From the close, musty interior of the tent, the vast enclosed space of the First Tier felt wide open, moreso due to its relative emptiness. Only a few beast cultivators wandered in the actual First Tier, the space largely wide open, with little to populate it. Aside from the ornately-carved tile pad from which the rift emerged, little of value remained in the First Tier. It stood empty, a broad, dark space, only a few support pillars, each one as wide as an ordinary palace, to break the emptiness.

Hui frowned. Isn’t this too obvious? I guess they’re practically declaring open war on Tseng Caihong, but… even so. Put up a veneer of normalcy!

“A demon!” someone shouted near Hui.

Hui flinched. Where? He spun around, quickly swapping to his compressed crystal form in defense.

A sword shattered against his back. Hui stumbled forward, drawing a talisman on the air even as he spun. Barriers, then attacks, in that order!

Behind him, a beast cultivator stared at him in horror, looking between his back and his broken sword. A small squirrel-like creature perched on the beast cultivator’s shoulder. Hui looked at the beast cultivator, and the beast cultivator looked at him.

Hui’s hands instinctively finished the barrier on his own, and it snapped into place around him. They both startled at that, jumping back.

Is this man as skittish as I am? That’s truly impressive. Finally, someone as averse to combat as myself! Good, good. Ah, even the sneak attack gets full marks. Never willingly enter into fair combat!

Though, er, Elder Brother should really reconsider smacking people with swords before determining they’re demons. If I wasn’t me, I’d be badly injured right now!

Hui cleared his throat. “Senior, er, I’m a member of Eight Tiers Palace.”

“Oh,” the man said.

Another beast cultivator swooped in on a huge bird, her eyes darting left and right as she landed and jumped off her bird. “Jing Chao! Where’s the demon?”

“False… false alarm,” the man with the squirrel muttered.

The woman clicked her tongue. “At least you didn’t behead him this time. The pill cultivators almost excommunicated our entire sect—ahem, tier, after you killed that disciple ten years back. I’m amazed the Tier Master didn’t feed you to Lao Hu.”

Hui’s eyes widened. He took a step away from Jing Chao. I take back everything I said. Jing Chao, you’re a fool! You’re in the habit of hitting everyone you don’t recognize with your sword? It’s a good thing I broke it. I did the whole palace a favor!

Jing Chao scowled at her. “And what about the hundreds of times I’ve rightly attacked demons on their way to raid the Palace? Conveniently forgetting about those, huh?”

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Ah. Are the demons really attacking us that openly? I had no idea. I guess the beast cultivators take care of it for the rest of the Palace.

Hold on. Is that why Tseng Caihong is ignoring their little rebellion? They handle the front line of the ongoing battle with the demons, and in return, she’s willing to be a little lenient toward their transgressions? Hmm. That does make sense.

But if they’re doing such meritorious service for the sect, why kidnap the Tier Master’s tiger cub? Unless she really is a pet kleptomaniac. Hui put his hand on his chin, considering for a moment, then shrugged. I’ll see if I can figure it out when I talk to her. If she’ll talk to me. I’m not really sure how to obtain an audience with her. Honestly, I was kind of hoping that the Tier Master would get me an audience with her, but it seems like that’s my job, as well.

Haaa. It’s so hard trying to become the number-one disciple. I never worked this hard for Starbound Sect!

No, wait, that’s not true. I went to war for Starbound Sect and put in the effort to revive the whole sect.

Though it’s true that I didn’t work this hard in Starbound Sect.

Well, I was already Weiheng Wu’s disciple. I didn’t really need to gather anyone’s approval or improve my standing, since I was already an inheriting disciple of a Peak Master. Once he left, I wasn’t formally a Peak Master, but I was the only one allowed through Master’s barrier, so I was effectively a Peak Master. Again, it didn’t really matter what others thought, since my standing didn’t get affected by anyone else’s opinion.

Likewise, when I was in All-Heavens Sect, I came in as a Peak Master and had the freedom to maintain my own peak. I didn’t have a high ranking among the peaks, but that didn’t matter. When I needed high ranking, I just sucked up to Gui Delun’s daughter, Gui Yutong, and hugged her golden thigh. Right—I already had backing in All-Heavens Sect, so I didn’t need to climb the ranks too hard.

It's only now that I’m a small cultivator of the Eight Tiers Palace that I’m having to worry about others’ opinions. How troublesome.

He nodded at Jing Chao and the female cultivator. “I was sent by the Tier Master to speak with Tseng Caihong. Can you two escort me there?”

Taken aback, the female cultivator looked him up and down. “You were? Do you have proof?”

Hui froze. Proof? Elder Sister, the Tier Master didn’t give me anything! Am I supposed to have proof? He looked over his shoulder at the portal, but it had gone dim, no longer active.

Turning back to the female cultivator, he smiled. “Elder Sister, The Tier Master gave me no proof. My apologies. I don’t suppose I could request you trust my words alone?”

She scoffed.

Hui sighed, shaking his head. I suppose I could try tearing the secret realm open again… ugh. Will Tseng Caihong need proof that I’m the Tier Master’s emissary, as well? Yes… I should go back and get—

A hand appeared out of midair and dropped something toward him. Hui held his hands out. A tuft of orange-and-black fur fell into his palms.

“Your proof,” the Tier Master said.

“Ah! Thank you, Senior!” Hui said, bowing quickly. Is it trendy for Seniors to send their hands through reality right now? Fen Long, now the Tier Master… who next?

He turned to the female cultivator and smiled, presenting the fur in his palms. “As you can see, Elder Sister, I have proof. Will you escort me now?”

The female cultivator blinked at him. After a moment, she shrugged and gestured for him to climb onto her bird. “I’ll take you to Tseng Caihong. Jing Chao, you stay here. Don’t kill any more innocents.”

“With this sword?” Jing Chao complained, lifting his broken blade.

Hui bowed to Jing Chao. “Sincerely, Elder Brother, if you hadn’t attacked innocents, your blade wouldn’t be broken right now.”

Jing Chao looked at his blade, then at Hui, and sighed. “That’s true. I’ll take it as a lesson.”

“It’s always good to learn,” Hui agreed, nodding.

The female cultivator took off, leaving Jing Chao behind. Sitting cross-legged atop her bird, Hui closed his eyes, enjoying the wind in his hair. Off to speak with Tseng Caihong!