The rogue cultivator looked like he was about to explode.

“I paid a hundred spirit stones for this seat,” Li Huo said. “I gathered up half of my savings for this so-called ranking tournament. And while you were doing your little processing, I saw no less than four spiritual tools I could’ve bought using those funds.”

Li Huo continued to drone on and on. His gestures were becoming more animated, hands wildly flailing around in random directions. His face was gradually getting redder too, and he even seemed to be short of breath at times. That was quite the achievement for a cultivator in the Dao Strengthening realm. Another dissatisfied liability, Wang Liangxing thought. And he was the last person too. 

“Unfortunately, your reservation was declined due to security concerns," Liangxing said apologetically. "Your payment is nonrefundable. I'm only here to inform you.”

“Why you!” Li Huo yelled. He started raising his arm, heat and light gathering in the palm of his hand. 

Not helping your case there, Liability #36. 

Liangxing shot forward, enhancing his movement with Qi. Li Huo’s eyes widened as he careened backwards, trying to shoot out the half-formed fireball he was holding, but it was too late. Liangxing reached out his hand, sending out a brief wave of Qi directed at Li Huo’s Dao heart, nullifying the attack. 

Li Huo fell hard, landing with a thud. Liangxing looked at Li Huo and noted the apprehension in his eyes. Rogues are a nuisance. He turned to leave. “Now you’re banned from our trading market too,” he said on his way out of the house. “You’re a rogue, so you should know what that means.”

***

As he headed back towards the center of Elemental City, Liangxing passed through the bustling market district. Disciples were streaming in and out of the shops, haggling over spiritual tools and alchemical pills—anything that could give the slightest advantage. He saw one female disciple wearing crescent moon earrings, closely scrutinizing a ball shaped spiritual tool emitting regular pulses of shadow Qi. She was Song Meiyan. Good that she’s preparing, but does she have to be so vain?, Liangxing thought. Those earrings are a clear weak point. One pull from a cultivator with a metal Dao heart and she’ll be rolling around in agony. 

He saw another disciple, Wang Chaoyong, swinging a small lighting tree branch around, infusing some of his Qi into it. Faint arcs of lighting occasionally jumped out and curved back into the branch. He's probably looking for a Dao craftsman to forge a short-range lightning staff. 

Beyond them, Liangxing recognized a few other disciples by name, and many, many more by their faces. That guy failed to collect five-colored nectar two weeks ago, that girl likes to take on missions pursuing demonic cultivators, and that disciple… almost causing a diplomatic crisis with the Spirit Stone Empire is quite the feat. All were in a hurry. All were nervous to some degree. 

It was honestly funny how worried they were. Famous disciples and obscure ones alike, dashing around from place to place like the world was ending. That, Liangxing thought, isn’t far from the truth though. For the disciples, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say this was the most important event of their life. The grand Elemental Dao Sect ranking tournament, open to all cultivators under 30 part of the sect of not, was starting soon. It promised a chance for them to prove their worth. An opportunity for anyone with hidden skill to usurp the geniuses out in the open, changing their destiny. And I have the great honor of doing copious amounts of paperwork because of it. 

He chided himself. The ranking tournament was necessary for the sect’s continued success. Without a sense of the pressure, disciples grew weak and cowardly. They needed a slight Qi infused shove forward once in a while. He was the one who came up with the idea to allow rogues to join in for this most recent iteration. He had a hard time convincing himself to make the suggestion at first; rogues were unpredictable, uncontrollable, and prone to destructive behavior. However, corruption and a culture of quid pro quos had developed over the years in the sect, leading to stagnation during the tournament. Rogue cultivators were needed as motivation, no matter how much of a liability they were. The success of the sect was paramount. 

If nothing else, Liangxing thought, the local economy will benefit. The eyes of the shopkeepers had long turned bloodshot as they frantically sold item after item. Seldom was there a shop without a customer, and even the most irritable shopkeeper would usually relax their frown as they ripped off novice cultivators with prices magnitudes higher than usual. The exchanging of spirit stones, spiritual tools, alchemical pills, technique manuals, natural treasures, and information on opponents made for a virtuous cycle. 

The sight of Six Dao Mountain broke him out of his thoughts. While walking towards the center of Elemental City, Liangxing’s line of sight had been blocked by the various buildings, but now there was nothing in the way. He stood silently for a moment, indulging himself in its sheer immensity. 

According to legend, the entirety of Elemental City used to be covered by a singular mountain. Upon noticing the auspiciousness of the location, the six founders of the sect, all in the Dao Manifestation realm, had altered it to their whims. The Earth Patriarch compressed the previously wide, rounded mountain into one that shot up into the Heavens. The Fire and Water Patriarchs split off slivers of their Dao hearts and put them in a small circular pool at the very top, forming a continuously rotating cycle of Yang Fire and Dark Yin Water. The Wind Matriarch inscribed a grand formation into the sky itself, gradually pulling in all the clouds that formed in a one hundred mile radius. The Lighting Matriarch added on to this formation, causing lightning to automatically strike down from the clouds. And finally, the Metal Matriarch crushed every deposit of spiritual metal within the mountain, forming dense pockets of metal Qi. 

That time had been one of myths and grand tales. Of heroes and geniuses. Of demons and devils. Right now, Liangxing thought, we have a chance to reclaim that glory. For the first time in a thousand years, the Elemetal Dao Sect had not one, but three Grand Elders, who had Dao hearts of three of the Four Fundamental Elements. This allowed them to amass their Qi together and greatly compounded their collective power. If a peak Dao Expansion realm elder can ascend and manifest the Wind Dao Heart…. If that happened, even though the Duality Sect and the Primal Force Sect had one grand elder each, both with non-elemental Dao hearts, they would still be unable to resist. 

Liangxing walked forward a few steps until he felt the presence of the sect formation envelop him. By now, I guess I can say that you’re an old friend. He circulated his Qi in a particular pattern, pulsing it at a certain interval for a few seconds, and then switching to a new frequency. He repeated this a few times, before the formation eventually acknowledged his status. I feel like I both know much about the formation, he thought, and nothing at all at the same time. The identification procedure obviously didn’t merely consist of a password; there had to be other steps involved too. However, nobody in the sect, including the grand elders, could figure out the inner workings. Daoist Thousand Way Formation deserved his title. 

“Teleport me,” Liangxing said. “The destination is the Incentive Division compound.”

Instantly, he was whisked away, appearing directly inside his office. How did the formation have the ability to remember preferences? Where was the information stored? He wanted to know, wanted to find out. I need to stop distracting myself. He didn't need to understand, just use. That was good enough for fulfilling his duties.

The first order of business was following through with his threat to Li Huo. Liangxing put his hand on the solid black stone on his desk and started channeling his Qi into it. The stone felt impossibly smooth, like the flow of water had been made solid. As he fed Qi into it, criss-crossing lines appeared on the surface, forming an intricate web glowing dull white. There was a brief, blinding flash. When he opened his eyes again, he was in a specialized mental plane for interfacing with the sect formation. 

Familiarity with the process allowed him to directly project his commands using his thoughts, forgoing the use of speech. He mentally transferred an image of Li Huo’s face from his memory—difficult since he didn’t have divine sense—and recounted the events that had transpired.

Then he exited the space, his desk coming into view once more. The next part would not be as easy. The planning for the tournament was in full swing, and he was the one in charge. A scroll containing a report concerning that and other matters awaited him on his desk. He started reading over it.

Huizhong always writes the reports precisely, he thought, but he could make them less dry. Despite the reading being tedious, though, it was gratifying to have the opportunity to see the tournament gradually falling into place; Liangxing had just finished reviewing each step of the formalized guest security procedure. 

Some cultivators were automatically invited based on their reputation. Tickets were also randomly sent to a few mortals residing in the city. Everyone else had to buy their way in. Before they were allowed to attend, all guests who bought a seat to view the tournament were interviewed by experienced disciples as part of a mission. Based on how they fared and other personal information the Incentive Division could gather, each guest was assigned a score from one to five. Guests assigned a five were barred from attending altogether. The other scores corresponded to different levels of observation and restrictions. Since he had taken it upon himself to deliver the final denial, that step was finished. He now had to implement the measures accounting for the cultivators who would actually be attending as guests. 

I can do that later. He needed to work with the others to do that, and they weren’t in the building today. Liangxing abhorred laziness, but he didn’t begrudge them for not working; everyone had the day off. He had merely personally decided to keep working on the tournament. Instead, he turned his attention to a different section of the report. Distributing special mission rewards was usually interesting. 

According to the report, three people had completed missions befitting a special reward. One disciple in the Second Stratum, one disciple in the third, and one disciple…. How did that imbecile manage to hunt down a demonic cultivator, and one at the late stage of Dao Strengthening at that? Liangxing shook his head. The rules were rules. Li Bian had completed a special mission, so he would receive his reward, no matter how undeserving he was of it. 

Liangxing touched the black stone and entered the mental space again. He checked to see if the Second and Third Stratum disciples were in their caves. They were. That makes things easier. Liangxing got out of his chair. At times he wished that he could teleport within Six Dao Mountain, but even elders didn’t have the privilege of participating in such extravagance. He would have to walk. 

Before he left his office, he circulated his Qi, alternating between long and short pulses for a few seconds. “Turn off the lights,” Liangxing said. The candle sitting on his desk and the lantern hanging off the ceiling flickered off as the sect formation stopped providing the necessary fire Qi to power them. 

He pulled open the folding door of his office and stepped into the courtyard of the Incentive Division quadrangle. He passed stalks of vibrant, verdant bamboo growing in the corners, surrounded by pristine fuchsias. I don’t know why she wastes so much time on a meaningless diversion.

He made his way through the secondary gate and then the main one, stepping outside. As he emerged, Liangxing saw the massive inner sect cavern, various quadrangles and other curiosities scattered around. He traveled straight ahead along the path in front of him, changing direction once he reached the Eleventh Juncture. The rewards storehouse was quite the long walk away.