"Mister?" Feng Luoyan called out from her clumsy walking, almost as though an infant just learning it looked very awkward.
"Having enough energy to focus on others, you are not training hard enough." Shou Xin replied evenly, "I will return."
Feng Luoyan nodded calmly and continued her practice.
In the meantime, Shou Xin arrived to the place where the sensing technique was sending him as he followed the signature of the one hiding in the shadows.
----
Arriving before the large gate with the insignia of the Feng Clan, a scarred crimson scale, engraved on each of its doors in solid Spirit Stones which carried no alignment.
"Come in." A voice carried out from the hall.
Naturally, Shou Xin did not stand on ceremony after being called in and directly opened the gates, now standing in a large open hall with only a single man sitting at the very far back hidden in a haze.
"I will not use long-winded speeches nor double speech. The reasons for your coming here are currently unknown to much of the clan, but may spill if anyone is careless," The man hidden upon his throne said easily, "To avoid such a thing, do you not believe you should repay the comfort you've been given?"
"The Head of the Shou Clan listens to the Feng Clan." Shou Xin cupped his fists.
"Oh?" The man smiled with a narrowed gaze, "The Feng Clan Head, Feng Gutai, hears you."
"I offer the strength of my Sea Spring Ward's martial clans." Shou Xin's words rippled through the great hall.
A moment turned to two, and then to three until suddenly a burst of laughter rang throughout the great hall.
"How? You are a weak clan with a crippled head at the second chain? How will you defeat the other martial clans and force them under your control?" A chilling aura spread through the great hall like a lurking beast, "You had better not been jesting, boy."
"During a Tilu, one does not jest, Patriarch Feng." Shou Xin replied evenly.
(Author's Note: A 'Tilu' is a form of serious discussion when one clan/power is attempting to come under or discuss with another where both parties give their conditions.)
"Then, what do you seek in return?" Patriarch Feng's icy stare made the great hall almost freeze.
Shou Xin looked up, catching his eyes directly for the first time.
"Feng Wuqing's freedom."
"Ridiculous!" A voice interrupted from the freezing dark at the side of the hall, "Such a thing is unacceptable!"
"Quiet." Patriarch Feng looked at the elder who had appeared from the side.
One by one, other elder's began to show themselves within what was once a seemingly empty great hall.
"She is not bound," Patriarch Feng said coldly, "She has chosen this. Wuqing."
Shou Xins gaze turned as Feng Wuqing slowly appeared from behind the throne, her glare as icy as her fathers.
"I have chosen this, so leave now. The Feng Clan of Fengzhou can guarantee your safety until Sea Spring." Feng Wuqing's tone was low and cold, "Do not come back."
Shou Xin's heart pinched.
"Wuqing," Shou Xin slowly spoke, enunciating each word, "You saved my life more than once, should you ask it, I will sacrifice it all to repay it. Say the word."
"It is precisely because you are so willing to die that I cannot ask you…" Feng Wuqing muttered such that only her father could hear it.
"...Do not return."
Shou Xins seriousness remained, but he did not reply to the request.
"Once I've conquered all of Sea Spring, I will return for you, Wuqing." Shou Xin turned his back on the hall which was thrown into an uproar at his outrageous decree.
"Guards!" The elder's shouted, and tens of first chain guards came in, staring at him coldly with their spears lowered.
Shou Xin ever so slightly moved and the spears hit nothing but air!
The elder's who had received a report on his condition and abilities were shocked!
"His attainment had increased even whilst so crippled!"
"He must be killed, before he grows into trouble for us, Patriarch!"
"We must not let such a seed go, his heart's desire will fade as time passes!"
The Elder's began to quibble with one another almost immediately.
Even among their own youngsters of the Feng Clan in Fengzhou, there were no exceptional youths who had the gall to declare such things, and then the attainment to walk past the guards even though they were the weakest of them.
The sounds of metal clashing rang outside and the elder's rushed out to see a battle-, nay!
A massacre!
Shou Xin moved between the guards like a ghost, the spears in their hands shattering as he passed them!
A slight drip of blood fell from his lips as he opened his mouth ever so slightly a voiceless movement, "I will respond to your feelings once this is over."
Only a few had seen this, namely Patriarch Feng and Feng Wuqing who stood at her original spot, her Law Qi slowly fading off of him and slipping away like a dream.
"Let him go." Patriarch Feng said calmly, "With his condition, he will not survive the conquest he proposes. However, if he does, we will consider taking him into our fold. No one will help him."
Both the elder's who wished him dead, and those who wished to recruit him, thought for a moment, feeling satisfied.
The Feng Clan is first and foremost, a clan, they are relatives who grew up with one another and are reasonable enough to one another.
---
Taking a longer route back to Sea Spring Town so as to avoid ambushers or spies, Shou Xin would in the end take two weeks to arrive back.
His soul which had almost shattered prior, had made a near complete recovery, his left arm now usable.
Walls four meters high, guards who slack at their work constantly, roads of beaten down earth and houses of wood and some of brick.
The scent of the sea hit him.
Shou Xin muttered as a smile crept onto his face, "Home."
His hands behind his back, he slowly walked through the familiar streets.
Much had changed since he was here last.
Though the guards were still lax, it appeared that at least there were, in fact, guards.
Shou Xin calmly glanced up at the office of the lord who had come from the Exiled Court, yet he could feel nothing, nor could he sense the aura's of his aides, Little Spring nor Young Sea.
Shaking his head slightly, he went forward towards the Shou Clan Residence.
In the Exiled Court, there are many departments, many of which are hidden and tucked away, but a commonly known aspect of it is the Cloud Spiral Academy, which is where those young geniuses go to be trained and then sent out to become lords of regions in the name of the Exiled Court, similar to overseers.
However, because of the high expectations as graduates of the Cloud Spiral, they were also allowed almost no mistakes, the near destruction of Sea Spring likely causing Lord Sea Spring, to be recalled back to the Cloud Spiral for punishments.
He quietly looked around the markets and found that most of the activity in the town had concentrated towards the port, this was the hub of commerce within Sea Spring and where ships docked on the road to Cloud Spiral Academy, many young geniuses took these ships.
Glancing through them, he found a few had been fighting among one another, and he decided to watch for a bit from the side.
"What are you doing?" Shou Xin smiled as he grabbed a small head with a pair of fuzzy ears.
"...Shou Xin?" The little girl said quietly.
Shou Xin glanced down at the girl with his empty eyes causing her to shiver slightly, yet, he ignored it and picked her up, placing her on his lap and passing over a candy he had bought on the way here.
She was hesitant, but ultimately took it, unable to resist the allure of candies.
"Tell me, what is happening here?"
The girl with wolf ears spoke between bites of candy.
"Young lords from all over the Southern Isles are gathering for the entrance exams at Cloud Spiral Academy! Since demons were spotted here a few months ago, many have chosen to stop by here to try and get some achievements on the way."
"Then, they started fighting because they want to cut down the competition which they can't do within the Cloud Spiral Academies exams, instead they do it now." Shou Xin got the gist of it, "Go tell Yui Luo of the Shou Clan to come here, tell her I am summoning her."
Shou Xin let the girl go and took his large coat which he had taken a liking to in order to hide his crippled arm, and took out a few gold serpents, using the large coat as a cover so no one would focus on the storage ring.
"Pass me a few of those, would you?" He tossed them over to a vendor nearby, "Fights are best watched with food."
"R-, Right away!" The vendor who suddenly had golden serpents thrown his way, immediately began packing large amount of his product, Spirit Leaf.
Though it is called Spirit Leaf, it does not truly carry any spiritual properties except for a slight calming effect on the soul which made it quite addictive among the people, something which Shou Xin once looked down upon.
However, as he took the Spirit Leaf and rolled it up as he had seen so many times, he didn't feel a shred of shame, just release as he took a short drag, his pained soul cooling a small bit.
The battle which had been brewing between the young lords seeking to cut the competition finally erupted!
Shou Xin leaned back on the crate he sat on.
"Hey! You two kids, don't you think this is quite boring?" Shou Xin caught their attention instantly as they were enraged at his words but he continued before they could cut him off, "Why not make bets? Aye! The people too! The Shou Clan will be the intermediaries so everything goes off without a hitch, only a small fee is taken, five percent! Bets are 1:1!"
Shou Xin's words came out smoothly, and though his voice reverberated through the port, no one felt he was shouting, rather they felt an underlying strength!
"Who do you think you are to be speaking as though a part of the Shou Clan?!" A man from the side shouted, "To dare act as an imposter in Sea Spring, you have guts!"
Many of the people shared his sentiment and were enraged this words, the Shou Clan had risen back then, and helped to stabilize the town alongside the Sea Spring Merchant Union.