While Yan and I were busy teaching entire classes the basics of cultivation, LiTing, JiaQi, and YuLong were hard at work in one one-on-one training sessions. They were teaching students refining, beast taming, and talismans just as Master Tan had taught me formations.


    This meant that LiTing had to reveal her profession to her assigned students as she taught them. This worried me, as it could possibly lead to her being targeted by rival factions or the Zhuge Clan, but there wasn’t much we could do other than hope nothing went wrong.


    Another problem was the way we were all being evaluated by the Academy this term. Yan and I were evaluated solely based on how well our classes performed, but things were more complicated for the other three. They would only partially be graded on students’ abilities. The larger part of their scores would come from the results of a series of duels they each had to fight throughout the term.


    While I wasn’t worried about YuLong’s or JiaQi’s performances in these fights, these duels would be incredibly dangerous for LiTing. If the wrong person learned she was a refiner, they might find a way to assassinate her.


    We convinced her to follow a basic strategy. If she could win quickly and easily, she would do so, but if she was in any danger at all, she would forfeit immediately. This wasn’t an ideal situation, but this was a matter of life and death.


    From a purely utilitarian aspect, her death could have been useful. We could have learned from it and adjusted things to avoid it the next time around. However, even though Yan and I both knew that death was somewhat transient, we still didn’t want to throw her life away. I could justify this by saying that we could learn more with her alive than dead, but the simple fact was that we just didn’t want to see her die.


    LiTing throwing most of her fights early may have saved her life, but it tanked her performance. This would cause problems with her evaluation at the end of the term, but we would find a way to make things work out for the best.


    <hr>


    When our second term as Masters came to an end, Instructor Yuan gathered us all in our villa.


    “Chai JiaQi, Lin LiTing, Shi YuLong, Zhuge Yan, Su Fang. These last ten years have sometimes been challenging, but I want to congratulate you and thank you all for the work you have put in. As you are about to ascend to Grandmaster, your next step will be to join the Nine Rivers Sect. I will extend an invitation on behalf of Lord Ning. If any of you wish to join his faction within the sect, you will be welcome.”


    I looked at Yan and the others and tried to intuit what they were thinking. No one jumped to accept the offer immediately. We could afford to sit on it for a little while.


    “Zhuge Yan, three of your Disciples have been accepted into the elite Master courses. Su Fang, two of your Disciples have qualified. As such, as long as either of you become a grade 3 inner sect disciple, you will be allowed to rejoin the Academy as a Grandmaster-level instructor in charge of a Master cohort.”


    She gave us a smile before turning to two of our classmates.


    “Shi YuLong and Chai JiaQi, you two have shown enough skills to be allowed to join the elite Grandmaster course for martial training. Zhuge Yan and Su Fang may also join this course if they wish to improve their combat skills. If you choose to enter this course, you will receive rewards and treatment commensurate with your results during this past term.”


    Again, she smiled at them and then turned to Lin LiTing. This time, she didn’t appear quite as happy.


    “Lin LiTing, your performance during the ranking duels was not sufficient to earn a place in the elite classes for Grandmasters. You may continue in the normal classes if you wish, or you may seek your fortune within the sect.”


    She looked at each of us carefully before speaking once more.


    “There are dangers in the sect, but it is also the best place to go if you wish to continue to learn and grow. I hope to see you all there in the future.”


    After a brief pause, my classmates and I all stood. We gave a deep bow to Grandmaster Yuan.


    <hr>


    After the Grandmaster departed, my friends and I sat around a table to decide how we should proceed. Yan took the lead and directed the conversation.


    “We have the option to enter the elite classes, but I’m worried about what will happen to LiTing if she can’t join us. Anything the school can provide, the sect can provide as well. It will be more difficult, but we can still learn and advance there. I suggest we leave the school behind and join the sect together.”


    None of us liked the idea of leaving LiTing to fend for herself, so no one objected. Staying in the Academy for martial training would have had its benefits, but I doubted it would be much different from what I could find in the sect. Trainers, opponents to fight, and Trials to conquer were all present there. The only difference was that the sect wouldn’t have the safety net the Academy did.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Yan looked at me.


    “Su Fang, do you know any information that can help us prepare?”


    I felt the most important thing for them to know was information about ascending Dragon Peak. While the fellow who tried to enslave me last time had known a fair bit before we left Mortal City, information about the paths was not freely available, and the sect might have measures in place to control the flow of that information.


    I was worried about telling them everything, but I needed to say enough for them to be able to prepare properly.


    “We all need to learn to fight as Grandmasters. We need to gain all the experience and skills that would be expected of Peak Grandmaster fighters as soon as possible.”


    I looked at Shi YuLong. “I would recommend you focus on mastering the skills of a Rank 3 talisman artist. I know you’ve said your skills are lacking, but mastering the craft to the peak of Rank 3 immediately would be for the best.”


    I looked at JiaQi. “I’m not sure how your soul cultivation compares to your beast-taming abilities, but whichever is weaker, or whichever you care least about, you should raise it to the limits of what one could expect from a Grandmaster as soon as you can.”


    I turned to Yan. “What do you think about Lord Ning’s offer? Should we accept it? I know there are dangerous factions inside the sect, but I’m not sure what he will be able to do for us. If he’s only a Lord, he won’t be much of a deterrent against the stronger factions. It might be better to look at working with a stronger faction as independents.”


    The PangBo Association had soured me on the idea of joining someone else’s faction. Simply working as an independent alchemist and selling to a group that didn’t feel the need to directly control me had worked much better. Ideally, we would form our own faction and not be dependent on any unstable elements, but this wasn’t the right time. We didn’t yet have the knowledge, skills, or connections necessary to do so.


    Yan began tapping his fingers together in thought.


    “To be successful in the sect, we are going to need to work with others. It is impossible to reach the peak while working alone. Working together with a strong group or faction is vital if we want to be among the best.”


    Yan thought for a while before answering. As he did, he flipped to several pages in the notebook I had given him from his last life.


    He looked at me. “The… information you provided me is limited in this regard. It has a few simple notes about the larger factions in Mortal City, but little beyond that. Do you know anything else? Do you know anything about Ning ChenKun’s faction?”


    I shook my head. “No, I— I haven’t heard anything about it. I know a little about the factions in Profound City, but barely more than which ones are somewhat reliable trading partners.”


    After flipping through his notebook a bit more, Yan made his decision.


    “I suggest we join Ning ChenKun’s faction then. He is someone I consider generally trustworthy. He won’t betray us without a strong reason, and he should have resources we can exploit to grow stronger more quickly. He may only be a Lord right now, but his grandfather has a long reach, and few would provoke him easily. The canopy of his tall tree should provide us protection from the storms of the sect.”


    I didn’t know if this was the right choice, but I was willing to back Yan’s decision.


    After our small meeting ended, we went to find Grandmaster Yuan to arrange things.


    <hr>


    We only had a month before the sect’s Entrance Exam, and getting our entire class to Grandmaster in such a short timeframe would have been difficult.


    JiaQi had only recently received a copy of her Rank 3 cultivation technique as a departing gift from the Academy. She was going to need to study for a while before she was ready to advance.


    The others weren’t in too much better of a position. They had already been studying their techniques for a few months, but advancing to Grandmaster for the first time was difficult, and it wasn’t something that should be rushed.


    While I wouldn’t have had any trouble entering the sect alone, I wanted to wait for everyone else and see what we could do as a group. So, to avoid needing to rush, we rented a suite of rooms next to the Blue Wind Pavilion and spent a year cultivating, carefully refining our foundations.


    This was somewhat risky since the Zhuge Clan could have taken this opportunity to attack us, but the city was under the protection of the sect. Also, our location next to the Pavilion hopefully added weight to whatever importance Emperor Li’s protection might have.


    Whatever the case, we were not harassed during our stay and were able to quietly advance.


    With the help of Rank 3 formations and pills, it only took me a short few weeks to ascend to Grandmaster. At this point, the others were still studying the specifics of their cultivation techniques and working out what they needed to do to create their dantians, so I patiently cleansed all of my capillary meridians of uncompressed qi.


    Six months later, I advanced to Grandmaster 2, and six months after that, I advanced to Grandmaster 3.


    During this same time, my classmates all advanced to Grandmaster 1. They still had a way to go before they would be able to move on to Grandmaster 2, so with the Exam soon approaching, they decided to simply consolidate their current cultivation bases and prepare for the trial ahead of them.


    We could have waited until we all advanced to Peak Grandmaster before entering the sect, but I convinced them it was better to enter now so that we could start learning to fight as Grandmasters.


    <hr>


    After the start of the Entrance Exam, we had to wait in line for a couple of days before reaching the front of the queue and being tested by the Exam Trial. As I approached the portal, I subvocalized a purchase.


    “System, establish a mental reversion point. After I leave the trial, I want my mind to revert to how it was the moment I entered.”


    Purchase confirmed. Cost 1 million credits. 7,732,086,524 credits remaining.


    I still had no idea if this was necessary or not. Possibly, even likely, nothing would happen to my mind inside the Exam. However, there was no reason to take such a risk just to save a few credits.


    After receiving the signal from the scribe in charge, I walked to the portal and stepped inside. As I did, I focused my mind on remembering to take notes in my mental journal while I was inside.


    Seemingly only an instant later, I stepped out and looked at the world around me.


    To my right, a group of scribes was doing paperwork.


    “You have qualified as a Grade 3 inner sect disciple for either the Fire Peak or the Earth Peak. Which do you choose?”


    I did my best impression of a lost and confused young man.


    The scribe cleared his throat loudly. “Fire Peak or Earth Peak, which one?”