After spending half an hour refreshing the junior cultivators on what he’d thought were obvious basics, Chang-li returned to the matter at hand: testing them to confirm they had truly reached the Peak of Bodily Refinement and filling out the correct paperwork to upgrade their licenses.

  Acolyte Niyan still looked terrified from the earlier inquisition, so he pointed at Disciple Dahn instead.

  "You," he said.

  Dahn rose to his feet and bowed low. Chang-li handed the sheaf of examination papers to Disciple Shou. After verifying Dahn's basic information he told Dahn, “Cycle and watch your technique. Good. Now, I want you to produce a lux weave from your core. Something simple with two colors in it is fine."

  Dahn concentrated, his eyebrows furrowing as he held his hands in front of him. He was using one of the most basic techniques that Chang-li and Joshi had taught their students, filling his right hand with lux and using his left hand to shape the weave. A simple two-color red and orange body reinforcement technique that, as far as Chang-li could tell, pretty much every sect had their own variation of. Morning Mist’s was called “Breath of Cool Refreshment.”

  Chang-li nodded. "Excellent." He held up a hand and formed a small globe of red lux. "Push green lux into that," he commanded.

  Disciple Dahn did as he was told. Chang-li allowed the green in, encapsulating it carefully with his own red. "Close it off." Then he turned to Shou and Cui.

  "Both of you should be able to enclose a subject’s willingly offered green lux in a shell of your own. That will allow you to assess its strength and stability. This has low strength, but does rise to the threshold for the Peak of Bodily Refinement. The stability is excellent. Time it until it begins to dissipate." Chang-li was counting off heartbeats as he spoke. When the green lux began to unravel, he dismissed his test technique, allowing his lux and Dahn’s to dissolve back into the air. "One minute, ten seconds," he said. "Write that down. Which rates to Grade Two stability, by the way.”

  Shou jotted it down in the indicated column.

  "Now," Chang-li said, turning back to Dahn, "the last test is to ensure your body truly has become accustomed to using lux and is no longer poisoning itself with toxins."

  Don's eyes widened. "Is that why we have to use the purification rations?"

  Auditor Biah wheezed a laugh. "That's right, lad. Lux is required for life, but too much of it causes death. It's like wine. A bit makes your sleep easier. Too much, you'll never wake again."

  Chang-li bowed politely to the auditor. "Thank you for your contribution, sir." He turned back to Dahn. "I want you to vent all of the lux in your body at once. Completely empty your core. Use the Swirling Mists technique." That should satisfy the auditor, since it was genuinely mentioned in the Path of Morning Mists book.

  Disciple Dahn did as commanded without hesitation. Chang-li appreciated his quickness.

  "Now I'll use my own green lux and my intent to check you for contamination. This is the trickiest bit," he told Shou and Cui. "Both of you should have your will sufficiently formed, but it's easier if you have a glimpse of your Intent. Have either of you made it that far?"

  "This is most inefficient," Auditor Biah noted. "You are wasting the time you have with your testees for lessons with a higher rank. This is why I told you your sect needs more high-level cultivators and fewer of the disciples. I advise you to dismiss anyone whose lack of strength and purity is not at least a Grade Three. It's better to concentrate on a few promising recruits. You can move the others to an outer sect and hire a few sectless cultivators to help you educate them, if you must keep them around."

  "Your suggestion is noted, Auditor Biah," Chang-li said politely, even as he rejected the suggestion once more. These students had sworn to Morning Mist, and Morning Mist had accepted them. He wasn't going to let them be cast off now, not if they were able to pass his tests.

  He quickly verified that Dahn had indeed undergone the transformation of Bodily Refinement and sent him to go cycle and meditate.

  Disciple Niyan was ready now. Chang-li asked Shou and Cui to handle her evaluation. He watched them closely. Shou could read and follow the examination instructions and had a good sense of lux stability level, and Cui was able to assess her for lux toxin after-effects. With a bit of resignation, Chang-li instructed the pair to work together to evaluate as many of the disciples as possible, while he took the rest. He mentally made a note to look over the testing record from Shou and Cui, scrutinizing them carefully before turning them in.

  Chang-li got to work. He had tested about fifteen of the disciples, with Shou and Cui clearing another ten, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He started and whirled, intending to chastise the interruption. Noren stood there, smiling gently. "We are nearly at the end of our time here, Disciple Wu."

  Chang-li blinked. He saw Joshi and Brother Stone organizing the disciples who were done with their work to leave the tower and turned back. "We're only halfway," he said with dismay.

  Noren pursed his lips. "Ah, I see. Let me think." He smiled. "Senior Disciple Joshi, please begin escorting the rest of the sect back. Auditor Biah, Chang-li, remain with me."

  Chang-li retrieved the other half of his records from Shou and Cui and sent them along. Once the dismissed Morning Mist members had left the tower, Noren snapped his fingers at the same time Chang-li felt his intent pulse outward. Enforced with will and a subtle weave, Chang-li had to focus even to spot it. He noted the strands of indigo and violet mixed with blue and green settling over all of them.

  "Now," Noren said comfortably, "let's pick up the pace, shall we?" He pointed. "You, you, and you."

  Three disciples sprang up. "Prepared to record?" Noren asked, glancing at Chang-li over his shoulder.

  Chang-li frantically found the correct records and poised with his charcoal stick ready.

  "Begin," Noren said cheerfully, and issued a quick set of orders to the three disciples, who boggled only for a minute before beginning the weaves he commanded.

  "Number One: acceptable core density. Lux Stability: Grade One. Lux Intensity: Grade Two," Noren said. "Clean lux channels. Dismissed. Subject Two."

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  He ran through the grading so quickly, Chang-li barely had time to jot them down before he waved the three aside and summoned three more.

  In a handful of minutes, the remaining disciples were tested, measured, and recorded. Chang-li found himself gasping for breath, though he hadn't done anything strenuous.

  "Dismissed," Noren said. "All of you, leave. I'll see you back at the sect headquarters. Not you, Chang-li," he added pleasantly as Chang-li took a step toward the exit.

  When they were gone, Noren turned back, a calculating look in his eyes. "What do you think, Chang-li?" he asked pleasantly.

  "Results are better than I hoped," Chang-li said. "At least two-thirds of them should qualify for their upgraded license once they've passed the knowledge port. I'll host a few cram sessions and—“

  Noren waved a hand, cutting him off. "Yes, yes, that's fine. I was wondering how you think they are coming along the Path of Morning Mist."

  Chang-li's mouth was dry. "Ah," he said. "Well. As it happens, I’m working on mastering the path myself. I've not yet begun to work with Min or Joshi, but we'll need to come up with a curriculum to begin instructing these students."

  Noren shook his head and spoke with a hint of resignation in his voice.

  "Ah, my dear student, when will you stop underestimating yourself? You have been instructing them in the Path of Morning Mist for months now. I merely wanted to know how it is coming."

  Chang-li blinked, wondering if this was some kind of test. "You only just gave us the path manual. I haven’t had time."

  "A cultivation genius like you requiring time to study such an obvious path?" Noren asked. "If you are not careful, Chang-li, you are going to disappoint me."

  Chang-li couldn't help himself. He pulled the thin manual from his satchel, shook it. Its pages fell open to the second page, in which Noren had described in detail the Swirling Mists cycling technique, and then launched into a philosophical discussion of the seven colors of lux and how that related to the nature of the universe itself.

  If Chang-li had gleaned anything from that, Noren had made comparisons between the three physical luxes and the first three stages of cultivation, then lumped the next three stages — Lux Endowment, Lux Embodiment, and Lux Domination — all with green lux, before concluding that the rest of his chain of thought was so transparent there was no need to waste ink in setting it down. “Why would you give me this useless nonsense?” he demanded. "I have enough already to do. The sect has grown far faster than it should have. We haven't taken the proper steps to advance any further."

  Noren's eyes narrowed and he gave a small nod. "Go on."

  "Our foundations aren’t strong. Instead of shoring them up, you’re mocking me by giving me what you call a path manual. What we need is actual instruction."

  "Hand-holding," Noren corrected. "You're asking for hand-holding. You would like, perhaps, for me to sit down with these juniors and explain to them how it is that lux builds up toxins in the ordinary human body, which then have to be purged by the purification rations. Tell me, Chang-li, once you had reached the Peak of Bodily Refinement, did you need such matters explained to you?"

  Chang-li stared at him. Someone must have told him why purification rations were needed back when he was merely a scribe, having to remove the lux impurities from his own body. He couldn't remember the explicit instructions, but it was something that had been completely obvious.

  Noren held up a hand, fingers closed, and then raised a single finger.

  "There are several options here," he said quietly. "One: you are such a cultivation genius, you don’t need to have ordinary things explained to you. Two: our sect’s foundations are weak, and we are failing to teach our juniors in the right order and at the right pace. Three", he paused, "The juniors really are not worth the time you're spending on them, and our sect would be better off purging them, spinning them off to a subordinate sect and concentrating on those who truly do have the talent to ascend."

  Chang-li struggled with those options. He didn’t want to accept any of them. The idea that some cultivators weren’t even worth the time it would take to bring them up to speed rankled. "I'm not a cultivating genius," he mumbled. "I'm just fortunate enough to have spent more time in lux-rich environments than the average cultivator is permitted. That’s the only way I’ve come so far in a year."

  "Then why is it the current system is set up to prevent any cultivator from pulling off such a feat?" Noren asked.

  Chang-li frowned. "Control," he ventured. "If it was easy for a cultivator to climb the ranks so quickly, he could do it without the Office of Cultivation noticing."

  "Possible," Noren said. "Or it’s because most young cultivators, thrown into a tower and expected to survive or die, would just die. Think what happened to my friend Wulan."

  He sighed. "That is a death which has weighed on my spirit for some centuries. I’m glad you found his shade, and I was able to make my apologies. It was entirely my fault, Chang-li." He seemed suddenly serious now. Their eyes met as Noren spoke quietly. "There are several truths here. You must decide which you believe. First, that any cultivator with sufficient exposure to lux and edification at cycling it can advance as far as you have. Second. Most cultivators cannot do that as quickly as you have or without the explicit guidance of a sect. Third. Lux is scarce. There might, if every tower in the world was drained of its lux every year, be enough lux to elevate every human to the Peak of Bodily Refinement. It would leave none for the fields, the crops, none to power lux crystals, and none to allow anyone to advance past the Peak of Mental Refinement.”

  A thousand questions flashed through Chang-li's mind. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

  Noren gave a nod. "And at last you’re asking the right question," he said quietly. "This weave is almost up. I’ve tightened it since our disciples left. When we leave the tower, we will find ourselves on their heels. No one should know we had this particular conversation. We are about to find ourselves dealing with very high-level sect politics. There are reasons why I have chosen to expose you to this."

  Chang-li felt as though he couldn't breathe. Noren was giving him answers he hadn't even known he wanted to ask. "Why did you bring us here, then?"

  "I chose to have Morning Mist resurrected from the dead because in your innocence, you and Joshi had already claimed its name. Sooner or later, someone would recognize and come looking. If they were another Charter Sect, they would have killed you, Joshi, Min, and anyone else claiming to use the Morning Mist name, and covered it up as quickly as possible. If they were not a Charter Sect and they stumbled upon you and recognized the value of the name, that would have been even worse," Noren said casually.

  "I'm lost," Chang-li admitted. “I understand why a charter sect would want us destroyed. What could be worse?”

  Noren sighed. "Didn't think I needed to be any more plain than that. A powerful sect recognizes the name of Morning Mist, would have taken it over, probably killing you and Joshi, and using Min and her family as the protective shell. Once it had claimed the name of Morning Mist and established itself as a Charter, the Brotherhood would have been of no further use and would have been discarded as well, leaving the name and heritage of Morning Mist to its murderers. Is that more clear?"

  Chang-li felt sick. "What makes being a Charter Sect so valuable?" he demanded.

  Noren smiled. "Because the Emperor, when he was much less powerful and needed allies, allowed himself to be bound with a soul oath to the Charter Sects. They have powers even he cannot set aside. He has spent the last thousand years or so chafing against those ropes and looking for ways to do away with the Charter Sects where he can. That is why what was once a Council of Thirteen is now a Council of Seven, eight, once we have fully reclaimed our seat. Morning Mist was targeted in my father's day. The Emperor would have been entirely pleased if you had never found that name and brought it back to life. But since you did, I judged it would be safer to publicly take our place once more than to allow anyone to find us in an obviously weakened state."

  "But that means...” Chang-li had a thousand different thoughts. "That we're in much more danger than we knew."

  "Yes." Noren inclined his head. "However, the three of you are advancing along the exact right lines to make sure that we are prepared for what is to come. Keep doing what you're doing, and I will try to keep the sects guessing. For now, anything that threatens to destabilize the Council of Thirteen is in the Emperor's interest. He will not move against us just yet, which gives us time."

  "Time for what?" Chang-li asked.

  "Time to chart our own course out of this storm," Noren said. "Time to become so powerful the Emperor does not dare to move against us. Time to be powerful enough that the Emperor himself fears us."