“Junior brother, don’t break the sect rules on your very first day. Once you pick something up in this Treasure Pavilion, you cannot put it down.” The shrewd man felt the timing was right, so he followed his usual method—his expression darkened, he gave a low shout, and with a sweep of his wide sleeve, a gust of wind howled forth, instantly sending Ethan Brooks flying out of the Treasure Pavilion and landing outside.

With a bang, the doors of the Treasure Pavilion slammed shut.

“I’m soft-hearted. If you truly have no fate with this mirror, you may come back and exchange it anytime after today.” The shrewd man’s voice echoed from within the Treasure Pavilion.

Ethan Brooks frowned. When he looked up at the closed doors, he was already angry. He sighed inwardly, lowered his head to look at the bronze mirror in his hand, and recalled the opening words of the Qi Condensation Manual. After a brief hesitation, he thought to himself that if this really was something researched by the Patriarch, it was worth it. Shaking his head, he tucked the mirror into his robe, cast one last resentful glance at the Treasure Pavilion, and turned to leave.

Walking along the bluestone path of the outer sect, Ethan Brooks followed the directions for the dormitories in the jade slip. By noon, he found his assigned outer sect residence. It was on the edge of the northern district, rather remote, with many houses crowded closely together.

He pushed open the door to his quarters. With a creak, the door swung open, revealing a bed and a table inside. Ethan Brooks stood there for a while, quite satisfied—this place was much better than the servant quarters.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Ethan Brooks took a deep breath, pulled out the bronze mirror from his robe, and began to study it carefully. But even as the sun set and night fell, after lighting the oil lamp and examining it for a long time, Ethan Brooks still couldn’t figure out what use the bronze mirror had.

No matter how he looked at it, the bronze mirror seemed completely ordinary.

Late at night, Ethan Brooks simply set the bronze mirror aside, gazed at the bright moon outside the window, and thought of the chubby boy, missing the sound of his snores.

Outside, the moon was flawless, its light falling on the window ledge. All around was very quiet, only the faint sound of wind rustling through the trees. Ethan Brooks took a deep breath, recalling the past few months of his life, and felt as if a lifetime had passed. He murmured softly,

“I am no longer a scholar from Yunjie County—I have become an outer sect disciple of Reliance Sect…”

After a long while, Ethan Brooks collected his thoughts, closed his eyes, and began to meditate, circulating the spiritual energy within his body. He had lived like this for several months and was already used to it.

The outer sect was different from the servant quarters. Here, no food was provided for disciples; you had to find your own way to eat. If you failed and starved, no one would care. Yet, in all these years, not a single outer sect disciple of Reliance Sect had actually starved to death.

After all, once you reached the first level of Qi Condensation, you could absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. While it couldn’t solve hunger, it could keep you alive.

A few days later, at noon, Ethan Brooks was meditating cross-legged when a miserable scream suddenly came from outside. Ethan Brooks immediately opened his eyes, went to the window, and looked out. He saw an outer sect disciple being stomped underfoot, his chest a bloody mess. Though not dead, he was badly injured. Someone took his storage pouch and left with a cold snort.

The man struggled to his feet, a vicious look in his eyes, and staggered away. Many people nearby watched, most with indifferent or mocking expressions.

Ethan Brooks was silent. He had already witnessed such scenes several times in the past few days. The outer sect disciples were like hungry wolves, making Ethan Brooks feel the rules of Reliance Sect’s outer sect all the more deeply.

“I wonder who set these rules in the sect. This method is extremely cruel, unreasonable, and unfair. There’s no sense of safety at all…” Ethan Brooks sighed inwardly. The scenes of these past days were completely different from any environment he’d known before, making it hard for him to adapt. But he could only force himself to do so. “I once read in a book that in ancient times, people raised gu insects by making them kill each other, and only the strongest survived.” Ethan Brooks frowned.

“But people are not insects. In such a sect environment, many will surely want to escape. If things go on like this, with everyone living in fear and no sense of belonging, how can the sect survive forever?” Ethan Brooks frowned, puzzled, but couldn’t find an answer.

Time flew by, and seven days passed. In these seven days, Ethan Brooks witnessed several more robberies in the outer sect. The disciples fought and snatched from each other, making Ethan Brooks gradually become more withdrawn. Especially after he personally saw a senior brother at the second or third level of Qi Condensation killed in public in the outer sect, Ethan Brooks became much more cautious when going out.

Fortunately, although his cultivation was low, he had nothing of value on him, so others mostly ignored him.

As for Ethan Brooks’s cultivation, it had also stalled. The second level of Qi Condensation was different from the first. Both involved drawing spiritual energy into the body, but according to the Qi Condensation Manual, the second level began to transform the mortal body, making it more suited to spiritual energy. Thus, it required several times more spiritual energy than the first level.

At the same time, Ethan Brooks also learned about the concept of aptitude—the degree to which the body could merge with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. The better the aptitude, the higher the degree of fusion; the worse the aptitude, the lower the fusion. With the same amount of time spent breathing in and out, those with better aptitude naturally absorbed more spiritual energy.

By his calculations, it would take him a year or two to reach the second level of Qi Condensation. As for the third level, it would take several times longer.