Yan Yun felt the Qi stir in her core, crackling with the promise of violence and thunder. Her Qi waited to be let out, to strike and bring her enemies down to their knees. The whispers of strength crawled upon her ears, as the girl took a deep breath, holding the calm that years of meditation and practice had instilled in her.

Moving her hand forward, she stilled her dantian further, stopping all movements in her body as she waited, breath held tight.

Lightning struck with ferocity, splitting into five parts as the currents flowing around her hands, tingling her flesh. Yan Yun let the lightning pass through her body, as she felt it move towards the earth.

“Success?” Leiyu asked, flying over as the yellow feathered eagle perched upon her shoulders.

“I am close,” Yan Yun replied, watching her hand where the lightning had struck it. The ability to control all lightning, not merely her own. It was an ability associated with one's Domain, found upon touching the ninth realm. Yet Yan Yun felt herself on the cusp of such an ability.

The lessons learned from that one class Lu Jie had held rang in her mind, as each passing day revealed a new layer of depth to them. Yan Yun had known Elders who’d spent decades studying the arts who would fail to understand lightning as fundamentally as Lu Jie had explained in a single day.

“And the heavens had not moved for a moment upon the revelation of these truths. Yet they had struck Lu Jie down, for the mere realization of the truths he held,” Yan Yun muttered, a frown set upon her brows as she gained on her palms. She dared not even dream of what truths the boy held. To have changed his very nature, fixed a shattered core, and held control of a vile energy like Gu without turning into a demon.

“Yan Yun spends too much time on that boy,” Leiyu scoffed, picking at his feathers as if he held no interest in the topics at hand.

“Yet you pester his spirit rat about him every time she comes around,” Yan Yun replied back, eyeing Leiyu who refused to speak anymore on the topic.

Yan Yun stepped up from the formation circle, sending a pulse of her Qi into it to put it to rest. She was still unsure what insight she needed to have, to reach the fifth realm, the question of why she cultivated hanging like an ever-looming axe that held her back from her path. Yan Yun had been aware of bottlenecks, yet, aside from minor difficulties in breaking through, she’d never truly experienced being stuck at a realm before. It was an oddly frustrating sensation, to push with all her might, yet still end up drawing empty.

“A familiar sensation for most, though Leiyu admits, he cannot sympathize. The only thing holding Leiyu back is time and resources.”

Yan Yun smiled at her arrogant little bird, as she walked out of the training chamber. Taking a quick turn she headed towards her own chamber. The sun was about to rise soon, and the day of the tournament would arrive with its rays.

“It is time for you to get prepared young mistress,” Zu Ri spoke.

Yan Yun glanced at her handmaiden. “I’ll get ready by myself today, Zu Ri.”

Zu Ri rose her head, her eyes widened in surprise. Yan Yun noted her handmaiden’s lips widened as she almost spoke against her, but the discipline she’d learned won out against the protest, as she quietly dipped her head.

“Please, let this one at least assist you with the ornaments after you are done. The Lord and his son will be present at the halls. Elder Yan has insisted on preparing you as best as this one can for the occasion.”

Yan Yun clenched her fists, feeling her anger rise. Even if she did not wish to feel like it, she couldn’t help but feel as if her grandfather had asked to dress her up like a doll, about to be sold away for his own benefits.

“You can come in after I’m done,” Yan Yun added in a quiet voice, as she met Zu Ri’s eyes. The handmaiden did not push back, nodding as she walked out.

“It is alright. Yan Yun is strong. And she has a plan to delay the marriage talks as well,” Leiyu soothed her. Yan Yun returned a quiet smile, appreciating the gesture.

She settled down in front of her mirror, about to prepare herself when her eyes glanced to the side and found a particular drawer slightly ajar. Curious, she walked over and opened it.

Yan Yun stared, confused at the empty drawer as she looked around in surprise. Searching, she went through her other drawers one by one, growing more and more concerned with each one she opened. She stood in front of her shelf, each drawer she had opened with the items inside turned over, yet she found no sight of the thing she’d carefully tucked in there away from the eye of everyone. Looking at the empty drawer, Yan Yun felt a sinking premonition in her gut.

Where had her book gone?

***

I yawned, warding off the last remaining dredge of sleep as I began to shake myself awake. The morning sun was not up yet, and I walked around in the dim twilight of the day, glancing at my desk.

The last three days had gone in the blink of an eye. Almost literally, as I’d spent all of it refining my drugnades with next to no sleep. Whenever I’d felt exhausted, I'd gone ahead and cultivated for a while and felt fresh as new to go on.

I checked the stacked containers of drugnades, the modified version with multiple of them jammed in a trigger mechanism only I could access, and better drugnade pills overall, that lay on my table. I had to grab a sewing needle and thread to make some quick alterations to my waist robes for ease of access to my weapons. It didn’t work pretty, but it got the job done.

Checking my weapons, and making sure I’d got everything right, I’d gone ahead and assembled the Gu-nade together. For now, I’d only picked three Gu-nades. Which already felt extremely overkill, but better safe than sorry.

With all of that work complete, the last few hours of the day had been spent catching up on sleep. I was starting to need less and less sleep with each passing day, but just for this once, I made myself go to bed for a couple of hours, to wake up refreshed before the tournament.

Twilight had decided to join me in that, as she asked me to bring over her plant box next to the bed for her to sleep in, which had quickly prompted Labby to make herself home nearby as well. Sheldon, amused, had decided to indulge in the snuggle fest as well, as all of us had taken a nap.

“Alright, time to arm myself like a fucking terrorist before I head in there,” I said, chuckling as I began to pick up all my weapons. Usually, anyone in this situation is expected to pick up the classic sword, or perhaps a spear, study the weapon arts and hone their craft. Perhaps a bow and arrow, or anything that they could become one with and enhance their martial skill.

Nope, fuck that.

They could swing their pretty swords all they wanted, I was just going to use my grenades, please and thank you.

Don’t bring a sword to a gunfight as they said, and I had entire antimatter nukes ready.

I cackled madly at the thought, picking up my grenades as I set them at my waist, with my robes easily covering them up. I could easily access them through a side pocket I’d cut out, and they'd still be hidden enough to not be caught on by people. The Qi suppressors put onto them should also see to that as well.

“Alright, weapons checked. Spirit animals? Checked. Ominous Heaven rumble?” I looked up in anticipation, waiting for a rumble.

“Fine, be a sour prick. You know you’ll rumble as the backdrop to my evil laugh one day,” I retorted, looking back down, as my smile widened.

I took a deep breath in, feeling excitement beating my heart faster. I had little care for the tournament, but the time and effort put into it had made me invested, and the potential cure for Zhang, as well as a spirit were tempting enough to truly make me invested. Enough that I wanted to win.

Glancing across my room, I grinned madly. It was time.

“Let’s do this.”

***

Even with my mad rush of preparations, I hadn’t failed to notice the changes happening around the sect. I’d sensed a lot more people rushing by, as the entire sect had taken on a festive atmosphere. Yet, having finally come out, I could admit that what I saw completely blew away my expectations.

Stalls and merchants lined the outer roads to the sect itself, with a long line of people heading and walking inside the sect premises, bowing at every step whenever they saw a cultivator, before going about as they gazed at the various sights around.

My Qi senses were brimming to the fill as a veritable hoard of people walked around, with many of them being at the first realm. What surprised me even more though, was the number of non-cultivators that were walking within the sect grounds.

It felt almost as if the entire population of Seventh Peak City had decided to come over, and perhaps it wouldn’t even be an exaggeration to say they had.

I walked up the hill as the sun rays started to peek over the horizon, my eyes off to the distance as I watched the hustle of people, listening to the various myriad of sounds carried upon by the wind, as each little sensation told me so much.

On some days, I felt as if I would forget to appreciate just how amazing it was to be able to see, hear, feel and sense so much. That I would get used to this fantastical experience of being here, and watching this horde of people, and knowing that right in the middle far in the distance, there was a child crying about the candy he’d lost was just something I could do. That it would become mundane.

Yet on days like this, I doubted that I ever could. This world had so much to see. I’d merely explored this little sect, this little corner of the seventh peak of the empire. There was a much vaster world out there, ready to be found. And perhaps, if someday, after I’d built the foundations of my home and was free enough, I could go on, with Labby, Sheldon, and Twilight alongside me. Perhaps even Su Lin, Zhang Chen, and Granny Lang, as we explored the corners of the empire, found whatever wonders it had in store for us.

I turned around, feeling the sense of wonder and excitement I’d felt upon realizing I’d arrived in this magical world of mystery reigniting itself in my chest. I had plans now, goals that lay beyond this sect, and this tournament was my time to take a step in that direction.

The wind rushed past me, as I ran, dashing quickly up the hill, away from the warded and protected sections the regular people were walking by. I let the wind brush my hair, rustling it as it found its way back behind it.

Idly I noted that I needed to cut the long strands one day and bring them down to a normal length. A task for another day.

Sheldon chirped happily, and Twilight chimed in delight, grabbing onto my hair so that she wasn’t blown away. Labby remained huddled within my dantian, nervously crackling with lightning as she ended up being the one who was having nervous jitters.

As the rays of the sun began to hit the grass hills with full strength, I found myself up atop the hill, in front of the hall I’d arrived in on the completion of the selection tournament. Gathering myself, I walked inside, hearing Labby squeak nervously.

I walked in, glancing around the room already full of people. The Elder stood inside, at the other end of the hall, as the participants waited to the side. I quickly walked up before standing to the side. I intentionally avoided meeting Liuxiang’s gaze or approaching him.

We were competing today, and I did not want to distract myself from that fact. I also avoided making any eye contact with the twins, standing together at one corner of the hall with bored expressions on their faces.

The door of the halls closed shut, as the last of the participants arrived within the hall. The elder turned around, walking towards us as his voice boomed out.

“All of you have arrived. Good. Then let us begin shortly,” the elder announced, his arms flaring out as mist flowed through the room with a pulse of Qi.

Light burst in front of us, as I squinted my eyes, momentarily blinded by the light. Deafening roars shook me alert as I looked around in confusion at where I’d found myself. We were on a stage, on a stadium carved from smooth earth and polished to perfection with Qi. An arena stood around us, packed to the brim with what must’ve been at least ten thousand people, shouting and cheering.

“This Elder greets the Lord Zhou and the Elders of the sect. It is now time, to begin the first of the events for the tournament. The spirit herb hunt!” the elder announced, his voice booming outwards as the roars rose to a crescendo. I could hear another crier announcing the names of the participants to the side.

My eyes briefly glanced up ahead, as I saw a man lounging on a throne set at the center, with another young boy seated next to him. I felt a wave of pressure, merely from looking at the man that crushed my spirit. There was something strange about him, detached from merely his realm, which I couldn’t even glance at. Yet, even so, I could tell apart the authority that oozed from him, almost palpable from his Qi. That… must be the Lord of the city and his son.

Before I could take any further information, the Elder spoke once more. “The prize is a hundred-year-old coveted Silver Spirit Lilly, that has matured into a spirit!” The elder exclaimed, lifting his arm as the little plant bobbed around.

A way of oohs and aahs went through the crowd and I could feel the greed-filled gaze some of them sent this way.

“The arena is filled with spirit herbs and treasures of all kinds, but none that do not come with their own challenges. The disciple to find the treasures of most worth within two hours would be declared the winner of the hunt,” the Elder exclaimed, as wild cheers broke through the crowd. Man, these guys were excited.

“Then let us not tarry for the beginning of this tournament. With the grace of the Lord, and the Elder, may the hunt begin!” the Elder proclaimed as I felt myself being swallowed by white light once more.

“Wait hold on-” I exclaimed before the ground left my feet.

I found grass rushing towards my face as I fell. I rolled over quickly to my feet, taking a stock of my surroundings. I was in some forest, likely still in the sect, but this was not a place I recognized. I glanced at my feet and found no Sheldon there. As I’d feared then.

“Squeak!” Labby squeaked, arriving at my shoulders.

“Chii~” Twilight chimed in afterward.

“Well, at least you two are here,” I muttered out loud, feeling relieved. Turning back towards the forest I gathered myself and began to prepare.

It was time to hunt some spirit herbs.