Kenja backed a step away from the teetering arena.

The combined manpower of several hundred Kenjas would be unable to lift the arena a single cun off the ground, and yet it was floating sloppily above his head with a class of students balancing on the surface.

Kenja had not had the opportunity to witness the strength of cultivators at higher realms aside from Vice Elder Shirou’s playful ‘game of catch’ and his seniors’ domineering auras , so Hide’s powerful display allowed Kenja a glimpse into the difference between him and one at the Core Crystallization stage. Remembering how she casually left footprints in the stone tiles, Kenja understood that he was truly an ant compared to her.

Hide steadied the arena and forced a smile on her face. “My name is Hide Hirose. I am a direct disciple of the Fourth Elder.”

Kenja’s eyes widened in amazement at having encountered another elder’s disciple.

Nobles mingled with nobles, and the peasants loitered with peasants. This saying was true, even within a sect. It was one thing for ‘Hirai Hikaru’ as an elder’s disciple to converse and challenge Hizumi, but a completely different thing for Hide to offer her acknowledgment and assistance for ‘Kitamura Bolo’. The first three could be considered the children of royalty while Bolo would be an orphaned pauper.

Several breaths passed without an exchange, and Kenja sensed that Hide was waiting for his response. “Forgive my ignorance, Senior Sister Hirose. Since entering the sect, I have spent most of my time in seclusion, so I am still uninformed on the important matters within the sect.”

Kenja was not lying. Since arriving at the sect, Kenja had indeed spent a majority of his time in multiple caves. Otherwise, he might have learned more about the important figureheads and seniors that resided within the sect.

Hide’s mood improved upon hearing Kenja’s explanation. Before she could say anything else, two girls wearing inner-sect robes glided down to them on their swords, disembarking in front of Hide.

“Senior sister, junior wishes to offer our report,” announced the taller one with a Foundation Establishment cultivation. Her black hair was held up in a similar hairstyle to Hide’s with a single black kanzashi instead of two white ones. Without giving Kenja a passing glance, she bowed to Hide.

Hide pointed at the flat ground away from them, and the floating arena settled down at the decided spot. Her class breathed sighs of relief at having regained proper footing. She turned to face the arrivals. “You may proceed.”

“The vice elders have confirmed that he had been seen at the servant’s quarters, but due to the number of people visiting, we haven’t been able to locate him just yet.”

The left end of Hide’s lips curled upwards in disbelief as she contemplated her junior’s words. “So they still haven’t found him? This Rusty Robber is quite impressive to have eluded the vice elders and Brother Yu for so long.”

The shorter girl with a peak Qi Flourishing cultivation stepped forward with a confident smirk on her face. Her short brown hair was also formed in a bun that was held up by a thin, golden fork. “Don’t worry, senior sister! The only reason it’s taken so long to find him is because of his low cultivation. He’s too weak to escape! Capturing him is only a matter of time,” she assured Hide.

“Hoho, these little girls are so cute with the way they mimic their senior sister. I should make you a backpack that looks like a shell, disciple! You know what? I’ll start working on one for you right away.”

Focused on their discussion, Kenja couldn’t help but interrupt, “Rusty Robber? Did something happen in the sect?”

The two girls gave him a mean glare while Hide went from a puzzled look to one of understanding. “That’s right! Since you haven’t spent much time outside, you must not have heard. A bandit has invaded our sect and made off with dozens of the bazaar’s most expensive items yesterday.”

An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of Kenja’s stomach. Coincidentally, he was also at the bazaar yesterday, yet he heard nothing about a thief. After setting up Puchi’s shop, he had spent most of his time afterwards depositing the gathered stones in different caves and observing their absorption rate, so he was not privy to any gossiping at that time.

“You said that his cultivation base was low. How could he steal so many items without getting caught?”

Kenja had walked through the entire marketplace and saw the varied cultivation states of the merchants and passing disciples. The mouse could steal the cheese as the cat dozed off, but what kind of mouse could clean out the entire kitchen while surrounded by so many wary predators.

Hide’s face lit up at Kenja identifying the crux of the matter. “That’s what’s so interesting. The man had gone to nearly half of the shops and purchased most of their stock, but the stores he did not approach had one or more items disappear without the merchant noticing.”

Kenja’s stomach twisted into knots as he knitted his brows in confusion. “If he wasn’t short of money nor did he approach the stolen items, how can you be sure he stole the items then, senior sister?”

His question was met with an intense reaction.

“Who do you think you are? First, you interrupt my senior sisters with your ignorance, and then you question my Senior Sister Hirose in such a way?”

Kenja looked at the brunette who interrupted their conversation. Her clenched fists were trembling by her waist and her lips were pursed in anger. The elder sister standing next to her remained silent, but she gave Kenja a frosty and hateful stare.

“She is one of the sect’s Tributaries. A direct disciple of the Fourth Elder! A future elder! And what are you? A mere Qi Flourishing child of the Outer Sect!”

Listening to the girl of similar age and cultivation to his own, Kenja forced a despondent look on his face as he tried to keep his eye from twitching. The difference between the inner sect and outer sect certainly allowed the former the authority to scold the latter, similar to how a king’s advisors might belittle a peasant for their lack of decorum.

The snippy girl continued her verbose onslaught. “You should know your place! To think someone like you dares address my senior sister so casually…you should address her as senior aunt—”

“Enough!”

Hide spoke with a sharp aura that could be felt by the other three. She was displeased.

Hide had maintained a face of indifference during the girl’s spiel, but she was delighted to have her reputation laid out for Kenja so that his image of her would grow to an immense size. Then she would stop her sister’s rant while simultaneously assuring Kenja that they were close enough to ignore such differences in status.

This strategy would have secured the three traits to beguiling a man’s heart in one go: prestige, modesty and intimacy. Her only misstep was not stopping her junior’s last line…

The girl’s face turned fearful as she quickly apologized, “Senior sister, please forgive me if I have offended—”

Hide raised her right hand to the girl. She turned back to Kenja and began speaking in a manner befitting a senior sister explaining something to her uninformed junior.

“Excellent question. First, Vice Elder Du Zhifang had spent the day before monitoring the bazaar for a female thief with a similar description but found no sign of her. After stealing an earring from one of my fellow sisters, the thief most likely shed his disguise as an inner sect sister to elude capture. Because of his low cultivation, there’s no way his disguise as a woman could stand up to a vice elder’s scrutiny.”

Kenja’s face darkened.

The thief who stole his earring did not exist. In order to evade punishment for the scene Snail and Sakura had caused, he had made him up and pushed the blame onto him. Wasn’t this just a misunderstanding on the vice elder’s part?

“And for the second point, the same person stole from Brother Yu and his junior brothers immediately after he procured pills for their cultivation. Despite his low cultivation, he pilfered their bags from right under their noses.”

Kenja’s face darkened further. He did not swipe anyone’s bags or pills. Wasn’t this just an unfortunate coincidence that Brother Sora was robbed after talking with him?

Hide shook her head with a sigh that contained a hint of amazement. “Not only did he blatantly wear the stolen earring, but the man walked around with something as conspicuous as a rusted sword in clear view to the point that everyone now calls him the ‘Rusty Robber’.”

Kenja’s downcast gaze lifted up at the mention of this detail. He reached behind him to grasp Sakura’s hilt.

PLOP

A sticky sensation assaulted his hand that compelled him to withdraw his palm to the front of his face. Kenja was perplexed to find nothing on his palm, but he could still feel the sticky sensation. He clenched his fist and felt the sticky sensation squeeze across his palm as well as an invisible hardness.

“Oof, don’t squeeze so hard, disciple. I am not the type of master to cross such boundaries with his students!”

Kenja squinted at his ‘empty’ hand with an icy stare as he kept a firm grasp on its contents. He followed Hide’s sigh with one of his own before turning back to face her. With eyes that showed a newfound clarity, he clasped the partially-clenched fist and bowed to her.

“Thank you for alleviating me of my ignorance, senior sister. I have taken too much time away from your duties, so I will be taking my leave.”

Hide gave Kenja an approving nod with a smile. She raised her hand, and suddenly, Kenja’s hair ribbon unraveled as his hair floated in the air above his head. Her two chopstick-like hairpins lifted from her hair and flew over to Kenja, assembling his long hair into another samurai knot before settling within it.

The two girls stood by the side with their jaws lowered unable to believe what they were seeing. “Senior sister, your family’s heirloom! You can’t—”

“Now, as long as you show them my kanzashi, no one will dare cause you trouble within the sect when you come search for me. They are important to me, so make sure you return them soon. I will hold onto this in the meantime.” Hide winked at him playfully as she beckoned something to her.

The silver ribbon originally holding up Kenja’s hair was weaving around Hide’s hair, bringing it back to its original hairbun.

“This bitch! Stealing from her Anscestor Snail from right in front of his face! The audacity! The—” Kenja closed his fist on Snail, silencing his rant. Sakura vibrated joyfully from behind Kenja’s back.

Kenja bowed to Hide once more before descending into the second crater and heading towards the hole in the ground. He peeked into the hole and saw a bright white exit with a clay platform below it.

“I have one more bit of advice before you enter the Dragon’s Basin,” Hide whispered to him telepathically, causing him to look at her with a face of confusion.

“Oh, that’s right! The challenge pit is actually called the Dragon’s Basin, but the elders do not like us spreading its true name. Only those who undergo the challenge learn its true name, so it should be fine to tell you now.”

Kenja nodded his head unconsciously as she explained to him.

“This is probably unnecessary, but it would be irresponsible of me to let you go without a proper warning. Once you are inside, be quiet.”

She said nothing more, but Kenja could tell she was going beyond her duty to help him. He felt a deep gratitude for this kind senior that had done much for him in a short amount of time. Determined to show his appreciation, he locked his gaze with Hide and shouted at her.

“Thank you, senior aunt!”

With a clenched hand around Snail, he jumped feet-first into the hole. Hide bid him goodbye with a smile on her face, but it contorted into a grimace as soon as he vanished from sight. She turned to the girls, hitting the brunette with an angry glare and an overwhelming aura that left her out of breath.

After venting her frustration for several breaths, she turned to the black-haired junior.

“What of the elders?”

The junior shook off her fear and continued her report, “First Elder is still cultivating in seclusion within his cave. Third Elder is in the middle of forging a weapon.”

“And the other three? Are they still idling in front of Fifth Elder’s caves?” Hide was most curious about her master and the second and sixth elder who were waiting together in front of the collection of caves on the pillar’s fifth face.

“No, senior sister.”

Hide breathed a sigh of relief at the news. She was not excited at the prospect of sharing her master with a second sibling disciple. Just as siblings competed for their parents’ love, sibling disciples vied for their master’s attention and guidance.

“Good. They left. It’s already inconceivable they would spend a whole day waiting in front of the cave of a mere Qi Flourishing disciple.”

The junior took a deep gulp and interrupted her senior’s tranquility, “...No, senior sister. They are still there.”

Hide crossed her brows and turned her face to both juniors. A stifling wave of pressure engulfed the juniors causing the black-haired disciple to kneel and the brunette to faint onto the floor.

“If they haven’t left, what are they still doing there? And don’t you dare mince words.”

Struggling to look up, the girl answered her question without holding anything back.

“They are cultivating, senior sister.”

A blank expression surfaced on Hide’s face. She placed the end of Kenja’s hair ribbon between two fingers before sliding them against its silky texture. Failing to comprehend her junior’s answer, she repeated her.

“They are cultivating…"