The Formless Blade Sect Hall.
This was the place where all sect meetings were held, and also the grandest hall in the whole Formless Blade Sect. Only those with certain status within the sect were granted permission to enter it. Mo Wuji had only gazed upon it from afar before, never setting foot within the hall itself. After he processed the five stalks of Water Velvet Vine into a juice, Mo Wuji rushed back as fast as possible. Fortunately Pill Master Shi’s jade slip was useable, otherwise he would not have gotten anywhere close to the door of the hall.
“Service Disciple Mo Wuji pays his respects to all elders of the sect. “ Mo Wuji loudly roared out at the entrance to the hall. All who sat here were those elders with the greatest powers in the sect. Each of them were extremely strong immortal masters who were far more advanced in cultivation, hence he, a lowly service disciple, dared not show any form of disrespect.
“Sect head, Elders, this service disciple’s name is Mo Wuji. He’s my ingredient boy. The pills made from the ingredients that he fetched were exceptionally easy to refine.” The already frantic Shi Jun scrambled to report as he saw Mo Wuji approaching.
A middle aged man sat at the highest position in the hall. His cheeks were slightly sunken, with a short beard on his chin, and he sat up completely straight in his seat, like a sharp blade that was barely concealed by its scabbard.
Mo Wuji could guess that this was the Formless Blade Sect’s sect head. Indeed, right after Shi Jun finished speaking, the middle aged man nodded his head and said, “Since he is Pill Master Shi’s ingredient boy and also a disciple of the Formless Blade Sect, please let him enter.”
Mo Wuji noticed how mindful the sect head was when he was speaking; firstly, he did not address Mo Wuji as a service disciple, secondly, he used the word “please” when giving Mo Wuji permission to enter.
“Thank you sect head.” Without waiting for Pill Master Shi to thank the sect head, Mo Wuji took the initiative and bowed respectfully.
The various elders and pill masters were sizing Mo Wuji up, still suspicious of him. He barely looked even 20 years old. Also, for a service disciple entering such a solemn and grand sect hall, facing a large group of immortal masters, one would be expected to be rather tense, and overwhelmed by it all. How could there be someone like Mo Wuji, who would boldly strut into the hall, and calmly thank the sect head?
However, for Mo Wuji, he had already got used to mingling with the heads of states during his past experiences at global pharmaceutical conferences of Earth.
“Wuji, come sit beside me.” Shi Jun gestured to Mo Wuji by patting the seat next to him. He could not even afford to put on airs around Mo Wuji, a mere service disciple. After all, beggars can’t be choosers. Ever since he started to ask others to be his ingredient boy, not a single person took up his offer. So despite his status as a pill refiner, and Mo Wuji as a service disciple, he still had to depend greatly on Mo Wuji.
“Thank you Pill Master Shi.” Mo Wuji thanked Shi Jun respectfully, before going over to sit down beside him. Once seated, Mo Wuji whispered, “Pill Master Shi, if the pill refining succeeds, I want to enter the Formless Blade Mountain too.” With a wave of his hand, Shi Jun replied, “No problem. Every pill refiner that enters the Formless Blade Mountain can bring a ingredient boy with them. As long as you can help me successfully refine these pills, you will go in with me.”
“Isn’t it quite illogical for a service disciple to sit with us here? His presence really degrades the dignity of our sect’s great hall.” A booming voice with a tinge of anger suddenly rang out through the hall. Immediately turning around towards the source of the voice, Mo Wuji saw a young man. The youth was wearing a robe, exuding the aura of a master from every corner of his body.
In his heart, Mo Wuji was rather unhappy. Who was this guy, and so what if I’m sitting here? Why should I stand while everyone is sitting down?
Although he had these thoughts, Mo Wuji knew that he was powerless to influence anything that happened here, and could only gaze at Shi Jun, hoping for him to make a move. If Shi Jun could not speak up either, he would just have to suck it up.
With a light chuckle, Shi Jun replied, “Pill Master Ju, since everyone is seated here, it wouldn’t be very nice to let Wuji stand by himself.” To this, Pill Master Ju coldly answered, “None of the pill masters that are gathered here today need the help of ingredient boys. Only, you brought an ingredient boy. Then again, Pill Master Shi’s abilities are outstanding. What better way to stand out from the crowd than to bring an ingredient boy?” Even though Shi Jun knew that his position was not as high up as this robed youth, but upon hearing these words come out, he couldn’t help but become furious.
Although Mo Wuji felt dissatisfied inside too, he was not willing to implicate Shi Jun. He was about to stand up, and signal to Shi Jun to avoid arguing over such a small matter, when Pill Master Ju spoke coldly again, “You puny little ingredient boy, how dare you sit here.”
These words had the complete opposite effect than they were intended for, as Mo Wuji intentionally sat still, not budging a single inch. If he did not have to keep in mind that Yan’Er was still with him, Mo Wuji would have given a sarcastic retort. So what if he was an ingredient boy? It was Pill Master Shi’s instruction for him to sit down. He was Pill Master Shi’s ingredient boy, not Pill Master Ju’s. Pill Master Shi did not seem to be of a lower rank than him, what problem did this guy have, to bring up such a trivial issue?
“Mo Wuji, as an ingredient boy, how dare you just sit there as two pill masters are arguing?” The elder who was first from the left asked out of the blue, seemingly siding with Pill Master Ju. Mo Wuji knew that someone who sat at the first position on the left definitely was someone with a high rank, possibly the First Elder. When under the roof of another you can’t afford not to defer to him, hence Mo Wuji stood up, bowed respectfully to the elder, and said, “Elder, please understand, if I had stood up earlier, perhaps Pill Master Shi and Pill Master Ju would not have argued over my actions. But with sect head’s guidance, I came to understand something, hence my inaction throughout the whole incident.”
Sect head’s guidance? Everyone turned to look at Gu Ran who sat at the top. As the Formless Blade Sect’s sect head, Gu Ran had never taken in a disciple, so how could he have guided a service disciple? Equally confused, Gu Ran looked to Mo Wuji, unsure when he had taught Mo Wuji before. Mo Wuji calmly explained himself, “In the eyes of experts, a lowly service disciple naturally has no status or position. This can be clearly seen when Pill Master Ju asked me to stand up. But when I entered the great hall, our sect head did not specially refer to me as a service disciple. Indeed in the eyes of our sect head, it doesn’t matter if it’s a formal, inner, outer, or service disciple. As long as he is part of the Formless Blade Sect, he would be considered Formless Blade Sect’s disciple.”
When Mo Wuji entered, the sect head really did not intentionally call Mo Wuji a service disciple, but no one would think that this small detail would be used by him as the sect head’s personal guidance. Without waiting for a response, Mo Wuji continued, “The sect head also used the word “please” for a lowly disciple such as myself. In his eyes, everyone is equal.”
“So these are the lessons you learnt from our sect head?” The first elder from the left asked again. To this, Mo Wuji firmly answered, “Yes, in our sect head’s eyes, people have no rank or status, but are defined by their character. This is sect head’s lesson to me.”
“Good. There are no high or low class people, only people with good or bad character. Thanks for the lesson.” The woman sitting first from the right gave Mo Wuji a standing ovation, obviously in agreement with what he had said. Only then did Mo Wuji notice this woman. She appeared rather young, definitely not more than a few years older than him. Her facial features were rather average too, possibly considered to be kind of ugly by some, but this young woman actually sat at a position close to the sect head. She likely held a high position within the sect.
In reality, everyone could read the intention behind Mo Wuji’s words, which was that the sect head was a person of good character, while Pill Master Ju was only as good as an average person. The sect head nodded his head in agreement, warmly telling Mo Wuji, “Why don’t you just sit down.”
“Thank you sect head.” Mo Wuji gave another word of thanks before sitting down for good. Shi Jun’s impression of Mo Wuji improved further as he saw how Mo Wuji turned the situation around single handedly. He softly whispered to Mo Wuji, “The person that just spoke up for you is the Formless Blade Sect’s number one pill master, Tier 4 Earth Pill Refiner Yan Qianyin. She’s the leader of the team that’s representing the Formless Blade Sect at the Five Elements Desolate Domain Pill Competition.”
Mo Wuji had already heard from Fei Bingzhu that Pill Master Yan was an Earth Pill Master previously. However, he did not expect that her name to also have the word “yin” in it. It reminded him of his experience with Xia Ruoyin.
“All right, since all the pill refiners are here, let’s begin.” Gu Ran cut to the chase, without the intention of mulling on what Mo Wuji had said. As he finished his sentence, five gigantic pill furnaces were carried into the centre of the hall.