In its first decade, Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect experienced unprecedented growth and soon its reputation allowed it to be mentioned on the same level as any superpower of the other four continents. At the end of those ten years, after countless arrangements to make sure the Sect would be able to thrive for the following centuries, Light-Shadow Ancestor willingly entered eternal sleep, buried within the depths of the Sect Head's Tower.
Like so, as the centuries passed, other powers occasionally faced danger or enjoyed the occasional bliss, some falling and some rising, and among them, thanks to Light-Shadow Ancestor's arrangements, Mysterious Light-Shadow prevailed as a soaring dragon that never bowed its head and never suffered a loss!
Greatest Sect of the Western Continent, proudly flaunting its power as greatest among the top powers of the world and its status as the Sect founded by the world's most powerful cultivator to date: it was none other than the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect of the Western Continent!
With a never seen before array of nine Protectors with Reverend Stage fighting power, it currently could be said to be approaching a level never seen before since it was under the guidance of the Ancestor, overlord of a whole continent.
The nine protectors each had their own quarters in the First Ring: there, were a total of nine tall towers of the most extravagant shapes, each occupying a region of the first ring varying in size in accordance to the Protector's spot. The one ranked first among the nine in the last contest was assigned the greatest area and the greater amount of resources, while the opposite could be said for the last ranked one. A part of the resources would be used by the Protector themselves, while the other would be given away to the Alliances that had submitted to that same Protector.
At that time, a gray-robed, hooded figure appeared before one of the tall towers accompanied by the flickering of firefly-like crystal shards; The building was fifth-ranked Protector Shui Jing's, a many-hundred-foot-tall pillar of azure gemstone.
With a creak, a pair of gigantic doors slid open enough to grant the hooded person's passage.
Step, step, step…
SLAM!!!
The gray-robed hooded silhouette walked into the entrance hall of the tall tower completely made out of light blue crystals, their entry accompanied by the deafening sound of the humongous gateway slamming shut and a faint echo of their light steps. Swish: with a delicate motion, the figure removed the voluminous hood revealing the attractive appearance of a young girl. The youthful beauty raised her head up, her droopy gray eyes glancing around with an expressionless gaze as she walked forward. In the middle of the room were the first steps of a spiral stairway that went all the way to the top of the tower from its base, counting hundreds of steps.
As she looked around and her gaze fell on the walls of gemstone reflecting the moonlight, the beautiful maiden couldn't help but come to a halt. Witnessing her silhouette reflected onto the flickering crystal, the girl's dull-gray, droopy eyes couldn't help but narrow imperceptibly. She silently observed the glimmering surface and her hands curled up into fists, clenching slightly. With gritted teeth hidden below a calm exterior, she glanced wrathfully at the glistening azure surface.
Mine…
All this should have been mine!
Despite her wrathful thoughts however, the ashen-haired beauty hurriedly wiped any trace of dissatisfaction and fury from within her expression and began her long climb up the never-ending flight of stairs.
Due to her circumstances, she had forced herself to develop an incredibly sensitive consciousness when it came to foreign Will strands. Be it because of her 3,000-foot pillar starting talent as a Crystalline Featherdrake Sensed Qi, or the fact that she would rather spend time on practicing that sensitivity instead of cultivating so as to delay her cultivation breakthroughs as much as possible, her manipulation and sensitivity over Will had reached a standard of an Ageless Realm cultivator in its early stages. As soon as she had stepped into the crystal tower, her extremely sharp consciousness had easily discovered a frightening Will strand observing her every move.
The beauty ascended the spiral steps with an indifferent gaze, eventually coming to a stop in front of a second set of humongous doors. She lightly knocked.
"Come in, Te Rin. I have been waiting for you." The reply came swiftly as a middle-aged man's voice, his tone exuding calmness and reliability as well as a trace of mature charm: this was Fifth Protector Shui Jing's voice.
It was the one voice Te Rin, the ashen-haired gray-eyed beauty, hated with all her heart… It was the voice of the person that had stolen her fortune and doomed her bright future to be but a whimsical dream!
Te Rin breathed in and out to calm down. Then, she stepped into the room.
Standing with his back straight and a tome in his hand was a man in his late fifties. He had a head full of azure hair, the hue fading into white at the roots. A pair of sharp eyes and a straight nose adorned his face that still retained a trace of handsomeness and youth despite being relatively late in his years. His lips were semi-transparent and had the texture of glass, while a gem in the shape of a winged snake and emitting a pale blue glow was embedded in between his thin eyebrows. He wore azure robes interwoven with silvery words on the back, namely "Fifth Protector – 'Crystalline Featherdrake' Shui Jing". A strand pressure akin to that one would feel at the depth of the ocean brushed by Te Rin, as if a reminder, before being recalled back in his body that, in Advanced Stage Te Rin's eyes, now appeared to be as tall as a mountain.
The titles of each Protector were mostly wordplays on their names, or reflected accomplishments and cultivation methods worthy of notice. In the case of Shui Jing, it was none other than his extremely rare Sensed Qi that granted him part of the abilities of the Crystalline Featherdrake. A few years earlier, in a tournament between many Sects' upper echelons, he had manipulated the very crystal tower Te Rin was currently standing on into a feathered dragon, suppressing his opponent with ease. At that time, Shui Jing's cultivation had been at the High Level Sung Stage and his opponent a powerhouse of the Peak Sung Stage. Following his victory and the impressive 'Crystalline Featherdrake Manipulation', as Shui Jing had announced back then, he was then accepted amongst the ranks of the Sect's at the time Eight Protectors, becoming the one ranked ninth in terms of cultivation alone with the title 'Crystalline Featherdrake'. Before long, thanks to the huge boost to his talent granted to him by Te Rin's advancements to Basic Stage and Advanced Stage, he consecutively broke through to the Reverend Stage and became the Protector ranked Fifth.
Of course, Shui Jing, the cultivator with a cultivation base at the Reverend Stage that ranked fifth among the Sect's nine Protectors, had originally been a mere Gemstone Sparrow Sensed Qi cultivator, nowhere even near to being close to the legendary Crystalline Featherdrake. Unknown to the world, the REAL Crystalline Featherdrake was actually his apprentice, Te Rin!
And yet, doomed to be forever unbeknownst to them, together with her talent and future, he had also snatched away her identity! No wonder the girl's rage would burn so strongly that every moment of her life she would dream of cutting his throat and carve out that Featherdrake insignia on his forehead!
However, the ravine between Advanced Stage and Reverend Stage was simply too large for her to do anything but wallow in her despair and act as Shui Jing's meat on his chopping board…
"Te Rin, my disciple, step closer! Let Master examine your progress…" at this time, the azure-haired Shui Jing narrowed his eyes imperceptibly as he smiled warmly and motioned for her to come nearer.
After rotating her cultivation base a few times under the other's scrutinizing gaze, she was finally let off with a shocking piece of news, "Ahh, my disciple, to think that this bottleneck would actually make you unable to proceed for so long, I am truly disappointed in you… Still, fear not! With your accumulation and talent, you will surely step into the Superior Stage sometime soon and shock the world! Just like your Master, you will shock the world with our Treasured Avifauna Qi!" Shui Jing's light blue eyes gleamed sharply as he looked at this 'disciple' of his.
In return, Te Rin couldn't help but sigh. As expected, even if she held back as much as she could, the natural rotations of her cultivation base could not be fully stopped, else it would show signs of failing and even breaking apart, crippling her completely. Her talent, to begin with, should have let her step into the Superior or even Sung Stage long ago, it was only through her efforts that she had managed to prevent it from happening. However, the way it was, it looked like she would not be able to hold on much longer.
Up to that day, the situation had not bided well for her. Although she had the option of forcing her way through bottleneck after bottleneck with her talent, reaching the Reverend Stage in a few years and finally be able to fight back, it would mean that more than half of her talent would be wasted away just like that. Even if she were to succeed, it would mean giving up on most of her future prospects. Then again, if she did not do that, it would mean she would forever remain a weakling in front of Shui Jing whose talent would grow to the point it would surpass even hers until she would never be able to catch up.
It truly was a vicious cycle, one that seemed to force people to have no other choice but hold back and hope for a miracle or fight back and give up on her future.
Whenever she thought of her own situation, Te Rin would often have intentions of committing suicide. However, out of her stubbornness and wish for vengeance, she would always force herself to discard them.
Rationally, in such a situation one should take the safe path, the bargain that would surely pay off by giving up a part of her talent and future prospects in exchange for freedom. Unfortunately, although Te Rin was an incredibly smart and rational person, she had been fettered by the shackles of all geniuses, who after having tasted the heights of the sky couldn't possibly bear to go back to threading the ground. Deep in her heart, she had always been hoping for a miracle, for something to happen that would free her from this cruel loop…
"Mm? What's with expression? Don't worry disciple, master is not angry at you. It is normal for there to be rough times in cultivation, but as long as you push on forward you will only emerge stronger! As a matter of fact, after examining the rate of your progress, master has concluded that if you give it no more than a few months, maybe one year, then even whether you did not want it, you will break through!" Shui Jing laughed while playing around with his pale blue goatee as he glanced at the ashen-haired girl from the corner of his eyes.
"One year…" Te Rin muttered and, unknowingly, a smile had found its way on her face.
Shui Jing was surprised to find her to be smiling, as if she was truly looking forward to when that happened. Inwardly, the Fifth Protector couldn't help but rethink: was it truly as he had surmised and she had found out or was she actually oblivious? Judging from her reaction, didn't it seem as if she had yet to find out anything? If she had known about her situation, then why would she be happy knowing she would be breaking through soon?
Indeed: thinking of her own inescapable situation, Te Rin would even have intentions of committing suicide, why would she be happy at all?
This time around however, it was different.
It was because this once something had taken the place of those suicidal thoughts: this once, what had appeared in her mind had been a faint image of a child whose actual appearance couldn't be discerned. It was the hazy memory of a black-haired, golden-eyed child smiling and holding her hand. At the same time, two words were resonating in her mind: "One year."
Te Rin was no idiot. Although her memory of that time had been mostly wiped away by Cheng Hao, she was aware that the few hours missing from her memories of that evening probably were connected to that mysterious child that she had never seen before and yet whose appearance she could vaguely recall. For that reason, the thick veil of despair in her heart had been pierced through by a faint glimmer of hope.
With the newfound knowledge that his suspicions may not have been correct and that the child might still be ignorant about the big picture, Shui Jing couldn't help but feel happy and somewhat excited at the prospect.
"Alright, alright! Now go back and rest. From tomorrow be sure to cultivate hard!" He waved his hand in her direction, looking at her in a brand new light: he would be thoroughly testing out his theories in the near future and if she really did not seem hostile after all that, he might even consider taking his role as a master seriously and seriously teach her some stuff! In that way, he might even get himself a powerful subordinate for the time he would fight it out with the world and rule it as its overlord!
"Yes, Protector!" The ashen haired beauty replied with a slight bow.
Under the crafty gaze of the Reverend Stage Protector, Te Rin turned around and walked out of the room with a straight back and droopy gray eyes that no matter how dull in color could not hide her fervent gaze.
One year…
She felt her cultivation base and willed its natural rotation to slow down even further, as low as it could possibly get. Even if it meant that if she kept at it long it would harm her, so what? After all, she now had both hope and the exact time limit: she only had to hold out for one more year!