There was a secret in the outer sect. The inner sect either didn't know much about it, or they couldn't easily get involved. At least the matriarch couldn't.

Could there have been more to sending him here than merely keeping him in the sect?

Lin Yang studied the model of the hill the sect was set on. He was mostly interested in the centre of the sect, where the elder's council and the ancestral hall were set. He thought of multiple scenarios he'd face when he reached there.

Behind him, the other three found a table to wallow at together. Yu Tangming had her head buried in her hands. Yu Mo was playing with a sharp object and the table, and Ru Gou was looking around the bustling first floor of the pavilion with a distracted gaze.

The three of them couldn't get anything from the first floor, and they didn't have the points to go higher, so they had nothing better to do. Perhaps the clarity was hitting now, at least for Tangming, who seemed to be the most practical.

Lin Yang went and joined them at the table. 

“I'm sorry,” he said, mostly looking towards Tangming.

The girl shrugged without lifting her head. “About what?!” she kind of snapped. “We didn't do anything we regret.”

That was debatable. He wanted to say something more, but he didn't know how to broach the subject yet. There was something seriously wrong with elder Hao Feng and the general state of affairs in the outer sect. But since things were already this messed up, he could as well try to find a way to cultivate.

He went to look through the manuals deemed useless by the sect. The first manual he saw had him frowning.

‘Yang enhancement technique,’ it said on the cover, and he knew this was not for him.

‘Blood essence enhancement technique,’ read the second. It had quite a lot of promise.

‘Fight and flight technique,’ said the third. 

These kinds of techniques weren't true martial arts techniques. They merely enabled one to start consciously feeling and manipulating their qi. Of course there were exercises for this kind of thing, but Lin Yang didn't have time to start cultivating from scratch. Besides, he had a system to gloss over these kinds of issues.

He sat at the table with the other four and opened the book. It showed methods of training, of scaring the body enough to produce fear and then starting from there. Lin Yang started worrying if he needed to do all this to learn the technique as well, when —

You can spend ripple points to learn a skill once certain conditions met. Conditions depend on skill. Do you want to learn skill, fight and flight technique? Y/N? (0.3 ripple points required)

Lin Yang froze with his eyes wide, but only for a moment. He only needed to spend such a negligible amount of ripple points to learn a new skill? It was too much of a good thing. It probably depended on the level and strength of the skill.

Skill learned: Fight and flight technique(lvl.0-upgradable): marginally increases physical strength and speed during stressful situations.

Fight and flight technique (lvl.0-upgradable)- (upgrade?: requires 0.5 ripple points)

Lin Yang chose to upgrade it. He'd wanted to see how these ripple points worked.

Fight and flight technique (lvl.1- max level): Increases physical strength and speed during stressful situations. (upgrade?: requires 1 ripple points)

The description had changed only by removing the word marginally. But the skill was still functionally the same. But it said this first level was the maximum level, yet it still gave him an option to upgrade? That was strange.

He still had ripple points, and he wasn't using them for anything just then, so he clicked upgrade.

Fight and flight technique (level cap exceeded) Increases physical strength and speed in stressful situations.

Your cultivation realm has advanced.

Lin Yang's heart skipped a bit. It was always a long shot, but it worked out in the end. And he'd apparently exceeded the level cap of this admittedly weak skill. Did that mean he could upgrade even stronger skills later past level caps? It was something to look forward to. But first—

Current realm: Initiate realm first layer.

Already he could feel the difference in his very bones. He could feel a type of energy he'd never felt before, and his limbs and body were suddenly easier to move.

“What's got you all excited?” Yu Tangming asked him, and that was when he remembered he wasn't alone.

He couldn't tell them he'd started getting his cultivation back already, could he? It was kind of a hard and suspicious subject to broach. He was supposed to be injured and healing very slowly over the next months. 

Of course he'd told them getting back his cultivation wasn't a problem, so it made sense to get it back in a few days. But starting to cultivate a few minutes after entering the pavilion? And without even fulfilling the conditions of the technique.

“I'm done reading this little technique. It's quite easy to perform overall. I think I'll be back cultivating in a few days tops.”

“Is that so? Well, let's get out of here then,” Tangming said with a wary voice.

Everyone knew they were in the pavilion, and their enemies were probably waiting for them just on the path. 

“No, wait a second, Tangming. Tell me what elder Hao was talking about? Why were you guys hiding your intent to join the inner sect?”

Tangming got off her seat explosively. “You can't join the inner sect unless elder Hao favours you, alright!”

Lin Yang frowned. While he didn't know the procedure of joining the inner sect, he couldn't believe it was controlled so directly by an outer sect elder. In the first place, this elder shouldn't be the one who oversaw the trial.

“How would an outer sect elder control the trial to join the inner sect?” he asked.

“Well, you have to survive until the trial if he doesn't favour you. The trial is not a daily thing. It takes months for slots to appear, and during that time, there are a lot of ways for Hao Feng to deal with you, if he doesn't like or know you. Like he almost dealt with you only a few hours after you joined the outer sect. So we had to hide ourselves. Besides, he distributes resources, he approves how many contribution points everyone gets per task. He controls the lives of the outer sect.”

The situation wasn't very complicated, but also very complicated. Elder Hao was the only elder of the outer sect. He was the sole authority there, and perhaps his power was getting to his head. But to blatantly act this way… There must have been more to the man's confidence.

“So what is the plan now? To go back into the hideout…and what? Sleep there?” Lin Yang asked. 

Tangming sat back down heavily, her shoulders sagging. “What choice do we have?”

All four of them were quiet for a moment.

“We can go to the inner sect,” Ru Gou, the reticent giant spoke, surprising Lin Yang quite a bit.

“What do you mean go to the inner sect?” Tangming seemed to find her energy again. “You always want to go to the inner sect! Do you think it's that easy?!”

“Hey, let him dream,” Yu Mo said, looking at the giant fondly.

“But you always said if you ever got the chance to talk to the young master…” Ru Gou said, looking at Lin Yang the whole time. But then the giant noticed Tangming's dangerous stare; and even a generally clueless guy couldn't continue talking.

“No, no,” Lin Yang stepped in. “Ru Gou is right. Maybe I can help deal with this matter.”

‘And now I have an excuse to return to the inner sect!’ he thought to himself.

But using the skill enhancement system function took ripple points. It was safe to assume the realm travel function also cost ripple points. Perhaps he should harvest a little before going. He knew all he could about the mission, and now was the time to act. 

Staying in the sect any longer would simply be a detriment.

“But your master isn't here,” Tangming said. “You've lost your cultivation, and you don't want to return to Luoyin hall, right? So then…”

“I have other contacts in the sect. But before that…”

He walked toward the exit that faced the outer sect. On the opposite side was another exit that led straight to the inner sect.

He stood at the double doors and watched the crowds on the usually empty path.

He walked out until he was as close as he dared to get to the crowd, without leaving the safety of the pavilion courtyard. Then he put his foot up as if to take another step.

“I'm so close,” he said loudly. “But you can't touch me. Wow, I thought I was a waste. How come I suddenly feel invincible?! Untouchable? Don't agree? Why don't you come and get me then?”

Ripple points obtained (anger): 0.1 (Hong LI)

…

Ripple points obtained (anger) : 0.1 (Xiao Rou)

“You spineless bastards. Aren't you angry? Outraged?!”

Ripple points obtained (anger) : 0.1 (Lan Kai)

“Lin Yang you cowardly piece of shit!” someone in the crowd screamed.

“If you are so brave, why don't you try taking a few more steps?!”

“From today, you'll never have peace in the outer sect. Otherwise our hatred will not be settled!”

“Courting death!”

Ripple points obtained (anger)...

Ripple points: 5.3021

He'd gained almost two ripple points in a few moments. A great investment of his time and energy. And his taunting was getting better, albeit just a little bit.

“What was that for?” Tangming asked him as they made their way towards the inner sect entrance.

“Just because. It feels good taunting a defeated foe,” he said. And the ripple points weren't bad as well.

“That's unexpectedly childish of you…” Tangming said in a distracted voice.

As expected they were oggled like monkeys in a zoo when they walked through the inner sect. Not because of the other three. It was common enough for outer disciples to enter the inner sect for work or whatever.

But Lin Yang was with them. As expected, he needed to leave this sect where everyone knew him if he wanted to live with peace of mind. 

Elder Bai used to be a disciple of Luoyin hall, but to become a sect elder he'd been given a hall of his own. The Hanli hall was not too different from the Luoyin hall.

Here and there disciples trained. There was an area behind the training grounds reserved for sleeping quarters, and there was a two floor high pavilion for the hall elder. But elder Bai didn't like to stay in his pavilion. He had a little hut he'd ordered built when he took over. All the better to keep his casks company throughout the night.

“I noticed you kept looking towards the elder council while we walked here?” Yu Tangming said.

Lin Yang thought about it, but there was no merit in denying it. He nodded.

“How are you going to get there now? We can't get back to the outer sect, so…”

“Don't worry about it,” Lin Yang said. 

He was going to get to the ancestral hall the next day, by hook or crook. He already had five odd ripple points, and he was already exhausted after three days in the sect, in this world. He needed a vacation.

A door was slammed open in front of them. Elder Bai peeked out with a wide smile.

“Xiao Lin…you are here?!” elder Bai said in his usual slurry voice. 

He could barely stand without the aid of the door, and his eyes were a little unfocused. Lin Yang moved to support him.

“What happened? Why are you so out of it today?”

“Huh? Our of what? Di…did I ever tell you how you should have been my disciple, Xiao Lin? I'm the one who first discovered you, but you ..you, you… you chose the skirts! Oh, are these Xiao Lin’s friends?”

“Yeah, and you are embarrassing me.”

“Is that so? You little brat. Are you embarrassed by your martial uncle's newest, strongest, sweetest bottle of honey yet?!”

“Oh, you invented a new one?” Lin Yang asked curiously.

“Yep. And with my new arrays… It tastes like it was aged for a mulli…a million years.”

“Um…that's great. We should definitely try that later. But for now, I've got some serious stuff to discuss. Think you can detox for a bit?”

Bai Qingling shoved him off playfully and complained about it endlessly. But in the end he complied, as he wasn't heading into a fight or anything.

A familiar yeasty smell filled the tiny room.

“Is all this…alcohol?” Tangming couldn't help but ask when they entered the room.

The casks were more cared for than Bai Qingling’s mattress and beddings thrown about in one corner.

“How dare you?!” Bai Qingling said in reply to Tangming's question. “This is my life, my cultivation journey personified. See, if you wanted to recommend them as disciples to my hall, she is already out!”

“None of the disciples in your hall cultivate your technique though…” Lin Yang reminded him.

“Bah, I haven't found anyone worth nurturing.”

Then Lin Yang saw Ru Gou studying the casks separately. The big man got bored, but that was when he saw the disheveled beddings in the corner of the room, which he proceeded to fall onto bonelessly. Even Bai Qingling had to lift a brow at that.

“Hey, this smells neat,” Yu Mo commented while sniffing one of the casks. “Mind if I open it?”

“Of course I mind!” elder Bai yelled. “It's yet to be properly age— and oh my word, what are you doing?!”

Yu Mo looked around innocently after drinking directly from the already opened cork for a few moments. “Oops! I’m sorry, drunken elder, something came over me. It must be the irresistible scent. My congratulations to the brewer.”

Elder Bai Qingling's left eye twitched.