Retake *Discontinued*

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Sacred Family and the Dark Guild

Nie Tai was greeted with Shen Yue's face as she walked to where Du Ze and Lu Piao were sitting. She ignored his presence as she greeted Du Ze and Lu Piao each with a hug. Lu Piao snickered when seeing Du Ze's red face. Shen Yue huffed and stormed off; when he was gone, Nie Tai frowned and asked, "When did he arrive back in Glory City?"

"Shen Yue? About three days ago," lazily answered Lu Piao.

"Three days ago..." Muttered Nie Tai. Her eyes sharpened as wrath washed over her; Shen Yue, who was supposedly, taken by the Dark Guild, managed to return safely to his family, the Sacred Family, within the week of being taken. Not to mention that the speed that he was returned to his family from where he was taken. The round trip from the ruins to the city was about a ten-day journey.

"Xiao Tai, the Sacred Family is working with the Dark Guild." Ruminated Nie Li, his voice emotionless as his eyes glazed over with disbelief and anger.

"N-Nie Tai, is everything alright?" Asked Du Ze, confused by the girl's sudden stillness.

She snapped out her stupor; smiling sadly, she said, "Of course, we just need to focus on training. How have you done while we were gone?"

She learned that Du Ze was Two-Star Bronze-Rank, and the others一Lu Piao, Wei Nan, Zhu Xiangun, and Zhang Ming一were halfway through One-Star Bronze-Rank. Smiling happily, Nie Tai said, "Good job, Du Ze! I can tell that you've been working very hard."

"Y-yeah. Thank you." Replied Du Ze, looking very happy with himself.

"Let's focus on getting to Three-Star Bronze-Rank." Said Nie Li. He ruminated, "We need to focus on getting to Silver Rank."

"Right, don't forget to use the Purple Haze Grass and pills. They will ensure that we reach our goal." Added Nie Tai, glancing at her twin and then back to the group.

Although the exams were still two months away, Nie Tai was still focused on increasing her strength as quickly as possible. If she intended to wipe out the Dark Guild and Sacred Family, then she needed to become as strong as quickly as she could; however, she had to use her time carefully. One wrong chant, one misplaced ideal could spell disaster as she placed her foundation. When she cultivated, she kept one phrase in her heart, "Quality over quantity."

This aided in keeping her thoughts in line and her training focused. Her soul would be of the highest quality; after all, a blade of steel could easily cut a thousand blades of grass. Quickly, she sank into a trance. Chanting the mantras silently, Nie Tai swirled her soul force within her soul realm. She then pumped soul force through the fourteen major channel lines of her body: one running around each of the twelve major organs, down the spine, and down her abdomen. Today, Nie Tai focused on the major channel running down her spine.

The spine was, typically, the hardest to strengthen through cultivation because of its complexity, but it was an absolute necessity for becoming stronger. In other words, it was the back bone in more than one way.

Her trance deepened as she slowly saturated her spine, starting with the root: the bottom of the spine. The cool, controlled soul force ebbed against the spine and slowly climbed up the channel; it became thicker and heavier as time went on. When Nie Tai reached the base of the neck, she released the soul force. It was as if a large collective breath was released. She sat there, watched the flow of the soul force through the channel. She had been successful and her spine was now reinforced. If it could be described in color, it went from a white to a pearly grey.

Now, Nie Tai was simply pushing soul force through her meridians, the branches of the major channels that ensured her an even spread of soul force. Her training was interrupted by chattering in the library. Two girls were gossiping about how Huyan Lanruo was waiting for someone outside of the Academy gates. Nie Tai opened her eyes to see Nie Li flinch, sweat appearing on his forehead.