Sun climbed the mountain with tears streaming from his eyes, he kept looking back in sadness, part of him unable to believe that his Master had abandoned him so cruelly.

  He thought they would stay together forever, but it seemed like the nasty cultivators were right; Sun was just a burden on his master, and his master was better off without him.

  Sun didn’t know what to do to cultivate. He circled the Qi energy around his body, but it did nothing to advance him; he didn’t feel stronger.

  In fact, the only time he became stronger was when his master granted him the moonstone, which he might not have deserved.

  He thought he had helped his master enough later, especially after he got the prolonging staff from taking part in that one match in the arena.

  But since then he hadn’t grown in strength, while his master made leap after leap in his path of cultivation.

  Sun was mad at himself for not being good at cultivation, which made more tears drop from his eyes.

  He thought Seph liked him and was going to keep his promise and help him in his cultivation, but he didn’t even flinch when those bullies said all those nasty things about Sun.

  The monkey had reached the grove up the mountain, but it didn’t help in making him feel better like it would do under normal circumstances.

  The monkey’s forearm was soaking wet from all the tears he kept wiping away from his face, and running through the forest made dirt stick to his fur.

  He looked at his dirty fur helplessly, but there wasn’t much he could do about it, there wasn’t much he wanted to do about it, as depression was settling into his heart bit by bit and was making him not care very much even if he died atop this mountain alone.

  When he thought of dying alone, he cried even more, because he didn’t think he deserved such a fate, but this was where his life had gotten him to, maybe it was too much to hope that he could be Seph’s friend forever.

  ***

  Everyone gathered around Seph and asked him if he was okay, he grunted and said, “I am fine, those assholes got away with it though, the elder clearly just patted his prized disciple on the back of the hand but he won’t do anything to him.”

  Divinity said, “What’s got them so riled up, anyway? I thought we were on the same team.”

  Kafka said in his calm voice, “Sadly, you thought wrong, Divinity, jealousy in the cultivation world is a disease, a lot of egos clashing together, a lot of greed, a complete disregard to the importance of newbies in every sect.”

  Gabalawi declared, “But it’s wrong; we shouldn’t be fighting among each other with all the scars of fate out there that need our hands to close them. With all the different sects that want to get rid of our unholy existence. With the many rogue cultivators that want to use us as a source for their cultivation.”

  He wanted to tell them about their encounter with Black Crow, but he thought it wasn’t a good time.

  Lilith said with a worried voice, “Seph, you are bleeding. I am sorry I wasn’t by your side.”

  Seph got out a pig beast heart that he had cut out in the earlier day and took a big chomp of it, before he said, “Don’t worry Lilith, you should always seek the opportunities presented for you to grow, I am only going to slow you down if you have to always worry about me.”

  Lilith puffed her cheeks but said nothing, because she knew full well that whatever happened, they couldn’t sync all their progress together, and that if Seph got a fortuitous encounter without her by his side, she would want him to take it without her. Fortuitous encounters didn’t come in pairs after all, but deep down in her heart of hearts she wished they would always be close in cultivation level to do this together. She knew she was already at least three times as strong as he was, because she had so many gains because of the items her father saved for her.

  Seph bit twice more into the heart he was eating before his wound began healing from the inside first, when Divinity said, “Seph, I think I saw Sun leave the sect.”

  Seph alarmed, looked around him to look for Sun, but he couldn’t find him.

  He said absentmindedly, “He isn’t here.” He then looked to Divinity and asked, “What do you mean he left the sect? What happened?”

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  Divinity just shrugged and said, “I don’t know; we just came back from a... a personal business when I saw Sun run outside the sect from between Gabalawi’s legs.”

  She stopped as she saw the sadness and fear overcome Seph’s face, and then she whispered, “I am sorry...”

  Seph said in panic, “We have to find him; they must have said something that hurt him when I didn’t hear their voices while training, and he got sad and left.”

  He looked at all their faces with an imploring look. “Please help me find him; I can’t lose Sun. He was the only thing that kept me from going insane in that labyrinth.”

  Kafka said, “Don’t worry, I understand what you mean; my cats were the only solace I had in the labyrinth too, that place could get very lonely.”

  Gabalawi said, “I lived most of my life in loneliness, but when I finally found the warmth of the kindness of people and the closeness of a loved one I lost them, I won’t allow that to happen to you Seph, we will find your friend.”

  Divinity just nodded at him in solidarity. While Lilith tightened her hands over his.

  Seph looked at all of them thankfully, then he started walking towards the sect doors.

  Once the group got there, it was easy to convince Windsor to let them out to search for the lost monkey, and once they were outside of the sect, they each looked in a different direction but most of the landscape around the sect was empty except for the mountain which housed the sect in its belly.

  Seph gazed at the tall mountain for the first time, and he couldn’t even see its peak.

  It was bare for a few hundred meters, then a grove grew towards the top.

  Seph couldn’t tell how far the grove went, and when it stopped, and he feared the worst, could there possibly be a cultivation sect on top of the mountain too?

  Everyone said in different shapes and forms that they don’t see Sun anywhere, but Seph told them, “My heart tells me he went up the mountain, he really liked to hang on top of trees after we got out of the trial, he must be up there somewhere.”

  Gabalawi said, “What are we waiting for then? Let’s split into two groups and find your friend. I suggest Kafka comes with me, while Seph takes Divinity and Lilith with him. I think the two teams are evenly matched with enough versatility.”

  Seph thought, He made that lineup in mere seconds; not only is he strong, but he is a brilliant strategist too!

  Everyone nodded their agreement before they split up and went up the mountain.

  After going up for sometime and climbing the bare terrain, the group eventually reached the thick grove on the mountainside.

  Seph was worried that cultivators lived on this mountain, but he wasn’t pulling any stops in looking for his monkey friend as he shouted, “Sun, where are you? It’s me, Seph; please, if you hear my voice, come to me or make a voice so that I can find you.”

  Divinity also called for Sun in her childish voice. “Sun, come out if you can hear us; everyone is looking for you.”

  Lilith told Baby in a whisper, “Baby, fly and find Sun; if you see anything else that requires my attention, come and let me know as well.”

  Baby nodded to her mistress and flew into the air in search of Sun, but she couldn’t fly very high as the trees would cover her line of sight.

  Baby looked very hard ahead of the group, but she couldn’t find anything.

  Meanwhile, Gabalawi was using his booming voice to shout for Sun, while Kafka had spread his cats all over the forest for the same purpose.

  Kafka’s cats were really distracted though, as they didn’t know whether to search for Sun, or to chase butterflies, or to hunt birds; they might have been phantom cats, but they didn’t lose the unique traits of cats.

  Unbeknownst to the group though, they had attracted the attention of a group of passing cultivators that were out collecting mushrooms and herbs for their sect.

  Once the group heard the voices of the careless split yin cultivator groups, they shushed each other, and started sneaking down the mountain to search for their prey while smiling mischievously to each other.

  They had found easy prey they could get a jump on, and they were going to take them out easily, or so they thought.

  After a while, they noticed the voices were coming from two different directions, so they got to talking.

  One cultivator, who carried a sword that had a visible wind current circling around its blade, said, “What do you think, everyone? Should we all go after one group, or should we divide ourselves and take both of them?”

  A female cultivator who was so white as if there was a mysterious source of light shining under her skin said, “What if one group escapes? I vote we should take both of them. Brother Wind Lei; these must be the abominations that live somewhere around here that we couldn’t find after all our search parties. I say we kill them all, right here, right now.”

  A third cultivator that looked to have some sort of authority like the two who had already spoken, said, “I agree with sister Light Lin, As an older disciple of the Earth Inheritors Sect I vote we kill both groups, me and my younger brother Rou Kun could each join a group, and we could work simultaneously into creating an earth wall behind them to cut their only road of escape. At which point, they will have to fight us. We already made those rats run to whatever hole they hide in many times in the past, so there is nothing to fear.”

  Rou Kun nodded as his older brother spoke before he said, “I will do as brother Hou Kun commands, Also the loud sounds our battle will surely make, might alert all our sects atop this mountain, and they might join us making this fight much easier for us.”

  Wind Lei said, “You know what, as an older disciple of the Wind Sword Sect, I approve of this plan as well. Let’s cut these abominations to pieces.”

  Light Lin said, “Hai, hai. With the women of the Light Seekers Sect behind you, brothers, let’s shine our light on the darkness that comes with yin cultivation. Let us free them from the pits in which they live. Let’s claim back the Mountain of the Three Sects.”

  Everyone agreed quietly, and they split into two groups; one group had Hou Kun and Wind Lei, along with the junior sister of the Light Seekers Sect, who was called Light Ren.

  While the other group had Light Lin, along with the junior brothers of the earth inheritors sect, and the wind sword sect.