Shao was starting to get convinced that every elder of the Shigong Sect was absolutely deranged. Weren’t they supposed to be respectable? Both Shen Jian and Wei Minghao acted like children who had never been taught how to act correctly around strangers. Their position at the top of the hierarchy gave them the right to act however they wanted, consequences be damned.

He dispelled the thoughts from his mind and turned to the other members of his group. The other cultivators in the field moved quickly toward the field’s exit, but the rest of Shao’s group were in no hurry to move.

Seeing the frantic participants, Xiahou Ren mused, “It’s not a race. Anyone who gets through one of the gates gets in.”

His words naturally did not halt the crowd’s movement, but he seemed undisturbed by their alacrity.

“On to business,” Ren continued. “We’ll hit the fork in the road less than a li to the north of here. You guys will take the long road to the east. Shao and I will go fight the inner disciple.”

“Hold on just a second,” Shao said, suddenly recalling Elder Minghao’s words. “How are the two of us supposed to beat an inner disciple? Haven’t they all reached the second realm at the lowest?” The prospect of being murdered by a little girl wasn’t particularly appealing to him.

“We don’t have to beat her,” Xiahou Ren reminded Shao. “With our speed, we’ll have no difficulty zipping past while Wei Fenghua is busy disemboweling somebody else. That’s why I decided it would be better for everybody else to take the eastern path. No offense, but the rest of you would have no chance getting past the inner disciple.”

Shao didn’t like that Ren sounded way too confident for someone who was relying on circumstances out of his control. If Shao was alone, he would have taken the eastern path. That way, he might have had the opportunity to eat a few yaoguai hearts and gain their power.

“None taken,” Liu Mei responded to Xiahou Ren’s statement. “I do not envy your task. I once saw an inner disciple slice through a building like it was paper. If we don’t see you later, at least we know what happened to you.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Ren said dryly. “Just do your job and make sure that Xu Fei doesn’t get eaten by a fox demon, or whatever.”

As Shao listened to Ren and Mei speak, a barely-perceptible force on the back of his neck told him that Zero had climbed out of his bag. Zero climbed onto Shao’s shoulder and balanced there effortlessly.

The appearance of his cat reminded Shao of the danger he faced and the speed at which he would have to move in order to overcome that danger. Even if he was able to “just zip past” Wei Fenhua, the speed involved would likely hurt Zero.

“Hey,” Shao began meekly, “could you guys look after my cat during the Rite? I don’t think he’s ready for a fight against an inner disciple.”

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“Oh, he’s adorable,” Xu Fei said happily as she walked up to Shao who was immediately unsettled by her close proximity.

“Just don’t hold it against us if he gets eaten,” Liu Mei muttered. “I’m not willing to die for a cat.”

Xiahou Ren scratched his chin thoughtfully before saying, “Actually, yaoguai don’t eat cats. I mean, they can, but they prefer to eat humans.”

“Merci de vous avoir rassuré.” Even across the language barrier, Shao could pick up on Louis’s sarcasm.

“You’re welcome,” Xiahou Ren answered.

“Hey, Zero,” Shao said to the cat perched on his shoulder. “Can you go with her for a little while? I’ll meet you in the temple in a few hours.”

As if answering Shao, Zero let out a low trill and jumped over to Xu Fei’s shoulder. He wondered if Zero could really understand him but decided that it was much more likely that the cat just felt like jumping over to the woman’s shoulder at that particular moment.

“You must have trained him well, Yang Shao,” Xu Fei said with a smile.

“Train?”

“I think that’s enough loitering around,” Xiahou Ren said, cutting their conversation about Shao’s cat short. “Yang Shao, we need to get to the Southern Gate before Wei Fenhua’s done slaughtering all the other participants.”

Shao would have laughed, but Ren’s expression made it clear that it wasn’t a joke. Silently, Shao rotated his shoulders and stretched out his legs in preparation for the coming fight against an inner disciple.

The group of five cultivators and one cat traveled north from the Field of Ceremonies and soon reached a fork in the road. One path went east and the other went west. As the group walked down the road, some other participants looked at them belligerently, but their aggression was halted when Xiahou Ren held his necklace out for them to see the “seven” marked on its face.

At the road’s fork, the group split up, and Shao began walking with Ren down the road to the west. To Shao’s surprise, about a third of the participants who reached the fork decided to go down the western path. Almost every necklace Shao saw on the western path was emblazoned with a three or four, and his belief that all cultivators were insane was only strengthened.

“Are all cultivators suicidal?” Shao couldn’t help himself from blurting out those words.

“Most aren’t,” Ren responded. “These guys, however, are desperate. Look at them. What do you see?”

Shao scanned his surroundings. “A bunch of people in their early twenties wearing the robes of major cultivator clans. All of them are either three or four-stars.”

“Exactly. These are the dregs of cultivator society who weren’t able to reach five-star before their twentieth birthday. These guys need that reward from the lower treasury. These pitiful individuals only have three options left: the Southern Gate, demonic cultivation, or suicide.”

One cultivator dressed in the robes of the Shen Clan looked over to Ren. Upon seeing Ren’s necklace, however, the Shen man clenched his teeth and pretended that he didn’t hear the insult.

“The most desperate among them might be able to make it through the gate. Wei Fenghua only has two hands, after all.”

Shao had never before believed that any group of people had a worse lot in life than mortals living in the countryside. As Ren spoke, however, he realized that those born without talent into the major cultivator clans were even more pitiable.