I'm humming to myself, strolling back to my courtyard, when Vera materializes out of nowhere behind me like a ghost. Dead of night, just the two of us.
I step back immediately and put a safe distance between us.
Vera's lips press together. She finally forces out the words. "Ash, why are you avoiding me?"
There's genuine confusion in her eyes, like she's trying to summon back the old Ash who used to orbit her every move, just so she can enjoy being worshipped again.
I reach back and pull a compact particle stun baton from my storage, gripping it tight. "Of course I'm avoiding you. A Gold Core stage waste haunting me like this. What if you actually refuse to leave?"
Even the pitch black night can't hide Vera's expression, dark enough to rival the bottom of a burnt pot. She lets out a cold laugh.
"Ash, don't think I don't see what you're doing. Playing hard to get. You really think that's enough to get my attention? Everyone in the sect sees me as heaven's chosen. They're all counting on me to bring glory to this place."
"Getting pinned down by a Foundation stage nobody like me. And the sect is counting on you for glory? Did they run out of real options? Honestly, if it's going to be like this, I'll just file to leave the sect tomorrow and find somewhere better."
Vera's face goes pale with fury. Her pride forces her jaw shut, and then she yanks out her sword and comes straight at me.
In raw cultivation, sure, she'd beat me. But in terms of gear, even ten Veras wouldn't stand a chance.
Vera comes at me like she has something to prove. Every slash aims straight at my face. No mercy at all. I snap on my energy shield. The moment her blade thrusts forward, I send a full charge through the stun baton. Metal conducts electricity naturally. Before Vera even realizes what's happening, the current tears straight through her. She screams like her very soul is on fire.
If she weren't at the Gold Core stage, a voltage like that would have roasted her alive.
Tomorrow's show is going to be something special.
"Vera." A dramatic wail cuts through the air. Eli comes rushing in and throws himself at her side. The performance is almost painful to watch. "Ash, how could you do something like that to Vera?"
I wipe down the stun baton nice and slow, then tuck it away like it's my most prized possession. "I was just sparring with a waste, helping Vera understand exactly how useless she really is around here."
Vera's been humiliated one too many times. She finally snaps and roars, "Ash, I was being generous, warning you about the trial realm tomorrow and letting you tag along. Since you clearly don't appreciate it, don't bother showing up."
She finishes and reassembles that smug, superior expression. Dead certain I'll drop to my knees and beg to come along.
Eli is practically glowing. He steps over to support Vera, wearing a perfectly crafted look of concern. "Vera, isn't that a little harsh? He's only at Foundation stage level six. Going into the secret realm alone is genuinely dangerous."
"He thinks he's too good for us. Too proud to walk alongside his own sect."
Eli keeps up his good guy routine. "Ash, I know you're jealous that everyone adores me, but you can't gamble with your own life."
I've already dropped a Gold Core stage cultivator twice, and these people still think a Foundation stage like me is dead weight. Is this just how the beloved script works? Can't move the plot forward unless the cannon fodder gets stepped on first.
Vera turns to Eli with a soft, gentle look. "Eli, don't waste your breath on him. I've already called off our engagement. Without the Ming clan behind him, he'll learn fast. Foundation stage means nothing in the cultivation realm."
That actually sparks something. I pause midstep and head back to my room, already thinking. If Foundation stage truly means nothing in the cultivation realm, then what if all my sect sisters ended up crippled? Their lives would be even worse than mine.
The trial realm only opens once every three years, and what waits inside cuts both ways. Opportunity and danger side by side.
The next morning, Vera shows up dressed sharp, chin tilted high, waiting for me to come crawling and beg to be included. I walk straight into the secret realm without a single glance back. Only then does she follow, jaw tight, dragging her pack of simpering disciples and Eli behind her.
Most of the treasures in the secret realm are buried underground, completely invisible to the naked eye. I pull out my scan detector. Within moments, a full scan map unfolds before me. No matter how deep an artifact or spirit item is buried, it's marked right there on the display, crystal clear.
I've barely finished setting up, just about to head for the ancient divine sword, when Vera's voice grates against me from behind.
"Hmph. Look at you, Ash. So proud, and yet here you are, shamelessly following us in less than half an hour."
I turn around. Vera and her crowd of disciples, plus a chattering Eli, are all making their way toward me. The group's darling, living right up to the title. Everyone scrambles to impress her. I was clearly here first, and yet she has the nerve to say I followed her.
"Vera, our little junior brother needs to get his head checked. Not every man who walks near you is chasing after you. That kind of delusional confidence really isn't a good look."
Out of their line of sight, I quietly release a micro gas grenade, sending it flying straight toward a spirit beast lurking nearby.
Vera's composure cracks. She sneers, stubborn to the end. "Let's see how long that mouth of yours keeps running."
Eli slips right back into his beloved routine, stepping forward with a gentle smile. "Ash, everyone's just looking out for you. Why do you always have to be so difficult? I actually have a cultivation pill my junior disciple made especially for me. Strengthens the body. Consider it a gift, Ash."
He holds out a small box.
Vera lets out a sharp huff. "What a waste of perfectly good medicine on him."
I take it with a frown and look inside. One dark, murky cultivation pill, smelling faintly of some kind of delicate spirit herb.
At that exact moment, an alarm fires inside my ear. A mechanical voice repeating on a loop, audible only to me. Critical levels of arsenic trioxide detected.
Arsenic trioxide. Common name, arsenic. A little, and you're glued to the toilet. A lot, and you're meeting your ancestors.
The junior disciple nearby is fuming, hopping from foot to foot. "That pill was made specifically for you. Why are you just handing it off to someone else? Is he even worthy of my cultivation pill?"