The period of time Yueshi and Yuan Yue spent together with Yu Hai and the others could not be called long, yet, as they parted ways, there was a bit of loss in the hearts of both sides.
Standing in front of the group, the two bade their farewells.
Liangshi was the one with the softest heart, and her eyes were moist as she hugged Yuan Yue with so much strength that it was as if they were never going to meet again.
What was not true, since they had already accepted Yueshi's deal and, if Yueshi was their boss, then Yuan Yue could be considered their mistress – though they decided against such a professional hierarchy.
That being so, they would meet again in a few months.
"See you later." Exchanging a handshake with Yu Hai, Yueshi smiled jovially.
"Hm. Take care of yourself over there." Yu Hai smiled from ear to ear.
Their meeting had been a coincidence, and now their relationship had developed to the point they were like brothers – it made the older man wonder if fate was at work when it connected them.
After everyone said their goodbyes, Yueshi and Yuan Yue stood in the middle of the square, just above an engraved array.
To the side of the square, in a small hut, an old man looked at them with bored eyes. He was one of the many staff members stationed all over by the Star Sea Sect.
There was at least one of them in every city, taking care of the arrays and collecting transportation fees from those that wanted to use them. Their lives were quite boring since the only thing they did the entire day was stay still and stare at nothing in special.
That aside, as the man muttered some secret incantations, the array under their feet started to shimmer with white light. A moment later, a pillar of light shot toward the heavens, and when it died down the two had already disappeared.
The group stood there for a while, despite the fact the two were already gone. Then, smiling to themselves, they turned their back and left.
After their sick member recovered, they would move out from the city and establish themselves in another place as per Yueshi's wish.
Things like wages and housing had already been settled by Yueshi, with Yuan Yue's help.
While money had been a problem for him and Xuehua before joining the sect, now it was no more. The sect allowed one to exchange contribution points for gold, and the ratio was quite high.
Thanks to that, paying for their services, buying a few lands and houses, and recruiting new members would not bring Yueshi any financial problem.
— - -
Back in the Sect…
Xuehua had one of the best rooms in the entire mansion belonging to the top members of the association.
Not only was the room big, but it also had a great view as it had windows on both sides.
On the left side, one could see the road that cut the residential area in two, and to the right, there was a small stream that passed by.
Right now, she was staring through the left window with eyes filled with longing.
It had already been more than a month since Yueshi had gone, almost two; yet, there was no trace of him returning yet.
At times, her heart was filled with extreme worry – as if she could feel something was not right with him – and at others, there was profound solitude.
Since they were really small, they had always been together, this was the longest time they had spent away from each other.
While Yueshi was fairly okay with it, despite thinking of her with a certain frequency, Xuehua was not.
Her feelings were a bit of a mess, but all in all, it was like a mother seeing her son grown up and spread his wings, flying far away from home.
She often wondered if she was being overly dependent, yet, she could not change her own feelings just because she understood she was exaggerating.
While she was thinking, someone knocked on the door softly in an almost rhythmical way.
Rising from the chair she placed next to the window, Xuehua walked toward the door and opened it, finding Baiyun standing on the other side with a calm expression.
Seeing her, his eyes seemed to brighten slightly.
"We are having another meeting, are you coming?" He felt a bit guilty of bothering her when she seemed so stressed; however, there was nothing he could do about it.
After Yueshi left they found out that none of them was suited to lead - they all had their qualities and traits, but none of them had what it took to be the second-in-lead when Yueshi was away.
Even Baiyun, a merchant's son with tons of experience dealing with people and leading them, failed at it.
That was because, though unspoken, none of them had earned everyone's admiration.
The position of leader could only be taken by someone that could represent them all, someone everyone was willing to listen to.
That being so, they decided to make choices through democratic means – through votes.
It was not that great of a method, but it had been working, somehow.
With Baiyun reminding her, Xuehua finally remembered it.
Right, they had already decided to meet to talk about certain things a few days ago, how could she have forgotten?
Sighing, she shook her head from side to side to throw away the useless thoughts. Afterward, the two made their way toward the meeting room.
The others were already there, chatting about random topics. Then, as Xuehua and Baiyun sat down, everyone decided to take a more proper stance, their expressions become more serious.
Xiao Yao was the first to speak. "As we assumed, the sales continue falling. If things continued like that, this month we will not earn even a thousand contribution points."
At his words, everyone showed looks of annoyance.
They would have been alright, although a bit disappointed, if their sales were not going well because their products sucked.
However, Xiao Yao's pills had nothing wrong; instead, he was amongst the best alchemy apprentices of the outer court.
The problem was that the Heavens Will Association had been doing its utmost to suppress them. At first, they spread bad rumors around, and then they stopped with all the pretenses and stood guard in front of their alchemy shop.
According to their words, anyone buying from the Rising Dragon would be considered an enemy of the Heavens' Will.
Like that their sales dwindled and were continuing to fall even now. Soon their profits would not cover their expenses and they would not be able to keep the alchemy shop running.
This problem had been troubling them for a full month already. The people from the Rising Phoenix Association had offered help, but, there was nothing much they could do when the Heavens' Will was not willing to let the matter go.
With word spreading from mouth to mouth, people did not even dare to buy when they approached them particularly.
And, those that were strong enough to ignore the threats belonged to the top associations, meaning they had their methods of acquiring pills cheaper.
"Should we close the alchemy shop for a while?" Xiao Yao asked, his heart almost bleeding. While 'slaving' away, his skills had increased a lot, so he did not want to do it.
"No, we will not solve anything like that." Baiyun shook his head, averting the problem would not help. "Maybe we should sell at a lower price to the bigger associations."
Despite saying so, he did not seem too convinced. Selling at a lower price was also avoiding the root of the problem, and would not end their troubles.
Moreover, as proud geniuses, they were not willing to just bow down their heads and accept their situation.
"Let's just stab them, then." The cold voice echoing inside the meeting hall belonged to none other than Tian Tian. This was already the fifth, no, sixth time she recommended so.
This girl only knew how to solve things with her sword, and since a month ago she wanted to just go out there and stab every single member of the Heavens' Will that crossed her path… no, maybe she would even pursue and hunt them to do so.
Baiyun could only face =-palm. The Heavens Will was stronger than them as of now, and that was a fact. Even if they were allowed to run amok inside the sect, stabbing people as they pleased, they would eventually face retribution.
So, Tian Tian's idea was less than ideal. Although, to be honest, there were quite a few people that would love to follow after her.
Like that, they reached a standstill. Despite everyone giving their opinions, there were always flaws in their plans, or they were, basically, not feasible.
Only Xuehua stood in silence. Although she wanted to help, she also did not know what to do.
Suddenly, her eyes brightened. Maybe, all the while, they had been thinking wrong. They had been pondering about how to deal with their falling amount of customers in the Alchemy Shop; however, there was another way to approach the problem.
Spreading their association fame and influence!
"Why don't we challenge the other associations?" Her words were calm and soft, just loud enough for everyone to hear.
When everyone heard her suggestion, they stopped to think for a while, seriously considering it.
Mu Baiyun was the first to reveal an understanding expression, his eyes immediately brightening as he nodded to himself, his fingers resting on his chin.
They were newcomers in the sect, so they were in a period of adaptation and intense training. Everyone was, or at least almost everyone, completely focused on training and getting stronger right now, their training regimen intensive and relentless.
Therefore, they did not have the time to deal with most matters concerning associations.
If an association wanted to increase its rank there were several ways.
The number of missions accomplished by its member and said missions level of difficulty, the results of the members in tournaments prepared by the sect, and the overall power of the association… all of those were taken into account and much more.
There was also another way – directly challenging other associations.
Depending on the other association's rank and the members they sent to fight if they won they would be able to climb several ranks and show the others that their Soaring Dragon Association was no pushover.
Even if the Heavens' Will was arrogant, it would not needlessly seek trouble with the stronger associations, even more so because of a slight confrontation caused by one of its members.
Just as everyone seemed to be enlightened, the doors of the meeting room were pushed open.
Immediately eight pairs of eyes were directed there, finding a panting Wu Feng - his bulky, mountain-like body was arched as he panted hard.
Before anyone could say anything… "Brother Yueshi is back!" His word struck their minds like thunderclaps, everyone staring dumbly for a moment.
A second later, their lips arched into smiles and it was as if a burden had been lifted from their shoulders.
It was not like they were not worried anymore. Instead, what they were thinking was something along the lines of 'thankfully, now I don't need to ponder over it anymore'.
After a month of hard thinking, they were more than willing to let Yueshi break his mind thinking over it.
Then, when everyone was going to cheer, they saw a blurry image practically fly out of the room. They had never, ever, seen someone move so fast before - to the point they thought she had cultivated some footwork technique.
At the same time, they smiled slightly. Well, Xuehua had over-worried herself a lot during the past month and they could not blame her for running like this when hearing such news.
Even Ling Tian Tian shook her head slightly, with a tiny smile dancing across her lips.
The brother and sister pair was extremely close, and they spent a lot of time together even after entering the sect. They had seen it by themselves: whenever he was not training, Yueshi was accompanying his sister.
It was more than understandable that she would act like this.
"I guess it will be better if we wait here, then." Baiyun commented, leaning comfortably against his seat. Then, for the first time in a while, they agreed about something without debating first.
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