An invitation

The battling arenas, which were on the mountain of Challenge and Choice. One of the arenas were occupied by the challenger Shun, who gave out a quest to experiment on whatever martial arts he had on his arsenal. Sun had quite the naturally slim but muscular build, and had a look of tranquil on his face as he fought his opponent Laili. Even though Laili was from another sect, she was still fighting Shun as a quest, although not his quest.

Because Laili was from another sect, the crowd around the arena that Shun was in, was very big. There were both disciples from two different sects after all, and also a lot of my fellow inner disciples, because they were simply rooting for their fellow brother. With one of their fellow brothers battling a disciple from another sect, of course many disciples went to join in the crowd to give their brother a support. Personally, I, was not the first person to fill the crowd. Haha, what am I even saying… I didn't come here to support anyone! I'm here to get my money!

So… In between the bustling crowd of the share of fellow disciples and two to three foreign disciples, I was able to talk freely to Xiayen without sounding to awkward in front of a fight. The amount of people that talked to each other, and the people that kept screaming as if they took a bet, were loud enough to make my conversation with Xiayen a part of the crowd. I'm really glad it was like that for sure. Because certainly, it would be quite uncomfortable to talk about someone, right if front of them, while they are able to hear you. Unless I talked to her, it would've been fine. But, she's too occupied right now, so I only have Xiayen to ask for the details. Why ask some strangers since I can't ask the person themselves, when I have a familiar person near me, who might be familiar with that person that I want to know about.

Anyhow, I was wrong… I was wrong to think that my conversation with Xiayen was something that was a part of the crowd, unheard by others, or at least not interesting to them. Yep, I was dead wrong, because apparently, there was one of Laili's sister right beside me. Seriously? How did she just appear beside me, and how did I not notice her when her attire is clearly a sore to the crowd? Why is she even this close to me in the first place?! And how did she even hear me talking about Laili?! Is she like a magnet or something that instantly hears someone whenever they say a name that they want to hear?!

Like, I just replied to Xiayen about the chance of there being a well versed in biology sect, and suddenly this hooded girl decided to intervene!

"Are you interested in our sect?" Was what she asked me out of nowhere, and that's when I finally noticed her presence, right beside me. It was too scary I tell you, especially since her sentence sounded similar to the meme 'Are you interested in our lord and savior Lightning ma-' Never mind, I think that is the wrong meme…

But like seriously? Why did she have to be like that?! I swear, I probably just embarrassed myself by showing Xiayan how easily I got jumpscared. Luckily, I am not much of a yeller, and I only waved my arms around to avoid whatever scary thing was right beside me.

"We can help you increase your awareness if you join our sect." The unknown hooded girl, with the same armory type of attire like Laili, was surely persistent in wanting me to join her sect. Because of how I got jumpscared, she dared to use that opportunity to ask me if I want to increase my awareness! Is she that desperate for me to join her sect? Or perhaps… Am I a hidden talent? Gasp!! Yeah, that's me literally saying 'gasp' inside my head.

Anyway… I was kind enough to reply to the hooded girl beside me.

"Oh, nice. Since you're here and wanting to tell me about your sect, can you tell me the great things about your sect, and what the different sects ranking are?" I smiled at the hooded girl, with a bit of sarcasm apparent on my face.

"Hmm… Follow me."

"Oh, I can't. I have a fight with the guy that is going against your junior, or…senior?"

"Very well. We can talk later then, if you are still conscious…"

"Oh, I'm also busy later…"

"I see… Take this then. Rip it into to whenever you have the time to talk." The hooded girl sounded as neutral as ever, while she gave me a piece of paper, or at least, that's what the material seemed to be. It felt more like some kind of plastic though…

"What is this? Is this some kind of talisman?" I proceeded to ask her, since I had no clue what the heck she just gave to me. What if it's actually a spying device, meant to listen to every word I say… Well, I guess I have to be a little more discreet now, with the presence of that assassin type of sect. I mean like, that hooded girl just appeared beside me after I mentioned that I was interested in a disciple of their sect!

Oh great… The hooded girl just disappeared without me noticing. Welp, whatever. It's not like I need anything else from her.

"Oh, you got an invitation to their sect. Well, that's a surprise. Usually, I've never heard that that sect invites anyone to their sect. Not that I really get out too often to hear things like that, hehe."

"An invitation…" I slowly muttered, as I held the talisman, and digested the words that Xiayen just said.

"Yes. It's usually a bonus reward for a disciple of a sect to invite a disciple of our sect to theirs. That's because inviting someone from our sect, is an easy way to find talented disciples."

"I see…"