She exhaled deeply, her breath building tiny white clouds in the cold morning air, contrasting sharply against her grey robe. The harsh winter's last vestiges painted the mountain in its soft dress. She was ready for the day.

"Lin, hey, Lin!" An excitable voice called out, echoing in the isolated clearing that doubled as Lin's personal training space.

Lin opened her eyes and took the girl in. Black hair, about shoulder-length, bright eyes, and a face that was clearly sharper than just a year ago, slowly becoming impatient. She wore the same grey robes of all those who had not become Adepts yet.

"Good morning Aya, how was your night?" Lin asked lightly, still not getting up and continuing to purposefully control her spirit. It circled through her with deliberate slowness as she made sure her foundations were as solid as ever. She exhaled again, and with an abrupt move, stood up, letting the morning dew that had gathered on her fall onto the fresh grass.

"It was fine, I guess." Aya said, crossing her arms and tapping her feet rhythmically. "You have not forgotten that the demonstration is today, have you, Lin?" She sounded exasperated, as if this was a regular occurrence.

Lin scratched her cheek and smiled sheepishly. "I guess I did forget." She paused. "But you can't blame me, I broke through and had to consolidate! I am a Novice now! I'll be allowed to join one of the divisions for sure now." Lin suddenly got excited and took a large step forward.

"If Adept Lu lets you, you mean. I remember you not wasting any effort on anything but spirit arts, even if you stand at the top of our year." Aya countered, smirking at Lin, but she still seemed impressed with her achievement. "We should still go, there isn't that much time left, and you know those vultures will jump on anything."

Lin nodded, her demeanour turning more serious, and they began making their way to the open training grounds that they had seen when they first joined the elementary division. In their one year they had gained many a harsh experience here themselves.

She looked around at the gathering students milling about, who exchanged rumours about what was going to be shown today. The Adepts had only said that a Master was going to send one of his personal disciples down the mountain, and that it was for them to see 'how high the heavens really were'.

It looked like a simple circular arena has been erected, with the strongest Novices of the last fourth year already present.

'It has been one year, and still nothing. Curse the damn division leaders, and curse that damn Adept Ji, when I can finally go up the mountain I'll see what is going on up there. Bastards, looking down on me.' Lin thought, in the privacy of her own mind, giving anyone who approached the two of them walking down the road a stare that clearly said: don't approach!

And there were many who eyed them. Lin, after her immediate success in cultivation, swiftly rose to the top of the year, even outshining those who had already been trained by their families.

With her ability to sense far higher than her peers' this was not really any surprise to Lin. She saw through the methods of spirit application to strengthen herself first, and this continued with every aspect of cultivation. It went even so far that she challenged a Novice once. The other girl was someone who lorded her seniority over others, being in her last year of the elementary division but different from most, not wholeheartedly focussing on her studies and ignoring the younger disciples.

That girl could have been a real menace. The only catch was that she was the lowliest Novice possible, and Lin defeated her swiftly, a dodge of the older girl's fist followed by a sweeping leg and a spirit infused hit of her own was all it took. The other girl was not likely to join one of the divisions and instead would have to either join the outer sect, or leave the Heart's Illusion Sect all together.

Lin and Aya sat down in the front rank, with no one between them and the arena. Some older disciples looked at them curiously, it was generally accepted that those of higher rank got the better places, but when they saw her continued to ignore the two of them.

"Hey you two, why are you here without me already?" A pretty girl asked them, coming up behind them and jumping over some seats to reach them, earning multiple disapproving gazes.

"Hello, Junko, sorry for that, I had to go and get Lin, or she would have forgotten." Aya answered, turning with a smile.

"It can't be helped then, I know how she gets when meditating." Junko Yu said, and then with a scolding voice. "And don't call me Junko, just say Yu."

"Alright, Junko, I'll keep it in mind." Aya replied teasingly. Junko only rolled her eyes and sat down next to the other girl, having had this conversation multiple times already.

"I think it is starting." Lin said, staring ahead. The stands began to quiet, any stragglers sorting themselves orderly, not wanting to miss anything.

Tensions were running high, and even multiple Adepts were already standing in the arena, ready to receive their guest. Lin was ready to see how high the heavens really were. 'If you can't come down, I will simply come up'.

Two figures walked down the path that lead up the mountain. They wore conical hats that covered their faces from any curious gazes, and wore billowing robes of obviously fine make. The taller one's were white-green, and he carried a stick over his shoulder, while the shorter one's were entirely black and a wooden sword clung to his back, seemingly without any support.

The elementary division's disciples made way for them, running back as soon as they saw them, looking at them with reverence, envy, ambition, and everything in between shining in their eyes. Those were disciples of the upper echelon, people of a different world, the two were what they aspired to be.

"Tell me, Brother Ren, are you nervous about meeting your old friends again?" The one robed in green asked, not taking his eyes off the road ahead, and making his question unable to be overheard.

Ren gave no indication of any unease. His spirit continued to circulate calmly, but he did give a furtive glance to his companion, mulling over what he would say for a few moments.

"It is not that I am nervous necessarily, Brother Mu, but many things have changed. They will have changed, and so have I. I do not know how I feel myself." Ren transmitted back, his spirit carefully wrapping around his voice, just like the older boy had done. It was effortlessly accomplished, his control having reached new heights since he became a Novice, as easy as lifting his hand.

"You are afraid." It was said with such surety that Ren had to acknowledge it. "Tell me again how you described your trial to me, Brother Ren, make it detailed, and tell me how you felt." Zhi Mu said it softly, almost like a mild question, but to Ren's ears it was clearly not a request that he could simply ignore.

"It was wet, and there were no screams, or grand shouts of valour, just a blunt exhale as the sword parted flesh. She was a criminal, packed in chains, and made to fight till her last. She was a killer, but she was also but a desperate woman, an Adept whose muscles and spirit had atrophied to the point that she was only a sliver above a Novice.

The fight between us was the most exhilarating experience I have ever had. I don't know for how long we fought, but I remember I was smiling. I smiled over her dead body, her lifeblood leaving her, her frantic eyes imploring me, searching for some way out. It was the clearest moment in my life. I felt nothing for her then, and I was proud, proud to have won, proud to have killed." Ren wanted to spit. He sounded disgusted with himself. "The face of the single guard who watched alongside Darkhaven was what made me realize it, that..."

"That you are a monster? That you would feel pleasure while killing?" Zhi Mu interrupted Ren, and fixed him with a single eye. "I don't think that you felt that way, now, did you?" Ren shook his head. No, he hadn't felt pleasure. "Every Cultivator has to face this some day, some earlier, others later. It is..."

"You don't understand." Ren interrupted. "I felt no sympathy, I could only think of the flaws in her technique and how to improve my own. How the sword moved, and the spirit flowed." Ren said, waiting for Zhi Mu to give him an answer.

"There is nothing wrong with feeling no sympathy. You fought with your lives on the line. It might not have seemed fair to you, but that woman would also not have hesitated to kill you. We can continue vexing and debating, trying to find meaning or justification, arguing that the mere fact that we are having this conversation shows your sympathy, and that you care, but the sad truth is that you must continue to live with this knowledge regardless. You could now continue your life in fear of yourself, or simply try moving on." Zhi Mu turned to him, his face sympathetic. "Do not think you are alone in your experiences."

Ren had never seen the older boy seem so fragile as in that moment. One moment he looked like he was just on the verge of crying and Ren realized that Zhi Mu was in fact not that much older than him. He would still be considered a child, if he was not a peerless genius of his generation. Then the moment passed.