"Thank you for taking your time to come to our Jaded Garden, Yuan." Senior Wang bowed to him in a respectful manner despite their difference in age.
In the world of cultivation, one's strength and ability were more valued than one's age, so one must respect the other if they were stronger regardless of their ages.
If it weren't for the fact that they were at the same cultivation level, she would've addressed Yuan as 'Senior Yuan'.
The guards didn't know that Yuan was also a Spirit Master like Senior Wang, so her actions left them dumbfounded for a good moment, as they have never seen her act so respectful towards a junior.
"I am here because I want to know more about cultivation… and your background," Yuan spoke in a calm voice.
"Of course. That's why we requested for your presence." Senior Wang nodded.
"Please, follow me."
They then followed Senior Wang inside the gates.
"The others aren't aware of your presence yet, so allow us some time to prepare." Senior Wang said to them as they walked.
"What is this place?" Yuan asked her.
Although he learned a little about the Jaded Garden from the pilot, he wanted to hear about it from someone who lives here.
"The Jaded Garden is a special place created by the Six Spiritual Families where our branches live in harmony as proof of our alliance. However, that isn't the main reason we created this place."
"The Jaded Garden is actually a training spot for the Six Spiritual Families where we send our juniors to learn about cultivation and become cultivators. It used to be a secluded area for many centuries, but now that cultivation is known to the entire world, we decided to open up this place and use it as the headquarters for our new cultivation faction known as the Spiritual Elites."
"Spiritual Elites…" Yuan repeated in a muttering voice.
And he asked, "What are the requirements to join the faction?"
Senior Wang smiled and said, "Are you interested? If you want to join, we'll accept you right away."
"That wasn't my intention." Yuan quickly responded.
"Too bad. Maybe we can change your mind later. Anyways, we only have 2 requirements for those who want to join our faction. One, you must be under the age of 21. And lastly, you must be at the very least at the eighth level of Spirit Apprentice."
"Eighth level Spirit Apprentice below the age of 21? So everyone above the age of 21 will be automatically disqualified regardless of their cultivation levels? That isn't very fair since the majority of people in this world have only started cultivating a couple of months ago." Meixiu said.
"That is correct, as we only want young people with potential. Even if you're extremely talented, if you start cultivating at the age of 21, you will not achieve as much as someone who has inferior talents but started cultivating at a much younger age." Senior Wang responded.
And she continued, "For example, between two individuals— one who started cultivating at the age of 10 and one who started at the age of 21— the person who started at the age of 10 will have 11 years of experience by the time he's 21 and will generally achieve more in his life than the person who started at 21 years old."
"One might argue that the gap doesn't really matter if the person who started cultivating at the age of 21 had immense talents that allowed him to ignore his setback, but these people are too few and far in-between. However, if someone like that does exist, we could simply make an exception for them."
Senior Wang's gaze glanced at Yuan for a brief moment when she said that sentence.
"By the way, this place has existed for over 500 years."
"500 years…? Just how long have you guys known about cultivation?" Yuan couldn't help but ask.
"I can't tell you the exact date since we also don't know, but let's just say we've known about cultivation since we can remember." Senior Wang said.
"I see… What's the highest cultivation someone has achieved?" Yuan then asked.
"Spirit Master," she quickly responded.
"Even the most talented genius within the Six Spiritual Families has only achieved the 3rd level Spirit Master before he perished. I don't think it's possible to reach any higher due to the lack of Qi in this world and a lack of good techniques."
"The existence of Cultivation Online might change that since we'll be able to acquire better cultivation techniques, but that won't fix the issue with the lack of Qi."
"Anyways, we are here. Please wait a bit for me to gather the others." Senior Wang said as they arrived before a large pond that had a couple of buildings built on top of the water.
This reminded Yuan of the Dragon Pavilion inside the Dragon Essence Temple.
Senior Wang then led Yuan and Meixiu to the largest pavilion there.
Once Yuan and Meixiu sat down around a large round table made of marble, Senior Wang said, "I will now gather the others."
Senior Wang left the scene shortly after, leaving the two of them alone in this place.
"What do you think?" Yuan suddenly asked.
"What do you mean?"
"What do you think of this place and Senior Wang? Can we trust them?"
Meixiu pondered for a moment before speaking, "I don't know, that Senior Wang seemed pretty respectful and friendly, but we can never be too careful."
Yuan nodded and said, "I think so too. Anyways, while I am 'Yuan', I will be acting a little different than usual to not give away my identity and to make sure they take me seriously, and I kind of gave myself a serious and unfriendly image at the Cultivators' Association."
"I kind of figured since you felt a little different than normal since we have arrived at this place," Meixiu said.
And she added, "I will also try to act differently."
About fifteen minutes later, Senior Wang returned to the lake with five other individuals— all of them with an elderly appearance.