Li Jian, sat in his meditation room.

He closed his eyes, and concentrated on his breathing.

With each inhale, it felt like the world grew.

And with each exhale, the world shrank back.

Li Jian looked into his dantian and at the white crystal.

‘I have to figure out how to unlock the rest of my memories… But I guess I don’t need to rush for now.’

So far, Li Jian's memories were almost completely unlocked except for a few specific details that seemed hazy.

Li Jian stood up, grabbed his cloak of invisibility, and then left.

---------------------------------

When Princess Bai sent out an order to all of the inner sect disciples searching for clues to return back to the sect, many disciples were confused.

Arriving back at the sect, the disciples soon learned the mission had already been completed.

Many were jealous, and very few were impressed.

To think a new inner sect disciple, one who had began in the outer sect, had triumphed.

Questions began circling as disciples wondered what the S rank mission reward was, but this information was disclosed.

However, rumors began spreading that he had received a sect treasure.

“Madness! An S rank award was a treasure of the sect?!”

“I know right?! I was so close to finding some clues too! It could have been mine!”

“Ugh, maybe this Li Jian will be willing to share it…”

“How strong is he?”

“If I recall, he’s only a 6th level.”

Greed suddenly clouded the eyes of many inner sect disciples who were in the 7th level.

---------------------------------

Li Jian walked along the trail looking for a quiet place to relax.

Finding himself a large, drooping tree, Li Jian sat beside it and closed his eyes to resume meditating.

Lost in his consciousness, he began thinking of Xiu’er.

Her beauty and loveliness made him happy, yet depressed.

The leaves of tree bristled as the wind breezed through.

Li Jian continued to reminisce..

‘I am alone in this world right now.. But I will find you, my Xiu’er.’

The wind caressed Li Jian’s face, as he wept silently.

Time flowed by, and the sun had already sunk.

“Hey.”

Being awoken to the sound of a girls voice, Li Jian opened his eyes.

“You’re Li Jian right?”

“I am, and you are?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am, but you’re in my spot.”

“Huh? That’s kind of rude to not introduce yourself, isn’t it?”

Adjusting his eyes to the dimly lit light of dusk, Li Jian looked at this girl standing in front of him.

This was the girl who Li Jian had seen one night sitting atop a tree.

The same girl who had also been at the library.

“Well I guess it doesn’t matter who you are, but this spot doesn’t belong to anybody.”

“It does - it belongs to me.”

The girl stood strong, yet stubbornly, acting as if she wouldn’t move until Li Jian left.

“As I recall, I saw you once at the library and sitting on top of a tree one night.”

“Are you stalking me?”

The girls eyes grew wary as if she was looking at a potential predator.

“No… it was just coincidence.”

“If you stalk me anymore I’ll cripple your manhood.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“You know what, I’m actually on my way out. You can have your spot!”

‘This girl is weird! Better to not associate myself with her any longer.’

Li Jian began walking away from the tree and the girl.

However, five shadows surrounded Li Jian instantly.

“Li Jian, hand over your treasure or suffer.”

Looking closely, these were five inner sect disciples in the 7th level.

“Greetings fellow disciples, but tonight I’m quite tired and will be going home now.”

Li Jian smiled and attempted to walk away.

The five disciples looked insulted.

“A mere 6th level chooses to act like this towards us?!”

“Attack!”

Li Jian sighed.

Activating a small amount of spiritual power into his fist, Li Jian jumped up aiming his fist at the ground.

“I truly don’t feel like fighting today.”

“Spatial Fist.”

Li Jian slammed his fist into the ground knocking down all five disciples.

When the disciples were knocked down, Li Jian activated his cloak of invisibility and disappeared.

“He’s in the 7th level! Who said he was 6th?!”

“We still have the advantage in numbers!”

The five stood up and looked around, but Li Jian wasn’t there!

“Where is he??!”

“He ran?! God damn coward!”

---------------------------------

Sitting next to the tree, the girl watched the whole interaction.

“Spatial..?”

---------------------------------

Li Jian walked home silently.

He arrived home shortly and walked in after opening the door.

From Little Bei’s perspective, she had just witnessed a door open and close.

Frightened, Little Bei screamed.

After a quick second, Li Jian deactivated his cloak in front of Little Bei.

Seeing Li Jian pop up in front of her out of thin air, Little Bei passed out.

‘Oops.’

Li Jian carried Little Bei to her room and put her to bed.

After doing so, he walked to his own room and went to sleep.

---------------------------------

In the morning, Li Jian woke up to the sound of loud yelling.

“LI JIAN, COME OUT!”

Slowly waking up, Li Jian and Little Bei both arrived at the door.

“Little Bei, go back to your room I’ll deal with this.”

Li Jian opened the door and saw a tall and muscular disciple.

“Li Jian, I, Song Shun, challenge you.”

“Challenge?”

“Since you’re a new inner sect disciple, you don’t know. All inner sect disciples are allowed to challenge others. The challenge cannot be denied.”

“Okay, so what is the purpose?..”

“I want whatever you received from the S rank mission.”

“But you don’t even know what it is… I could just say it was 100 contribution points, how would you know?”

“I won’t know, but if you’re a respectable person you won’t lie.”

‘This guy’s an idiot…’

“Fine, what do I get if I win this challenge?”

“I’ll be putting forth my interspatial ring.”

‘An interspatial ring!?’

“You probably don’t know what it is since you’re new, but these rings can fit items within the space that it holds. Mine is currently a low-quality one, but it can still fit 10 backpacks worth of items!”

“How are we settling this challenge, Song Shun?”

“We’ll be dueling tonight at the arena.”

“Tonight? Isn’t that kind of soon?”

“I tried looking for you yesterday for this challenge, but you weren’t home. I've already booked the arena...”

“You could have just left a note or told my maid??”

Song Shun stood there with a puzzled look on his face.

“I guess I could have done that hahaha! Oh well, tonight we fight!”

With that, Song Shun left.

‘In this life, I won’t be able to rest for even a day…’

---------------------------------

Word spread about Song Shun’s challenge to Li Jian rather quickly.

“Song Shun is risking his interspatial ring!!”

“Such a rare and expensive item! There aren’t even that many disciples here who have one!”

“Song Shun is at the peak of the 7th level, there’s no way Li Jian will win.”

“I heard Li Jian’s made it into the 7th level.”

“What?! Him reaching the 6th level was already crazy, but he’s a 7th level now?!”

The hype continued to grow, and many disciples looked forward to the fight.

---------------------------------

“Li Jian we’ll be watching your fight!”

The trio had rushed over to Li Jian’s house the moment they heard of the fight.

“These inner sect disciples think they can just step on big bro like this! Wait until we’re stronger.”

“Calm down brothers. I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity.”

Li Jian smirked.

The three looked at Li Jian with confusion.

“What do you mean by opportunity Brother Li?”

“I’ll show all of the inner sect just who I am!”

The trio looked at each other with lingering worries on their face.

“Song Shun is at the peak of the 7th level, Brother Li, you have to prepare well. There’s only a few hours left!”

“Don’t worry about me and enjoy the duel!”

---------------------------------

The arena was a giant colliseum with a single platform in the center for duels.

Tonight was the night Song Shun and Li Jian would be fighting.

Almost all of the seats had been filled to watch this spectacle.

When the crowd settled into their seats, an elegant, but beautiful woman walked onto the stage.

“Good evening disciples, I will be bearing witness to tonight’s challenge.”

The moment this woman walked up, the whole crowd became riled up.

“It’s Princess Bai!!”

“Princess Bai is here for this challenge?! The S rank reward must be incredible if she’s here to supervise!!”

“The challenger, Song Shun, will be fighting Li Jian tonight.”

At this moment, Song Shun walked up onto the arena.

At the opposite end of the arena, Li Jian entered.

“Song Shun will be offering his interspatial ring.”

“Li Jian will be offering his S rank mission reward; 10,000 contribution points.”

The crowd grew silent.

“Did she just say 10,000 contribution points?..”

The jaws of all disciples dropped to the floor.

“10,000…”