Chapter 7: To Those Who Have Everything

Chapter 7: To Those Who Have Everything

When Paike settled down, he had expected it to take forever to calm himself and fall asleep. But to his surprise, the stress of the day didn’t impede his slumber in the slightest. His head hit the pillow, and he stared at the ceiling, wondering if he would ever drift off. Then darkness swallowed him.

He found himself once again climbing the stairs to the sect.

For some reason, a sword pig ran alongside him while cursing him out. After an indeterminate period of time, his sister was carrying him, and he watched as his severed hand faded away as they left it behind. All the while, an eerie calm smothered any objection to the absurdity.

One dark dream led to another—dreams of failure, disgrace, and letting down his family. He saw his siblings, his parents, and all those who had given him opportunities he didn’t deserve, they all turned away and ignored him. They agreed with all his detractors. He wasn’t worth anything and might as well have given up. Perhaps he would have been better off leaving the sect years ago to live as a mortal. To be doomed to never taste the life of an immortal or feel the thrill of qi powering his body like he had dreamed his whole life.

His mind suddenly became clear. He was aware of his body in a way that didn’t feel like a dream, yet it was apparent he wasn’t awake.

The wild ride stopped when he found himself in a dark room full of people. The darkness around them seemed to go on without end, but the space stopped not more than a few steps past the furthest person.

There were nine others around him, one of whom was very familiar. Liming gave him a small wave across the room. He attempted to walk over but found that his steps refused to move him in relation to anyone else.

Looking around, he studied the others. They all appeared serious—young children, older children, or young adults, with the classic signs of talented cultivators, those who had awakened early but not so early that it was crippling. He recognized many from descriptions. Han Saiyan was there, glowering at him.

Then there were others: a tall boy with a severe face and dark eyes, holding a sword at his hip. Paike wasn’t sure which member of the Feng clan he was, but he knew he belonged to them. A young woman in a dark gown, her face covered, suggested she was affiliated with the Shadow Empress. A boy with glasses, whom he thought might be Wu Chen, a prodigy alchemist he had read about last year.

Before he could finish studying the rest of the occupants of the dream space, an elder appeared before them. The disciples of the outer sect turned and gave a respectful bow.

“Greetings, disciples,” the Elder said. Her voice rang high and clear, cutting through the dreamlike haze muffling their surroundings.

“Greetings, Elder,” they echoed in unison.

“I am Elder Chu, and I am in charge of the outer sect program this year. I will also be teaching the Spiritual Cultivation class during orientation week. You might be wondering why I have pulled you from your beds to meet here.”

No one spoke, and she continued as if she had never expected an interruption. “One of the laws of cultivation is that to those who have everything, everything will be given. To those who have nothing, everything will be taken.” She paused, allowing the words to sink in. “We elders like to help those who have helped themselves. Prove that you will use the resources we give you efficiently, and you will receive more. Waste them, and you won’t see any more.

“Many will scream that this is unfair and that it makes it impossible for those behind them to catch up. This is simply resentment talking. Certainly, it’s more difficult from behind, but why should we waste time helping slackers? Besides, most of you, if not all of you, will hit a bottleneck at some realm and never advance farther than that. But people need to remember that cultivation is a marathon, not a sprint. Moving up to the next realm is all that matters. So while we’ll help you more than those who do not perform well, it’s important to remember that if you get stuck, slow down, or stumble, you will be left behind.”