I don't think I could be blamed for not realizing Braun and his goons would be waiting to ambush me on my way back to the Sect. They had no way of knowing how long I would be gone, so if they wanted to set up any type of effective trap, they would need to spend what could be weeks or months doing nothing but lying in wait.

Additionally, the world was so vast, it would be impossible to plan for any type of trap or ambush. There was simply too much area to cover, trying to guess the path I would use to return was a fool's bargain.

It was more blunder and accident that I met up with them than any planning on their part. They were traveling on their own Mission assignment when our paths accidentally crossed. Braun had been forced to take as many missions as he could, hard-pressed to pay back the contribution points the Sect had fined him.

He was forced to earn those points. The way the Sect monitored contribution points, there was no way for his father or brother to help. He has spent eight months of almost constant cycling through Missions and still hadn't cleared his debt.

Nero, his brother, had managed to repay his contribution points within two months. But he was at a higher Realm than Braun, so could take more profitable Missions. The fact that his debt was half of Braun's also helped. I think Braun's relationship with his brother, his jealousy, angered him as much as the debt itself. Each time he was forced to complete a mission, was just another reminder that he was not as good as his brother and was a disappointment to his family.

I might have felt sorry for him if his family had treated him badly, and I know I was only seeing how they acted and treated each other publicly, but they went out of their way to protect him. It was conceivable that what was done behind closed doors was drastically different. I could only base my opinion on what I knew, and in the sight of the Sect, he was treated well, even coddled by Sect Elders, Elders other than his father.

I had watched as his brother trained with him, patient, and adept at explaining martial techniques and correcting imperfections in Kata. Instead of thanks, the training sessions always devolved into anger and recrimination, Braun disparaging his training partners after each session.

We had exchanged a few insults whenever our paths crossed. I should have been the more mature person and ignored each attack, but I didn't. Elder Tye often counseled patience, encouraging me to meditate and let go of the negative energies, it didn't help. I learned that ignoring Braun only encouraged him to escalate his verbal attacks, so each insult was answered in kind.

I had lived too long, seen too much not to know that bullies ignored only emboldened their actions. One of the idiosyncrasies of getting older was that the older you got, the less restrained your words. People made allowances for the harsh words the elderly spewed, and I had been able to get away with much for decades because of my age. I had decided that I was not going to break my habit of speaking my mind; it was liberating to say what you meant.

I could have run past them. With my new understanding of the [Dao of Movement], and [Lightning's Rush] I thought it likely I could outpace them if they did give chase. But I was uncertain if the three I had stumbled on were by themselves. If Nero were around, I wasn't certain of my success. Perhaps that was more reason to try to outdistance them.

I think if it weren't for his brother, Nero would have long since accepted what had happened and ignored me. If I happened upon him by himself, he ignored my presence, there was none of the sniping, tricks, or pranks that Braun delighted in. He had outgrown the need to attack those he considered beneath him.

When I did come across the two of them together, he was still hesitant to engage, often assuming a role more suitable for a look-out, always checking to see where their minders were, until they were freed from observation, and then watching to see that no other Sect members, especially any Elders might happen upon Braun's verbal onslaught or taunting.

Most of the pranks and tricks that Braun attempted worked the first time but were easy to guard against and keep from occurring again. Salt in the sugar bowl was solved by never sitting at the same table. Practice weapons that were suddenly all missing, and only those weapons I was training in, was solved when Elder Shadow gifted me my own bow and Tessen, his disgust at the prank putting an end to it.

The one prank that came closest to actually harming me, was done in the Alchemical Hall. I'm not sure if the clerk that distributed herbs was a friend, toady, or paid stooge, but I spent weeks unable to advance my pill creation foundation because she exchanged spirit grass with spirit grass that had been steeped in hemlock water. There was no way for me to have known the herbs she was supplying me with had been tainted, the infusion of hemlock did nothing to affect Qi resonance.

Tarrah who was running an errand for Master Tye, happened into the room assigned to me when I was swearing at the black smoke that was billowing out of my cauldron. It took her only seconds to identify the problem when she had me repeat my methodology. Her fury was only rivaled by Elder Tye.

The clerk was summarily dismissed from her post and banned from Alchemy Hall. The Elder would not brook sloppy work or sabotage in a building where an incorrect formula could be explosive.

I learned a week later that the woman had also been stripped of Sect membership, not because of her actions towards me, more because her actions could have impacted the Hall. If the pills I was crafting had succeeded, I wasn't skilled enough to tell the difference from the Qi Condensing pill I was working on, and whatever might have been created. And if I had succeeded in creating a pill using that tainted herbs, the damage to cultivation could have been long-lasting.

I understood why she was stripped and exiled from the Sect, what I didn't understand was why the people who had put her up to this prank weren't expelled too. Especially when I found out that Braun's hand had been involved. What exactly was it going to take for the Sect to give up on him? Was someone going to have to die or would even that action be dismissed or sanctioned with the loss of a few contribution points?

The new clerk that was assigned to distribute and categorize herbs was painstakingly exact in her actions. She made sure to release only those things I requested at the exact measures I'd stated. If I wanted an ounce of ginger, I got an ounce, not an iota more or less.

None of those past pranks or attacks mattered in this moment, but they heralded the probable response once Braun noticed me. And I was correct when I noticed Braun motioning for his sidekicks to flank me. He only had two of the people that normally followed him with him, and both of them were Silver Root cultivators. They had been accepted into the Sect, barely, and had almost immediately tied their futures to Braun's.

That they would risk their status with the Sect by helping Braun ambush another Sect member was puzzling. But none of those that cozied up to him and his faction seemed to be concerned about Sect punishment. I wasn't sure if they knew something I didn't, or if they had been assured that they could act with impunity, as long as their actions were not obvious or exposed, but they must have received some assurance.

Otherwise, what could Braun offer that might induce them to lose their spot in the Sect?

Watching as they moved into position, I thought this time events would escalate, that they would use fists and technique this time. Of course, I might have it wrong, they may just plan on more verbal jousting. But if not. If they did plan on fighting. I would make sure to attack and remove them from the fight, before worrying about Braun.

When cultivators of similar level and Realm met, Spirit root tier and elemental affinities could play a major impact on the outcome. I trained my Spirit root diligently and had linked all 78 channels, merging my elemental affinities and expanding them to create lightning, fog, and ice.

The chances of two cultivators with Silver spirit roots and one elemental affinity winning in a fair contest were almost impossible. Bad luck on my part. A chance happenstance on theirs that turned the tide. If battle began, the outcome would teeter on the knife's edge of fate's fortune.

I planned to tip the scales of fate in my favor by removing two of the players as quickly as possible.