Group 19 :
Not long after, another person joined them under the tree. Before Ye Chen or Mu Yang was able to react, the red robed youth smiled and bowed humbly towards them, giving both of them a very respectful feeling towards him.
"Greetings fellow group mates, I am Wang Ze Li, looking forward to learning more about each one of your specialities. Please give me your guidance."
"Wang Gongzi is it? I am Mu Yang from TianAn Sect, this is Ye Chen from GongCi Sect, please don't stand on ceremony, we should be of similar age range and should speak freely." Mu Yang smiled and bowed towards him, returning his sincerity.
Mu Yang and Ye Chen both do not discriminate against Silver people. Not even one bit. This is because they have grown up surrounding Silver people in the Mu Family and feel that they are no different from gold people, aside from the lack of spiritual powers. Many of the Silver people they know can be said to be much more exceptional than some of the Gold people they see in their Sects.
"Mu Yang...Oh! May I ask if it's Mu Er Gongzi from the Mu Family?" Wang Ze Li politely inquire.
"It is." Mu Yang nodded and smiled. It is a common occurrence for him as the Mu Family is widely known.
"Ahhh, your family has helped mine before and I am grateful." Wang Ze Li answered and went into a long pause before becoming emotional and his eyes started to water.
"Wang Gongzi, I am not sure what happened, and it may be something my family might have done, but it is not my own merit. Please treat me normally like I am your group mate." Mu Yang calmly added when he noticed the atmosphere becoming a little sour.
Having heard Mu Yang, Wang Ze Li seemed to have come back to his senses and became a little embarrassed. "Apologies, I seem to have made a joke out of myself. Please forgive me."
"Not at all, I can tell that Wang Gongzi is an affectionate person. It is my great pleasure to be on the same team as you." Mu Yang gently replied.
Mu Yang is very fond of Wang Ze Li and chatted a little, before two other youths, one dressed in blue and another dressed in green joined them under the tree.
"Liu CongHai from ZhongQi Sect" The green robed youth with a scar on his forehead introduced himself. He was holding a spear on his left hand and a shield on the right.
"Yan Lide from JianZhu Sect" The blue robed youth holding a short sword on his waist gave his greetings to the group. After his greeting was over he glanced at Wang Ze Li from top to toe and rolled his eyes secretly.
Although Yan Lide turned his face away before doing that, Ye Chen was able to catch a glimpse from the corner of his eye.
"Is everyone here yet?" The senior who was collecting their number plates earlier approached them.
"I think we are still short of one more member." Mu Yang counted and reported to the senior.
"The rules state four gold people and two silver people per team. We're missing one silver member." Yan Lide said casually as he stood up from his resting spot.
"Let's wait a little longer" The senior held up the sign "19" much higher.
After 30 minutes, the group became restless and Yan Lide sarcastically remarked "Do we have to wait until nightfall, Senior?"
The senior's eyebrows twitched and took out a communication talisman. He mumbled a few words into the talisman and looked up at the group.
"Let's go." He said and led them into the forest. Group 19 arrived at a small cabin with the sign "19" in front.
"Alright, here would be your living quarters for the rest of the month. I am Jiang Hulei from JianZhu sect. I was a participant in this conference 10 years ago, and this year, I am a moderator for group 19. In the mornings you attend classes in the main hall where we were earlier, and in the afternoon you complete tasks as a group. Here are your fireworks and remember to use them only when you are in danger." He explained as he handed out fireworks with the label "19" on it.
The group of boys excitedly went into the small cabin but were greeted with disappointment to see a cold and empty cabin with just a small stove at the corner with a metal pot, a few dining dusty chairs on the side and a barely standing dining table. The cabin has 3 tiny bedrooms attached to its main hall but only one of the bedrooms had a small wooden bed complete with a small side table.
"..." The group of participants held their breath as they opened the windows and doors to all the bedrooms. The layer of dust is enough to kill someone from suffocation ah! This is what 5 years does to a cabin in the middle of nowhere.
The senior leading the group, Jiang Hulei was holding in his smile from the side while he watched the 5 boys explore the cabin. "Ahhh. Those were the days…" he thought to himself as he watched their expressions go from excitement to disgust.
"I guess it's 2 to a room." Yan Lide's voice broke the silence in the quiet cabin.
"How do you want to allocate roommates?" Liu CongHai asked and seemed to be in deep thought.
"If it is alright, I would like to be roommates with Ye Chen. We are cousins." Mu Yang quickly added.
"Do you think you can choose vegetables like in a market? Your roommates are sorted by the random box." Jiang Hulei laughed as he took out a box. As he opened the lid, different colour beads started flying in the directions of the participants.
Because of their spiritual powers, most of them caught the bead when it was flying towards them except for Wang Ze Li, whose bead clumsily dropped on the floor shortly after it flew towards him.
"Tsk" Yan Lide snorted softly as he lowered his head to hide his expression.
Upon hearing that soft mockery, Wang Ze Li became very embarrassed and quickly bent forward, trying to pick up the bead that fell on the floor. But because he was probably too flustered, he slipped and fell.
Within a split second, Mu Yang quickly held onto Wang Ze Li's arm, preventing him from falling.
"Ahhh!" Wang Ze Li quickly rebalanced himself and looked towards Mu Yang apologetically. Instead of looking irritated like how Wang Ze Li imagined, Mu Yang just gently smiled at him and with a swing of his wooden fan - ShengQing, the bead on the floor was lifted up by the wind and landed gently on Wang Ze Li's palm.
"Looks like we are roommates, Wang Gongzi." Mu Yang showed his green bead to the other and gave a smile. Although he was a little upset that he couldn't be roommates with Ye Chen, Mu Yang was somehow happy that his roommate would at least be Wang Ze Li. Anyway Ye Chen and Mu Yang are going to be in the same cabin, even though it is a little inconvenient to be in different rooms, it won't make too much of a difference.
"How come there are three red beads? Shouldn't it be two to a room?" Yan Lide exclaimed as he looked at his own red bead as well as the red beads Ye Chen and Liu Conghai were holding.
Looking at Jiang Hulei scratching his head, the rest can tell that even the moderator doesn't know why.
Amidst the commotion, a blue robed moderator ran towards the group and spoke while catching his breath.
"Jiang-shixiong, I ...have brought the last member of the team."
Behind the blue robed moderator, a petite girl wearing red robes stepped out and bowed towards the group. "Greetings all respectable Gongzis, I am Cao Ying. Apologies for joining late…"
Suddenly everyone seems to understand why the random box allocated 3 to a room instead of 2 - The female scholar will have her own room, of course. And the room assigned to her is definitely the one with the bed.