Mei Ahn felt like she was being singled out. And she thought she did not like being single. However, she was too young to know for sure. She began to walk over to senior disciple Lu to ask him why she was not allowed to decide the life of a man like the others. However, unexpectedly, it was her master who told her to stay and cultivate. And wait. For the first time in her life, she felt aggrieved. But she did as she was told and cultivated. She was close to reaching the Core Formation stage and at her age she would be heaven-defying. If she could reach it within the year. So she cultivated, reluctantly.

Elder Fang shook her head at her only disciple’s attitude. Mei Ahn was as talented as the others in this group but she was still much too young. However, Chyou Fang wasn’t sure if she had the aptitude. Sometimes talent wasn’t all that was necessary to ascend, it required a certain mindset. She knew she didn’t have it. But she was sure heaven’s chosen sons and daughter definitely did. And if they didn’t, Disciple Lu would make sure they would, especially after this trip. She waited for the others to come back as she contemplated what their future would look like.

Tian Lu was meditating. Or it looked like he was meditating. He had gotten extremely good at faking much of the process in cultivating. His qi control was astounding and he could mimic the stillness of meditation as well as the rise and fall of cultivation. His talent for faking was truly unrivaled under the heavens. He too waited for his junior disciples to come back from the forest. He didn’t wait long as he saw his junior disciple Mi Rang come out from the depths of the woods. The other two followed with solemn looks on their faces. And Tian Lu knew it was time.

He looked at the remaining ambushers as they waited for judgment. Mi Rang came closer, and junior disciple Daiyu and Gong Chang also rejoined the others. Tian Lu sighed. He knew it was time. He knew it more now than he did before, a mere moment ago, that the time was now.

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He moved closer to the group and started kowtowing. The disciples were shocked. His junior disciples hurriedly tried to bring their senior brother to his feet. Gong Chang had an incredulous look on his face. He thought this seemingly haughty disciple would never bow, even to the heavens, but here he was, kowtowing to him. He kind of enjoyed it, even if he did not know why.

“I apologize for deceiving you all.” Tian Lu started as he still remained on his shins and knees. People often forget, the shins were very much involved in kowtowing, most literature only mention the knees. Even when kneeling, the shins were a part of it as were the toes, but these things are rarely mentioned. Never in fact.

“We are all in a formation. That I asked for.”

Disciple Daiyu and Rang were making confused faces. Gong Chang was still enjoying seeing this disciple on his shins, knees, and toes. Mei Ahn started figuring out where the strange feeling she was feeling was coming from.

The two ambushers were replaced by lights and disappeared. Elder Fang sighed and Elder Wei shook his head.

“I had asked Elder Fang and Sect Master De to create a formation in order to let you experience something that all cultivators must go through. Life and death is a part of cultivation. I wanted you to experience that before we entered the competition. I had hoped you would be able to make the decision, to decide the worth of a man, now, before you truly had to. I beg for your forgiveness.”

Tian Lu remained with his head, another often important but left out part of kowtowing, on the ground. Like the ambushers before, he too waited for judgment. But unlike the ambushers, this was real. To him.