Although Verus was still wounded, the complex healing technique he was using on himself had restored him to peak fighting condition. The pain was also easy to ignore. He might not remember his past, but he remembered the pain and the fire. It had scarred his soul. This was nothing to that.

Verus’s apparent complete recovery from injury and the change in his behaviour put Fortex on guard. He took a defense stance and then pointed two fingers at Verus. Ki began to gather as he prepared his ranged technique.

As he watched Fortex’s fingers, Verus picked up the pace and flooded his body with void ki, which lightened his steps. A moment later, a beam of golden orange light blasted out of Fortex’s hand.

Seemingly unconcerned, Verus gracefully sidestepped the beam while continuing his steady advance. He’d dodged it by less than half a foot, so he was unhurt, although he could feel the heat radiate off the beam as it went past. Fortex’s evocation technique was fast and powerful, but that didn’t matter if he signalled its path every time he fired it by pointing with his fingers.

Verus was closing in now, so Fortex reacted. Instead of defending, he threw himself forward to meet Verus, and the two of them met in a storm of blows. Fortex threw a straight punch at his foe, but Verus matched it with one of his own, forcing his opponent to abandon his attack and dodge. Verus then threw a series of jabs and followed them up with a jumping sidekick. Fortex blocked the kick with his upraised arms as he fell back to reduce its power.

As Verus landed, Fortex launched a scythe kick at his head, but Verus simply ducked under the blow and then punched him in the gut.

Grunting in pain, Fortex fell back again and Verus followed. His foe had shown that he could resist the Unseen Hand technique, but that would probably change after a few more punches to the gut and when exhaustion set in.

Verus was beginning to feel his ki reserves in his core running low. His opponent had to be worse off though, considering all the flashy moves he’d been throwing around.

Fortex steadied himself and met Verus's charge, so both disciples exchanged another series of punches. Verus won this round as well, landing another gut punch that made his opponent grunt. Fortex was still the faster fighter, but Verus moved with incredible grace and had no problem predicting his moves. He’d never been more in tune with the combat instincts he’d inherited from the Warrior. Fortex was beginning to look very worried now.

Under pressure, Fortex fell back, so Verus ducked down and threw another punch at his stomach. However, it was a feint, and when Fortex’s hands dropped to block the blow, Verus twisted around and reached out to touch Fortex’s head with two fingers. As he moved, human ki flowed through his body with increasing speed, until it raged with the power of a hurricane.

Verus’s fingers closed in on Fortex’s chin, but at the very last moment before impact, Verus suddenly abandoned his attack, releasing a blast of human ki prematurely and jumping back. The small explosion washed over Fortex, and ripped his afterimage apart.

Thankfully, Verus had already turned away and shielded his eyes, so when Fortex emerged from the explosion and attacked, he was able to block the punch.

“Enough!” Fortex yelled furiously as his attack was halted. “I’ll finish you with the next blow and none of your pathetic little tricks will be able to save you!”

As Verus watched, his opponent stepped back and curled one of his hands up in a claw. Ki then streamed to his hand and it began to glow brightly as five small blades of essence formed around his fingers, giving them the appearance of wicked looking claws.

Verus eyed this transformation warily but didn’t fall back.

“Luminous Lion’s Claw!” Fortex roared as he flared his enhancement technique. Golden orange light streamed from his body as he leapt forward and swung his essence claw toward Verus. He moved with startling speed and it was obvious he’d put everything into this one last attack that combined body enhancement and essence evoking.

Rather than retreat, Verus stepped into the blow. As the golden claw swung toward his head, he reached out and grabbed Fortex’s arm. The other disciple’s momentum and power were far too great for him to stop, so instead he cycled void ki and went along with it. Pulling Fortex off balance, Verus used a move from the Shifting Serpent Style to twist around and throw Fortex over his shoulder.

The young noble flew through the air for a moment, before slamming into the ground hard. His body was still enhanced by ki though, so he wasn’t stunned and immediately tried to lash out at his opponent. However, Verus was ready for this and had already activated the special ability of his core. With both hands holding Fortex’s arm tight, he was able to begin sucking enough ki out of the limb to disrupt his opponent’s technique, and the golden claw dissolved.

Verus laughed. “You really need to stop signalling every single one of your attacks.”

A moment later, Fortex’s body enhancement faded away after being flared. This allowed a grinning Verus to pull his fallen foe up so that he could get behind his back and apply a chokehold. Verus’s arm was now wrapped around Fortex’s neck, and a quick squeeze cut off the flow of blood to his head. Since Verus was also still draining the ki from his body, Fortex could only struggle for a brief second as his eyes bulged before tapping the ground to surrender.

“The match is over!” the judging elder yelled as he suddenly stepped into sight. “Verus Windward is the winner.”

There were exclamations of surprise and excitement from the crowd as Verus let his opponent go and stepped back. Excitement coursed through him. He’d done it! He’d won. His draining ability had rendered his opponent helpless once he’d gotten a hold on him!

Glowering fiercely, Fortex climbed to his feet and the two fighters gave each other a formal bow. Fortex looked like he wanted to refuse, but he had no choice in this matter since there were elders watching.

That done, Verus let out a grunt of exhaustion and walked off the stone platform after the judge handed him the amulet he’d won. Now that the fight was over, his injuries were starting to hurt again. Much to his frustration, he was now the center of attention. Almost everyone in the crowd was watching him and talking amongst themselves about what they saw as a startling upset.

Although they’d all ignored Verus before, several disciples even stepped forward to talk to him now that he’d won an amulet. Verus grimaced as they approached. He really didn’t want to talk to a bunch of strangers right now.

Thankfully, before anyone could bother him, Elder Caligo appeared and his presence caused all the disciples to fall back.

“Good job. Come with me,” Elder Caligo told him as stepped beside Verus so that they could walk together.

Verus nodded and moved to follow. “Yes, elder.”

“Call me master. You’ve earned it,” Caligo replied wryly as they walked away from the crowd. “I honestly didn’t think you were going to win this challenge. Fortex was a formidable foe. You’ve accomplished something quite impressive here, overcoming all your opponent’s advantages with sheer talent and persistence.”

“Thank you, master. Although Fortex was a powerful opponent, he wasn’t a real warrior. He has obviously never fought any real battles where everything was on the line. This was just a matter of face to him.”

Caligo gave him an amused look. “And you’re some sort of grizzled veteran?”

Verus hesitated a moment before answering. “I was desperate.”

This caused Elder Caligo to nod solemnly. “Well, take a day or two to recover and relax. Your position in the inner sect is guaranteed now. Soon, a whole new world full of new challenges will open before you. The tournament will begin before too long, and you’ll need to train hard.”

Elder Caligo dropped Verus off at the dormitory before disappearing. Once in his room, Verus sat down on a mat on his floor and meditated. There were a lot of things on his mind.

Breaking down the barriers between himself and the Warrior hadn’t just allowed him to use his combat instincts to their full extent, they’d come with a cost. Now that they were no longer divided, he viewed himself as the Warrior, and the Warrior’s thoughts and desires were his own. His memories of his past life hadn’t been restored, but now he desperately wanted to know who he’d been. He had to recover his memories somehow.

Verus knew there was something he had to do, but he didn’t know what it was. Nonetheless, the desire was almost consuming him. He had a duty! Verus had to take a deep breath and calm himself. There was nothing he could do for the moment, except plan to grow stronger.

Verus went easy over the next few days and stayed in his room most of the time. Some people came over to congratulate him on his victory, but he never did more than politely return their greeting. The only person he had a real conversation with was Escora. He wasn’t interested in making friends or followers in the outer sect now that he was about to leave it.

As expected, no one challenged him before the ceremony date, so Verus received an invitation to the special mid-year graduation ceremony the sect had arranged to prepare more disciples for the upcoming tournament, and he soon found himself attending it alongside the nine other amulet holders.

It was a small ceremony in a back courtyard where the winners traded in their amulets for the formal robes of inner sect disciples. It was officiated by Elder Old Guy and the only other people in attendance were a small crowd of silent elders, including Elder Caligo.

As he stood next to the other winners, Verus looked them over. He recognized almost all of them. Fang was there, alongside his mistress Selena, who was a stern looking young noble woman. Highcloud and one of his followers from the trial in the Reaches were also present. Verus couldn’t help but glower at Highcloud. There was still an unresolved matter between them. He’d been partly responsible for the situation that had ended up costing Warin his life.

Inanis Praestigiae was the last disciple present that Verus knew by name. However, all he did was give Verus an enigmatic grin and then he ignored him after that. He seemed wrapped up in his own little world and quite happy about how things had turned out.

The remaining disciples were all famous fighters and young family scions in expensive finery. In comparison, Verus had chosen to attend while wearing the simple robes of a temple ward and had shaved his head right before coming. It was a statement that got him a few hostile glances, but he ignored them all. Only Fang gave him an understanding grin and said hello, which was fine with Verus. What these people thought didn’t matter to him.

The ceremony was led by Elder Chu, the master of discipline, and he began it with a long speech. “Congratulations, young disciples of the Great Wind Sect. Each of you has demonstrated your genius and earned an incredible opportunity for yourselves. Each of you will be competing in the tournament being thrown in Princess Yuriv’s honor, where you will fight for the honor of our glorious sect before the eyes of a daughter of the Archon. This is why you are being allowed to join the inner sect early, so train hard. All of the sect will be watching you!”

As he listened, Verus fought to keep his expression neutral. He didn’t much care for the honor of the sect anymore, and the last thing he wanted was more eyes on himself. What had happened to Warin had ended any gratitude he felt for the Great Wind Sect. He was only doing this because of the rewards and because he’d been ordered to.

Once the ceremony was over, the other new inner disciples began to mingle with the elders. This was apparently supposed to be a social event. Verus watched for a few moments before sighing. It seemed like most the other disciples here already knew many of the elders present, which wasn’t a surprise given their connections to the sect. Many of their parents were elders.

Verus debated internally about trying to strike up a conversation with someone, but that was when Elder Caligo walked over to him and chuckled darkly. “I can see you like these sorts of social events even less than me, let’s go. There’s much to do now that you’re an inner disciple.”

“Thank you, master.”

“Don’t thank me too much. I meant what I said about there being a lot for you to do. Lady Nightclaw still has plans for you,” Elder Caligo replied as he led Verus away from the courtyard.

Verus frowned. That was troubling. If Lady Nightclaw wanted something from him, it was unlikely to be easy or pleasant. It probably had something to do with the upcoming tournament. Hopefully she wasn’t expecting him to win the entire thing. That would be impossible.

Elder Caligo led Verus out of outer disciple area and through the gate that led deeper into the sect. Soon, they were in an area he’d never seen before.

“Inner sect disciples can be considered true members of the Great Wind Sect, unlike outer disciples who are more potential recruits,” Elder Caligo explained as they walked. “Now that you’re an inner disciple, the sect will truly begin investing resources in you, and there is much you need to know.”

“I look forward to learning and being of service to the sect,” Verus replied automatically.

Elder Caligo snorted rudely. “You are young and very naïve if that’s true.”

Once Verus would have bristled upon hearing that, but now he simply nodded along. He knew how ignorant he was of even the most basic things, and oddly enough, he trusted his new master to a certain extent. He might be a rude drunk, but he’d also consistently helped Verus since he’d arrived at the main temple.

“Regardless, I’ll be in charge of bringing your education up to Lady Nightclaw’s standards now,” the elder continued. “Of course, you’ll also have access to the advanced training rooms and supplementary courses in valuable professions such as glyph writing and alchemy.”

Up ahead a huge building came into sight. It looked like a small castle made from black stone. There was even a tall black wall around it, and the entire structure gave off a menacing feeling that chilled Verus to the bone.

Caligo stared at the forbidding fortress up ahead and a dark look appeared on his face. “The Realms a cultivator ascends through are usually divided into groups of three, with the Origin Realm being the only exception. After that comes the Foundation, Tempered, and Echoing Realms, which are collectively known as the lower or disciple Realms. Only after passing through them and reaching the Unveiled Realm can you become an elder in the empire. That’s when you usually first begin learning to use ki to control space and pierce dimensions.”

“What’s that building up ahead?” Verus asked. There was no way to miss it. Elder Caligo was certainly giving it his attention, which couldn’t be a coincidence. This had been planned.

“That’s the asylum, an ever-present warning of the dangers of cultivation.”

“The sect has an asylum?” Verus asked as his eyes widened in disbelief. He’d thought it was a fortress of some kind, where the sect stored its most valuable treasures.

A dark grin appeared on Elder Caligo’s face as he met Verus’s gaze. “Oh, yes. Every sect has at least one such institution. Enlightenment can be hard on one’s sanity, especially once you reach the Unveiled Realm. That’s when you gain the ability to see ki and the true nature of things. Many of the cultivators that reach that Realm change. They become a danger to themselves and others, and they can no longer be trusted to wander around unsupervised.”

“How many?”

“About a quarter of those that survive the ascension go mad. Thus, there are around a hundred elders currently in the asylum.”

Taken aback, Verus could only stare at the castle made of black stone up ahead. He’d never imagined that anything like it existed. He’d never imagined the need.

“I brought you here to show you how little you actually know about the sect, and as a warning. Enlightenment is not easily earned. In the empire, there are always more secrets, and some of them destroy people’s minds. Train hard, little disciple, and don’t let your conviction waver.”

“Yes, master,” Verus replied humbly.

“Don’t be too afraid though,” his master told him before laughing darkly. “Many of the elders interred within the asylum do eventually recover. I did. It only took me thirty years.”