A man in purple paused, peering through the fog at the mess of ghouls. He drew his sword and strode forward, licking his lips.

Black wings flapped. A wave of ducks blew past, darkening the air around him. From the sky, a man in black and blue swooped down on a large black duck, legs crossed and a peaceful expression on his face. He looked over slowly. His eyes landed on the man, and a slow smile passed over his face, ingratiating enough to make his eyes squint.

The man stepped back, repressing a shiver. Something about that smile… it isn’t right. I feel like… I feel like he’s going to make me pay, somehow, if I approach! Pay, literally! With spirit stones!

“Good evening, Elder Brother,” Rogue started.

“No, no. I’m only passing by,” the man in purple insisted. He turned and ran in the opposite direction, quickly vanishing into the fog. Phew! Thank goodness I escaped! If I’d stayed, he would have stolen all my spirit stones. I’ll go find ghouls elsewhere! It’s not worth it to try to intercede on this battle.

Rogue paused, watching the man retreat. He rubbed his chin and furrowed his brows. Am I that intimidating? All I did was greet him politely…

He took to the skies again, surveying the rapidly-diminishing knot of ghouls below. Oh well. Back to beating the flies away. It makes my job easier if they flee on their own!

Below him, Healer struck out, sending a ghoul flying with a palm strike. Beside him, Ying Lin slashed three ghouls in twain. Taking a moment to breathe, Healer scanned over the ghouls. Only a few dozen left. We’re nearly done!

“Hang in there, Ying Lin!” Hui said, nodding.

“Eh? We’re almost done?” Ying Lin asked, disappointed.

Hui turned and narrowed his eyes at his disciple. Hey now. Don’t be too bloodthirsty! It’s better to be out of danger than in it! It’s good for training and comprehension, but bad for keeping one’s precious life!

A white snake projection twisted through the ghouls. Zhubi chased after it, coming to Hui’s side. He ran over and hugged Hui’s leg.

“Yes, yes. Good job, good job,” Hui said, patting Zhubi’s head.

Zhubi looked up and smiled, showing his fangs.

Black ducks swooped by, absorbing the ghouls’ death qi. Rogue descended next to Hui and tossed him a nod. “It looks like the trial is almost done.”

“Indeed,” Hui replied. With one last palm strike, he destroyed a ghoul, while the other members of Hui’s group dispatched the rest of them. He glanced up in the direction of the leaderboard. From here, fog obscured the board. Nervously, he licked his lips. “Do you think we made it on the board?”

Rogue laughed. “You were at the top, the last I saw. And as many ghouls as you attracted? I doubt anyone could pass your numbers.”

“Rogue, don’t be so bold. We aren’t the only ones who possess skill. There are many geniuses and masters in this world. If we don’t fight hard, we’ll quickly fall behind!” Hui replied, shaking his head.

“If Master claimed to be the second most powerful in this realm, who would dare claim to be first?” Ying Lin returned, crossing her arms.

Hui shook his head at her. This disciple. I know that she wants to give me a boost, but this is too much exaggeration. “Obviously, you could. And so could everyone else!”

Ying Lin turned to Rogue and shook her head. “You too?”

“Ah, well, I… I think it’s pretty funny,” Rogue said, shrugging. Uncomfortable, he rubbed the back of his neck and nodded at Hui. Best if we don’t spend too much time together. I’ll check the leaderboard and report back.

I think that ship has sailed, Hui replied, shaking his head. Plus, doesn’t it feel weird communicating like this when we’re so close?

Still… as we said, maybe we should still pretend to be kill-stealing strangers. It’s worth a try, anyways, Rogue argued. He nodded to Hui and took to the air again, urging his duck to soar away.

Hui shook his head. He’s the one who went to save Sectgoer, and he’s the one who came to chat with me… and now he’s going on about making sure we don’t meet one another?

Well, that’s different, Elder Brother. I’m a rogue cultivator. Good at interacting with others and making alliances, Rogue pointed out.

Sure, sure, Hui said.

“Master, what did you two say?” Ying Lin asked, tilting her head at him.

“Nothing, nothing,” Hui replied, waving his hand.

Rogue swooped through the air. The leaderboard slowly emerged out of the fog. He hovered, scanning the list.

So? Hui asked.

Rogue coughed. Er, we, er… we might have overperformed. We’ve taken all the top slots again.

Isn’t that good? We want to win, Hui pointed out.

No, no, it’s just… standing out too much isn’t a good thing, Rogue replied.

Hui hesitated. From across the node, he felt the other Huis’ uncertainty as well.

Well, we want to all be chosen as peak lords, right? We can’t do that if we don’t win, Sectgoer said, shrugging.

I know that! It’s just… isn’t it too much if we take top ten every time? Healer replied.

Peak Lord raised his hand. Er, everyone, isn’t… isn’t it normal for the protagonist to take first place in every trial? Well… well, more like, super ultra first place, right? So, so we’re just… well, to put it simply, this kind of thing… it should be normalish?

But it’s always strange when the protagonist does it! And we aren’t protagonists, Healer argued. It always makes the protagonist stand out, and then… uh, and then…

Rogue rubbed his chin. And then the young master types come out and harass the protagonist. Yes, yes. We don’t want that. But the young master type is already harassing us, huh, Peak Lord? Sexually harassing, that is.

Peak Lord broke out into a spate of coughs. Rogue! Hey!

Healer sighed and rubbed his forehead. Alright, alright, let’s keep it together. So do we take the top nine slots, or no?

I say we do. We want to win. It’s part of our ultimate goal to take down All-Heavens Sect. We can’t hesitate now, Sectgoer argued.

Rogue nodded. Although I don’t want to attract unnecessary attention, I’m with Sectgoer. I think we should. If we were earnestly participating in this trial, it wouldn’t be strange if we kept getting the top nine slots. After all, if we were strong enough to get them once, why shouldn’t we keep holding the top nine?

Will it hurt us if we don’t get exactly top nine? What if we let one or two outsiders mix in with the group, but stay within the top ten or twenty? It would be more normal and less outstanding to get the top-ish slots, but not exactly the top slots. I think we should tank our scores and take a small hit to blend in a little better, Peak Lord pointed out.

Healer hesitated, then nodded. I… also think we should take top nine. This is our ultimate goal. We can’t afford to take a risk at this point. If we get disqualified from becoming peak lord because of poor performance in one of these rounds… everything will have been for nothing.

Ah, phew. I was worried you might duck the vote, and we’d have to go ask Ying Lin or someone to tie break, Rogue said, laughing.

Ying Lin? Hey! You were never going to let the drop-vote win anyways! Peak Lord said, shaking his head.

Well, no. Because it’s stupid, Rogue said.

Now, now, Healer interjected, before a fight could break out. I don’t think there’s long left in the trial. Even if we tried to tank our scores, I doubt we’d succeed. For now, let’s go! Finish out killing the ghouls and press on to the next trial!

Right. Let’s go! Sectgoer cheered.