“The high table meeting is about to begin,” announced Red Blade Elder, his voice echoing through the dimly lit chamber. The four masters gathered around the polished stone table, each taking their seat with an air of authority and anticipation. Something felt different tonight, though none could pinpoint exactly what it was.

“Tomorrow, the winners of the entrance trials will choose their masters. We’ve lost talent over the years, but this gives us an opportunity to bring in fresh blood,” Red Blade Elder continued, his eyes scanning the faces of his peers. Everyone nodded in agreement. The First Master, a formidable level 7 cultivator, sat at the head of the table. He was rivalled only by the grandmasters of Wudang and Shaolin. The remaining four masters were level 5 cultivators—top talents in their own right, but levels 6 and 7 were rare and revered. Amidst them sat a woman, silent and serene. The others smirked as they glanced at her, knowing full well her reputation. She was known as the lazy slacker who loved wine and sleep.

Her sub-sect had zero disciples and had never attracted any. What the others didn’t know was that she had mastered the Demon Gaze internal skill and the Limitless Sword technique. She was a level 6 cultivator, a secret she kept to herself. The Second Master, an expert in hidden weapons, eyed her with a mocking grin. “Gly, are you excited? Hehe. Excited to not even have the worst student pick you as a master, just like all the past trials? Heheh,” he jeered.

The First Master shot him a cold look. Though he rarely involved himself in their bickering’s, he demanded unity within the sect. Gly remained unbothered, her hand resting against the side of her head as if she were napping. Her hair shimmered in the moonlight streaming through the glass ceiling of the meeting room. “Her hair… it has changed,” someone murmured. Those standing in the main hall, trusted aides of the masters, whispered amongst themselves. “Although she is really beautiful, she must be suffering from an incurable disease,” one said. “She has a blindfold on. Is she now blind too? This sect is finished. We have the sick and the blind.

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I should be leader of her sub-sect,” another added.”Silence!” the First Master commanded, his voice cutting through the whispers like a blade. Gly remained as calm and elegant as ever, unfazed by the gossip she could clearly hear.The First Master continued, “Tomorrow morning, the students will present their tokens and choose their masters. You are dismissed.” The room emptied as everyone left.

Gly walked with her two maids, twins who were as chatty as they were loyal. They followed her to her terrace, a place that was clean but lonesome, dark and eerie. The silence was deafening, and the cold air bit at their skin. Gly had no company or students, and her sub-sect held no influence in the world of martial arts or assassination.

“Close the door, and you may all go sleep. I need to rest,” she instructed her maids. She sat cross-legged in her chamber, beginning to cultivate and channel a ball of energy. After a while, she lay in bed, staring at the oak-wood ceiling. She murmured a poem to herself, her voice barely audible.”I am enthralled in this body, bound by flesh and bone.I’ve attained heaven on earth, all on my own.But what good is power and fame,When the mind feels lone?”With those words, she drifted into sleep, her mind already preparing for the trials of the next day.