Kate leaves

Following Rune, every member of the Clite clan and even one person from the Ron clan were qualified to be inner sect disciples. This was an unexpected event since usually even the three clans would have at least one child be an outer sect disciple. However, when looking at the number of children from the Clite clan compared to the other two clans, it was obvious that they only brought the ones they were sure could become inner sect disciples.

When there were only twenty children left, Nathan went up to the stage, with Kate coming next. By this time, they were the only members of the three clans left to be tested. All five of those from the Clite clan, four out of the ten from the Glaize clan and two out of the total twelve from the Heaven clan were chosen as inner sect disciples. Everyone from the Heaven clan was sure Nathan would be an inner sect disciple, and they hoped that his test results would lower the feeling of superiority that the Clite clan exuded.

When Nathan placed his hand on the orb, the light was of the same height and intensity as Rune. It wasn't as astonishing as they hoped for but the Heaven clan tried to settle with this. However, they then remembered who would go next and smirks immediately appeared on their faces.

Even before Kate placed her hand on the gem, the elder raised an eyebrow. Though Shui had taught her the aura-restraining art, it was nowhere near good enough to conceal her cultivation from someone in the Sky Realm at such a close distance. Fortunately it was still enough to hide the hint of divine aura so Shui could watch without anxiety.

'This child, I must make her my disciple!'

As the elder watched her closely, the results of her test was revealed. The blue orb shone with a light so bright that it was as if there a mini-sun in the hands of the male disciple. All those below Earth Realm had to squint their eyes at this stunning view and many had their minds blown by the words that appeared on the orb.

"Astonishing...!!!"

Both the male and female disciples from Storm Sky manor looked wide-eyed at the announcement of Kate's talent. Even those in the Heaven clan were shocked as Kate's talent wasn't this good when she was first tested. Only Shui was aware that now that her Focused Heaven Physique had fully awakened, talented wasn't even a good enough word to describe her.

"What an excellent child! Would you like to be my direct disciple?"

While everyone else was still stunned by her results, the elder tried to rope her in.

"Uh, I,"

"Wait a moment, I do believe this is against the rules, Elder."

The elder's attempt reminded the two disciples of the other role they were here for. After the male disciple who stepped in front of Kate and spoke back to the elder, the female disciple followed up.

"I do believe the policy is that disciples of this level of talent are immediately made into core disciples and may choose their own master to become a direct disciple."

"Hmph, it's not as if I'm forcing the girl. I'm only showing my appreciation for her talent."

"With all due respect Esteemed Elder, don't you think you should let someone more qualified be her master?"

It was the male disciple who said this blatantly rude comment. If this was an ordinary inner sect disciple, the elder would have slapped out his teeth by now, but the brat before him had connections that he couldn't look down on. Additionally, unless he took away the girl and left the sect, there would likely be much pressure from other elders who wanted to steal her away from him. As long as she agreed to be his disciple then he could use the rules of the sect to keep her, but if the ones these disciples were connected to got serious about settling the issue, he wasn't sure he would be able to keep his life.

After analysing this far, the elder snorted and turned away.

"The rest can leave, those who have been chosen may say their goodbyes before we depart."

Since he was in a bad mood, the elder felt there was no reason for him to give any hope to the children still waiting to be tested. Using his spiritual sense to do a quick scam was enough for him to be sure that the rest would only be outer sect disciples at most, there was no need to wait for this extra rabble.

Just like the others who were chosen as sect disciples, Kate ran towards her family. She jumped into Bartos' arms and he swung her around with a wide smile on his face.

"Daddy!"

"That's my little girl!"

"You mean our little girl."

Lilia also picked up Kate and hugged her, but unlike Kate and Bartos, she couldn't fully hide the tears in her eyes. She had already cried the night Kate said she wanted to leave, but she couldn't stop herself when the time arrived. When her tears showed, Kate also felt her own coming forward but she didn't want both of them to be sad on this day.

"Don't cry Mom. I'll try to visit."

Kate patted Lilia's head as she attempted to comfort her. This helped Lilia to stop her tears from falling down and kept her smile from becoming a frown.

"Please do."

After the heartwarming time with her parents, next was Shui. Though he was sitting in his wheelchair, that didn't stop her from rushing to hug him and sitting in his lap. With his martial intent it was simple to stop the wheelchair from rolling back, but the fact that he had to endure this strain put a wry smile on his face.

"Will you be okay by yourself?" Shui asked.

"Don't start. I already got that lecture from Mom for the past three nights. I don't need it from you too."

Kate was back to her usual cheeky self but her maturity still showed in her expression. While sitting on his lap, Kate smiled at his face and whispered.

"Will you miss me?"

Honestly, Shui felt like this would be a good oppurtunity for a teasing 'no' but he changed his mind.

"Yeah, I will."

To his response, Kate's expression became even more gentle and her atmosphere seemed to match that a serene, mature beauty.

"Me too."

The kiss that she then planted on his cheek was one of the few things that Kate had ever done which surprised him.

"Oh my~"

Lilia placed her fingers over the playful smile that she had. Beside her, Bartos' expression became awkward. On one side he was happy for his little girl, on the other side he was sad that his little girl was starting to become someone else's

'I'm gonna need a drink after this.'

While Shui was still left speechless by her kiss, Kate got off his lap and skipped back towards the stage. Before the sun set, the chosen children were carried onto to the raven in the sky before departing. Not just Shui, everyone else stayed there, staring at that shrinking figure.

Shui touched the spot where she kissed him. Within that kiss she had expressed the emotions that were inside her. Shui could sense joy, excitement, determination and of course, love.