Qin Yi walked along the outer sect's grey paths, using the map as a guide.
Around noontime, he found a cave that belongs to him. It was along the northern border, in a very remote section of the outer sect. Several other caves crowded around it.
A formation prohibits the cave; anybody cannot enter it unless they have a unique token belonging to the occupant.
Qin Yi found a token from his storage pouch and placed it on the formation.
When the formation opens, he directly enters the cave. Inside were a bed and a desk. Qin Yi stood there, feeling quite content.
This place was better than the wooden house he lived in in the Novice Quarter; the rooms are more spacious, the temperature is just right, and the spiritual energy is denser.
Qin Yi sat down cross-legged on the bed, took a deep breath, and pulled the Outer Disciples' Guide out of the storage pouch.
There are still many things that he did not know about the outer sect; better study it than sorry later!
He studied it carefully until the sun began to set.
When the night grew deep, Qin Yi lit an oil lamp.
He dazed for a moment and then took a deep breath, thinking about his past two and half years in the Novices' Quarter. He felt emotional, as if he had entered a new age.
He murmured to himself: "It's been two and half years since I come into Sleeping Dragon Sect, I miss my adorable younger brother and the children. I hope everything went well in the orphanage. Besides, I also send letters every year. They should have received it and knew my situation here."
Qin Yi was looking back the first time he set a journey into a faraway place. He was quite nervous because he gambled everything to get here, including his life.
Even though he was afraid of being deceived by the mysterious man who pointed him to this sect, he did not back away.
In the end, his decision was correct.
Not only he got a chance to enter a great sect, but he unexpectedly also got an incredible system.
The system that could extract other people's cultivation.
Even if his aptitude is terrible, he can still reach the apex of cultivation with this system. The only thing he must do is to collect Cultivation Points as much as possible and then use them to advance into the higher realm smoothly.
Qin Yi knew that he was a blessed and lucky person, but he never been ambitious.
He only wishes that when he has sufficient power in the future, he could carefreely travel around the world.
He would never have had the opportunity to do that due to the limited budget in his previous life. However, he believes in this life; he can realize his dreams with the help of the system.
Travel around the world, eat many delicious foods, collect unique treasures…
"Tsk, tsk, being a carefree cultivator would not be bad at all."
Qin Yi gathered his thoughts and curved his lips.
He lay his body down, and eventually, he fell asleep.
***
The next day, Qin Yi wake up in high spirit. After all, today is the day that he could collect a treasure from Treasure Pavilion.
How could he not excited?
According to Outer Disciples' Guide, every new disciple of the Sleeping Dragon Sect can pick a Normal Grade Artefact from Treasure Pavilion.
Meanwhile, artefacts are divided into several grades: Gradeless Artefact, Normal Artefact, Spirit Artefact, and Soul Artefact.
Gradeless Artefact is an ordinary weapon made by a mortal refiner. It does not have an extraordinary ability, and it commonly appears and sell in the mortal world.
Normal Artefact is the lowest grade Artefact made by a Secondary Professional Refiner. It usually only produced by low to mid-grade Secondary Professional Refiner, and its ability was only limited to strengthen the wielder's combat ability.
Spirit Artefact has a higher grade than Normal Artefact. It was powerful artefact that usually only high-grade Secondary Professional Refiner could produce.
Soul Artefact is a unique artefact that can be bound with the wielder's soul. It can grow alongside the wielder's cultivation. The stronger wielder, the stronger Soul Artefact will become.
Soul Artefact are also divided into diffrent grades: Initial Spirit Artefact, Spirit Manifestation Artefact, and Great Spirit Artefact. Each grade signifies the growth of the spirit and wisdom of an artefact.
Initial Spirit Artifact is a situation when an artifact is in the process of giving birth to a spirit. It just slightly stronger than Spirit Artefact.
Spirit Manifestation Artefact is an upgrade version of Initial Spirit Artifact. When Soul Artefact grows stronger, it would eventually manifest its own spirit. Its spirit had the ability to understand its wielder's intention.
Great Spirit Artefact is a final form of Soul Artefact. Soul Artefact would awaken its wisdom through shed and blood when the wielder's power reached a certain degree. Its ability no longer limited to understanding its wielder's intention, but it also can speak and feel emotions.
The artefact has a different power. The higher grade of artefact, the greater power it possessed.
Of course, no matter how much power that artefact possesses, the most important is the individual's strength.
Qin Yi could also understand this fact.
If artefact could rely on its wielder to upgrade its strength, the cultivator could not rely too much on the artefact to increase its combat ability.
Artefacts are just external assistance. When it disappeared, a cultivator could only rely on their individual's strength to protect themselves.
The sun rose, the dew dripped from the green leaves, and the birds chirped as if to welcome a brand-new day.
Qin Yi changed his clothes into a navy-blue robe; it was the outer disciple's robe of the Sleeping Dragon Sect. It has a simple pattern but looks luxurious and elegant.
He likes this robe very much.
It suits his taste, simple and elegant.
He placed the storage pouch, including the cave token, inside his chest.
With the last stroke on his neat hair, Qin Yi has finally ready to go out of the cave and start his new day as an outer disciple.
However, what awaited him outside the cave was not the bright smile of the sun but rather something that made his face twitch several times.
"Hand over your spirit stones you obtained yesterday!" Spiky hair young man coldly said.
Qin Yi, "…"
This is obviously a robbery in broad daylight!
Qin Yi was annoyed, this bunch of thugs!
They were thugs who liked to extort new disciples' money under the pretext of charging a protection fee for every new disciple who had just arrived in the outer sect.
He did not expect this kind of operation to happen on the second day he stayed in the outer sect.
Perhaps this type of operation was common in the outer sects. But for Qin Yi, who lived in the Novices' Quarter for two and a half years, something like this had never happened.
That was why he was a bit unexpected regarding this matter.
'I forgot this is a cultivation world. Something like this usually happens in cultivation sects.' Qin Yi sighed inwardly.
Qin Yi looked around; the onlookers gathered and whispered to each other noisily. They were clearly waiting for a good show.
They want to see another newcomer end up in the states like the previous newcomer.
At this moment, Spiky-haired young man increases his tone: "What are you dazing around, quickly take out your spirit stone. Or you will face the consequences!"
"This new guy doesn't seem to know the way of the outer sect. Should we teach him first before we collect the fees?" The big and burly man behind the spiky-haired young man grinned evilly.
"You should be obedient and hand your spirit stones over us! We kindly offer our protection to protect you in the outer sect. As long as you pay the fee, no one will dare to bother you anymore."
Another side character followed the line. His appearance was very normal, and he seemed to be the most positive one.
Qin Yi looked at the triple thug and asked, "What happens if I don't pay the fee?"
"The last person who refused to pay the fee is still on the run..."
On the run? The corner of Qin Yi's lips twitched slightly.
"He stubbornly refused any collector fees that came to him. After being beaten several times, he fled under the pretext of carrying out a mission and until this day he still did not dare to return to the sect."
What a miserable young man! Qin Yi thought.
Forget it; it is not like he lacks spirit stones.
Qin Yi managed to collect a lot of spirit stones from Deacon.
For some reason, Deacon always got 50 spirit stones at the beginning of the month. Maybe it was his monthly salary from being a Deacon.
Therefore, he was in the Novices Quarter and extracted Deacon every week in the two and a half years: He managed to save about 1300 spirit stones.
For a little Qi Condensation Realm cultivator, he was a wealthy man.
Fifteen spirit stones are nothing in Qin Yi's eyes.
Anyway, giving these thugs spirit stones can be considered to encourage them to cultivate more diligently.
The more diligent they are, the happier Qin Yi became.
It was like feed them first and then harvest them later.
'Humu, it's a pretty good move!' Qin Yi nodded and silently praised himself for being wise.
Thinking about this, he smoothly took his storage pouch out from his chest.
He draws all spirit stones inside it in front of the triple thugs.
"Oh, you are more obedient than when we initially thought." The spiky-haired guy startled for a bit.
Qin Yi's hands paused for a moment. He looked at the triple thugs hesitantly: "Several senior brothers, you can really protect me, right?"
"Of course, we are!" The spiky-haired guy looked up arrogantly, "Now, give us the spirit stones!"
Qin Yi could only helplessly hand his spirit stones over the spiky-haired guy.
Nodded, the spiky-haired guy satisfied: "You are smarter than the last newcomer!"
"Let's go!"
The spiky-haired man immediately took his two friends away from here and left the onlookers disappointed with the boring development of the show.
However, before the triple thugs left, Qin Yi asked the system to perform a casual extraction on them.
[Extraction completed!]