Guest Courtyard – Starfell Summit
Lauren arranged for Timothy to stay in a remote, deserted courtyard.
Once, Starfell Summit had been thriving. At its peak, Drake had hundreds of disciples—personal disciples and inner disciples alike.
Then, one day, he stopped accepting students.
The inner disciples were reassigned to other peaks.
And gradually, Starfell Summit emptied.
Now it was quiet.
Almost lonely.
“You’ll stay here,” Lauren said coolly. “Don’t cause trouble. And don’t disturb my master. Understood?”
“Thank you.”
The words startled her.
She couldn’t remember the last time Timothy had spoken so… gently.
He lowered himself onto a dusty wooden chair. He was so weak he didn’t even use a cleansing spell to remove the grime.
After sitting, his legs trembled uncontrollably.
Lauren noticed.
A flicker of guilt pricked her chest.
He could barely walk. There was no way he could manage alone like this.
After hesitating for a moment, she turned and headed down the mountain to find Zane.
Meanwhile—Edmund slipped away silently. He had someone else to see.
......
When Lauren found Zane, the first thing she asked—as always—was about Indiana.
Zane blinked in surprise. “You didn’t know?”
“I just got back from the Icefield Secret Realm,” Lauren replied.
“But I heard Herbert brought Timothy to Starfell Summit.”
Lauren narrowed her eyes.
“Impressive. Your information network’s pretty damn sharp.”
Zane raised both hands. “I’m serious, I don’t know the details. I haven’t had a chance to ask.”
“So?” Lauren pressed.
“She went back to the Moonlit Sect.”
Lauren’s expression changed instantly.
“What? She went back? Herbert sent her back?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Zane shook her head. “No idea. I heard it’s related to some kind of elixir. If you want the real answer, you’ll have to ask Herbert.”
Lauren filed that away carefully. An elixir…
“By the way,” Lauren said hesitantly, “can you post a task for me? I need someone to… to…”
She struggled for wording.
“I need someone to take care of a patient.”
Zane waved it off. “That’s easy. As long as you pay spirit stones, people will take on all kinds of weird jobs. There are plenty of tasks like that—injured cultivators needing care.”
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“How much?”
“Depends. Do you need someone who can help with healing?”
They even offered healing services?
“No. Just someone to watch him and pass messages if needed.”
“Then just hire a newly recruited outer sect Qi Refinement disciple. Cheap. One or two low-grade spirit stones a day.”
Lauren blinked.
That was dirt cheap.
“Alright. Post it anonymously. Don’t attach my name.”
“Of course.”
“How long before someone takes it?”
“Soon. Wander around for a bit, and someone will come claim it.”
“Thanks.”
It had to be said—the atmosphere in the major sects was genuinely decent.
In small sects or lesser families, weak disciples were often bullied into servitude.
But once you entered the Thunder Sect, you were a cultivator. Even if you ranked at the bottom, no one forced you into slavery.
If you needed someone’s help, you hired them.
Payment was exchanged. Service was voluntary. Simple.
......
As Lauren was leaving, she suddenly remembered something.
She hadn’t given Westin his share of the spirit stones from the pill sales.
She tried contacting him again. Still nothing.
Annoyed, she reached out to Dante.
“The spirit stones from selling those pills are still with me. I heard he advanced to Nascent Soul. Do you know where he is?”
Dante nodded. “He went home.”
“Home? When’s he coming back?”
Dante hesitated. “Hard to say. He went home to get married.”
Lauren stared at him.
“Married?”
“Yes. Westin’s in his late thirties. It’s about time.”
She looked genuinely baffled.
“He’s going home to get married and have kids? What about cultivation?”
Dante immediately understood her confusion.
“Precisely because he cultivates, he has to go home early to marry and leave descendants.”
Lauren blinked.
“That’s how major families in Central State operate,” Dante explained patiently. “To preserve their bloodline, they send their most talented heirs back at the right time. Otherwise, if all the geniuses go off to sects and never marry, the family line dies out.”
That… made sense.
“I always thought the talented ones cultivated, and the less talented stayed home to continue the bloodline.”
“If you do that,” Dante said calmly, “after a few generations, the superior bloodline disappears.”
Lauren’s lips twitched.
So it really was hereditary.
No wonder all the so-called ‘young masters’ came from powerful clans.
There were exceptions.
But very few.
“And you?” she suddenly asked, curiosity sparkling in her eyes. “When are you going home to get someone pregnant?”
Dante flushed red instantly.
“I—no. My cultivation technique forbids marriage.”
Lauren blinked.
“Oh.”
That explained the embarrassment.
“Fine,” she said casually. “I’ll give you Westin’s share. Pass it to him when you see him. I rarely come down the mountain unless I have to. Who knows when I’ll run into him again.”
“Alright.”
She paused.
“Is the Sect Leader around?”
Dante straightened slightly. “You’re looking for my master?”
“Yes. I have several storage rings. I need his help refining them.”
Killing and looting wasn’t exactly something to advertise—but if she was going to refine multiple storage rings at once, it was better the sect leader knew.
After hearing her explanation, Dante brought her directly to his master.
Gerald took the rings without comment.
“Once they’re refined, I’ll have Dante deliver them.”
“Thank you, Sect Leader.”
She bowed and left.
Gerald studied the rings quietly after she was gone.
His eyes narrowed.
“Dante,” he said calmly, “you’re far inferior to her.”
Dante blinked. “Huh?”
“Look at these,” Gerald said lightly. “Even a Spirit Severing cultivator was wiped out by what appears to be a harmless little girl.”
Dante felt a chill run down his spine.
He remembered Lauren’s methods.
Her gentle smile. Her soft voice. And the ruthless efficiency beneath it.
Her harmless appearance was dangerously deceptive. It made people underestimate her.
Dante suddenly wondered— Should he start pretending to look easier to rob?
......
After hearing Dante’s explanation, Lauren’s curiosity only deepened.
Later, while meeting Zane, she casually brought it up again.
“So,” she asked lightly, “does that female cultivator also have to go back and bear children for the family?”
Zane gave her a strange look.
“You really don’t know?”
“I’ve been at Starfell Summit most of the time,” Lauren shrugged.
Zane leaned back in her chair.
“In the major families, superior bloodlines are generally passed through the male line. Girls with average aptitude are often married into other powerful families to strengthen alliances and produce offspring. As for talented girls? They’re usually sent to sects. Whether they return home to marry depends on their own choice.”
Lauren blinked. So it was inherited through the Y chromosome?
Zane narrowed her eyes playfully. “Miss Lauren, why are you asking about this? Planning to contribute to someone’s family line?”
Lauren almost choked.
“Absolutely not.”
“Exactly. With your strength, there’s no need to lower yourself like that.”
Lauren smiled faintly. “I was just thinking… that girl seems pitiful. She gave birth, and then her husband left.”
Zane snorted.
“Only a handful of the biggest clans enforce strict reproduction rules. In most families, it’s still voluntary. It’s a mutual agreement. Those women know exactly what they’re signing up for. They bear children for exceptional men and gain enormous benefits in return. You can’t have everything in this world.”
She shrugged.
“Unless she’s equally talented. Then she can simply find someone in the sect of similar standing and marry for love.”
