Within minutes, Ren, Mei, and Louis were brainstorming methods to alleviate Xu Fei’s bloodline talent. All that stuff about the “theoreticals of Franconian and Eastern binding techniques” was completely lost on Yang Shao, so he decided to just go to sleep. He seriously doubted that the ability to shoot a deadly beam of concentrated ki out of his hands would help with Xu Fei’s problem.

As Shao lifted Zero off his bed and laid down to sleep, he thought about the situation with Xu Fei. Never in a million years did he think he would be involved in something like that. In any other context, the idea of a woman who was “just too beautiful” would have seemed like a fairy tale. When he witnessed it in person, however, it seemed much less far-fetched.

Shao considered the encounter with Gao Linyu within the context that he had recently acquired. Was Gao Linyu merely a victim of Xu Fei’s unintended mental manipulation? No. Certainly not. Even when Yang Shao was most affected by Xu Fei’s bloodline talent, he never felt the desire to force her to do anything. It would probably be more accurate to say that Xu Fei’s power made the afflicted act in a way that he himself found permissible.

Strangely, the encounter with Xu Fei actually tired Shao out more than his long journey across the northern half of Zhoushan. His body was strong, but Xu Fei’s power affected his mind. The process of steeling his mind against that encroaching influence gave him a splitting headache. The mental exhaustion caused Shao to fall into a deep slumber within seconds of his head touching the soft bed.

The next morning, Shao woke with the first light of dawn. He sat up immediately, tossing Zero from his sleeping position on Shao’s chest. His headache had disappeared with a good night’s sleep, and he stretched out his muscles as he walked over to his room’s window.

High in the purple sky of early morning hung a full moon. He hadn’t been watching the phases of the moon recently, and he wondered if it was merely coincidental that the moon was full on the day of the Rite of Initiation.

Shao figured it wasn’t. In Haishan, where calendars weren’t always reliable, important events were often held on the day of the full moon. For example, the Harvest Festival of Bluecrest Village was always held on the tenth full moon of the year. If Shao’s count was accurate, the large orb rising into the sky before him was the eighth full moon of the year. It was the beginning of the 8th month of the 1,304th year of the current era. Shao didn’t know what, precisely, defined the start of the “current era.”

After eating some salted meat for breakfast and letting Zero eat the scraps, Shao walked out of his room. As the realization that this was an important day that would define his life for a significant amount of time sunk in, he began to worry about all the ways that the Rite could go wrong. He worried that Xiahou Ren and the others could still betray him at the worst possible moment. What would he do if everything went wrong and Shigong Temple refused him as a student? He had no idea how often the sect held a Rite of Initiation. As far as Shao knew, he might have to wait an entire year before he could try again.

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Shao struck his own forehead with his palm to dispel the doubts festering in his mind. No matter what happened, he knew he could rely on the strength of his body. Even if the group betrayed him and the Rite of Initiation turned out to be some massive trial, he would overcome those obstacles with overwhelming strength and vicious tenacity. Shao would not be stopped. He would not become another victim of this world!

An uncontrollable urge to hit something filled Shao’s body. Before he knew it, his fist had punched through one of the hallway’s walls. Unfortunately, he struck a load-bearing pillar within the wall. The entire house shook like it was about to collapse, and tiles fell from the roof above. After a few seconds, the shaking stopped, and Shao withdrew his hand from the hole in the wall in a shower of splintered wood. His knuckles tingled slightly, but there was no pain.

Frowning, Shao silently chastised himself for his violent behavior. Without meaning to, he accidentally dropped into the animalistic state that he entered whenever he was in a fight. He would have to learn how to control that state, otherwise he would become a threat to everyone around him.

When he arrived in the kitchen, Shao realized that he was the first person awake. The other cultivators must not have been in the habit of waking with the rising sun. Considering the commotion he made a moment before, Shao figured that he would not be the only person in the kitchen for much longer.

Within minutes, an annoyed and barely conscious Liu Mei appeared in the kitchen. Shao briefly wondered what her life was like before she came to Zhoushan where she did not naturally wake at dawn.

“Who put a hole in our wall?” Liu Mei said as she rubbed her eyes.

“I apologize for that,” Yang Shao said with a quick bow of his head.

“Did you not like the color?”

Shao merely shrugged in response. He wasn’t really in the mood to explain the nature of his fighting style and his difficulty controlling his violent urges. Certainly, he would never hurt a person, probably.

Soon after, Louis and Xu Fei appeared in the kitchen. Realizing that Xu Fei was approaching, Yang Shao averted his eyes and pointedly looked at the mahogany table in the center of the kitchen. Her bloodline talent didn’t seem to affect Shao as long as he didn’t look at her.

“Where’s Xiahou Ren?” Xu Fei asked. Based on the sound of rustling fabric, Shao knew that she was looking around the kitchen.

A moment later, this sound was joined by the sound of the front door painfully creaking open and heavy footsteps entering the home.

“I’m back,” Xiahou Ren’s voice came from the hallway. “Now that everyone’s here, I think it’s time for us to go to the ceremonial field.”