Ye Tian helped Lu Lan up and supported her walking, but, to his surprise, Lu Lan let out a moan of pain.

I’m not touching the wounds, am I?

“Master, you’re clenching me too hard!” Lu Lan exclaimed.

Ye Tian finally realized that he was using too much strength. Although Ye Tian intimidated Elder Ji, the situation wasn’t handled as easily as it seemed. If both sides had pulled out all their cards then Ye Tian would likely go down fighting. But, they were in the sect, and Ye Tian relied on the fact that Elder Ji couldn’t go all out.

“Sorry.”

This time, Ye Tian gently helped Lu Lan walk. His spiritual sense scoured Lu Lan’s meridians for any internal damage. There was none.

Spiritual sense provided a kind of movable camera that existed as if it was Ye Tian’s body part. Just as humans willed their arms to move, Ye Tian could will his spiritual sense to move. But it was limited. Ye Tian could not scan past a room and discover every nook and cranny. His spiritual sense would have to zoom in.

All around the two, spectators had begun to gather. They pointed at the two and speculated as to why Elder Ye was carrying his wounded disciple from a battlefield.

Seems like there will be rumors about me soon. Hopefully, none of them are too outlandish.

Eventually, the two had made it back to Ye Tian’s abode. Inside, Lu Ning was pacing nervously while Zhang Qiang was yawning with boredom at the table.

Upon seeing the two enter, Lu Ning rushed up to check if Lu Lan was okay. Ye Tian shook his head inwardly.

This kid is always so caring.

Ye Tian then took out a jade bottle of medicine, “These should work.”

While Lu Ning helped Lu Lan tend to her wounds, Zhang Qiang got up to respectfully salute Ye Tian, “Boss, I’ll go make some tea.

”Ye Tian nodded and sat down, “Lu Lan, I know that you’re still troubled by the event from years ago, but you need to let go of the past.”

Lu Lan looked away without any words.

“If you truly want to destroy this internal demon then turn it into a drive for revenge,” sighed Ye Tian. “Cultivate for greater power. Until the day that you can personally take revenge on those who instigated the attack on Lu Clan.”

Feeling that his words were falling upon deaf ears, Ye Tian turned to a different subject, “It’s a good thing that all of you are here. The Soaring Heroes competition will begin soon, so I’m going to put you guys all through intensive training.”

The Soaring Heroes competition - as per its name - was held in the capital city of the province where talents, from all around the province, rushed to compete and prove themselves. The sects would usually send a few elite disciples under the elders and some normal disciples.

“Wait, me too?” gaped Zhang Qiang with his eyes wide open in shock.

“Of course, there are beneficial rewards if you are powerful enough. But first, you guys will need some training.”

***

The four gathered at the forest in the center of the sect. This was no ordinary forest but rather a demon beast forest. The sect reared these demon beasts for both taming and training purposes. After all, it would take quite some time to leave the sect and its mountains.

Ye Tian looked at his disciples: one disinterested, one focused, and one… picking his ear…

These are my disciples… Well, at least Lu Ning is fine.

Ye Tian could not help but blame himself for being so negligent towards these three. He had essentially thrown a bunch of resources at them and went off on his own. Still, the three had not disappointed him, and all were at the peak soul stage. All they needed were resources which the competition could provide.

“Well, first off. Lu Ning, hit me with what you got.”

Lu Ning hesitated, “Uhhh.”

“Don’t worry. Just come at me.”

Making up his mind, Lu Ning took out his sword.

‘Rainstorm Sword Arts: Ring’

It was an ability that Ye Tian had seen before. Although Lu Ning’s version was far weaker, a paper-thin ring of water shot out from Lu Ning and revolved around him. Any person that was initially near him would be flung out by the outburst, and the ring was large enough that most weapons would not be able to reach Lu Ning.

“This ability...” Ye Tian gasped.

Lu Lan uncomfortably shifted a little.

Lu Ning scratched his head in embarrassment, “I thought the ability was pretty cool, so I picked it up when you gave us a pile of abilities to choose from.”

“Not too bad. Rainstorm Sword Arts are inferior-earth rank. Although it gives some bad memories, the ability is an efficient way to provide ample defense and offense. Have you mastered the explosion part of the sword arts?”

Lu Ning nodded, “ ‘Ring’ and ‘Ring - Explosion’ are two sets of one move. So far, I’ve mastered three out of the five moves in Rainstorm Sword Arts.”

“Good, however, ‘Ring’ can’t defend against projectiles thus you will need to focus on your footwork too.”

“My movement ability, Raindrop Movement Ability, is actually mid-earth rank.”

“A mid-earth rank? The higher the rank the more difficult it becomes to master the ability. It seems like you’re prepared to dominate this competition.”

Ye Tian turned to Lu Lan, “Your turn.”

As soon as Ye Tian finished, Lu Lan leapt forward.

She drew her blade and sent out a flurry of flashes.

Ye Tian deflected each strike.

Fast!

Once Lu Lan had her fill of action, she leapt back with heavy breathing and muttered, “Explode.”

Ye Tian combusted into a fiery ball of flames which he quickly dispersed.

Lu Lan’s style was extremely violent. It was something that Ye Tian would’ve never thought to associate with Lu Lan until today.

“Rising Phoenix Arts. I’ve mastered 3 out of the four moves. My movement technique is Swallow Step Movement Ability.

Rising Phoenix Arts is the famed combat ability of the sect. A mid-earth ability. Meanwhile, Swallow Step is an inferior-earth ability. Wait… I don’t remember that skill as part of the Rising Phoenix Arts.

“What did you just do there? That wasn’t part of the Rising Phoenix Arts.”

“I combined ‘Rising Phoenix Art - Rune’ to the edge of my blade. Every time I strike, I leave behind a rune which can then explode.”

A true genius! I never thought a protected flower turned out to be a flytrap.

Ye Tian finally turned to Zhang Qiang with an expectant gaze.

Zhang Qiang raised his sword that was set ablaze by his qi. With full concentration, he slashed out with all his strength!

Nothing happened.

“...”

“..."

“...”

“I-I have more!” Zhang Qiang ran around in circles.

Power Strike… An inferior-mortal ability… Lightwork Movement Ability… Another inferior-mortal ability...

Ye Tian’s face twitched, “Well, fundamentals do matter. Ahem, a famous master once said that he wasn’t scared of a person who practiced 10,000 kicks, but he was scared of a person who practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

“Now that I’ve seen your abilities. You guys can all rush up to me altogether.”

Lu Lan approached Ye Tian and tried to use the same ability again. However, before she could even land a single hit, Ye Tian grabbed her wrist and flung her away.

“You made yourself faster and more open.”

Ye Tian then shot out a bolt of black-red qi towards Lu Ning.

He tried to move out of the way but was too slow.

“I don’t need to say anything about that.”

Ye Tian then turned to Zhang Qiang who had approached.

Looking down at Zhang Qiang, Ye Tian slapped the sword right out of Zhang Qiang’s hands.

“Err… You still need some help.”

***

“Ahhh! I can’t take this anymore,” complained Zhang Qiang as he made himself comfy on the arm of a giant tree. To save time, the group is spending their nights in the forest, so they don’t have to waste time walking back and forth from the sect to the forest every day.

Lu Ning also got comfortable on another tree, “It’s not too bad. I learned plenty of things today.”

“Well, it sucks for me.”

“It’s beneficial for a slacker like you.”

Zhang Qiang turned to sleep on his side with his back against Lu Ning. It was as if Zhang Qiang was trying to ignore Lu Ning’s nagging. But after some tossing and flipping, Zhang Qiang, who couldn’t sleep, tried to keep Lu Ning awake too, “Hey, little martial brother.”

Lu Ning grumbled, “Stop calling me that.”

“Why is it that you always want to help senior martial sister? Hm? Could it be?” teased Zhang Qiang.

“What?”

“Do you like senior martial sister?"

Lu Ning’s face grew flushed, “What! H-How could I possibly have designs on my idol’s fiancée?!”

“Oh? I’ve stumped the morally upright Lu Ning!”

“You haven’t stumped anyone! If you keep blabbering then I’ll come over and beat you up.”

“Hey, it’s just an arranged marriage. Maybe you can be that prince in a white horse who can take her away from the devil who pops the cherry of countless innocent women,” Zhang Qiang lewdly grinned.

Lu Ning was now angry, “My idol isn’t like that!”

“Idol this, idol that. Why do you have so much respect for Lu Yin?”

“That’s because...” Lu Ning quickly lost himself in a moment of reminiscence. “Maybe he doesn’t even remember anymore… But when I was young, he rescued my life...”

Although Zhang Qiang was sometimes unconventional, even he knew to leave Lu Ning alone at this moment. Instead of poking more fun, Zhang Qiang decided to settle in for the night. He looked up at the stars while wondering.

‘Idol… huh...’

The thoughts were soon interrupted by Ye Tian’s voice.

“Zhang Qiang, come with me.”

Lu Ning smiled, “Looks like someone is getting remedial lessons.”

Zhang Qiang gulped and followed Ye Tian.

***

The two stood before a lake where crickets and frogs sang their favorite pop songs. One could barely make out their figures under the half-moon, but the two didn’t need light to converse.

Zhang Qiang fearfully raised the question, “Err, master. I don’t have to take remedial lessons, do I? I mean, it’s very late. What can we do out here?”

Ye Tian didn’t respond but instead asked, “Zhang Qiang, be honest with me. What do you see wrong with Lu Lan?”

“What?”

“What’s your opinion about Lu Lan? Tell me honestly.”

“Well, senior martial sister is very strong. I feel that she might sometimes be too rash and get into trouble, but that’s just her trauma.”

“In other words, she’s mentally unstable,” Ye Tian bluntly stated.

Zhang Qiang was stupefied. Were they gossiping about the others? Why though?

“Maybe…?”

“And what do you think of Lu Ning.“

Zhang Qiang put on a thoughtful look, “My little martial brother is an honest and upright man. Although his gifts make me want to punch him, he doesn’t brag about how handsome and strong he is. But I do feel that he is obsessed with his idol and senior martial sister.”

There was no response from Ye Tian.

Zhang Qiang waited for a few minutes before raising the question, “May I go now?”

“Very good replies. Take this.”

Ye Tian tossed a wooden slip towards Zhang Qiang who stumbled to catch it.

“This is?” asked Zhang Qiang with uncertainty.

“On that slip is a new path for you to walk. With that, you can gain power,” Ye Tian turned to Zhang Qiang. “I’ve heard it before, 5 years ago. I want to hear it again. Do you swear loyalty to me?”

Looking at his master in the moonlight, for a moment, Zhang Qiang was at a loss. Were his eyes playing a joke on him? He had never seen his master with such gentle eyes before. It was as if he was witnessing the birth of his own child. Perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing to follow this man before his eyes.

‘Idol… huh...’

Zhang Qiang kowtowed, “I am forever loyal to you, master!”

Yet, unknown to both men, a pair of eyes gleamed in the night.