Shi Jin had listened to what the old man that those disciples around him called master had to say. His thoughts where quite clear. If the Flaming Phoenix Blood Jade would appear here it would either be a great opportunity or a giant callamity. He looked towards his fellow disciples and while he had a smile on his lips in truth he was ridiculing them. Who of them had seen the cruel part of the world? Who of them had wandered in the jiang hu? He outright dismissed them. They would have to show if they could take the pressure. Only a tempered blade could be useful in battle.

Shi Jin looked to the master of this sect. Most likely the old man would have to shoulder this all alone. Maybe master would help him. The old man had atleast some friends, that could help him a bit. But everything had a price and Master wouldn’t help someone without any gains. That atleast was his perspective.

Just as he wanted to stand up the voice of the sect master reached his ears. A private talk? That could be both good or bad. Had he been seen through? Now with a crisis at hand maybe the old guy had looked with sharpened senses around this isle to see if someone had planted spies and seen through him. Shi Jin calmed his heart and took a deep breather. This was no time to panic. If this master truly wanted to catch him he could do it anyway, regardless of him trying to run away or not. All those distracting thoughts where cast aside as Shi Jin stood up and went to the master.

“Junior greets master. How can this lowly disciple be of service?”

As always he acted in a humble respectful manner. Whatever the old man wanted he would soon find out. To hide his emotion Shi Jin had went as far as controlling his heartbeat. Since this method was one of the basics to being a spy Shi Jin had learned it for this mision his true master had given him.

The Master observed his disciple with amusement hidden deep in his eyes. “Come,” he said, leading the young man to his study. He sat at his clean desk, on which lay a beautiful snowy white scroll and calligraphy utensils, while Shi Jin stood at attention before him.

“Child. Your Master will be coming to this island, of course, along with many others.” The white haired man took up his brush, dipping it into the pitch black ink on the inkstone. “Ah… no need to get into a panic, boy. SuChen told me himself. That bastard hadn’t visited me in thirty years and suddenly sends me one of his disciples. Heh. He must be getting senile.”

His brush touched white paper, moving like the flying of a dragon. The end result said thus - “The wise are not puzzled, the benevolent are not worried, and the brave are not afraid.”

“No worries. I wouldn’t do anything toward SuChen’s disciple. Well, as long as you don’t take action against myself or my kids.” He placed down the brush, leaning back against his chair. “He’s got such an eye for things.” A hearty laugh with eyes that did not shine coldly. “Child, if you let your ambition control you, then you won’t be able to get any further on your path to immortality. Stepping on the corpses of others while laughing? A pipe dream. Well, you should figure things out on your own. Dismissed.” His smile, that once only appeared gentle and profound, now held what appeared to be a tinge of dark aura in the eyes of Shi Jin, sending shivers down the disciple’s spine.

Shi Jin looked around the study while he entered and took note of the calligraphy utensils. He himself was quite skilled at it and even went as far as using it for the usage of some of his laws. His nervousness was well hidden since he had hoped to get away scot-free but as soon as the master began to speak his first words it became clear, that he had been dreaming all this time. Master Changming had told him…A part of him was disapointed but what could he do? Blame his master for not telling him? No, there was only himself to blame. Deluding himself to be able to fool a Becoming Like Changing Waves level cultivator.

The suprise quickly vanished aswell as the fear. This man had every right to kill him on the spot. That was the fate of caught spies but he choose to spare him. Soon his body language changed ever so slightly. Since he had been seen through what point was there to continue this farce infront of the master of the Cloudy Sky Sect? The shadows in the room began to deepen a bit, seemingly crawling towards him since Shi Jin didn’t supress the law of shadows surrounding him for the moment. The friendly and humble gleam in his eyes vanished and made way for a profound deepness to which weak minded people could lose themselfes just like to the fear of the dark. This effect was caused by the aspect of the law of corruption that corrodes ones mind combined with the law of shadows.

He had a sinister yet enticing air around him while he answered and instead of the humble and weak disciple a strong willed and proud man stood infront of the sect master. A will forged through the countless trials his true master had laid upon him as a core disciple.

“I wouldn’t dream of harming anyone in your sect honourable senior.”

Since he had been seen through there was no reason to call him master anymore.

“Even if I would have been able to fool you. There would never have been a way for me to harm you. And forgive me for saying it bluntly but most of your students are beneath my notice and the eldest disciple on the other hand would grind me into dust if I would dare to cross her. There would be nothing to gain in harming anyone here. On the opposite, people here have been good to me. You have shown me great kindness. And while I may have been foolish enough to think that I would be able to delude my masters friend, I owe honourable senior and this sect a dept of gratitude. Disregarding that would sow bad karma, even if I where to somehow survive.”

He bowed deeply towards the old man while his eyes held a bit of excitement. Regardless if the master had done it on purpose or not. His brush strokes had inspired him and the words he had said and written still resonated in his mind. This man had seen right through him. Had seen his ambition and his dreams. This reminded Shi Jin of Master Changming. A chill went down his spine as soon as he noticed the aura of the man in front of him. An aura that was different but resembled his master a bit.

The demonic disciple bowed before he turned to leave. As he was about to leave the study, his hands on the door he turned and asked.

“Will you tell your disciples about it or should I continue to act infront of them honourable senior?”

Since he had been seen through Shi Jin left it up to the master of the sect if he wanted to let his disciples figure it out on their own or not.

After receiving and answer to that he spoke slowly and more to himself, seemingly lost in thought.

“Master has sent me here to learn that not everything is black and white. I still haven’t seen what he meant by that. Is it just one of his many trials that mislead me if I ponder to deeply about it, or does it hold a deeper truth. All this time I have been thinking about why master send me here and still I have found no answer…”

Since Master Changming and this sect master knew each other and judging how this old man spoke about Shi Jins master so casually maybe he could enlighten him about it. He was debating whether to ask for guidance or not. Only a moment later did he notice that he had already spoken out aloud.

Even if he had acted calm on the outside, part of his mind still was in turmoil by being discovered and the look the old man had given had suprised him and sent his mind into disarray.

Fearing harsh punishment like master Changming would give any disciple of his that spoke more than allowed he immediatly kneeled down and kowtowed.

“Forgive me for speaking out of tact.”

The fear could clearly be heard in his voice and Shi Jin had the pictures of disciples who had been partially skinned or poisoned with parasites on his mind. Since the sectmaster had suprised him with the last look he had given him that even went as far as reminding him of master Changming, the proud disciple felt fear seep deep into his soul.

The Master raised an eyebrow at that. “Kid,” he said, crossing his arms together, cold gleam in his eyes. “On the road to cultivation, you can only create your own answers. If you are wrong, that is what the Master is for. I will say this, though.” His eyes turned sharp, as if able to see through everything, including the young man’s very soul. “Once you remove your doubts and shadows, what is left will be the answer you seek. Well, let’s just hope it isn’t the wrong one.”

He broke out into a smile. “Now I say it again. Dismissed.”

Once more a shiver went down his spine as the master seemingly saw through everything. Shi Jin knew that the old man in front of him may very well be able to shatter his soul and only after he heard him laugh and got dismissed again did he breath out again. He swallowed hard and thanked him for his guidance before he stood up and left the study, closing the door behind him.

Only after that did he break out into sweat. His heartbeat was racing and it took him a couple of minutes to calm himself again. This could have gone very bad and Shi Jin knew that the sect master had gone out of his way to give him advice even though he had not given him face at all since he had gotten here. On the contrary he had lied to the old man.

Now atleast calm again on the outside did he leave the premise and back to the hall. He had things to think about and because of that he suppresed the laws he had gained insight into again. The sectmaster would tell those disciples about him or not. That was not up to him anymore, but now was not the time to answer questions. He had to think about those brush strokes. They had struck a very delicate part of his consciousness.

When he arrived at the hall Shi Jin just said down at the exact same place and began to ponder about the sect masters calligraphy.

As An Da waited for the Master and Shi Jin to finish conversing, their worry grew and intensified. An artifact war, here? They couldn’t stand the thought of the Cloudy Sky Sect becoming what so many other sects had become in the past.

And what will become of me? they wondered, staring at the closed doors of the study. They couldn’t possibly fight - An Da had come so far, and going back to combat again felt like a waste of what little tranquility they’d learned (and they realized now, in the heat of panic, that it must be very little indeed).

To fight in a war would be to destroy themselves in every way. They couldn’t-

An Da looked up as Shi Jin entered the hall again, trying to smother their panic under the guise of what they were now - a manual laborer who preferred hard work to cultivation.

“Did it go well?” they asked mildly.

Just as he was about to sit down again Shi Jin noticed An Da speaking to him. As always he had a friendly smile on his lips and nodded. He had no qualms about lying to this man and no interest in telling him about what had just happened inside the study.

“Yes, the master wanted to speak to me about a small issue. It was not really related to the Flaming Phoenix Blood Jade. Don’t worry about that. Even if something where to happen it wouldn’t be you or us disciples taking care of it. This whole phenomenon is to big for some small apprentices to handle. You heard master. Other people will soon be coming. Let master handle it, and continue doing what you where doing. Just like master said.”

After saying all that he sat down again.

“Masters calligraphy gave me insight, so please only wake me out of meditation if anything mayor happens.”

Shi Jin could feel a breakthrough just out of arms reach, hence he did not want to be disturbed any further. He closed his eyes and was once again seeing the sect masters brushstrokes infront of his inner eyes.

An Da shrugged as the man sat down and turned towards the door. Whether or not Shi Jin had been lying, An Da knew one thing - they had to talk to the Master about the Jade.

They took a deep breath in, then knocked hesitantly on the door to the room, eyes cast downwards - the very picture of subservience. Making the Master angry was the last thing they wanted do - honestly, they would rather have gone straight back to war.

“Come in.” The man said, having replaced the scroll with some books, looking up to see the Wanderer who had settled in their small Sect. “What is it?”

An Da looked away again, suddenly at a loss for words. What were they supposed to say, really? Certainly not that they couldn’t fight, that wouldn’t earn them any favors. And asking whether or not the artifact on the island had been found also seemed like a rather impertinent question.

Still, they had to say something - it would be far ruder to disturb the Sect leader for no reason whatsoever, after all.

Their eyes flickered briefly to the Master before returning to the floor. “I-I’ve seen many a war over things like this,” they finally began, “and I don’t want that to happen to the Cloudy Sky Sect. Is there-“

An Da stopped, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. Of course there wasn’t a way to avoid the war, not if the Flaming Phoenix Blood Jade was in the Sect itself.

“-is there anything I could do to help the guests, however?” they found themselves finishing hastily. Maybe it wasn’t what they’d meant to say, but it definitely wasn’t the worst thing they could have said.

The Master knew An Da’s history. He also knew what the man had really wanted to say, but couldn’t bring himself to. He closed the book, setting it down on the smooth dark wood of the desk. There was silence as the pale haired man looked to the nervous child. It was better to give him something to do than nothing at all. But honestly, it was better for him to do nothing at all. Especially when it came to the guests. Those geezers weren’t so simple, and having An Da deal with them would not lead to anything good.

“Child, the only thing you can do now is cleanse your thoughts and sharpen your mind.” There was a faint sigh. “Sometimes taking no action at all is better than taking any action. All I can say is that you must be prepared. The Jade, the guests. They aren’t so simple.” He waved his hand. “Go ahead to the Tower and cultivate. I will permit it.”

An Da bowed their head solemnly. “Of course. Thank you, Master.”

They left the room, shutting the door carefully behind them so as not to disturb the meditating Shi Jin with any sound, and headed for the Tower. As much as they had avoided cultivating up until this point, some things simply could not be avoided.

Sooner or later, they’d have to face the things they were trying to leave in the past. It might as well be in a place of peace that they started.

Chou rose to her feet when the meeting came to an end. She knew that she should have left, but the issue with the Jade was still eating at her. Honestly, she just couldn’t let go of her anxiety. So she rose to her feet, awkwardly toying with her mallet for a few moments. Pursuing him was both reckless and disrespectful, but Chou couldn’t help her own ambition. She followed him silently from the Martial Hall, pausing outside of his study. This was– this was beyond audacious. Hopefully, he would respect her doggedness for sake of her hopes. She entered the study.

Chou folded her hands, taking a deep breath before approaching the Master. “Good day, Master-Shi.” Feigning confidence, Chou lifted her gaze, attempting to meet his eyes and settling for the bridge of his nose. “I have a few questions about what you told us today, if you don’t mind taking your time to talk to me.”

There were no words for how willing Chou was to dissipate into her boots, and simply swim in her own terror back to her meditation spot. But she couldn’t, so she didn’t. She was honored by the Master’s presence, and even more so by the fact he hadn’t yet dismissed her. Chou knew that she wasn’t the perfect Disciple, that her progress in her training was nothing compared to that of some of her peers, and being in the presence of the Master was nothing to be overlooked.

She could only hope that he would overlook her inadequacies and focus more on her morals, what she cared about. Chou wanted the master to see her heart, because her mind was far too damaged to be respected. She knew that much.

The role of her trauma was disturbing. At least, to her training, it was. When she had become practicing as a Mage, Chou had told herself that she could find peaceful ways to resolve any conflict. Yet, as she got closer and closer to the levels of her peers, it became more and more difficult to avoid conflict.

Yet, there she stood, facing her Master, again trying to avoid conflict.

“Go ahead.” The Master replied, his eyes not leaving his book as he flipped a page. The disciples seemed more anxious than he had though they would be, visiting him one after another like this.

Goodness, Shu Yan tried her best not to scratch her head listening to all those. Previously she thought that they must leave the island or anything in order to ‘participate’ in the feud, but it appears that those feud were the one coming to their direction itself. In a way, it’s really unavoidable.

Shu Yan walked out of the room when the meeting was dismissed. She saw some people coming back, seemingly wanting to talk with Master Shi. The magician actually still has some questions, but it’s mostly trifle. They probably can be asked later on. She knows some people have a heavier question than what she wanted to know.

The young woman then glanced at Qiu An for a moment. The younger disciple seemed like the easiest to talk to, maybe because of her bright nature.

Chou smiled a humble smile. “Thank you.” She said, stepping inside, hands tightly clasped in order to hide her anxiety. “I wanted to express my concern. I understand that you want us to prepare for whatever happens when the Jade appears, but–” She paused.

An odd part of Chou wished that she didn’t have so much reverence towards the Master, that she could just put out what she wanted to say and be done with it. Unfortunately, her discipline and humility was all that kept her sane, so she continued. “I’m worried about what might happen if it falls into the wrong hands. Master-shi, I understand and respect that you don’t want us to pursue the Jade, but something,” someone, “tells me that we can’t simply ignore something of such immense power on our island.”

Fearing she wouldn’t make sense, she gathered herself and said, “I can’t tell you what to tell us to do. However, I hope that voicing my concerns isn’t considered insubordination. There’s no saying what could come of the Jade if it’s left to its own devices, and only worse could come of it if it is taken up by anyone, including you or I or any of the other Disciples.”

Satisfied and admittedly a bit afraid, Chou swallowed her fear and let her hand fall to the pommel of her mallet. She was fine. The Master could get angry, but she was fine. The Jade was too important to be sidelined by her own obsession with respect and honor.