The difference between the inner sect and the outer sect was pretty obvious, not to mention the cultivation atmosphere, but the attitude of the cultivators there too.
It was nighttime, but many were still wandering about, some hung with female cultivators enjoying their youth under the shade of the moon, and others were vehemently practicing cultivation techniques and training their bodies day and night to better themselves.
The inner disciples had far more freedom to do whatever they wanted since they already proved themselves to be important to the sect, important enough to nurture and take away from the outer sect.
And with that, some took the easy way and enjoyed the privileges, and many capitalized on them to become stronger and curry more favor and greater benefits from the sect.
It was, from what I could see a perfectly normal sect.
Soon enough, and pretty much expected, the cliché encounter happened.
It was so surprising, no, it was downright stupid how it happened.
"Ling Cao?" spoke a female voice.
I turned to see a woman I didn't recognize, yet at the same time my body did, I felt a pang, a sharp pain shot right through my heart at the sight of that woman, and then the memories flooded in.
This girl was Ling Cao's girlfriend or used to be. She was the daughter of the Sect Master, she was talented, but not enough to be a Core Disciple, unlike Ling Cao's absurd talent, she was far from him.
And due to this, she developed an inferiority complex. She could see it, that with every day, Ling Cao's talent and attitude allowed him to soar high and increase his cultivation and his power by leaps and bounds.
What took her months to achieve he did in days, and not even using a fraction of the effort.
At first, it was the admiration of his talent and she wished him well, but soon, it began to gnaw at her when people in the sect began speaking.
Why is he with that girl? There are far better people for him? were the questions.
Even some said that he is only with her since her father is the sect master.
However, no one not even her ever asked Ling Cao why he truly was with her, and the answer from his side was simple.
Because of love.
And because he really didn't care if she was strong talented or not, he wanted to be with her because he loved her.
A simple, childish yet pretty convincing and accurate reason to be with someone.
However, no one asked him, not even her. And due to that what love she had for him soon turned its face to the ugliest side. And what is uglier than love turning to hatred?
Ling Cao couldn't understand why his loved one began treating him coldly, not answering his summons, and no longer coming to visit him.
One day, however, when he didn't expect it, she had come to him late at night. Hoping to be heard and to be forgiven even if he didn't know the reason why she became cold towards him. She actually didn't show any signs of being aloof or mad.
Ling Cao thought that all that happened before was nothing but a bad dream and ignored all the signs.
After a night spent together, she had mentioned to him that there was something she wanted to get. It was something to help improve her cultivation a rare treasure that a few disciples had mentioned that it existed in a nearby cave. She mentioned that she was going to gather up a group of people and visit the cave. She also explained that it might be dangerous but she will do her best to get it and catch up to Ling Cao.
The thought warmed Ling Cao's heart because he realized that she wanted to improve herself to be closer to him. And in that, he had an idea, an idea that he wholeheartedly believed it was his own, an idea he thought that he came up with all by himself.
He was worried for her, and he thought that if she were to go to this cave, she might be in danger, so he could go there, and get whatever she was looking for, scoring two birds with one stone. Gaining more of her affection and at the same time improving her overall power. And thus, he ventured into the cave where he almost lost his life for nothing but a fight with a most dangerous inexplicable creature.
Ling Cao had fainted when he fought that creature at some point, but instead of finding himself in the wheel of reincarnation, he woke up again without that creature in sight. He couldn't find the treasure and almost lost his life in the process.
His journey was a failure to himself and to her, thus he had to go back empty-handed and report to her on the matter.
On the first day of his return, he failed to find her. Thinking that she might be cultivating alone he didn't wish to bother her. And thus focused on his own cultivation.
But then, it began. The pain, the sudden loss of power. The inexplicable exhaustion and the hunger. He could no longer understand simple subjects, his mind was always blank and felt empty. He couldn't focus for more than a few minutes at a time and was feeling weary all too often.
Whatever Ling Cao learned he forgot.
He couldn't understand what was happening to him, and when he went to the sect's doctor the doctor said that there was nothing wrong with Ling Cao.
Ling Cao was at a loss and continued to train only to gain nothing. His body began deteriorating, his muscles slowly diminished and his whole stature began curving, he looked and felt like an old man stuck in a teenager's malnourished body. He was suffering, yet still, he kept fighting to fix himself.
Then out of nowhere, a person came to him, this one was Ling Cao's friend, he was the son of the second Grand Elder, the Grand Elder was the right-hand man of the Sect Master and his son had a decent enough cultivation, yet he was not nearly as good as Ling Cao in his prime.
And instead of a friendly handshake and casual talk. The friend turned to an enemy and slapped Ling Cao's hand away.
"Don't shake my hand" he said, "I challenge you to a duel, you don't deserve the Core Disciple Status," he said.
And with so many other disciples watching the scene, Ling Cao was forced to enter a duel he was bound to lose, and he lost, big time almost to the point that he was going to lose his life if it wasn't for the intervention of the Sect Master himself.
All of this is because the Sect Master was a friend of Ling Cao's deceased father.
But since Ling Cao was so brutally defeated, it was known to the entire sect that Ling Cao, the man with the Golden Talent Root had become trash and was no longer fit to be a part of the sect.
In his desperation, Ling Cao desperately tried to grasp at any of the straws around him, for what a drowned man wouldn't do? He begged and pleaded with the sect master, pointing at his father and the Sect Master's friendship, and even his engagement to the Sect Master's daughter. However, he came to realize a brutal truth.
As he was pleading his case, she entered and she was tightly clutching the arm of the currently known "Young Master".
Ling Cao finally understood that he was used, discarded, and thrown away, all because he was now not useful.
Without talent, what is the value of a person?
Ling Cao's world crashed, he was kicked from the inner sect due to his inability to even perform the Ancient Movement Technique which was the basis of the basics needed to join the Inner Sect.
He continued to beg and ask the Sect Master for help, but not a single reply ever came. Many of the young master's sidekicks came over and assaulted Ling Cao on daily basis, bullying him to permanently quit the sect. Since no one wanted to see him around.
In fact, it would not make them feel easy to see the person they ruined every day so it would be better for them if he didn't live in the sect if he didn't exist, that way they can pretend that he never was here and their sins never happened.
The Sect Closed its doors at Ling Cao, and he was relegated to a cabin that was dirtier than public toilets. He was given nothing but a mockery in the sect and soon became the sect's stain.
His life turned far worse later on, and soon he had no choice but to either end his life, or risk death to change it and he failed both of those choices.
The dive through the memory lane ended there and I was suddenly back to reality as I was looking at the woman in front of me.
Taking a second gaze I wondered why he was even interested in this person.
"You're kinda ugly, fuck off," I spoke and then moved away from her.
The words I spoke came like a lightning bolt down her mind.
And to be honest, my words weren't meant to mock her, but I wanted to create a scene. A pretty damn big one and I was going to succeed in doing that.
"What did you just say?!" she said her eyes bulging.
"I never knew why I was interested in a piece of shit like you, I must have been blind and it took me years of starvation to finally understand that your face and my morning shits are pretty much the same. I guess I was under a spell, but no more, so please, fuck off, your face is enough to kill a man's appetite."
For whatever ungodly reason, my words were enough to cause her to cough out blood.
'What in the name of biology is this shit!'