When I was sure both were in deep sleep I carefully got up and moved to the window — the outer disciple quarters sat on the lower slopes of the mountain and from here I could see the sect spread out above with training yards lit by lanterns, pavilions and the inner disciple areas, everything peaceful and quiet.

  I focused on my cultivation and very carefully began circulating my qi — not trying to cultivate, just encouraging the natural healing process of the damaged meridian. The pain flared immediately through my whole body and I bit down on my tongue to keep from making noise, it was foolish but I kept going, just enough to start the possibility of recovery without being obvious. For a few minutes I continued and then that was all I dared.

  Then I stopped breathing carefully. "F*** this is too.. haah.. haah.. painful," my chest felt like it was burning as I struggled to steady my breath — but suddenly my senses caught something. A presence.

  Its gaze was fixed on me and I didn't move nor did I look directly at the source — just stayed still pretending I was simply standing by the window looking at the sect. The presence didn't move either and we stayed like that for several long seconds.

  I turned slowly toward the window — for a moment I saw nothing, just darkness and the faint outline of trees beyond the courtyard. Then a small movement happened and a small figure pressed against the wall just below my window, not an adult but a child. I moved closer peering down and the figure stumbled backward, losing its balance.

  "A little girl?" Maybe twelve years old wearing expensive-looking robes — silk with fine embroidery. Fallen onto the grass she stared up at me with wide eyes.

  I opened the window quietly and leaned out. "What are you doing out here?"

  She scrambled to her feet but didn't run — just stood there frozen like a kid caught stealing.

  "I... I wasn't..." she stammered.

  "It's the middle of the night," I said quietly. "Does your family know you're wandering around?"

  Her expression shifted from fear to defiance. "I'm not wandering. I was just... looking."

  "Looking at what?"

  "At the sect. At night — it's different when everyone's asleep." A rebellious child sneaking out. I glanced back at my roommates who were still asleep as Zhang Kun snored lightly.

  "You should go back before someone finds you," I said.

  "Are you going to tell?" she asked — her chin lifting slightly, challenging.

  "Should I?"

  "No." She crossed her arms. "I'm not doing anything wrong. Just walking."

  "Really, your parents might disagree."

  "My father's always meditating — he doesn't care what I do." Her father. The way she said it, that casual assumption that mentioning him meant something, told me he was important, probably someone with status — an elder maybe.

  I studied her more carefully now as she stared back at me with unusual intensity — not the normal wariness I'd expect from a child caught doing something she shouldn't but more like curiosity.

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  Her eyes narrowed and glowed slightly.

  "You're strange," she said suddenly, my stomach tightened. "What?"

  "You feel strange, like..." she frowned, struggling with the words. "Like you're there but also not there — like you're wearing someone else's face."

  What the — was she influenced by the villain aura? How, she was just a child… right then her eyes glowed again and I instantly noticed.

  "Do you have special eyes?" I asked carefully — her defiant expression cracked slightly as surprise flickered across her face. "How did you know?"

  Of course — some kind of spiritual sight, a talent that lets her perceive beyond normal senses. I needed to be even more careful around her since she could look right through me. "I could tell," I said calmly. "Well you're not the only one — there are many who are like you."

  This was called Innate Ability and people believed it was a gift from the heavens — because while a cultivator needed to absorb natural or spiritual essence these ability holders could create it on their own, for example those eyes holding that same phenomenon of generating essence within themselves.

  ****

  She took a step closer, curiosity overriding caution. "What are you? You look normal but you are already dead."

  "Hah, why are you talking like that? " I said.

  "Shut… shut up, let me concentrate." She shook her head. "I've seen people who've suffered — your eyes feel hollow but you're hiding something."

  Too perceptive.

  "Sigh…You're right," I said quietly. "I am hiding something."

  Her eyes widened. "What what?"

  "A tight slap."

  SLAP.

  She was stunned, but I again gave her another tight slap.

  SLAP.

  Immediately her eyes filled with tears but before they could fall I jumped out of the window and grabbed her wrist pulling her back toward the elders' quarters — I knocked on one door and a servant opened it confused and half-awake.

  I told him as I pointed at the runaway cat that had been outside this midnight. Wandering alone.

  The servant's face changed and he nodded pulling her inside as I let go of her hand.

  Before leaving I gave her one last look but now she didn't look at me with those cursed eyes — (heh.)

  Then I returned and went back to my bed. Tomorrow was morning training, my first full day in Clouded Peak Sect and time to start playing the long game properly. The sun rose quickly, just too quickly.

  Wei Feng woke first stretching and yawning then Zhang Kun followed. "Morning training starts in an hour," Wei Feng said. "You should get ready." I nodded and got up.

  We went to the communal washing area — a large room with basins and cold water where several other outer disciples were already there cleaning up before training. I washed quickly then followed Wei Feng and Zhang Kun to the training yard.

  It was a large open space on one of the lower terraces where maybe a hundred outer disciples were already assembled standing in loose rows, all wearing the same plain robes.

  An instructor stood at the front with a stern-look on his face and the aura he was radiating, maybe on the Core Formation.

  "Line up!" he barked.

  Everyone scrambled into formation. I found a spot near the back, trying to be unobtrusive.

  The instructor's eyes swept over the group and stopped on me.

  "New disciple?"

  Why my luck, I cursed in my mind

  "Yes, Instructor. Fu Yang."

  "Can you keep up with basic training? I heard your cultivation is damaged."

  Every head turned to look at me.

  Great. Everyone now knows already.

  "I'll try my best, Instructor."

  He grunted. "Fine. If you can't keep up, step aside. I won't have you slowing down the others."

  " Yes.."

  Training began and physical conditioning came first — running laps around the yard, push-ups and combat stances held until muscles burned. It was brutal, designed to push Body Refinement and Foundation Establishment disciples to their limits.

  But I was at the Foundation Establishment. Even with damaged meridians, my body was stronger than most of these outer disciples.

  I kept up easily. Maybe too easily.

  After physical training came martial drills — basic combat forms and footwork, and this was where my new manual came in handy as the knowledge was just there with my body moving through forms I'd never physically practiced.

  Sometimes I had to actively make mistakes looking like someone barely trained instead of someone with perfect technique.

  "Fu Yang!" the instructor called. "Your stance is wrong. Feet wider."

  I adjusted and made it sloppy.

  "Better. Keep practicing."

  Around me other disciples were struggling genuinely and making real mistakes while Zhang Kun and Wei Feng were near the front — both in quite good form, probably trained since childhood.

  Training lasted three hours. By the end, most disciples were exhausted—Ready to collapse.

  "Dismissed!" the instructor shouted. "Outer disciples have free cultivation time until evening lectures. Use it wisely."

  Everyone dispersed with some heading to meditation rooms and others to the library or personal quarters

  Wei Feng approached me. "Not bad for your first day. I thought you'd struggle more with damaged cultivation."

  I only smiled.

  "Want to eat together? The outer disciple dining hall will open soon."

  "Sure."

  Right then, Zhang Kun walked past us without a word, heading somewhere else.

  Still I followed Wei Feng to the dining hall — a large building with long tables and simple food: rice, vegetables and some meat. We ate with several other outer disciples and most of them ignored me but a few asked basic questions — where I was from, how were my days, that sort of thing.

  Halfway through the meal, suddenly someone sat down across from me, but at first I ignored it but when I noticed surprised expressions on the faces of disciples in front of me.

  "Mm?" I turned to look, "Su Ling!"