Drake’s words made Lauren’s heart leap, though she forced her face into composure. She bent low, voice steady.
“Disciple Lauren greets Master.”
At last. She had him. Becoming Drake’s disciple meant one step closer to survival—one step closer to breaking free of fate’s chokehold. Even if that thing above still wouldn’t release her, at least she now had a shield.
Drake rose and moved toward her. Lauren braced herself, half expecting him to help her up. Instead, he walked straight past her, his robes brushing against her shoulder. He walked a few steps before halting.
No command came. So she stayed kneeling, silent and stiff.
Then his voice, low and cool: “Why don’t you hurry up and follow?”
She scrambled to her feet at once and trailed after him.
Lauren couldn’t yet grasp what kind of man he was. In the book, Indiana had gone to Moonlit Sect; Thunder Sect had barely been mentioned. A towering figure like Drake only appeared much later, always on Starfell Summit, aloof from mortal concerns, descending only when calamities tore through the cultivation world. His reputation was flawless.
But in the story she had read, all she’d seen was her own death. Indiana’s victories were laid out, not what came after.
Now, following in Drake’s shadow, she dared not speak. She shrank into herself like a quail, each step weighed with tension.
The scenery around them blurred and shifted unnaturally fast. Lauren’s eyes widened.
Shrinking the earth into an inch? Just like that?
One breath ago it had been summer, cicadas shrieking in the heat. Now the world had turned to biting winter, frost lacing her sleeves.
She shivered. Drake’s power outstrips even Indiana’s master, Immortal Herbert. I remember—Herbert once burned himself out using this move just to save her. And Drake uses it casually, hauling me along for the ride…
“Cold?”
The voice cracked the silence, so sudden she nearly tripped.
She hesitated, then quickly shook her head, forcing her qi to push back against the chill gnawing at her bones.
Drake glanced at her, faintly satisfied, and pressed on. Another blink, and a great gate loomed before them. It swung open at his approach.
Inside, his voice was level but sharp. “Do you know why I accepted you as my apprentice?”
Lauren chose honesty. “Because Master believes I have bad intentions. Taking me as his disciple lets him keep me under watch.”
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His eyes flickered. He hadn’t expected her to say that. For years, his life had been nothing but the endless turning of seasons—monotonous, predictable. He had even frozen Starfell Summit in eternal winter, just so the world outside couldn’t touch him. Nothing stirred him anymore.
Until this girl.
“So, do you think you’re dishonest?”
The question cut like a blade.
Lauren lifted her chin. “No one believes themselves dishonest. It’s only natural to call someone ‘dishonest’ when their morals or ethics clash with your own.”
Drake stopped. For the first time in years, something hit him like a strike of lightning.
Those words… exactly what a friend from the Demonic Cult once told him. Then that friend had been punished by the heavens.
“You’re so young,” Drake said coolly, “what demons could you possibly carry?”
Lauren realized their strange conversation must be circling back to the Heart-Questioning Gate.
Maybe it’s because I was stuck there too long…
She shook her head. “Master, I don’t have demons. I just have nightmares.”
“Nightmares?”
“Yes.” She nodded, her voice low. “I once dreamt that one of my sisters killed me. Not just me—she slaughtered our entire family.”
Drake had known nightmares once, long ago, but they had faded into the distant past. He didn’t press her, only said, “Since I, Drake, have accepted you as my disciple today, your future is my responsibility. But remember this: if you ever commit something unforgivable, I will be the one to personally end you.”
His words made Lauren’s stomach knot.
Had she really escaped that demon’s shadow? In her past life, she hadn’t committed a single crime—and yet she’d still been branded the unforgivable villain.
She bit her lip. “In that dream, Master, I hadn’t done anything wrong. But still, I was called an unforgivable sinner. If I truly did nothing wrong, but Heaven still refused to forgive me… what would I do? Master, what would you do?”
Drake’s gaze lingered on her. Why would a child ask something like that?
He had long believed himself past confusion, beyond doubt. Yet this new disciple had posed a question even he couldn’t easily unravel.
“Even if you had done nothing wrong,” he echoed slowly, “but Heaven still refused to forgive you?”
Lauren nodded firmly.
Drake thought for a long moment before answering. “Then something must be obscuring the sky.”
Lauren froze. As expected of him… he even thought of that?!
What could obscure the sky? The Prophet’s keyboard?
Even Drake startled himself with that thought. He shook it away and said evenly, “It’s only a dream. Don’t cling to it.”
Lauren looked dazed, then lowered her head with a flicker of disappointment.
With a wave of his sleeve, a jade token landed in her palm.
“This is your identity token. With it, you may go anywhere in Thunder Sect except the forbidden grounds. You also have access to every book in the library.”
Her eyes lit up. This—this was exactly why she had wanted to become Drake’s disciple.
If she’d been forced to start as an outer disciple, she would’ve suffocated under restrictions. No freedom of movement, no access to knowledge. Without this token, she might never have broken past those walls.
“Thank you, Master,” she said, bowing gratefully.
Drake allowed himself the faintest smile. Yes, this was how a disciple her age should look—bright-eyed, eager, alive.
“Go. If you need anything, ask your senior brother.”
Another sweep of his sleeve, and the next thing Lauren knew she was outside, the great door closing behind her.
She blinked.
Senior brother?
Who? Where? Should she call out? Should she wait?
Tentatively, she whispered, “Senior brother…?”
Inside the hall, Drake’s lips twitched. “…”
He could only send a direct message to his disciple, urging him to return quickly and collect the girl.
Lauren lingered near the steps until a black speck appeared in the sky. It grew larger, resolving into a man in black robes descending fast. He landed with a thud, chest rising and falling as he caught his breath, eyes narrowing at her.
“Junior sister?”
Lauren hesitated, then tried, “Senior brother?”
The man broke into a grin. “No doubt about it. Anyone who makes it here must be Master’s new junior sister.”
Lauren followed Drake to Starfell Summit and had felt safety—yes, but not belonging.
