Liu Wei stood at the entrance of the Enforcement Hall’s main building. As he waited for the arrival of Lan Shi, he felt a tinge of nostalgia.

He didn’t really have any lingering attachments towards it, but he had nonetheless led the Enforcement Hall for well over two hundred years now. Today marked the end of that, and at the same time the start of something new.

As such, he felt that strange mix of sorrow and excitement, of ideas and uncertainty, that was characteristic when one moved on to a new chapter in their life.

Turning to his assistant, Qingge, he furrowed his brow. There was one last thing to settle before handing over the hall.

“There is something I need to ask you.”

“What is it?” The woman had gotten used to using informal speech in talking to him. It probably still felt strange to her, as it did to him. But if he wanted to change himself to fit his new path, getting used to thinking of others as equals was simply a necessity.

“You will have to make a decision. With my department from this hall, you can either remain my assistant and move to the Training Hall or remain here. Don’t worry, I won’t fault you either way.”

He could see that his question surprised her. Her face then turned to an expression of intense pondering. Liu Wei believed he already knew her answer, but the decision was hers to make anyway.

…

Qingge was deep in thought. Somehow during all of the work that preparing the transfer had been, this question had never occurred to her. She had simply assumed she would continue fulfilling all her duties, never stopping to realize that that didn’t make any sense.

It wasn’t that easy of a question to answer. On one hand, being an elder’s assistant was a role that granted her certain freedoms and protections, which she had recently gotten a taste of in her dealings with department head Bai. On the other hand, it also meant quite a lot of additional work that came her way.

The recent shift in Elder Wei’s personality had been a mostly positive one, as far as she was concerned, but she couldn’t really predict how it would develop.

Ultimately, there was one thing that weighed the most heavily though: The Enforcement Hall was where her friends were. Keeping contact between the halls was possible, but it was also much harder. After all, the training hall was on an entirely different mountain, easily a few hours of travel with her current level in cultivation.

Qingge loved her friends quite dearly and she couldn’t just give that up for a potentially better position.

She also wasn’t working in the Enforcement Hall by accident or coincidence. She had first joined it out of the genuine wish to do something against all of the hidden troublemakers and corruption in the sect. That wish remained, though mostly pushed back, to this day.

“I would like to remain in the Enforcement Hall if possible.”

…

That… wasn’t quite what Liu Wei had expected. In fact, he had never even considered it a possibility. He had asked the question mostly because he now thought it was right to leave people a choice instead of just ordering them around, but he hadn’t truly stopped to think about the consequences of that stance.

When leaving the hall, he had naturally assumed that he would take his assistant with him. To him, that seemingly obvious truth hadn’t even related to the question he had asked.

It was ridiculous, of course, because thinking about it, her answer was clearly predictable. Her peer group, her home, the environment she was familiar with; all of those were here. It wasn’t like he had been a particularly good employer either, at least for the large part of her time working for him. The more he thought about it, the more obvious her answer seemed.

His surprise quickly turned to disgust at his own readiness to dismiss the wishes of another person so quickly just out of habit. How could he still be so blind despite all the changes he had supposedly went through? It seemed like he would need to monitor his own behavior quite a lot more rigorously going forward.

“Very well. Then, as my last act as leader of the Enforcement Hall, I shall free you of your duties as my personal assistant and promote you to the position of general hall manager. I wish you success for your future career and cultivation.”

Qingge paused for a few seconds before answering.

“I… Thank you, Elder Wei.”

It was truly a shame to be losing such a capable worker. Nonetheless, if Liu Wei wanted to claim morality for his cause, he would most certainly need to follow through when the consequences kicked him in the gut. Besides, the Enforcement Hall would certainly need capable personnel after Lan Shi took over. She would have big ambitions for its future, just as he did for the Training Hall.

Speaking of that, he spotted the woman up in the sky, hovering towards them at a moderate speed.

Upon their breakthrough to the Dao Contemplation Realm, cultivators could, to a certain degree, form their own appearance according to their wishes. It would then remain the same until they started approaching the limits of their lifespan again. Most either chose to regain a youthful look or to simply remain looking old as they were.

Lan Shi was an exception to that. She had taken the appearance of a middle-aged woman, roughly in her forties. Her fierce expression complemented her weathered, battle-scar-ridden face in showing the world who she was.

Liu Wei had experienced his fair share of struggle in his life, as had most cultivators his age. But compared to her, he had to admit, it was truly little. Lacking both a background and any significant talent in cultivation to speak of, she had reached the place she was at by virtue of her unfaltering spirit alone.

The path of the cultivator had originally begun as the path of defying the fate humanity was dealt by its nature. In that sense, Lan Shi embodied the true essence of a cultivator better than perhaps any other individual throughout the sect.

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Her looks reflected that. She looked like that which she should have been: Not an elder in the fourth stage of Dao Contemplation, but a simple warrior, destined to die in obscurity before ever achieving something worth of notice.

She had defied these expectations, had defied her very fate and every fiber of her being seemed to scream of that defiance to the world around her. Liu Wei had always thought that worthy of his respect, even when he had still worked alongside the pillar families and against her and her faction.

“Greetings, Elder Shi. I have been expecting you.” He said as the woman landed a few feet away from them.

“Elder Wei. It’s… a pleasure. Do you… have anything left to do here?” The woman said, eyeing him with a mixture of uncertainty and suspicion. This was the first time they had met since the meeting and she probably still didn’t fully trust the entire deal.

Not that he blamed her. He hadn’t shown her or the remaining reform faction any reason to give him that trust yet and the deal was truly not advantageous to him, at least on the surface. He would rectify both of these things in the months and years to come, but for now the most reasonable explanation for his behavior from the outside was some scheme. Not that that was entirely false either.

“You need not suspect any foul play, Elder Shi.” Liu Wei said, putting on a slight but friendly smile. “I simply wanted to hand over the reins in person.”

“Please don’t misunderstand, I didn’t mean to insult you, Elder Wei.”

“You haven’t. I am fully aware that my actions look strange from an outside perspective right now. You and the other elders are just going to have to live with that for now, though I assure you that you and your faction are going to be the first ones I’ll inform of my motives.”

A slight show of friendship but not an open commitment. Just as much as Elder Wei was willing to give them while not behind closed doors for now. It was still enough to visibly lift the other elder’s mood.

“Alright, I can accept that.”

“Now, let’s get the ceremonial stuff behind us. I, Elder Liu Wei of the Lunar Peaks Sect hereby transfer my command of the Enforcement Hall to Elder Lan Shi of the Lunar Peaks Sect.”

“I, Elder Lan Shi of the Lunar Peaks Sect hereby accept my new role as leading elder of the Enforcement Hall.”

Liu Wei gave her a nod.

“That’s it. Here is the control token.”

He took the palm-sized slate out of his special ring and cut the connection his soul held to it. This artifact served to let the owner control the formations that were deployed throughout the hall.

After handing it to her, she in turn handed him another one.

“Here is the control token for the training hall. Elder Hui gave it to me.”

Her face remained neutral but her eyes clearly showed excitement now. If Liu Wei had to guess, this hall was probably what she had dreamed of until now. Not just because it brought her power, but because it represented a completely new level of opportunity to hold the pillar families accountable for their actions.

“Before I go, this is Qingge. She was formerly my personal assistant and is now one of this hall’s general managers. If you need anyone to show you around, I’d recommend her, she is among the most capable people here.”

“I remember her from past council meetings. Thanks for the recommendation.”

“Perfect. I bid you goodbye for now.”

“Goodbye then.”

At that, Elder Wei gave both of them a respectful nod and ascended a few meters into the sky before turning around and flying towards the southwestern mountain, the base of which the training hall was located at.

…

The Training Hall’s premises were defined by two things: For one, they were big. Whereas proper sect members would live in one of the sects many residential areas, disciples were housed by the halls that were training them. And since outer disciples made up over two thirds those, the Training Hall had to provide living space for an average of sixteen times more people than each of the other halls.

The second thing one would immediately notice about them was how run-down they were. Most areas of the sect were exceptionally well taken care of, every roof cleaned, every step swept. It was a matter of pride for sects like these. The Training Hall’s premises on the other hand, while not in blatant disrepair, were rather dirty and rugged by comparison.

The hall simply lacked the funds to commission cleaning for every single place, so most non-essential maintenance was expected to be taken care of by the disciples themselves.

As Liu Wei strode towards the hall’s central building, he couldn’t help but think through his recently resurfaced memories of the brief time he had spent here as a disciple. It stood to reason that almost every single building that had stood here back then had long been replaced, yet it was as if the place hadn’t changed at all over the last four centuries.

He supposed, that was the way most things were in the sect. Forced into stagnation by not only a leadership that was at all times made up of centuries old cultivators but also by the millennia old order that had been put in place and was being fiercely protected by the pillar families. It was a stark contrast to the ever-changing cities of the mortals.

Approaching the main building, the road widened into the large open space that was used for assemblies. Standing on it was a long row of people who, upon seeing him, unanimously bowed to him.

“We greet Elder Liu Wei.”

Coming forward was an old, wrinkled man who had put on a benevolent smile. His body language was that of a fragile, subservient aged man, but his eyes betrayed the cunning appraisement of a seasoned politician. The slight limp in his steps was entirely played and Liu Wei suspected that the smile was as well.

It was a good way to remind him that even this unassuming place that none of the sects powerful would ever give a thought to was its own stage of small-scale power-struggles. It had its own rules, its own groups and its own tyrants.

“I am Mei Feng, chief instructor of the Training Hall. We are delighted to be graced by your honorable presence.” The man’s voice was soft and quiet, perfectly contributing to his servile self-portrayal.

“Greetings, Mei Feng.” Liu Wei gave the man a nod. “And greetings to everyone here. I look forward to working with all of you in the future. For now, please return to your duties.”

“Do you want me to show you around?”

“No, I don’t want to take away of your time for something as trivial as that. I am sure your position as chief instructor comes with lots of duties that require your attention. I shall have someone of less importance help me with that.”

“I shall do as you say, elder. I thank you for being so understanding.”

Liu Wei could clearly see that the man had planned to be the one to introduce him to the hall, but his sweetened words were effective. The man was clearly charmed by having his importance praised by an elder and was fine with going along with it.

Truthfully, Liu Wei doubted that the man’s schedule was really that full. As a general rule of thumb: The further up one was on the command chain, the more freely they could decide how much they wanted to work and to his eye, Mei Feng seemed like the kind of person to delegate most of their responsibilities to their underlings.

The reason he didn’t want to be led around by him was that Liu Wei felt that he would just be told whatever was most beneficial to the chief instructor’s personal position. While he had absolute faith in his own ability to discern his lies from truth, Liu Wei didn’t have the patience to put up with such a conversation for long.

Looking around the slowly dispersing crowd of instructors, Liu Wei settled on a rather tall and muscular man who looked to be in his thirties.

“Excuse me, could you spare some of your time?”

“E-Elder? Of course, how can I be of help to you?”

“I need someone to show me around the hall. Could you do that?”

“Naturally yes, elder.”

The man was clearly flustered, but his speech showed signs of a returning confidence that seemed natural to his character.

“Perfect. What is your name?”

“I am Guiren, elder.”

“Very well, instructor Guiren. Please drop the formal speech for now.”

“Alright, can do. So, where you wanna start?”

Guiren was clearly happy about being allowed to return to casual speech. The instant switch was enough to catch Liu Wei completely of guard. He had asked for it himself, but he had nonetheless never been addressed this casually since his days as a disciple.

“I’d like to start with the main building since we are already here.”

“Alright, let’s get started then.” The instructor said, not hiding his enthusiasm.