Chapter 143: Misfortune (Patreon)

“That is all. I will now read out the names of those who have been chosen as outer disciples!”

Forty-six. That was the number of candidates that had received offers from any of the halls. Ye had started counting early on, because he’d theorized that the list may have been made in order of priority and it would have been useful to know where he was standing.

That theory, of course, had been immediately disproven when Xinming’s name had been the very first that had been called out, but he’d kept counting regardless

Her apparently becoming an inner disciple had taken Ye completely by surprise, but that surprise faded into the background now that he had to confront another fact: His name hadn’t been among those forty-six. Surely that had to be a mistake, right? But the announcer didn’t correct herself, but kept going. Name after name.

As more names were being read out, Ye was slowly growing more and more uneasy. He hated it, but he had no choice but to admit that he had failed to properly distinguish himself from the other candidates during the exam. Perhaps it would have paid to take it more seriously from the very start…

The total number of read names crossed a hundred. Meilin was named. Sometime later, Nuo as well.

An unsettling thought crossed Ye’s mind. He couldn’t possibly be left out, could he? Doubts began to gnaw at him. Each of them had performed exceptionally well in at least one of the tests.

He counted down as names that weren’t his were being read one after another.

One-hundred-and-fifty.

One-hundred-and-sixty.

One-hundred-and-seventy.

One-hundred-and-eighty.

One-hundred-and-ninety.

Panic began to rise in his chest. What would he tell the clan elders? The servants? What would his brother think?

Okay, maybe he really wasn’t the best of all of the candidates here. Maybe he’d overestimated his talent, perhaps even by a lot. But surely… surely, he qualified, right?

He didn’t care about being an elder’s disciple anymore, heck, he didn’t even need to be an inner disciple. Just… please, please, PLEASE don’t send me away!

One-hundred-and-ninety-five.

Ye held his breath. His heart raced so loudly he could barely hear the names being read anymore.

One-hundred-and-ninety-seven. Not his name.

One-hundred-and-ninety-eight. Not his name.

One-hundred-and-ninety-nine. Not his name.

Two hundred. Not. His. Name.

Ye felt his heart sink. He hadn’t been named. He was about to let himself drop to the floor, but then another name was read. And another. And then, finally:

“Ye Wudi!”

That was right. Two hundred was a guideline, not the definite number. Ye let go of his held breath as an unbelievable wave of relief washed over him. He was safe.

Four more names were read out before the announcer had finished the list. After a moment of silence, Elder Wei spoke up.

“That’s all the candidates that were chosen to be taken in by the sect this year. The list will be posted right here for you to check, including a those who will receive a recommendation by the sect. Thank you for making your way to our sect to attend this year’s disciple admittance exam and I wish all of you, regardless of whether you were chosen or not, the best of luck in your future endeavors.”

Cheers broke out all across the crowd from those who had made it, though they were disproportionately smaller than the number of those who didn’t. Ye didn’t join in. He was still overwhelmed by the intensity of the emotions he had just gone through. He felt dizziness overcome him and his knees gave out.

And then, before he could collapse to the floor, he felt himself be swept off his feet as Nuo pulled him into a hug.

“We made it! We all made it!”

“…Yeah…”, Ye pressed out, winding himself in the boy’s iron grip. “That’s… great but… if you could let go now…”

“Oh, of course. Sorry.”

Ye took a moment to catch his breath again. Seriously, what were they doing on that farm to get that strong?

Meilin joined them moments later, just as ecstatic as Nuo to have been accepted. For them, who had joined the exam without the high expectations that he’d had, becoming outer disciples was something to celebrate.

Ye supposed that maybe he should be reevaluating his perspective. He was a disciple of the Lunar Peaks Sect now, that was the most important thing, and it was in and of itself a great achievement. He still had higher aspirations, but he’d have plenty of time to work on them from now on. If his talent wasn’t as great as he had thought, he’d just have to find other ways.

As the afternoon progressed, those that hadn’t been chosen slowly filtered out. In their stead, more and more disciples and some older members joined them on the plaza, bringing with them food, drink and plenty of merry mood. Soon, the whole plaza had turned into the stage of a grand welcome party for the new disciples.

…

The rest of the afternoon and early evening turned into a blur of music, games, chatting and getting to know more of his new fellow disciples. Xinming didn’t show up anymore, but Ye supposed that was to be expected. She might find this type of event uncomfortable due to her blindness, and she didn’t seem to be the festive type either way.

Around sunset, the instructors moved in and began to wind the party down. The new disciples were shown to their assigned dorms and Ye was pleasantly surprised to see that their new living arrangements were actually pretty solid.

The rooms were not too large and by no means luxury, but they were clean and tidy and they each got one to themselves that they could furnish and decorate how they wanted. He’d have to make a trip to the nearest commercial district soon and maybe put in a request for a caravan to the next town, and he could make himself pretty comfortable here.

He spent some time unpacking and sorting through his luggage before his tiredness from the day’s stress and the celebration began to kick in. It was only as he slipped out of his robes and into his nightgown that he realized something was off:

His ring was missing.

Thinking back, he had taken it off during the announcement of the accepted disciples – he often subconsciously played around with it when he was getting nervous – but he couldn’t remember putting it back on.

“Damn it!”, Ye cursed. He must have dropped it when Nuo had hugged him. Or maybe he had put it into his pouch, and it had fallen out during the celebration.

Well, it wasn’t too bad. The Ring was made of silver with a small, dim blue gem inset without particularly impressive craftsmanship. It wasn’t particularly valuable; if it hadn’t been passed to him by his father, he’d never even have thought of wearing it.

Ye threw himself on his bed. He could buy something better right away, during that visit to the commercial district he’d already planned to make. He pulled his blanket over his head and let his fatigue carry him to a quick and deep sleep.

Except that it didn’t work.

He was plenty tired, that much was for sure. The bed was very much alright, especially considering the sleeping arrangements he’d made do with over the past week. Still, he felt deeply uncomfortable lying there as he was.

His body wasn’t the problem; it was his mind that was hammering him. He was still thinking about the ring, and he didn’t seem to be able to stop. He shook his head. What was lost was lost, there was no gain in dwelling on it.

But his mind disagreed and the sleep wouldn’t come.

It was only a piece of dull and scratched silver, worthless to a cultivator and not even befitting to wear for someone of his status, but it was still something his father had left him… the only truly personal possession of him that he had left of him.

Ye sighed. He couldn’t just give it up that easily. Against the protest of his fatigued body, he sat up. He had to try at least. Just one walk down the path he’d come here.

He quickly slipped back into his robes and out of the door. The dorm had fallen silent by now and though Ye hadn’t been told the rules yet, he had the vague notion that he was not supposed to be out anymore. He tried not making any noise as he made his way through the hallway, down the stairs and to the front door.

The night greeted him with a cold breeze that helped him shake off the vestiges of his sleepiness. The sun had long set, but the full moon provided plenty of light. It seemed larger and brighter than he remembered ever seeing it at home – perhaps that was the reason these mountains were named the Lunar Peaks.

Ye walked down the path he remembered coming here, keeping his eyes peeled for small round objects on the ground. There were plenty of rocks, leaves and other junk that looked somewhat fitting from particular angles, but he was disappointed every time.

Soon, he had found his way back onto the plaza and began walking it up and down. He soon understood that it was a rather hopeless endeavor. He had no idea where to look or even if he was looking in the right place. Someone could have picked it up or unwittingly kicked it away in the crowd.

Just as Ye was about to give up and turn back when, for a brief moment, a reflection of light caught in the corner of his eye. He turned to trace down its origin, narrowing his eyes to catch another reflection. Then, suddenly, he spotted it. Hidden half-way under a fallen leaf was his ring!

Ye scooped it up and closed his fist around it. It was cool, but it made him feel warm regardless. He slipped it on his finger, vowing not to lose it again and made to return the way he’d come… only to discover that he had no idea which way that was.

There were tons of streets that converged on the plaza and in the dark, all of them looked the same. It didn’t help that he’d been focused on the ground the entire way here. Ye knew which general direction he’d come from, but what exact street? No idea.

Well, finding his way back couldn’t be too difficult. He’d just pick one at random and walk until he recognized something.

Following this plan, Ye soon found himself walking down a street he well and truly didn’t recognize. He shivered; the night’s cold and his tiredness were getting to him. All around him, the silence stretched, interrupted only by the sound of his footsteps and the occasional buzzing of lone insects. Then, suddenly, the harmony was interrupted by a different, wholly foreign sound – something that sounded like a muffled scream, followed by a dull thud and the rustling of cloth.

Ye unwittingly turned around to follow the noise, finding himself staring down a narrow alleyway he’d just been passing bye, just in time to witness one of several figures on the other end, all clad head-to-toe in black clothing, heave the limp body of a girl over their shoulder. He gasped as he recognized the girl’s face as that of Liting, their exam aid!

He froze as he realized he’d just made a noise, but it was too late: he’d alerted them to his presence. All of the figures’ heads turned to him as one. For a moment, they were just staring at each other in suspense.

Ye internally screamed at himself; he needed to get out of here!

He took off in a full spring, his adrenalin pushing him to run faster than he had ever before. He had to tell someone. Find a guard. Call for help.

He’d not made it past a single house when he heard a loud click on the sidewalk behind him. He began turning his head in an instinctive attempt to look behind him, but before he could do so, something had already impacted his temple.

An ever-so-brief sensation of pain rushed through his head, immediately followed by numbness that took away the control over his body within the fractions of a second. As he fell and impacted the ground, Ye’s eyes caught just a single glimpse of a slender shadow standing over him before the world turned black.