His reputation changed overnight.

Bai Xiaochun woke up to find that he was, inexplicably, a hero. The story of the coward who saved his squad from an alpha Shadow Claw Wolf had spread through the Outer Sect like wildfire, gathering increasingly absurd embellishments with every retelling.

'I heard he wrestled the wolf with his bare hands.'

'I heard there were three alphas, not one.'

'I heard he bit the wolf's ear off and spit it at the other wolves.'

Bai Xiaochun did not correct any of these rumors, because correcting them would have required him to talk to people, and talking to people was nearly as terrifying as fighting wolves.

But the reputation came with consequences. He could no longer fade into the background. People started challenging him to sparring matches to 'test the hero.' Cultivation bullies, who had ignored him before, now saw him as a threat to their social standing. And most dangerously of all, the sect elders had noticed him.

'Bai Xiaochun,' Elder Sun said, summoning him to the main hall. 'You've been recommended for early Inner Sect promotion.'

'Who recommended me?' Bai Xiaochun asked, already suspecting the answer.

'Du Lingfei.'

'I'd like to un-recommend myself, please.'

'Not possible. Inner Sect assessment is in three days. Prepare yourself.'

Bai Xiaochun walked out of the main hall feeling like a man who had accidentally stepped on a beehive and discovered that the bees had decided to make him their king. He didn't want to be king of the bees. He wanted to be somewhere far away from the bees, preferably in a sealed room with reinforced walls and no wolves.