Whoops and shouts echoed all around me, forming a blanket of noise. The people cheered with a mad fervor, as names were chanted through the crowd. My gaze shifted through the crowd, before they finally settled onto Yan Yun.

I saw her watching me silently, a look of concern in her gaze. My heart sank as I realized what had happened.

They had seen the fight. Perhaps even the trial. I had no idea how much, but they had definitely seen something.

“What an incredible end to the hunt!” the voice echoed through the crowd, causing another wave of cheers to reach out from the crowd.

I felt a hand grab my sleeve, and I looked sideways, to find Labby looking around the area nervously. Quickly, I realized something.

They weren’t just cheering for me, but for Labby as well. They were cheering for the both of us, chanting our names in a rising fervor of excitement.

“A battle of spirit and master. A display of indomitable strength! Who would’ve thought of such a thing from an unknown disciple of no renown!”

By now, I was starting to get annoyed by the loud screams. As much as the attention pleased me, there was too much anxiety in my heart about what was to come to enjoy it. My gaze went towards Elder Yan, seated atop his seat at the center. But instead of fury, I saw an impassive face look at me with cold, calculating eyes.

My gaze shifted once more, towards the Lord. A pulse of Qi silenced the whole crowd as he raised his hand. I bowed my head deeply in respect.

“A marvelous performance by our disciples,” the Lord said, and I felt my tense shoulders relaxing ever so slightly. “But, to cripple a disciple is still not a forgivable offense, no matter the reason.”

And there it was. I sucked in a deep breath and raised my head to meet the Lord’s eyes.

“I was merely delivering justice upon cowards who had struck from behind,” I said, my hand grasping Labby’s shoulders.

“It is not your task to do so, disciple,” Elder Yan said. “Or do you think yourself above the laws of our sect?” He asked, and though his voice was calm, I could sense the vibrating fury hidden underneath.

I grit my teeth, struggling not to spit back at the Elder. With a calm voice that I struggled to hold, I replied.

“Forgive me Elder, but I was merely trading pointers. I am but an outer disciple, who hadn’t broken through even at my age. I hadn’t anticipated the prodigious twins to be so weak, and went slightly overboard.”

Some laughs echoed from the arena, quickly silenced by the gaze of the elder. I couldn’t help but grin slightly at the remark. I was using the very same rules the Elders lived their lives by afterall. The fault was upon the twins for being so weak.

“It is the duty of a senior, to guide their juniors. Not to cripple and stem their potential forever,” the Elder said, and I remained silent.

The eyes of the crowd shifted to the Lord, sitting and watching over me in silence. Moments passed, as I waited, before finally, the Lord spoke up once again.

“What is your name, child?”

I looked up in confusion, and realized that I wasn’t the one being talked to. The Lord’s gaze went past me, and to the smaller girl partially hiding behind my leg.

Labby looked up at me, unsure. I gently pat her head, nodding once.

“L-Labby!” she exclaimed.

“La Bi. The child who had been blessed by the honorable Dragon of the seventh peak,” the Lord said, as everyone’s gaze shifted past me, and on towards Labby.

“Tell us La Bi. Do you think your Master should be punished for his actions? For crippling a fellow disciple in a tournament meant to nurture and grow?” the Lord asked.

I stood silently, watching a light smirk rest upon Elder Yan’s face. Not reacting in any way, I waited for Labby to answer.

“No,” Labby said, her voice steady. “Labby thinks that Master did nothing wrong. Master was protecting Labby. They had promised to kill Labby, and her Master both, and the sect had said the hidden trial was outside the restrictions of the tournament. Labby thinks her master was merciful. He could’ve killed both of them.”

I almost laughed out loud, when I saw Elder Yan’s face twitch. Didn’t expect an answer like that from a young spirit huh?

“The rules of the trial were meant as a warning from the spirits. The act of harming another disciple does not lessen in any way with it,” Elder Yan responded.

“Labby was hurt too!” she exclaimed.

“A mere spirit is not the same as a disciple.”

I clenched my fist, as I felt the Chi in my core start to boil. I looked up at the elder, before bringing my fists together.

“Forgive me Elder. But I cannot help but notice that you are not talking about the repeated threats from Li to kill me. I had previously almost been crippled by him in a spar as well, and had it not been for help from the sect Alchemist, I may have lost my cultivation as well,” I said out loud, keeping my head bowed.

The man snorted. “Spars can result in minor injuries. If you have made such a quick recovery, then it should’ve been nothing serious.”

I sensed another pulse of Qi coming from the Lord, silencing the arena once more.

“Lu Jie,” the Lord said, and I raised my head. “Do you remember your debt?”

I met the Lord’s gaze for a moment, before nodding my head.

“Very well. We have decided. You shall be expelled from the sect for the crime of crippling a fellow disciple, and will work under our name for the next year,” the Lord’s voice boomed through the crowd.

I heard multiple gasps come from the crowd, as my heart thundered. That was no punishment. It was a boon that many would fight to obtain. And for the Lord to do this so publicly… meant he was taking a stance against the sect, and showing that I was under his protection.

I bowed my head even further. “I accept my punishment, Lord Zhou.”

“Then let us not tarry. The hunt has ended, and it is time for the tournament to progress to the other disciples waiting for their turn,” the Lord commanded, as cheers took the crowd again.

An Elder appeared near me escorting me outside the chambers in a rush. The world rippled around me, as I was teleported in a dark chamber all of a sudden.

“This is the last favor I will be doing you Tian Feng,” the Elder who had escorted me muttered, before teleporting away.

“Chirp!” I heard Sheldon’s voice, as the turtle rushed up to me, bumping his head to my feet.

My gaze instead was fixated upon the man standing in front of me, a thin smile set upon his lips.

“We need to talk,” Elder Tian Feng said.

“Yeah, we do.”

***

Yan Yun walked through the halls of the inner sect. There had been a small intermission after the hunt, given the many unpredictable activities that had occurred. Her grandfather had called for her in that time period, and she found her gut twisting in anxiety.

She walked through the corridor, reaching the chamber she recognised to be her grandfather's. Lightning Qi swirled within in a raging storm.

“Yan Yun need not worry. Things should go fine.”

Leiyu consoled her, and she returned a nod. Gathering herself, she slid the door open, and saw her grandfather standing with his hands put behind his back, lightning crackling around him in a furious display.

Black burnt marks from stray lightning strikes marred the ground, and she could see Li shivering nearby, half his face covered in bandages from the burnt mark. Lei was nowhere to be seen, likely still being treated having his dantian shattered.

“You have brought shame to our name,” the man echoed, as Li kowtowed deeply, his head set upon the floor.

“He is a Demon,” Li whimpered, and her grandfather scoffed.

“There is not a single mark of miasma on you. If he truly is a demon, then he at least possesses more cunning than both of you combined,” her grandfather spat, fury boiling from his body.

“And if he truly is a demon, then I could not just bring it up in front of the entire city. What name would be left of our sect, if it was ever found out that we had been nurturing a demon?” Elder Yan said, his eyes set upon Li’s shivering form. “No, no we must proceed with caution. Those flames of his were abnormal, demonic. Yet for some reason, not a single trace of either Gu or Qi remains from his Arts. Nothing but an empty void.”

The Elder’s gaze shifted then, settling upon Yan Yun.

“She knew,” Li whimpered once more, raising his face. A gaze burning with hate settled upon Yan Yun from behind his bandaged and marred face. “She had this book in her chamber, with the same boy in it. Deviant tales written inside of them. She knew who he was all along.”

Yan Yun felt her chest tighten at the words.

“Is this true, Yu’an?” her grandfather asked, his gaze set upon her. His eyes trembled for a moment, their fury dimming.

Yan Yun gulped, clenching her face as she met his gaze. “I did know of Lu Jie.”

Elder Yan stared in her direction, his face turning passive. His glance shifted towards the twins for a brief moment, before returning to Yan Yun. “These pesky children are one thing but Yu’an… you? Did you never think to tell us of it? Do you understand what this means?” her Grandfather erupted, and Yan Yun flinched back.

“Leiyu knew as well. It is not merely Yan Yun,” Leiyu spoke up, manifesting on her shoulders with a crackle.

“No, Leiyu had asked me to stop. I knew about Lu Jie. I’d asked him to beat these two as well. He wasn’t going to participate in the tournament at all if it wasn’t for me. I asked him to participate, I wanted him to beat Li and Lei, albeit not like this. It was all me,” Yan Yun replied, stepping up, as lightning crackled around Elder Yan.

“Why?” the Elder asked, his voice quavering for a moment. “Why did you do this?” he asked once again, his fury rising.

“Why did you betray me?” he asked, as a golden bolt of lightning flashed from his hands, shooting towards her.

Yan Yun moved before she could think, her hands moved ahead. The bolt of lightning curved around her hands, moving through her fingers as she guided it, around on itself. The lighting flowed through her hands, before shooting back out, as it lashed at her grandfather.

A crackle of fury descended, as the Elder stumbled back, his gaze wide in shock.

She watched the fury in his gaze, watching his Qi rumbling as his gaze leveled itself upon her. All she could see in his gaze, was anger at the slight, anger at having lost face.

“You don’t understand, do you?” Yan Yun asked, her voice choking upon itself. “What do you think these two represent?” she asked, taking a step forward.

“Heirs. That is what. You were looking for an heir for our clan, after you had sold my hand to the Lord’s son like I was some mere trophy,” Yan Yun spoke, lightning Qi boiling in her core.

“Did my struggle ever matter to you? Did all these years of work, all the things I did to appease you ever matter?” Yan Yun asked, a bolt of lightning crackling upon her fingers.

“I never could make any friends I wanted. Never got to live my life outside of your demands. All you ever saw in me was a tool, a piece to be traded. And even then, I kept on working, and working and working. Hoping that if I got strong enough, if I got far enough, maybe you would reconsider. Maybe… just maybe…I would make you proud.”

Yan Yun’s voice choked, as she felt something shift in her core. An answer that she had been struggling to find all this time revealed itself.

The step into the fifth realm broke from in front of her, as the answer to her path revealed itself. Lightning swirled around her in arcs of golden glimmer. Tears flowed from her eyes as she looked at her grandfather.

“I cultivate… to make you proud,” she whispered, as her core shuddered. Yet she took no step forward. The realization stood like a heavy stone upon her heart, as her dantian shuddered under its weight.

If this was her path. If this was her reason to cultivate? Then she would rather never again.

Her dantian shuddered, the Qi within it fading out to the word as her path dissolved upon itself. She felt her strength leaving her body as her Path faded from her grasp.

Tears flowed down Yan Yun’s cheeks, as she cried, unable to hold them back. She did not see her grandfather walk closer, she did not see the expression on his face, as he regarded her.

“If you really have picked that boy over us,” the Elder said, his voice heavy. “Then you need not stay.” The man silently walked past her and out of the chamber, soon followed by Li, as Yan Yun was left all by herself.

Yan Yun’s knees gave out, as she crumpled where she stood. Her tears turned to pained sobs. Leiyu’s arms wrapped around her body, as she crawled onto his chest, and let the grief of having lost her family take her away.