Chapter 7 - The Outer Sect Hunt
My jar was empty.
That should have made me feel better.
It did not.
A tag hung from the glass.
KAI RENN — ASH ROOT — HARVEST AFTER AWAKENING.
Mira read it twice.
"They planned to take your root."
"It's F-rank. Why?"
She pointed to the black residue at the bottom.
"Because it isn't an ash root."
Footsteps echoed down the stairwell.
We ran.
By the time we reached the Bone Pit, sect bells were ringing.
Not recruitment bells.
Hunt bells.
A red flare burst over the mountain.
My face appeared in light above the outer courtyards.
WANTED: KAI RENN.
CRIMES: MURDER, THEFT, FORBIDDEN CULTIVATION.
REWARD: 100 SPIRIT STONES.
"Efficient," Mira said.
"I haven't even murdered anyone."
The disciple I had tied up shouted from behind the altar, "You broke my jaw!"
"Not helping."
Mira cut him loose.
I stared at her.
"Why?"
"Because if we leave him tied here, Veyr kills him for failing."
The boy froze.
Mira looked at him. "Run east. Tell them Kai went west."
He ran east.
I looked at her.
"You trust him?"
"No. But scared people are predictable."
The system chimed.
[QUEST GENERATED]
[Escape Iron Lotus territory before dawn.]
[Optional: expose one lie.]
I grinned.
"I know which lie."
Before leaving, I climbed the recruitment tower and replaced my wanted notice with a list of names from the spirit-root vault.
At the bottom I wrote:
ASK ELDER VEYR WHY HE COLLECTS DISCIPLES IN JARS.
Then the sky flashed white.
May you like
My first tribulation had arrived early.
