(Kiyomi POV)
My lips curled up into a smile when I broke through my bottleneck again. The cultivation method that Master gave my sister and I was just simply too astounding.
In just a few days, both my sister and I were already well on our way to becoming Masters in our own right. Still nowhere near godhood yet, but it was most definitely a start.
Lian Li, the most talented one amongst us, was already a bona fide Master after just cultivating the technique Master gave her these past few days.
Normally, Practitioners would spend years or even decades to achieve what we had in this short amount of time. If others knew of this, it would definitely cause an uproar within the Practitioner community.
Are we jealous of Lian Li? Of course not.
It's not like it's a race anyway so none of us felt any need for jealousy, especially since our end goal was the same. Now we would have even more power to put any pieces of trash that even dares to look at our Master wrong in their place!
Even if the world became Master's enemy, we would be able to raze everything to the ground if we have to!
Oops, shouldn't get too ahead of myself there, it wouldn't be good if there was no one left to spread the word of Master's absolute Divinity after all.
I stretched my arms before standing up from my lotus position, just as my sister decided to do the same at the same time.
As much as I would like to spend my time cultivating non-stop to further improve myself and reach Godhood as soon as possible, this cultivation method requires both Manami and I to take breaks to allow the energies in our body to settle after every practice.
The others were still absorbed in their own cultivation but since it will be lunch time soon, they would be taking their own breaks as well.
Master had also insisted us not to spend every waking second practicing since it would make our life dull. Thoughts about cultivating in secret were thrown out the window when Master told us if he caught any of us doing so, we would be barred from sleeping with him for an entire month.
In Brendan's case, he wouldn't be allowed to touch anything related to alchemy for the same time period as well.
With such a threat looming over our heads, none of us dared to do it behind Master's back.
Still… To think that Master still cared so much about us at this point… We made sure to show our love for Master a lot every night.
"High Priestess Kiyomi, your towel."
I looked to the side to see Marie, the servant Master had assigned to me in the past who also happened to be a clean freak.
I accepted the towel to wipe my sweat away before returning it to her, "Thank you Marie. You can go help the others in lunch preparations now."
She bowed her head and left for our kitchens obediently. She really does look more like a housewife than a Practitioner.
I turned to my side just in time to see my sister's servant leave as well, prompting my sister to stroll up to me.
"Ara, ara? Look at you, my cute little sister. You're practically glowing~"
"I can say the same to you, sister. I can bet you had Master on your mind the entire time we were doing it."
"Ufufufu~ But that's natural of course. Isn't it the same for you?"
I kept my mouth shut and looked away.
"Ara? My cute little Kiyomi's being shy now~ Ufufufu~ No need to worry, Master had gone out for a stroll with Cai Hong and that stuck up woman. So if you want to do it again just for pleasure, this big sister will indulge you~"
I shook my head, "That's enough for now. We wouldn't want to miss our lunch time."
"That is true~ In that case, I shall go and prepare tea in case Master returns~"
I watched my sister leave the courtyard while I made my way towards our room. Since sister had mentioned the possibility of Master returning, I wanted to change out my underwear to something more special just in case.
Right as I was passing by the courtyard entrance, a group of three men came running in, all of them gasping for breath.
I frowned, recognizing none of them as members of our Sect.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, vigilant of these strangers who would come to Master's courtyard.
The one in front took a few moments to catch his breath before standing up straight.
He was about to say something when he suddenly stopped himself, his mouth opened wide comically.
I raised an eyebrow at his inaction, even his two friends beside him were perplexed by him.
The man suddenly took one step forward before bowing his head to me, "I've fallen in love at first sight with you! Please go out with me!"
"Get lost," I rejected him immediately before turning to one of his friends. "I ask again, what are you doing here?"
The boy took a moment to recover from the shock of seeing his friend's confession before answering me, "Umm… We're participating in the Heaven's Sect student selections… We're looking for a Master to accept our admission…"
Ah... I remember those geezers telling us in the underground cathedral that this would be their plan for this year. We wanted to tell Master about it but all of us had been distracted by the new cultivation techniques He had granted to us and forgot about it…
How shameful of us…
Still, I'm surprised that anyone would actually come all the way up here seeing it was almost at the peak of the mountain.
Hmm… Maybe they're also fellow believers of Master who had converted during our absence and came here to seek out Master?
I crossed my arms, "Do you know whose courtyard this is?"
All three of them shook their heads.
I frowned, "Then do any of you believe in Master?"
"Err… Believe in Master? What does that mean?" One of them asked.
Hmph… So they aren't believers and they only came here because they thought this courtyard would belong to some Master they can seek out to obtain their approval.
I waved my hand in a shooing motion at them, "In that case, you're not welcome here. Go elsewhere to find a Master to approve of you. Absolutely brazen of you to come here without even knowing these things."
The three of them looked at each other but knew better than to argue, especially since any member of the Sect could disqualify them right away.
As they were still on the clock, two of them immediately turned around to run off in search of another Master.
The leader looked at me with longing eyes which I returned with a flat stare before turning to run out of the courtyard with his friends.
How weak. I hope they aren't the standard of new students we can expect this year.
Just as I was about to continue my way towards my room, a woman strolled past the courtyard entrance casually.
"Hmm… A little plain but there's a chance," The woman said aloud to herself.
I sniffed in her direction only to recoil slightly at the unbelievable stench of perfume wafting from her body.
Noticing me, the woman turned her gaze towards me, "Oh? A fox monster… Are you a Master of Heaven Sect?"
"No," I said curtly, not wanting to breathe in more of that smell.
My answer made her disinterested in me and she started to walk past me, her line of sight locking on Master's building.
This rude bitch.
I stretched out my tail to stop her, "Stop. You are not welcome here. Leave now."
She turned to regard me, "Do you know who I am?"
"Are you Empress Guiying? Not that I suspect you are since I know her but you're not on her level of influence are you?"
She looked stunned by my words.
I sniffed, "Didn't think so. Now leave or I'll throw you out."
"You can't--"
I wrapped one of my tails around her and tossed her over the wall. If she's good enough, she'll be fine. If not, then I guess she'll have to figure out how to get back home with a broken leg or two. The fact that I didn't disqualify her was merciful enough.
Now, back to my room.
"Is there a Master here?!" A young man dressed in rather flamboyant clothes shouted as he rushed into the courtyard.
"No, there isn't," I growled at him. "Please leave."
He looked at me up and down before his face broke out into a grin, "Now, now. Is that anyway to speak to your betters, servant girl?"
Servant girl? This man is both ignorant and weak.
I crossed my arms, "I'm going to give you the mercy of walking out of here right now before I hurt you."
"Heh, I'd like to see who is the Master you serve to have such a rude servant like you. Clearly they're incompetent to have a useless ser--"
My tail lashed out and wrapped around his neck. I almost thought of snapping in him half right then and there but it wouldn't be good for Master to know about us killing these idiots during the student selections.
Yes, I'll disqualify him for now, then kill him later when he's outside the Sect.
"You're disqualified. Now get lost," I declared, throwing the useless sack of shit away from the courtyard.
Good, that should be the end of--
"Hello?! Please tell me there's a Master up here!"
…
This is going to be a problem....
