The elder ordered Windsor to take Seph and Lilith to their cultivation tombs and handed him two black jade slips.

  When the disciple infused his energy into the jade slips, he knew exactly where each cultivation tomb was, and true to his word, they were next to each other.

  After Lilith and Seph left, the elder asked the disciple he had signaled earlier to use a skill on Lilith. “So, what did you find out using your identification skill? And are you 100% sure that she is the daughter of Scorn?”

  The disciple stood up from his sitting position to show his respect to the elder, and said, “Her name is Lilith Scorn, venerable elder. She can’t cheat the skill at her cultivation stage as she is only body dismantling III. Unless there is someone out there with the unusual name of Scorn, then she is for sure his daughter. Also, she has a very unique class, dragon mistress. Her attributes are very high for her low stage too, so she must have gotten many treasures from her father that made her shore up these advantages way too early in her journey. She must have consumed a full set of peak-grade pills for all her attributes too. She can probably beat cultivators three stages above her with these stats.”

  The elder hummed as he stroked his chin in thought. “Interesting, very interesting. I can’t wait to talk to them again and learn what they know. Maybe then I could lead this sect to heights even my predecessors never dreamed of.”

  The other disciples weren’t even listening to the elder, as each of them was thinking about Seph and how lucky he was to have a companion with the strength of Body Dismantling VI who would surely protect him if things ever got hairy.

  It didn’t help that Lilith was gorgeous either; many of them wanted her for themselves. Even the ones who already had girlfriends.

  Once the elder was out of his reverie, he ordered one of the inner sect disciples, “Take 100 yin cultivation pills from the alchemy workshop, and give them to Lilith. Tell them to take from our reserves; this is a priority. Also take 10 extra pills and give them to Seph, so that Lilith doesn’t feel like she has to share with him.”

  “Understood, elder,” the disciple said as he got up in a hurry.

  “And don’t you think you could cheat them out of my gift either, I’ll send a mental thought right now to the alchemist to know my orders, and I’ll ask them myself if they got it.”

  “Never thought about it, elder!” The disciple said while looking all guilty.

  The elder ignored him and relaxed on his throne as he continued to think of the treasure trove of information that fell right into his lap.

  The legacy trials took a lot of preparation, but it wasn’t the first legacy they undertook, and they rarely bore the results he was looking for.

  ***

  Seph and Lilith reached their cultivation tombs; the disciple bowed slightly to each of them as he handed them the black jade slips.

  They bowed to him in return before they looked at each other excitedly, then they raised the jade slips towards the stone doors and infused them with their yin energy.

  The jade slips glowed as the doors started going down and disappeared into the ground.

  They nodded at each other with a smile as they went into their new lodgings.

  Seph found the room paved with black granite, even the walls. There were four torches that lit up the big room.

  Right in the middle was a green circle carved into the granite pavement, with three standing triangular black stones distributed at equal intervals around it.

  Seph thought that must be his new circle of cultivation.

  The bed was on the left side inside a carved area that was made especially for it.

  It was raised a little above the ground, with a couple of steps leading up to it.

  On the right side, there was an area for washing that had all that he could need in case he ever wanted to shower.

  Right in front of him was a wall that had literally nothing, so he got out a couple of his father’s bookshelves and got out the alchemy furnace that Zhi Zixin was bound to and set it next to that empty wall as well.

  Once it was on the ground, Zhi Zixin appeared immediately as he let out a dramatic gasp, like he had been deprived of air for ages. “Goddess in heaven, that felt extremely awful; it was like I was dead...” He paused then said, “Well, I am dead, but I am sure you understand what I mean?”

  Seph chuckled as he said, “Welcome back to the land of the living, master.”

  “Glad to grace you with my presence again, anyway, where are all my books?” Zhi asked as he looked around curiously at the new room.

  Seph sheepishly replied, “Well, I didn’t get a big enough place yet, but I promised you that one day we will have it, and you will get your own workshop again.”

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  “Well, as long as you remember your promise. This room will do for now; where are we, by the way?”

  “My very own cultivation tomb, in my new sect. You are looking at the newest inner disciple, who has unlimited potential.” Seph said as he posed proudly.

  “Really? Where is he?” Zhi said as he looked around. “Is he invisible or really short and hiding behind you?”

  “I mean...” Seph was about to explain he was talking about himself, but his mentor cut him off as he said, “I can’t find anyone with that description here. I guess I’ll go look outside.”

  Sun started laughing, as Seph said to himself, “Why do these people treat me like that? Ungrateful bastards, I swear.”

  Next thing they heard was the sound of screaming coming from outside and multiple skills blasting the terrain.

  Seph hurried outside as he feared the worst.

  ***

  Lilith had found her room identical to Seph’s except it was permeated with more yin energy. The elder gave her the best room and gave Seph the adjacent one regardless of quality. Which showed that Lilith was way more valuable to him than the legacy winner, but Lilith didn’t know that fact.

  The only difference between the two tombs was the space for personal hygiene; hers was more suitable for a lady and came with a tall mirror and other utilities.

  She was trying the bed and relaxing on it when she heard the screams and ruckus outside. She opened her door at the same moment Seph opened his.

  They looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders and then they looked around, then Lilith screamed as she pointed at the distance, “Ghost!”

  Seph hastily said, “No, he isn’t! I mean he is, but he is mine; let’s go save him.”

  Lilith was astonished and asked him, “You have a ghost?”

  He said, “It’s a long story. I’ll explain later; let’s go.”

  She didn’t know what was happening, but she ran after him anyway.

  They found Zhi expertly dodging attack after attack, and running everywhere; he didn’t even look like he knew what he was doing.

  He didn’t look like he was in control of his body either. The ghost was as surprised as everyone else with his dodging ability.

  “Stop everyone, he is with me!” Seph shouted at the top of his lungs for everyone to hear.

  “With you!” someone said in confusion.

  “Oh, it’s you, Seph, welcome back, dear.” Glenda said sweetly, as she was one of the attackers herself.

  “You have your own ghost? Unbelievable. You are just a monster in human form!” Lao Wencheng, the throwing weapons specialist that Seph faced in the chase challenge, said incredulously, as he lowered his sumpit, which he was using to attack Zhi Zixin with the rest.

  Zhi floated with incredible speed and hid behind Seph. “Oh dear goddess, I am glad you are here.”

  The cultivators gathered around Seph, and bombarded him with questions about his ghost, he just assured them that the ghost is a friend, and that he is safe, and asked that they spread this info around the sect to allow Zhi free roam inside the sect’s premises.

  Seph turned to Glenda and said, “Very sorry, Ms. Glenda, I didn’t answer you immediately. I am glad to see you again.”

  She waved away the apology as she said, “Nonsense, I understand they bombarded you with questions. Who is this lovely young lady with you?”

  Lilith smiled as she introduced herself. “I am Lilith; I claimed Seph as my friend in the legacy trials. Pleased to make your acquaintance, senior sister Glenda.”

  “Sister! I could be your grandmother, dear, but I understand this is how we are supposed to talk now, ho ho ho.” She laughed as she covered her mouth with one hand, then continued. “Anytime you want anything, don’t be shy to reach out to me, junior sister Lilith.”

  Lilith giggled and bowed to Glenda, who bowed slightly and left the scene.

  Seph bowed down to Lao Wencheng in acknowledgement of having been addressed by him earlier. Lao did the same and left the scene as well.

  He then looked at Zhi and asked, “How did you dodge them that fast? I was sure some of these attacks were going to hit you.”

  “I don’t know; my body just moved on its own. Like a defense mechanism I didn’t know was even there.”

  Seph looked relieved, but he said, “Well, I am glad you are okay, please don’t leave that fast again, and let me prepare the people for your existence next time, if there will be a next time, of course.”

  “I don’t know about that; I seem to be as awesome dead as I was alive. Did you see these moves? I bet you fumble on your robe’s tail like a complete amateur in a fight.” Zhi boasted.

  “Umm, no, that didn’t happen before, but you are much more skilled at dodging for sure. Lilith, do you have a ritual we can use to extract that ability from Zhi? It’s okay if we lose him in the process.” Seph winked at her to play along.

  She answered with a malicious smile, “I don’t know; I’ll have to look at my incantations book.”

  Zhi looked offended as he said, “Unacceptable; I’ll make you pay for this the next time you want information about alchemy from the endless well of alchemy, that’s me. I don’t have any time to waste on you kids now though; I’ll continue my tour around the sect.”

  Zhi flitted away fast, and they heard a scream from another disciple a few seconds later, but it wasn’t followed by a ruckus this time around.

  Seph turned to Lilith and said, “Well, I forgot to introduce you to each other, but that’s Zhi Zixin, my ghost alchemist.”

  “Oh, I know who he is; he worked for my father. Nobody ever told me his story, though. I am surprised he didn’t recognize me.” Lilith wondered.

  Seph said sheepishly, “I hate to be the one to tell you, but your father cursed him. The curse looks to be designed so that he forgets everything that happened to him in the past the longer he is in captivity. When I found him, he thought he was alive and was spending his time in his alchemy workshop. I wouldn’t even put it past your father to have given him that defense mechanism to make sure that he never dies as part of his punishment.”

  Lilith looked guilty as she said, “Yes, my father could be really cruel when dealing with the empire and its thralls.”

  Seph changed the subject as he noticed her discomfort and said, “Are you all done with your room? Would you like to explore the sect with me now?”

  She forced a smile and said, “Yeah, let’s do that.”

  Seph looked around to see where they should go first and noticed a building with no sign, so they headed straight for that building.

  The door looked like a temple gate; it was red and had many decorative gold door studs all over it; at equal intervals, it looked extremely well made.

  There were two door handles that also doubled as door knockers.

  Once the duo was in front of the door, Seph held one of the door handles and knocked with it.

  Nobody opened, but they heard a deep call sound made by a creature they were definitely terrified of meeting now.

  The pair stepped backward in unison as they were about to change their mind and go visit a different building when they heard a cute meow from behind as someone stopped them.