You never know how much you miss sleep—till it’s stolen from you. Grisla found that out in an abrupt dousing of water over his head, with the clang of the dropped bucket and the laughs that followed. He shook it out of his hair, then looked at who it was. The discovery had him grimace inside.

Bei Mei’s laugh, that would come about if you threw a live cat onto a tanning rack overpowered her minions, who obviously were the ones to do the deed for her.

  The hell are they in doing our house?

“Imagine being worthless and still forcing your betters to look after you. Thank me, for Elder Jinshi wouldn’t get off my case unless I dragged you back. The nerve,” She spat while petting her hair. “Still can’t comprehend being shameless enough to want to show up for training though.” And when the water had done its work, her whole group grabbed their noses at the stench raising up.

  “God, what is that smell?”

  “Is that sweat? Take a bath man!”

They backed off a step and took to the stairs. Leaving only Bei Mei, who didn’t take it either but stood firm. “Really, just tell me you’re skipping or dropping out and I won’t be forced to do this. Don’t even get up yet, the smell is floating with you.”

Grisla couldn’t keep himself from sneering.

  This girl is always trouble.

Bei Mei is a young talent who always had her nose where it didn’t belong—and that was Grisla’s assessment on the page of politeness. He didn’t have time for a shower, to make Elder Jinshi wait any longer on him would be a disrespect he couldn’t bear. So, under Bei Mei’s disgusted gaze he threw on a top and came out last from the training room. Outside she and company walked six paces ahead instead of the usual four.

The world called Leimuth Village, home of the Grittus clan was at its apex of activity for the day. With trains of carriages and horses marching throughout each level of their settlement. Grisla dodged a duo running someplace, took a large step backwards for someone else with rank, then scurried up with a faster pace in order to follow behind. Their land had years of history behind it, every day it installed itself deeper into the foundation of their village to show character that wouldn’t be found within a hundred li outside. There was not just Cultivators here. Every person who wasn’t part of their clan still had a place within their village’s walls.

These regular people needed Cultivators and vice versa. It would not be a lie to say most would prefer to be the former, though. The life of one pursuing the Path, is fraught with both danger and opulence. A truism that sits on shaky ground when an entire clan will support your back within these walls. If you have the talent.

Grisla’s home sat outside of the inner walls of the village, specifically the Grittus clan’s seat of power. Where most members of the clan lived, trained and contributed to their livelihood. They could live within the courtyards, at a time ago, when Grisla’s mother was around and his father wasn’t as disabled as he is now. From what his father told him his mother just preferred her freedom away from the clan and took up residence outside of the compound. What was once seen as a choice by a woman looking for independence was now taken up as proof that she wanted to hide her son and shame—an accusation that had Grisla fight more than once, and return home with a broken nose more than once.

Sometimes, a groupie would whisper something into Bei Mei’s ear; and both took a glance behind them to laugh at the target. If his cultivation level was higher, they wouldn’t dare whisper to themselves so close to him: cultivators’ hearing is beyond superhuman. In that aspect his hearing was better than average, but what did that mean in comparison to them?

The wide clearance of the clan’s gates was in sight. With that, they knew he didn’t need an escort anymore and took up speed immediately, better to be there early and be spared the Elder’s wrath than make up excuse in the middle of his wrath. In moments they were gone.

  Took them long enough.

Etiquette would dictate him rushing even harder than them, but he sighed and walked at a pace no different than from what he woke up with.

  If I’m already late, there’s no such thing as being late-late, or past due late. Or… whatever. Besides, not like the Elder is expecting something from me.

And he was right. The idea of a student brushing off his teaching was more offensive to him than the sight of Grisla’s incompetence.

He scratched his head as he walked over a chilly stream, pondering on an excuse to shirk this time. Can’t say I’m sick, I already used that card last week. My sister died? I don’t have a sister… but dumbass Jinshi believed it anyway. Maybe this time I’ll say my second sister died. Would it work?

“Probably not,” he whispered to himself as he stood in the doorway. On the frosted courtyard, with small blades of grass still able to breathe between the carpeting, sat two dozen rows of students. Dressed in their black and white training clothes, they looked like tall seeds out of the snow. All performing the breathing exercise his father had him on last night, and each student did it effortlessly.

But, with the abruptness of his arrival. It was impossible to go unnoticed. Almost half had opened their eyes to the interruption. And the rest had, to Grisla’s estimation, held him so far beneath their notice he might as well have been the stirring of wind. He wasn’t quite sure which reaction he preferred. Bei Mei and the others had arrived so long ago they blended in like they never left.

With his fist in his palm, he bowed, “Disciple Grisla apologizes for the rudeness.”

Elder Jinshi who stood on his raised platform above his students, shot a look at Grisla. His voice that he heard over the hedge and walls had aged ten years addressing him. “Untalented, so good of you to join us. I just wonder where you had been, seeing as today is time for practice.”

“I am unsuitable to be trained, Elder. I merely wanted to find a better use for my time.” He kicked himself; and the other clan members offered their boots with a look.

“Really? You do have some self-awareness then, good. But I did not expect someone with as little worth as yourself taking it in your own hands to dismiss my lecture; Untalented or not. Or…” Elder Jinshi sneered, “do you believe yourself incapable of learning anything at all from me? Do you consider my teachings equal to the dirt?”

This was nothing but a show to them and Elder Jinshi indulged their desire for schadenfreude. Knowing his place, knowing his role had helped him to play along. Grisha’s knees had hit the stone before he let Jinshi or anyone else say something else to stoke the flame. His head touched the floor for a deep kowtow. “No Elder! I am truly,” He paused for a moment too short to be called hesitation, “sorry for the offense I have done. Untalented Grisha has shamed you, and for that, I will atone if desired.”

His fellow students—clan members, who shared loose blood relations with him, had bucked and kicked at their self-restraint in front of the Elder before. But now, those who lacked the fortitude had let themselves off into giggles and chuckles. A disparaging chorus for Grisla’s ears. Elder Jinshi watched this; then stuffing it out to remind them of propriety.

“I would say… any humiliation I could throw on you would be like throwing it on myself, Untalented. This will be your last and final warning. I won’t need to explain to you the consequences that hang in the future, will I?”

  “No, Elder.”

  “Rise then. And let that be a reminder to you all.” He looked over. The effect however was nothing more than rain over a slope. Elder Jinshi did not continue his lecture, he traced Grisla’s steps from the entrance to his place at the back, an entire two rows separate. The silence maintained itself from then until he slapped himself down and met eyes with him.

Elder Jinshi, when he continued off from where he paused, was on a tangent about Cultivation theory and blended opinion into his thesis. “To reach the mythical Almighty realm would seem to require a fusion—from what I’ve gathered of both spiritual and physical energy, but this’s quite a challenge. Some of you may know, some of you may not, but to gather both energies and fuse them to the correct proportions is impossible—impossible in the notion that one could even gather enough physical energy at all to even have the faintest idea of it. I believe either the Almighty realm may have never existed; a tale to bluff and boast about the talents of those they’ve never met, or there’s a second method which is more feasible. I am in the camp of the latter…”

When many other students had silently fallen asleep to themselves Grisla did not. Absorbing every scrap of information like they were jewels. He’d never heard of an Almighty realm—for as long as they knew there was no such thing. The highest any recorded cultivator had ever achieved was a half-step to Ascension, a level still far and away from his comprehension. Still, it never hurt to learn.

And Elder Jinshi, despite Grisla’s knowledge of his attitude for him, appreciated the small bits of elaboration he gave on certain points even when no one asked. His tangents were more for himself than enlightening the ignorant. These children were far too inexperienced to learn about things like high-level Cultivation theory; and to waste his breath to do so was a shame, since nobody but himself seemed to pay his drift any mind.

When he came back, he did explain and instruct his group on things that did matter in the present—like Spiritual Techniques, namely the work for the week: Earth shatters; Heaven quakes. Grisla felt a premonition of what’s to come, groaning all the while.

“Split up into pairs. I want you to spar using only Earth shatters; Heaven quakes,” Elder Jinshi said. “Continue until I say you’re done.”

Mechanically they did as requested. But, from experience Grisla knew what was coming. Most students paired themselves off with either their friends, or the person next to. And all those who stood within a foot radius of him moved to their pairings swifter than he could think. Bei Mei paired herself up with some other girl; and her lackeys did between themselves. From the finished shuffles of feet, it would look as if all the pairings were made and set. However…

In that said radius, the pairings stood just behind the circumference. And they knew they couldn’t start. Elder Jinshi wouldn’t allow it. There had to be a partner for Grisla, the only question was, who?

Grisla sucked his teeth at the budding snares and snickers around. It was a game of torture for both parties. Who would be unfortunate enough to be paired off with the Untalented today?

From the crowd parting way, he saw who.