Shin Sumi woke up with such a headache that it felt to her like her head had been split in two during her sleep.

Forcing herself to her feet, she felt disoriented at first, unable to recognize her surroundings when the memories of what happened after the Cross Branch Arena ended flooded back to her head.

"This is... Yue's house!"

Shin Sumi haphazardly put on a set of robes and left the room, slowly finding her way through her sister's large domicile. Holding the wall with every step, she didn't dare use her divine sense by fear of her head not being able to take it at this point.

The sunlight, both warm to her skin and ferocious to her eyes, greeted her at the door. Sounds of flowing water and light splashing were coming from her right hand side, sounding like heavenly music to her sensitive ears.

"Sumi, you're awake!" Xiao Yue's voice was coming from the direction of the water, "come join me, you'll feel better!"

Seeing her sister holding the wall in such a way, to Xiao Yue she looked like a frail animal, lost in the unforgiving world.

By the time Shin Sumi had made a single step outside of the house, she felt a wet sensation around her waist, and a refreshing and firm hand grabbing at her arm. While she could easily guess who was currently holding her, she was also feeling a tickling sensation near her feet, where something soft seemed to happily run around and between her legs.

"Here, let me help you. You too can help, Nuan."

Nuan, of course the little Lion Bat was tickling her feet. Shin Sumi was at peace, surrounded by Xiao Yue and little Nuan. Were it not for the massive headache tearing her head apart.

Her eyes still closed, Shin Sumi felt the soft breeze suddenly wrap around her at the same time the sound of the fabric of her robe falling arose from below.

The water was cold, but in a good way. Shin Sumi and Xiao Yue entered first, sitting on an underwater bench at the extremity of the water piece. From the happy yips she heard on the grass, it was clear that Nuan had not yet taken her bath, instead chasing a butterfly or something of the sort.

"What happened, Sumi? Is it because of the technique you used against Sei Shian?"

Xiao Yue's voice was soft and low, like a whisper. She had instantly understood her sister's condition and was making her best attempt at not aggravating the headache.

She was taking her time washing Shin Sumi's shoulders, arms and back, waiting for an answer, whenever the girl was ready. How could she know that Shin Sumi was currently furious inside her own head, not able to utter a sound out loud but mentally cursing like a sailor from the village where she grew up.

"Nuan, get in the water girl! Please don't make me wait any longer!" was a more appropriate version of her thoughts.

When finally the Lion Bat became disinterested from the butterfly, Shin Sumi could hear Nuan dive into the pond, breathing a sigh of relief.

"We should have bathed last night instead of waiting for the day," she thought. Nuan's magic would have prevented a lot of pain upon waking up, for sure.

The wave of invigorating strength took over her, not as pleasing to her glistening skin as Xiao Yue's hands washing her, but certainly a thousand times more helpful with the damned headache.

Shin Sumi's shoulders relaxed immediately. The contrast was felt by Xiao Yue's hands, who in turn felt relieved as well. The girl had no idea it was Nuan who had this effect.

Xiao Yue was just happy her sister felt better.

She continued to massage her back for a while, softly and without using Shinsoo, breaking the silence only after a stick of incense's worth of time.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Shin Sumi let herself slide off the underwater bench before turning, facing Xiao Yue's petite body and tanned skin.

"I don't know what to say, really..."

"Sumi, this doesn't happen to cultivators. Headaches are supposed to be a thing from the past. We are Immortals now."

Shin Sumi completely agreed. She was at a loss as well as to why her head had suddenly felt bad when she woke up.

Xiao Yue continued, "Is is linked to the technique you used against Sei Shian? You can fool other people but don't expect me to believe that Sei Shian's own explosions backfired. A technique that can perfectly mirror an incoming attack and return it against the attacker, that's bound to affect you as well, right?"

Shin Sumi smiled. Xiao Yue was clairvoyant as always. How she did it was a mystery but she always had the perfect intuition.

"It's not really like that," Shin Sumi clarified, "Heavenly Ram doesn't mirror the incoming attack. It is merely a spirit formation that absorbs the Shinsoo of the attack. The first part of the technique is absorption when contact is made. The release only happens when another contact is made. In Sei Shian's case both happened almost simultaneously."

"Did all the power get used by Heavenly Ram or did some of it get to you?"

Shin Sumi understood Xiao Yue's concern, however as far as she knew the technique had been executed perfectly and apart from a large Shinsoo consumption on her part it should have been left at that. To suggest her headache was originating with Rui Keshin's stolen clan technique seemed to go a bit to far.

She explained to her friend how she fortunately won the technique from a bet during the Cloud-Formation Pavilion inner tournament. As she was explaining, a brief image of her bedridden mother suddenly flashed in her mind before disappearing as quick as it had come.

As the conversation progressed, each girl giving their opinion on the previous day's fights and techniques, Xiao Yue's face of concern slowly melted away. The jovial and carefree girl had quickly returned. Shin Sumi had that effect on her, and it could be said that the opposite was true as well.

Together Shin Sumi and Xiao Yue were always in a great mood, accompanied of course by the small Lion Bat happily splashing around the pond.

The conversation lasted for a long time, well after the girls had gotten out of the water and compared their wrinkly fingers. The afternoon was already well in place when Shin Sumi's divine sense suddenly alerted her.

"My identification jade... Hold on, Yue, somebody left me a divine sense message."

Shin Sumi concentrated her divine sense into her bag of holding until the message appeared clearly in her mind.

Fen Wudao's voice rang inside her ears, prompting her with a respectful tone to join him at his home. The spoken message was already over when a brieve image flashed behind Shin Sumi's closed eyelids.

It was unmistakable. The symbol of the Ghost Pavilion, a Ghost obscuring part of the Moon.

Fen Wudao's order to come by his residence had suddenly taken a new flavor. Something big was going to happen.

"Yue, I have to leave."

From the expression on her face and the slight speeding up of her heartbeats, it was clear that something exciting was coming to her.

Xiao Yue understood immediately. She had no idea of the existence of the Ghost Pavilion but since they had fought the day before and their Star-Sword Pavilion had won the branch encounters; it seemed normal that the Dark Sky Starry Sect higher ups had judged their level worthy of missions and the likes.

It was only slightly different for Xiao Yue herself. Just like Jun Qian, her place as direct disciple to the Pavilion Master shifted her focus a bit. It was probably the same for Daoju Kai although he was not the official direct disciple.

"Is it going to be your first mission for the sect?! Do you think you'll leave the sect grounds?" Xiao Yue was excited for Shin Sumi. The latter had to calm her down, saying she had no idea if it was a mission and if it was going to be away from the upper valley.

"I'll tell you when I can! Nuan, come here little girl!"

Shin Sumi grabbed Nuan who frantically ran along her arm until she was comfortable, resting in the chest folds of her daoist robes.

Xiao Yue waved at her friend from the door to her courtyard, wishing her the best.

***

Shin Sumi breathed out slowly to calm herself. She was still more than a few hundred meters away from Fen Wudao's Pavilion, hoping that her little breathing exercise would not be noticed by the divine sense of whoever was present there.

"There was definitely a Ghost imprint on the divine sense message I received. How many Ghosts are going to be there? I wonder what they'll ask of me..."

She remembered before the Cross Branch Arena, when Fen Wudao had talked to her regarding the White Claw Dusk Cleaver. He had then proposed to exchange pointers with him, teasing about some things he would like to discuss with her.

Shin Sumi was now in the second step of the Liquid Realm. Even more than that, her energy levels had had time to stabilize firmly and she was already on her way to the third step.

And still, Fen Wudao was at least in the fourth step. Exchanging pointers with him in a friendly confrontation would not result in anything interesting, their level difference was too high!

This was the main reason Shin Sumi suspected that the present meeting regarded something bigger than just them, something important to the Ghost Pavilion as a whole.

With a resolute expression on her face and a heart that was now calm like a mountain lake, Shin Sumi advanced to Fen Wudao's courtyard door.

"The door is open, please come in, Seventh Sister."

Fen Wudao's voice was warm and gentle, as always. When Shin Sumi opened the door, he greeted her from afar. He was crouching near a bush of spirit plants that radiated a strong Yang type Shinsoo.

Shin Sumi drew closer as he tended to the bush, pouring spring water from a skin pouch he held attentively.

Shin Sumi probed her surroundings with her divine sense, to no avail. Even if there were more Ghosts in the vicinity, her divine sense level was too low to register any presence.

"Nuan, no-" Shin Sumi blurted out in panic as, from nowhere, Nuan decided to jump out of her robes, glide over Fen Wudao and land on the spirit plant bush.

"Ah-ah-ah, and what might that cutie's name be? Nuan?"

Fen Wudao laughed heartily. Sticking out a finger, he gently approached Nuan's lion muzzle. The black beady eyes of the Lion Bat perched onto the bush's upper branches looked at the finger with interest and a mix of mistrust.

"I am so sorry Brother Fen, she is sometimes unpredictable... I'll get her out of your spirit plants garden, I promise-"

"No, no, it's fine. These Fire Berries have already caught her attention, she might as well have some of them."

As a proof to his point, Fen Wudao retracted his finger then picked up a small amber-colored fruit from a lower branch. This time, Fire Berry in his palm, Nuan's eyes showed no sign of mistrust, the fruit disappearing in the Lion Bat's mouth faster than what Shin Sumi thought possible.

"Ah-ah, good. My Fire Berries are properly ripe it seems. I wasn't sure whether they were ready for harvest, but a spirit breast naturally wouldn't eat a fruit that isn't properly ripened. See how she didn't touch the Soul Cry Citrus bush?"

Shin Sumi smiled. She didn't know Fen Wudao was so knowledgeable in spirit fauna and flora.

"Nuan, you've had a treat. Do you want to leave Brother Fen's plants alone now?" Shin Sumi was crouching too, extending her arm until Nuan perched onto her shoulder.

Fen Wudao had turned to look at Shin Sumi, a cryptic smile on his face. Was he gauging her?

"Seventh Sister, what do you know about the Sky Earth Sect?"

The abrupt question took Shin Sumi by surprise. Her mind instantly spun and weaved thoughts, trying to make sense of why she had been summoned there.

"The Sky Earth Sect, the sister sect to our own... Both used to form the Sky Sect but something happened and they split up. My humble guess is that the Dark Sky Starry Sect now stands on the grounds that once housed the Sky Sect, and this is the reason the Sky Earth Sect wants war with us. There probably are resources, relics, treasures that we kept and that they want a share of... or all of them."

Fen Wudao was about to answer but Shin Sumi's eyes still wandered a bit, as it seemed she still had more to say.

"...And I am not sure how this is related but I also think the constant cover of clouds over the valleys have to do with the internal strife within the Sky Sect as well. Is that right?"

Fen Wudao's eyelids twitched a little bit. He was impressed at what Shin Sumi had gathered from what was essentially a sort of taboo.

Fen Wudao suddenly stood up, motioning to Shin Sumi to join him at the same tea table where she had met the Patriarch at an earlier date.

He then took a deep breath before recounting what he knew of the history of the Dark Sky Starry Sect and its predecessor, the Sky Sect.

"Generations ago, the Sky Sect was one of the strongest sects in the Blue Fire mountain range, which was called the Moonlit mountain range. The Blue Fire Sect was only a small group of cultivators and did not compare at the time to the power in place, the Moonlit Sect. It was in fact smaller than the Sky Sect.

The Moonlit Sect was the ruler of this part of the cultivation world, the Sky Sect being only a distant second in terms of resources and power. It had been that way for immemorial times, the Moonlit Sect ruling with a steel hand over the other sects and even the mortal empire.

That was until fate decided otherwise. Hungry for even more power, the Moonlit Sect wrongly decided to expand themselves onto the bordering nations. They even went as far as the Silver Lake Empire, to the west of Blue Fire Country. However the Moonlit Sect did not know how puny and weak this side of the cultivation world was until they touched upon the Silver Lake Sect's lands."

Fen Wudao paused only to sip on his fragrant tea, occasionally offering to refill Shin Sumi's cup.

"The demise of the Moonlit Sect happened so quickly the records say that their name was forgotten in only a sixty day cycle. The power they had angered was no joke. And this is how the Sky Sect, which had always lived under the shadow of the Moonlit Sect, suddenly rose to prominence.

With their unexpected propulsion to the top, the Sky Sect strived for a long time. Only, since the demise of the Moonlit Sect, two mentalities had begun to oppose each other within the sect.

One faction could be said to be power hungry. While they viewed the fall of the previous ruler as a testament to the West's power, even more so they thought it was an opportunity to expand themselves, claim the Moonlit territory as theirs.

The other faction feared that what had happened to the Moonlit Sect was destined to happen to the Sky Sect, should they follow the same path."

Shin Sumi, who had listened patiently to Fen Wudao's tale of the Sky Sect, felt the urge to interrupt him.

"Which faction do we originate from, as the Dark Sky Starry Sect?"

Fen Wudao's expression didn't change at all.

"You already know the answer. While the majority of the Elders of the Sky Sect mutually agreed that expanding the sect was a good thing, Patriarch Mui was strictly against it."

Shin Sumi's eyes lit up. She had heard that name before from Lan Hui.

"Patriarch Mui was Patriarch Sen's master, right?"

"That is correct. He was also known as daoist Dark Sky."

"What happened to him?"

"The other faction got him by surprise. Even with his strength as number one expert of the Sky Sect, he was powerless in front of an assembly of Elders. Even the reserve powers were too late against the maniganced revolution. Patriarch Mui died, while his full might turned into a curse for the entire sect."

"But Brother Fen, I don't understand... I thought the Dark Sky Starry Sect had been founded previously to Patriarch Sen being the Patriarch. But if his master was still part of the Sky Sect, who founded the Dark Sky Starry Sect?"

"This is where it gets complicated. And it has to do with us. This is where the roots of the Ghost Pavilion lay."

In Shin Sumi's head, all the pieces of the puzzle were slowly taking place and fitting each other. Fen Wudao only clarified the bits that were missing.

The Ghost Pavilion was even older than the sect, formed at first by the reserve power backing up Patriarch Mui. Upon the latter's demise, the silent Ghost Pavilion at the time only composed of four people, Patriarch Sen included, battled against the traitor faction. Ultimately, after a secret battle, the Ghosts drove the opposite group away.

This was where the Sky Earth Sect and the Dark Sky Starry Sect finally split up.

Fen Wudao's eyes reflected the gravity of the sect's history, "Since then, both sects have been trying to erase the other from their history, going as far as to change their views and teachings of what really happened.

But us, as Ghosts, we have to perpetrate the truth while keeping it a secret."

Shin Sumi's mind was spinning. So many revelations, yet her number of questions kept increasing with each new answer.

What was Patriarch Mui's curse? How did the battle between the traitors and the Ghosts remain hidden from all the other people's eyes? Couldn't the Sky Sect's internal conflict have been resolved any other way? And more importantly...

"What does all of this have to do with us younger Ghosts, Brother Fen?"