Little White crossed her arms, pearly robes unmoving in the face of a strong wind. He recognized the stance as a sign that she was done talking.

  About an hour into their silent observations, something completely unexpected happened that sent shockwaves throughout the crowd below.

  Like everybody else, Tems's gaze was fixed upon the seventh floor. One of the lights disappeared? For it to have happened on one of the highest levels, had somebody overestimated themselves?

  One light had ascended to the seventh floor, but before the crowd could even acknowledge the monumental achievement, another had left the stairs and returned to the previous level. The third had vanished in the staircase that connected the two levels. It better not have been you, Drasin. The youth was very straightforward for one so young, and very arrogant because of his capabilities. Still, he should know better than to attempt to ascend to the seventh floor. After all, he'd nearly died a few years back when he had first made it to the sixth.

  Damn it. The more that he thought about it, the more sense it made that Drasin had been the casualty. He's gotten so much stronger since then, I can see why he'd try to make it to the next floor.

  "Why the irritated face? I thought you didn't care much for this sect."

  He ignored Little White, who was obviously trying to get under his skin. Anybody that could make it to the sixth floor was destined to achieve great accomplishments in the future, and any disciple to ascend so high would definitely become one of the highest ranking elders in the sect once they matured. The amount of Drasin's peers that could threaten him—whether within the sect or outside of it—was very small.

  "Hmm, for you to be so nervous, you think the unlucky fellow was one of yours? You could always go in and see what happened."

  He glared at her taunt, since neither of them would be able to reach the seventh floor to investigate the unexplained death, or even to retrieve the body of the fallen, if there was one to be found.

  "I'll find that boy for you, but it seems like today's a day where I can't skimp out on my duties. Hide your presence, quickly. I need to speak to Tegan."

  Once Little White had complied with his directive, he removed the concealment arrayment that he had cast upon them and then directly arrived at Elder Tegan's side.

  Thousands of voices bumped into one another as soon as he made an appearance. "We greet the Sect Master!"

  All of the conversations had ceased, and all attention was on him.

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  "Elder Tegan," he said, using honorifics for the sake of saving face. "How many disciples are capable of reaching the sixth floor?"

  "Your Grace, I—so you were here the whole time?" The old man's eyes took on a pleasantly surprised shine. "Ah, that is, there should be eleven."

  "How many are at the peak of Integration?"

  "Four."

  "Get them here, now."

  Elder Tegan's snowy beard gave a slight bounce as he nodded and then shut his eyes. A few moments later, he looked up with a serious expression. "It is done. Your Grace, do you suspect foul play?"

  "Drasin was the only one capable of reaching such a height, so the other two signals have to belong to outsiders. I'm sure that he simply overestimated himself, but we can't rule out the possibility that somebody took advantage of the tower's concealment arrayments to do away with him."

  As he floated quietly above all of his disciples, an alarmed voice rang throughout Tems's mind. Lord Sect Master! Disciple Drasin's soul stone just broke. The elder from the Soul Stone Pavilion?

  He looked over at Tegan.

  "Did you just get a sound transmission from Elder Das?"

  "This is bad, Your Grace. Once Elder Jameson hears, I'm afraid that somebody will have to pay even if it was as you say and Drasin had indeed overestimated himself."

  Tegan was right. That geezer Jameson might have had the appearance of a withering skeleton, but he could be quite terrifying when angered.

  Why did this have to happen during the first tower climb of my tenure? Drasin had been one of the few that Tems had considered handing over the position of Sect Master to, once he'd reached the Genesis stage. For him to be so powerful at such a young age, he might have even had a chance to ascend to the next realm, Soul Strengthening. Any cultivator to reach such heights would immediately generate a powerful spiritual space, even if they had been ordinary cultivators up until that point. For someone like Drasin, who could safely fend off a newly ascended person at the Genesis stage, it was very unlikely that one of the participants could be capable of killing him.

  A rush of cold air abruptly buffeted Tems and Tegan, followed by an icy voice.

  "I leave for five minutes and my disciple is killed? Tell me, Tegan! Where did it happen?"

  Elder Jameson had never been tall to begin with, peaking at the height of most people's elbows. Like most others his age, he maintained his aged appearance in order to expand his lifespan by a small degree. Now that so many decades had passed since his prime, he hardly cleared Tems's waist. Even so, he was feared throughout the continent for his unforgiving wrath, having killed a noble of the Thebe's Empire a few decades back over some grave offence. At that time, he'd killed at least fifty thousand people, including said noble's entire family line.

  Elder Tegan put on a helpless look. "It was on the staircase between the sixth and seventh floors..."

  The enraged elder looked up at the energy projection that still stood before the tower, his eyes lingering on the two highest dots. Without a word, he shot downward and landed before the building's entrance with a resounding crash, the tiled ground fragmenting at his feet. He vanished like a fleeting dream, his aura disappearing along with his silhouette.

  "What does he think he can accomplish?" sighed Tems. "He can hardly reach the fifth floor."

  "He must have a method. He might be angry, but he's no simpleton."

  "You're getting soft, old man. You have too much faith in him." Despite his words, Tems hoped that Elder Jameson could get to the bottom of Drasin's sudden death.