Chapter 27 – The Inheritance Trial Opens

Ren stood beside his friends as they waited for the comet to approach the moon. The brilliant streak of red had blazed a path across the sky, visible even during the day. Now the moon was rising, and the hour drew close.

They were close to the rear of the large crowd. Amongst the last to become inner sect disciples, they had been stationed by strength and seniority. Only qi-gathering realm disciples were behind them.

Xi Yuan should be somewhere in the front. Surrounded by her doting senior brothers and sisters. She had come to wish him well but had to return to her place soon after. Beside him, a pale and wan Bao Hua asked him, “What’s the deal with you and that little sister? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when you become so meek in front of her. Were you two engaged or something?”

Mei Ling overheard and began teasing him as well. “I’ve noticed that too! Like a fish amongst dragons. A broken engagement would explain it! How scandalous!”

He knew his friends were just anxious and joking to lighten the mood, but he needed to make sure they didn’t accidentally spread rumors.

“Hey! Don’t just make up stories! Our families are friends, and we just grew up together as friends,” Ren protested.

He refrained from mentioning that they might have been engaged if circumstances had been different. But the Zhao family’s halcyon days were past, and his family knew their place. His defense even felt nostalgic, as he hadn’t used it in a very long time.

He was used to being called a toad lusting after swan meat many times in the past for just this reason. He had picked many fights and, as a young master, slapped plenty of faces to defend his pride. Until one day, some fool said something, but this time, Ren was beaten instead. Xi Yuan had happened on the scene where he lay with a smashed limb. That was the day he learned what true genius was and his ego had been pulped. Like that other boy’s body had been.

He still vividly recalled the scene where the tiny and delicate girl, two years his junior, turned towards him, blood flecking her smiling porcelain face, almost as if seeking his approval. Recalling the incident had never failed to make him shiver. The look of the boy’s parents, filled with grief and hate as they sought revenge at the Zhao family compound, had been unforgettable. They were promptly beaten and thrown out by Xi Yuan’s guardian. This was considered just in the martial world, where strength trumped all and where the Xi family was untouchable.

As a young Zhao Ren watched those parents swallow their hate helplessly, he felt the ache of his broken arm pale in comparison to their pain. Since then, he had sworn to change. He learned that insults were harmless and slapping faces wasn’t fun when you knew the person behind it had feelings and a life of their own. That defining moment had changed the course of his life.

“The Xi family ancestor was supposedly friends with my ancestor. But they thrived, and our family didn’t. She’s just my little sister now.”

Feeling that he may have brought the mood down too much, he instead teased them back, “With how quickly you jumped to fiancés, you two must have matches of your own! Do tell!”

Mei Ling, caught off guard, sputtered, “I did, but it was called off once I was found to have spirit roots. It was fortunate. He was a brat. My parents had been considering it because it would have been beneficial for the family business, but even they had started to dislike the boy in time. But his parents agreed to break the contract in exchange for some other benefits.”

She looked a little embarrassed as though she had shared more than she intended.

They simultaneously looked at Bao Hua. He just smiled and shook his head.

“Who would want to marry the second son of a poor farmer? I was just lucky that cultivator happened to pass by our village and found me. Now I can make sure that my family and all my younger siblings are well taken care of.”

Hearing that, Ren resolved to make sure his friend survived the trial. Mei Ling had broken through smoothly, condensing 9 drops since Ren had managed to warn them both before they went into seclusion. But Bao Hua had finished not 2 days ago with 8 drops, and his dantian was still damaged. Knowing that the start of the trial was expected to be the most dangerous as they faced the unknown, the two of them had decided to guard Bao Hua until he could stabilize his foundation. They may lose out on some benefits, but that was completely acceptable.

As they charged past the trees and the corpses of decimated beasts, weapons in hand, the moon grew increasingly red. The dim red glow was reflecting through the mist that had started to rise. As they advanced, Ren realized it was no ordinary mist, and the blood-colored haze kept getting thicker. The three of them drew closer and advanced more cautiously. It had become difficult to discern anything more than a hand’s length away.

The sounds were muffled so they could barely hear the cultivators around them, and the atmosphere grew more oppressive and grim. Even his improved qi sense failed to penetrate far. They huddled close, and their advance slowed considerably. After an unknown amount of time had passed, the haze started to thin. There was nobody else around them.

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The disciples had been warned about such a possibility. This was indeed a subspace, a lower dimension that followed different rules of space and time. It might have scattered them as part of the trial’s initial stage to prevent them from forming large groups. Even the rules of how time passed were different in lower dimensions.