The first thing Jack noticed was that the large stack of tall logs was neatly stacked in a corner, with the stumps casually discarded in a pile beside them. The area had already been cleared for their arrival, but Jack did not see any implements or machinery used to cut wood. There could be a myriad of other possibilities, but Jack felt that he knew which was the likeliest: Adept Lanhai cut them down on his own, and deposited them there.

In the center of the now cleared forest, was a large rectangular wooden table with an ornate jade pot resting on the center, releasing light puffs of steam periodically, and five earthen clay glazed glasses neatly arranged in a circle around it.

“Hmm,” Adept Lanhai caressed his long, majestic silver beard in thought, before nodding his head once in confirmation, as if he had decided.

“First, I would like to get a feel of your abilities. Initiate Sarah shall be first. As for you, sit at the table and don't touch anything,” Adept Lanhai commanded, his tone suddenly shifting to that of a harsh drill instructor as opposed to a friendly old geriatric.

Jack shrugged, complying without needing to be told twice. He was looking forward to watching Sarah’s bout while he could take a much-needed breather, but he was lying if he said he wasn’t curious about the Jade Pot’s contents. Perhaps it was just hot water or tea, who really knew with a man who liked to capture mutated boars?

A minute later, Sarah was standing opposite Adept Lanhai with her spear held in an offensive stance, brows furrowed in concentration.

“Now you are probably the last person I have to tell this, but attack with intent to kill. Nothing you can do will harm me in the slightest,” Adept Lanhai instructed, his hands still fiddling around with his assassin knife, tossing it in the air before snatching it back with practiced motions.

“Okay,” Sarah nodded in affirmation.

“You may begin,” Adept Lanhai calmly announced, and Sarah didn’t hesitate.

Her movement reminded him of her frenzied charge against the Oathbreaker— her spear a flurry of motion, thrusting forward with furious strength, before lightly pulling back and repeating the process, just a tad faster. She continued to advance with each thrust, the aim not necessarily to kill but to frustrate the opponent’s offense.

Adept Lanhai on the other hand, was fascinating to watch. Jack had the same feeling as when he used [Qi Pulse] when watching him fight, because the man’s movements seemed to be in sync with the very pulse of the earth itself. He dodged Sarah’s blows effortlessly, but it was his movement style that was eye-opening. His feet only shifted slightly, but that was enough for Sarah’s spear tip to miss him by the gap of a mere inch, retreating like a silent phantom who was immune to corporeal attacks. The one time Sarah finally managed to adjust her momentum and angle in time to predict his movements, perhaps a lucky break or an intentional opening left behind by Adept Lanhai, he just lightly tapped the spear’s haft with two fingers, pushing it wide enough to once again miss him.

“How are you… ,” Sarah asked breathlessly as she continued raining down thrusts upon Adept Lanhai, “....doing that?” She finally flared her Qi, the tip of her spear glowing azure before thrusting with the entirety of her strength behind it.

Adept Lanhai eyes were stern with focus as he snapped his index and thumb fingers together, Jack barely able to make out a flicker of black energy before Sarah’s [Qi Spear] simply winked out of existence, like a snuffed candle. He sidestepped the slower speed with casual ease, before giving the spear in Sarah’s hands a light martial chop as it passed through the area he had been seconds earlier.

Sarah felt an overwhelming strength weigh down upon her spear, before having to let go of it to protect herself from injury.

Panting, she glared at Adept Lanhai with some resentment in her eyes. She hated having her spear yanked from her possession, especially after the Oathbreaker had managed to do it while he was blindfolded and chained.

“My intention was not to bully you, young lady,” Adept Lanhai seemed to revert to his jovial state the moment the training ended, raising his hands in mock surrender. “But to teach you an important lesson. As long as Qi remains cycling within your body, you are the sole lord and hold complete dominion over it. However, the moment you project it outside your body through a vessel, like this artifact you have here, you open yourself to others seeking to challenge your dominion. What I did was a feat of skill and experience, but at your level, it can be replicated by powerful, or opposing talents,” he patiently explained, with the bearing of a kind grandfather instead of a distinguished expert.

“So does that mean I shouldn’t use [Qi Spear]? That’s impossible, not when there’s an army of monsters out there waiting to kill me,” Sarah retorted with some angst, finding it ridiculous how one of the invaders wanted her to forego the most powerful skill in her arsenal.

Adept Lanhai sighed, but his expression did not seem angry or irritated. “Your resentment is understandable. Even justified. Tell me though, do I seem like the person who would enjoy subjecting your race to this fate?”

Sarah’s anger seemed to falter slightly at that question. Cultivators were powerful existences that had magical powers, but even she didn’t believe that a man who would be able to sentence an entire planet to damnation could be so… empathetic. He would have to be an emotionless monster desensitized by power to do that, or some other variation of such a twisted being.

“No,” she replied with some hesitation. She wanted an outlet to vent her indignation, but a kindly old man who wanted to help them didn’t fit the ideal image of their oppressors in her mind. It was vexing.

“Long before I was born, I was told that my planet had undergone a similar integration process, much like you are going now. I am lucky to avoid the hardships my ancestors faced, only to enjoy the benefits of their sacrifice today. You find the [System] cruel and merciless for its decision. That is true, but alas— in the three realms, there are fates far crueler than death. And the darkness we repel…,” Adept Lanhai’s expression contorted in pain, his fists clenched tightly as he bore it.

“I understand,” he grunted out in a nasal voice, his teeth grinding together under the stress. A second later, his expression eased as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

“What’s happening?” Sarah asked him with… she didn’t know whether to be concerned for the invader or happy he was suffering pain, but she ultimately leaned towards the former for now.

“It was worth a try,” he shrugged nonchalantly, seeming unfazed by the pain he had to just undergo.

“I shall now give my evaluation,” Adept Lanhai changed the topic quite abruptly, and Sarah didn’t feel like she had a right to press him further. So she just nodded, wondering how she fared by invader standards.

“Your spear intent is honest, seeking to overcome what you lack in skill with ferocity and persistence. This is a commendable approach to the Spear Dao, one that will take you far if you do not stray from your path. But your approach is fundamentally flawed, too restricted by the world as you perceive it, and not as it is. Simply put, you think like a mortal when you are a cultivator. The only thing that limits you is your imagination and creativity, for what mortals consider skilled are only incomplete, fragmented paths in the eyes of any cultivator,” Adept Lanhai stated, his tone almost reprimanding but his advice genuine and simple to understand.

Sarah looked at the spear in her hands, her expression ponderous.

“Thank you for teaching me,” she muttered, with a touch of heartfelt gratitude. In her worries and anxieties, she had forgotten that she was no longer entirely human— she was a cultivator, and that was a fact. Along came with it many more burdens and anxieties, but also power like nothing ever before witnessed on Earth.

“You may go. Tell the brooding man it is his turn,” Adept Lanhai nodded with a smile on his face, apparently pleased at Sarah’s response.

Sarah burst out into giggles when she heard that description, trying to stifle her laughter but unable to stop. A dam of pent-up emotions was released as she continued to laugh for a straight minute, before wiping a tear of laughter, or perhaps just accumulated emotions, from her eyes as she went to inform Jack.

In her mind were only three words constantly being repeated like a mantra…

‘Sarah Jackson, Cultivator.’