Chapter 5

The crowd of new disciples stood in nervous clusters, the weight of anticipation pressing down on them as Elder Wei prepared to leave. The towering stone pillars of the Azure Sky Sect cast long shadows over the training grounds, marking the beginning of their new lives. Some shifted uneasily, others straightened their backs, trying to look composed.

Elder Wei glanced over them one last time before turning to Master Ren, his expression calm but firm. "I'll be heading into secluded cultivation now. As always, the discipline count is under your jurisdiction while I'm gone."

Master Ren gave a lazy nod, arms crossed. "Naturally."

"Try not to break too many spirits this time," Wei added with a knowing smirk. He didn't wait for a response before stepping away, vanishing in a flash of light.

The moment he was gone, the air around Master Ren shifted. A slow smirk stretched across his face as he looked over the fresh recruits, his sharp eyes gleaming with unspoken intent.

"Listen well," he said, his voice carrying easily over the murmurs. "As of today, you are disciples of the Azure Sky Sect. However, not all of you are worthy of the same standing. Some of you are destined for greatness. Others…" He let the word hang in the air, his smirk deepening. "Are better suited elsewhere."

A ripple of unease spread through the disciples. Some looked at each other, confusion written on their faces.

Then, without a second thought, Master Ren began pointing.

"You, you… and you." He barely glanced at the ones he picked, his choices seemingly random. His finger landed on a young girl with a timid expression, a broad-shouldered boy with a hopeful look, and a handful of others who barely had time to react.

"You will all be joining the outer court," he announced.

Confusion turned to shock.

"But—!" One of the chosen disciples stepped forward, his face pale with disbelief. "Outer court? But we all passed the entry trials, didn't we?"

Master Ren didn't even spare him a glance. "And?"

The boy's mouth opened and closed, but he had no answer.

Murmurs broke out among the remaining disciples. Some looked relieved they hadn't been chosen, while others frowned at the clear injustice of it.

Bei Zui, who had been standing at the back, remained silent. His golden eyes flickered as he studied Master Ren's face. There was no real reason for these selections. It was deliberate. Careless. The man simply enjoyed exerting his power over them.

Then Master Ren's finger lifted again.

It landed on him.

"You too," Master Ren said. "Outer court."

A heavy silence fell.

This time, the murmurs grew louder.

"Wait—Bei Zui?" Someone whispered.

"The prodigy?"

"Why would they put him in the outer court?"

"This doesn't make sense… He has the Eyes of Judgment, doesn't he?"

Master Ren ignored the growing noise. He was watching Bei Zui carefully now, waiting for a reaction.

Bei Zui held his gaze. His expression remained neutral.

He didn't protest. He didn't question it.

He simply nodded once, as if he had expected it.

That response irritated Master Ren.

He had hoped for something—arrogance, anger, at least some resistance. But instead, the boy just accepted it?

His smirk twitched, but he quickly covered it. "Good. At least you know your place." He turned to the rest of the disciples. "The rest of you, follow the senior disciples to your assigned quarters."

With a final glance at Bei Zui, he waved the dismissed outer disciples away.

As they walked off, whispers followed them.

Some of the male disciples scoffed. "Tch. Arrogant brat probably thought he'd be an inner disciple for sure."

"He probably cheated during the trials."

"The sect doesn't need a show-off like him."

But the female disciples had a very different reaction.

"Why did Master Ren send him to the outer court? He's clearly different from the rest."

"He looks really refined, doesn't he? Like those noble sons in the capital."

"More like a handsome older brother type… If he's in the outer court, maybe we'll get to train with him!"

Their words did nothing to help Bei Zui's growing reputation.

Still, he remained silent, his mind already working through the situation.

Master Ren wanted to play games.

Fine.

But Bei Zui had never been one to lose.

---

The days had passed quietly since Master Ren's so-called selection. For many of the newly assigned outer disciples, the initial frustration had begun to settle into reluctant acceptance. They had little choice, after all. The sect was absolute.

But Bei Zui?

He did not waste time sulking.

Every day, before the sky even brightened with the first traces of dawn, he had already stationed himself near the training grounds. There, where the morning mist curled like whispering ghosts, he would read through scrolls he had acquired—not borrowed, not stolen, but taken in a way that no one could question. Knowledge, after all, was not something he intended to ask permission for.

And knowledge, he found, was the only power the sect could not easily strip from him.

This morning was no different.

He sat cross-legged on the wooden platform outside one of the lesser-used halls, a stack of old scrolls by his side. His fingers traced the delicate inkwork, absorbing the fluid descriptions of movement, the detailed diagrams of inner force circulation. His golden eyes flickered with rare interest as he unraveled the complex teachings hidden within the seemingly simple strokes.

His diligence did not go unnoticed.

"You certainly enjoy playing pretend."

A slow shadow stretched over his reading space. The scent of bitter herbs and damp silk robes filled the air.

Bei Zui didn't need to look up to know who it was.

Master Ren stood there, arms crossed behind his back, his expression unreadable except for the faint curl of disdain at the corner of his mouth.

Bei Zui finished reading the last line of the scroll before calmly rolling it up. He exhaled slowly, as if Master Ren's presence was nothing more than an inconvenient breeze disturbing his focus.

"Outer disciples have no right to sect secrets," Master Ren said, his voice dangerously smooth.

Bei Zui remained still. "I was under the impression that knowledge strengthens the sect."

Master Ren's smile thinned. "And I was under the impression that dogs do not question their masters."

The words were like a slap, loud and deliberate. A hush settled between them.

Bei Zui slowly rose to his feet, his movements composed but deliberate. He held out the scrolls with a polite expression, his golden eyes holding no defiance, only eerie, unreadable calm.

"If that is how you see it, then take them."

Master Ren did. He snatched the scrolls with a sharp flick of his sleeve, his grip tightening as he nearly crushed them in his palm. His patience with this boy had been thin from the beginning, but something about his blank obedience—so careful, so calculated—made his blood boil.

He had seen arrogance before.

But this was something different.

"Remember your place, Bei Zui."

Bei Zui inclined his head slightly, not in submission, but in the manner of someone indulging a pointless conversation. Then, without another word, he turned and walked off.

Seemingly unbothered.

As if the words thrown at him did not matter.

As if he had already expected this.

Master Ren vibrated with restrained fury, his fingers twitching with the vague urge to snap the boy's neck right then and there. It was appealing—so very appealing.

But he let him go.

Sooner or later.

----

A few days later, the tension within the sect had not lessened. If anything, it had worsened.

Especially when it came to Bei Zui.

His presence had become an irritant to those who wanted to see him crumble. Yet, for all the restrictions placed on him, he did not complain. He did not lash out. He did not sulk like the others who had been demoted to the outer court.

Instead, he trained.

Not in the designated training halls—he was not permitted there.

Not with the senior disciples—he was unworthy in their eyes.

He trained alone, in the clearing beyond the sect walls, where the golden glow of late afternoon stretched long across the ground.

His movements were precise, effortless in a way that should not have been possible.

The stances he practiced were not ones he had been formally taught. No, they were ones he had glimpsed only once, stolen from the fleeting movements of the inner court disciples. Yet here he was, executing them as if they had been ingrained in his bones since birth.

And he did it all in silence.

The only sound was the crisp crackle of shifting robes, the faint whistle of his sleeves cutting through the air as he moved.

It did not take long for him to gain an audience.

At first, it was a handful of female disciples, their curiosity drawing them closer as they whispered among themselves.

"Look at his form… It's perfect."

"How is he this good? I thought outer disciples weren't allowed to learn these techniques?"

"He's so elegant—like a noble warrior from the ancient texts."

Their voices were hushed, but their admiration was not. They watched him with open fascination, their eyes lingering on the grace of his movements, the quiet confidence in his stance.

Their presence did not go unnoticed.

But Bei Zui did not acknowledge them.

He neither encouraged nor dismissed them.

He simply continued.

That indifference only made them linger longer, watching, commenting, their admiration growing with each movement.

And it enraged the other disciples.

Especially the young men of the sect.

"Tch. He's doing this on purpose," one of them muttered.

Another sneered. "Pretending to be all mysterious and aloof. It's pathetic."

"He's nothing but an outer disciple. Why are they fawning over him?"

"Maybe he needs a reminder of his place."

The muttering grew louder. Some of them clenched their fists, their jealousy a raw, festering wound that only deepened the longer the girls continued watching.

One of them took a step forward, ready to say something—to challenge, to insult, to break the illusion of superiority Bei Zui seemed to carry so effortlessly.

But then Bei Zui stopped.

His stance loosened.

His golden eyes flickered toward them.

And for a brief second, everything was silent.

The weight of his gaze was not one of challenge. Nor was it of arrogance.

It was simply an acknowledgment.

As if he was finally aware of their presence—no more, no less.

Then, just as quickly, he turned away, dismissing them without a single word.

The girls murmured among themselves, delighted by the cool display.

The boys, on the other hand, were left seething.

Master Ren had been right about one thing.

Some dogs did not know their place.

And soon, someone would have to put Bei zui back in his place