Chapter Fifty-One: The Three Great Powers

Dao Sansheng could not understand it—why would just his name make people run away so fast? He wasn’t some bringer of plague. Finally, after much difficulty, the two of them found the registration office. Even the registrar's expression changed slightly upon hearing Dao Sansheng’s name.

Seeing everyone’s odd reactions, Dao Sansheng immediately suspected this was Tu Tianxiong’s revenge. He had played a trick on that man, and Tu would surely not take it lying down.

Once the formalities were completed, the registrar handed them their tokens and said, “You may now find your own cave dwelling in the rear mountain, or build one yourself—either is fine.” With that, Dao Sansheng and Chao Xiong took their tokens and left.

Since the registration was done, it was time to find a cave dwelling. The two of them headed for the rear mountain and took out their tokens. Tiny lights appeared on the tokens, indicating which caves were already occupied. The two would have to find an uninhabited one.

After half an hour of searching, they only managed to find a spot in a corner—the cave with the thinnest spiritual energy in the entire inner sect. But Dao Sansheng didn’t care. Chao Xiong followed Dao Sansheng’s lead in all things and took the cave next door.

As the two approached the caves and parted ways, Dao Sansheng entered his cave and found himself quite satisfied. It was far superior to what he had in the outer sect. The entire Forge Heaven Valley was a natural vein of ore, one of the reasons the sect’s founder had established the school here.

The place Dao Sansheng now occupied was a natural mineral vein, though not as valuable as those already developed by the sect. The cave was clean and well-furnished, complete with a formation to protect the occupant during cultivation—a thoughtful benefit.

The cave wasn’t large; it had a bedroom, a spirit beast chamber, a storeroom, and even a bathing chamber with a natural hot spring. From the mist rising inside, there was even a trace of spiritual energy—clearly no common spring. In fact, of all the caves in the mountain, only this one had a hot spring infused with spiritual energy.

Dao Sansheng hadn’t expected that a random choice would yield such a hidden blessing.

After a night of meditation, Dao Sansheng felt that the inner sect’s spiritual energy was at least double that of the outer sect. Today, he planned to visit the inner sect’s library. Newcomers were allowed to borrow three fundamental techniques—something he’d read in the rule booklet given to him at registration.

Unbeknownst to him, as he left his cave, a beautiful young woman was already standing gracefully at his doorstep. Her skin was like creamy jade, and she was tall and elegant, unable to hide the joy on her face.

“Dao Sansheng, did you really think I couldn’t find you? It was nothing for me to get in. I almost left after failing to find you these past days, but as luck would have it, here you are at last.”

Following the directions in his booklet, Dao Sansheng descended the mountain to a tower at its base—the inner sect’s library. He entered. It was just after opening, and few people were inside. Yet, when others saw him from afar, they quietly moved away.

At the library’s entrance sat a slovenly old man, who looked as though he’d just awoken and hadn’t washed his face, recording names at the counter. Everyone else kept their distance, but when he saw the teenage Dao Sansheng approach, his curiosity was piqued—he’d heard rumors about this youth. He rubbed his eyes, and after detecting Dao Sansheng’s twin opposed spiritual roots, his interest quickly faded—clearly, this was not the person he was waiting for.

Dao Sansheng handed over his token; the old man didn’t even look at it. “Three books,” he said, waving Dao Sansheng away.

Dao Sansheng took back his token and entered. The tower had three floors. The first was for ordinary disciples and housed only basic techniques. The second, for elite disciples, contained more advanced methods. The third was reserved for true disciples and safeguarded the Forge Heaven Valley’s most prized treasures.

Dao Sansheng wandered the first floor for a long time. So many basic techniques; he wanted to learn them all, but could only take three. Even using his cultivation lens, which could only help him check the grade of the texts, was little help—all of them were of the same grade.

After much deliberation, Dao Sansheng decided to follow the crowd and chose Levitation Technique, The Compendium of Spiritual Herbs, and The Compendium of Ores. It was best to go with the popular choices; others could be taken later. After copying the books at the old man’s desk, Dao Sansheng returned to his cave.

He was unaware that, at that very moment, everyone in the library was discussing him, passing around news of what had happened in the archive.

As he approached his cave, he saw from a distance a beautiful silhouette at his door—so familiar, yet he couldn’t recall who it was. It was odd, too, since he’d just entered the inner sect and only knew Chao Xiong.

The figure turned, and the sight of that lovely, smiling face nearly made Dao Sansheng collapse. That face was all too familiar—it was the woman who had ruined his reputation and nearly driven him to leap from a flying beast.

“Aren’t you surprised?” Li Zihong laughed, pulling Dao Sansheng—who was sitting on the ground—upright.

Dao Sansheng stayed on the ground, too scared to get up, staring at her in terror, unsure what scheme she was plotting now.

“Look how frightened you are,” Li Zihong said with a playful tap of her finger on his forehead. “I came to tell you that I’m now an inner sect disciple of Forge Heaven Valley, too. Remember, senior brother, that you now have a junior sister!” With that, she soared into the air and vanished from sight.

“Senior brother, why are you sitting on the ground?” Chao Xiong came over, puzzled to see Dao Sansheng seated on the dirt in front of his cave.

“It’s too hot inside, and it’s cooler out here, so I’m just relaxing. Would you like to join me, Chao Xiong?”

Chao Xiong was a bit embarrassed by this—at their level of cultivation, one generally didn’t feel hot or cold, except in the harshest environments.

“Senior brother, I came to ask your advice. There are three major powers in the inner sect. One is the Heavenly Treasure Sect, made up of members from the great families. Another is the Martial Honor Society, the force controlled by each successive valley master. The last is the Forge Pavilion, formed by those who can’t or won’t join the other two.”

“It’s said the founder of the Forge Pavilion has an interesting story, but he’s no longer in this world.”

“I won’t join any of them,” Dao Sansheng replied. “I’m here to cultivate, not to get involved in power struggles.”

“You misunderstand, senior brother,” Chao Xiong said. “Cultivation requires vast resources. We join these groups to better obtain those resources. The three major powers control more than half the sect’s industries on the continent. They hand a third of their profits to the sect, and the rest becomes cultivation resources for their members. If we don’t join, we get nothing. The sect gives inner disciples no resources, but the major powers’ benefits are considerable.”

Listening to Chao Xiong’s explanation, Dao Sansheng finally understood: without joining one of the three powers, he’d have no access to resources, and without resources, his cultivation would lag behind. It seemed he had no choice.

After hearing Chao Xiong’s descriptions and weighing his options, Dao Sansheng realized that only the Forge Pavilion would accept him—the other two would surely not.

“I’ll join the Forge Pavilion. You can join whichever one you like.”

Chao Xiong nodded, but added, “Actually, the Martial Honor Society is quite good. I hear Tu Tianxiong values talent and their benefits surpass those of the Forge Pavilion. You get along with him, don’t you?”

“It’s too chilly out here. I might catch a cold with the sudden change. I’ll head back inside. If you don’t need anything else, you should go back too.”

Dao Sansheng didn’t want to discuss his history with Tu Tianxiong, so he simply returned to his cave.