Watching

"Fuck!"

Before the confrontation between the spirit beast and the two men, Heavenly Sect Master Xia was having a shitty day. Standing tall, with long pink hair and pink eyes, she had been the holder of her position for quite a while. She was well endowed, will long legs and sharp features that made people want to cry out 'step on me' whenever she walked by.

As the Sect Master, she was born and raised to be a part of this sect. Her parents were both powerful cultivators and she had attended this sect the moment she eligible. Due to her long years there, she naturally had good feelings towards it and she cared for the sect deeply. She had had many long years growing, learning about the world and herself, and had risen to the top of the 1st Heaven using all the means at her disposal. But, when everything had settled down and she had gotten used to peace, she had been fucked!

Not literally.

Within the last 2 years, her sect had been challenged twice and both times she had declined. However, now was a reckoning. In order to preserve her honor, it was an unspoken rule that a sect was not allowed to refuse a challenge 3 years in a row. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, The Heavenly Sect was not ranked 8th in the 1st Heaven for nothing. However, the recent decline in talent had put them in a recession. A recession so severe that she had changed the outer court test to take place in The Depths to look for talents.

The sect that was challenging them was their arch nemesis, the Illusory sect, ranked 6th. The two had been at odds over some petty squabble that their ancestors had gotten into long ago. At least, it was petty to her. However, in the cultivation world, pride is everything. Anything that could pass as a slight was seen as such and people were very unreasonable when it came to these matters.

It was for this reason, pride, that she was forced to accept after the third challenge. Otherwise, the other sects would disdain them and they would become a primary target for the other sects below them, seeking to take a top ten position.

Xia sighed. She was alone in her office, as secluded as she could be. The challenge had just arrived and all her hope that that messenger would never arrive had vanished. In front of the elders, she had acted like all hope was not lost, however, she couldn't help but think that it was.

The Heavenly Sect had good disciples. Because of the sheer number of people that applied to her sect, talents rarely found were showing up. The odds were just that much better. The problem was that they were lacking. Not in talent or strength, but motivation. They had never been humiliated and had no Dao to drive them forward. They relied on their talent to get them this far, but had yet to realize, as all cultivators do, that that wasn't enough. They needed a reason to reach greater heights.

Xia actually believed that if the core disciples gave it their all, they could beats the core disciples of the Illusory Sect, but no matter how much people reminded them to use everything. They never did. they didn't understand just how necessary exhaustion was. They didn't have the techniques that could bypass hard work like in other Heavens.

There were five core disciple she had in mind, all good talents. Some had trash personalities while others, her personal favorites, were just a bit lazy. They had all reached somewhere between 4th - 6th level Practitioner, which was great for their age. The less talented Elders were perhaps only a minor realm above that. If they worked hard, they would definitely become key figures.

Xia looked out her window, gazing towards the Depths. It gave her comfort to look at the, seemingly, endless forest.

'Six months. At most.'

That was all the time she had before a reckoning came. She took her only solace in the fact that this would humiliate them, motivating them to work in preparation for the Royal Competition, which would also take place soon.

A sound distracted her. Distantly, she could here a sound, almost like a howl. Focusing her senses, she didn't hear any more sounds, however her office was in an elevated position, and she could see flames from an area of the forest.

Taking out a treasure that enhanced her eyes specifically, she peered towards that area. There she saw two young men fighting a wolf.

A fight in the Depths against a spirit beast was not unusual, but what shocked her was their cultivation bases. They were both on a similar level to the core disciples, but she didn't recognize them. Naturally, she could tell what level they at due to her being two realms higher. It was around there when one could see through things with a glance. This was why the elders needed disciples to release their cultivation bases and why she watched the inner court test. Because only she, being a Grandmaster, could easily see through their cultivation bases. Looking closer, one seemed to be wearing normal clothes, so she could assume he had snuck in, but the other had an outer court robe.

Various scenarios ran through head as she became absorbed in her thoughts. This might be a heaven sent answer to her problems. At the very least, she could get the outer court disciple. Perhaps, he wouldn't be lazy like the rest and inspire the others and it didn't hurt to have another core disciple.

This was around the time that things went to shit. Witnessing the stabbing, Xia immediately began to move. Casting away the treasure, she began to fly over to the Depths. Noticing that, as she got closer, that the man in normal clothes was not trying to kill the outer court disciple and was targeting the wolf, she calmed a bit, but she couldn't tell the extent of the man's injuries.

Xia arrived, floating down to the area. However, as she looked at the area, she was shocked. The normal man was dead and the outer court disciple was unconscious. However, what shocked her was the man that stood in the middle. He had appeared out of nowhere, and was flickering like he wasn't even there. She couldn't even see through his cultivation base. However, as she contemplated her next move the man raised his hand and waved.

"Sorry, I'm not into milfs."

With those words, a bright light shone, blinding all who looked at it, even Xia. When Xia regained her sight, the outer court disciple was gone and all that was left was a corpse of a man and a corpse of a beast, as if neither of them had existed.