Mount Hua Mental Method

"Master, things have been tense on the mountain lately. At this year's sect competition, I'm afraid someone might try to make trouble. I've only just broken through..."

Though he knew there was no avoiding it, Li Mu still struggled as much as he could.

Zhou Qingyun gave him a reassuring look and smiled. "You've always got so many worries, kid. Relax. The martial world has been unsettled lately, and the sect plans to use this opportunity to rein in the unruly factions.

"So this competition won't just involve you disciples. The Five Mountains Alliance will send people too. Friends from all over the martial world will be there to watch, and no one would cause trouble at an event like this.

"After the competition, there may be some friendly challenges as well. This is your best chance to make a name for yourself. Don't waste it."

Hearing this explanation, Li Mu let out a deep breath of relief. The Sword and Qi Factions might fight fiercely among themselves, but when it came to outsiders, they were still one family.

With outsiders present, this martial contest wouldn't turn into a clash between the Sword and Qi Factions.

Thinking about it, that made sense. Though the original story never gave a specific date for the Sword-Qi conflict, it could be roughly deduced from the ages of the main characters when they first appeared.

Yue Buqun had joined the sect at the same time as Li Mu, so there shouldn't be much of an age gap between them. He was probably only in his twenties.

Considering that Yue Buqun had taken over as sect leader not long after the Sword-Qi conflict, it was reasonable to conclude that his martial arts had already reached a respectable level by then.

At the very least, he must have reached the first-rate level. Otherwise, he couldn't have upheld the Mount Hua Sect in this dog-eat-dog world.

Mount Hua's martial arts emphasized a solid foundation and weren't known for rapid progress. Under normal circumstances, it would take at least eight or ten years to advance from second-rate to first-rate.

However, given how dire the situation at Mount Hua had been at the time, the sect leader's branch had likely drawn on the sect's reserves, perhaps cutting that time in half.

It couldn't have been any faster. Treasures that could dramatically boost one's cultivation were rare, and even fewer could be stored for a long time. Add in the need to consider the practitioner's foundation and potential, and there were even fewer options.

After all, the Mount Hua Sect's reserves had already been depleted once during the Demonic Cult's invasion by the Ten Elders. In recent years, the Sword-Qi conflict had erupted again, and the sect had hardly replenished them at all.

With four or five years to prepare, Li Mu's worries finally eased. Putting an end to the Sword-Qi conflict was unrealistic, but he was confident he could protect himself.

"Don't worry, Master. I won't let you down."

Since he couldn't avoid it, he might as well face it calmly. The Mount Hua Sect had plenty of talented disciples. As long as he didn't go overboard, even a little attention wouldn't make him stand out.

Besides, with Li Mu's current strength, he was probably only a little stronger than the "Four Beauties of Qingcheng" at the beginning of Smiling Proud Wanderer. He was nowhere near the top of the martial world; even if he wanted to stir things up, he couldn't make much of a splash.

The stage the sect was setting up this time hadn't been meant for him in the first place. The ones who could truly seize the opportunity to make a name for themselves were his senior brothers, who had joined the sect earlier.

The very best among them had even reached the first-rate level, making them nearly the equal of the older generation. They were the stars of this great show.

"Mm."

Apparently satisfied with Li Mu's response, Zhou Qingyun paused briefly, then added:

"The competition is fast approaching, and Bu Mu has only just broken through. He needs to consolidate his realm and can't be distracted by other matters. Bufan, inform the Internal Affairs Hall and have your junior brother's sect duties waived for three years."

There was no doubt that the "competition" was just an excuse. Zhou Qingyun's real purpose was to use the opportunity to secure benefits for his disciple.

Without rules, there could be no order. As a great martial sect with a legacy spanning hundreds of years, the Mount Hua Sect naturally had a system for running its affairs.

According to sect rules, new disciples had to begin taking on sect duties after ten years of membership.

Elite disciples received some preferential treatment, but that only meant they were assigned lighter duties and given more time to cultivate.

They still had to work. That was the sect's rule. After all, people in the martial world had to eat, too. If everyone became a freeloader, what would a thousand-odd people live on?

When Li Mu had taught newly inducted junior brothers and sisters swordsmanship, that had been a relatively easy sect duty. Not only were the hours short, but he could stay on the mountain and ask his master for guidance whenever he ran into trouble with his training.

Of course, there was a reason Li Mu had been given this "good assignment." If his junior brothers and sisters failed to make the required progress, he would be punished along with them.

There was no reason to turn down a benefit handed to him. Li Mu hurriedly said, "Thank you for looking after me, Master. I really..."

He meant every word. Zhou Qingyun could be rather rigid and proper, but he had treated his disciples very well.

Zhou Qingyun cut him off. "That's enough, Bu Mu. You don't need to say such things between master and disciple.

"Now that you've broken through, you should start thinking about switching to a different internal cultivation method.

"The Mount Hua Mental Method is certainly a top-tier internal art. In theory, one could even cultivate it all the way to the innate realm. It's one of the Mount Hua Sect's highest-ceiling techniques.

"Across the whole world, the Mount Hua Mental Method is one of the finest foundation-building arts. It not only builds a solid foundation, but also helps ease the difficulty of breaking through.

"The only problem is that it's far too slow to cultivate."

"Master, if it's only slow, wouldn't its ability to ease bottlenecks make up for that?" Li Mu asked, puzzled.

After all, the most important reason there were so few experts in the martial world was "bottlenecks." And the further one advanced, the harder it became to break through to the next realm.

Zhou Qingyun laughed, then explained, "If it were only a little slow, that wouldn't be a problem. Treasures are hard to come by, but our Mount Hua Sect has no shortage of ordinary resources to aid cultivation.

"But the Mount Hua Mental Method is extraordinarily slow. After the fourth level, you cultivate at less than a third the speed of an ordinary internal art. Even if it can ease a cultivation bottleneck, that only makes it easier to break through; it doesn't guarantee success.

"You're exceptionally talented, and your cultivation has gone smoothly all along, so perhaps you haven't felt it much. Just look at your senior brother Bufan. He reached the peak of the third-rate level two years ago, and he's still stuck there.

"If he's lucky, he might break through tomorrow. If not, being stuck for another three to five years would be perfectly normal. Most of our Mount Hua Sect's inner disciples don't reach the second-rate level until around thirty.

"With your talent, if you switched to another internal art, you could probably reach the peak of the second-rate level in seven or eight years. If you were lucky, you might even break through to the first-rate level before turning thirty, and someday you might glimpse the mysteries of the supreme level.

"But if you keep painstakingly cultivating the Mount Hua Mental Method, it'll take at least thirty years just to reach the threshold of the first-rate level. Even if everything goes smoothly after that, you'll already be old by then. How many years would you have left at your peak?

"These are lessons our predecessors learned through bitter experience. That's why Mount Hua disciples all switch to a new internal art after reaching the fourth level."