A loud bang echoed through the small room as Verus’s fist slammed into the wooden golem’s side, where the ribs would be on a human. The human form combat construct was knocked slightly back, and a glowing symbol briefly flashed were it had been struck.

However, the golem was incredibly sturdy, and so after a brief pause, it spun around and swung an arm at its human foe. Verus ducked under the blow and retreated. He was panting heavily after such a long fight, and his core was feeling strained and empty of ki.

Without mercy, the wooden golem followed Verus and raised a hand to strike him again, but then it unexpectedly froze. A moment later, as Verus watched warily, the golem lowered its arms and headed back to stand passively in the center of the room.

“It seems my time is up,” Verus said with a tired sigh. The timing had been fortuitous, since he didn’t feel like getting punched by the golem again. He already had several painful bruises from this session.

Turning around, Verus exited the room and walked out into a temple complex within the inner disciple area of the Great Wind Sect. Seeing the room behind him become vacant, another disciple began walking over to use it.

The golem Verus had just been fighting was an advanced training tool for inner sect disciples. It could be set to various difficulties and even use emission techniques that channeled most of the basic types of ki. During the last fight, it had been set to use wind ki blasts. The construct was almost impossible for a disciple to damage, but when an area had been hit hard enough, a glowing glyph briefly appeared to mark the hit.

Taking a deep breath, Verus grinned as he walked home. It had been almost a month since he’d left the outer sect, and he was really enjoying his time in the inner sect.

Elder Caligo had certainly been telling the truth about the resources given to inner disciples. They were incomparable to those the outer sect received. It was only once you were in the inner sect that the sect truly considered your future worth investing in. Every inner sect disciple was given a much larger allowance and could purchase time in various advanced training rooms, of which the golem was but one. There were also intense meditation chambers and even an illusionary realm for fighting phantoms.

The scramble to produce as many young talented fighters for the upcoming tournament had also caused the sect to be even more generous than usual. Normally, inner disciples had to supplement their income by doing various tasks for the elders, however Verus didn’t have to worry about doing any sect missions and could focus on training for the tournament. Thanks to his loot from the Algorian Reaches, inner sect allowance, and what his master gave him, he had more than enough shards to purchase everything he needed. The next Realm was still far away, but he was making smooth and steady progress. Every day his core absorbed more ki and got a little stronger.

“I certainly joined the main temple at the right time!” Verus murmured before grinning.

The other benefit of the upcoming tournament was that all the other disciples were incredibly busy training for it, so no one had any time to bother him. Verus could spend all his time meditating in peace and training his martial arts. Other people might find this lifestyle lonely or boring, but not Verus! Although he sometimes missed his friends from outer sect, he was an ascetic who loved peace and quiet. Meditating on enlightenment was his favorite activity. Given a choice, he would be fine with spending a few years this way.

As he walked to his residence, Verus passed through the inner area of the Great Wind Sect’s main temple. Located in the world’s capital city, the temple was a sprawling complex that was itself the size of a small city. The inner sect area was similar to the outer disciple area, full of stone buildings, carefully arranged courtyards, and green banners emblazoned with the sect’s symbol, but it was slightly larger and fancier looking.

When Verus had first come to the main temple, he’d seen some small floating islands and buildings hovering off in the distance but never been able to get close to them. Some of those were located here in the inner sect, but he had no reason to visit them. Apparently, most of them were for show or wind ki cultivation. Only one of them was normally open to disciples, and it was basically just a floating tower that let people get a good view of the capital city. Verus had once used his void body enhancement technique to lower his weight so that he could jump up to it, but never gone again after that. The view was amazing, especially at night when all the houses in the city were full of light, but it wasn’t something Verus felt the need to see over and over again. He had training to do.

Verus’s residence was located next to the other inner sect disciples’ dwellings. While outer sect members lived in dormitories, each inner sect member had their own detached home with a surrounding garden. The homes were divided into three streets with each street having bigger and fancier houses on it. Competition for the larger homes was fierce among the inner disciples, since they allowed the disciples to flaunt their power and social status to their peers, but that wasn’t a game Verus was interested in playing at all.

While his fellow new inner disciples were fighting over the largest available houses, Verus had claimed one of the smallest for himself. It had only five rooms: a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom, a tiny sitting room, and a dedicated cultivation chamber. Having been raised by the sect, he’d never had his own house before and he didn’t need much. Besides, he was an ascetic, so he preferred a simple lifestyle free of distractions. The cultivation room in each home was the same, and that was all that mattered to him. He didn’t need extra bedrooms or a vast dining hall to entertain visitors.

Upon entering his home, the first thing Verus did was wash himself. He was rather sweaty from training. After that, he flipped the token on the door of his cultivation chamber to signify he wasn’t to be disturbed and entered the closet sized room to begin meditating. The house had come with a servant who occasionally came by to clean things.

Verus wanted to meditate while the feelings and insights from his battle with the golem were still fresh in his mind. When it came to cultivation, gaining enlightenment into the nature of the heavens was just as important as absorbing ki if you wanted to advance through the Realms.

Thus, Verus spent the rest of the day going over what he’d felt as he’d fought the golem and what he’d sensed from the wind ki it had used and his own void ki. Only through practice, experimentation, and understanding would his skill in wielding ki rise.

The next morning, as he was getting ready to leave for practice, a visitor showed up at his door. It was a tall young man with a shaved head in simple temple robes. Verus recognized him instantly. It was Levi Windward, the only other temple ward in the inner sect. He’d been in the inner sect for over a year already, and he was one of the few people Verus had come to know here because Levi had come over to help his fellow ward when Verus had first arrived. He was a friendly yet reserved man who freely shared his knowledge of the inner sect and Verus had sparred with him twice already.

“Greetings, elder sect brother! Would you like to come in for tea?” Verus asked him.

“Junior brother is too polite,” Levi replied with a smile. “I’ve simply come to see if you had a chance to visit the library yet. You’d said you were planning on studying glyphs and was wondering if you had any questions.”

“Ah, no. Not yet. I’ve been too busy. Sorry.”

Levi waved away his concern. “It’s no problem. The princesses’ tournament has the entire sect on edge, and I know how hard you push yourself.”

The two talked for a few more minutes before Levi made his departure. Verus smiled as he watched him leave. He was well aware that Levi wasn’t just helping him because they were both temple wards. Levi was currently lacking a master, and he knew Verus already one, so getting close to Verus allowed him to make important connections within the sect. That was fine with Verus though. Levi had been upfront about this, and the older disciple’s advice was usually quite helpful.

Flipping up his sleeves, Verus stared at his wrists. Levi’s visit had reminded him of the true reason he was interested in studying glyphs. His wrists were tattooed with rings made up of twisting black symbols. They had been put there by a great elder to prevent his ki going from going rampant and mutating his flesh, but he had no idea how they worked. Depending on something he didn’t understand made him nervous, so he was planning on studying Soul Mark Tattoos.

Unfortunately, after going to the inner sect area of the library, Verus had found out that almost all information on Soul Mark Tattoos was restricted to elders. He could only access the most basic information on them. They were related to glyphs though, so he’d taken up the study of glyphs to try and better understand his tattoos.

Even glyphs weren’t simple though. They were symbols that could channel and control the flow of ki. Many cultivators spent decades mastering them, and Verus didn’t have a lot of free time right now.

Sighing, Verus got out the books on glyphs and soul marks that he’d borrowed from the library and went to his small sitting room. There, he poured himself some tea and began reading. He couldn’t train all the time, and this was what he did in his off time. Reading was a nice relaxing activity and he enjoyed learning about other more scholarly aspects of cultivation. Despite his own experiences, he was sure punching people in the face was a rather small part of seeking enlightenment… Maybe.

Waving his finger through the air in small loops, Verus drew a shining symbol. It was a glyph of fire essence which quickly drew upon the nearby fire ki to reheat his tea pot. That was about all he could use glyphs for at the moment. The raw power of his fire glyphs was limited by his poor attunement to fire ki and the fact that he had no fire ki in his core to draw on, so they were useless in battle, but still quite convenient for heating up cool beverages.

After taking another drink of his satisfyingly hot tea, Verus went back to reading about various types of glyphs and their interactions. Usually, he found this subject interesting, but today he was having trouble concentrating. As he read, he felt on edge. The reason for this was obvious. The princess’s tournament officially began the day after tomorrow with the preliminaries.

Verus had quite enjoyed the rather peaceful time he’d had to focus on training since joining the inner sect, but that time was almost over. He knew he’d soon be facing a frantic struggle similar to the one he’d fought after first coming to the man sect temple. Verus’s experiences in the capital made one thing clear. Without a doubt, the tournament was going to be bloody and dangerous. It would challenge him in ways that would shock him to his core.

However, it wasn’t fear that made Verus’s guts unsettled and increased the beat of his heart. No, it was excitement. Deep down, he was looking forward to finally challenging himself again. He’d been laying low in the inner sect, but soon he’d once again have a chance to lash out. He hadn’t forgotten the grudges he’d carried over from the Algorian Reaches. The princess’s tournament was the perfect chance to settle those scores.

Verus was an ascetic and knew that wrath would lead him away from the truth, but you didn’t reach enlightenment by running from your battles. Sloth was a sin too, and there was much for him to do. At the back of his mind lurked the broken memories of his past life. They’d mostly stayed dormant over the last month, however they were another challenge Verus would have to face eventually. Wherever they led him, it wouldn’t be a small matter. He could sense a storm coming, and there was no other way to face it than head on.