Yang Xiu was more than a little nervous because Master had left her and Yang Ru alone at a strange sect with no instructions other than to, “Have fun.”

“Esteemed Master Cultivator,” she said to Kang Ya-Ting, “this lowly one and her brother are a bit lost as to what to do. Please guide us.”

“Oh, so this one is your brother? You look quite similar in age.”

She cupped her hands. “Yes, Esteemed Master Cultivator. These lowly ones are twins.”

“Enough with that Esteemed Master Cultivator nonsense. Your master and I are friends. You can call me Elder Kang.”

“Yes, Elder Kang,” the two chorused.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” The elder said with a grin. “Let’s begin our tour of the sect grounds.”

He was much nicer than Yang Xiu had expected him to be. Master was quite casual and nice once you got to know him, but from the stories, other cultivators weren’t like that. Of the two higher level ones she’d encountered, though, both were actually pleasant. Maybe the stories were wrong.

As they walked, Elder Kang pointed out many buildings and what their purpose was. The grounds in Sixth Flawless Flowing City were miniscule compared to the sect’s main location, so they only had three pavilions onsite—alchemy, arrays, and martial.

The elder called these three the core pavilions necessary for any sect. Alchemy provided cultivation aids that healed, directly provided qi, cleared meridians, and assisted with breakthroughs. Arrays aided in defending the sect grounds, increasing qi density, and many other benefits that were too countless to name. And of course, the martial pavilion was where sect members learned how to fight.

He turned to Yang Ru and said, “Don’t judge the sect on the performance of Pan Jiang. He’s a bit of a special case.”

“Of course, this lowly one will not do that, Elder Kang.”

“So, twins you say. How you came to be Chao Su’s disciples must be an interesting story.”

Without giving it much thought, Yang Xiu told the elder an abbreviated story of how the two were forced out of their village and how Master saved them and taught them to cultivate.

“You’re, what, fifteen now?”

“Yes, Elder Kang,” she said. “Though our birthday is coming up in a couple of months.”

“Oh, so you’re coming up on having been with Chao Su for two years?”

“Oh no, Elder Kang. These lowly ones met Master less than five months ago.”

“I see, and you’re at, what, the fifth minor realm or the sixth?”

It was at that point that Yang Xiu realized that the man might be trying to get information out of her that Master wouldn’t want known. It would be rude to not answer his questions, though, and she had no talent at twisting the truth like Master did.

For an instant, she considered trying to turn the speaking duties over to her brother, but Yang Ru would likely be even worse than her.

“Sixth, Elder Kang. Is that fast or slow?”

“Assuming you’re near the peak of sixth, extraordinarily fast.”

The man was definitely pumping her for information. He clearly knew exactly what realm they were in, including that they were nearing break throughs.

Okay. She had to come up with a reason for their fast cultivation. What would Master prefer him to think—that the two of them were supremely talented or that Master has the ability to raise average disciple up quickly?

Given the whole discussion about recruiting and the fact she’d foolishly revealed how they met Master, it felt like the elder finding out how talented they were would lead him to believe Master had a way to determine potential. She guessed that Master would prefer the elder not come to that conclusion.

Of course, Master wouldn’t have left her in such a situation if he didn’t have confidence in her. Or if he didn’t care all that much what the elder found out. But that didn’t seem right.

She was so confused.

Well, the only thing she knew for a fact was that, even when something that felt like it was bad happened, Master was able to make things turn out just fine. All she had to do was her best and report the truth back to Master when she next saw him.

Feeling much more confident, she said, “This lowly one is gratified to hear Elder Kang say that. These lowly ones didn’t have anyone to compare ourselves to.”

“You two must be quite talented. Did your master ever tell you what rank your spiritual roots were?”

Time to lie her butt off, which felt wrong but also right. She thought Master would approve.

“Master said he didn’t have access to a … something?”

“A testing array?”

“Yes! That was it.” Yang Xiu smiled at him, feigning gratefulness. “Anyway, Master said that our talent didn’t matter to him. Apparently, the cultivation method Master gave us was so good these lowly ones would be able to use it whether we were supremely blessed or … gutter trash.”

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“Heaven grade?”

“This lowly one wouldn’t know, Elder Kang, but Master said the method would make it easy and quick for us to advance, especially with the pills he gave us.”

“Qi condensing or meridian cleansing?”

“I apologize, Elder Kang, but this lowly one doesn’t know. Maybe both. These lowly ones did not ask.”

The elder hmmed. “Taking too many pills can be dangerous. You can ruin your cultivation base.”

“With respect, Elder Kang, but without Master, this lowly one would be a concubine of the man who had our parents killed, and my brother would be dead. If it serves Master’s purpose for us to advance quickly through the first major realm before stagnating, we will still be better off than we would have been.”

“That is a good point. Your master is lucky to have such loyal and diligent disciples.”

“If it helps ease your concern, Elder Kang, this lowly one does not think Master plans on our cultivation being anything less than the best he can help us achieve. Master apparently has no small amount of expertise in using pills to advance cultivation.”

“That may very well be the case. Your master is a man of many talents and much mystery.”

Yang Xiu would have let out a relieved sigh if she weren’t concentrating so hard on schooling her expression.

The last place on their tour was the martial pavilion, where Elder Kang turned them over to another elder, on old man with the name Pan Cai. His family name immediately put both the twins on alert.

“Greetings Esteemed Master Cultivator,” the two chorused.

“Elder Pan is fine.” His voice was stern, and he stared at each of them appraisingly in turn until settling on Yang Ru. “Are you the one who beat up my cousin?”

“The duel was fair, Elder Pan,” Yang Ru said.

The man laughed. “I know. I was just kidding. You did us all a favor by knocking some sense into the kid’s head. Would that it sticks this time.”

The twins looked at each other, Yang Xiu’s saying, “Is this guy for real?” Yang Ru’s replied back, “I guess?”

“Anyway, let’s get on with what you came here to do,” Elder Pan said. “Starting with the young man. What is your realm and what techniques do you use?”

The two looked at each other again, Yang Ru’s saying, “Is it okay to answer?” Yang Xiu’s replied back, “That’s sensitive information, but Master told us to do this, right?”

“Qi Gathering minor realm six, Elder Pan,” Yang Ru said. “My main technique is combat fundamentals of spear use, which I have advanced to Mastery, and I have recently started learning one for stone skin, which is still at the Small Success stage.”

“I see. And the young lady?”

“Same minor realm, Elder Pan. My main technique is fundamentals of the bow, which I have mastered, and I have been working on a perception technique for a moderate amount of time, having only advanced it to the Small Success stage.”

She hated to admit that failure, but honestly, she was having a hard time with the new technique. After doing so well with both weapons, she had thought herself something of a genius, but to her chagrin, the newest one had disabused her of that notion.

“Excellent. Truly excellent,” Elder Pan said. “You both have a strong foundation in weapon arts. Mastery at your age is to be commended. And either you or your master chose well for your secondary techniques.”

The elder had each of them demonstrate their strength, speed, agility, and weapon skills against wooden dummies.

“Excellent,” he said when they’d finished. “You both truly have mastered your respective weapon techniques, and those techniques must be very high quality. Your moves are much better than I would have anticipated for your age, as was your qi usage. Not many of my students are a match for you in efficiency or quantity available.”

The twins were somewhat disappointed by the elder’s pronouncement.

“Is there no one for us to spar, Elder Pan?” Xan Xiu said. “Master really wants to see us in a challenging fight.”

The man laughed. “Oh, I didn’t say that none of them can challenge you. Fear not, I have your measure and think I can scare up an opponent or two. If your master wants to see you have to go all out to win, he will not be disappointed.”

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

Kang Ya-Ting marched into Dai Shuren’s cultivation room, eager to share information about his latest encounter with Chao Su and his disciples.

“Yes, please come in, Elder Kang. Thank you for knocking so politely and then waiting to be announced, Elder Kang.”

He chuckled nervously. “Apologies, Elder Dai. I got a little too excited about my news.”

“Well, don’t keep me waiting, then. Report.”

“According to the girl, she and her brother are both at the peak of the sixth minor realm and have been cultivating less than five months.”

“Five months to reach the sixth realm?” she said. “Surely, the girl was lying. That’s three months faster than even our most talented sect members.”

“Possibly. My spiritual sense placed her at the peak of the sixth realm, so that part was definitely truthful. The part about the five months is a lot less clear. She didn’t appear to understand that the information was important until after she said it. It felt like a genuine slip of the tongue.”

“A-ranked talents then? How did he find them?”

Kang Ya-Ting nodded. “Exactly my thoughts. She says he randomly encountered them in the woods. She also says her advancement is solely due to Chao Su’s easy and fast cultivation technique and his expertise in giving them pills.”

“How plausible is that?”

“Well, the technique he gifted us was heaven grade. It’s definitely not out of the realm of possibility that he had access to cultivation methods of a similar quality. Note that it would definitely be methods plural, though. My sense tells me the boy cultivates a fire-based method and the girl an ice-based one.”

“Did he raid a Heavenly Tier Sect’s library?” Dai Shuren said. “How could one man have access to so many treasures?”

“It does give even more credence to him being at Nascent Soul or above.”

“Unfortunately, you’re right,” she said. “We still can’t draw any definitive conclusion on whether he has access to a way to test spiritual roots, either.”

“With all the techniques and cultivation methods he’s carrying around, it makes sense that he has something like the orbs we carry around to recruit at the remote villages. The girl didn’t mention anything like that, though. Further, she claimed Chao Su didn’t care one way or the other. And you’ll remember that he’s assured me that those two boys he recruited here in the city can swear on a truth stone that they haven’t been tested.”

“Which means either he truly doesn’t care if they’re trash…”

“Or he has a way to determine the quality of one’s spiritual roots without the person knowing,” Kang Ya-Ting said.

“Should we put a hold on approving the two young people he wishes to leave the city with him?”

“Honestly, I’ve never even heard of that kind of ability. We might be projecting a little too much power onto him. His story for how he encountered both of the boys checks out. One worked for a gang keeping an eye on Chao Su until he turned the kid. The other dreamed of becoming a blacksmith but was working in a shop selling weapons. Chao Su apparently needed someone willing to learn how to craft with spirit wood and took advantage of the opportunity.” He shrugged. “Maybe he wants them for exactly the reasons he stated.”

“You’re probably right. No sense looking for a fantastic explanation when a mundane one will do.”

“Exactly. Even if he had that ridiculous ability, what would be the odds that two boys he happens to run across are supremely talented?” Kang Ya said. “And even if they are D or C or even B, we lose nothing by letting him have them.”

“Agreed.”

“The good news is that I have one way to check at least part of the girl’s story. Chao Su has asked for access to the alchemy shop tomorrow. We’ll see then if he truly is an expert with pills.”