"So, Shu He, what made you want to visit our division in the first place? I know most new disciples will go to the major divisions first so I'm curious" Elder Bai asked as the three walked along a grassy path among flowers and trees with leaves of various colours and shapes.
"If I'm being honest I didn't know this division even existed until Senior Brother Jian invited me by coincidence" Shu He spoke feeling a bit embarrassed to admit it.
"Hmm?" Elder Bai looked inquisitively at Jian He.
"I just heard from Shu He that he was new here, so I thought I'd try inviting him, Shu He please just call me Jian He, I'm not a fan of formalities." He pleaded.
"That won't do Jian He, you're the head of our division so you need to show face sometimes." Elder Bai 'tutted' while shaking his head.
"This isn't one of those times…"
"Then Jian He, what does it mean, that you're the division head?" Shu He asked, ignoring what Elder Bai said.
'I agree, throw formalities out the window' was his thinking.
"It just means that I'm in charge of budgeting and reporting our activities to the sect" He shrugged as if the responsibilities were light.
Elder Bai sighed hearing his explanation.
"That's not all, he is required to participate in the disciple's council every year and any emergency ones, along with being in charge of recruitment and events the division may hold" He explained.
"But I don't do much in the council really… and we don't really have enough members to hold events" Jian He reluctantly said, looking slightly downtrodden.
"What's the council? I haven't heard about that yet…"
"It wasn't explained in your induction?... no that makes sense, it's only relevant for division heads and people near them really, it's a meeting set up by some elders to watch over each year for the divisions to discuss their progress, the problems they've encountered or to request assistance with something, or to plan joint events." Jian He took a breath before his expression became gloomy.
"The main point of them is the betterment of the sect, while the elders and sect master handle the major things we can handle the minor things and make changes to improve it for our fellow disciples" he explained like he was reading from a textbook.
'It's basically a round table meeting…'
"I'm guessing based on your expression that they don't go as well as they should?"
"Ugh… of course not." Jian He looked like he had swallowed a fly as he spat out those words.
"Humans can be rather stupid sometimes, even though they're meant to be working towards the same goal they end up clawing at others because of their greed and desire" Elder Bai shook his head again as he spoke mockingly.
"Poor little Jian He has the worst of it, his position is lower than the others in the first place so he's not even standing on the same stage to them."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Shu He asked as he looked between the two.
"…I'm only an Inner Disciple while all of the other division heads are Core Disciples, so they just see me as a figurehead to knock over".
"Is the difference between inner and core that big?" Shu He still didn't know the conditions to be an Inner disciple, let alone a core disciple.
"Of course! It's like heaven and earth our statuses, the sect supplies them with tonnes of free materials and free access to a lot of the areas, their talents are almost heaven sent they all excel in their areas of expertise… I'm just someone who knows animals well, I can't compare".
"You shouldn't put yourself down that much Jian He, you have potential, you just haven't managed to excavate it yet" Elder Bai patted Jian He's head like he would a child.
"You say that but…"
"Come on, we're here so go ahead and show Shu He inside" Elder Bai pointed to a large white building that they had snuck up on before they knew it.
"Okay… come on inside Shu He" He walked up and opened a metal gate leading into the building.
'It kind of resembles a Colosseum…' Shu He thought as he looked around at the structure, it seemed to be circular from where he stood but with the size he couldn't tell.
Following Jian He, he walked inside.
…
"Is this a workshop?" Shu He looked around a room that they had come upon, it had simple brick walls and wooden flooring completely unlike the outside, there were all sorts of tools laying on the tabletops and hanging on hooks, batches of leather and metal were to the side ready to process and there were some objects like saddles, horseshoes or something that resembled them, some sort of material and vats of liquid, it seemed like a jumbled up workshops with no particular aim.
"Yeah it's mine, this is where I fashion whatever I need to help the animals that rest here from support for their limbs, patches for wounds or wrapping for cuts, walking or flying support, tools for riding animals and such". Jian He spoke with a slight smile as he rubbed his hand across one of the wooden workbenches.
"You don't request this stuff from one of the crafting divisions?" Shu He asked, he thought it would be an easier thing to do.
"I did in the past, but I realised that it was hard to get exactly what I needed when I needed it, plus creating something that a specific animal needs requires seeing them in person and getting the craftsman down here… wasn't easy, so in the end I needed to do it myself… Sometimes a patient in need doesn't have enough time for you to get the perfect solution." Jian He seemed to be remembering something as melancholy flashed deep in his eyes.
"…Yeah, I get that…" Shu He hadn't expected to be hit with such words, but he could relate deep down, not just from his experience treating people in the village for those short years, but his entire life before that.
He was someone who wasn't able to wait for a cure after all.
"So, you get it… that's good." Jian He patted his clothes and rubbed his hands cleaning off the small amount of sawdust from the table.
"Then, this way, I'll show you some of the animals that are being kept here currently." He started walking along, Shu He followed with Elder Bai behind them.
"Here? Is this some sort of sanctuary inside of a sanctuary?"
"Something like that, whenever an animal is left injured but isn't mortally wounded we'll bring them here and nurse them back to health… most of the time at least"
"The other times?"
"We just have to let nature run its course, this sanctuary was constructed to be like a proper environment that copies real ecosystems, we keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't become imbalanced, but because of that we can't just go ahead and save every animal that gets in a fight or becomes prey of another, it wouldn't be natural then." Jian He explained, yet he seemed to feel bitter as he did so.
Shu He could at least tell that he had probably been through many painful experiences here.
'This place is less like a zoo and more like an actual sanctuary then' He thought to himself.
"First Up –"
They reached a door that Jian He opened without hesitation, Shu Li followed along.
"I'll wait out here" Elder Bai said as he waved to them.
'?' Shu He looked back confused as to why he'd stop now.
"He can easily scare the animals with his presence" Jian He explained thankfully.
"Oh" Shu He imagined some sort of massive monster in the shape of a human appearing before a hamster.
'Makes sense' he nodded to himself.
They walked through a short corridor with netted windows, he could see it was a small forest on the other side.
'This again?' He had already been confused enough, being underground but not.
At the end of the corridor Jian He unlatched another fenced gate as he waited for Shu He to enter before latching it again.
"What animal is here?" He looked around, but he couldn't see anything; He was going to use his sense but felt that'd ruin the surprise, so he didn't.
"Just watch" Jian He placed his finger on his glabella, an action familiar to Shu He as a white feather symbol appeared and glowed.
He then placed his two fingers in his mouth and let out a high-pitched whistle, similar to a birds cry.
"Kweeeweeeeeeeee!" A cry responded inside the room they were in, Shu He's eyes shot to the source of the sound, and he saw a beak seemingly appear out of nowhere, then a head and a body followed by wings.
"A camouflaged bird?" He said with surprise.
It flew through the air with its wings wide, as Shu He got a closer look he realised it wasn't a normal bird, at least shape wise, it resembled a dinosaur in some ways with scaled skin, long legs and wings that rested with small claws.
It flew down through the air and landed on the ground near Jian He, looking up expectantly at him.
'It's quite big, about the size of an average teenage boy' He thought to himself, but then he remembered his own height and compared it to the 'bird'.
'Wait, am I below average?'
He gave himself a hit to his self-confidence.
"Alright, don't worry here you go" Jian He brought something out of his robe, it was a small biscuit like snack, the birds eyes seemed to glint as it snatched it out of his hand and began to gleefully chew away at it before swallowing.
Thanks to that Shu He got a great look at the massive, sharped teeth that were hidden beneath the bumpy yellow exterior of the beak.
"I'm guessing this bird's a carnivore" He was thinking of petting it at first but now became reluctant.
"Hm? Most birds are omnivores aren't they?" Jian He replied while stroking its head, it rubbed back like a cat asking for attention.
"Yeah but this one's… teeth…" Shu He pulled the sides of his mouth up to illustrate what he was trying to say.
"Oh ahahahaha, yes she does have some beautiful teeth doesn't she? This one's species is called Cloaked Skystriders, as you saw earlier they are great at using their unique feathers to hide themselves, so they usually hide in packs and then jump on to unsuspecting prey that passes".
"That's not a vote of confidence when I stepped out first…"
"It's fine, the animals here in this sanctuary building are under a temporary contract with me so unless something startles them they won't attack you".
"Every single one?"
"Yup, it's a matter of safety, keeps them calmer as well" He explained, but Shu He felt something was off with what he just said.
'Doesn't that mean he earned the trust of all of them?' He put that thought to the side for now though, Jian He was directing him now.
"Give it a try" He said, gesturing to the bird.
"Seriously?" Shu He stared at the bird, a sharp tooth hanging over the edge of its beak glimmering in the light.
"Um, does she have a name?" He asked, moving slightly closer.
"Nope, don't name them" Jian He denied.
"Well then…" Shu He took a step closer to the bird, she turned towards him and began eyeing him.
Every step closer he began to feel a bit more nervous, but he tried to calm himself and made sure not to stare directly into the bird's eye, the typical sign of aggression.
Another few steps and a few of her feathers became rustled, seeming unsure about the new arrival.
Soon Shu He was in touching distance, but he held his hand out while trying to be as unaggressive as possible.
For a few seconds there was a stalemate, neither of them moving.
"Kweeeeeeee!" The bird screamed out as its beak suddenly latched on to Shu He's hand.
"Ah!"
"Wait-"
The two reacted late, the hand was in the beak.
Yet nothing else happened, there was no blood nor did Shu He feel much pain.
"Shu He, are you okay?!" Jian He looked a little panicked, clearly not expecting something to happen.
"Yeah..?" He said as he tilted his head to one side.
The bird seemed to be… teething on his hand? He could feel a small tongue lapping against his finger tips which made his shiver.
'This feels unpleasant…' He thought as he held his tongue, he didn't try to move his hand away because he could feel the razor-sharp teeth pressing into his skin just gently enough that tearing it away would slice him.
"How odd…" Jian He said as he took up a thinking posture, closely watching the birds actions.
"Uh I'm not a research subject you know?" He said in an attempt to get help.
"Oh sorry, but she's not responding to my thoughts… she seems deeply interested in you, I've never seen her act like this".
"Is that so…" Shu He looked back at the bird that was have a great time feasting on his hand, he decided to activate his 'Sight' to take a look.
He could clearly see that this animal was normal, there was no Qi core inside it like he had seen in Elder Bai, so it wasn't a spirit animal, he looked at his hand and saw his usual aura flowing with his azure and gold qi, the world was also like normal like a light show of azure mixed in with gold and some other colours representing Qi.
He took another look at his hand, closely watching and suddenly he noticed something.
His brows furrowed as he forced his sight closer and closer to get a better look, as the birds tongue lapped his skin he noticed a change.
An ever so small, infinitesimally small dot of his golden qi detached from the flow of his aura and went into the bird, dissipating into its body.
'?!' He became slightly startled, almost pulling away before stopping himself.
'Could it be.. the reason this bird is interested in me, it's because of the golden core flame?!' Shu He thought, and he felt he was right, there was nothing else about him that was 'special' and what he just saw backed that up.
After another minute the bird let go, licking him one last time before flying off in to one of the trees.
"…Ugh" Shu He muttered as he stared at his hand that was covered in slobber.
"I didn't expect anything to happen, but at least you weren't hurt, I'll have to look in to this later" Jian He said as he thoughtfully looked in the direction the bird flew.
"It's fine, just give me a place to clean this off first" He said holding up his drenched hand.
"Of course, there's a lot of other animals we can visit as well".
"I think I'll hold off on the petting for now though…"
"That… may be a good idea."
And so Jian He began to show Shu He around the sanctuary, this time only 'showing' though.