Chapter 23 - I Want Overtime Pay
(MC POV)
Well, it's been awhile since I've been back.
Seeing how hard they've been working these few days, I let my cute disciples have the day off. It's definitely not because I wanted to slack off today, definitely.
While I was lazing around on my bed, someone knocked on my door.
"Master Lin? Are you there?"
I immediately jumped out of my bed, "Elder Qing? Ah, yes, let me get the door for you."
How did this guy know I was back so fast? It's not even half a day since I've been back!
I opened my door to see Elder Qing standing there with his bearded smile.
"Ah, Master Lin, I heard that you've returned to the Sect."
"Yes, only moments ago actually. News must travel fast around here," I said sarcastically.
He laughed, not noticing my sarcasm, "Ha ha! When it's news about our prodigy, of course it will travel fast!"
I smiled wryly at him, waiting for him to continue.
"Anyway, I thought you might want to see some of the new students and possibly introduce your own disciples as well."
"Ah, that's unfortunate but I have given my disciples the day off, sorry."
Elder Qing seemed rather surprised, "Oh? That's really unexpected of you Master Lin. I remember back when you were a student you never took days off, like ever. I almost expected you to run your own disciples ragged."
Yep, those were the days…
That's why I thoroughly regretted them and vowed never to return to that.
Easy life is best life.
"Letting them learn at their own pace is best after all, it would be detrimental to their growth otherwise," I admitted.
Elder Qing stroked his long beard thoughtfully, "Mmm… That is true. Still, would you like to see the new students? I'm sure some of them would like to meet you after all."
Hmmm… It's just looking right? Shouldn't be too hard, might even spot another prospective disciple that I missed before.
"Alright then, lead the way Elder Qing."
Elder Qing nodded and lead the way out of my courtyard.
We made our way towards the Grand Courtyard, where most of the Student Practitioners would be gathered at this time of the day.
The Grand Courtyard is big enough to accommodate ten thousand people comfortably, thus it was often used as a gathering place or a training ground.
Within the Courtyard were four pillars with a Cultivation Technique inscribed on them. Activating the four pillars would reinforce the entire Courtyard and negate any damage caused to it and the surroundings.
This technique is frequently used in most competitions as well, the Sect Showcase Festival for one. Can't have the competitors tearing up your Sect grounds can we?
I claim credit for helping improve it and spreading it to the other Grand Sects back in my student days.
When we entered the courtyard, there was a group of roughly a hundred Student Practitioners engaged in a lesson with an Elder.
It was easy to tell their ranks from this distance since the robe colour differs for every rank in the Sect.
For most Sects, Student Practitioners wear black robes with white lining on the collar. Outer Core Practitioner robes are green while Inner Core Practitioner robes are dark blue. Elite Practitioners will change their robes to sky blue and Elders wear theirs in a light grey colour.
The Masters would usually wear pure white robes and the Sect Master would have his robes be in jade green.
There was a running joke in our Sect that if someone stayed as an Outer Core Practitioner long enough, they would become the Sect Master because of how similar the robe colours were.
"Elder Gong!" Elder Qing called out while waving his hand in greeting.
Elder Gong stopped his lesson upon being called, "Ah, Elder Qing! Master Lin! Have you come to use the Courtyard as well?"
Elder Qing shook his head, "Not at all, we thought it might be a good idea for the young ones to be acquainted with our Master Lin at least. He is here to impart them a little of his wisdom."
Hey, hey, hold on. This whole operation was your idea.
"Ah! A splendid idea!" Elder Gong laughed before gesturing to me. "Students, this is Master Lin. Some of you may already know but he is our Heaven Sect's number one genius!"
Oi, I was only here because I was told I could just observe! What's the point of putting this as an off day if I'm stuck teaching another group of students?!
Give me back my off day damn you! I'm claiming overtime for this!
With the spotlight now on me, I can't not say anything either.
I faked a cough into my fist, "Ahem, yes. It's nice to meet you all. First, let me offer my congratulations on your entries into Heaven Sect. I have no doubt many of you have different aspirations on what you want to do as a Practitioner, but take the time to learn from and guide the others around you. The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, I'd always like to say."
That was complete bullshit, by the way.
In both the Cloud and Spiritual Plane, there's no one you can trust but yourself.
What friends? What family? They'd all backstab you at the earliest chance they can get for their own benefits. Hell, even your lover will cuck you just to advance their own powers if they could.
Actually, you can't even trust yourself sometimes. There were monsters that could hide within your shadows when you least expect it, backstabbing you the moment you give them the opportunity.
Those places were hell.
These guys are fortunate to be in the Earthen Plane where such things are unheard of.
Such innocent minds.
I clapped my hands together, "Master Gong, what was their agenda today?"
He stroked his beard thoughtfully, "Umu… They already know about the fundamentals of Elemental Quarks, so we were going to let them try to convert their Pure quarks into another element and materialise it."
Ah, the most basic then. Lian Li learnt this in five minutes.
"I see, in that case," I cracked my knuckles. "Picture this: your Cultivation Point is a bowl while your Pure quarks is the water that fills the bowl. What you want to do is start swirling the water inside the bowl, but the water stays within the bowl's confines."
I did exactly as I had described internally, swirling the Pure quarks inside my Cultivation Point.
"Now the water should gain speed and you need to picture where you want the water to go, in my case, let's say I want it to be on my right hand."
I stretched out my right hand in front of me, palm facing the sky.
"Then imagine a little of the water spill out of the bowl while continuing to swirl it, concentrate on the spilt water and guide it from your body towards your hand like so."
A small orb of bluish white light appeared on my palm.
"Now imagine the element you want to change into, for this instance I'll use water since we were already imagining water to begin with. Imagine the water's fluidity, its coolness and its tranquility. The more you understand about the element, the better control you have. Match that understanding into the water you were already imagining swirling inside you and…"
The orb of light turned into a semi translucent ball of water, hovering slightly above my palm.
"Now you have to maintain your concentration on that water, or else this will happen."
The orb of water wobbled and crashed down on my palm, spilling its contents.
"Once you are proficient enough, you should be able to change the quark within your Cultivation Point itself before materialising it."
To prove my point, another orb of water appeared above my palm without appearing as an orb of light first.
"And when you understand more elements, you can manifest them as well."
I circulated the elements needed for my multicasting. A fireball appeared, followed by an orb of wind and a lump of earth.
I severed my connection to the manifested quarks and let the four orbs disintegrate into nothingness.
"Pick the element that you are most familiar with and work from there, it won't be long before you can materialise it at will if you persevere."
I looked up to see everyone gaping at me, even Elder Gong and Elder Qing.
Huh?
What did I do that's so surprising?
"Multi… Casting?" someone whispered.