mountain was utterly massive. Standing at 14,000 meters in height, this Outer Sect mountain was larger than even the famed Mount Everest!

Which was why, despite the fact that the mountain held over 100,000 Outer Sect Disciples, they had yet to see a singular person thus far.

After nearly 30 minutes of meticulous flight, Auslen noticed that the cobblestone pathway transitioned to a familiar green limestone, indicating that they were within a ten minute trek from the mountain peak.

“Ok, we’re gonna walk from here!”

Auslen lowered the boat slowly before stepping off the boat, turning to see his frowning cousin refusing to leave.

“We still have a little more to go! I still wanna fly!”

Good fucking Heavens.

“Grandpa said to listen to me! Do you want me to tell him that you didn’t follow his instructions?”

Nathaniel was out of the boat before Auslen even finished his sentence.

Smiling brightly, Auslen put away the now shrunken boat before grabbing the sulking boy’s hand. Then, the two walked up the limestone path as they advanced towards their appointed destination.

…

Perhaps due to the early hour, the mountain peak was not nearly as crowded as it was the day prior. However, there were still quite a few disciples that the two children had to maneuver around as they walked along the paths.

Beautiful plots of carefully maintained flowers accentuated the numerous buildings and palaces that Auslen and Nathaniel passed by. And as they continued to wind through the Outer Sect, the surrounding scenery grew more and more magnificent.

“Wait for a sec.”

Nathaniel obediently stopped as Auslen pulled out his Sect Handbook once more to gauge their location.

After looking around at the pavilion of numerous buildings surrounding them, Auslen smiled before pulling Nathaniel towards the direction of his gaze.

Soon, they arrived in front of a gigantic, four-story building, the glazed brick exterior shimmering under the early morning sunlight. The entire bottom floor seemed to be completely open-air, appearing to be held stable with only the help of generously dispersed pilasters. The tiled roof was lined with an exaggerated number of chimneys, a couple of which spewing out dense plumes of black smoke.

And written on the large, wooden sign-board in bright golden letters was the name: Elixir Refinement Hall.

Auslen and Nathaniel walked up to the Elixir Refinement Hall alongside one of the four wide pathways that connected to each side of the uniquely styled building. And at the end of the pathway were two older Outer Sect Disciples, seemingly standing guard as they examined the Identity Medallions of the few people who had entered briefly before them.

Once it was their turn to be inspected, a long-faced, middle-aged disciple looked down towards them questioningly.

“You two must be here for your Outer Sect Appointment. Is that correct?”

At the sight of both of the kids’ bobbing heads, the man extended his hands, saying, “Then I’ll need to check your Identity Medallions.”

After receiving their medallions, the male disciple placed each of them to his forehead one at a time in silence before nodding to them in smiling permittance.

“You both may enter. Just head inside and go straight up the stairs to the second floor, where you should immediately see the reception area towards your left. You'll have to wait there until your appointment managing Elder comes to assign you your duties. Most the others have already arrived before you two, so it shouldn’t be hard to miss.

“I’ll be the first to welcome you both to the Elixir Refinement Hall! It’s good to see some new faces. Consider yourselves lucky for being assigned such a highly desired appointment.”

After he finished his welcoming speech, he waved Auslen and Nathaniel through before moving on to the next awaiting disciple.

…

Auslen led Nathaniel into the building, the soothing fragrance of flowers and plants growing stronger as they made their way up a huge flight of marbled stairs.

Once they ascended to the second floor, Auslen glanced to his left to see a group of disciples congregating within a sizable seating area.

There were around a dozen children sitting there, silently whispering amongst themselves. The youngest of them seemed to be around Auslen and Nathaniel’s age, but none of them looked any older than the age of 12 or 13.

He also noticed that a number of them were repeatedly glancing in his and Nathaniel's direction, but Auslen ignored their secretive gazes as he considered his next move.

He had no clue what they would be doing as Refining Assistants or how their new lifestyle would be like at the Sect, but he knew from experience that making friends at a new job was never a bad call.

And this isolated child seems to be the easiest targe— I mean, the perfect choice for my and Nathaniel’s first friend within the Sect!

Auslen glanced back at his cousin, who suddenly seemed a bit shy, before pulling him towards a mostly empty couch. The only other disciple occupying the couch was a auburn-haired girl, with some particularly chubby cheeks, sitting near the end. She was sitting quietly among the group with her head to her lap, looking to be around seven or eight years old.

Despite her withdrawn presence, something about the child exhibited a certain sophistication that the other children lacked.

Their narrowing proximity seemed to startle the girl out of her stupor, causing her to hesitantly glance up towards the two boys before quickly averting her gaze.

Auslen sat on the other end of the small couch, forcing the slightly unwilling Nathaniel to sit in the center.

Bending over, Auslen looked across his cousin directly into the girl’s startled brown eyes.

Whispering like the other children, Auslen introduced himself, “Hi! My name is Auslen, and this is my cousin.”

Auslen’s subtle finger jab cleared his cousin’s nervous thoughts. His face reddened as he shyly whispered, “My… name’s Nathaniel.”

Seeing Miss Chubby-cheeks’ visibly anxious silence, Auslen graciously supplied, “And what’s your name?”

She averted her gaze, face also reddening before she finally replied, “Mia. My name’s Mia.”

Suddenly seeming to have gotten over his bashfulness at the sound of her timid response, Nathaniel laughed before replying, “Nice to meet you, Mia! Where —”

“I’m pleased that all of the new disciples have arrived punctually.”

Interrupting the whispers, a black-robed, thin man of average height came down from the nearby stairs. He looked middle-aged, with slightly loose white skin, a full head of graying hair, and a surprising long beard.

Without much ceremony, he somewhat impatiently waved one of his wide sleeves and said, “Follow me! I’ll give you all a brief tour through the second level of the Elixir Refinement Hall before separating you into groups and assigning tasks. Come.”

With that, he turned and started walking at a brisk pace without even making sure if they were following after him.

The disciples hurriedly jumped from their seats in pursuit while Auslen alighted from the couch with Nathaniel.

Auslen was getting ready to invite the little girl along with them, but it seemed like he did not need to work as hard on this new friendship as he previously expected, as Nathaniel was quite enthusiastic about the idea.

“Come on, Mia. Let’s go together!”

Mia nodded shyly before scooching off the couch, walking fast with the two boys until they eventually caught up with the black-robed man.

Sensing that everyone had caught up, the middle-aged man began to speak.

“This Elixir Refinement Hall is one of five identical halls, separated between each of the five Outer Sect mountains. This Hall, in particular, accommodates over ten-thousand apprentice Alchemists, in addition to the nearly eight-hundred true Alchemists…”

While the man was speaking, Auslen observed the interior of the Hall.

The interior seemed very clerical and bare. It was deceptively narrow, and not much furniture was placed in the open space.

However, many large obsidian-stone doors lined the wall, distinctly contrasting the stark-white interior as the doors extended down the Hall.

“The lower floor is purely designed for leisure and reception. The next two floors house a total of 1000 Elixir Refinement Chambers, which Alchemist apprentices share by scheduling their time slots in advance.

“The fourth floor is reserved for true Alchemists, however, you all have no need to worry about that level. Your duties will only encompass the second or third floors.”

As he finished speaking, they had stopped at a large desk, similar to the desk that Old Lu used and one of the only pieces of furniture within viewing distance. Their “tour” seemed to have just come to an anticlimactic end.

After sitting behind the desk, the man grabbed a pen and paper and looked up at the children in front of him.

“I'm an Outer Sect Elder, and you all may refer to me as Elder Lin. Now, it’s time that I assign the tasks that each of you will carry out for the foreseeable future.”