After a bit of thought, I decided to ask San Hashar for advice as soon as she returned. But just as I made the decision, my neck prickled, and I paused.

It was too quiet, but focused on my thoughts, I only noticed that now. The storehouses loomed in front of me, close enough that I would have reached their shadows if it was morning instead of night. Yet I was no longer alone on the path.

I turned around, stifling a sigh as my eyes confirmed what my qi senses had been telling me. Four disciples, three boys and a girl, came up the path behind me. As I watched, they spread out, forming a half-circle.

Great. Do they just want to bully someone or is there more to it? Did they see me sneaking?

“Spare us a moment of your time, sect brother,” one of them demanded. “Or is it sister?”

I gave them a polite bow. “Can I help you with something, sect brother?”

They should be able to guess my strength, although the veil might lead them to underestimate it a bit. But all of them were in the fourth stage, probably all inner disciples. The one who’d spoken had a ratty face and slick, styled hair, with a blue robe that matched the bubble of water in his aura. His body language oozed confidence.

“We couldn’t help but notice you,” he said. “Clothed like an assassin, even hiding your face? One has to wonder just what we’ve stumbled on here.”

I stiffened. “My training and what talismans I choose to bolster my cultivation are none of your business.”

“Mouthy, isn’t he?”, one of the others said, this one wearing a topknot and green robes. He leered at me. “Although I do believe it’s a she. There are some curves hiding under that clothing.”

I felt the sudden urge to take a bath, but ignored it. “Does my gender concern you in some way, sect brothers?”

“Not your gender, no,” the first speaker drawled. They continued to approach until he came close enough to emphasize how he stood half a head taller than me. “But I do find your path suspicious. From the west side of the sect grounds, going for the residences. Where could you have been coming from? There’s nothing there, certainly no sect buildings.”

“I was simply training.”

“I mean,” he continued, not responding to me, “the only thing there is a border with the elders’ grounds. An out-of-the-way approach to them.”

I consciously relaxed my muscles, silencing their desire to tense up. Does he really think he’s onto something, or is this simply a justification to bother me?

“I’ve seen it,” I acknowledged evenly, glad that my face was hidden. “A border of qi. Everyone knows about that. But it doesn’t concern me. I was simply training my techniques in a quiet spot. A dark spot, of course, given my affinity. The reasoning should be clear to any inner disciples, no?”

I could have just revealed myself, but I did come sneaking from the wrong direction, and the sect might notice someone had tricked their gate. I couldn’t risk them moving their experiments.

“Watch your mouth,” the girl growled. Her qi flared in my direction like fire. “If anyone displays a lack of reasoning ability here, it’s certainly you. Are you even an inner disciple?”

I backed up just a bit. “I did not mean any insult. My status is not in question, however.”

They probably took that as confirmation that I wasn’t. The four of them advanced on me again, closing the distance. The fourth disciple, quiet so far, even moved further around so he was positioned to cut off my retreat.

Before I could come to a decision, my chance to try and escape them was past. Not that I would have tried, since I didn’t want to turn my back to the group. I needed to lose them somehow.

“We’ll need to check to make sure that you have no suspicious intentions,” the leader said, smirking.

“That would be a right shame,” the last boy agreed, crossing his arms to provide a good imitation of a brick wall. His qi felt like air brushing against me.

“Maybe a change in environment will help,” the first one said, snapping his fingers to call up a ball of water floating beside him.

I prepared to erect a barrier of darkness qi. My qi reserves weren’t in good shape after my excursion, and I knew I didn’t stand much of a chance against the four of them. Hopefully, he was just messing around.

Just as I tried to jump to the side, a wall of air boxed me in. The water splashed against my shield, spraying back all over the area and the path.

“My shoes!” the girl cried. “How dare you sully them?”

The green-robed boy wiped water out of his eyes. “Let’s teach her a lesson.” In the next moment, vines burst out of the ground.

I backed away a pace, trying to step onto the vines before they could snatch me. I was quicker than them, and my shield kept the worst of it off me. But the bullies didn’t wait around.

The one behind me lunged forward, striking with swiftness unsuited to his frame. I barely managed to stumble away from his blow. Then one of the vines caught my ankle and whirled me around. A fireball roared at me. I ducked and felt its heat pass above me, my barrier collapsing under the strain.

“Stop it!” Things had escalated too much. I raised my hands and tried to peel away the mask. Unfortunately, it had been designed not to come off easily.

A fist crashed into my stomach. I doubled up and reflexively brought my hands up to go for the first boy’s face.

He staggered back, but the air had been knocked out of me. That’s going to leave a bruise, I noted as I tried to get my breathing back.

I straightened up just in time to see the next attack coming at me, a throwing knife the girl had let loose. Unable to get out of the way, I tried to knock it aside with my forearm. It worked, though the move left a stinging trail on my arm. Then some instinct had me dodge, just enough to have the big guy’s blade glance off my side. I could feel wetness flow down as I kicked out, giving myself some space.

For a moment, they backed away. I knew my injuries had to be superficial, and regretted for a moment my decision to have my protective talismans only for life-threatening injuries. I’d thought the lack of bleeding might be suspicious if I was injured while someone saw me.

“Stop it, you don’t know —”

As if my starting to talk was a signal, they attacked again. This time, the four of them came in together, fists and feet flying at me.

I gritted my teeth and endured what I couldn’t dodge, hissing as the girl’s fist crashed into the cut in my side. In a moment, I gathered qi and released it in a wave. A flash of light blinded them while my domain manifested as black plates to shove them away.

One was thrown, the green-robed boy, while the others retreated. But my dantian only had a little qi left, most of it light affinity.

I took the moment to finally get my mask off and shake my hair loose.

“Blond hair?” the green guy asked with a tilt of his head.

“No,” the leader whispered, swallowing audibly. “That’s …”

“The name is Inaris, Leri Inaris,” I said, taking a bit of satisfaction from his expression. “And you four just made a big mistake.”

Air boy made a strangled sound and dropped to his knees. Green boy followed suit.

“Sun’s light.” The girl took a step back, but remained standing. “We just assaulted the Imperial Princess.”

The blue-robed guy looked from her to me and back. “Oh, by the spirits. Stand firm, now.”

The creep frowned, eyes darting back and forth. “What?”

“We attacked the heir to the throne,” the girl said. “We drew her blood. Do you know what that means?”

The other one, air boy, stood up. “It means we’re dead men walking.”

My feeling of satisfaction turned sour and my stomach dropped. “Now, don’t make your mistake even worse.”

“If anyone finds out, we’ll be killed. Slowly, I reckon.” A sword appeared in the blue-robed disciple’s hand. “The only chance we have is hiding it. Nothing personal, princess. But it’s your life or ours.”

Oh, for heaven’s sake.

I poured all but scant remnants of qi into another shield, cursing internally. “I can show you mercy, if you stop this foolishness now!”

The green creep finally stood up, too, pulling a whip from the air. “How could we believe that? Rarko, you’re right, I think we have a chance of hiding this. No one’s noticed yet.”

I felt a surge of qi from air boy. A moment later, a bubble formed around us, cutting off all outside sounds and muddying my qi senses.

Any doubt I had vanished when they attacked. They were desperate, their moves savage and intense. With weapons bursting with qi, they hacked my barrier to pieces.

Suddenly, I felt a lot less confident in my gear. It wouldn’t protect me from drowning in a bubble of water with my qi depleted.

I strengthened my barriers, making an effort to keep my breathing calm. I locked eyes with the leader. His were narrowed, his sword strike being stopped centimeters from my face. I channeled qi through my bracelet. A pulse exploded out of it, racing into the air, stunning my attackers briefly.

The leader recovered first. I saw him lunge forward, his sword raised, flashing towards me.

The next moment, it spun through the air. He thudded to the ground.

I had to blink before the scene in front of me made sense. From one instant to the next, all of the disciples had fallen, red spreading on their robes or pouring out onto the ground. They didn’t even get the chance to scream. One body twitched a little, its eyes staring upwards, unmoving.

I turned to the side a bit to look at San Hashar where she knelt on the ground. Her qi blazed like a star that had sucked everything in.

“Call for reinforcements,” I said, in a voice distant to my own ears. “Then confine the sect.”

I couldn’t help but stare at the four disciples. The leader wasn’t clad in blue anymore, his robes torn all over his chest where the red color fountained out, dyeing his attire. His face was still set in determination to bring me down, trying to save his life.