When Jake saw Ethan walking toward him, his stomach clenched with alarm.
In spite of his supposed position and the emblem of the Law Enforcement Hall on his robes, he felt small before the man exiled by sect decree.
Ethan's faint, easygoing smile was as chilling as a winter breeze down an empty mountain pass—it reminded Jake exactly why older disciples at the lake never dared cross him. Still, Jake steeled himself.
I'm a Law Enforcement Hall disciple now, he told himself.
I can't lose face in front of the punished, not even this so-called demon.
He straightened, face forced into neutrality, and addressed Ethan with all the rigid authority he could muster.
"Disciples exiled to Serene Mirror Lake are, per the rules, required to enter the Ancestral Tomb and spend six full hours every day cleaning the tombs. In front of the souls of our sect's fallen heroes, exiles must accept the yin energy's bite—to atone for what they have done."
Jake scowled, projecting the weight of the law.
