The morning sun cast a warm, golden glow over the village gates, illuminating the small group that had gathered for a final, heartfelt farewell.

  Xiong Zhan stood before Ying Xia, his weathered face a mask of profound, paternal pride.

  In his hands, he held a weapon that seemed to capture the very light of the sun itself—a gleaming pole-arm spear, its long shaft painted in brilliant gold, its razor-sharp head shaped like a dragon’s fang.

  "A Soul Tier weapon, Xia," he said, his voice a low, reverent rumble as he presented it to her.

  "Use it wisely. It is a parting gift from me. You are, without a doubt, my greatest disciple of the spear!"

  Ying Xia’s breath caught in her throat. She accepted the weapon, its weight feeling both substantial and perfectly balanced in her hands.

  A wide, brilliant grin spread across her face as she gave it an experimental swing, the dragon-fang head whistling through the air with a sound like a hungry predator.

  "I feel like a warrior of the heavens right now!" she declared, her voice ringing with a joyous, unshakeable confidence as she gripped the golden shaft firmly.

  A pair of familiar footsteps followed. Wen Renge and Lei Xiao approached, their earlier conflict with Bi Kan having settled into a grudging but genuine respect.

  "Here, take this," Lei Xiao said, his tone still a bit stiff as he offered a heavy pouch. "Be safe on your journey."

  A new, genuine smile formed on Ying Xia’s face as she grabbed the pouch, its contents clinking softly. She peeked inside, her eyes widening. "Woah! This is a lot!" Neatly packed provisions and a generous supply of Jinyan's high-quality pills were nestled within.

  Bi Kan, who had been leaning against the village palisade with his arms crossed, finally pushed himself off the wall with a soft sigh. "Hurry up, Xia. Let's get going." His gaze was already on the distant hills, his mind on their objective.

  "The final village, and then we can finally get some rest. And you," he added, a flicker of a smile touching his lips, "will finally be able to see the sect and become an official Outer Disciple like me."

  She grumbled under her breath, shooting him a sidelong glance. "You're so eager to get home."

  A soft, weary sigh came from Bi Kan, and he shook his head, his gaze turning distant. "Of course. The reason I set out in the first place was to look for my junior sister. Almost a month has gone by, and I have yet to see her. I'm assuming she's finally back."

  Ying Xia rolled her eyes. "Some disciple you are. I thought you did this for contribution points."

  They turned back for one last look at the village, at the waving figures of the people they had fought alongside, before descending the winding path that led away from the valley. "Another long journey begins!" Ying Xia groaned, stretching her arms high above her head.

  "It won't be that long," Bi Kan replied, his tone practical. "I think it's quite close-by. Just a two or three-day walk."

  Ying Xia’s eyes widened. "If it takes three days to walk, what if we ran?"

  He slumped his shoulders, planting his face against his palm. "What a great plan. We'll tire ourselves out completely. What will we do if there are bandits?"

  She placed a finger on her lips, a thoughtful, almost cunning expression on her face.

  "But didn't you say we haven't seen any bandits lately? Maybe they've finally started to fear us! The great disciples of a sect!" She pumped a triumphant fist in the air.

  "Oh, right! Old man Zhan gave me his spear. He called it a Soul Tier weapon. What's that mean?"

  Bi Kan scratched his chin, his mind shifting from strategy to instruction. "There are different tiers of weapons," he explained as they walked.

  "They're based on quality and power. Soul Tier is the third level, a weapon most Inner Disciples would covet."

  Ying Xia nodded, her gaze falling back to the magnificent weapon in her hands. "This must be really great then! And expensive."

  Bi Kan analyzed it as they walked, his eye noting the quality of the metal and the faint, almost imperceptible spiritual inscriptions along the shaft.

  "It's probably a mid-tier Soul weapon, so it's very good. You must cherish it."

  Hmm, I wonder what tier my weapon's at, Bi Kan thought, his own mind turning inward to the vast, silent ocean of his Soul Sea.

  There, the black sword floated in an eternal twilight, its power a quiet, unknowable promise.

  The celestial spirit wolf should know, but I doubt he's willing to talk. In his eyes, I'm still inferior, an ant. My scope of knowledge is far too small.

  He let out a silent sigh, the thought a familiar, frustrating prod that only fueled his ambition to grow stronger.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Days of relentless travel had worn the novelty of their journey to a dull, aching thrum in Ying Xia’s bones. The world had become a monotonous, shifting tapestry of green and brown, punctuated only by the rhythmic crunch of their boots on the forest floor. It was her nose that caught it first, a sudden, sharp deviation from the earthy scent of pine and damp soil.

  Her head perked up, her nostrils flaring. "It's the smell of blood," she whispered, her earlier fatigue evaporating in a flash of cold adrenaline. Her eyes narrowed. "Bandits?"

  Without another word, she unsheathed her new golden spear, the dragon-fang head glinting in the dappled sunlight. She exploded from a walking pace into a dead sprint, a pink-tailed comet of righteous fury crashing through the undergrowth towards the scent of violence.

  "Xia! Don't run off without a plan!" Bi Kan’s exasperated shout was swallowed by the rustling leaves in her wake. He let out a long sigh, shaking his head before his own expression hardened. With a practiced silence, he melted into the shadows of the bushes, flanking her reckless charge with a caution.

  He arrived at the outskirts of a small village to a scene of quiet, horrifying devastation. The scent of blood was thick in the air, a grim incense to the aftermath of a brutal raid. Overturned carts lay on their sides like wounded animals, and the low, choked sound of weeping drifted from the doorways of the simple huts. Injured men sat slumped against walls, clutching bleeding limbs, their eyes wide with a vacant, shell-shocked horror.

  "What happened here?! We've come to help!" Ying Xia’s voice, sharp with a mixture of anger and concern, cut through the somber quiet. She spotted a man kneeling in the center of the dusty square, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs. She rushed to him, grabbing the collar of his tunic. "You! Snap out of it! Did the bandits do this? Where are they n—"

  "Xia." Bi Kan’s voice was a low, steady anchor in the storm of her emotion. "I think I know where they're at." He emerged from the bushes, his gaze sweeping over the scene with a cold, analytical precision. "Judging by the number of women still inside the village, they weren't here to capture slaves."

  Ying Xia’s eyes narrowed, her own sharp gaze following Bi Kan’s. It settled on a dark, wet trail leading away from the village and into the deeper woods. A blood trail. "We must hurry!" she declared, her knuckles white on the shaft of her spear. "I'll pierce right through them!"

  "There she goes again," Bi Kan breathed, the exasperated words a familiar prayer. He steeled himself for another fight and followed closely behind, his own senses on high alert.

  They burst into a small, rocky clearing to the sight of a tense, desperate standoff. Five figures stood locked in a stalemate—three wearing the familiar jade-green robes of their sect, facing off against two cloaked, sneering bandits. One of the disciples, his face pale and his arm bleeding freely, was on one knee, struggling to stay upright.

  "Zhou! Stand down, or else you'll die at this point!" another disciple, his own face grim but his stance steady, commanded.

  Hmm, they're already injured, Bi Kan thought, his mind racing as he took in the scene from the cover of the treeline. They're fellow disciples, but what have they come here for? Another mission? His gaze swept past the central conflict, drawn to a flicker of movement near the corner of the clearing.

  Two girls are captured, but why only two? could it be they used these girls to lure those disciples?

  One of the bandits, a wiry man with a cruel sneer, finally broke the tense standoff. He threw a dagger, a glinting arc of steel that whistled through the air, aimed directly at Gu Moyu’s heart. "Tch!" Gu Moyu leaped aside with a practiced, desperate motion. But the bandit was already grinning. The dagger had been a feint. His true target was the wounded, struggling disciple on the ground.

  With a speed that defied his injured state, the bandit was already upon him. "N-Ngh…" Zhou’s eyes went wide, a final, choked gasp escaping his lips as a second blade pierced his gut. He collapsed to his knees, the last of the life draining from his gaze.

  "W-Wha!" Ma Niu’s surprise was a raw, strangled cry.

  "Now! Use that talisman!" Gu Moyu’s shout was a sharp, commanding crack that cut through the shock. Gritting his teeth, his face a mask of grief and rage, Ma Niu pulled three tattered paper slips from his pouch. He poured his remaining Qi into them, his hand trembling. "Die!"

  A serpent-like green flame erupted from the talismans, twisting and coalescing into a single, ethereal snake of fire. It struck, biting into the bandit’s neck, chest, and stomach with a vicious hiss. The man screamed, a high, thin sound that was quickly extinguished as his body was consumed by the emerald inferno. "We did it!" Ma Niu panted, slumping to the ground in relief.

  "Tch!" The remaining bandit, whose aura pulsed with the formidable strength of a Stage 8 expert, watched the display with pure disdain. He pulled out two daggers of his own, their edges glinting with a malevolent light. "That fool was too reckless. But both of you will still die by my han—"

  A powerful thrust, silent and impossibly fast, came from his side. It pierced him completely. "K-Khk!?" His eyes, wide with disbelief, swiveled to the source. A golden spear, its dragon-fang head buried deep in his torso, was held by a girl with fierce, determined eyes that shone with a faint green light.

  "How do you like it?" Ying Xia’s voice was a triumphant roar. "The taste of my spear?!"

  "Looks like I didn't need to do anything after all." A small, satisfied smile formed on Bi Kan's face as he leaped down from the treeline. As the final bandit fell with a soft, final thud, Bi Kan’s gaze landed on the two surviving disciples. "You've done well, brothers. Holding off on your own, a noble cause to save these two girls."

  Gu Moyu folded his arms, his own expression a mixture of exhaustion and profound awe as he looked from Ying Xia to Bi Kan. "Fellow brother praises us, but that sister's skill was superb. She took down someone at the 8th stage in one hit!" If I'm not mistaken, he thought, his sharp, analytical mind piecing together the rumors from the sect, the boy standing in front of us is none other than Bi Kan.

  "Hey," a whisper came from beside him. Ma Niu, his own face a pale mask of suspicion, gestured with his head. "Doesn't he look like Bi Kan? Should we assassinate him now?"

  "No," Gu Moyu whispered back, his decision absolute. "You've seen how strong that girl beside him is. Even if I racked my brain right now, we wouldn't be able to escape unscathed. It's best if we come clean."

  Taking a resolute step forward, Gu Moyu faced Bi Kan. Bi Kan’s guard instantly went up.

  "We've come to assassinate you, Bi Kan," Gu Moyu stated, his voice flat and weary. "Which is why we found ourselves trapped and being hunted by these bandits."

  Bi Kan’s eyes widened, then went cold, the warmth of his earlier praise evaporating in an instant. He settled into a low, predatory stance. "Who sent you, then?"

  Ying Xia had also gotten into position, her golden spear held steady, ready to aid Bi Kan at a moment's notice.

  "Was it Si Gun?" Bi Kan’s voice was a low, chilling whisper. "Once I'm done with the both of you, he'll die by my hands as well." A small cloud of steam, almost imperceptible, began to vent from his body. Ying Xia knew it all too well. It was the boar's charging stance.

  Bi Kan shot forward at an incredible speed. I have yet to master it… it's still incomplete, but!

  "Face death with dignity!"