And really, do keep in mind that while only sixteen(plus whoever managed to earn distinction in their own ways) win the grand prize of Sect Membership out of the thousands of Outer Sect disciples, the consolation prizes are pretty good themselves.
- For the higher nobility its all about the connections.
High noble families tend to meet in highly formal environments mainly mediated by the adults, so the Sect is an opportunity for their younger scions to meet people other than their traditional allies in an informal environment and work with that...and to poach the talented commoners. They don't actually need to care about winning the top 16 except for prestige purposes, because a high noble LOSING to commoners and low nobility is shameful, their families can match anything the Sect can give.
What the Sect gains from them is prestige and political sponsorship.
Of course, you also have Sun Liling and Cai Renxiang who're advancing their pet agendas and/or throwing a very complicated tantrum.
- For the lower nobility, its about building connections with those beyond them. Observe Sun Liling and Cai Renxiang's goon squads. Most of them would normally never have a chance to meet someone above them in status...granted I'm not sure if they even get remembered lol.
If they fail to get in, they go home and use their family's resources, whats a few years lost to cultivators who can live centuries? If they get in...they go home anyway in the end.
- For the new nobility and common cultivators, its about arts and cultivation resources for different styles than their founders, unlike older families who might have something for every variation of their clan style, they just won't have had time to accumulate all that, so someone who wants to make their own way in life can choose to Sect or Suck.
They aren't something you could just hop down to the market to buy or get from a public library after all, this stuff is all made by and consumed by nobility. The Sect offers a relatively politically neutral source of arts, formations and cultivation aids.
The catch? All the good stuff is gated behind qualifying for the Sect. These guys are motivated to win, but unlike the big old noble families they don't have the advantage of unlimited dosh to throw at winning. If they fail they fail their families.
What the Sect gets out of them is a rabid work ethic, they're the ones hammering at sect missions and generating productivity because their families can't afford to sponsor all their drugs. They'd probably leave in the end though, being loyal to their family first.
- Then you have the talented commoners. Who go from a household budget of ten bucks per month to huffing drugs worth a car every week. For them, winning the Inner Sect is mostly a matter of ambition, they already won the moment the Sect picked them up.
What the Sect gets out of them is the masses of above average cultivators loyal only to the Sect, who absolutely don't mind spending the rest of their lives patrolling the wilderness, farming shitty mobs, making over nine thousand generic pills or the many types of menial work needed to keep the Sect running...because its still way better than whatever prospect they had as a commoner.
- Finally from every category you got all the nerds who just want to study their way into tenure, fuck the family.
