The two girls easily made their way to the forest exit. “Nana, Yuki!” Ai And Ami yelled out as they came running over, examining the two girls. 

“Thank the heavens you both are alive!” Ai began to tear up. She had been so worried and scared that the worst had happened. 

“We both have been unable to sleep much the past few months. When you two did not return, we thought you both had….” Ami’s lip quivered just thinking about it. Yuki had stayed behind to allow them to escape. Nana went back to try to help Yuki. If they did not return, Ami did not know how she would be able to deal with it.

“Thanks….” Yuki’s single word was able to bring a smile to the two girls’ faces, who finally realized Yuki’s attire.  

“Yuki, what are you wearing!?” Ai quickly stood in front of Yuki blocking people’s view. 

Yuki did not understand what the issue was. She was only wearing what she had on hand. It was not like her privates were showing. “It’s fine.” Yuki pointed to her scar, which looked quite ghastly to the people of this world. Just a small scar was enough to say someone was ugly or disfigured. Yuki did not understand this concept, but if it kept people from getting ideas, it would work to her advantage. 

    Ai looked at the scar and then at Yuki’s beautiful face and let out a long, exhausted sigh. “Do you think a guy will care about a scar on the stomach!? Come with me. I will get an elder to give you a robe to cover up with! Where is your master!? She should be here draping a robe over you as we speak!” 

Ai was having mixed feelings about Elder Nishikawa’s negligence! But as soon as she went to grab Yuki’s hand, a robe did indeed seem to fall from the sky and wrap around Yuki, covering her body. “Miss Sakaki, it is kind of mean to be saying I do not care about my disciples.” 

Ai snorted and turned her head away. She felt that Elder Nishikawa should have come out sooner. Of course, if she knew that Yuki and Nana had been rescued by Elder Nishikawa from the depths of the forest, she would not be acting this way, but Elder Nishikawa was not going to announce this to the disciples. Only the elders knew.

“Don’t speak badly about Master….” Nana’s voice was low, but her meaning came across. Nana and Yuki had officially taken Elder Nishikawa as their master. She had come to find them and even stayed in hiding, watching over them while they were finishing their training.

“Fine! I won’t, but still….” Ai caved. She did not want Nana and Yuki to get mad at her. 

“Haha, it is good to see that Yuki and Nana have people who worry and care about them.” Elder Nishikawa smiled. She hoped these four girls would be able to stay friends as time went on. Some may grow older than others depending on their cultivation abilities, but this is just how life as a cultivator works. 

It was around noon when the elder in charge of the event clapped his hands and stood before the group of disciples who looked worse for wear. The once haughty young teens and preteens were not looking so good. The three months in the forest fending for themselves had taught them a harsh reality. Life outside their previous pampered lifestyles was not as simple as they thought. The girls and the boys, each one of them had different looks on their faces. These looks satisfied the elders present. These were the looks of cultivators who knew they had to grow stronger if they wished to survive in the cruel environment of the outside world.

“I am glad you are alive and kicking. While some of you had been gravely injured and had to return to camp before the end of the training, I hope you have learned that your old life is no more. Once you have stepped into this sect, you are now part of this sect, and you will no longer be pampered young masters or young misses. While what I am saying does not apply to all of you, it is still good for you to all listen carefully. A cultivator’s life is a path of blood. You will kill, and some of you will be killed. It is a place where strength means everything. If you want to gain the resources to grow stronger. Then you will need to risk your life and hope you are able to come out alive. 

“Life and death are sudden for cultivators. But remember this. The people in the sect are your brothers and sisters. We should not kill each other but stand up and protect each other. If, for some reason, you have grievances, then you can speak to an elder to have them oversee a life or death battle on the life and death battle stage. We, of course, will hope you can settle any indifferences without needing to come to that, as it would not be good for people to die needlessly over trivial things. 

“Now….” The elder looked at the tired faces of the disciples and smiled. “Let’s see the rankings for this training.”

The elder’s words caused all the disciples to go into an uproar. No one knew about any kind of ranking! One young man couldn’t hold back his objection. “Isn’t this kind of unfair to suddenly tell us after the training that we were being ranked for this!?”

The elder tapped his sword off his shoulder and looked at the young man. “Oh? When did I ever say that the sect was fair in everything it did? Would you learn anything if we were fair in our ways? You all went out for training. This was to knock you all off your high horse and see who might have a bright future ahead of them and who would not. If you want to talk about being fair about anything, then leave the sect now and go back to your homes where you can live your days as a mortal.”