The sun, a benevolent eye peering through the gaps in the distant towering peaks, cast long shadows across the stone pathway leading to the main gate of the Skyward Lotus Sect.
Tian Hao, his robes more rags than silk, his hair a tangled mess, felt himself relax for the first time in weeks, as he finally crossed the threshold.
He had returned, changed. The weight of his exile and the strange encounter with Jiuwei had left its mark in ways he hadn't quite imagined. The journey had peeled away his layers of complacency, revealing that the unearned confidence of a pampered young master didn't stand up well to the hardships of life outside of the sect .
Tian Hao wanted to believe he'd emerged from the ashes like a reborn phoenix—if phoenixes were bedraggled, starving, and questioning every life choice they'd ever made. He tried to convince himself that he'd fought through trials that would have crushed lesser men. After all, he'd faced spirit beasts, endured the wrath of a celestial guardian, found his way through a hidden realm, and survived.
But was that really enough? He needed it to be enough. He had to think of it this way—he couldn't let all the pain and struggle be meaningless. He had to believe that, somehow, he was stronger for it. A strength he wasn't entirely sure he liked—because it involved far too much effort.
The familiar stone steps, worn smooth by the passage of countless disciples, now felt like a path not just back to the sect, but towards a deeper understanding of himself.
As they approached the sect’s main gate, a low growl reverberated through the air, a sound that resonated deep within Tian Hao's bones.
Lying in a regal pose near the entrance, his massive frame dwarfing the disciples milling about, was Baihu, the sect guardian spirit beast—a majestic white tiger whose black and silver stripes glistened under the afternoon sun.
His eyes, as sharp and piercing as twin moons, flicked to the approaching group with a curious glint. His ears twitched slightly when he caught sight of Jiuwei perched on Tian Hao’s shoulder.
Baihu rose from his position, his powerful muscles rippling beneath his pristine white fur.
Tian Hao felt a shiver of awe and a hint of fear travel down his spine.
He moved with a fluid grace that belied his immense size and power. Padding silently toward them, his keen gaze was fixed on Jiuwei, his nostrils flaring slightly as he sniffed the air, the subtle motion carrying an undercurrent of suspicion.
The other disciples, sensing the guardian's focus, quickly moved aside. They bowed respectfully as they created a wide berth for his approach.
"Tian Hao," Baihu rumbled, his deep voice resonating through the clearing, demanding attention. The air around them seemed to vibrate with the power of his words, the very ground beneath their feet trembling slightly. “What is this spirit beast you bring with you?” His gaze narrowed, his golden eyes fixed on Jiuwei with an intensity that made Tian Hao's breath catch in his throat. “There is something… peculiar about her.”
Tian Hao gulped, trying to maintain his composure under Baihu’s intense scrutiny.
The casual confidence he usually projected faltered, replaced by a nervous energy that made his smile feel stiff and unnatural. The weight of his punishment, the strange encounter with Jiuwei, and now the suspicion of the sect’s guardian—it was all a bit too much.
He cleared his throat, trying to project an air of nonchalance that felt forced and unconvincing.
“Oh, Baihu, this is Jiuwei,” he said, his voice a bit higher pitched than usual, a nervous tremor betraying his apprehension.
Tian Hao forced himself to smile, though his voice betrayed his nerves. "Oh, Baihu, this is Jiuwei," he said, trying not to stammer. The tiger’s gaze bore into him, and Tian Hao felt the weight of his own fear pushing against his composure. He had to show respect but not seem weak.
He cleared his throat, his eyes flicking to the fox on his shoulder. "She's, uh, a spirit beast I came across during our journey," he added, injecting a casual tone that even he didn’t believe.
Jiuwei's small body tensed against his neck, and he could feel her heart rate speed up.
He paused, fumbling for the right words, his gaze flicking nervously between the towering guardian and the small fox perched on his shoulder, before adding lamely, “She’s a little… full of herself, but she’s harmless.”
Jiuwei, sensing Baihu’s suspicion, stood taller on Tian Hao’s shoulder. Her tail floofed out behind her in a majestic display, her instincts demanding that she command respect.
“Harmless? Watch your words, mortal,” she hissed in Tian Hao’s ear, her tiny voice sharp and indignant.
She straightened, puffing up her small chest, her golden eyes meeting Baihu's gaze with a defiant stare.
“Do not mistake my form for weakness, feline,” she added, her voice trembling with anger and suppressed fear. “I am Jiuwei, guardian of realms, and you should consider yourself lucky I haven’t reduced you to a pile of smoldering fur!”
Baihu’s eyes narrowed, the amusement from Jiuwei's boasts tempered by a flicker of ancient recognition. For a moment, a vague sense of familiarity tugged at his mind—an instinct, perhaps, or something deeper, almost like an ancestral memory. He couldn’t determine if it was a true recollection or just a resonance with something long lost, but it unsettled him.
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He took another step closer, his massive frame towering over Tian Hao, his shadow enveloping him like a shroud. His nose twitched as he sniffed the air around Jiuwei, a low growl rumbling deep in his chest, the sound vibrating through the ground beneath their feet.
“Full of herself, indeed,” he murmured, his voice a deep, resonant purr that carried a hint of menace. “There is an ancient energy about you, little fox. One that does not belong to any ordinary spirit beast.”
He raised his head, his eyes narrowing further, his gaze intense. “I will be watching you, little fox. Do not forget your place.”
Jiuwei, despite her bravado, trembled slightly under Baihu’s scrutiny. Her tail retracting to curl tightly around her small body as though seeking comfort, her resolve partially crumbling under the reality of her millennia of confinement and the loss of much of her power. "Once, this overgrown tabbycat would have been mewling at my feet," she thought bitterly, the echo of her past power a painful reminder of how far she had fallen.
Tian Hao could feel the tension radiating from her, the fear that belied her earlier arrogance.
Despite his own apprehension, he reached up and placed a reassuring hand on Jiuwei's back. His touch was a gentle reminder that she wasn’t alone.
Tian Hao, his own heart pounding as the standoff continued, forced a nervous laugh, trying to dispel the tension that crackled in the air. “See? Harmless… in her own way,” he said, his voice wavering slightly as he stepped to the side, eager to put some distance between Jiuwei and the clearly displeased guardian.
As they moved past the entrance, Baihu’s gaze shifted, his eyes falling on Lin Mei with a sudden intensity.
The large white tiger took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring again as he sniffed the air around Lin Mei. His expression shifted from suspicion to something… deeper.
A flicker of recognition of something older, something more ancient, resonated in Baihu's eyes. It was as if he had caught the scent of a kindred spirit, a vague memory of a power he'd once known and a sense of what lay now beneath that.
Lin Mei stiffened under Baihu’s scrutiny, her heart pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs. The blood drained from her face, leaving her pale, her normally impeccable composure faltering as she fought to maintain her calm facade. The jade coin suddenly cold against her skin, inside of her robe.
She knew that something was wrong. She could feel the pressure of the guardian’s gaze, the intensity of his focus. The jade coin from the ancient well was now a tangible manifestation of the burden she carried, pulling Baihu's attention towards something amiss. She feared that her divided loyalties were laid bare under the ancient spirit's all-seeing eyes.
“Is there something the matter, Senior Baihu?” Lin Mei asked with a slight bow, her voice carefully modulated. Her tone carried an echo of the same trepidation she had felt from Jiuwei earlier, the familiar tone a small link between them.
“Have I caused offense?”
She hoped the formal address and the deference implied by her bow would appease the guardian, that it would be enough to deflect his suspicion.
Even though her every instinct now screamed at her to flee, she forced herself to stay. She should get as far away as possible from this ancient, dangerous being whose attention she could not escape.
Baihu paused, his eyes lingering on Lin Mei for a moment longer. The scrutiny was heavy, palpable, a silent exchange of energies, an acknowledgment of something ancient that was familiar.
“There is power in you, young one,” he said, his voice a rumbling purr that resonated deep within Lin Mei’s core. “A power that is both familiar and… unsettling.”
He tilted his massive head slightly, his gaze sharp and piercing. “Just… be mindful, disciple. The path you walk is not always the one you intend.”
With a final, almost ominous nod, Baihu turned away, his gaze returning to the entrance. His unspoken judgment echoed off the carved lotus petals, an invisible pressure that seemed to linger even after his words had faded. It felt as though the very stones of the sect’s entrance had become watchful eyes, her secret now weighing more heavily than the treacherous mountain passes they had traversed.
Lin Mei bowed again slightly, her earlier tension easing only slightly as Baihu's focus shifted, but the weight of the guardian’s words settled upon her, a constant reminder of the precariousness of her situation. As she turned to follow the others, she exchanged a quick glance with Tian Hao, a reminder of the trust that had been broken, his earlier query now echoing as an unanswered question that weighed more with each step taken on this all too familiar path back to what she could no longer call her sanctuary.
Yu Xian and Wei Lo, observing the exchange, exchanged uneasy glances before following behind. Yu Xian's eyes narrowed, her expression tight with suspicion, while Wei Lo's brow furrowed as if he were calculating the weight of what they had just witnessed.
Whatever had just transpired, the unspoken tension between Lin Mei and the guardian beast, the strange flicker of recognition—it was enough to make them both keep an extra eye on her. The earlier camaraderie of their shared journey was now replaced by a sense of caution, of duty to the sect.
Even if the Sect Leader’s son, Tian Hao, had become marginally more bearable, more capable than previously thought, the weight of what he had brought down from the mountains with him now settled over both of them.
Jiuwei, sensing the shift in the atmosphere, cast a sidelong glance at Lin Mei, her small, golden eyes narrowed slightly. She had recognized the scent, the ancient energy that Baihu had sensed—a familiar power, one that resonated with the shadows, with secrets and hidden agendas. She knew, with a certainty that transcended her current diminutive form, that Lin Mei's tale held much the Heavens had yet to unveil.
With the watchful gaze of the guardian beast fading behind them, the group moved forward.
Tian Hao, feeling the familiar atmosphere of the Skyward Lotus Sect settle upon him once more, took a deep breath. He forced a smile as if he could somehow dispel the tension from what had just happened.
“I think we made it past the first hurdle,” he muttered under his breath, giving Jiuwei a tired grin.
“Try not to antagonize the giant guardian tiger again, alright? Especially now, while he’s large and you’re… well, not.”
Jiuwei huffed, turning her head away as though the mere mention of the encounter was beneath her, though the tightening of her small, delicate paws against the fabric of his robe betrayed her earlier trepidation. “I would not waste my energy on a glorified guard cat,” she snapped, though her voice lacked its usual bite.
Lin Mei, walking just behind, let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Her earlier panic had settled into an almost ice-cold calm, a stark contrast to Tian Hao’s attempt to reclaim some normalcy through jest.
She had avoided detection, or at least, she thought so—but Baihu's words echoed chillingly in her mind. The Iron Talon Sect’s demands now weighed heavily upon her. Each rustle in the trees lining the pathway seemed to echo Baihu's warning, and every distant bird-cry amplified the uncertainty of what might come, turning what should have been the comforting return home into something far more menacing.
Her gaze flicked to Tian Hao, her eyes meeting his for the briefest of moments before she looked away. In that fleeting glance, Tian Hao saw something he’d never seen before—a flicker of fear, a raw vulnerability—that made his heart ache for her.
The comfort he'd once felt in her presence was now twisted into something more complex. He could sense the walls between them growing, the secrets that both weighed her down and threatened to distance her from him.
Despite this, Tian Hao knew one thing for certain: whatever storm was brewing within Lin Mei, he wasn’t about to let her face it alone.