First, second, and third rates

Sect Master Bai Tianqi had made his debut at twenty and roamed the Jianghu for nearly thirty years, slaying many followers of the demonic and evil paths before founding the Huaqing Sect ten years ago. After founding the Huaqing Sect, he had almost never taken action again and seldom even appeared in public, leaving most matters to his disciples. Rumor in the Jianghu held that ten years ago, Bai Tianqi had been a second-rate middle grade expert with nearly fifty years of internal energy cultivation. Now that another ten years had passed, people throughout the Jianghu were speculating that he must have entered the ranks of First-Class Experts.

Huang Xiao had learned something about the Jianghu's divisions of strength from Qinghe.

Broadly speaking, they fell into two categories: unranked and ranked.

Anyone without internal energy was classified as unranked, though there were differences in strength even among the unranked. Some martial artists had no internal energy but had honed their external arts to the utmost. Often, even third-rate experts with decades of internal energy cultivation might not be a match for such people.

Beyond the unranked, an initial glimpse of the way roughly corresponded to one to five years of internal energy cultivation, while slightly accomplished corresponded to five to ten years.

Third-rate lower grade, ten to fifteen years; third-rate middle grade, fifteen to twenty years; third-rate upper grade, twenty to thirty years.

Second-rate lower grade, thirty to forty years; second-rate middle grade, forty to fifty years; second-rate upper grade, fifty to sixty years.

First-rate lower grade, sixty to ninety years; first-rate middle grade, ninety to a hundred and twenty years; first-rate upper grade, a hundred and twenty to a hundred and eighty years.

When Huang Xiao had heard about possessing over a hundred years of internal energy cultivation, he had immediately raised a question. Even if someone cultivated internal energy constantly without eating or drinking, surely they could not accumulate over a hundred years of it.

Qinghe, of course, had explained the mystery to him.

A year spent practicing an internal cultivation method did not necessarily count as one year of internal energy cultivation. Cultivation methods varied in quality, too, and their grades were divided into first, second, and third rates, just like the strength of martial artists.

Take third-rate cultivation methods, for example. Generally speaking, even the very best third-rate method, cultivated to its utmost, would yield only thirty years of internal energy cultivation. After that, without a better method or a fortuitous encounter, the best outcome would be for one's internal energy to stop increasing. As one's age advanced and one's body grew old, however, that internal energy would gradually drain away. With such methods, a year of practice amounted to a year of internal energy cultivation, though the results were often worse than that. To truly gain one year's worth of internal energy cultivation, one would need to spend at least a year and a half, if not longer.

With a First-Class Technique, however, a year of practice might yield three years of internal energy cultivation, or even more. That was the difference between cultivation methods. Thus, possessing the hundred and eighty years of internal energy cultivation of a first-rate upper grade-nearly three sixty-year cycles-was naturally possible.

First-Class Experts, however, were few and far between in the Jianghu. One could say that attaining a sixty-year cycle's worth of internal energy cultivation was a goal martial artists dreamed of.

Huang Xiao had also learned from Qinghe that peerless experts were said to exist above First-Class Experts. They were elders who remained secluded from the world, or figures at the level of grand elders, in the Jianghu's Renowned Great Sects.

Huang Xiao could only marvel at this inwardly. He did not have the slightest trace of internal energy cultivation yet, so thinking that far ahead was simply too unrealistic.

Most people in the Jianghu fell into the ranks of third-rate experts. Upon reaching the second rate, one could essentially establish a sect and be considered a master of one's generation. Thus, Bai Tianqi, who was suspected of being a First-Class Expert, inspired even greater awe in countless martial artists, whether they followed the righteous path or belonged to the Demonic Sects.

Compared with those sects, the Green Ox Temple was pitifully shabby. Even a third-rate sect would have at least several dozen disciples, while larger ones might have hundreds or nearly a thousand. Larger second-rate sects could have several thousand disciples. As for first-rate sects, they were even more formidable, with some boasting over ten thousand disciples.

Thus, the Green Ox Temple did not dare treat the Huaqing Sect master's sixtieth birthday lightly. However, since the Green Ox Temple attracted few worshippers, it received little in the way of incense donations. Of course, with only the master and his four disciples, they lived reasonably well and at least had no worries about food or clothing. All five ate vegetarian meals and no meat, which also reduced their expenses considerably. Besides that, they could reclaim wasteland on the mountain themselves and grow crops and vegetables.

Consequently, the Green Ox Temple had no spare silver to purchase a birthday gift for Bai Tianqi. Still, although it did not even qualify as a third-rate sect, it enjoyed a modest reputation within a thousand li.

This was mainly because Xuanzhenzi was skilled at refining pills. There was no need to elaborate on healing pills: they could save lives, making them exceptionally precious to martial artists in the Jianghu. What made them covet his pills even more was his ability to refine quite a few varieties that enhanced cultivation. One of the lesser kinds was the Origin-Nourishing Pill. Taken by a third-rate expert, it could increase their internal energy cultivation by a full five years. Even a third-rate upper grade expert at the peak had only thirty years of internal energy cultivation, so an increase of five years at once amounted to a full sixth of that. Naturally, the Origin-Nourishing Pill was most effective for third-rate experts. If a second-rate expert took one, it would probably add only two years of internal energy cultivation, while for a First-Class Expert, it would have almost no effect. Of course, with a First-Class Expert's standards, how could such a pill possibly catch their eye?

Thus, the Green Ox Temple ordinarily paid an annual tribute of ten Origin-Nourishing Pills to the Huaqing Sect. There was no helping it. After all, the Green Ox Temple lay within the Huaqing Sect's sphere of influence and had no choice but to curry favor with it, or trouble would never cease.

Apart from the annual allotment for the Huaqing Sect, the Green Ox Temple could produce a few extra Origin-Nourishing Pills, more or less, and these were highly attractive to other sects. Thus, the Origin-Nourishing Pills, along with some healing pills, were the Green Ox Temple's main source of silver. This was also the main reason that, despite the temple's lack of worshippers, the master and his disciples at least had no worries about food or clothing.

"These scriptures really are vast and profound. For now, I can only commit their contents to memory. The principles within them will have to be pondered and understood slowly." Huang Xiao closed a scripture, then walked over to a bookshelf and returned the volume in his hand to its original place.

The scripture room was a two-story side building in the Green Ox Temple's rear courtyard. Before Huang Xiao arrived, neither Xuanzhenzi nor his three senior brothers had come here very often. Thus, when he first came to put it in order, dust had accumulated everywhere, and the scriptures on the shelves were somewhat jumbled. It had taken Huang Xiao several days to sort them into categories and put them away one by one.

After putting everything in order and studying the books over the following days, Huang Xiao discovered that they were not all scriptures. There were also assorted writings on subjects such as astronomy and geography.

Later, Huang Xiao had asked his senior brothers about them and learned that the Green Ox Temple's founding patriarch had discovered most of the books in a cave. It was said to have originally been a secluded expert's place of cultivation.

The Green Ox Temple's internal cultivation method, the Everlasting Spring Art, was said to have been comprehended by the founding patriarch from one of those scriptures.

Rumble... A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, and Huang Xiao rose to shut the windows. These thunderstorms came and went quickly, bringing fierce winds and heavy rain. If he failed to close the windows in time, the room would probably be flooded. Nothing else mattered much; the main concern was that the room was full of books, which must not get wet.

After checking everything carefully, Huang Xiao prepared to return to his room to sleep.

Clatter... Just as Huang Xiao was about to close the door and leave, he suddenly heard a noise from the second floor.