Once it became clear the beating was over, most of the audience dispersed, however one young lady ran over.

“Dalian! Are you alright?” She asked.

“What does it look like?” He moaned, as a shot of pain ran up his leg. His vision was slightly blurry, and he couldn’t make out the face of the girl leaning over.

“Those older disciples are just horrible.” She said, as she got onto her knees and lifted Dalian’s head onto her lap.

Dalian thought he recognised her voice. From where?

“Just look at what they’ve done to you. Like animals they are.”

Circulating his qi to his eyes, his vision cleared up and it only took a few seconds to recall the face. It was the girl he had purified back in the test. While he did appreciate the feeling of being close to her, he sat up to see how the others had fared.

“Don’t get up so quickly.” She said.

Ignoring her complaint, he looked over to his side. There, moaning quietly were his three brothers. They were bruised all over. Dalian felt a lurch in his stomach, seeing their terrible state.

He needed to heal them, as fast as possible. But to replenish his qi meant he couldn’t keep watch.

“Can you take care of them for a bit?” he asked the girl.

She seemed surprised at his question but vigorously nodded

He began circulating his energy. The pull of qi was even weaker here than it had been in the healing hall. But he only wanted enough to get them on their feet. Sinking into a meditative relaxation, half an hour passed. He felt much better, the qi flowing through his meridians having healed him somewhat. His neidan was only very partially filled, but it should be enough.

Opening his eyes, he saw the girl standing, looking out for any would-be attackers. Not that there were any, apart from them, the clearing was empty.

Dalian walked over to Ferjuz, who looked like he had taken the worst of it. Perhaps he had a weak constitution. Palms open, qi began to be spread into his body.

It was enough to improve the state of his injuries by about a day. Moving over to the other two, he healed them both somewhat. He noticed that Tybalt’s injuries responded less to his qi, but then he also had the least injuries of the three.

He didn’t wake them yet, instead going over to the girl, who was standing away, watching his actions. His throat felt parched, from the low levels of energy, so he croaked out a ‘thank you’.

She blushed and stuttered. “Oh it was nothing really.”

He was confused as to why she of all people had helped. Sure he had purified her, but it hadn’t been that difficult for him. “You’re the girl from the bridge.” He said, not sure how else to start a conversation.

She nodded. “I am. I don’t remember much, but the others told me you helped me, and I remember having gone mad, before someone helped me.” She laughed slightly. “You know. I didn’t recognise you at first, when you ran out. But someone watching told me who you were. I would’ve gone out to help you fight, but I’m not very talented, I haven’t even opened my first gate.”

Dalian smiled. “But you stayed.”

She nodded, and they looked into each other’s eyes for a moment. “What’s your name?”

“Amelia.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. Amelia.” he said.

She was going to respond, but was interrupted by a loud groan.

“Jeez, they didn’t have to go that far. Completely overboard.” said Ferjuz.

Dalian quickly walked over to his side, and gave him a hand to lift him to his feet. The boy leaned on his shoulder for a moment before letting go.

“Thanks, Dalian.” He said with a cheeky smile. “And uh, sorry about the fight.” Waving his arm at the scene, “this was kinda my fault, wasn’t it?”

Dalian sighed, “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you didn’t mean it.”

“I really didn’t, I had it aimed right at that guy, and then you… you know… you moved in front.”

Dalian laughed. “Really, don’t mind it. I’m not so certain we would’ve won that fight anyway.”

Still embarrassed, Ferjuz spoke. “Let’s wake the others up and get somewhere better to talk.”

Dalian nodded, but felt a gaze. He turned to see Amelia looking at him, as if she wasn’t sure if she fitted in.

“Hey Dalian.” Ferjuz said. “Isn’t that the girl that went totally mad in the test?”

With a sharp pinch, Ferjuz yelped. “Ow! Anywhere but there. Those bastards kept on kicking me right in that position.”

“Be kind Ferjuz, she helped us after the fight.” reprimanded Dalian. “Thank you again.” he said to her. “You can come with us if you like?”

He was waiting for a response, but Ferjuz butted in. “Sorry brother, but she can’t. The accommodations are segregated.”

“Oh.”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“Yeah, I was disappointed too.”

Amelia giggled. “It’s alright. Go bring your friends back, we can talk more some other time.”

Dalian felt relief that she wouldn’t hold it against him, and wished her a good night, before she left, leaving him and his brothers alone.

—

In a crowded bunkhouse, all the boys of the newest generation were chattering loudly. As Dalian’s group entered, all eyes were on them. It became silent, until someone begun clapping. In an instant, the entire dormitory was subsumed by loud cheering and other noise. Dalian wasn’t sure of why they were celebrating, when they were beaten.

“It’s because we stood up against the senior generation!” Johan shouted, after Dalian asked. “Everybody’s been getting abused by them. Even though we lost, it was still cathartic for us to even fight back!”

Upon questioning why none of them helped after the fight, it was explained that all of them were scared of the possible consequences. Earlier, when they had just entered the outer sect, they did stand up for each other. But the older disciples had just included any helpers in the beating. It became common knowledge that it was best to accept it and wait for it to pass.

Dalian nodded, not blaming them. To run into a certain injury for someone you didn’t even know; that was completely illogical.

Eventually, the cheer died down, and they took their beds, along with one they had reserved for Dalian in case he ever visited. Tybalt had to shoo away a few disciples who came over for a word. Although he was injured, and wouldn’t be able to fight, his significant stature still commanded respect.

“Ahh. Life as a cultivator really is hard.” Ferjuz complained.

A round of agreement echoed out. “Dalian, those beatings are just the start of it. They treat us outer disciples like we’re not human.” he continued.

“Yeah. The elders don’t even care about what’s going on.” Johan added, “they just stay in the treasury and the mission hall, never coming out. We tried to talk to them about it, but it’s like talking to a wall.”

“It was especially bad just now.” Ferjuz said, “so far, they’ve only been attacking us to show their authority, but this time they even took our qi gathering pills for the week. How are we meant to progress in our cultivation now?”

Dalian felt pity for them. It seemed like they had been suffering the entire time, whilst he was in a paradise.

“I told you guys already. We need to be patient, time will bring us onto an equal footing with them.” said Tybalt.

“I know. But it’s so frustrating.” Ferjuz said.

“How have you all been spending your time?” Dalian asked.

“We’ve been cultivating, and working a bit on some basic techniques they let us take from the sect library. It’s been slow though, apart from when we first opened our qi gate.”

“What techniques did you each pick out?” Dalian asked, maybe it would be worth it for him to take a visit to the library, so that he could get an offensive technique.

Johan replied. “I got a light infusion technique. You’re meant to use it on a weapon, but we’re not allowed to carry them around the sect. Not that that matters though, I only found out after I took it out that you need an artefact sword to channel the qi through. Otherwise it just shatters apart. That’s why I was using it on my fist.”

“Hmm. I might have something you could use it with. But it’s not on me, it’s back on Elder Alano’s mountain.”

“Really?” Johan asked excitedly.

“You can at least use it to practise. I don’t know if Elder Alano will let me give it to you,” replied Dalian.

Johan nodded as thanks, words of gratitude weren’t needed between the two.

“What about you Tybalt?” Dalian asked.

“Ah, I actually don’t have a special technique. I opted for a body strengthening manual. I thought it would be best to focus on my strength, since I already have an advantage there. But progress has been slow. I’ve been wondering whether it would have been better to choose something like what those older disciples had. Where I can actively use my qi to enhance myself in battle.”

Dalian seemed to understand it as an improved version of qi strengthening from cultivating regularly. It made sense for someone of Tybalt’s size to pick something like that.

“I don’t think you made a bad choice. You just haven’t had enough time to reap the benefits. How does it work?”

“It’s very similar to cultivating normally, but instead of the qi being used to increase the density within the neidan, it’s used to nourish the body. But my body can only take so much before it needs to rest.”

As he said that, an idea began to form in Dalian’s head, on how he could speed up the pace of Tybalt’s development. But he would have to wait until they had healed to see if it was viable.

Turning his gaze to Ferjuz, he felt the boy shrink.

“I chose the light shot technique.” Ferjuz said quickly.

“And what does it do?”

“It forms a ball of light which I can attack people with from afar. It will actually be incredibly powerful, once I master it.”

“Which will be never.” Johan interjected. “Dalian, did you know that he’s already burnt down two separate buildings so far?”

Tybalt laughed. “I thought he would’ve learnt his lesson after the first.”

“Hey!” Ferjuz shouted. “They took away my qi gathering pills for that already. You don’t need to bring up ancient history.”

“It was last week.” Johan said, straight faced.

The three others burst into laughter, momentarily forgetting about their pain-wracked bodies. After they calmed down, Dalian spoke.

“It’s alright Ferjuz. You clearly just need some target practice. How much of your reserves does each one use?”

“About half.”

Dalian’s eyes widened. “No wonder you’re so bad at aiming. You can’t have even shot more than a hundred so far.”

Ferjuz’s face burned red. “What about you Dalian? I didn’t see you using any techniques.”

Dalian sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. None of my techniques can be used in a fight. At least not against a regular cultivator. If it was an evil cultivator, I could contend.”

“They can’t be used to fight?” Tybalt asked. “You’re the one with the most potential and you’re as defenceless as any of us?”

“It’s to do with my cultivation manual. The author was some kind of a pacifist, they didn’t include any.”

“Ah, well that sucks.” said Johan.

“Indeed.”

They were silent for a bit, listening to the ambience of the other disciples.

“Arghh.” Ferjuz moaned. “I keep on thinking about the smug smiles on their faces. If they hadn’t been born three years earlier, then they’d be grovelling at our feet.”

Dalian shook his head. “Don’t complain. If you have energy to do that, then you can cultivate instead. Listen, you three. I’m going to stay in the outer sect for a bit, at least until this is sorted. I’ll send word to Elder Alano in the morning. He should be fine with it, he’s quite a hands off type.”

The boy’s energy was restored. “You’re staying? Those idiots aren’t going to know what hit them.” said Ferjuz.

“But, brother. Do you even have a plan?” Johan asked.

Dalian nodded. “I’ve only just laid the framework in my mind, but it should work. The first step is simple. We need to get everyone stronger. As soon as possible.”

The brothers leaned in, as Dalian began to detail his ideas.