‘Why is she looking at me like that?’ Aiden thought as his head turned in her direction.

Aiden made sure to look at her for a short period of time; that way, he wouldn’t look like a total weirdo to her. However, over this short period of observation, he had noticed two things about this little group.

The first one is that the girl seemed to be the leader, or at the very least, the most important member of the group. She didn’t talk much, but the moment she opened her mouth, everyone would listen to her every word, making sure to respect the smallest details she would reveal.

The second thing he noticed was the way those two guys were looking at her with lustful eyes, almost desiring her to the highest degree. However, whatever method to seduce her was clearly falling miserably as the only person who was looking at them was Aiden, and Aiden only.

He had noticed quite a few other things, but those were the major ones.

They were currently walking back toward their sect. At least, that’s what they had told Aiden. However, from the looks of it, they still had a fair amount of distance to travel. They were in the middle of absolutely nowhere, with hills surrounding all of them from all sides.

Hell, at first, Aiden wasn’t even sure if they weren’t playing a trick on him.

***

Time passed, and the sect was still nowhere to be seen. However, that didn’t mean Aiden had nothing to do. In fact, he was trying his best to catch the smallest bits of information by asking questions or by simply listening to whatever ridiculous conversation the two beside him had.

However, Aiden wasn’t interested in either of them. He was a lot more interested in that girl and, more importantly…her position within the sect.

Aiden knew it. That girl had a lot of connections, and he would make sure to use them to reach the Dual Cultivation Sect. He needed to find his way to Wu Lan as fast as possible, and he would be utilizing everything he could. After all, the only thing Aiden had to be worried about was time.

With discreet movements, Aiden managed to snuggle his way right beside the beautiful girl from earlier, her name still completely unknown to Aiden. So, it gave him an easy avenue to start this conversation.

With a light cough, Aiden said, “So, uh…I don’t think we introduced ourselves just yet. The name’s Aiden. What about you?”

The girl’s eyes seemed to open wide for a short second. However, they went back to normal the very next moment.

“Aiden? Strange name…” She eyed him weirdly. “My name is Hua, Hua Mei.”

Discover hidden tales at empire

Aiden quickly nodded, happy to have at least known her name before reaching the sect. However, he wasn’t done just yet.

“Nice to meet you. Sorry, I came off as rude or anything. It’s just been a while since I’ve seen anyone or even talked to anyone. And while this might be unrelated, I might have a question for you…could you…you know, potentially answer it?”

Aiden had decided to keep his story straight of being lost in the forest for months, and it seemed they were all buying it. From what Aiden could tell, it hadn’t been the first time someone had been stuck in that forest.

Hua Mei shrugged, not seeing why she couldn’t answer his question. “Sure, go ahead. Ask me anything you want.”

“OH! Thank you so much! Well, it was actually about that test you mentioned earlier. What exactly will I have to do? And…uh…not that I will fail, but what happens if I do fail?”

“Ah…it’s nothing too complicated. As long as you have a cultivation base, you should get in. As for if you fail, then you just won’t be able to enter the sect; there is nothing major there. So, take a deep breath and everything will go well, and it’s not like you’ll fail, huh?”

There was a smirk on her face when she said that, as if teasing Aiden. However, there seemed to be another meaning behind that smirk as she shortly glanced at his body.

‘Does she know that I’m hiding my strength?’

As weird as it looked, that was the impression Aiden had gotten from the girl because while Aiden might be somewhat good-looking…no girl of her stature would try so hard to greet him into an unknown group.

That girl…she was clearly hiding something. Well, that was what Aiden thought. He had no real way to prove anything.

“Then, can I ask you something else?” Aiden said as he lowered his voice on purpose.

Hua Mei’s two lackeys looked in her direction instantly, wondering why this unknown man was getting so close to her.

“Hey, you!” The burly said out loud before Aiden could even ask another question. “Who do you think you are? Getting so close to Goddess Hua isn’t something the likes of you can do.”

‘Goddess Hua?’ Aiden frowned.

“She isn’t the type to like you anyway. Just look at you. You’re all slim and weak. She prefers men like me, men with actual muscles.”

“HEY! That’s not true. Goddess Hua also likes skinny people.”

The burly man had a hearty laugh at the other guy. “Haha! Whatever makes you feel better, Huo!”

As he laughed, he gave Huo a few pats on his back, almost making him fall to the ground instantly.

However, while everyone seemed to be having a good time. One person wasn’t…a cold aura slowly started being emitted from her body, influencing her surroundings.

“Both of you, shut up.”

It was harsh. She had made sure that it seemed that way.

“You don’t know anything about my tastes in men, and never in a million would I ever date one of you two dumbasses.”

‘Is she defending me?’ Aiden thought, not quite sure if the discussion was developing in the right direction.

He didn’t exactly want to make enemies before even entering the sect. That’s why he needed to find a way to calm the situation down. However, how could he even do that without showing his strength?

They all thought of him as someone extremely weak. Well, two of them did.

With an innocent voice, Aiden took a chance. “Ah…no need to fight between ourselves. Shouldn’t we be getting close to the sect? I don’t really want to make enemies before even getting in, you know…I-I hope we will stay friends even after we enter!”

“Stay friends? Do you even know who we are? We’re Core Disciples. We won’t be hanging out with the likes of you, who will surely be placed as an Outer Disciple.”

‘Oh, are those two supposed to be powerful?’ Aiden thought as he probed their strength without anyone noticing.

However, he frowned. Their strength…it wasn’t anything impressive. In fact, it was terrible. From the way they spoke, being a Core Disciple sounded like a merit, something most wouldn’t be able to attain. However, from what he could feel, that wasn’t the case at all.

Sensing as if he shouldn’t say another word, Aiden tightly closed his mouth for the remaining time of the travel. He hadn’t lied; he really wasn’t planning on making enemies before proving himself.

Though, he would show them…as soon as he passed that test, he would show them how powerful he really is.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep