-- Chapter 15:

A middle-aged man stood with his arms crossed behind him. He wore an extravagantly tailored black robe embroidered with golden motifs of entwined dragons and phoenixes. He had a handsome face, with fiercely slanting eyebrows, and a forehead which radiated pestilential airs. His pale lips seemed to be at a perpetual curl and his eyes gleamed with a cunning and deep intelligence.

Behind him several meters away knelt five battered youths. They trembled as they felt tension from the man’s silence. His killing intent suffocated them, and gave them the impression that their lives hung on a fine thread.

With a magnetic voice he spoke, “Repeat what you said.”

The nominal leader of the youths was practically in tears as he replied, forcing every ounce of willpower he retained into suppressing stutters, an impropriety he knew would sever that thread.

“Sir, Young Master was leading us to meet the Son of God when he received a message from a contact in the Immortal Sword Sect. Their next generation Son of God Qin Yu was alone nearby, and he had in his possession a Celestial Transmutation Dan. We intercepted him and attempted to retrieve the Dan, but.. “

Here, he trailed off, hesitating as to what to say.

“Continue.”

The youth’s eyes watered as he unquestioningly obeyed, “We had driven Qin Yu to the brink, when we were ambushed by a ... sapling.”

“So I had not misheard.”

In the pause that followed, the youths clenched their teeth and strained against the palpable pressure.

“My nephew, my foolish and PRECIOUS nephew, lies wasted in bed, because of a sapling?!”

Energy had surged turbulently during the middle-aged man’s roar before pacifying once he composed himself. One of the youth’s spirit had broken while the energy was in disorder, with the others left pale and violently shivering.

The elder barely spared a glance for the corpse, flicking a finger and instantly burning it to ashes, which were scattered by the winds.

“I trust that you have not completely failed me?”

The leading youth shuddered as he desperately grasped the last strands of hope, “Yes! Yes!” Frantically clawing open his robe, he clutched a thin package. Moving forwards while on his knees, he reverently held the package aloft and unwrapped it, revealing a section of a branch.

The elder nodded slightly in satisfaction, “Good.”

When the youths behind him collapsed in situ with breaths of relief, he spoke again, contemptuously, “Advance, and save a spot for the sapling in hell.”

Spiritlessness and resent flashed in the eyes of these youths before they too became ashes in the wind.

Several meters behind him, the air shimmered and a figure sheathed in shadow appeared, before doing obeisance on one knee.

“Master, shall I send for its capture?”

The elder seemed to consider before replying, “No, send a message to the Son of God. Consider it his test.”

The shadow retrieved the fallen package, bowed further, then withdrew.

The elder stood unfazed, not having moved a step the entire process. Staring off profoundly into the distance, he spoke, “Sentience in a sapling? Can it be, that time approaches?”