“Yo, Silkpants, Klutz is in the hospital, I needed someone else and picked you, we’re going hunting, out of bed, chop chop.”

A black wooden door was flung open. Behind it was Silkpants, whose eyes were barely managing to stay open. “It’s THREE IN THE MORNING! OUT! Come back in four hours and no earlier or I WILL find your family, and I WILL kill them.”

Ivor sighed and turned around. “Dude, I know you like sleeping, but threatening to kill my family is a bit much isn’t it? I mean,\when you destroy a family, you have take it out by the roots, and I’ll have you know that I’m a direct descendant of Genghis Khan!”

Silkpants flicked Ivor in the face. “Just LEAVE! You know what, come back in six hours. I haven’t slept much recently, and you should know that I HAVE killed people for waking me up. So DON’T. Please.”

Silkpants slammed the door behind him, leaving Ivor out in the cold. Ivor left with a resigned look on his face, resolving himself to annoy Silkpants as much as possible in six hours. He decided that a group of five would probably be safe enough, so he went to get two outer disciples to go with him, because who cares about being safe? He arrived at a two-person lodging, the housing of outer sect disciples Lireh and Painless. He knocked on the door. “Alright, who wants to-”

Ivor was met with a fierce, “NO SOLICITORS!”

He shook his head in annoyance and raised his voice. “I WAS ASKING, WHO WANTS TO HUNT AN INFERNO YUAN TIGER?! I WANT ITS ORIGIN ESSENCE, BUT THE REST WOULD BE SPLIT BETWEEN YOU TWO AND ONE OTHER!”

A response came even louder than Ivor’s request. “OH, IF THAT’S WHAT YOU WANT, I’D BE FINE WITH IT! Alright, my throat is starting to hurt. Anyways, I’m disciple Lireh, a dying qi cultivator. Oh, and that doesn’t mean I’m dying, it means that I follow the Dao of dying. How to explain this… I cultivate qi attuned to the concept of the moment between life and death”

The door opened to reveal a light green haired woman who emanated a sense of danger. Her hair was cut short, presumably so it didn’t interfere with combat, and she wore loose black clothes. Her skin was also strangely pale, although Ivor was beginning to suspect that cultivating caused skin disorders. His skin was losing color as well, although it wasn’t to the level of Lireh’s paleness yet, and he was beginning to suspect that all high-level cultivators were albinos who had to use magic hair dye. “Hey, Lireh. Anyways, I know it’s early, but can you go fetch Painless? I’ve heard some bad things about him, but if you have that kind of reputation, you have to be strong… right?”

Ivor’s hand shot up, catching a scalpel aimed at his head. It had been thrown from a window on the second floor of the building. “Is that how Painless greets people? I mean, I don’t really care, but I could have died!”

A pale, lanky, man with blood-red hair leaned out of the window the scalpel had flown through. He spoke in a gravelly voice that seemed to be at odds with his young appearance. “If you were dead right now, it would be your fault. I was broadcasting killing intent so strong you could feel it a mile away! If you didn’t notice, you’d just be a moron. If you noticed and couldn’t block, then it sucks to be you, but I don’t give a shit. But that doesn’t matter for you Ivor; after all, you passed the test.”

Ivor responded with anxiety in his voice. “I think I just heard you say that you didn’t give a shit if I died… but isn’t killing other disciples against sect rules? Do you do this kind of thing regularly? Also, I don’t think I told you my name.”

Lireh let out a bitter chuckle. “Painless has to murder people to cultivate, and the stronger the person is, the more advancement he gets out of it. I can extend someone’s moment of death long enough to get them medical attention, although it’s quite costly, and he can cultivate even if I do so. I kind of have to sell to him at a discount, or he might go on a killing spree in the slums and flee the sect before going to kill people somewhere else.”

Ivor narrowed his eyes incredulously. “So Painless is a psychopath, and you’re enabling him. Also, we’re just ignoring that he knows my name? Alright, kind of creepy, but I can defend myself, and I’m REALLY not in the mood to deal with this, so let’s just go hunting.”

Painless hopped down to the ground and cleared his throat before speaking in a much clearer voice than before. “Yeah, let’s. This sounds like it’ll be fun.”

Ivor’s finger struck Silkpants’ doorbell six hours later. “Silkpants, get up, we’re going hunting! It’s been six hours, and the rest of the group is already here.”

Silkpants grumbled as he got up and opened the door. “I’m coming, I’m coming! Wait, is that Painless? The serial killer? Dude, he was on the news like… five times or something before he joined the sect. Are you sure this is a good idea.”

Painless chuckled with faux innocence. “No, I’d never do something like that. I’m reformed. I know I kill people sometimes, but they don’t die, so no harm, right? I was just going through a troubled time in my life.”

Lireh clapped her hands once to draw the group’s attention to herself. “So, we have a group of the famous strongest service disciple in the sect, a reformed serial killer, a necromancer-in-training, and Ivor, who, despite being new to the sect, is still quite strong, according to my research at least. We’re all high-tier among outer disciples, so we should be able to hunt this tiger without a hitch.”

Silkpants asked, “Tiger? What are we even hunting? I also didn’t agree to this.”

Ivor grabbed Silkpants by the collar and started to pull him. “An Inferno Yuan Tiger. I need its origin essence, but the rest of the spoils are for the hunting party. Also LALALA I DIDN’T HEAR YOU!”

The group of four walked out the gates, and the hunt for the Inferno Yuan Tiger began.