I open my eyes, sighing with relief at my complete health. I flash a smile at Elder Yu as I walk over next to him and turn around to watch the next person walk the line.

A cloud passes overhead, shading the courtyard in darkness. Most of the students look to have regained their confidence after I passed across the line safely. Jing Xia catches my eye for a moment, but she looks to be lost in her own inner turmoil.

Once the sun comes back out, Elder Yu speaks, “Yu Guan.”

A boy of sixteen, one of the older disciples trying to enter the sect, steps forward. He bows to Elder Yu, his body language confident. “Elder Yu.” He greets calmly.

Despite his body language, I notice him start to sweat from fear as he approaches the line.

He studies the line for a moment, before glancing up at me. My crossing the line safely seems to put him at ease.

With one large step, he crosses the line. A breath of relief escapes him as nothing seems to happen.

My eyes widen as blue mist leaves the line, flowing towards the boy. He walks confidently towards us, not noticing the look on my face.

He turns around only to stop as the mist enters his body through his nose and mouth. He stands there frozen, before a loud snapping sound comes from his body. He falls to the floor, his eyes rolling up into his head.

A collective breath is held by the disciples as we study the dead boy.

“You were all warned.” Elder Yu says, waving to some nearby servants to pick the boy up. “And you may still refuse the test.”

I barely hear the Elder’s words as I stare at the dead boy. I had only seen death once before, at an execution in the imperial palace.

But this was different. This man had done nothing wrong before he crossed that line. Yet his life had ended just like that. It was so sudden. The man hadn’t even seen it coming.

I raise a hand to my neck, shuddering as I realize that the person lying on the ground right now could’ve been me.

The servants cover the boy in a white cloth, before carrying him out the gate and down the stairs.

“Da Qiao, you are next” The Elder says calmly, as if nothing strange had happened.

After the death of that disciple, four more requested to not take the test and one more was killed upon crossing the line, a girl this time.

In the end, sixteen out of the original two hundred disciples became inner disciples.

After the test, Elder Yu turns to us serenely, “As inner disciples, you will each receive four low grade spirit stones a week and a cultivation manual of your choice from the sect library. If you perform admirably within the sect, your rewards will increase. For now, Senior Disciple Wang will lead you to the inner disciple’s residence.” A scholarly looking boy steps forward, his body releasing a qi pressure higher than any of the disciples I had met during the test.

The Senior Disciple bows to Elder Yu, then turns to us with a curt “Follow me.”

We are led past the pavilion and through another gate. Gasps of surprise and amazement can be heard as we come upon the city-like sect. Men and women wearing the robes of the sect barter with each other at merchant stalls that reach beyond my sight. Two outer sect disciples bow to each other in preparation for a fight, while a ring of disciples around them place bets.

Spirit Beasts roam around, following the more powerful disciples as their companions and traders from various other sects yell out their wares, hoping to make a profit.

I stand there staring while the other disciples pass me by, following Senior Disciple Wang.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Elder Zhu says, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Elder Zhu!” I say, smiling up at him. He hadn’t been in that spot a moment before, but powerful cultivators like him are known to appear and disappear suddenly.

“Congratulations, Little Miss Lin. I knew that you would pass the tests.” Elder Zhu says, his eyes dancing with playfulness. “Now all you have to do is become the most powerful cultivator in the sect. I’m counting on you.”

I nod seriously, “You can count on me.” I frown as I study the elder closely “Where is it?”

Elder Zhu smiles playfully. “What could you be talking about?”

I put my hands on my hips, irritated with him. “You promised.”

He nods, “That, I did.” With a wave of his hand, my cloth-wrapped flute appears in his hand. As he does that, I notice a faint use of qi around a ring on his finger.

I happily take the flute back from him. “Thank you Elder.”

He pats me on the head, “Of course Little Miss Lin.” He looks up at the disappearing backs of my fellow disciples. “You’d best hurry along and catch up. I will make sure that your belongings arrive safely in your room.”

I run to catch up to the other disciples, then stop and turn around. I wave goodbye to Elder Zhu.

He smiles serenely at me, the other members of the sect creating a small space around him. I turn back around and continue to run to catch up with the disciples.

The Senior Disciple takes us to a large building with many empty rooms. I end up picking a room between Jing Xia and one of the other rare female disciples. Senior Disciple Wang gives each of us a jade bracelet that he says are our “keys to the sect”.

As I enter my room, my joy disappears. This is my new home. And I won’t get to see papa for a very long time.

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I look at the bed, where my inner disciple robes wait for me to put them on. The robes are blue, with white lines going down the sleeves. The flowing design of a river on the cuffs of my sleeves mark me as an inner disciple of the sect.

I push the robe aside and fall onto the bed, cuddling with my flute as tears well up.

I sniffle as I rub my eyes with my sleeves. “You’re an idiot Jia Lin.” I whisper to myself “Always crying too. You won’t ever be a strong cultivator if you cry all the time.” I laugh at myself as I rub my eyes with the blanket under me.

A knock on the door interrupts my self pity. “Sister Lin? I was wondering if you wanted to come with us to the sect library. We should pick out a cultivation manual before they’re all gone.”

“One moment!” I call out, wiping my face with the blanket on my bed. Then I hurry to put on the sect’s robes.

Taking a glance at my flute, I wonder what I should do with it. I don’t feel safe leaving it here. After a moment of indecision, I grab it and place it in one of the long pockets of my robe. It fit perfectly.... “Thank you Elder Zhu.” I whisper clasping my hands together.

I open the door to Jing Xia and another girl. I stiffen as Sister Xia immediately pulls me into a hug. “You poor girl. Everything is ok now.” she says.

“Sister Xia. You’re squishing me.” I say quietly, but I still bury my face in her shoulder.

“Sorry.” She responds, amusement in her voice as she doesn’t loosen her hug one bit.

After a second, she moves away from me, “Do you feel better now?”

I nod.

“Good, this is Senior Sister Ming Lai, She is staying in the room next to mine.”

Ming Lai bows to me in greeting, her strange purple eyes studying me carefully “Junior Sister Lin, it is good to see a talent such as yourself joining our sect.”

I bow, studying her in return. She wears the clothes of an inner disciple, the fact that she refers to me as an Junior Sister makes it clear that she has been in the sect longer than I have. Her brown hair flows in a ponytail across her right shoulder and she stands confidently on the balls of her feet, like the warriors that worked under my father.

“Senior Sister Lai, I’m sure that I am no more talented than any other disciple. I am merely lucky.” I respond, remembering the etiquette that had been drilled into me since I could speak. Humility and respect, the cornerstones of etiquette, according to Da Shi.

“Luck is a talent in and of itself.” Senior Sister Lai responds. She smiles, breaking the atmosphere. “I told Junior Sister Xia that I would show her to the library, we should be on our way.”

I nod and we soon leave the building.

Sister Lai easily leads us through the streets of the sect, the outer disciples making way for the three inner disciples. “You are new to the sect, and there are some things that you must know if you wish to survive the years to come.” Sister Lai says as we walk “There is a ranking amongst the inner disciples, the higher your rank, the more rewards you receive. The only way to get higher in rank is to challenge a disciple ranked higher than yourself. Do you understand?”

“I think so.” Sister Xia responds, while I just watch them mutely.

“Good, because at the end of this month, the Elders will post the rankings of the new disciples. If you are ranked too high, then expect to get challenged.” We arrive at the steps to a large building, at least four stories high.

I stare in amazement at the building, my eyes going wide.

“Fighting is not allowed until the end of the month, but once that ban is lifted,” Sister Lai steps in front of us, making sure she has our attention. “Be prepared for challenges from anyone; inner, outer and core disciples alike. Be careful of who you anger in that time.”

I look at her in surprise. She is acting very serious about these challenges, but they don’t sound like that big of a deal to me.

Looking at how important this is to her, I make sure to remember her words.

Who would I make angry anyway?

She leads us through the entrance to the sect library. A man sits at a desk that blocks the entrance to a pair of doors that lead deeper into the library. He calmly writes something down as we approach, not noticing us. The man doesn’t wear the normal sect clothes, but rather, a simple brown robe. He looks up as Sister Lai clears her throat in front of him.

“Yes?” He says, gently setting his brush down.

“Two new inner disciples are here for their cultivation manuals and their spirit stones.” Sister Lai says to the man.

“Bracelets?” He simply responds.

Jing Xia and I both hold up our arms showing him the jade bracelets we had received when we got our rooms.

He studies the bracelets for a moment before marking something down in a ledger. Pulling open one of the drawers in his desk, he pulls out two pouches, handing one to each of us. Then standing up, his figure slouching as so many scholars do, he opens the doors to the library for us, “You may have one cultivation manual from the first floor. You are not allowed to travel to the second floor without permission from a sect elder.” He says, not really interested in the words that come out of his mouth. “Please be out of the library by the dinner bell.”

Sister Lai bows to the scholar, Jing Xia and I following her lead. Then she leads us into one of the most breathtaking rooms I had ever seen.

Books everywhere. I had heard tales that the library of the imperial palace was large. But certainly, it could not compare to this. Even my father’s collection paled in comparison.

“Beautiful.” I whisper, barely noticing as Sisters Lai and Xia giggle at my amazement.

“Come on, you should probably close your mouth before you catch a fly in it. The Cultivation manuals are over here.” Sister Lai starts walking towards a section of the library, while Sister Xia is forced to pull me by the arm.

Sister Lai leads us to a corner of the library and sits down at a table. “You will have to choose from here. ‘The path you choose to tread, is your own.’ as my master would say.”

I walk through the shelves, unsure on how I should proceed. I glance down at Jing Xia, she immediately sat down and started looking through the cultivation manuals one by one.

I simply drag my finger down the spines of the books, waiting for something to call out to me.

Flowing River sect’s way of the rivers. Caught my eye, but it felt so… mundane.

The way of a thousand cuts. I frown, knowing that that wasn’t right.

The Rules of an Emperor. Ha. No.

The Twelve Notes of Fire sat right next to The Twelve Melodies of Wind, The Twelve Songs of Water, The Twelve Beats of Earth, The Twelve Ballads of Darkness and The Twelve Requiems of Illusion.

I stare at the Cultivation manuals transfixed, as my hand goes down to the flute hidden in the pocket of my robes.

Maybe…

But which one to take? All of them call to me in different ways, call to different parts of me.

I hold my hand over the Cultivation manuals, feeling for one that calls me over the others.

Taking a deep breath, I grab the one that I know I really want.

Then I turn it over in my hand, looking at the cover.