Legend of Niyonika

Raila's Guilt (Ch.12)

~Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do~

- Voltaire

Meanwhile the outer disciples were the lowest disciples who were yet to pass the ranking test and so had not been assigned to any of the heavenly elemental mountains and hence they were disciples of the Heavenly Sage Pavilion but at the same time could not really be considered to be true disciples of the Heavenly Sage Pavilion.

They were provided with living arrangements and were adequately catered for, however they had no access to the great cultivation techniques and items that could assist with their cultivation, at the same time, they lacked the privilege of a one on one direction by a sage master.

One could only leave the ranks of an outer disciple by qualifying for the ranking contest and subsequently making it through all the stages.

Based on the information Niyonika had gathered from the five disciple brothers, the ranking contest was divided into three stages.

First was the element defining stage. This was the preliminary stage that could not really be considered a contest as it was simply a disqualification stage for 'false elementals'.

Niyonika herself was not particularly certain what this 'false elementals' meant as she had not wanted to interrupt the disciple brothers while they were relaying the information to her.

She had figured she would ask later but she had not gotten around to do that before parting ways with the disciple brothers.

"Raila? I heard from senior brother disciples that the first stage of the ranking contest, the element defining stage was simply a disqualification process for 'false elementals'...who are these 'false elementals'?" Niyonika asked curiously.

Raila was still yet to leave Niyonika's quarters and instead stood by the door as Niyonika changed out of her soiled robes.

Niyonika had not missed the guilty look in the petite female's eyes and she figured the petite female was keeping something from her, Niyonika was not bothered though, with the way Raila's eyes darted around to avoid looking directly at Niyonika and how she constantly wrung her hands, Niyonika guessed it wouldn't be long now before Raila spilled whatever information she was withholding.

"Ah...yes, big sister heard right. These false elementals are those sneaky aspiring cultivators who for some reason forged their elements or element cultivation level using some elemental items." Raila informed, Niyonika lifted a brow in surprise.

"Ah...so there was something like this too?" Niyonika said, shaking her head slightly.

"Yes big sister, every year thousands of cultivators arrive in streams to join the five major sects, among these cultivators, there are always a good number of dubious fellows who attempt to qualify through deceit."

"These fellows either are not gifted with an element, or their element strength falls below the qualification requirement for their age grade, they then make use of strange tools to pose as powerful elemental prodigies. These tools are really unique and some can even assist a person completely devoid of element to pose as a great elemental while others artificially boost low elemental strength to a very high level." Raila explained.

Niyonika nodded in understanding, hardly surprised by this revelation. After experiencing 999 timelines, Niyonika had quickly understood that whether it be ancient time or modern time, there were always those shameless group of people who rather than put in work would prefer to use dubious and fraudulent means to achieve great heights.

"This must be a matter of great concern to the five major sects." Niyonika observed.

For these all powerful sects who prided themselves on accepting only the elite, the very best of the best, having such people among their ranks whose every achievement were complete falsehood would certainly be a matter these powerful sects would find concerning.

"Big sister is right, hence the five major sects have put various measures in place to weed out these dubious characters." Raila said in agreement.

"If it is truly so, how is it that such dubious characters could still make it through the qualification stage and become outer disciples? Should not these measures have fished them out right from the very beginning?" Niyonika asked in bafflement, why would the five major sects wait to feed and clothe fraudsters for months, wasting resources instead of just turning them back right at the gates.

"Hehe..most are not aware of this but I heard this infact was a purposeful action of the five major sects. They maintain extremely stringent rules in the qualification stage in every regard save for when it comes to the 'false elementals'."

"The 'false elementals' will be permitted the delusion of having deceived the world, only to have it slammed in their faces that the ranking test of the outer disciples will fish them out. I also heard it is done in an extremely humiliating way, all these after causing these dubious cultivators to waste months or years as outer disciples in hopes that they would one day truly become a member of the sect, it is truly a heartless move by the five major sects." Raila informed.

Niyonika pondered over this before releasing a chuckle.

"Not heartless at all, infact this is the most reasonable thing I have heard all day. Such method is the most effective to put a permanent stop to fraudulent acts by cultivators, to truly be able to teach a lasting lesson, one must have this extent of decisiveness, these five major sects do not sound so bad after all. " Niyonika said, nodding in approval of the five major sects as she secured the strings of her outer robes.

Niyonika spun around to face Raila, raising a brow at the surprised look on the petite female's face.

"What's the matter this time?" Niyonika asked, Raila seemed hesitant to respond but the expectant look on Niyonika's face forced an answer out.

"Ah... it's just, well I also don't know what the matter is, big sister just seems a little different today." Raila replied, Niyonika shrugged casually.

"If you had been the one washed up ashore for whatever reason, waking up to find yourself without any memories whatsoever, I reckon you would seem a little different too." Niyonika replied, easily brushing off the petite female's suspicion.

Raila once again diverted her gaze, her expression overcome with guilt.

Niyonika was stunned when she suddenly dropped to her knees.

"Big sister, please forgive me!" Raila cried, furiously wiping the tears that were now streaming down her cheeks.

"It'll be much easier to forgive if you told me what I need to forgive... first rise, stand and then speak." Niyonika said, leaning down to help Raila up.

"Big sister...that night...that night I saw that Yana leading big sister towards the cliff... I knew something was up but I was so terrified, I kept silent about it."

" When I did not see big sister for the next three days, I knew i had committed a great wrong. That Yana had definitely done something to hurt big sister but even then... even then, I was too terrified to say anything!" Raila sobbed out.

Niyonika raised a brow at Raila's words.

"How old are we?" Niyonika asked suddenly, her unrelated question stunning the sobbing female.

"Ehhm, most outer disciples are between the ages of sixteen to eighteen. I am sixteen summers this year and big sister is fifteen summers, of all the outer disciples, big sister is the youngest."

'Ah... I really did fall off a cliff?! And more than that, I didn't trip and fall off but I was pushed off? Just arriving in this lifetime and already suffered an attempted murder? This Niyonika is still so young and already has so much enemies?' Niyonika thought, sighing to herself as she realized she would not be having peaceful days.

"This Yana you speak of, who is she?" Niyonika asked curiously, it was always best to know your enemies.

"Ah...big sister does not recall Yana also?! This Yana is a she devil! She is one of the most talented outer disciples and is ranked no 10 among the top 10 outer disciples."

"These disciples are the most outstanding, the best of which have reached the fifth level of the elemental novice realm! The fifth level! At sixteen, Yana is at the peak of the third level of the elemental novice realm and is ranked ten among the top ten outer disciples. She is also a fire elemental and is truly powerful! She will definitely be selected as a disciple by one of the sage masters regardless of her performance in the ranking contest." Raila explained drearily.

"I have such an outstanding rival? I must not be as useless as I thought." Niyonika thought aloud in amusement.

"The thing is, big sister is quite far from Yana in strength..." Raila revealed reluctantly, Niyonika raised a brow.

"How far exactly?" Niyonika asked curiously, Raila diverted her gaze again.

"Like the difference between heaven and earth, if big sister was to face off against Yana, you would undoubtedly be defeated in one move." Raila reluctantly revealed, Niyonika broke out into laughter.

"And yet she considers me a rival? Why?" Niyonika asked in amusement, Raila passed Niyonika a baffled look, probably because she could not understand what Niyonika found amusing about the situation.

"Naturally it is because of big sister's looks. Big sister is the renowned No 1 beauty across the entire Seyr Empire. Big sister may not have outstanding strength, but big sister's popularity is not any lower than that of Yana due to big sister's unrivalled looks." Raila explained, Niyonika nodded in understanding.

'Ah...so it was like this?' Niyonika thought to herself, shaking her head slightly.

Physical beauty was truly a troublesome thing.