Chapter 84: Contract.
The sky was getting dark as the sun dipped over the horizon of the mountains. The wind picked up its speed as it sent a cool breeze into the valley that travelled around the side of the mounting creating a slight lift in the air.
The scent of freshly cut grass drifted on the wind. Creating a pleasant scent as Haru stepped outside into the dark. The whole set was lit up by thousands of lanterns creating a scene like a that of a festival.
There was a gentle chatter as the private militia socialised with the sect members. As Haru looked out around the grounds, He heard a quiet sound behind him like clothes moving in the wind.
"Hey, kid. You're the one who injured my disciple. Right?" A gentle voice called out from above.
Haru turned and looked up at the side of the building. On top of the rain shelter, he passed under before entering the building was a man sat with his legs over the edge.
He had long white hair but only appeared to be in his thirties at most. He was clean-shaven and had light green eyes. As Haru looked up at him the wind picked up and seemed to blow his hair all over the place.
The man then vanished from the spot on the roof and then a slight pressure pressed down on Haru's shoulder as the man appeared next to him and grabbed him lightly.
He stopped looking around as his body went into to fight mode. His knuckled slightly clenched and he tucked his chin down a little bit. The man felt the change in Haru's demeanour and then relaxed his hand.
"Sorry. I didn't come here to start a fight. When I found out that an outsider had injured my disciple I was mad. But I had to follow the rules so I went to the sect master for an explanation.
That was when he told me you are actually not an outsider but a first-generation disciple. So I came here to apologise on behalf of my disciple.
I will make sure he knows what he did was wrong and make it a learning experience for him. And in return for you not injuring him too much, I wanted to give you something that might help you." The man said and then held out his hand to Haru
Haru looked down at what the man was holding. The moonlight began to shine down on his hand as if it was on cue. It looked to be some kind of plant.
The leaves branched out from the stem like a new sapling that was recently ripped from the ground. The roots were perfectly cleaned and there wasn't a single bit of dirt on the thing.
As Haru put his hand out to grab in he felt a cold chill in the air around the plant. And as he took it from the man's hand, his hand almost froze. The plant was colder than ice and seemed to want to spread it's iciness to everything nearby.
"That is an ice jade sapling. If you plant this in the snow it will grow to the size of a regular tree overnight. And after a month of it being planted, it will become a spiritual spot.
Meaning all of the lost spirits in the surrounding area will come to the tree to feed off it's cold Qi. Or if you are too lazy to do that then you can make it into a pill.
Since the jade ice sapling is made out of pure Qi then you will have no problem absorbing all of its energy to use for yourself." The man explained and then bowed.
"Again, I am sorry for what happened tonight. I will make sure he learns from his mistakes." The man said before going on his way.
Haru stood kind of speechless. What was he going to do with a baby tree? 'Is that the way people apologise to each other here? By giving them plants?
Well, I guess it is better than nothing. He didn't have to apologise at all. I guess it is lucky that I got this little tree out of him.' Haru thought before he heard his phone beep twice.
'That must be Remi. But everyone is still awake. What does she want now?' Haru thought before he opened up his phone to see that it was, in fact, a message from Suyin.
"Hey, I know you are busy. But do you think we can talk when you have the time? Can you come over?" The message read.
The way the message was phrased sounded ominous. He wasn't sure what to think of it so he decides to give her a call to make sure everything was okay.
As he put his phone to his ear Suyin's voice came through right away.
"Hi! I didn't you to call me so quickly." She said and then paused.
"Of course I would call you right away. Especially since you made your message sound like something serious had happened. So what's up? Haru asked.
There was a pause as Suyin rushed over to her desk to grab a letter of some kind.
"I just got news back from the record company. They say that they want me to start right away. They will start training me.
But they have a secondary contract that I have to sign. I read through it and I wanted to let you know that I decided to refuse their offer." She said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Oh? Why what is it? Do they want you to do something inappropriate? I will send Zen to talk to the owner if you need me to." Haru reassured her.
But Suyin didn't seem to relax. She stuttered a bit as she tried to talk.
"Um, No that isn't it. There is a part in the contract that says you have to be single in order to work for them. It is something about the fans not liking their idols to have boyfriends. So I'm going to call them in the morning and turn them down." She explained.
Haru sighed.
"You don't have to turn it down. How would they even know if you had a boyfriend? It's not like they will ever know about me. If you want to go ahead with the contract just tell them you are single.
If it comes down to it though I will just ask Zen if he can ask the owner to change the contract." Haru told her.
After hearing that Suyin also sighed.
"I'm an idiot. It never even crossed my mind that I could lie. But are you really okay with that? People thinking that I am single I mean.
I kind of want everyone to know how great my boyfriend is. That is why I always introduce you to my friends. It makes some of them really jealous hehe." Suyin giggled and then waited for Haru's input.
"It's fine. As long as you know that I love you it doesn't matter what other people think. If they think you are single then so be it.
Anyone who tries to make a move on you better have a really powerful backer or they will find themselves hanging from a crane." Haru joked.
"I love you too, But don't even joke about that. You could always just teach me your whole cultivation thing. Then you won't need to worry about me. I will just kick them into next week." Suyin said.
"You want to learn how to cultivate? I didn't think about that. It would be nice knowing that you can defend yourself against a crazy person. But it might take a while.
You will need to be patient but honestly, it will benefit you a lot. How about I teach you when I get back?" Haru asked.
"Really, You will? But what do you mean by getting back? Where are you now?" Suyin asked. She sounded a little worried as her voice raised higher when she asked the question.
"There's no need to worry. I took a trip up into the mountains with Jake. We are at the sect I told you about. There was someone who was looking for me. So they called me up here to talk." Haru explained.
Suyin felt relieved. She thought he was out fighting someone again. It seemed to her like where ever Haru was, Trouble seemed to follow him.
"Oh, That place? You told me it was beautiful up there. Do you think you will ever take me to have a look? It sounded so pretty from what you described." Suyin seemed intrigued by the sect.
"Yeah, It is. I will bring you next time I come here. But I doubt it will be for a while. The people here are weird, So I don't want to come back for a while." He laughed.
"Weird? What do you mean?" Suyin asked.
"Well, Someone just gifted me a tree sapling…" Haru said in a monotone voice to add to the fact of how strange it was.
"A tree sapling? Now, why would anyone do that?" Suyin asked before laughing.
Haru began to walk around aimlessly for what felt like hours as he talked to Suyin on the phone before they were interrupted by the complaints of Mr Jiang in the background.
"Suyin. Go to sleep already. It's One o'clock in the morning. I don't want to be listening to you giggle all night." He said.
Suyin sighed as he walked back out of her room.
"I have to go now. My dad is mad that I'm talking too loud." Suyin told Haru.
"I understand. I love you. Sweet dreams." Haru said as he got ready to end the call.
"I love you too. Goodnight." Suyin said sounding slightly tired.
"Goodnight," Haru said and then ended the call.
He then walked around aimlessly before he found a pond. The water was tranquil and he could see to the very bottom. 'This is nice' He thought before sitting down and watching the fish.