Yu’s master lowered the flying sword, and all around them Yu saw more beasts than she could count. They were landing, hovering, and gliding both toward and away from the central island. They were all waiting for their opportunity to land and let off their charges or leave after having done so.

On the ground, Yu could see orderly lines leading to numerous tables with prospective students being spoken to. She also saw an occasional colored flash of a partial God Sign at the tables and figured that must be students proving their identity and cultivation stage.

Her master bypassed the beast landing area and the lines of disciples to fly directly toward a group of older students wearing black robes with red seams and edges instead of Yu’s white. They were supervising and giving directions to the many others who appeared to be registering the applicants.

He stopped and lowered the sword so that it was floating just above the ground. One of the students, a young man with dirt-brown hair in a very short ponytail and green eyes, looked livid and stomped forward, screaming, “What in the nine hells do you think you’re doing? Get your ass back to—”

Yu figured it was at this point that the student must have seen the golden-garbed man standing at the front of the sword. His madman visage was back, and he looked around as if fascinated by what was going on.

“Sect leader!” yelped the young man. Then he knelt and all the other students did the same. Then a sort of wave happened, and the hundreds of prospective students did as well. Yu heard a lot of whispering taking place, and while the words “Sect leader” were the main ones spoken, a few others were being uttered too, including “Who’s the girl?”

Well, there goes my anonymity.

“Yes, yes,” her master said. “Who are you again? Never mind. I don’t care. This—” He looked to his left and saw no one. “Well, what are you doing back there, you nincompoop? Get up here!”

Yu picked up Bai’s basket and scrambled forward. “I’m sorry, Master.”

“Shut up.” Then he asked Yu, “Where was I?”

“You were introducing me and giving instructions, Master,” Yu answered.

“Yes, thank you. Now, didn’t I tell you to shut up? Get off my sword this instant!”

Yu leaped off and landed smoothly, not jostling Bai.

“You,” he said, pointing at the previously angry boy. “Whoever you are, this is my personal disciple. Get her started and do it by yourself. Immediately.” Then he turned in a circle and said, exasperated, “Where did you go now?”

“I’m down here, Master,” Yu called back up. At this point, she heard some laughter and muttering.

“Well, what in the hells are you doing there? I was supposed to introduce you! Oh, never mind!” Then he looked around and seemed baffled. “Where was I going?”

“Home, Master. Up to that big island, way up high?”

“Ah, yes. Well, goodbye, whoever you all are.” Then he and the sword vanished into thin air. No sound or light. Just there one moment and gone the next.

Yu shook her head and turned to the older boy who was supposed to help her. “Umm… Hello. I guess I need to register for the test or tests or whatever?”

All the students were standing again and were now staring at Yu. The young man cleared his throat. “Yes. Right. Let’s get you registered. Follow me, and we can send you through to the testing.”

A pretty young female student in the same black and red robes with curls of ocean-blue hair down to her shoulders stomped up to the student who was helping her and said, “She should go to the back of the line, Wong Jai.”

He looked at the girl like she was mad and asked in a whispered hiss, “Are you insane? That’s the sect leader’s personal disciple.”

Yu said nothing, waiting to see what happened.

“Who cares?” the other girl spat back. “He’s probably already forgotten about her. Look at her. She’s just some bumpkin child he picked up off the street. Can she even cultivate? For all we know, she’s a mortal.”

Wong Jai gave a chop of his hand and responded firmly, “It doesn’t matter, Bao Jun. He told me to do it myself, and I will follow instructions from the head of our sect.” Then, turning to Yu, he said pleasantly, “Follow me, please.”

Yu bowed to him. “Thank you, senior.”

Bao Jun’s beautiful dark eyes narrowed, and she glared at Yu the entire time she followed Wong Jai. As Yu passed by her, she muttered, “Verger filth.”

Yu wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be able to make it out or not. The disdain that came with the words was obvious to her sensitive ears. Yu ignored the term for those who lived in cities on the edge of human-controlled areas, having been warned that she would be viewed as lesser than those who were from the center of the Empire.

Personally, Yu found it insulting and unreasonable to be negative toward those who defended the edges of human-controlled land. It was her family and those like it that kept the demonic beasts at bay so those in the center of the Empire could enjoy their peaceful lives.

Yu was shaken out of her bitter thoughts when Wong Jai stopped, which forced her to also stop, lest she run into him. He had taken her to a table out of hearing distance from the others and set a jade tablet on top, which he pushed toward her.

“I see your master has already given you your badge,” he said, looking at Yu. “You can just tap it against the jade to speed things along. We do this to verify age and cultivation stage. Nobody above twenty-two or below Meridian Formation with a single meridian open can apply to join.”

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Yu nodded and removed the medallion from her outer robe, tapped it on the tablet, which glowed white, and then reattached it to herself.

That’s handy.

He picked the tablet up and looked it over. He blinked at it, at her, and back at the tablet.

“Are you—” Then he stopped himself, coughed, and straightened his back. “Welcome to the Black Dragon Sect.” He tapped his medallion on the tablet, and it emptied itself of whatever it held and was blank once again.

“Thank you, senior,” Yu said with a bow.

He pointed to the other side of the flat area. “If you step over there, you will see a large group of registered students. Feel free to join them and await instructions for your testing.”

Yu turned around and, carrying Bai in his basket, did as instructed. The nearby part of the registration area appeared to be set aside for flying beast mounts as she saw huge stables and perches in caves all along the tall walls. Large buildings Yu would call barns in her city but which were many times larger and more involved had students running in and out of them, carrying various implements for feeding, cleaning, and otherwise caring for demonic beast bonds. Some of the pens she could see were filled, some not. Yu wondered if her brother had housed the heron she had given him there.

She whispered to Bai while watching the many disciples do their various beast care-related duties, “Someday, you and I will fly on something like that too.”

In her distraction, Yu had not realized someone had been behind her, and she was shoved forward as a sneering voice said, “Not likely, bumpkin.”

Yu stumbled forward and barely grabbed Bai out of his basket just in time before the basket clattered to the ground and tipped on its side.

What in the hells?

“Watch where you’re walking, you blind fool!” Yu snapped to the back of a boy with extremely short white hair in outer sect disciple black and white, walking away with long confident strides.

He stiffened and turned around. A smooth but older teenage face, likely eighteen or nineteen, glared at her, his complexion reddened and brown eyes narrowed.

“What did you say to me, peasant?” he hissed.

Yu glared right back. Her parents had warned her to keep a low profile if possible, but there was no way she would allow anyone to risk Bai.

“I said, watch where you’re walking, you blind fool. Perhaps you have both hearing and sight problems?”

His clenched fists burst into crackling red flames and steam rose from his head. Interestingly, the fire was pure red with no yellow or orange.

Looks like someone’s got a short fuse.

She raised an eyebrow at him, waiting to see if he would make a move.

“Gutter trash like you shouldn’t be here,” he growled.

“As opposed to you?” Yu asked. “A blind and deaf boy with control issues. How did you get in anyway? Did Daddy make them take you?”

The fire around him sparked and sputtered. Yu could practically hear his teeth grinding.

“See? Control issues,” she said sweetly. Then she leaned down, picked up Bai’s basket, and concluded with, “I don’t think they can solve your problems here,” before walking past him. She watched him out of the side of her eye as she walked past in case he did something foolish, but he just continued to breathe heavily and stare.

Yu sighed and continued on per her instructions from Wong Jai. She had already been called a bumpkin and a verger. Yu was curious how the pair even knew she was from the verge. She shrugged and decided to ignore them, at least for now.

It took Yu only a few moments to find the mass of young teenagers she had been directed toward. There must have been close to fifty in this group, and she found boys and girls of various sizes, shapes, colors, and confidence. As she had feared, every single one she saw looked older and larger than her. She had never been very tall and had long since gotten used to looking up at people. Some of her fellow disciples were obviously a good bit older, twenty or more, and a few were on the younger side, maybe sixteen or seventeen. The majority appeared in the middle.

Taking a deep breath, she joined the swarm of students and was quickly surrounded by people taller than her. Yu tried to keep her distance so as not to bump into anyone. Unfortunately, someone did gently jostle her shoulder, and she shifted, looking her way. It was a girl on the younger side. Barely seventeen, if Yu had to guess. She blushed and whispered, “Sorry,” in a soft, high-pitched voice.

Before she realized she had done it, Yu held her hand out and called, “Wait!”

The girl flinched and whispered, “Sorry,” again.

Yu wasn’t sure why she had done it, but she put her hand down and said, “It’s okay. Umm. Hi. My name’s Fenghuang Yu.”

She figured that now that she had started a conversation, she might as well try to see if she could make a friend.

The girl blushed red to her ears and spoke while looking at her feet. “Gui Ai.”

Yu smiled and said softly, “It’s nice to meet you.”

The girl peeked up through her eyelashes, and Yu took a better look at her. She was wearing the obligatory black and white outer sect robes, had long white hair down to the middle of her back in a pair of braids, and bright blue eyes. Her lips were rosy red, and her skin tone was hard to figure out under the blush. She was also at least a head taller than Yu.

Not really sure what to say, Yu asked, “Umm, are you nervous too?” The girl nodded quickly. Yu let out a breath. “Oh, good. I thought I was the only one. I’m actually terrified. This is my first time away from home.”

The girl spoke so quietly Yu could barely hear her over the bustling of the surrounding youths. “Me too.” It was almost a squeak.

“Do you want to maybe stay together for a bit?” Yu asked, feeling herself blush. “My parents told me it gets easier in a sect if you’re not alone.” Thinking of something that might help make a connection, Yu held up her basket and said, “This is Bai.”

Bai opened his multi-colored eyes and looked at Gui Ai. She gasped and her hand lifted slightly, but then she let it fall.

“He’s beautiful,” she whispered.

“Thank you,” Yu responded with a smile. “You can pet him if you want. Just be gentle. He’s still very young and small, as you can see.”

The quiet girl tilted her head up slightly and glanced at Yu, who nodded encouragingly. Yu’s new friend – at least she hoped so – raised her hand again slowly and placed it gently on Bai’s head. She then rubbed the mostly black fur, and Bai closed his eyes. After a moment, the tiny cat yawned a toothless pink yawn and laid back down.

Gui Ai giggled. “He’s so cute.”

Yu smiled and was about to speak, but they both jumped as they heard a loud clapping sound echo throughout the area. Gui Ai stepped closer to Yu, as if to hide behind her, even though she was taller. Yu gently patted her arm and then turned to see who had made the noise.

A young man, who had to be in his mid-twenties and was wearing black and red robes, was standing on a raised platform Yu had not seen before, being shorter than everyone else.

“My name is Inner Sect Disciple Chung Jin,” he called to the group. “We don’t waste time here, so let’s start. This is the final day for applicants and you are all brand-new nobodies, so shut up and listen; what I am about to tell you is actually important. What you lot are wearing are enchanted robes made of a special spider silk we produce here and are affinity-neutral, meaning they won’t burn or melt or freeze or whatever your particular thing is. As you can see, mine are red, yours are white. Figure out what that means if you’re intelligent enough.

“And that’s it. I’m not wasting any more time on you until you are official sect disciples. Only the best are welcome in this sect, which means nearly all of you are too weak or lack potential and are going to be sent back to wait for transportation out. Hopefully, it will be all of you, and I can return to doing something actually important. Follow me and I’ll take you to the testing so you can fail and I can go home.”

Yu agreed with one thing he said at least.

They really don’t waste time here.