Now that everyone's eyes were on me, I had no choice but to play to appearances. I could not simply teleport away with Natsuki, so I instead returned with Xiaolan, who squawked his dissatisfaction before flying me back to the sect.

When I returned home, I saw a figure leaning against the crumbling outer wall of my shack. I was not immediately sure who it was, but I could feel through Natsuki's power that they carried no harmful will. So I slowed my pace and squinted my eyes as I approached, though they were in the shadow of the wall, so I could not see them well. I approached, and the figure turned to face me, but they did not say anything until I was two steps from being close enough to make out their face, when—

—"Good evening, Senior Bai Chunxue."

That voice like a howling wind! It was Long Bailian!

She took four steps out of the shadow. Instinctively, I recoiled two steps, and in response, she advanced three more steps.

"Why so serious?" she laughed, leaning forward and placing her hands behind her back. "I am here to thank you, Senior."

Utterly flustered, I tried to form some sort of a response. "I... I, uh... don't think I've done anything to be thanked for, uh..."

I paused. I did not know how I should address her. She was younger than me, so I could address her as Junior Long, but at the same time she was the heir of the Long family, a fairly high-ranking family in the Great Plains, and in that position I ought to call her Lady Long or Young Master Long. Under normal circumstances I would address her as Junior, but if she came all the way out here to greet me, all the way out here, then it behooved me to give her some face and address her as Young Master.

—"Senior, please just address me as Bailian. I quite enjoy being called by my name, this name of White Lotus, as I think it quite aptly fits the pitch-black color of my soul."

"Oh, uh, I don't think..." I began responding, and halfway through I realized that my response was incorrect, but it was too late to undo my words, so I looked to the side and finished my error. "...so."

She tilted her head almost ninety degrees to side.

"You don't think what?"

"I, uh, don't think your soul is black. It's probably more purple. Since... good and evil aren't matters of the soul, but of society. White and black souls are... those soaked in feelings of justice and greed."

She made a surprised face, and then she made a confused face, and then she made an impressed face, and then she finally laughed and slapped me on the shoulder.

"Senior, you think too much of these trivial matters. Come, let us go inside and speak of what is really important to us both."

She led me inside my own house. She sat on the table, and signaled for me to sit on the chair, so I sat.

"So, uh... what's the visit for?"

I asked, even though the answer was obvious.

Her white calves, poking out from underneath two layers of black robes and one layer of red, swung back and forth. No— wait— it was not her calves that I saw, but rather bandages wrapped around them. I could not see her calves, or even her hands, which were wrapped in white gloves, or even her neck, which was hidden by a white collar. I could only see her face, and from this low angle, a wide scar cutting under her chin, as if someone had once tried and failed to decapitate her.

To my question, Bailian sighed and responded with an affected frown,

"You already know the answer to that question, so let me answer a different question. Hmm... what about why are you of all people the heir of the Long family? Yes, I think this would be a nice question to answer."

She nodded, as if impressed by her own intelligence, then continued,

"Though the Long family is on the verge of collapse, there is yet an active battle for succession, including several scions of my and my father's generation both. But my father's generation has little talent— my grandfather's generation even less— so ultimately it came down to a battle between me and First Brother Guoqiang. My grandfather's aunt, the present head, is on my brother's side. She placed me in this position precisely because she thought I was too arrogant to become the next head." She shook her head. "As the heir designate, not only must I face challenges from First Brother and his backers, I must also suffer the pressure of elders who do not believe that an inexperienced second child ought to inherit the clan. Instead of just on my left and right, the head wanted me to face the songs of Chu on all four sides. You must understand that for all intents and purposes, my position is purely nominal. Under any normal circumstances, it would not be possible for me to inherit the Long family."

She grinned widely, and then broke out into laughter. "But who will dare oppose me now? So many of the elders had aligned behind First Brother, and look at what has happened to him. You, an illegitimate bastard without a cultivation base, you killed half his followers and made him suffer such shame that he will never again be able to raise his head in public. And those fools! Those fools, they all think I planned it. Thanks to your antics, nobody will dare challenge me any further. Otherwise, they now all fear, they will end up like him."

Hearing this made me feel a little guilty. Not for killing Guoqiang, but for throwing his family into tumult— his family, against which I bore no particular grudge.

—"Senior, why do you look so despondent? Have you done something you regret?"

I looked up at her, at her sharp, narrow gaze pointing down at me.

"It feels like... I've caused some trouble for your family."

Bailian snickered. "Senior, in the jianghu, the only ones who do not cause trouble for others are the ants that scurry around our feet. If you wish to be human, then you have no choice but to pick fights and cause trouble for those you do not like. And, well, you have caused trouble for my enemies, so does that not make us friends?"

"I..."

I had said with such conviction that I would no longer be an ant, that I would wield my power and force others to respect my power. I suppose that... yes. This was the natural consequence of my actions. This was what it meant to be human.

I smiled. "I suppose that's right. We are friends. I don't know how much longer I'll be here for, but... while I am, I'll do what I can to help you out."

Her eyes glimmering, she leaned forward and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Senior, you are my friend and you have done me a great favor. So tell me, what would you like me to do for you? I can grant a great many wishes, as great as I am, though it pains me to say that I cannot intervene in the present tumult of the Bai family or of your sect."

My eyes opened wide. "Is that... really alright? Are you... sure?"

I hardly knew her. This was our first time properly meeting, and we had no prior relations. And yet she would grant me a wish? Simply because we were friends? Was that what it meant to be friends?

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She shook her head.

"Senior, you must ask me for at least one favor, and I must do you at least three, otherwise all the clan will whisper behind my back. As it is said, when a man achieves enlightenment, so do his pets. They are all convinced that you are one of my people, so if I do not reward you, I will lose face."

If she put it that way, then...

"I will... leave this sect," I whispered slowly. "I want to go to the Imperial University. Not yet, but soon."

"Good. Then I shall make sure you can safely make it to the Capital when you do go. Now, as for the other two favors..." Reaching into her robes, she pulled out a jade slip and handed it to me. "While you are still here, do not live in such a shabby place. This is the permission slip for a house in the inner sect. It was originally going to be mine, but I decided not to come to this sect. Kangtian is, after all, a backwater, especially compared to my current residence of Anyang."

My brow furrowed. "But I can't enter the inner sect grounds."

"Of course you can. Who will dare stop you now?"

"I mean... I can't cross the Gate of Glory as an outer sect disciple. It's not possible. There's a barrier or something."

Bailian pointed at the slip. "If you hold a permission slip, you can cross the gate, even if your sect token does not match. And that's the only check, so you can even eat at the inner sect's mess hall for free if you want." She leaped off the table and landed on one foot, and only once she was stable did she gingerly bring her other foot to the ground. "Come, I shall show you. This shall be my third favor."

For a moment I was unsure why she we count showing me the function of a jade slip as a favor, but as we walked through the sect grounds up towards the Central Theatre and talked loudly about meaningless things as friends ought to do, as we talked loudly enough to attract the gazes of others, who stopped on the side of the road and stared dumbfoundedly when they head Bailian's voice spiralling through the air alongside mine, I realized that the favor was not something as silly as proving the functionality of a jade slip, but rather, it was showing everyone else this proof of friendship.

—"Holy shit, is that Long Bailian with Bai Chunxue?!"

"I didn't realize that Bai Chunxue was powerful enough to be friends with Long Bailian."

"All you fools who were bullying Bai Chunxue are really going to get it now. Good luck keeping your life-threads intact."

At the base of the long flights of stairs leading up to the Central Theatre, an outer sect cultivator stepped before us. Shuddering, he bowed and held out a spirit stone in his outstretched hands.

"Se-Senior Bai Chunxue," he cried out, "I previously borrowed a spirit stone from you. I am here to repay that debt."

—I remembered him. He was Zhou Kai. He had attacked me after Pill Distribution once, and because I didn't have anything to offer Jiang Hanfeng the next day, Chen Mantian had come by and broken two of my fingers. One for the spirit stone, one for the pill, she had said.

I wondered for a moment what he was doing. And then I realized that it was because of the duel. He was worried that he would end up like Guoqiang, or worse, like one of Guoqiang's followers. After all, at this point there was likely nobody who doubted that I had killed them all.

But as for me— Zhou Kai was one of those people who had harassed me, yes, but who had not harassed me enough to fuel a long-lasting grudge. So it took some time to dredge up these memories, and while I did, Bailian stepped forward, sighing furiously. She held her hand out to the side, palm open and facing forward, and a green mist began to congeal in the form of a guandao held in her hand. But before it could take form, she twirled it and thrust it forward, stabbing its tail end into Zhou Kai's stomach and sending him tumbling back a few meters. His back slamming into the stairs, and he coughed up blood.

Bailian stood over him, but his breath had been knocked out of him, so he could not speak. She waited, and a crowd began to gather.

—"Is that the Ghost Dragon Crescent Blade?" whispered someone watching.

"I've heard of it. It's the ancestral treasure of the Long family, isn't it? Back from when... they were way more influential."

"I heard that it was reforged from the essence of the Green Dragon Crescent Blade after it shattered in the Battle of Fancheng. If that's true, it might be one of the greatest treasures in all Wei."

"I can't believe Long Bailian already has it. You'd think the elders would say she's too young."

I could see Bailian biting down on her lip, suppressing a smile. She was enjoying this a bit too much.

"Does this sect not teach its disciples the proper form of comportment for those of the jianghu?" she shouted. "From a subordinate you borrow and do not return. From an equal you borrow an apple and return an orange. And from a superior, you borrow one and return ten."

She twirled her guandao, catching the spirit stone in a trail of smoke and launching it into her hand.

"I only count one here. Bai Chunxue is your superior, so you must hand over nine more spirit stones. If you cannot, then I will cut out your cultivation base to collect on your debt."

Nodding wordlessly, Zhou Kai opened his bag with shivering hands. He pulled out nine more spirit stones, and offered them up to Bailian without daring to look up at her. Bailian took them and, returning to my side, tossed her guandao into the air. It spun furiously, then disappeared into its own mist. Then she held out both her hands to me, in which lay ten spirit stones.

"Senior, I have collected this debt for you," she announced, and then she whispered only loud enough for me to hear, "Senior, you must understand, killing your inferiors will lose you face in the jianghu. It is better to humiliate them, especially if you can do it under the guise of the rules."

She was right. Now that I had power, now that I had status, now that I was no longer an ant, I had to be more careful about how I acted.

I smiled and took the stones.

"Zhou Kai!" I called out as I stepped towards him, causing him to shudder. "If I recall correctly, not only did you borrow a spirit stone from me, but you also borrowed a Qi Condensation Pill. I know they are not easy to find, and you know that I cannot use them as a Core Formation cultivator, so I will not ask you to pay back ten pills. Instead, let us call it even at three spirit stones."

Zhou Kai scrambled for his bag, and pulled out another three stones, which he offered up to me. "Here, Senior, please take these," he said, his voice trembling.

"What is this?" I harrumphed. "Three stones apiece. Three times ten is thirty. Do you not even know that much?"

The murmuring crowd went silent. They all recognized how unreasonable my words were. Qi Condensation Pills were not easy to find outside of Pill Distribution, certainly, but they were worth less than one spirit stone apiece! To charge him three stones and then multiply that by ten was highway robbery!

But who could object? I had power, and they did not.

Zhou Kai dumped his bag over the ground and scurried through its contents, but between one or two spirit stones and a few cheap pills or elixirs, there was nothing that he could use to make thirty spirit stones' worth. It was no surprise. Even ten spirit stones was a large sum for an outer sect disciple, and he had already handed over that much.

"Senior," Bailian said as calmly as she could, though it took her some effort to suppress a chuckle, "should I cut out his cultivation base? If we refine it into a pill, it should be worth thirty spirit stones."

Sighing, I shook my head. "How could I bully my juniors like that? I will be lenient and call the debt even with this much." I raised my hand, and everything valuable that had fallen out of his bag leaped through the air into mine.

Zhou Kai prostrated himself before us. "Thank you, Senior, thank you for your grace."

We walked past him.