As Weiheng Wu faded into the heavens, the spectators turned and vanished back into the sect. A few remained. Sect Master Lan, Lan Taijian, and the other Peak Lords. Their eyes fell on Hui, who stared back.

“We need to choose a new Peak Lord. Does anyone have any disciples close to breaking through to the fifth realm?” Sect Master Lan asked, looking away.

“Mmm… I do, but she’s not interested in this sort of empty peak,” the Peak Lord of Butterfly Pavilion Peak said, adjusting a single hair alluringly over her ear.

“We could turn it into an extension of Jade Garden Peak. There are a few plants that require more land than we currently have…”

“Er, excuse me, Seniors,” Hui interrupted them, bowing.

Sect Master Lan’s eyes fell on Hui. He waved his hand dismissively. “You’ll be permitted to continue living on the peak, of course.”

Hui bowed again, letting out a dry cough. “Ah, that is, I, er… Master already keyed the barrier formation to myself. I… have never altered a barrier formation, I couldn’t change it if I wanted to. I’m afraid this small disciple is the only person allowed to occupy Unrivaled Under Heaven Peak.”

Sect Master Lan scoffed. He lifted a finger. “That trifling barrier formation… fear not, Disciple Weiheng. I can…”

Mid-finger-wave, Sect Master Lan froze. He coughed, and managed to hold it in his mouth, but a droplet of blood ran down the corner of his mouth. His eyes bulged in surprise. “This… what is…”

“Master rewrote the formation before he left. Many apologies, Sect Master! This small cultivator knows he isn’t fit to occupy the peak, but I’m afraid I’m the only one who can!” Saying that, Hui dove toward the peak. I don’t want to stay out here. They might get ideas about making me alter the formation. I don’t know how, I really don’t, but do they know that?

The Sect Master frowned at him, but made no motion to stop him. He shook his head as Hui retreated to his peak. “It doesn’t matter. We don’t have long, anyways.”

The Peak Lords glanced amongst each other. Jade Garden’s Peak Lord spoke up first. “Is there really no hope?”

Sect Master Lan lifted his eyes, staring far, far away. “Maybe… if a great many things had not occurred, if our karma had not become so tangled, then perhaps…”

“It’s too late to worry about cooked rice,” the Cauldron Lord of Cauldron Peak declared. She tossed lavender hair and crossed her arms decisively. “Many of my disciples may leave, but I will fight. You can count on my pills.”

“Thank you,” Sect Master Lan said softly.

“This doesn’t mean I agree with your choices, but in the end, if I wanted to leave, I would have left two hundred years ago.” With that, the Cauldron Lord turned away and vanished. A beam of multicolored light arced back to her Cauldron Peak.

“Well… it’s the same for me,” the Jade Garden Peak Lord said. He bowed to Sect Master Lan. “Although it’s fine to criticize your reaction, the one who’s truly at fault is the one who instigated this situation, all those years ago. And now… it’s hard to say he’s escaping the blame, when he willfully exiled himself to a demonic sect, and we’re facing down the same, and yet…”

Sect Master Lan sighed. “It’s too late to quibble over who deserves the blame. We, too, sowed karma, all those years ago. If I had handled the sowing better, perhaps we might have been able to escape the reaping.”

“No matter what, that little snake would have escaped. He’s a slippery figure, even now,” the Butterfly Pavilion Peak Lord commented, narrowing her peach blossom eyes. She lifted a long pipe to her lips, releasing a slow stream of incense-scented smoke on the air. “Ah… Yunxu. If you hadn’t done that, perhaps you’d be our fifth Peak Lord now.”

“Weiheng Wu was a great asset to this sect,” Sect Master Lan responded.

“Ah… no, this fairy maiden doesn’t dispute that. After all, how long has it been since someone from Starbound Sect ascended to the heavens? But… no, in the end, it’s pointless to think about might-have-beens.”

Lan Taijian scowled and scrubbed his head. “Weiheng Wu… that bastard. Even though we warned him not to raise that Xiao Hui child, even with all our efforts to block Xiao Hui from taking the first step on his path of cultivation, he still…”

Butterfly Pavilion’s Peak Lord took another draw from the pipe, then waved her hand. “It’s water under the bridge. Weiheng Hui might have become a great asset to the sect as well, given time, no? After all, he’s already fourth realm. Aside from Weiheng Wu, who else can claim to have ascended the realms so quickly? Even you yourself can hardly measure up. Jealousy is an ugly emotion, Peak Lord Lan."

“It’s not jealousy. If he hadn’t become a cultivator, the evidence would have—”

Sect Master Lan narrowed his eyes at Lan Taijian. Feeling a chill on his back, Lan Taijian fell silent. Sect Master Lan cleared his throat. “My son, you treasure Li Xiang, no?”

“That’s different. Before everything happened, she was already my—”

“Likewise, Weiheng Wu treasured Xiao Hui, even bestowing him with his own Daoist name. As Weiheng Wu was a mere youth when the original incident happened, we never told him the truth of what occurred, but I wouldn’t dare claim that he didn’t figure it out on his own. Likewise, although he was absent when the Midnight Massacre took place, he ceased his involvement in the investigation with an excuse. He might have had little allegiance to the sect, but he still didn’t wish to see us fall. I can’t say I comprehend his motives in raising Xiao Hui, but then…” the Sect Master coughed dryly. “We could never measure up to his comprehension, no?”

The Peak Lords shared a chuckle. Lan Taijian scowled, but still shook his head, acknowledging it.

The Sect Master sighed. “Now that it’s come to this… I think it’s time to let our disciples experience a little good fortune before the inevitable battle.” He glanced upward and smiled.

“It’s a hundred years ahead of schedule. The price we’d have to pay… we couldn’t maintain that and the memory-obliterating barrier at the same time,” the Butterfly Pavilion Peak Lord pointed out, lifting her pipe.

“We’re about to face an extermination-level battle. It’s not as if our sect could end up in more trouble,” the Sect Master pointed out.

“Heaven…” Lan Taijian muttered, glancing up.

“Heaven is in disorder. If the heavens were going to punish us, they would have struck two hundred years ago.” The Sect Master crossed his arms and sighed. “I should have killed that boy Yunxu and obliterated what he’d created when we first discovered it, even if it would have ruined our reputation as a sect. Allowing it to continue to exist… because I didn’t destroy it, the All-Heavens Sect will see it as the same as allowing the Midnight Massacre to take place, no matter what the facts of the matter are. A righteous sect cannot commit the wholesale slaughter mortal children without divine retribution. All-Heavens Sect will take the place of the heavens in meting out that retribution, and all our Starbound Sect can do is oppose it.”

“If only he’d taken it to his demonic sect first,” the Jade Garden Peak Lord grumbled.

“Then his Black Asp Sect would be experiencing divine retribution, not us. He’s a wily man and a slippery snake. If you share karmic ties with him, sever them, or he’ll wrap you up… a lesson we learned too late,” the Butterfly Pavilion Peak Lord murmured, breathing out a breath of smoke.

“Then I suppose we’ve decided on paying the price,” the Jade Garden Peak Lord murmured.

Sect Master Lan nodded. “If we lower the strength of the barrier, we’ll be able to maintain it until All-Heavens Sect arrives. Those few who knew of it before may start to remember, but no one should remember enough to decide to betray the sect.”

The others nodded. They backed away, and Sect Master Lan raised his hands. Brilliant light sparked above him, opening into a rift in the sky. “All disciples of Starbound Sect, hear my words. As of today, the True Self Realm is open! Anyone at any level can enter exactly once and seek good fortune inside. Even if you mean to leave Starbound Sect, consider this a parting gift from your Sect Master!”