They embarked on the road, and even though his friend whined a little, he didn’t bother him too much about not showing up to their agreed meeting place, the sect center.

“Man, it's nice hanging out with someone like this. My mind has been heavy these days with family stuff.” He sighed.

“My fiancée, Flora, back home has been sad recently. She believes in me and knows I can become an inner disciple and take her here next to me, but she can’t bear to be away from me for that period.” He then looked towards Alcan. “You are also engaged, you understand, right?”

“How can I not? Marriage is hard; it’s even harder inside the sect.” Alcan nodded his head. He knew well how hard and convoluted relationships could feel when young.

“I can’t help but think if I’m lucky or cursed to have met the love of my life, Flora, this early in my life.” He talked to himself while looking down.

Alcan chuckled at his remarks. “Sigh, I’m truly growing old. How old am I this year, a few thousand?” It had been a while since his last interaction with a youth, and it reminded him of his younger years.

He felt youthful; even Elder Su, a respected and wise figure amongst the sect members, was considered a young woman in his eyes.

Alcan finally got to see the other side of the mountain, and it made him reassess the power of cultivators entirely.

Half of the heaven-reaching mountain was carved to create a statue of a man with long hair which flowed as the rocks and shifted places each second. His eyes were carved out but weren’t detailed; they only appeared as two orbs of darkness.

His friend noticed his gaze and also looked up at the statue. “So cool, right? I still remember my first time seeing it.” He then turned his gaze towards the bustling market they had found themselves in.

“Can you imagine the first sect leader's strength if he could carve something like that as a decoration?” He neared a stall as he talked.

“Boss, are these fresh?” He pointed towards the squids that were lying on the stall.

The vendor replied with a loud laugh. “Of course. We have the best Illumination Squids around here.” He said the second part loudly so the passerbys also heard it.

“Alright, alright, I get it.” He then asked with a smile, “They aren’t corrupted, right?”

They both laughed over the joke that Alcan couldn’t understand. His friend came back with two Illumination Squid sticks and handed one of them to him.

While their comments about corruption made him wary, seeing his friend bite into it made Alcan also decide to take a bite of his. The moment he got through the chewy skin, the ink of the squid leaked out and gave it a sweet aroma.

He was impressed by the food but didn’t show it outwardly. He guessed this must be standard food here.

They had already exited the fish market and reached the less populated fishing area, which was mostly rocks facing the ocean. It was nearly desolate apart from a few anglers, as most preferred to go into the ocean as opposed to casting from the coast.

The sun had hidden itself amongst the clouds. Coupled with the heavy winds and rowdy waves, it created the worst possible time to fish. It was sunny when they were walking, but in a single moment, the weather had turned disastrous.

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His friend had already sat down and was busy tinkering with his fishing rod. “A nice day, huh? While fishing like this isn’t as fun as actually going into the sea, it’s still something.”

He lifted his gaze to take in the sea and the breeze lightly hitting both of their faces. “I wanna sail into the seas in front of us one day… hopefully soon. I hope to be like those cultivators with high Ranks, they have so much freedom. Can you imagine how freeing it would be to fly over these seas as a Rank 1?” He sighed. His hands were busy putting the bait on the hook.

Alcan was still standing. He hadn’t taken a seat yet. His left hand held the shaft of his sword and his right hand grabbed the hilt of it. “What was your name again?”

His friend laughed as he continued tinkering with the fishing rod. “No way you forgot my name.” He then waved his hand. “I guess it hasn’t been that long since we met. My name is Jake—”

Slash.

Jake’s vision shifted from the ocean to the sky, then to the ground. His own body slowly entered his vision as his head rolled on the ground. Darkness soon took over his vision as his eyes closed to never open again.

“It was nice meeting you, Jake.” Blood dripped from his sword onto the ground, and the droplets accumulated to create a small puddle. The smell of blood mixed with the ocean and entered his nostrils.

“Your mistake was meeting me at the wrong time.” He stared at the decapitated corpse for a moment, then went towards the rocks and knelt down to wash the blood off his sword. This sword was currently his lifeline in this sect. After cleaning the bloodstains, he went next to the corpse, picked up any valuables on the body, then with his leg, pushed it into the ocean.

Since the oxygen in the lungs had long emptied, the corpse slowly sank to the bottom of the ocean. He looked down at the blood trails left on the rocks. “The ocean should wash it away,” he thought, seeing how some waves made their way to his feet.

He looked into his palm. Inside it was a keychain holding many jade keys and one silver key, a small vial of dark green liquid, and a picture of his fiancée. He hid the keychain in his chest and made sure its outline couldn’t be made out.

Jake could walk around the sect without a sword and carry such wealth on him, but Alcan couldn’t. From his conversations with him on the road to here, he learned that he was the son of a large merchant family. That’s why no outer disciples dared to mess with him.

He took one last look at the rowdy ocean and started trekking back home. However, he diverged halfway through his journey. His target was Jake’s pavilion, as he wanted to take his belongings.

“His family will cause me trouble in the future.” He sighed. “Better alive and troubled than dead and at peace.” He wouldn't have hastily killed him if not for the approaching Deathly Trials.

The path led him to a road where pavilions were larger, higher in quality, and sparser. He knew the direction to Jake’s pavilion since he had fished it out during their conversations. He had planned to kill him from the very start.

His tracks stopped in front of a large pavilion made of redwood with golden-colored columns. It was two stories, unlike his small pavilion, which could barely be considered to have a single room.

He took out the keychain from his chest, then first tried the silver one as it was the odd one out, and, click, it opened.

As the door opened, a large room with its flooring a vibrant purple carpet appeared in his view. There were dozens of high-quality furniture all around, so much so that it gave the room a messy feel.

He had roughly a few hours before he would have to leave. Jake was the son of a merchant and carried some of his father’s traits. His social circle was large and one of those friends would start wondering where he went soon.

His breathing was calm and sparse. After seeing the vial of green liquid, he had a guess that Jake could have been a poison cultivator. Which meant there could be a poison trap where the true valuables were located.

His hands searched all over the room. He was looking for a keyhole, hollow wood, or a hidden compartment. As his hands grazed the bottom of a cupboard, he felt a hole fit for a key.

He took out the keychain that now had 6 jade keys but no silver key. He had separated them to make his job easier. The silver key was too large to fit the hole in the first place.

Patience was a virtue, so he didn’t rush anything. “He was a poison cultivator. If I try the wrong key, some kind of poison trap might activate. I was hasty in opening the front door without a second thought.”

He lifted the cupboard and threw it on its side, hoping to maybe break the compartment that held the poison. He was a distance away with his breath held.

After being sure the poison hadn't leaked, he knelt down to try the first jade key. The moment it made contact with the mechanism behind, Alcan's eyes started burning, which prompted him to run outside.

Breathing in, breathing out. He took in fresh oxygen from outside. He felt a warmth under his nose, which trickled down onto his lips. It then dripped down from his chin to the ground, blood.