Faldon upon hearing this immediately thought of the golden glow that Liz had mentioned seeing around James the previous day.
'Could it have been him? I hope this Supreme Elder has good intentions for my disciple…'
"I have already spoken with the Sect leaders of the other 5 sects and we'll be continuing with the usual tournament layout. Only those below Core Formation realm will participate. The matches will be 1 on 1 and participants will have a day of rest to recover between their matches. Any questions?"
No one else spoke up. Everyone was still imagining the scene of aquiring a strong back in the Mahayama realm and being able to cultivate up to the Tribulation Transcendance realm.
"Very well, if there are no questions then you're all dismissed. Please remind your disciples to prepare for the upcoming tournament. We'll be departing the sect together in 6 months time."
With that everyone stood up and left the hall.
——
Back at the gathering, everything had calmed down. The mood at become very pleasant and Galron even apologized. He'd realized that unlike other cultivation realms, being number 1 in the Mana Gathering realm really wasn't all that impressive.
James was content with how the gathering came to an end. He knew that the disciples would probably go back to only associating by status but it didn't matter. He wasn't some warrior of justice and he wasn't going to go out of his way to change the thinking of this world that has been ingrained in everone fir thousands of years. He simply didn't like seeing or hearing it happen around him.
James proceeded back to Enlightenment peak. He noticed his master waiting fir him in front of his house.
"Welcome back. How was the gathering? You kids have fun?"
"It was pretty uneventful but I did meet some interesting disciples. I even met a disciple who's bound to become a body refinement expert in the future."
'Hmm anyone this boy thinks will be an expert is almost guaranteed to achieve that in the future. He's been blessed by Heaven to the point of entering the eyes of a Mahayama realm cultivator, there's no way someone like him would be wrong.'
"Interesting! What was this disciple's name? I'll have to look after them in the future so we don't waste this future pillar of our sect."
Body refinement experts are cultivators who focus primarily on cultivating their bodies. Their cultivation is much more straightforward than regular cultivation of mana and soul. However, it takes much longer to progress in body cultivation and requires far more natural resources. Due to this, it is very rare for a cultivator to focus exclusively on body refinement but for those that have the talent, they are some of the strongest in their realm.
"His name is Eric and he's an Outer disciple. He told me he was kidnapped as an infant by a demonic cultivator but was saved by some of our sect's disciples returning from a mission. He went through a lot of painful experiments when with that demonic cultivator and needed one of our Elders in the sect to help him seal his excessive physical strength."
"Oh that boy, yes I heard about him from Elder Mira. She was the one who helped him. You don't need to worry, once he reaches the Foundation Establishment realm, she's planning to take him in as a Direct disciple.
With that out of the way, I need to talk to you about something. 6 months from now, our sect will be participating in a cross-sect tournament. Only disciples with cultivation lower than the Core Formation realm may participate. There will be 5 other sects competing and each sect will have 10 slots. From our sect, each of the 4 peaks will nominate 1 disciple while the other 6 slots will be allocated by the elders of the main peak. I will be giving you the slot for our peak as your Senior sister is already in the Core Formation realm and so won't be able to participate."
"Uhh master, I haven't reached the Foundation Establishment realm yet. I'm basically mortal until I do so there's no way i'll get a decent placement in the tournament."
"Haha that's why i'm here, i'll be spending the forseeable future guiding you in cultivation until you break through. Once you reach Foundation Establishment, you'll at least have a fighting shot and should be able to last a few more rounds. You don't need to worry, i'm not expecting you to win the tournament especially when you'll be up against peak Foundation Establishment disciples."
'This is perfect, I was just thinking about how i'd continue cultivating.'
"Thank you master! I did have 1 question though, how do you know that i'm ready to establish my foundation? I thought other cultivators weren't anle to distinguish between Mana Gathering levels."
"Hahaha that's true, even now I can't tell exactly which level you're in but with age comes experience. When you're working your way through the Mana Gathering realm, your body will subconsciously draw the surrounding mana in towards itself. The mana won't be absorbed without conscious cultivation but that subtle pull of the surrounding mana will only happen when the cultivator still has room to absorb, in other words has not reached the peak of the realm. When I look at you, I don't detect any mana disturbance and so I know you've reached the limit of the Mana Gathering realm."
'So that's what it is! My master is incredible, I would have never thought to use indirect environmental information to deduce someone's cultivation level. This may be considered just a small trick among cultivators, but this way of thinking could become useful in the future.'
"You're right master, i'm at the limit of the Mana Gathering realm but I don't have the Foundation Establishment chapter of the Cloud's Ascent cultivation technique."
"Haha I would be surprised if you did though it wouldn't be the first time yoy learned a technique without my direct teaching."
Faldon gave James a teasing look while handing over the Foundation Establishment section of the technique. James showed a slightly embarrassed expression as he accepted the technique. He knew Faldon was refering him copying his Mana Gathering technique while still being an infant.