For the next few days, Chu Wanning spent every afternoon with Xue Meng in the bamboo forest to help him improve his skills. The initially arrogant disciple was not a bad person at the core. Although he was jealous of the little Shidi's closeness to Chu Wanning, he greatly admired his skills and was genuinely thankful for his guidance day after day. On top of that, he felt that he could connect to Chu Wanning through the little Shidi.
When the first snow fell on Sisheng Peak, the little Shidi told him that their Shizun did not want them to get sick, so Xue Meng was not allowed to practice out in the open during winter. The teenage boy quickly agreed to any instruction given by his Shizun! On the last day of training, Xue Meng refused to let Chu Wanning go back without getting to know each other properly.
"Little Shidi, I kept calling you Shidi only. What is your name?"
Chu Wanning gave him a cold glance-over and sneered.
"My name is Xia Sini."
Xia Sini was the homophone of "scare you to death". Naturally, he meant to ridicule Xue Meng, but the boy did not catch it.
"Which characters?" Xue Meng asked, frowning.
"… Xia as in surname Xia, Si as in the word Si, Ni as in the word Ni."
"Oh…"
Xue Meng was not a scholar, and he was also not very interested in reading books other than maybe training manuals. He did not realize the meaning behind "Xia Sini" at all.
And that was how Chu Wanning became a Xia Shidi.
"Then, Xia Shidi, you must know who I am."
Of course Chu Wanning knew who Xue Meng was. On the other side, Xia Sini had never been properly introduced to his shixiongs during Xue Meng's birthday party. Xue Zhengyong merely said that the little boy was Chu Wanning's fourth disciple and did not bother to get them to know each other. The three shixiongs ended up staring at the little shidi with a sour expression and cold eyes on their face before the poor little shidi left in a hurry.
"Yes, you are Mengmeng."
"…"
Xue Meng went to rub at Chu Wanning's head hard. A vein popped at Chu Wanning's temple. He moved his fingers slightly, itching to summon Tianwen.
"I am Xue Meng! The Young Master of Sisheng Peak! I am not a Mengmeng! Besides, Xia Shidi, you should call me Xue Shixiong!"
Chu Wanning barely managed to restrain himself from saying that he would accept Xue Meng as shixiong only if his skills were good enough.
Xue Meng had a cheerful and friendly personality. After they were properly introduced, Xue Meng started to brag about the new saber that he got from Chu Wanning. In a way, he wanted to tell Xia Shidi that he was still Chu Wanning's number one, most favorite disciple.
"Look, look. Shizun is so nice to me. He gave me a high-quality, brand new saber for my birthday! Look at how the blade glows! Shidi, is it not wonderful? Can't you feel the strong aura just by looking at it? I personally think it is comparable with the sword of Gouchen the Exalted. I mean, it is even better, hahahaha!!!"
Chu Wanning listened to Xue Meng's chatter without uttering a single word. His eyes wandered toward the handle of the saber. Two characters were carved onto the handle in eloquent writing.
"Longcheng?" he read.
Longcheng meant Dragon City.
"Yes, that is the name of the saber. Does it not sound cool??? The name implies that the saber has the power of a whole city consisting of dragons!"
Xue Meng was so excited that his voice became louder and louder when he rained praises upon his weapon. He did not care at all that they had left the bamboo forest and it was no longer only the two of them. A soft chuckle was heard coming from their front side.
"Dragon City? More like Peacock City."
Other disciples were not as brazen.
A grinning Mo Ran stood in front of them with one hand pressing at his waist, and the other hand holding Shi Mei's. Mo Ran's own saber was nicely tucked at his hips.