Lin Yi was 15 years old. His family was a small clan, the clan wasn’t always small, however long ago before even his clan’s elder was alive which would have been nearly three thousand years ago, before even their clan was forced to the south they were one of the top clans of the middle kingdoms and empires. In fact it wouldn’t be too ridiculous to say that the Lin clan was one of the strongest powers at the time.

However, that all changed when the dark races assaulted their fortress. The dark races were at the time still relatively common in so far that they would make the occasional raid against human powers, but it seemed that some felt if they could take out some of the major clans the power vacuum left would distract humanity enough for them to go into hiding. Most of the women and children were hauled off to who knows where and the rest were slaughtered. Only a handful of branch family members survived and the daughter of the main branch family patriarch survived.

The hatred his clan had for dark races knew no bounds and his small clan became well known as dark race hunters. Lin Yi wanted to bring his clan back to glory, but as long as the dark races remained they would be a threat not just to his clan, but all of humanity.

The young boy beside him was interesting, but Lin Yi liked to keep to himself and rarely talked with others. After two years of being recruited by Lady Feng he knew exactly what to do in almost any situation. Lady Feng was on the surface hard to read, but after a while he began to understand her tastes and preferences.

Walking silently in the immense cavern system the student dorms were tucked away in a low light area and went up several stories to the top of the cavern. Lin Yi opened a small door to reveal a spacious room; Lady Feng’s disciples and the disciples of Elders got slightly roomier areas for themselves.

“This is your room. There are two beds since normal sect disciples normally share a space. There is also a washroom and a clothesline. Since you are on the seventh story up you should get a decent draft from the cavern's natural ventilation.”

“Thank you!” Ao Ruang bowed as he reacted with glee.

“Do not thank me. Honor Lady Feng’s name. It isn't often she treats someone with such poor combat skill with favor. Consider yourself lucky. In this sect the weak are food for the strong. Do not think that people here will not take your weakness as an advantage as soon as they can.” Lin Yi stopped at the door and turned around “I will train you everyday after theory classes in combat, be prepared. I won’t have Lady Feng’s name besmirched.”

Lin Yi walked out of the dorm, his face slightly scrunched. He had an eerie feeling about this kid, but his friendly and naive nature was nothing that should concern him. Lin Yi couldn’t shake the feeling Ao Ruang was just a country bumpkin.

Lin Yi was impressed with the Ghostly Whisper Sect; it was one of the few less than reputable unorthodox sects in the kingdom as the south of the continent generally frowned upon what commoners viewed as unorthodox cultivation techniques.

Making his way back through the winding passageways to Lady Feng’s quarters Lin Yi snapped out of his thoughts. Her door was open for Lin Yi who stopped at the entrance and knocked three times.

“Come in, Lin Yi.” Lady Feng spoke up her voice soft just loud enough to tickle his ears.

Waving him over Lady Feng was wearing her usual attire lounging on her sofa “tell me what are your impressions of our latest disciples?”

Lin Yi bowed. “He seems quiet and kind hearted. He is too weak and needs to toughen up. The reality of this world will hit him hard if he doesn’t get trained quickly. The Ghostly Whisper sect was never known as particularly hospitable to the weak.”

Lady Feng smiled softly “Well keep a close eye on him and I want you to report on his progress. Also if anything...unusual happens report it to me and me alone. Is that understood?

“Yes, Milady.”

“Good. You may go. OH and Lin Yi...I know you are nearly about to break through a rank. If you need any assistance let me know. In six months the sect will be opening the eternal abyss forest array and I need all my disciples ready to the best of their ability. This only opens every seven years and we cannot afford to miss out on this opportunity.”

Lin Yi bowed and turned to leave. His heart was beating rapidly. The Eternal abyss forces were a sealed off portion of the empire specifically used by various sects to train and challenge disciples in a life and death scenario. It was rumored that some dark races had the ability to enter the array and hide from dark race hunters like his clan. Unfortunately the array didn’t allow higher level practitioners in without extreme patience.

In six months...that was his chance to truly test himself and to impress Lady Feng.