The hall was silent. The lecturer stared bug-eyed at Song Yi, whom she’d assumed to be nothing more than a delinquent. Never could she have expected his knowledge of alchemy to be at such a level. She stared at him in an entirely new light.

In fact, this lecturer happened to greatly admire the alchemy division of the sect. She had been trying to enter it for the last few years, but had been unable to do so. The barrier of entry was too high.

She’d been incredibly excited when she’d been able to invite Inner Sect Disciple Hu to the lecture today. While seeing him chastised and discredited right before her was painful, she’d also began to develop an admiration for this new novitiate in front of her. After all, rank was nothing before ability.

The alchemist grit his teeth, not knowing what to say. He was stunned into silence.

He took his defective pill from the nearby novitiate, who stood slack-jawed nearby. With two bows, one to the audience and one to Song Yi, he silently took his leave.

After he did, the lecturer also bowed to Song Yi.

“Your name is Song Yi, right?”

He nodded affirmatively.

“Senior Brother Song, I don’t know where you learned what you know, but may I ask a favor?”

Song Yi stumbled for a moment.

“Please,” he said uncomfortably. “There’s no need for such formalities, just call me Song Yi. What’s the favour?”

“Senior Brother Song, please take me in as a disciple,” she bowed again.

His eye twitched furiously. “This…”

“Oh! Of course, I would not ask you to do this without payment.” She took out 50,000 sect credits from a storage ring and held them out towards him.

His heart started beating and his breathing quickened. This was over half of his current wealth!

“Well?” he asked the monarch.

“You’re joking.”

Song Yi showed an upset look on his face for a moment in reaction to the monarch’s words. Noticing this, the female disciple misinterpreted.

“I can pay this sum over again monthly!” she offered.

Gasps could be heard throughout the crowd. There wasn’t a single novitiate present, Song Yi included, who wouldn’t drool over such a sum.

“You heard her!” Song Yi was practically shouting in his head.

“No!”

“She’s willing to pay sect credits! I’ll become stronger faster if I can be promoted.”

“I already have to deal with one idiot all day, I can’t handle another!”

He was crushed. Was he really going to have to turn down an opportunity like this? He decided to give it one last try.

“What about just pointers?” he asked.

To his relief, the monarch relented on this point.

In front of every single novitiate present, he negotiated with the woman. After some deliberation, they decided on an agreement.

Song Yi would give her pointers on alchemy in private. In return, she’d pay him sect credits by the lesson.

After this negotiation, Song Yi excused himself from the hall, and the lesson continued on as normal. A few disciples whom he’d offended the day prior had a mind to follow him out, but considering what they’d just witnessed, and that he was the half-teacher of the woman who was in charge of their lectures, they thought better of it.

One person, however, had no such qualms.

As Song Yi left the building, he was stopped.

“Wait.”

He turned around to see Su Bai, though he wasn’t surprised.

“Bai’er,” he nodded.

“I know you. There’s no way you could’ve known all that, so how? What happened to you in the last week, no, since the examination?”

Song Yi didn’t respond yet, instead talking to the monarch.

“Why can’t I tell her?”

Song Yi knew the answer without asking. If she let out that he had within him an existence far more powerful than even the sect leader, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what would happen. With how weak he was, he’d either be exploited or killed. His rhetorical question was more a cry of frustration than anything else.

At the same time, Su Bai’s suspicions were honing in dangerously close to the truth. Even if she didn’t guess the exact truth, it could become a danger.

Just maybe… distance was a necessity rather than a luxury.

He looked her in the eyes, seeing confusion and conflict. Likewise, when she looked into his she could see sorrow and loneliness.

In fact, she had already cooled off about the stealing incident. She was quick to forgive. She had been prepared to make amends the next time she’d seen him, but never could’ve expected he would make an appearance in such spectacular style.

Song Yi sighed. “Please, Bai’er. For my sake, don’t ask any more questions. I’m begging you.”

He kowtowed towards her.

Seeing her first and only friend in the sect bowing to her like she was a stranger, Su Bai’s heart broke all over again.

“Big Bro Yi, please stand up.” She grabbed his arm and dragged him onto his feet before grabbing him in a hug. “I don’t care. If you need me to stop asking questions, I’ll stop.”

After a moment of hesitation, Song Yi hugged her back. He wondered if this was okay, having to withhold the truth. He didn’t know.

But at the moment, he wasn’t prepared to let go.

----------

In Su Bai’s cabin, she and Song Yi sat together like they had only a few weeks ago, before the sect examination’s second trial. She was cooking a fish and rice dish for the two of them.

“You cook?” Song Yi had asked her when she started.

“I hate it, but as part of my childhood, I had to learn.”

After that, they had been silent for a while. To pass the time, Song Yi spoke with Wang Anzhou.

“One thing’s bothering me,” Song Yi said. “Why would you help that disciple? I doubt you care about them.”

“Figure it out for yourself.”

“Was it to improve my reputation? I know it hasn’t been good recently.”

“No, you dullard, it was to get you more noticed! The larger your reputation, the more resources!”

“See? I didn’t have to figure it out for myself.”

Realizing he’d been tricked, the embarrassed monarch stopped talking.

Song Yi chuckled.

Coming over to deliver the food, Su Bai gave him a funny look. She wondered why he was laughing to himself. Although, considering that was nowhere close to the weirdest thing about her big bro, she forgot about it almost immediately.

“The reason I asked you to come here is because I’m having a problem.” She didn’t beat around the bush. “The truth is, things haven’t been so great in my village.”

When she said that, Song Yi nodded. He hadn’t thought about it too hard the day before, but by now he’d realized it was odd that nobody had helped her when she was suddenly attacked by Luo Ai. He waited for her to continue.

“There’s a guy in my village; he’s already passed the Gate of Man, so he’s not a pushover. When I first arrived, he took a liking to me. The thing is, he won’t take no for an answer.” She took a bite of fish, a thoughtful look on her face.

Song Yi’s expression darkened. “I’ll beat him within an inch of his life.”

“What?” she frowned. “No, no that’s not my point. I can do that myself! What I wanted to ask you is how I could profit from it the most.”

Song Yi’s jaw dropped so wide he worried it would hit the table. He covered his mouth and coughed to try to hide the reaction, but judging by the amused look in the corners of Su Bai’s eyes, he hadn’t succeeded.

“Well, can you tell me more about him?”