"Over nine hundred-nearly a thousand violations!"
Chen Yu's eyes widened.
And what was more,
the violations at the beginning of the handbook seemed fairly reasonable, but the farther he read, the stranger they became.
For example: "Swimming naked in mountain streams is prohibited," "Dao companions are prohibited from holding hands, embracing, or engaging in other intimate behavior in public," "Jumping on stone steps is prohibited," "Hair covering the forehead is prohibited"...
After reading this Code of Conduct Manual, he actually found himself at a loss as to what behavior wasn't against the rules.
The Dao Sect's disciples seemed to live within an incredibly dense web. Each rule was a strand of silk, and once they touched one, the spiders living on that web would devour them whole!
Such harsh, inhumane management.
"This is really, really..."
Chen Yu clenched his fists.
"Fantastic!"
As a disciple of Emerald Cloud Peak, he served under the Dao Sect's Discipline Hall. He was a Swordbearer!
The more violations there were, the easier it would be to complete his monthly routine assignment. He could even earn points this way and exchange them for spirit essence.
"I have to catch other disciples violating the rules at least three times each month. Once I've completed that basic quota, every additional violation I catch earns me another point. A hundred points can be exchanged for one piece of spirit essence."
"The low-level cultivation methods and Martial Skills in the Scripture Repository generally cost one piece of spirit essence each."
Chen Yu did the math.
The True Essence Profound Canon required five cultivation methods of different attributes to reach the ninth level of Qi Refining. That meant five pieces of spirit essence.
Next, he couldn't possibly cultivate without learning any Martial Skills. Having all that cultivation but no way to put it to use would be far too frustrating. Even the bare minimum—one offensive Martial Skill and one movement Martial Skill—would cost another two pieces of spirit essence.
Finally, with the system's help, his cultivation would advance quickly. But as someone with a false spirit embryo, breaking through too quickly would be unreasonable, so he also needed to master a Qi-Concealing Method that could hide his cultivation.
"Five plus two plus one. Eight pieces of spirit essence."
"Eight hundred points in total."
Chen Yu sank into thought.
"Eight hundred violations. If I want to finish within a month, I'll need to catch an average of twenty-seven violations a day. Over two months, that would be thirteen a day."
"The Code of Conduct Manual lists a full nine hundred and eighty-one violations. There are so many Dao Sect outer disciples that catching thirteen violations a day shouldn't be difficult in theory. Yet the routine assignment only requires three a month..."
Chen Yu didn't believe the Dao Sect would be kind enough to let its disciples stockpile points like that.
Besides, if earning points through routine assignments were really that easy, the assignment board couldn't possibly be so busy.
"But whatever the case, I should give it a try first."
The experience he had accumulated was already enough to reach the Fourth Layer Peak of Qi Refining, anyway. The True Essence Profound Canon had temporarily reached its cultivation limit, so he might as well get out and look for ways to earn points.
He put on his robes.
"Clothes neat and free of stains, hair tied up, no hair covering the forehead, sword bag slung diagonally from the upper right to the lower left, scabbard facing the correct direction, sword tassel fully exposed and not tucked into the sword bag or robes..."
After examining himself carefully in the mirror by the door for quite a while, Chen Yu nodded.
"Perfectly compliant... I can head out."
"Wait."
"Something's wrong!"
Half his body was already outside, and he was just about to step through the doorway completely.
Chen Yu suddenly retreated into his room.
The moment Chen Yu returned inside, several razor-sharp gazes from nearby shadowy spots swiftly withdrew.
"My shoelaces!"
"That was too close!"
Chen Yu crouched down.
He began tying his shoelaces again.
At the same time, he thought, According to rule six hundred and seventy-one of the Dao Sect's Code of Conduct Manual, Dao Sect outer disciples must tie their shoelaces strictly according to the prescribed method. Otherwise, it counts as a violation.
These were the shoes Chen Yu had been wearing all along. Dao Sect disciples wore different robes, but their shoes were all the same.
Registered disciples didn't have so many rules, so the way he had previously tied his shoelaces didn't meet the Outer Sect's requirements.
Fortunately, he had noticed on his way out.
Otherwise,
before earning a single point, he would have had one deducted.
He finished tying his shoelaces.
Only after making sure there were no violations anywhere on his body did Chen Yu leave with peace of mind.
As soon as he stepped outside, Chen Yu felt countless gazes lock onto him. It took more than ten seconds for that feeling to gradually fade.
Figures emerged from shadowy corners.
"What a pity."
"This kid's a bit crafty."
"We actually failed to catch him..."
"Holy shit, this new disciple's got talent! He managed to comply perfectly on his very first trip out!"
While these outer disciples sized Chen Yu up, Chen Yu was sizing them up as well.
They all looked as though they had been copied and pasted. From their robes down to their shoelaces, everything complied perfectly with the rules.
They knew I was new, so they deliberately camped outside my door, hoping to catch me breaking a rule before I'd learned them all?
Unfortunately,
I've disappointed you.
Seeing that everyone was still studying him curiously,
Chen Yu suddenly cupped his hands toward the outer disciples ahead of him and asked at random, "Senior brother, could you tell me how to get to the other Outer Sect peaks?"
Everyone here on Emerald Cloud Peak hunted violations. Earning points off these people was simply impossible.
He would have to look for opportunities elsewhere.
Chen Yu's sudden question
immediately drew everyone's attention.
[Rule five hundred and thirty-four of the Handbook of Violations stipulated that when one disciple greeted or questioned another disciple of the same rank, the other party must respond politely. Failure to do so constituted a violation.]
Following the direction of his gesture, they looked over.
Two outer disciples happened to be standing in the direction where Chen Yu had cupped his hands.
The two exchanged a glance.
For a moment,
neither could tell which of them Chen Yu was addressing.
Sensing several sharp gazes swiftly lock onto them, both answered at once:
"Which peak would you like to visit, junior brother?"
"That depends on which peak you'd like to go to, junior brother."
Once they had answered,
those sharp gazes dispersed.
Only then did the others leave.
Chen Yu walked up to the two senior brothers and cupped his hands again. "I've only just been promoted to an outer disciple, so I'm not very familiar
with the particulars of our Dao Sect yet. Could you explain a little, senior brothers?"
"Of course."
The two Outer Sect senior brothers, caught in his hard crowd control, nodded.
One said, "The Outer Sect has five peaks: Emerald Cloud Peak, Purple Bamboo Peak, Jade Yao Peak, Heavenly Flame Peak, and Ten Thousand Mountains Peak. They correspond to the five attributes of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Generally speaking, disciples are assigned to different peaks according to their spirit embryo's attribute."
The other continued, "But Emerald Cloud Peak and Purple Bamboo Peak are somewhat special. Most disciples have the corresponding attribute, but a few have other attributes."
"As for the actual routes to these five peaks..."
"Junior brother, just follow the steps down. At every fork, you'll see a signpost. Follow the signs, and you'll reach whichever peak you want to visit."
"Oh."
Chen Yu nodded.
He cupped his hands and said,
"Thank you, senior brothers."
"You're welcome."
With that, the two left.
Chen Yu followed the white jade steps down...