The sword withdrew from position and in front of the two disciples, a man in disciplinary uniform stood. He had a long handlebar mustache and a long gruff face which gave his overall appearance a matching description of one being a part of the disciplinary hall.

The two disciples looked at their savior with tears in their eyes.

"Elder Pascal, I hope you have a proper explanation for this," he said with a stern tone, seemingly disregarding her status as an elder.

"This does not concern the disciplinary hall. I'm simply punishing these two disciples in regard to the sect rules," she said calmly.

"Are you kidding me? I saw you were about to destroy their spirit vessels, effectively rendering them cripples! If I hadn't been so close by, you would have ruined two promising seeds who could one day support the sect! Elder Pascal, I'm afraid without a proper explanation, I will have to report this to the sect master." His tone turned slightly coarse towards the end, as if expecting a reaction from her.

Pascal knitted her brow and her hand clenched slightly. However, she quickly calmed herself and took out a gray crystal. She tossed the crystal in front of the man.

Immediately, the gray crystal flashed, and a projection displayed itself.

It was a moving picture, starting from the moment Relic acted.

~ SHUT UP!

~ Ha, you're just a dog that's all bark and no bite...

~ I just don't understand, I'm more handsome... I guess what they say is true, the elder really likes them young...

There was a moment of silence between the two groups before Pascal continued: "As you can see, these two have disrespected not only my disciple, but also an elder of the inner court. According to the sect's bylaws, such disrespect is not tolerated. I believe the punishment for such an offence is the destructions of the spirit vessel followed by immediate expulsion from the sect."

The man drew a breath as he watched the projection and listened to her words. Such a bylaw indeed existed and was common in any sect. Every inner court elder was a pillar of the sect and deserved the respect of all disciples which fall under them. The bylaw itself was more common sense than a rule as no one would be stupid enough to disrespect a powerful elder to their face.

Rumors were one thing to but say such things in front of an elder was a death sentence. Since the creation of the Thunderstorm sect, there has never been a case where this rule has been broken... until now.

His eyes snapped at the two disciples, especially towards the one who had snapped the wooden charm. He shifted his gaze back to Pascal before lowering it to the gray crystal. The thought of destroying the evidence occurred in his mind but he quickly gave up on the idea.

I can't risk that she isn’t recording right now...

He tried to smile and said: "Punishment still falls under the jurisdiction of the disciplinary hall. Do not worry, as deputy of the disciplinary hall, I will deal with their punishment justly." He gave a quick bow before trying to leave with the two as there was no more leverage he could play. The two disciples had looks of elation as if they were suddenly saved from the devil's grip.

However, before they could get very far, her voice sounded again: "Wait a moment."

The man halted his steps and turned.

"Is there anything else, elder Pascal?" he asked amiably before his eyes suddenly widened.

In Pascal's hands were the two halves of the charm which the disciple had broke.

"Deputy, could you explain to me why I can feel your residual aura coming from these two halves? Is there perhaps a connection between you and that disciple over there?"

He shot a glace back at the guilty disciple who in turn, gave him a hesitant, unwilling gaze back. It was only a moment, but words were being exchanged in that moment.

Why didn't you destroy the charm immediately after notifying me?!

It isn't my fault! After I snapped the charm, she immediately threw us towards the mountain. I couldn't react at all!

Damn it!

The implications were dire. If she brought this back to the disciplinary hall and his supervisor found out he gave out a personal charm, it would look like he was playing favorites. As personnel of the disciplinary hall, it was his duty to be impartial and uphold the sect's laws. His position as the deputy of the disciplinary hall would be in jeopardy if such an item was brought before the head and all his hard work would be for naught!

He put his hands together as he rubbed them together and gave the biggest smile he could.

"Esteemed elder, I believe there might be a bit of misunderstanding here."

"Misunderstanding?" She played with the two pieces in her hand as she asked: "I'm curious. Even if you were close by, unless you saw everything that was happening, how did you react so fast? If you witnessed everything from the start, why didn't you react before I did? If you only happen to come across us by coincidence, you shouldn't have been able to react fast enough to block those beads."

"Ah-"

The man suddenly realized she must have known the moment that charm was broken that someone was going to save those two. That was why there were so many unnecessary movements. Had she wanted to, she could've shattered their spirit vessel the moment they appeared in front of her. There was no need to fling them away and attack them the way she did.

It was all to draw me out... Is this the 'dumb' sister everyone looks down on?

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

The man couldn't help but lament himself for getting involved and couldn't help but re- evaluate the person in front of him. Though few knew that the disciple who held his wooden charm to be his lover, it would end of his position if news got out.

He sighed and crossed his arms: "What do you want to keep this between us?"

"I've run low on funds. Give me half of what you have." She extended her hand.

"..."

The whole place went silent. Her bluntness was without hesitation and caught everyone off guard.

Shouldn't you mix your words and imply what you mean? Why would you extort my funds so directly?!

The man sighed but did not try to fight it. She had all the leverage, and it simply wasn't worth fighting her on it. He wouldn't dare to shortchange her while she was observing him. He took out a spare spatial ring and transferred half of everything he owned in value before tossing it to her. Pascal quickly checked the contents and gave a nod.

"You can go," she said.

"Umm, aren't you forgetting something?" He still gave a half smile while staring intensely at the two halves of the charm.

"I'll be holding onto these for now. Don't worry, I will keep it in my possession and not show it to anyone."

"I... you... I understand…"

He suppressed a few choice words he had and turned around in anger. Even after handing over half his fortune, he still got the short end of the stick!

He strutted to the two disciples and said in a huff: "Let's go!" He took to the sky and the two disciples followed closely behind, not daring to turn back to the elder.

As soon as they were gone, Pascal similarly sighed a breath of relief.

"I'm just not used to acting like that," she muttered to herself.

"Master, that was amazing!" Relic said excitedly. One could see admiration overflowing from him.

"It was nothing, anyone who wants to bully my disciple needs to know that there is a price to pay."

His smile beamed.

She laughed lowly and turned towards the mountain in which her immortal abode resides. "Come, it's been a while since we've talked. I want to hear all about your training these past few months. There’s also something I want to show you."

"Yes!" Relic placed the metal spear on his back before retrieving a different wooden spear which had been placed against a tree. He similarly placed it on his back before returning to her side.

They slowly ascended the mountain as they began to talk about the things that happened while they were separated.

Another three years passed…

At this moment, at the base of a mountain, a large cave was hollowed out and inside a young man stood in silence, spear in hand.

Darkness enveloped his every senses.

He did not make any sort of movements and only stood in place, perfectly still. Suddenly, his ears twitched at the sound of slicing wind. He quickly raised up his spear and sparks flew, briefly illuminating Relic's face which had now matured from his boyish years.

He swiftly shifted his position as another slicing wind breezed past him from behind. Having trained in the absence of light, his other senses were honed and refined as to act as his second 'eyes'.

Silence returned and he returned to his original position. He waited, making sure not be impatient and simply listened.

ZING!

ZING!

ZING!

A flurry of slicing wind came all at once. He quickly raised his spear, meeting every single attack. The force of these attack was not light, pushing him a back several feet with every successful block. He soon felt the wall against his back and that was when the attacks intensified. The attacks came from every direction, not giving him even a moment of rest. Yet, even under such intense pressure, he did not lose his cool. Instead, he continued to monitor the situation, finding the pattern of the attacks, judging the speed in which they come, and it was just then, an opportunity arose.

A slicing wind came at a horizontal angle, and he let go of the spear down while simultaneously ducking down. The crisp sound of the sword slicing through the strands of his hair could be heard but he didn’t stop.

His body leaned forward as the end of his foot caught the butt of the spear and he propelled the spear forward with a kick.

The slicing wind abruptly stopped but this was all he needed to counterattack. He grabbed the end of the spear just as it was about to leave his range of motion and immediately retracted it back to position. If others were to see this, it would come at quite a shock seeing the spear move so fast and indeed, for regular spearman, the greatest advantage of the spear also introduced a weakness in its range of motion.

Distance and power were exchanged for speed and rigidity. A spear cannot bend but a sword can curve and in battle, it was usually those who controlled the flow of battle who would win, not necessarily those with stronger attacks.

The sword has always been the favorite of weapons but those who dedicated to the way of the spear have all developed their own unique styles to combat the disadvantages associated with the spear. For Relic, his strengths laid in exchanging power for speed and focused on precision.

With only one hand, he trained three fingers to the utmost and could utilize it in ways others could not with their own fingers. Without any noticeable movements of his hand, the spear seemingly shot out by itself at incredible speeds. It pierced through the air but before it even extended out an arm's length, it was retracted back into position as Relic shot it out once again. In this, he was moving by his senses, reacting to the movements he could hear and predicting where the origin of the slicing winds would be rather than where they were.

Having gained a footing, his attacks sped up, his spears shooting out and retracting almost simultaneously and repeating at insane speeds.

His ears twitched.

His spear retracted all the way to the base of the spear head as the blunt end shot out behind him, hitting nothing. Without missing a beat, he thrusted heavily to the side but still did not connect with anything. However, this time, the spear did not retract and left his hand.

Clink!

The spear connected with the wall.

A snap echoed through the cave and one by one, light crystals lit up the cave.

"You got me with that last attack," Pascal said approvingly, her sleeve caught between the spear and the wall.

Relic stood at the center of the room; a piece of cloth wrapped around his eyes. Hearing her words, he exhaled. Black mist escaped his mouth and he collapsed to his knees. He panted heavily before suddenly coughing out some black liquids. Sweat quickly perspired out, soaking his clothes and dampening the ground beneath him. The black mist and liquids were a by-product of a body cultivation technique which allowed one to train their body at an exponential rate.

By performing this technique, doing strenuous movements, and holding one's breath, the impurities are jostled away and accumulate within the body which are then expelled when exhaling. While this technique does not sound too hard, the benefits and difficulties truly show when one can hold their breath for long periods of time.

At 10 seconds, impurities begin to accumulate, and you feel a tightness in your chest.

At 20 seconds, the entire body falls into a state of adrenaline. Your muscles begin to spasm and convulse as it is placed under heavy strain due to accumulated impurities.

At 30 seconds, under the increasing pressure, the euphoric high disappears and what's left is deep, continual pain as your body pleads you to get rid of the impurities.

At 45 seconds, everything feels like its own fire and the sensation of drowning overwhelms your senses.

At 1 minute, the mind is gone, perpetual pain is all that remains, insanity comes to those who are left. In extreme cases, some forget the ability to breathe, and it was not uncommon for many to die trying to reach this mark.

This was a technique not only physically demanding, but also mentally taxing. Regular people would find it hard to reach the 10 second mark and even cultivators would struggle just before the 30 second mark which was when the technique really began to take effect.

Relic was capable of lasting 41 seconds while simultaneously training, a feat not easily attained.

"Are you okay?" Pascal asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Her qi flowed into his body, healing him as it circulated.

Relic slowly regained his breath and nodded: "I'm fine. Thank you."

He slowly rose when suddenly, she stretched out her hand and touched his face. "Look at what I did..." Scars old and fresh could be seen all over his face, a result of near misses from her attacks.

Qi circulated towards his face and his scars slowly began to disappear one by one.

"There we go," she said with a smile. "But I'm not sure I can fix the damage I did to your hair."

Since entering the sect from a young age, he had never cut his hair and had simply tied it. Now, those strands laid on the floor.

"It's fine, it feels like a weight has disappeared from my head!" he laughed as he touched his hair only to quickly pull his hand away in pain.

"Ow!"

"Look at you, why didn't you say something earlier?!" She quickly took his hand which was swollen three sizes up, bleeding, and purple. However, even that paled in comparison to his three fingers which were borderline disfigured. She quickly began to circulate qi into his hand, slowly healing it but even for her, it wasn't something that would heal in a short time.

"You should've said something earlier. Had I known..." He had a tendency of overexerting himself and she worried there would be lasting damage.

Not wanting to worry her, he quickly said: "I wanted to continue because I knew I could handle it. Master, I can't cultivate well so the only way I can improve is by pushing myself to my limit. If I don't, I'm afraid I will only disappoint master."

"How could I be disappointed when that young boy I picked up so long ago grew up to be such a strapping man? Remember, no matter what, master will always be proud of you."

Relic's heart warmed; a feeling of happiness washed over him. While the other direct disciples broke through realms, only he remained a within the beginning realm, outpaced even by new outer court disciples. It was for none other than her that he worked so hard for he cared naught for anything else.

"Come, it's been too long since you've left this cave. I have something to give you."

"Something for me?" Relic curiously thought of what it could be as they left the cave.

Outside the sun was shinning bright and Pascal asked: "Relic, why haven't you taken off your blindfold yet?"

"My blindfold?" He touched the cloth on his head and laughed. "It's been so long I forgot I even had it on. Master, I think I'll head back into the cave first and get used to it fir-"

She ripped the bandage off.

"MY EYES! MASTER, I'M BLIND!" He ran like a headless chicken, all the while she chuckled to herself. Just because they had a deep relationship, didn't mean she didn't like having fun at his expense.

"Stop fooling around, I really have something important to give to you." She continued her way up the mountain.

With tears welling in his eyes, he pouted slightly but did not take it to heart as he followed her close by.