69 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
69 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "Chapter 2: The Mountain Sect"
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slug: "ch-2"
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novel: "reverend-insanity"
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number: 2
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views: 1620000
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likes: 118000
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wordCount: 2950
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createdAt: "2014-04-11"
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---
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The Crimson Peak Sect occupied a fortress carved into the mountain's upper reaches, a complex of buildings that had existed for barely three generations. In Fang Yuan's time, this sect had been extinct for four centuries, lost to internal conflict and external warfare. But here, now, it was a thriving institution with forty cultivators and enough resources to maintain a respectable standard of living.
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Fang Yuan arrived dressed as a wandering cultivator seeking knowledge, his appearance deliberately humble. At the sect's outer gate, he was stopped by a young disciple—fourteen, with barely the strength to sense Fang Yuan's presence.
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"State your business," the disciple commanded, clearly impressed by his own authority.
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"I seek the sect leader," Fang Yuan said peacefully. "I have information regarding gu refinement techniques that would interest him."
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Within an hour, he was brought before the sect leader—a man named Chen Ming, powerful by this era's standards but comically weak compared to true immortals. Chen Ming cultivated a technique for refining earth gu, giving him unusual stability and durability in combat. He was respected, but limited.
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"You claim to know advanced gu refinement?" Chen Ming asked skeptically.
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"I do," Fang Yuan replied. "And I offer to share that knowledge freely."
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"Why would you do such a thing?"
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"Because," Fang Yuan smiled, "I need resources. I need students. I need time and space to conduct research. Your sect can provide all of these, if you're wise enough to recognize opportunity."
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Chen Ming was intrigued but cautious. "Demonstrate."
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What followed was a masterclass in ancient gu cultivation that wouldn't exist in legitimate form for centuries. Fang Yuan didn't fully reveal his knowledge—that would be dangerous—but he demonstrated enough to prove his expertise. A simple gu refinement technique that tripled the efficiency of their earth cultivators. A modification to their sect's resources that improved gu breeding yields. Small things. Trivial by his standards.
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But revolutionary by theirs.
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Within a week, Fang Yuan had become the sect's most valued cultivator, second only to Chen Ming in influence. The sect leader assigned him personal quarters and a laboratory, granted him access to the sect's gu breeding supplies, and most importantly—gave him authority to train new disciples.
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The disciples became his experimental subjects.
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Over the following months, Fang Yuan began refining impossibilities. He created gu that could integrate with human physiology in ways that this era's cultivators considered impossible. He engineered parasitic gu that enhanced physical capabilities while remaining undetectable to conventional cultivation senses. He began the process of transforming ordinary disciples into something more—into instruments of his design.
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His most successful subject was a nineteen-year-old named Qing Man. Through careful application of cascading gu implants and targeted cultivation guidance, Fang Yuan had transformed Qing Man's body into a perfect testing ground for new techniques. The young man's loyalty was absolute, the result of centuries-old psychological conditioning methods applied through gu-based neural manipulation.
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"Master," Qing Man would say during their private sessions, his voice emotionless and obedient, "what would you have me do?"
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"Live," Fang Yuan would reply, adjusting the implanted gu with masterful precision. "Cultivate. Become my masterpiece."
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The other disciples didn't understand why Chen Ming allowed Fang Yuan such freedom, such authority. But the sect leader had seen the results. Recruitment increased. Disciples advanced faster. Combat efficiency skyrocketed. Fang Yuan was making the Crimson Peak Sect powerful.
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What Chen Ming failed to realize was that he was making Fang Yuan powerful in the process.
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By the time Chen Ming noticed the discrepancies—the missing disciples who'd "left the sect," the unusual patterns in the sect's gu stores—it was far too late. Fang Yuan had already integrated so deeply into the sect's structure that removing him would cause complete collapse. And more importantly, Fang Yuan now controlled seventeen disciples through his implanted gu, making them loyal servants obedient to his will rather than the sect's edicts.
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When Chen Ming finally confronted Fang Yuan about his suspicious activities, the sect leader found himself face to face with cultivation techniques he couldn't comprehend and a servant force that moved with inhuman coordination.
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"You've become dangerous," Chen Ming said, hand moving toward his gu pouch.
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"No," Fang Yuan replied calmly. "I've become inevitable. You can choose to accept this gracefully, or you can fight. Either way, the Crimson Peak Sect belongs to me now."
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The sect leader's face hardened. His hand emerged with earth gu, his cultivation flaring to maximum. For a moment, there was genuine conflict between them.
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It lasted three seconds before Chen Ming collapsed, a parasitic gu Fang Yuan had placed in his food weeks ago finally activating. The sect leader convulsed once, twice, and then lay still—his consciousness trapped in his own body, fully aware but unable to command his physical form.
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Fang Yuan wouldn't kill him. Not yet. This version of Chen Ming still had value as proof of concept. In the future, Fang Yuan would refine the technique further, would create gu capable of maintaining complete control indefinitely.
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For now, he had a sect to consolidate. And five hundred years still stretched before him.
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Plenty of time to become a god.
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