“What are you doing? Were you taming the cubs? Or training them? How does it work? Will they become obedient after you are done? How long will it take?” Muchen shot out one question after another in a quick succession.

Alex looked back at him and asked with a sigh, “You don’t have any brothers or sisters, do you?”

The question was rhetorical and it was obvious the boy behaved snobbish only when his father was around. Now, just like any other kid, he was only looking for a company and someone to play with.

Seeing Muchen shake his head, Alex said, “I’m sorry I can’t hang around with you – I have to train. I hope you’ll understand.”

Thinking a five year old could understand a polite ‘f*ck off’ was a delusion and Muchen only became more interested.

He asked, “What are you training for? How are you doing it?”

Alex scratched his head awkwardly trying to think of a way out and then got an idea, “You see, I can’t eat the stuff you do to become strong, so I have to meditate a lot. You, on the other hand, are big for your age and maybe, if you get lucky, can even get in a sect one day.”

“What do you mean, ‘lucky’?!” Muchen was confused, “Father said I’ll become the inner disciple of the Immortal Gate!”

“And how will you do that?” Alex looked back feigning surprise, “By running around all day and only eating the good stuff? Sigh … you are lucky, Muchen, you don’t need to train at all!”

Maybe Muchen was not the smartest cookie in the jar, but he wasn’t completely stupid. After staring at Alex for few moments and he realized the problem.

He said, “Ok, show me how exactly are you practicing!”

Alex already expected it and said, “I’m sorry, my training is only good for a stable master. You should find someone who could show you some kind of combat techniques and teach you how to cultivate Qi.”

“But my father is away …” Muchen furrowed his brows.

“Then find the second strongest person in the family and tell them to teach you.” Alex shrugged in return.

He didn’t know this single sentence was the cause to his father’s countless headaches during the upcoming years, but even if he knew, he wouldn’t care much. The necessary effect was achieved and Muchen darted away leaving only a cloud of dust behind.

From that day on Alex, for the most part, could cultivate in peace. Muchen tortured all the experts of the Long family while leaving him alone. After Jiao Long returned a month later, to his big surprise he found that his beloved son got seriously interested in the Qi cultivation. Jiao spared no effort in teaching him and, in addition, Alex’s father, Fang Long, was appointed to be Muchen’s private tutor.

Even though Alex ignored everything that happened in the Long family and almost never stepped out the stables, he somehow became Muchen’s trusted person, maybe even a friend. Once every few days, the Long family heir came over to tell about his experiences and show off his bruises he got during the sparring sessions. Then he left after patting Alex on the shoulder and telling him to train hard as well.

Alex found the whole situation a bit comical, but since there was no malice from Muchen, he didn’t think of it much. Obviously the boy took him for something like a younger sibling and it was fine as well.

There was another change in the Long family. For some reason Daiyu stopped going out on the expeditions and, after sealing the two snow-striped leopards, never brought back another beast. At first Jiao Long was annoyed by that, but his son’s interest in cultivation became his own new obsession thus the beasts in the stables slowly were forgotten.

Muchen’s talent was actually incredibly good. Already a year after he started practicing the surrounding sects began to send invitations for him to join, but Jiao Long politely declined all in his son’s stead. Daiyu had guessed correctly – his ambitions were much higher – he intended to get his son into the Immortal Gate sect and the next batch of disciples were about to be accepted in a few years.

Thus it all went according to Alex’s plan. He worked on his soul brand in peace while the Long family’s attention was focused on Muchen. Alex was clear he was physically smaller and weaker than anyone else, but the amount of techniques he had was easily comparable to what the old monsters in the best sects knew. Therefore he was not worried about the entrance exams at all and, in the worst case scenario, if he couldn’t handle an opponent, he would just slightly ‘freeze’ their mind and then kick them in the face. The plan was ‘fool proof’.

Three years later a huge entourage departed from the Long family – Jiao Long led his favorite son to the Immortal gate sect. The man was surprised when Muchen insisted on bringing Alex along, but quickly agreed – it was fine to have a servant in the outer sect who would take care of his son’s needs.

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Thousands of people came to watch both father and son mount their beautiful snow striped leopards, that were grown to become rank five beasts. Everyone knew of Muchen’s talents and were certain he would raise their family name to new heights.

Alex sat in one of the carriages in the back and as usual ignored everything around him. After saying farewells to Daiyu and giving her last instructions on creation of her soul brand, he had nothing left that was worthy of his interest in this place.

He continued to meditate during the next two months while everyone else fought their way through the forests and mountain ranges, fighting wind, rain and wild beasts. Since Jiao Long made sure Muchen was around him at all times, apart from a rare meal that Alex decided to join, he didn’t socialize with anyone on the way thus the trip turned out to be actually pleasant.

Alex came back to reality only when he realized they were surrounded by tens, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people. Jiao Long was currently talking to a young man dressed in a gray robe with words ‘Immortal Gate’ embroidered on the left shoulder. Even though the guy was only an outer disciple, Jiao’s tone was incredibly polite – there was nothing left from the haughty behavior the family head usually had.

Seeing they were finally there, Alex grabbed his bag that was his only luggage and slipped away. There was nothing more he needed from the Long family and if fate allowed, they would meet with Muchen in the sect and could catch up there. What he needed now was to sign up for the entrance exams.

He fought through an endless crowd of people for over three hours. On the way he overheard many conversations and understood that most were gathered here to only take part in the opening ceremony. They came to witness the speech of the immortal sect master who, according to many, despite being thousands of years old still had youthful looks. In fact, in the eyes of the most people the sect master of the Immortal gate sect had a status of a deity. Alex, on the other hand, pondered what Qi technique the charlatan used to retain the appearance and fool people.

When in a leisure manner he finally found the registration booth, he still had to wait in line for another half an hour. There were no unexpected incidents and everyone behaved orderly, but with every minute Alex began to have an increasingly bad feeling about this event.

He couldn’t understand why, since nothing was out of place. Even the tall, black stone slate had only one rule written on it – everyone below the age of fifteen could take the part in the entrance exams. Of course, Alex was only third of that age, but he had done something similar back in the Academy of saints before the age of ten and at the time competitors felt like babies to him. Now, having the knowledge of hundreds of cultivation, combat and mind techniques the age part didn’t worry him at all.

What increased his anxiousness was the puny amount of the participants he saw – from everything he knew about the Immortal Gate sect he expected the place to be crowded by youths, but for some reason most sent their representatives to complete the registration.

When Alex payed the symbolic registration fee and received his participant’s plaque, for over a minute he stared at the five digit number trying to understand the meaning until the next person in line finally pushed him aside.

Realizing he won’t get far by stressing about things, Alex found a relatively quiet spot and meditated till the next morning. Concentrating on the soul particles and strengthening of his soul brand calmed his consciousness and allowed him to regain focus.

Unfortunately when the next morning Alex opened his eyes, the anxiousness returned on its own. The feeling was incredibly annoying, especially since up until now he had lived a pleasant, comfortable life, thus in an uncharacteristically foul mood, at least for the current life, he went for a walk in hopes to find the reason for his anxiety.

There were still six days till the start of the exams, but as far as one could see there were endless rows of tents of participants and guests. The Immortal Gate sect was located on a high plateau a bit further to the west and the current event was held on savanna fields below it.

In fact, the ‘sect’ was comparable to a huge city, but in this case it housed tens of thousands of disciples. The outer disciples were what normally would be considered common workers and soldiers, but the inner disciples were the true elite of the sect. There were also the core disciples – the direct candidates to become immortals, but those rarely showed their faces in public.

Since the sect was closed to the outsiders, Alex’s idea was to become at least the inner disciple in order to gain access to the sect’s intellectual resources. Afterwards, when he actually knew what went on there, he could plan his next move. With his knowledge he shouldn’t have problems to become a local prodigy, but the question was if it was the right thing to do.

It was an early morning just before the sunrise and most of the guests were still in their tents, but there were many who actually practiced. Some polished their fist techniques, some trained with the sword and Alex aimlessly strolled around while watching them. He recognized many similarities with techniques he learned in the Academy of saints and only on a rare occasion there was a move he didn’t know, but contrary to his expectations it didn’t increase his confidence.

“Hey, kiddo! Are you lost?” A patrolling outer disciple from the Immortal Gate sect came over to Alex while he was lost in thoughts. Seeing the boy shake his head, the disciple said, “No need to be scared, I’m here to help you. Where are you from and what is the name of your family? What color is your tent? I’ll help you to find it.”

“Thank you, no need.” Alex politely said and showed his participant’s plaque, “I’m just out for a walk since there is a lot of time till the …”

“Gimme that!” Before Alex could realize what was going on, the disciple grabbed the plaque from his hand, “Where did you find it? I’m not going to punish a baby, but you have to understand that this is an important item someone has lost and not a toy!”

Seeing Alex’s confused look, the disciple patiently explained, “See – all those youths around you are practicing hard to take part in the exams and one of them has lost this important item. One day, after ten or so years, if you practice hard enough you could also become like them, but at that time they would already be your senior brothers and sisters. Now go to your tent and don’t cause any trouble!”

In the end he slapped Alex’s butt in a friendly manner and seeing the child obediently nodding, smiled and left.

‘F*ck!’ Alex inwardly screamed speechlessly looking around him at the grownups the disciple earlier was pointing at, ‘Did I get cocky again?!’