Ascension: Online

"… Fine. I'll tell you," Long Yaqing said at last, not to my surprise. "I don't know how you managed to record that conversation we had and store it, but…"

"Just talk," I sighed. "Tell me what I want to know, and I won't speak a word of this to anyone. The sect won't even find out you told me anything… don't worry, my acting skills are good."

"I can tell," he muttered in annoyance, gritting his teeth. "To think I was fooled, thinking you were just a naive new disciple…"

"I don't have much time here. Hurry up and tell me."

"Okay, okay…" he took a deep breath, making up his mind. "The Acceptance in the past years… at least, the one I had to do, was… TAKE THIS!"

Suddenly, he looked up and threw a punch, heading straight towards my face. I, however, had been anticipating this move all along.

After all, even a cornered rat would bite the cat.

I understood that theory quite well, as I used to be a rat as well… hence why this surprise attack would never work on me.

Long Yaqing was my pawn — but not of his own volition. Naturally, I had to be ready for all the possible choices he could make. Resorting to violence was one of them. Naturally, he was trying to take the recording away from me, or outright kill me so I wouldn't be able to tell anyone.

Unfortunately for him… he had severely underestimated my abilities yet again, even after admitting he had done so once already.

I dodged out of the way of his punch with ease, before grabbing his outreached wrist and placing one of my feet behind his. Then, in one swift motion, I pushed him backwards, causing him the trip over my leg. He fell to the ground, completely unable to react to my extremely quick and smooth movements.

Then, I stepped on his chest, before leaning down to stare into his eyes.

Under the shadow of the tree we were near, my bright blue eyes appeared to be the only things shining as they reflected the moonlight, cold and emotionless.

"Hey. I don't like pawns that try fighting back, you know?"

"G-Gah…" he groaned, and I applied more pressure into my foot. "GAH!"

He screamed loudly, but now, being somewhere no one was near worked in my favor rather than his.

"I have plenty of pawns at my disposal, and I can make more as easily as killing you right here and now. Losing you alone… is no big deal at all. So, my dear senior brother… what will it be?"

"I-I'll tell you… I'll tell you!"

I smiled, but it was hidden by the darkness all around us. My eyes remained as the only bright object under the night sky.

"Sorry, but I don't trust you anymore. So… why don't you just tell me right now, in this position? That way, you can't fight back and try launching another surprise attack so slow and predictable it's almost pitiful."

"A-Alright… alright, I get it! I just have to tell you, right? Fine!" he shouted, purposely increasing his volume in the hopes of having someone hear him.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to him, I had used a little art of mine to mask all sounds. Once again, this was a skill I obtained using the AP I received from reaching Level 35 — it was called 'Silencer'.

Essentially, it created an invisible sphere-shaped sound barrier around anywhere I wanted, as long as it was within range. Any sounds that occurred within that 5-meter radius sphere would not be heard from the outside, no matter how loud the sound is.

In other words, I had predicted everything Long Yaqing would try from the very beginning. Every word he spoke… every move he tried to make… was futile.

"So? I'm waiting," I said quietly but menacingly, tapping my foot on his chest.

"The past… Acceptances… have all been really easy… it's just a verbal interview asking you a few questions… that's it…"

Verbal interview, huh? Looks like my hunch had been on the spot — the whole 'difficult test' and 'two-month survival in harsh climate and environments' thing was utter bullshit. I had a feeling that the patriarch had purposely elevated the difficulty level to target a certain someone — me.

He had purposely looked directly at me when he said 'beware, this test will be difficult.' Naturally, he was testing to see if I would cower away from the challenge. I'm assuming this had something to do with me becoming the direct disciple of his daughter — Elder Ning — but… was there really a need to go this far?

Of course, there was the chance I was just overthinking all this, and the test just so happened to change this year, when I entered.

Ah, but then, why would the patriarch lie and said the sect had always done this in the past, year after year? 'Tradition'? But that contradicts with what Long Yaqing was telling me.

In other words… one of the two of them was lying — and I knew which one it was.

Long Yaqing had a weak mentality — him trying to feign ignorance when I tried reaching out to him was proof of that. He would rather escape trouble than resolve it. In this case, he knew he was beaten — he wouldn't dare to lie to me now.

That left only one answer: the patriarch was lying.

But in that case, I still had one more question.

"But there are two months before starting the proper sect year, no?" I asked, continuing to apply pressure to his chest with my foot. "Just a verbal interview for every disciple wouldn't take two whole months to do."

"Those two months… were essentially the free trial of the sect… to decide whether they want to stay or not… the trial disciples were free to go anywhere on Evergreen Peak… and just enjoy life there."

"Seriously? That good treatment?"

Long Yaqing nodded frantically, and I fell into thought.

Hm… two whole months of just doing whatever you wanted on Evergreen Peak? No doubt, most of the disciples would be spending the majority of their time in the entertainment quarter, as much as they could before their real sect year began.

Still, I could see this as a viable strategy — draw the disciples in with all these benefits in the trial period, then saying 'you can leave if you want to'. Obviously, no one's going to leave with advantages like this… it's just there for show, to give the disciples a feeling that they had the freedom to choose.

But in any case… that wasn't my problem. I had found out what I wanted to know. This trip had been worth it.

Taking my foot off of Long Yaqing's chest at last, I stuffed my hands into my pockets and began walking away.

"H-Hey!" he shouted from behind me, and I stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"Y-You… won't tell anyone, right?"

"Naturally… as long as you cooperate with me whenever I need you, from now on."

He gulped in fear, but I could see his silhouette nod.

Smirking, I headed back to the Temple of Flowers to regroup with Hina-nee and the others.

*****

"Oh, Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee hurried over when she spotted me and handed over a sheet of paper. Inscribed on it were the specific details regarding the exam that would happen tomorrow.

I skimmed over it quickly. "Huh… so, we're going to be spending one month in a desert, and one month in a dangerous rainforest?"

Hina-nee nodded. "But… there is a way to return early."

"Yeah, you gotta find some kind of golden maple leaf hidden in a chest somewhere within the exam grounds," Furuwa added, walking over to us. "But the chances of us finding that are pretty slim, so…"

"Why return early~?" Nadeshiko giggled. "Did you not read the backside? There are useful cultivation resources to be found within the exam grounds~ we should collect them all!"

"Uh… but there are going to be other disciples too, you know that, right? There's no way we're getting all of the resources to ourselves," I muttered uncertainly.

"Then we kill them and take the resources~!"

"No, we don't!" the other two girls and I immediately disapproved in unison.

"Aw~ but why? We can make it seem like an accident, heheheh…"

"Are you stupid?" Furuwa sighed and smacked her own forehead. "This is a test organized by the sect! They're going to be watching us!"

"Hm… I suppose that is true… then we kill the supervisors too~"

"Is nothing on your mind except killing?!" Furuwa groaned in frustration as Hina-nee and I exchanged glances awkwardly.

I really hope Nadeshiko doesn't lose control and go on a killing spree… that would be pretty troublesome, as Elder Ning knew she was close with me…

"Ugh, this is way too complicated!" Furuwa said at last, fuming with annoyance. "Back when we did the tournament, the rewards said guaranteed entry into this sect. It never said anything about another test after this…!"

Because I was curious, I opened up my System and checked the Quests tab. There, a single primary quest was listed:

[The Blessing Nature Sect (rec. lvl: 33)]

[Become a formal disciple of the Blessing Nature Sect.]

Pressing the quest steps, I scrolled down to the very bottom. And indeed, there it was:

[✓ - Become selected to enter the sect via the Qilian Annual Regional Tournament.]

[✓ - Reach the Blessing Nature Sect.]

[✓ - Complete the welcome ceremony and orientation day.]

[̶X̶ ̶-̶ ̶K̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶l̶o̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶n̶e̶x̶t̶ ̶t̶w̶o̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶t̶h̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶u̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶i̶d̶e̶ ̶q̶u̶e̶s̶t̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶o̶n̶g̶e̶r̶.̶]̶

[X - Survive.]

… Survive.

That was all there was to it, huh?

Well, I'll be damned if I didn't make good use of this opportunity… good cultivation resources? Dangerous Magic Beasts and Monsters? All perfect materials to help me get stronger.

Patriarch Ning… I don't know what you're trying to accomplish by doing this, but if your goal was to kill me, then sorry, but you'll only end up making me stronger.

But now, you've made me an enemy. And when I do get powerful enough… you'll be on my list.

I am a very careful person when it comes to debts and repayment. I always pay back those who have helped me out, but the same could be said about the people who have wronged me.

Though… I guess if Elder Ning ends up treating me well, I can spare her father.