Kai reached the clearing just as two figures came into view. They were junior cultivators, both dressed in the simple robes of outer disciples. One of them, a lanky young man with a mop of dark hair, stood triumphantly over the cluster of glowing clovers, grinning as though he’d struck gold. His companion, a shorter boy with a nervous demeanor, lingered nearby, glancing around as if expecting someone to appear.

  “Lan, look at these!” the taller one exclaimed, pointing to the glowing clovers. “The Sect’s going to reward us big for this haul!”

  Kai observed the junior disciples as they fumbled around the cluster of butterfly clovers, their inexperience evident in their every move. From the way they inspected the glowing herbs with eager eyes, it was clear they were still relatively new to cultivation.

  He sighed internally, his suspicion solidifying: these two had likely been sent on a basic herb-gathering mission, a common task for newcomers to the sect. It was a straightforward exercise meant to teach resourcefulness, attention to detail, and the fundamentals of recognizing valuable materials. However, judging by their apparent lack of knowledge, it seemed their training had barely scratched the surface—or worse, they hadn’t been paying attention during their lessons.

  Kai stepped out from the shadows, his voice cold but measured. “You’ll only get a reward if you pick the right ones.”

  Both junior disciples spun around, startled. The taller one—likely the leader of the pair—frowned as he took in Kai’s plain appearance. “And who are you to tell us what to do?”

  Kai crossed his arms, his calm tone undercut by a subtle edge. “Your senior, and someone who knows that glowing herbs are immature and nearly useless for alchemy. Take those, and you’ll be wasting your time—and the Sect’s might punish you for wasting resources.”

  The shorter disciple, Lan, hesitated, his eyes darting between his companion and Kai. “Is… is that true?”

  Kai stepped closer, his gaze unwavering. “If you don’t believe me, go ahead. Hand over a pouch of glowing clovers and watch the alchemists laugh you out of the pavilion. Or worse, they might report your incompetence.”

  “Wait a minute, I know who you are!” the taller of the two juniors exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at Kai. “You’re Stinky Kai! Our seniors warned us about you!”

  The insult hit Kai harder than he cared to admit, though he kept his composure. It seemed even the younger members of the sect had picked up the derogatory nickname, perpetuating the smear campaign against him.

  “Who’s Stinky Kai?” the shorter junior, whose name was Lan, asked with a curious tilt of his head.

  “This guy!” the taller one declared, his tone filled with disdain. “He’s the one who lied about our senior brothers and got them into trouble! Don’t believe a word he says—he’s a liar, probably a thief too. He’s probably just trying to trick us into leaving these herbs so he can take them for himself!”

  Kai raised an eyebrow, keeping his voice steady. “What nonsense are you spouting? I’ve never lied about anyone, and I have no interest in stealing your herbs.”

  “See? There he goes again, lying!” the taller junior snapped, crossing his arms. “Acting like he didn’t falsely accuse our senior brothers of terrorizing a mortal village.”

  The pieces clicked into place in Kai’s mind. He now understood what this was about. These juniors had been fed misinformation, no doubt by the same cultivators who had been punished for their atrocities against Yan’s village. Clearly, those individuals had figured out it was Kai who had reported them to the sect leadership. And now, they were doing what they could to discredit him, spreading slander among their juniors to ensure Kai's reputation was further tarnished.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Kai felt a pang of frustration and a flicker of anger, but he pushed it down. He couldn’t afford to lose his temper now. If he wanted to set the record straight, he would need to handle this carefully.

  “It’s actually your senior brothers who are lying to you,” Kai said, his voice firm but calm. “They did exactly what I reported them for, and now they’re trying to cover their tracks by spreading lies about me.”

  “I don’t believe you!” the taller junior snapped, his grip on his sword tightening. “Our senior brothers would never lie to us. Unlike you—you're the one they say sleeps with animals! Disgusting!”

  The nervous one hesitated before chiming in, “He sleeps with animals? And he calls himself a cultivator? What a joke!”

  Kai clenched his jaw at the slander but took a deep breath, trying to remain composed. “That’s not true,” he said, his tone softening as he tried to reason with them. “Please, just listen to me.”

  He took a cautious step forward, but the taller junior immediately raised his sword, the blade shaking slightly as he pointed it at Kai. “Don’t come any closer!”

  Kai froze mid-step, his eyes narrowing as he studied the junior. The way the boy held the sword was sloppy—his stance unbalanced and his grip uncertain. It was clear he had only recently started learning swordsmanship. This confirmed Kai’s earlier suspicion that the two juniors were likely at the first stage of Qi-Gathering.

  In contrast, Kai’s own cultivation had advanced to the third stage of Qi-Gathering, two entire levels above theirs. On paper, this disparity should have given him a clear advantage in this confrontation. However, the reality wasn’t so simple.

  There were two of them, both armed, while Kai was unarmed. He hadn’t brought his weapon with him to the forest, as the area was considered safe, and he rarely needed to carry it during his herb-gathering trips. Even if he could overpower them, he would almost certainly sustain injuries in the process. Injuries he would have to spend merit to get more medicine to heal.

  And then there was the matter of optics. Even if he won, what would it achieve? Hurting two junior disciples, even in self-defense, would only serve to further tarnish his reputation. The senior cultivators who already hated him would use the incident to paint him as a bully or a threat to the sect’s younger members.

  Kai sighed heavily, his gaze briefly flickering to the cluster of butterfly clovers. They weren’t worth the trouble. Losing a patch of herbs wasn’t nearly as damaging as escalating the animosity between himself and the others in the sect.

  Without another word, Kai turned his back on the two juniors and walked away. Behind him, he could hear their smug laughter and the sound of clovers being hastily and carelessly plucked, but he forced himself to keep moving.

  As much as it pained him to let the herbs go to waste, Kai knew that sometimes retreating was the wiser choice.

  Kai began his journey back to his shack, his frustration simmering just beneath the surface. The encounter with the junior disciples had left him feeling far more irritated than before, their baseless accusations and arrogant attitudes gnawing at him. He clenched his fists as he walked, the dense forest around him providing little comfort this time.

  "Stupid kids," he muttered under his breath, kicking a loose pebble on the path. It skittered off into the underbrush, disappearing into the greenery.

  They really need to teach the younger generation some humility, Kai thought, his frustration simmering as he walked. I can’t get over how quickly that brat jumped to violence. Sure, the world is brutal, but aren’t we supposed to be part of a righteous sect?

  The word righteous felt bitter on his tongue, a hollow title for an institution that so often turned a blind eye to the behavior of its members. It wasn’t just their behavior that annoyed him—it was the sheer unfairness of it all. He had done nothing but stand up for what was right, yet here he was, vilified and ridiculed for it. The thought made his jaw tighten.

  Kai wondered if perhaps those strange dreams of another world were influencing him more than he realized. Maybe they had planted unrealistic expectations in his heart, causing him to hope for a sect that upheld genuine morality—a beacon in a world where demonic cultivators openly scorned such ideals.

  Yet, despite his frustrations, he didn’t want to abandon that hope. He wanted to believe there was still a place for honor and integrity, even in the brutal reality of cultivation. Perhaps it was na?ve, but it was a conviction he wasn’t ready to let go of. Holding true to those ideals might not change the world, but it could at least keep him grounded in the midst of chaos.

  The wind rustled through the treetops, carrying with it the faint herbal aroma that had led him to the butterfly clovers earlier. Ordinarily, that scent would have calmed him, but now it only served as a bitter reminder of the clovers he'd left behind.

  One thing was certain: this encounter had only deepened Kai's growing disdain for cultivators.