A heavenly scent wafted to Yang Xiu’s nose. Her stomach rumbled. “Am I hallucinating or is someone cooking a pig?”

Ru’er sniffed the air and immediately stopped walking. “You’re not imagining things.”

She started forward and made it several steps before she noted that her brother hadn’t moved. “What are you waiting for? Maybe they have enough to share.”

“It’s a trap. It must be.”

“Or… it’s the second miracle.” Yang Xiu grinned back at him. “Come on, silly. Let’s go.”

They exchanged glances. Ru’er’s said that she was being foolhardy, rushing into danger. Xiu’s told him she’d prefer to die in ambush than to slowly waste away due to starvation. Besides, she refused to give up on her belief that there were still good people in the world.

He sighed. “Fine.”

With the smell of a campfire and cooking propelling her onward, the trees and bushes on either side of the trail seemed to fly by, and when she finally rounded the last bend hiding the food from her, it exceeded her expectations by far. A full boar was roasting over a fire with, of all things, an apple in its mouth. A pot of rice cooked to the side.

Yang Xiu froze. Either her second miracle truly was being delivered by the heavens or someone had heard her earlier comments. In the quiet of her mind, she admitted she sometimes indulged in flights of fancy, but the current circumstances went way beyond the bounds of her credulity.

Her eyes darted about, landing on a figure standing still and quiet beside a tree. The cultivator.

She immediately cupped her hands and bowed low. Beside her, Ru’er did the same thing. To do anything else, risked death.

For a moment, no one spoke until, finally, she said, “This lowly one greets Esteemed Master Cultivator.”

A second later, her brother repeated the greeting.

“Rise, please. Make yourselves comfortable. Lunch will be ready shortly.”

She again exchanged glances with her twin, hers saying, “Does this situation feel as weird to you as it does to me?” and his agreeing with hers completely.

Two small logs set up in front of the fire were obviously meant to be used as seats, and Yang Xiu led the way to them and sat. Her brother followed.

Hunger gnawed at her stomach, and having food so close to her, meat sizzling and absolutely amazing smells inundating her, was torture. She didn’t move a muscle though. Neither did Ru’er. They kept their posture stiffer than when their grandmother had taught them the etiquette of tea ceremonies. Of course, a misstep with a cultivator would carry a far greater consequence than a hand stung with a switch.

While she otherwise didn’t move, her eyes followed the man around the campsite. His every movement was personification of gracefulness. Each step he took had purpose. Each flick of his knife carved out a perfectly cooked piece of pork. And soon, a plate of food was set on a stone in front of her.

“What are you waiting for? Eat.”

Even without his command, she would have had a difficult time holding back. With it, she abandoned all pretense of reserve, tearing into the meal.

When she looked up, her plate empty, the cultivator grinned. “There’s plenty for seconds, but it might be better to let that rest for a bit. Besides, we have much to discuss.”

She let out a breath. The man had saved their lives, killed their enemies, and staved off their starvation. It was time to find out the cost for his largess.

“First, let me introduce myself.” He briefly dipped his head slightly, showing much more respect that she felt warranted given the difference in their stations. “I am … Chao Su, a wandering cultivator of sorts.”

She wondered at the brief hesitation but not for more than an instant. If he were giving her a false name, that was his business.

It was the siblings’ custom to have her take the lead in social situations and Ru’er when there was danger, so again she bowed low—a gesture made more difficult by being seated on a log—and cupping her hands. “This lowly one is Yang Xiu, Esteemed Master Cultivator.”

Her brother introduced himself right after in the same manner.

“Obviously,” the man said after Ru’er had finished, “I want something from the two of you.”

Her chest tightened at his words. Beside her, her brother tensed.

“I suspect I can guess what might be going through your minds at this moment given your experience with that arrogant young master. I can assure you my intentions are wholly different than that cretin’s. What I will request of you is, above all, honorable.” The cultivator hesitated for an instant. “I wish I could tell you that my request will be less onerous, but I cannot truthfully make that claim. I can say that, should you accept my offer, there will be many benefits to offset the bad.”

The siblings looked at each other. “What is he talking about?” Yang Xiu’s look said. Her brother had no idea either.

“Let me make one thing crystal clear. I am making an offer to you. You may accept my offer or refuse my offer. I know that you saw me kill two mortals in cold blood.” The man frowned. “Honestly, I do not like killing. I especially do not like killing those who are so much weaker than me that they pose no threat whatsoever. I swear to you on my honor as a cultivator that, should you refuse my offer, I will not harm you in any way.

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“I realize, however, that I still hold much of the advantage in making my request. I saved your life. I fed you. You are thinking that each of these actions on my part carries debt.”

Yang Xiu nodded almost unconsciously. She and her brother owned the cultivator.

“Do you, mortals, control the actions of me, a cultivator?”

“Of course not, Esteemed Master Cultivator.”

To him, they were no more than worms.

“I did what I did for my own reasons. There is no debt. For you to claim debt is to claim that you control my actions. Do you make that claim?”

“No, Esteemed Master Cultivator,” the two said in unison.

“Good.”

Yang Xiu had read many stories of mortals encountering cultivators. Those were mostly fiction and involved the characters being elevated to heights untold. Most real stories involved either the mortals being ignored or coming to a quick and very bad end.

None of the stories involved the cultivator carrying on such an unusual conversation.

“The obvious question that must be on your minds is,” the cultivator said, “what could I possibly want from two lost, penniless, powerless mortals?”

Yang Xiu found herself nodding again without having made a conscious decision to do so.

He gave them a brief overview of the ranks G through S and how common, or uncommon, each were.

“You, Yang Ru, are a B+. Yang Xiu, you are an A-,” the man said. “To make this as clear as possible, you two have extraordinary potential as cultivators. Any sect, barring ones that focus only on specific qi aspects, would take you. Many would immediately elevate you to inner sect members.”

The siblings looked at each other, shocked.

“Most sects are made up primarily of Qi Gathering and Foundation Establishment cultivators as just about anyone can achieve the former and it doesn’t take much talent or resources to break through to the latter. Core formation is where things get difficult. Most D-rank cultivators and a lot of C-ranks hit a bottleneck and never break through. Even A and B ranks aren’t guaranteed, but your chances are so high that it’s worth it to a sect to invest resources into you.”

He paused. “Do you understand your value?”

Though both were stunned, they each bowed in ascent.

“Good,” the man said. “Now, you’re probably wondering how powerful I am.”

Yang Xiu had the good sense not to react to that prompt even though she was dying to know.

“I am definitely not an immortal.”

Yang Xiu’s face heated. She was mortified he’d heard her silliness.

“Simply put,” he said, “I’m barely further along on my cultivation journey than the two of you are, only four minor realms higher, and you haven’t started yet.”

Despite her best efforts to hold her face expressionless, her jaw dropped.

“Go ahead,” he said. “Make your comment.”

“But your speed, Esteemed Master Cultivator. How could you be only slightly more powerful than us who were weaker than the men you killed?”

“That’s because I have years of experience in using qi. Up until very recently, I was much farther along on my cultivation journey and had clear skies ahead of me. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, my cultivation was reset all the way back to zero after an encounter with a demonic cultivator.

“I nearly died, but I later happened upon an opportunity that left me with advantages that, to the best of my knowledge, no one else has.”

Yang Xiu’s eyes went wide. It was just like something from a story.

The man shrugged. “Such things happen occasionally. In a cultivation world, anything can, and does, occur. It is the job of a cultivator to make the best of what they are given, and honestly, what I was given makes the loss of my previous cultivation a small sacrifice indeed. In the short term however, it is possible, even likely, that the two of you could surpass me in cultivation realm.”

He took a deep breath. “My request to the two of you is for you to join me as my personal disciples. I want to create my own sect, which will both make the most of the new advantages I have received but also convey some of those advantages to my sect members.”

Yang Xiu bowed low. “If you will have me, this lowly one will join you, Esteemed Master Cultivator.”

“This lowly one will also join you, Esteemed Master Cultivator,” Ru’er said.

The man sighed. “Hmm. Your reaction concerns me. Are you both too rash? Neither of you considered my offer for a literal second. This is a huge life decision.”

With an effort, Yang Xiu held her tongue. If there was one thing she’d learned from all those stories, it was that one did not speak back to a cultivator.

“Speak, child,” the man said to her. “I can tell you’ve got something on your mind.”

“This lowly one has nothing to say, Esteemed Master Cultivator.”

“You’re saying I’m wrong?”

Fear gripped Yang Xiu’s heart. Her tongue, her cursed loose tongue. She’d insulted him.

She inched away from her brother. Perhaps whatever energy the cultivator used to scour her from existence would spare her brother.

The man sighed again. “I swore to you that I would not hurt you. Please believe me that my honor would not allow me to go back on that vow. Just speak what’s on your mind.”

How was it possible that he really wasn’t going to kill her even after she’d insulted him? In the stories…

But she wasn’t living a story. She had to face what was actually happening to her.

“This lowly one apologizes, Esteemed Master Cultivator. It’s just that these two lowly ones are likely to die on their own. These lowly ones do not know where they are or where they’re going, and they don’t have the food or resources to continue. What choice do these lowly ones have? Esteemed Master Cultivator is throwing a rope to two who are drowning.”

“If I were to offer to give you rations and set you on a path that wouldn’t lead you to sure death from spirit beasts like the one you’re currently on, how would that affect your decision?”

“If these two lowly ones joined you,” Ru’er said, “what would be expected?”

“Good. An actual question. Finally.” The cultivator smiled. “In answer to you, young man. I expect you to cultivate. To learn. To grow strong. You two will become my sect’s protectors. I fear I cannot offer you peace. Your lives will revolve around combat.”

The siblings exchanged a look. “I couldn’t even protect myself from a single spearman,” Ru’er’s said. “How am I supposed to become the protector of an entire sect?”

“You’re not,” Yang Xiu’s said. “We are. Together.” Her eyes flashed with excitement.

“Look,” the man said, “you really have three choices—join me, join a sect, or stay as far away from the cultivation world as you possibly can. If you join me, I will do everything in my power to get you to the Nascent Soul realm and even higher if possible. I completely lack in some resources that even the most minor of sects could provide you, but I have other resources I will spend on you that other sects would consider heavenly treasures only suitable for the most esteemed of recruits. If you join some other sect, you’ll be given as many pills and cultivation aids as you can use, but the competition will be fierce. You honestly may not survive the experience. But you may not survive protecting my sect, either. Your best bet may be to simply find a farm somewhere and try to avoid cultivators until your dying day.

“Right now, it’s like two roads are diverging into a wood, and you must choose which to take. And no matter what choice you do make, your lives are forever changed."