The moon was bright and the stars sparkled in the ink black sky. The rustling of the bamboo in the cold wind was audible from inside the room. Shuang Xuanyi's room was devoid of many items, having only what was needed to study, primarily a few brushes, ink, and paper, all kept in pristine condition on his desk. He found it unnecessary to keep extra clutter, it only served the purpose of having more things to organize.
Shuang Xuanyi woke up in his room, his eyes adjusting to the darkness and his wounds stinging from the minty ointment that had been applied when he got back to the sect.
During the day, right after Xuanyi and Zhang Zhixu, Zhixu's senior brother, an alchemist, had brought over some medicinal ointment. Although it could heal wounds quickly, it would not prevent any scars, unfortunately for Shuang Xuanyi. He was quite depressed that there could be such an imperfection on his face, of all places. Although, he got over it quickly, since it's not like he could fix it even if he tried.
After spending a while lost in thought, staring at the closed window, Shuang Xuanyi got out of his cozy bed and stepped outside, after tidying up his blankets. The frigid, dewy grass chilled his feet, but it was very pleasant to go outside after such a rough day, although he would never admit it to anyone.
Shuang Xuanyi did not have to walk far to get to a pagoda, surrounded by the glowing, misty waters of a small turquoise lake, which was encircled by a large number of mystical wisteria trees. The pagoda, dimly lit by the light of the moon, reflected the glowing light of the waters, as petals blew down serenely.
Xuanyi sat in the middle of the pagoda and decided to meditate. Although he was not a cultivator, someone who could transform into a weapon, meditation still had its benefits. He cleared his mind of thoughts and only focused on the passing wind, occasionally feeling a cold chill brush over him.
Shuang Xuanyi meditated throughout the night, the sun slowly rose in the east, illuminating the wisteria and making the lake sparkle brightly in the golden light. A single petal had landed softly on his face, which drifted to the ground as he stood up, turning into an unnatural dark black color while it stayed out of sight. Birds chirped loudly to the morning light far in the distance, as if trying to tell the whole world to wake up to the new day.
"Meow~!"
"..!" Shuang Xuanyi abruptly turned, startled.
He signed a breath of relief when he only saw a kitten. Its fur was dark and extremely fluffy, and it was pawing at the edge of the water while staring at him with piercing cerulean eyes. The kitten looked as if it wanted to attempt swimming, but was unsure?
Somewhat curious, Xuanyi cautiously made his way over to the cat, being careful not to make any noise, as to not startle it. He got within an arm's distance to it, however, unfortunately, the kitten did not like being so close to a human and dashed off quickly, rustling a lot of the fallen petals and hiding in a small bushy area that was still covered by a shadow. Shuang Xuanyi found the kitten a bit strange, but did not think too much about it, after all, there were other, more productive things to think about.
The lecture hall was spacious, enough for a few dozen disciples to sit and take notes. The newly risen sun illuminated the room brightly through the decorative paper windows, making small patterns of light across the room. Today, the sect leader was giving a lesson on the history of their sect.
Shuang Xuanyi was always the first to start his daily studies. Whether it was calligraphy or the history of the jianghu, he had always gotten top marks, being far above most of his peers. Not wishing to play around or get into trouble, he had few friends, however.
So, of course, when he had to recite the history of how the sect was founded, he naturally had gotten it completely accurate, "Yun Fang sect was founded by sect leader Yun after he rediscovered a lost cultivation method, becoming a major power in the jianghu. He gathered his friends and made a sect to protect themselves from the people that wanted badly to covet the technique for themselves..."
As Shuang Xuanyi finished speaking, he felt something hard hit the back of his head. He sighed and looked disappointingly behind him at the boys holding crumpled papers and giggling at the back of the room. They were the group of trouble makers who although were entertaining, never got anything done except for silly pranks. However, it was to be noted that they were not completely useless, as their sword skills were very good.
Xuanyi knew that those boys were scholarly people, but the hot-headed adventuring type, so their antics didn't bother him, instead it made him rather amused.
The sect leader, on the other hand, did not like that behavior. He was of the opinion that one needs to have both knowledge and power to succeed in life. If you are dumb, then not even the world's best sword skills can save you from other people's schemes!
"Ping Kundan! Su Danyan! How many times do I have to tell you that you mustn't cause so much trouble during class?!"
Of course, trouble makers don't learn from being scolded, so they only snickered and pretended to care, "Sect leader, we'll be good!"
The day went on like this, as usual, and everyone went to their rooms or outside to practice swordsmanship at the end of the day. Shuang Xuanyi sat elegantly in his room, took out a brush and ink. He happily practiced what he had learned until the chattering of disciples quieted and the sky turned the color of his ink.