Huff, huff…

A female cultivator heaved laborious breaths, sweat and blood flinging from her body as she ran with desperate strides through an uneven, forested terrain.

An unsheathed silver longsword was tightly clutched into the young woman’s pale left hand, the light from the hot sun glinting along its extremely thin blade. Her tattered black robes were barely holding together as she tore through the air, each heavy step shooting her forward at a speed of nearly 100 kilometers per hour, almost as though she was flying.

The wind produced from her frantic velocity violently buffeted the surrounding leaves and grass covering the ground, leaving an obvious trail of evidence as to her heedless passage. However, she couldn’t help that at this moment.

In fact, the young woman wished to fly, but her Profound Qi had been exhausted for the fifth time during her ongoing escape. And even if that was not an issue, ascending above the covering of the vast trees that surrounded her would only draw more pursuers her way, gaining her nothing more than a quickened death sentence.

Wind whistling against her ear drums, she took out her Identity Medallion, slapping it onto her forehead anxiously.

Whenever disciples left the safety of the mountain, their Identity Medallions could be used to contact patrol disciples within a certain distance. Patrol disciples’ sole responsibility was to provide hands-off surveillance within the Five Profound Elements Sect’s domain of influence. Although they could be, and often were, contacted for assistance, most requests they received were outside of their duties. And they almost never helped disciples deal with Demons, unless of course, enough Merit Points were offered.

The only problem was that she just spent all her Merit Points preparing for this Sect Mission! She had nothing to offer!

Nearly sobbing at the lack of response, she forced herself to give up on the Identity Medallion and exchanged it for a bright red Spirit Pill, which she unwillingly threw into her mouth. It wasn’t long before her exhausted Profound Foundation began to illuminate with borrowed vitality.

But the process was much slower than the other times she had taken it.

‘Shit!’ She screamed in her head.

Banging her stomach, she swore, ‘Hurry and work, dammit!’

Ever since she had reached Foundation Establishment, she had never experienced such unadulterated pain and fear!

Her heart thundered painfully underneath her breast from her abusive usage of the Vitality Igniting Pill, anxiety and exhaustion wearing away at her already decaying sense of judgment.

Boom! Boom!

Sooner than she expected, the sound of extremely heavy running was getting closer and closer to her.

Goosebumps rose at the back of her neck.

She prayed to any Immortal that would listen, hoping that her Profound Qi had recovered enough to deal with her current plight.

Eyelids drooping with concentration, the thin longsword flickered with silver light. Soon after, it shone brighter with wobbly waves of sword will before stabilizing after several seconds.

‘Yes… yes!’

As if mirroring her poignant relief, the sword twirled out of her grasp before stabbing through space to fly right in front of the woman’s sprinting feet.

With a light leap, the woman stepped onto the finger-wide flying sword, her raggedy boots perfectly positioned in a vertical line; left in front of right. The grace of a sword cultivator previously absent during her wild sprint burst into existence within her straightening stature.

Squaring her shoulders with a deep breath, the sword will smoothly crept up her thin figure. Her entire being was integrating into the flying longsword, matted hair and body shimmering like a disheveled deity, appearing just as sharp and acute as the sword she was riding.

Thoughts were cutting through her rapidly clearing mind.

A second hadn't even passed before she understood that there was no possibility of her making it back to the Inner Sect alive. The Vitality Igniting Pill she had taken wouldn't energize her for long.

And by the pain in her chest and the speed at which her strength was draining, death would claim her if she took just one more. Even now, her body was breaking down. But she dared not think of the eventual state of her health.

Right now, she only wanted to live.

'An Outer Sect Mountain should be nearby...' She thought, Profound Qi filling her pupils and extending her vision exponentially.

The instant she spotted a towering mountain in the distance, the approaching footsteps no longer seemed all that horrifying to the woman.

Another set of reverberant footsteps joined the first at some point during her deliberation. But the woman did not care.

Instantaneously, her conspicuous presence had disappeared. The wind that accompanied her journey dissipated as she pierced forward. Air-resistance fell to a startling minimum, allowing her speed to increase drastically.

Her direction diverted, transforming into a ghostly beam of light as she turned and twisted through trees towards her new destination.

…

Boom!

A 4-meter-tall, gray-furred lion skidded through the forest, rocks flying and trees disintegrating.

Eventually, the lion halted at the location of the human's last perceived location. Bloody canines bared into a furious snarl, the large lion stalked around with reverberant grumbles resonating from its throat.

A few moments later, an additional lion of similar size and appearance arrived.

Thick, ash-colored mane bristling with irritation, the first lion turned its vertically slit eyes towards the other, a long scar traveling from its left set of whiskers to the center of its furry forehead.

“Gone.” The scarred lion’s masculine voice was deep and grating.

“...Where?” Another simplistic sentence was spoken after an angry growl, this time from the second maned lion.

The scarred lion pointed its head, eyes looking towards the distant mountain in silence. Even though it could guess where the human was headed, they had lost their chance.

An invisible ripple of palpable threat emanated from that mountain. The scarred lion's fur stood up at it's ends at the slightest consideration of continued pursuit.

“Retreat.”

After the sharp command from the scarred lion, both their figures blurred before flashing back in the opposite direction.

…

Five Profound Elements Sect.

Outer Sect.

Amongst the twisting trails and jutting boulders, a pleasant clearing could be seen upon a cliff merely a couple kilometers away from the Peak of the Outer Sect Mountain. Clouds nearly kissed the top of the cliff, which was leveled to almost a platform, wide enough to seat thousands of spectators.

This was one of the many locations assigned for the Preliminaries for the Tri-Annual Qi Refinement Tournament.

Benches were arranged into curved rows on the freshly cut grass, facing the huge octagonal stage positioned near the edge of the cliff. The ground was only slightly muddy from the brief bout of rain. The cool air gifted by the passing shower still lingering in the crisp summer breeze.

Seated upon those benches were thronging Outer Sect Disciples full of hectic energy, low rumbles of conversation spreading about.

“Senior Sister Irene, over here!” A young girl waved to indicate the seats she saved, pigtails jumping from her enthusiastic movement.

Irene smiled once she spotted the familiar face. Turning towards the girl’s direction, she walked beside Michail through the seated disciples, many of whom were openly gawking at her with admiration. Following behind was Nathaniel, whose head swiveled around, feeding off of the surrounding excitement.

Spotting something interesting, Nathaniel’s shifting attention was drawn to a thin young man, who was straddling an otherwise empty bench. His head was deeply lowered, causing shoulder length hair to obscure the view of the man’s face. But what the man was looking down upon was what truly stimulated Nathaniel’s curiosity.

“What’s that?” Nathaniel asked, carelessly abandoning Irene and Michail to sit next to the man who reeked of strong alcohol. Nathaniel didn't mind and lowered his head, looking down upon a plain wooden board.

Lines of ink formed a grid of small squares, and in the center of some of those squares were beautifully-carved, red and black figurines, some looking like creatures he had seen in some of his grandfather’s paintings.

The man he questioned slowly raised his head.

‘Ugly,’ was Nathaniel’s first thought when he glanced up to the man’s pale face.

But the man wasn’t ugly.

In truth, his features were perfectly average, to the point where his appearance was difficult to casually form an opinion on. His hair was dark brown, matching his dull, but contradictorily deep eyes.

His features were symmetrical, but not extraordinary. He’s someone that most would glance over in a crowd, or forget meeting due to his insignificant presence. But for a child who was still not accustomed to a standard level of beauty, “ugly” was an appropriate enough descriptor.

Even the man’s smile was lackluster. “What do you think it is?”

“Umm, I guess it looks like a game to me.” Nathaniel tilted his head. ‘What else could it be?’

Laughter leaped from the man’s mouth, as if he had just heard the funniest of jokes. "You could also see it as such.”

Nathaniel’s almond-colored eyes gleamed after the man’s admittance. “Could you teach it to me? I wasn’t allowed to play many games back at home, and this looks fun!”

The man observed Nathaniel closely. Instead of answering, he reached for a burlap-wrapped bottle hanging from his side. The fragrance of wine oozed into the air once he opened the bottle.

With a quick, efficient swish, the man squinted his eyes with pleasure as he drank a mouthful of wine, looking at Nathaniel appraisingly all the while.

After a loud gulp, he reached into his sleeve and replied. “I can’t teach you. But you can teach yourself.”

After he finished his words, he threw a small, hastily-bound book into Nathaniel’s startled grasp. The washed-out cover was made from sort of plant fibers, smelling of grass and—

Nathaniel's gave up inspecting the book as his right hand touched his chest.

'It's hot,' he thought, wondering why the amulet he received from his grandfather felt suddenly warmer underneath his robes.

“If you want the game, it’s yours…”

The words tickled Nathaniel’s ears, not entirely sure that he really heard them. But before he could think any further, he was interrupted by a piercing voice.

“Nathaniel!” Irene’s call was loud and abrupt. “You were supposed to follow us. What were you thinking, sitting here all by yourself?”

Nathaniel twisted his head to look at Irene, guilt bubbling up as he took note of the exasperation in her blue eyes.

“Are you playing a game? Right now?”

“No! Well, umm... this Senior was…” Nathaniel turned, trying to find an excuse for his behavior by introducing the man who he had just met.

But the man was nowhere to be found. His seat was now empty. The only thing left behind being the plain board, which was now bereft of all its pieces. Instead, two small boxes were sitting on top, the wood of the boxes exactly matching the board.

Irene shook her head before glancing back towards the arena.

“Grab your game and come along. Victor’s match is about to start,“ Irene said with a laugh. ‘Auslen was right. I really can’t take my eyes off this kid for a moment.’

‘Where…?’ Nathaniel wasn’t sure what to do. The man had disappeared so swiftly that, even though he had been given permission, he felt a little like he was taking someone else’s belongings.

But after seeing Irene’s growing impatience, his conflict didn’t last for long. The cooling amulet long forgotten, he quickly picked up the board and boxes before putting them away in his spatial ring.

He grabbed the book before following after Irene once again, glancing down at what he assumed to be the game manual to see the title stitched casually onto its front cover.

‘Chess… What a strange name for a game.’

…

“Senior Sister Irene, I heard a rumor that you’re going down the mountain soon. It’s not true, is it?”

The pretty and prim girl with the pigtails had a look of concern on her face. Her name was Liliane, a 19 year old Apprentice Alchemist and one of Irene’s closest friends.

Irene was unperturbed as she sat down.

“The news has gotten around that fast?” She asked offhandedly, focusing more on making sure that Nathaniel was sitting down obediently next to Michail.

“So it was true!” Liliane gasped. “What are you thinking, taking on one of those dangerous Sect Missions? You’re the third-ranked Disciple on the Outer Sect’s Alchemist-Roll for goodness sake!

“Some are even saying that there’s been more ferocious beast and even Lesser Demon sightings around the Outer Sect recently. Are you broke? I could lend you some Merit Points—”

“It’s my Inner Sect Evaluation Mission. I have no choice. Stop worrying so much, Liliane. It’s not a dangerous Mission, just somewhat annoying.”