Bonus 4: Growing Unease
Han Jian restrained the urge to put his head into his hands as Yu stomped away from the table of their shared abode, a glower on his face.
Why had he volunteered to be sent to the Sect again? He had promised himself that he would be more dedicated in the future of course, but couldn't he have done that at the training yards and meditation halls of his home? Surely coming out here where his only points of familiarity were a boy who regularly got on his nerves and a girl who he really, really should have been keeping his distance from.
He knew perfectly well that the situation between the three of them was untenable, even if Yu was outwardly oblivious to it. Xiulan… he still remembered their first meeting, and the mutual childish affection that had bloomed there. They were past the point of putting such things aside though. He just wished she could see that. He doubted Yu was so dull that he would miss the way Xiulan looked at him forever. Their families had made the arrangement and that was that. Han Jian was still unengaged, but that was only because Father bucked tradition a bit, and saw no reason to finalize arrangements that wouldn't be resolved for decades yet. Han Jian would probably end up betrothed to a nice woman a few decades his senior when the time came, or perhaps someone with a good political connection or two at a younger age if they could be found.
Of course, that wasn't even the only problem anymore. Fan Yu had failed Elder Zhou's test, and it felt like oil had been poured on the fire. Xiulan had never exactly been… friendly, toward her fiance, but the fit of self pity Fan Yu had sunk into afterward, with his arm crippled by a confrontation with a Bai of all things, had magnified her dislike into outright contempt.
Then of course there was Ling Qi. She was a nice enough girl, in her own odd way, but something about her irked him. He didn't regret his kindness, not the least because an excuse to spend a few precious hours away from Yu were welcome in those early weeks. Yet… she had asked after him less and less. In the wake of Elder Zhou's test, he saw her only at training, she was apparently in the sphere of that Bai. He was a scion of the Han family, marquess' of the Ashen Wastens. He was not as far below the great ducal families as most… but it left him feeling useless, knowing that even his charity could be one upped so effortlessly.
Han Jian blinked as a calloused hand fell on his shoulder, shaking him from his thoughts. He looked up, and met the steady gaze of his 'cousin' Han Fang. The taller boy offered him a crooked smile, and made a few signs.
Han Jian let out a short bark of laughter, straightening up his shoulders. "You're not wrong, beating up some targets on the training field might help."
Han Fang just nodded amiably, stepping back to give Han Jian room to push out his chair and stand up. He made another sign.
"It's nothing you need to worry about," Han Jian assured him. Han Fang was the one person from home who he could rely on implicitly. The good feeling soured as Han Jian's eyes traced the scar on his cousins throat. Of course, he didn't deserve even that.
Han Fang gave him a curious look, and Han Jian shook his head. "Sorry, woolgathering again. It's just one of those days." He deliberately turned his thoughts away from the memory of the boy lying still in a pool of blood, and the screams of the assassin as his father tore apart the room and scoured the flesh from the man's bones in a howling dervish of sand and ash.
Even if it seemed useless, with all these talents standing above him, he couldn't let himself backslide. He'd made a promise to himself that he'd pay back that devotion by being someone worthy of it. He was putting everything he had into improving and cultivating. He was behind, that was true, but surely that effort had to count for something?
"Why don't we go hunting afterward?" He suggested as he headed for the door, not betraying his thoughts on his face with the ease of long practice. A consequence of his lacklustre efforts in past meant that his allowance was… less than optimal. It stung that his Father didn't trust him to wisely use more expensive resources. He would have to supplement it in these last few weeks before the mail opened back up.
Han Fang nodded enthusiastically as they left the house, signing animatedly.
"...What is with you and bears," Han Jian laughed. "I know we don't have them at home, but you're being a little silly now," he knew the other boy was mostly trying to lighten the mood, but he didn't see any reason not to play along.
As they walked toward the exit though, Han Jian found his smile once again becoming strained as he saw what lay ahead of them in the street. There was a small crowd around the entrance, at the center of which stood Kang Zihao. Who stood chatting with several other boys, with a smile on his handsome face.
Han Jian felt a stab of envy, Kang Zihao was in a lot of ways everything he wanted to be. A dedicated and talented cultivator, and a leader who attracted followers easily. Something about the other boy pissed him off though, even if he couldn't quite put the finger on why. It wasn't purely a matter of envy, or so he hoped.
Kang Zihao, looking over the heads of the other boys met his eyes then. "Sect Brother Han, I hope the day finds you well. Did you catch word of the gathering I was planning?"
"I'm afraid not, Sect Brother Kang," Han Jian replied back smoothly as the group around Kang parted seamlessly to allow him to step forward. "I have been focusing on my cultivation, I was just about to go on a little hunting trip with my cousin is all."
"Admirable dedication Sect Brother," Kang replied, a slight patronizing edge to his tone that set Han Jian's teeth on edge. "I was just instructing some of our less well off brothers, before we took a trip of our own. It is important that everyone remain on guard for the ne'er do wells in our midst after all. You are welcome to join us."
"Thank you for your offer," Han Jian replied evenly. "It is admirable that Sect Brother Kang would take the time to help our other brothers so," it was a fairly standard tactic, find the somewhat talented commoners, offer them scraps and build a sense of loyalty. Not too dissimilar from what he had done, now that he thought about it.
...That was different though, he hadn't helped Ling Qi for that reason. No one wanted to come back to Golden Fields anyway.
"I will have to decline however, my cousin and I are looking into more dangerous game," the lie came easily. Han Jian just didn't want to deal with other people right now, and Kang Zihao even less.
"A shame, Brother Han," Kang Zihao comisserated, though it didn't sound very genuine to Han Jian's ear. "Perhaps another time then."
"Perhaps," Han Jian replied, offering a small bow before resuming his walk. Han Fang remained behind him like a silent shadow. Han Jian envied his cousins ability to fade into the background during social situations sometimes.
Though that wasn't really an option for him, Han Jian supposed. In any case, they would soon be away from people and their troubles. Han Jian looked forward to the more straightforward challenges the wilderness brought.
Who knew, perhaps Han Fang really would get to wrestle a bear this time.
Chapter 26-Foundations 7
The Gushing Spring pill tasted of clear fresh water, the Qi Foundation pill of some spicy herb she didn't recognize, and the Sable Light pill tasted of fresh cream… but the flavors were quickly forgotten in what followed immediately after. A painful surge of energy filled her dantian, straining its confines, even as her limbs jumped with sudden energy, her nerves sang, and her senses almost overloaded. She felt like she was aflame from the inside, the light from the candles in the meditation room lanced painfully into her eyes, and the sound of her own heart was almost deafening in her ears.
Letting out a trembling breath, Ling Qi closed her eyes and slowly forced her breathing back under control. She needed to cultivate.
The next few days were a blur in her mind.
Ling Qi vaguely remembered showing up for her lessons. Sneaking in and out of the residential area. Stumbling on the steep cliffs. The worried expression on Li Suyin's face and a curious glance from Bai Meizhen as they passed one another in the hall leading to their rooms. The feeling of the pool of energy at her core deepening, expanding, and stretching the limits of her dantian, making her ache in a way that she hadn't since her first growth spurt.
What she truly remembered, however, was the sharp feeling of carving new channels for the surging qi within her, one coiling through her lungs and out through her throat and the second spiralling down her right leg.
The days following the opening of her first and second channels released some of the pressure clouding her body and mind, and Ling Qi found herself growing coherent once more. A cup of Bai Meizhen's herbal tea, left out for her on the table one evening, soothed the raging energies surging through her body even further, and its flavor seemed to be less bitter to her tongue than before. Opening the final channel, another winding meridian extending outward from her heart, reduced the burning in her core to manageable levels.
It allowed her to remember her obligation to Li Suyin. She was coherent enough to feel guilty about the concerned looks the other girl had given her throughout Elder Su's lesson that evening.
"Are you feeling better today, Ling Qi?" Li Suyin asked as she caught up with her in the hall, glancing at her nervously. "It's just… um, you kind of… growled at me yesterday when I tried to talk with you. I couldn't really understand what you were saying. Are you feeling ill?"
Ling Qi winced internally. Li Suyin had tried to talk to her yesterday? She didn't remember that all.
"I guess I am," she responded neutrally as they exited the building. "I'm sorry, Li Suyin," she apologized after a moment. "I used some medicines to help my cultivation, but it looks like I might have taken a little too much at once."
She would definitely space out her dosage in the future. That or do the whole 'closed door' cultivation she had heard about. Was that why people shut themselves in meditation rooms for days at a time? To work through the drug-induced haze in peace and quiet?
"O-oh, I see," Li Suyin replied, seeming relieved. "I was a little worried that I had done something to make you angry. Did it work?" she asked, drawing a confused look from Ling Qi. "I-I mean, did you accomplish what you were trying to do?"
Ling Qi glanced around, noting that there were still plenty of others in earshot. She then decided that she didn't care, at least when it came to this.
"Yeah," she said with only partially false confidence. "I got the three meridians I was working on open, and I even managed to almost double the size of my qi pool." She deliberately pitched her voice to carry. Let the assholes eyeing her like prey chew on that.
"Really? That's amazing! I've only recently gotten my fourth channel open. And you've done so much else besides," she added under her breath, almost too low for Ling Qi to hear. "I haven't even properly mastered an art yet."
"Why is that anyway? Why open so many channels without even learning an art?"
Li Suyin looked glanced around the plaza at the other people present, some of whom were occasionally looking their way.
Ling Qi got the picture.
"Well, I guess it's none of my business," she said instead. "We can get back to practicing together if you want."
"That's fine," Li Suyin replied hurriedly before clamming up, fidgeting with her bag and keeping her eyes on the path ahead.
Ling Qi eyed her for a moment and shrugged, falling silent as well as they proceeded back to the residential area. As the two of them entered Li Suyin's home, the other girl finally spoke up.
"I… do have a good reason," Li Suyin murmured as she shut the door behind them. It looked like Su Ling was out again today.
"I wasn't going to say anything. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to."
"It's okay. I trust you," Li Suyin said looking down and shuffling her feet. "It's just - I don't like fighting," Li Suyin admitted, looking back up at Ling Qi. "So I know I don't really… fit here. I wanted to be a scribe or maybe a physician's assistant."
Ling Qi shifted from foot to foot. She probably wasn't the best person to trust, and she had a feeling Li Suyin was going to reveal something personal.
"I can understand that. I don't really like fighting either, but I'd rather not get pushed around, you know?"
Li Suyin nodded unhappily.
"Yes, I understand. That's why I asked you to help me cultivate my body." She sighed before straightening her shoulders and visibly steeling herself.
"Mother is from a cultivating clan that was eliminated some time ago. They lost all cultivation resources… but great-grandfather managed to hold onto one of the family arts even after his dantian was broken," Li Suyin said in a rush.
Ling Qi looked at her blankly. She wasn't sure what kind of reaction the girl expected.
"Alright. I guess you need a lot of channels open to practice it then? It must be a pretty complex art."
Li Suyin seemed nonplussed at her lack of reaction, but then, she smiled weakly.
"R-right. I also, um… need someone to practice on. It's a medical art." Her eyes widened. "Just the diagnostic part though! I asked Su Ling to capture a few animals to practice the other parts on."
Ling Qi felt like she was missing something.
"That sounds fine. It'll pretty much just be what we normally do then, right?"
The other girl nodded in relief, and the two of them got started with their practice.
However, despite the fact that Li Suyin had revealed that she had her own valuable art - which, on reflection, was probably why she had been nervous - Ling Qi couldn't bring herself to share knowledge of her own 'secret' techniques. Instead, she waited until the dead of night, her newly expanded reserves burning away her fatigue, and practiced then.
The first part of Sable Crescent Step, she came to understand, was a manual on leg movements and techniques for moving silently as well as qi exercises for drawing the cool, calm qi of night and shadows around herself like a cloak. Darkness was absence, and by becoming one with it, she could be wherever she wanted. What were barriers and obstacles to something which had no form?
Simply mastering the movements quickened her steps and sharpened her reactions, and the night sky overhead only made her feel more alert and energetic. Of the actual techniques she mastered in secret, the Trackless Step allowed her to move without trace, her footsteps bending not so much as a blade of grass in her path. Crescent's Grace let the cool, comforting dark qi she had cultivated flood through the channel in her legs, blurring the edges of her form and allowing her to move short distances in bursts of great speed.
Ling Qi knew she was far from the understanding that which would allow her to truly become immaterial as she moved, but even the occasional glimpse allowed her to simply flicker from one position to the next with no intervening motion when she executed the qi flows perfectly.
It felt very strange.
Forgotten Vale Melody came easier to her but was strange in its own way. Sneaking out to the mineral spring she had shared with Gu Xiulan with her flute tucked into her sleeve was odd enough on its own. Actually playing on her flute once she was there, sitting on one of the flat rocks that jutted from the water, was stranger. She was no great musician, and she had only grown rustier over the years since she left Mother, but the music sheet laid out in her mind by the jade slip seemed to come to her naturally.
Perhaps it was misplaced pride, but she found the song she played as she worked through the internal exercises eerily beautiful - at least when she wasn't making mistakes. The feeling of the icy qi flowing through the channel in her lungs to charge the air around her mingled with the water qi drawn from the pool. It allowed her to flood the cave with a thick and cloying mist that moved with her as she played.
With some effort, she could charge the mist with further power, confusing the senses of those within such that they would find themselves unable to leave it.
With her qi flowing through her channeles, old and new, and the knowledge of her techniques in the back of her mind, Ling Qi found herself looking out over the deep night of the mountain wilderness and found it as bright as if it were lit by the noonday sun. The colors were washed out, but darkness no longer hindered her sight.
Was this what it felt like to be a real cultivator, she wondered?
Chapter 27-Foundations 8
Ling Qi once again found herself standing at the front of the lecture hall. The line up was rather different this week. She supposed it had been last week too; she had learned from Li Suyin later that Li Suyin and Ji Rong had managed to get it again the past week.
This week, it was Ling Qi, Ji Rong, that creepy and possibly blind boy, another girl she vaguely recognized from Zhou's lessons, and Han Jian, who offered her a friendly nod over the others' heads as she took up a place at the far end of the line.
He had probably broken through to the Yellow Soul realm then. She eyed him out of the corner of her eyes He didn't really seem different, maybe a little more confident? She turned attention back to Elder Su, bowing her head and murmuring a thanks as the older woman passed her the reward for her hard work.
Returning to her seat next to Li Suyin, she acknowledged the girl's quiet congratulations with a nod. Anything else that might have been said was silenced as Elder Su began to speak.
"Today begins the final month of the lessons offered to new students. My colleague has already winnowed away much of his class as is his wont." Her words caused a slight stir that might have turned to grumbling in another situation. Ling Qi certainly saw a lot of unhappy looks, some of them directed at her and the other students who were in Elder Zhou's class.
"As I am sure you have concluded by this point, I am not quite so harsh in my standards or prone to dramatic shows as he." Elder Su paused, seeming to briefly lose herself in thought before sighing wistfully as if from a pleasant memory.
"But, all the same," she continued, "I also believe that the drive to improve oneself is the most important factor in a cultivator's success, and thus, for some of you, this will be your last day in my lessons."
That stirred up some murmurs that were swiftly silenced by a look from the Elder. Ling Qi was suddenly glad that she had won a pill this week, and Li Suyin began to nibble her lower lip nervously. She was… pretty sure she was safe from the upcoming expulsion.
"While I have encouraged your success with rewards, I prefer to see how my students can motivate themselves. How far they will push themselves even when crises do not loom." The older woman's gaze grew cold, and the strict tone she had taken in the early lessons returned.
"Some of you have disappointed me greatly, meandering along your path with little ambition, almost idle in your cultivation. Compared to others in this lesson - to those who have put their full effort into improving themselves in some way every day - you do not deserve my teachings any longer. Perhaps in the future, when you have reflected upon and corrected your flaws, we will speak again."
Ling Qi wouldn't lie to herself and say that she didn't feel satisfaction as the Elder began to list off names, one after another. She did glance at Li Suyin and bump their shoulders to draw the other girl's attention and give her a reassuring smile. Ling Qi felt the blue-haired girl was being a little ridiculous to worry about her own position; she strongly doubted that anyone who had earned a pill would be among those kicked out.
Sure enough, she was right. The room was emptied by half when the Elder was done. Elder Su's pleasant countenance returned as the last of the disciples she had named slumped dejectedly out of the room.
"Now that we have resolved that unpleasantness, allow me to describe the curriculum for our final month together."
"First, I intend to ensure that each of you becomes grounded in the knowledge of the three thousand common characters of the formation arts as a cultivator should always be able to perform at least basic identification of talismans and wards in the field."
Ling Qi felt some dread along with anticipation. It would be one more thing she didn't need to rely on Bai Meizhen for, but on the other hand, she was only barely literate as it was. Even if her time here had dusted off the rust that had accumulated on those skills, learning three thousand more characters was daunting.
"Secondly, we will be reviewing the necessities and difficulties of breakthrough to new realms of cultivation and the basic structure of the eight realms which comprise the Path of Cultivation," Elder Su continued.
"Much of our effort shall be spent on your cultivation of the Argent Soul Art. All of you have progressed well in forming an understanding of the foundations of the art, but as a master of our school's techniques, I do have certain insights that you will find of use."
Ling Qi felt excited about that. The next stage of the technique had seemed quite daunting, and she was worried about how long it would take her to 'mold the foundation of her World', particularly since she hadn't yet been able to puzzle out what that meant.
"Lastly, to further encourage you, in addition to the weekly prize of a Qi Foundation pill, a permanent pass to the first floor of the Outer Mountain's archive shall be given to the three students who have impressed me the most at the end of this month. Do work hard."
Did that mean they could go in and use the jade slips in the archive whenever they wanted? That sounded really good. Ling Qi glanced at Li Suyin, and sure enough, the scholarly girl's eyes were burning with determination.
... It was honestly kind of weird seeing that kind of expression on Li Suyin's face.
When the lesson was over, Ling Qi left with Li Suyin. Walking openly as she did with the other girl made her nervous and twitchy, but at the same time, it was nice to not have to skulk. The other disciples had ceased much of the open hostility by this point, and she hadn't had to fend off a pickpocketing attempt in some time. Still, she could feel the dislike in their gazes and could hear the disparaging comments directed her way.
It seemed they were simply holding off until the end of the truce when they could put some actual force behind their attempts to bully her.
She put it out of her mind for the moment. While the end of truce was fast approaching, right now, she needed to focus on preparing.
Li Suyin seemed to be of the same mind. She agreed far more easily than Ling Qi expected to another forest expedition later this week.
Ling Qi would need to finish up the other girl's physical cultivation lessons first though. Hopefully, the practice with the other girl would also help her figure out what was holding her back from achieving the next level of Zephyr's Breath. As Ling Qi was not quite ready to openly show off her new arts from Elder Zhou's test, she needed to further polish the one which everyone knew she had.
While training Li Suyin, something finally clicked, and the part of Zephyr's Breath that had been out of her grasp came to her. She understood the corrections she needed to make to her stance, breathing, and qi circulation, perfecting the timing of the pulses of qi to guide the wind around her. Zephyr's Breath was much less limited now with the doubling of her control range.
While she liked the sound of the 'Shielding Gale' technique left in the art, Zephyr's Breath, even with the improvement, wasn't as impressive as the new arts she had gained from the moon spirit. There did seem to be more advanced arts that built on it though.
Feeling that her combat arts were polished enough, Ling Qi threw herself into her lessons and the cultivation of her foundation. She was close to the late stage of the first realm in both body and spirit. If she was going to make it through the coming storm, that was the least she needed to achieve to be able to stand up in the face of her fellow disciples without having to constantly rely on Bai Meizhen or Han Jian and his friends.
Her efforts were rewarded soon enough. Surging qi and the feeling of broken barriers filled her as she finished her weeks meditations. Reaching the late Red Soul and Gold Physique stages were not as dramatic as previous breakthroughs. Instead, it felt as if she had simply reached the end of a path well paved… and now stared up at a sheer cliff. The true difficulty and change would lie ahead when she prepared to breakthrough to the next realm.
She wasn't going to have to run and hide forever.
Chapter 28-Foundations 9
Amidst her preparations, there was one thing Ling Qi was chagrined to think she had forgotten about as the end of the week approached. She had not spoken to Gu Xiulan for almost two weeks now, and she needed to make sure that the haughty girl did not think she was being snubbed. She couldn't afford to alienate one of her tiny number of allies.
Ling Qi suspected she would have to finally go along with Gu Xiulan's not-so-subtle prodding to clean herself up further to earn forgiveness. At least she would finally get a chance to see the outer sect market. She really hadn't had time to explore the mountain's amenities in the past two months. This was why she found herself making her way over to Gu Xiulan after Instructor Zhou's lesson ended.
One thing she had noticed while spending time with the girl and observing her during lessons was that Gu Xiulan seemed to genuinely lack any other close female friends. She chatted and mingled with the others far better than Ling Qi ever could, of course, but there weren't any other girls she invited along to their soaks at the mineral spring, for example. Ling Qi wasn't too surprised to catch the other girl alone as the sparring groups broke up.
Ling Qi had been paired with Gan Guangli again today, which she generally liked. He was still very loud, but she appreciated his politeness and good nature. Their arts worked reasonably well together too, and he didn't seem to resent her when they lost, bidding her farewell at the end of the sessions with the same booming enthusiasm he greeted her with.
"Gu Xiulan," Ling Qi called out as she approached the other girl. Gu Xiulan somehow managed to look as pretty as ever, even glistening with the sweat of their recent workout.
"Are you busy today?"
Gu Xiulan glanced up, having paused at the edge of the training field to adjust the laces on her elbow-length glove talisman.
"Oh, Ling Qi? Have you joined the rest of us in the land of the living then? I had worried that you had been replaced with a corpse doll," Gu Xiulan said reproachfully.
Ling Qi hunched her shoulders defensively.
"I'm sorry about that," she mumbled, looking away. "I underestimated how strong the pills I was using were. And I'm also sorry I haven't talked to you in a while. I didn't mean to be rude."
Gu Xiulan hummed thoughtfully as she gave the laces one last tug. Satisfied, she stopped toying with the glove and faced Ling Qi properly.
"I was a bit put out," she admitted, meeting Ling Qi's eyes and resting her hands on her hips. "Really, if one is going to perform heavy cultivation, it is only polite to inform your friends first. You are such a difficult girl sometimes."
Ling Qi thought that was a pretty unfair assessment coming from Gu Xiulan, but she chose not to say so.
"I'll remember next time," she assured the other girl. "I've just been really focused. I really am sorry." She wasn't used to apologizing, but it seemed the right thing to do.
"I will forgive you this time. I suppose allowances can be made given the situation." Gu Xiulan waved her hand, already seeming to have dismissed her irritation.
"Did you wish to accompany me to the mineral spring today? I did notice you had been using it in the last week. Have you gained a preference for late night baths?"
Ling Qi glanced around. There were still a few people in earshot so she decided to keep her answer vague.
"It's been helpful with what I've been cultivating lately. Thank you for showing me the place. I wouldn't mind a dip, but I actually wanted to see if you wanted to do something else today."
Gu Xiulan raised an eyebrow.
"Water, then? I suppose that does suit you," she mused quietly. "Well, I don't mind doing something else although I hope you will show me the fruits of your labor at some point. I am quite curious as to what has caused you to be so driven.
"What did you have in mind then?"
Ling Qi grimaced internally as she steeled herself to say the words that would bring her doom.
"I was thinking about what we've talked about, and… I wanted to ask for your help." She clasped her hands in front of her stomach and bowed, remembering Bai Meizhen's chiding lessons on etiquette.
"Do you think you could help me… ah, clean up a little?" she continued awkwardly, raising her head and gesturing vaguely to her hair.
She didn't like the way Gu Xiulan's eyes lit up or the teasing grin that appeared on her features.
"Really?" Gu Xiulan drew the word out as amusement danced in her eyes. "And what brought this on? Ah, is it that Gan fellow? Or maybe the Zhang boy?
"I had noticed the way you stare at Instructor Zhou on occasion. I had thought your attention seemed unusually rapt. Is that your type then? I personally prefer a more refined kind of man, but I suppose the rough and burly look isn't bad."
Ling Qi let out a strangled sound even as she flushed darkly. Who even was this Zhang person Gu Xiulan mentioned? If Gu Xiulan had noticed her looking at Elder Zhou, did that mean other people had seen her looking at Elder Zhou? Had he noticed? Damn her nonexistent ancestors, of course he had; he was an Elder.
"N-no, I mean, I'm not really. I just get distracted sometimes and focus too much on the lesson-" She found herself gesturing uselessly with her hands.
"And this is really nothing like that! I just thought it would be-" She couldn't exactly say she was just doing it to appease Gu Xiulan, which lead to her trailing off rather pathetically.
"No worries now. There's nothing wrong with appreciating fine sights. It's not as if you are the only one," Gu Xiulan said comfortingly. "Why don't we go clean up, and I shall see what I can do to help afterward? It'll be fun."
Gu Xiulan seemed pretty pleased so Ling Qi supposed that was mission accomplished.
She wasn't a fan of the teasing though. Even if she could get… distracted sometimes, she shouldn't even think about things like that given who she was. It was the same reason why she was reluctant to do this outing with Gu Xiulan in the first place. The last thing she wanted was to give the impression that she was willing or interested in being someone's accessory or even worse.
Even a noble like Gu Xiulan couldn't escape it. Gu Xiulan was engaged to that jackass Fan Yu after all. In comparison, Ling Qi wouldn't even have the advantage of getting any respect due to her family name.
Still, Ling Qi had set herself on this course so she endured Gu Xiulan's teasing, eventually steering the conversation to other things while they took the time to soak a bit. Once she had been deflected to other topics, chatting with Gu Xiulan was more pleasant and allowed her to catch up on what she had missed in recent days.
Han Jian had advanced to Yellow Soul, and was preparing himself to begin working to advance into Silver Physique. He was actually off with Han Fang working on that now. The mute boy's spiritual cultivation lagged, but it seemed he too was ready to begin the physical breakthrough.
It wasn't too hard to detect that Gu Xiulan was a little miffed to be left out of that. She would need a little more time to ready herself for Yellow though.
As for Fan Yu… he had thrown himself into training hard. Gu Xiulan didn't seem interested in talking about him.
It wasn't too hard to convince Gu Xiulan to show Ling Qi around the mountain's market area under the excuse that she wouldn't want to always have to borrow things from the fiery girl. It did unfortunately steer things back to the topics she had been avoiding as they walked the wide path that wound around to the south side of the mountain's base.
"...The price is a tad much, but I really would suggest the rose petal oil I mentioned. You've let yourself grow so unkempt. You really need something with rejuvenating qualities to fix those split ends before we worry about straightening." Gu Xiulan chatted cheerfully at Ling Qi's side as they approached the large stone gate that marked the beginning of the market.
Ling Qi could see a number of other disciples, many older than her, moving through the neatly laid out streets beyond the gate. A waft of strange scents reached her, along with a mixture of perfume, medicine, spice, and other things that often plagued open markets.
"I suppose," Ling Qi responded noncommittally. "How much are we talking about? I have no idea how much a spirit stone is worth as money," she added with more interest since that was more useful information.
Gu Xiulan paused, giving Ling Qi a look of slight frustration. Ling Qi winced. She really needed to work on appearing more interested in what the girl was talking about.
"Well, you should not worry. I can spare a few stones to allow you to have the necessities," Gu Xiulan said dismissively. "The ban on communication will be ending along with the truce soon after all.
"But to answer your question… I think it's about one hundred silver to a red spirit stone? That sounds right if I recall my lessons correctly."
Ling Qi's eye twitched at that blithe statement. One hundred silver… she had felt rich after stealing close to thirty. She was pretty sure you could feed a family of six or seven on one hundred, or rent a room on a nice street for a year.
"Oh," she responded faintly. "How much do the things you were talking about cost?"
They had passed under the gates now and were among the crowd. For once, Ling Qi didn't feel nervous. It seemed the older disciples either didn't know or didn't care about her.
Or they were better at hiding it.
"All together? Perhaps two or three spirit stones once we haggle them down a bit. No more than a trifle. I still have a good supply of the allowance Mother and Father gave me."
It was hard for Ling Qi to not let out a frustrated sigh at that answer. Even now, with the value of hundreds of silver in her pockets, she was still poor.
"You don't have to buy me anything," Ling Qi said as they passed a stone hut advertising 'Fatty's Medicine Feasthall'. What kind of name was that for a shop?
"I don't know when I'll be able to pay you back."
Gu Xiulan gave her one of those measuring looks out of the corner of her eye.
"And I have said that you need not worry about it," she replied lightly. "Something as small as this is not worth quibbling over. Of course I want you to look your best - and not just so you can catch the eye of those rugged fellows you like so much."
Ling Qi's cheeks colored again even as she hunched her shoulders.
"I told you it's not like that. But fine. I won't keep refusing," she relented, knowing that the other girl would probably feel insulted if she kept refusing. "Anyway, do you know if they buy talismans here?"
The noble girl blinked at the sudden change in subject as the two of them turned a corner, moving away from the smaller shops near the entrance to enter a street lined with signs advertising less practical and more feminine products.
"I suppose so. If at a price much reduced from the value. Have you made an acquisition recently?" Gu Xiulan asked curiously.
"Well… I was thinking about that staff I got during the test. I'm not sure it's really suited for me, you know? I thought maybe I could trade it for something that fits me better." Ling Qi really hoped the other girl wasn't going to take offense. There were other reasons to get rid of it too, but she didn't want to say them aloud for fear her companion labeling her a coward.
Gu Xiulan tilted her head to the side as she continued to lead Ling Qi through the street.
"Is that so? I suppose I can understand now that I know you better. You are rather unsuited to Wood techniques.
"Still, you will lose most of the value of an item like that by simply selling it. A direct trade might be better if you could manage it. Perhaps a Water enhancing talisman? That would be appropriate for someone in your position as that element contains many useful support arts."
Ling Qi was relieved that Gu Xiulan hadn't taken offense.
"That would probably work better," she replied. "So I'll just have to try and find someone willing to trade?"
Stopping in front of a particularly flowery shop, Gu Xiulan smiled.
"Yes, that would likely be for best, but let us leave that aside for now. We are here," she continued cheerfully, heading for the door. Ling Qi sighed as she followed her. At least she knew where the market was and could come back on her own.
The next couple of hours were spent pretty unproductively. Ling Qi did her best to remain interested and invested as Gu Xiulan showed her a dizzying array of scents and oils and other cosmetics, chattering happily about their effects and which ones would suit her best. In the end, she ended up with a small leather case containing a number of little clay bottles, application brushes, and other things she wasn't quite sure what she was meant to do with.
That didn't mean she was done. Gu Xiulan insisted on at least helping her get her hair in order, which was a nerve-wracking hour where she had to sit still with another person's hands on her scalp. The 'rejuvenating' hair oil Gu Xiulan had bought her was applied, followed by her recalcitrant locks being braided in a manner similar to the other girl's style. It didn't really look bad, she supposed, after looking into the other girl's mirror. Her normally frizzy hair was shinier and less flyaway.
Ling Qi begged off of using the rest of the stuff, citing the need to get to her lessons. She was not going to be able to avoid it forever though. She was pretty sure Gu Xiulan would feel unhappy and insulted if she ignored her gift entirely. Honestly, she would feel guilty for spitting on the other girl's generosity. She would just have to try and keep it simple.
Bonus 5: The Great Sects
The History of the Great Sects is a long and honorable one, stretching back to the first dynasty. Though their rise to prominence and prestige is much more recent, the Sect system is one almost as old as the empire itself. However it is only the infinite wisdom of his divine eminence, Emperor An, that has allowed the Sects to become as important and productive as they are in the modern day.
However, it remains important to study and understand the Sects' more humble origins, which provide the foundation for the system which brings such glory to the Empire today. The first sects were humble things founded amidst the misty valleys of Celestial peaks province during the First Dynasty, in the wake of the strife that followed the death of the inimitable Sage Emperor. The Sects were born from the remnants of scattered families and settlements as places to preserve their knowledge and arts against the dissolution of time. More powerful clans allowed these groups a degree of succor in exchange for tribute, and for many millenia, the sects existed as just that, a minor matter beneath the notice of the imperial throne.
Some wise clan heads came to use the Sects as testing grounds, providing them funding, or reducing their tribute in exchange for research into arts and formations, the fruits of which went were delivered the sects ruling clan. The risks inherent in such research were thus passed on to the much less valuable folk who made up much of a Sect's numbers, rather than talented scions of high bloodlines. Some even came to rely upon their sects to train their militaries, in an echo of the things to come. However, those of the first dynasty lacked the superlative wisdom of Emperor An in organizing such matters, and as such the practice fell out of favor due to several unfortunate insurrections brought on by poor management.
Throughout the First and Second dynasties, as well as the modern third, the practice of allowing sects spread throughout the empire, though they remained but a footnote in the annals of the Empire's great clans, toiling ever to study and improve upon arts for their patrons, and taking in those of lesser blood who were beneath the eyes of the great clans, but whose talents might otherwise have gone to banditry or other unvirtuous pursuits.
However, that came to change in the last millenia. The ruling dukes of the Emerald Seas province had grown decadent and foolish, neglecting their duties to the land and its peoples, and as is expected, the perfidious and greedy tribes of the Wall, the great mountain range which marks the southern border of the Empire saw this weakness clearly. Under the Great Khan Ogodei, the barbarians laid waste to the province, riding swiftly through the skies to sack villages, towns and cities alike.
The clans of Emerald Seas scrambled to keep up with the barbarian, without any effective central leadership, their defenses floundered, and the wily barbarians slipped easily through their disorganized defenses. Of course, our wise Emperor Si, father of the illustrious An, was aware of the plight of his people, but the ancient pacts which bind the Empire together held his hands. The foolish dukes of emerald seas insisted that the problem was under control and refused his generous aid, allowing only a a trickle of soldiers and men in to 'assist' their poorly led and disorganized forces.
Emperor An, then only Fourth Prince was selected to lead these forces. Our wise future emperor found himself horrified by the waste and hedonism he found in the south. In their nigh unassailable capital, the Hui of Emerald Seas still behaved as if this were but a minor raid!
It is here that Emperor An made a decision for which many unable to see the virtue of his actions criticized him for at the time. Refusing the accept the orders that he remain at the disposal of the duke, the Prince struck out into more contested lands, unilaterally invoking Imperial authority.
There in the south, which had largely fallen to the barbarian Khan, he found the bastion of imperial strength and resistance. It was not the clans, who had remained embroiled in their squabbles even as they were overrun, but rather, a collection of Sects, who had banded together for survival.
We will not go further into the history of the war with Ogodei in this work. Suffice to say that under the prince's superlative leadership, and the core of strength arising from the Sect's the barbarians were defeated. In the wake of the Khan's death the Great Sect's were born.
When the prince returned to his father's side, even gentle and merciful Emperor Si was horrified by the poor stewardship of servants in emerald seas, and even their ducal peers scorned their cowardice and inaction. So when the emperor decreed that certain lands and privileges would be granted to three sects on the southern border, the complaints of the Hui clan were ignored.
Such is the Great Sect System. Answering directly to the Imperial Throne, these bastions train warriors and research arts as they always did, but now, they also serve the purpose as rallying points from which the Imperial Throne can reach out in times of need. Though the lands of course, remain property of the provinces they stand in, in times of emergency an Emperor or Empress can take direct control in order to organize defenses more effectively, without breaking old agreements.
However, the rise of these sects did not go unnoticed by the clans of the empire, with the backing of the imperial seat, their prestige was now such that many clans wished to enroll their second sons and daughters in the sects programs, in order to expand the clans knowledge and garner favor. This influx of noble applicants multiplied the Sects funding many times over from their humble beginnings.
In the centuries that followed under Emperor An, the concept has since spread far and wide and now each province holds at least one Great Sect, save for Ebon Rivers, Golden Fields, and the recently settled Western Territories.
-Excerpt from the introduction of a scholarly treatise extolling the virtues of the Sect System.
Chapter 29-Mountainside Clash
That evening, after Elder Su's lesson, she met up with Li Suyin to begin their mountain expedition. To avoid being followed, they had agreed to meet on a small plateau that was well off the beaten path but also on the way to their destination.
Ling Qi was surprised when it wasn't just Li Suyin who arrived on the windy cliffside. On reflection, she shouldn't have been. The two of them only knew about the icy woods because of Su Ling. Why would Li Suyin leave her roommate out of things?
"Why the fuck do you smell like that?" the surly fox girl said by way of greeting as she reached the top, Li Suyin arrived behind her, red-faced but not breathing as heavily as she had in the previous expedition.
"Do you really think it's a great idea to be wearing perfume for something like this?"
Ling Qi blinked. The oils Gu Xiulan had applied to her hair had a faint floral scent. Was it really that strong? She couldn't even smell it anymore herself.
"I'll wash up in that stream we have to cross on the way. Excuse me for being busy," she replied defensively.
"Don't know why you're using that crap in the first place. Thought you were one of the halfway sensible ones," Su Ling grumbled.
"You need a breather, Li Suyin?" Su Ling asked over her shoulder as the blue-haired girl straightened up with a determined look.
"I-I'm fine," Li Suyin insisted as she caught her breath.
"A-and, I don't think it's a problem that you look… nice? I don't think perfume will be much more noticeable than a natural scent to spirit beasts. Don't most of them have qi enhanced senses?" Li Suyin's voice shrank until she was barely audible by the end under Su Ling's glare.
Su Ling's tail twitched in agitation.
"Whatever. None of my business if you want to smear crap on yourself. It's not like we're hunting," Su Ling huffed. "And Li Suyin's right that the dangerous stuff is gonna be able to scent us anyway. You sure you want to do this?"
"Yes," Ling Qi responded tightly. "We all need whatever advantages we can get, right?"
"I agree," Li Suyin added seriously. "I have things I need to accomplish."
"Fine. Not gonna argue about it. Let's get climbing," Su Ling replied brusquely, eyeing the steep path leading further up the mountain.
Ling Qi found herself climbing the steep path with ease, and even on occasion, outpacing Su Ling. She could already feel the soothing rush of being immersed in darkness, and it made it easier to move quickly. Su Ling gave her a few suspicious looks, sniffing uncertainly at the air when Ling Qi passed her.
Li Suyin still proved to be the limit on their pace. Even with her improved physical cultivation, the scholarly girl simply couldn't keep up with them. However, she was not nearly as slow as she had been before.
Still, Ling Qi didn't begrudge slowing down. It was only with Li Suyin's help that they'd have any real hope of finding a better qi locus.
Night had fallen by the time they reached the woods. As the weather was clear and the nearly full moon was bright, the others didn't seem to have too much trouble.
For Ling Qi, the night vision was still strange. Without light, color was washed out, but she had no trouble seeing just as well as she could during the day. Glancing up at the moon, she dipped her head briefly. Even if it wasn't the right phase, she could say a silent thanks.
The three of them fell silent once they reached the part of the woods that they had refrained from entering before. The only sound came from Li Suyin's painfully loud footsteps and the rustling cloth of their gowns. Ling Qi couldn't do anything but keep a sharp eye out for beasts attracted by the noise.
Being able to see perfectly well at night was useful but also disquieting. It let her clearly see the shapes of the crows perched high in the trees and the dark shapes of predators lurking at the edges of her vision. It wasn't perfect; several times Su Ling had to stop them with a hissed warning, pointing out patches of creeper vines that were carnivorous or leading them away from places marked by the scent of a mountain bear or other predator.
For Ling Qi's part, she stopped the fox girl from putting her foot into the burrow of something hidden in the underbrush, as well as helping the group as a whole avoid a few other blunders.
All the while, Li Suyin squinted into the dark. Ling Qi could tell that Li Suyin wasn't searching with her eyes. This went on for the better part of two hours as they searched the woods. Several times, Ling Qi saw a predator in the dark - a mountain lion, an owl big enough to have claws the size and length of her fingers, and once, something that looked like a scrawny wolf - but none of them attacked, perhaps deciding that their group was not easy prey.
She had an odd itching feeling on the back of her neck though, as if she were being watched.
Eventually, Li Suyin's senses lead them to an open cliff on the far side of the woods that looked out over the southern mountain side and the peaks beyond. The landscape visible was beautiful even at night with seemingly endless peaks extending as far as the eye could see. The cliff was surrounded by high ridges on either side with the thick woods they had traveled through blocking off its rear.
None of that was what drew Ling Qi's eye. Rather, what drew it was the broad crack in the stone cliff from which a faint silver mist wafted. The edges of the cleft were lined with glittering red and yellow crystal that were all too familiar. They were obviously spirit stones, if more than she had seen in one place before and not carved into uniformity.
"A natural spirit stone deposit," Li Suyin breathed out softly, looking at it in wonder. "And… ah, that mist! Can you feel it resonating with your Argent Foundation?"
Ling Qi could feel an odd quivering in the 'skin' that had formed around her dantian when she advanced to the third stage of Argent Soul. Was that what Li Suyin was talking about?
While she was thinking, Su Ling had reached out to grab the blue-haired girl's shoulder, her body language tense.
"Stop. There's something here," she said harshly. "I can't smell anything, but… we aren't alone."
Ling Qi nodded. She could feel it now that she was looking, a strange stillness in the air. A moment later, her instincts screamed at her to move, and she did so, qi surging as she felt the edges of herself blurring into the darkness around her. She landed from her sideways dive in a controlled roll as a thunderous crash broke the silence of the night.
The ridge beside her seemed to have come to life. What she had taken for a large rock formation now rose on two trunk-like limbs, even as it withdrew the 'arm' that it had just tried to crush her with. It was vaguely humanoid and stood nearly four meters tall. Its 'head' was little more than a vague lump with two glittering crystal growths where eyes would normally be.
"What the fuck is that?" Su Ling hissed, backing away with wide eyes.
"It's a Sediment Guardian! T-they often appear around such deposits, seemingly spontaneously generated from the natural qi expelled by the stones. They come in several…" Li Suyin was backing up as well, panic in her eyes. She appeared to be reciting a book passage from memory.
"Can we kill it?" Ling Qi cut her off in a tight voice as she rose back to her feet, backing up as well.
This wasn't a great arena to fight in. The area was barely eight meters from the start of the woods to the edge of the cliff and only twenty across from ridge to ridge. There wouldn't be a lot of room to dodge. At least the spirit didn't seem to be a hurry as it rose to its full height and took a single lumbering step forward.
"I don't have anything that can hurt a damn rock," Su Ling said as she eyed the slowly approaching thing warily. "I might be able to confuse it though, but hell if I know how that thing senses stuff."
"Vibration and sound," Li Suyin replied immediately. It seemed when Li Suyin panicked, she became an encyclopedia. "Ah… Supposedly, the crystal 'eyes' are a weakness, as well as the nodes on its back, but…"
Ling Qi fought down her own fear as she continued to back away to stay out of the range of the thing's limbs. She was the closest, and Su Ling and Li Suyin were about four meters behind her near the woods. They could probably escape, but then, this expedition would have been all for nothing.
Ling Qi doubted her ability to hurt the thing, 'eyes' or no, but… She glanced toward the cliff. Would it survive falling off? Could she manage to lure it over the edge with Forgotten Vale Melody? Su Ling said she could confuse it too. Maybe if the two of them worked together…
Unlike the bo staff, which Ling Qi had taken to leaving tucked under her bed, wrapped in cloth, Ling Qi had begun carrying her flute with her at all times since she mastered the first measure of Forgotten Vale Melody. She had even taken some effort to design a holder for the instrument in her sleeve so it was as simple as flicking her wrist to get the flute in her hand.
... Well, it was simple now. Practicing and adjusting the holder until she could do it without fail had taken more time than she would care to admit.
"Do it, Su Ling!" she snapped, her nerves vanishing the hesitation she would normally have felt at giving someone else an order. "Buy me a few seconds at least. Li Suyin, stay back, alright?"
"Tch." The fox-eared girl didn't otherwise protest although she gave the flute in Ling Qi's hand a curious glance as Li Suyin retreated further. Su Ling's long fluffy tail uncoiled from around her waist to wave behind her as she glared at the Guardian. She extended her hand, a single finger pointing at the towering mountain of rock. A single wavering ball of ghostly blue-grey fire flickered into view behind her head as she did.
"Get lost!" she growled at the spirit.
Ling Qi wasn't sure at first what the girl meant to accomplish, but then, fire the same color as the orb behind her flared up around the creature's crystal eyes and the Guardian jerked in place as if struck. It let out a furious rumble like an avalanche in the making and swiped its arm at the empty air to its left, smashing into the cliff with enough force that Ling Qi felt the vibration under her feet. It stamped one trunk-like leg to much the same effect.
"What did you do?!" Li Suyin asked in panic from somewhere behind as Ling Qi raised her flute to her lips, trying not to let her hands shake. The thing's furious bellows were intimidating as it flailed its limbs, particularly since it was still moving slowly in their direction even if it paused every few steps to swing at nothing.
"You said it used sound!" Su Ling snapped, her hand shaking as she kept a finger pointed steadily at the thing's head. Her fire cast her face in pallid light.
"I figured the sound of a few dozen miners pounding on it would keep it distracted!"
"Just try to help me lead it off the cliff! Can you adjust the direction?" Ling Qi called out, ignoring the byplay. It was the last chance she was going to get to talk for a bit because she finally began to play.
As the first soft and almost whimsical notes of the Melody rang out over the cliff, Ling Qi began to circle, moving closer to the cliffside as the mist began to pour from every hole in her flute. The mist rapidly spread in a shadowy cloud to consume much of the cliffside. It took concentration to expand the musician's protection over to Su Ling. She would just have to hope that Li Suyin would hold still. Thankfully, the creature turned towards her almost immediately as she played.
Perhaps it was the qi-charged sound of the song, or perhaps it had to do with the second ball of fire appearing behind Su Ling's head, but Ling Qi definitely had the thing's attention. Now, she just had to hope she could affect the thing with the second technique of her Forgotten Vale Melody. She doubted she could get it to walk off the cliff on its own if its senses weren't further clouded still.
By now, Ling Qi was feeling more confident. The shaking in her hands had subsided, lending the music a clearer pitch as she began playing the next portion of the song. She continued steadily backing toward the edge of the cliff as the Guardian stomped toward her, no longer doing so at a leisurely pace. Although there were no visible effects, she felt her qi sink in through the thing's hide and soak in through its rigid, inflexible channels to mingle with the wild qi of Su Ling's technique.
This seemed to infuriate the spirit even more. Its rumbling voice rose in a roar like a stone being split in twain by a hammer. It suddenly lunged at her with frightening speed, its arms raised to crush the apparent source of its irritation.
Ling Qi jumped backwards on instinct, nearly fumbling the melody as the thing's massive fists smashed into the ground where she had just been. She stood at the very edge of the cliff now.
The rock spirit let out another furious rumble and shook its head like a bull being pestered by flies. Its limbs hammered the ground, apparently uselessly, although the crack of stone worried her. If she could just get it to lunge again, she could do this.
Ling Qi considered fully activating her movement technique, but in the end, she decided against it. The creature wasn't too difficult to dodge, and she wasn't yet at the point where she could afford to spend qi so freely.
Driven to fury by whatever Su Ling was inflicting on its senses along with her song, it wasn't long before the creature lunged again, swinging wildly with its huge club fists. Ling Qi dodged desperately to the side as its rage seemed to have lent it further speed. She winced as she felt the wind of its attack's passage. The close call made her fumble her flute, the song fading away.
The Sediment Guardian teetered on the edge of the cliff, having managed to stop itself just in time. Ling Qi felt dread pooling in her stomach as it began to turn toward her.
"Will you just fall already?!" Su Ling's voice snapped from deeper inside the dissipating mist. Ling Qi glanced at her in time to see the twin balls of pale fire behind Su Ling's head shoot forward like tiny falling stars.
Instincts screaming at her to move, she dove away as far as she could from the guardian. The fires struck the ground and exploded.
The fires failed to do more than scorch the guardian, but the ground was not so sturdy. Dirt and rock crumbled, and the spirit fell as the weakened cliffside collapsed under its weight. Ling Qi held her breath before the creature's landing resolved with a mighty crash some fifty or sixty meters below.
"Is it dead?" Li Suyin asked nervously as the mist finished clearing, daring to move up beside Su Ling once more. She was wringing her hands, looking decidedly pale.
"I fucking hope so," Su Ling muttered. "I can't do too many more blasts like that."
Su Ling had the same irritable expression as usual, but she seemed tired. The glance she shot Ling Qi held some respect now though.
For her part, Ling Qi was the closest to the edge of the cliff and thus, the one who peered over it… carefully. Sure enough, the remains of the guardian were scattered across the base of the cliff.
Ling Qi kind of wanted to climb down and look through its remains. She could see something glittering in its shattered corpse. It was shiny, and she wanted it.
"It looks like we're clear," she called back as she straightened. She could climb down later after they had figured out what the deal with this deposit was. "So, Li Suyin, do you think…"
"What a beautiful melody that was."
Ling Qi stiffened as she heard a soft, masculine voice speak up from behind her. She whipped around and saw Su Ling doing the same. It took a moment for her to spot the source of the voice because he was seated in the upper branches of a tree. It was the odd boy from spiritual cultivation who had commented on Li Suyin's hands. Huang Da, if she remembered correctly.
The thin, lanky boy dropped down gracefully to the ground as she spotted him. He seemed different, more energetic than he was in class. The unsettling lopsided grin on his normally expressionless face didn't help, nor did the sickle clasped loosely in his right hand.
"What do you want?" Ling Qi asked flatly, already falling back into a defensive stance. She could see Su Ling doing the same, one of her curved knives having found its way into her hand. Li Suyin was pale-faced and had slipped behind the fox girl.
"That is a bit of a difficult question," Huang Da responded thoughtfully, lingering at the treeline as he cast his sightless gaze over them. "Had you asked me when I set out tonight, I would have said that I merely wished to observe my lovely scholar for the evening."
Li Suyin made a strangled sound that Ling Qi found entirely appropriate for the situation, even as Su Ling shifted in front of the blue-haired girl, baring her sharp teeth in an unfriendly fashion.
"But then, I saw you," Huang Da continued, gesturing toward Ling Qi with his sickle. "The way you bloomed in the Dark. I had not paid you much mind before. To think there was another such vision of loveliness right under my nose…"
Ling Qi felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickling. She preferred this guy better when he didn't talk and seemed half-asleep. She also didn't miss his emphasis on the word Dark; he must be able to sense the element she was using somehow.
"Thank you. I think," Ling Qi managed, mostly masking her real feelings. She held back from saying what she actually wanted to say due to her interest in not starting a fight.
"Just spit it out already, ya creep." Su Ling was apparently unable to do the same. "If you just wanted to do your shitty flirting, you wouldn't have popped up here."
"Mongrels like you should know better than to bark at your betters. You should control your pet better, Li Suyin," Huang Da responded irritably. "But yes, I'm afraid I can't let this chance pass by. There are only three spots at the top, and that Ji Rong is all but certain to get one. To have to choose between two such beauties… How unfortunate."
Ling QI bristled. She hated this guy's attitude and the implication that he would just… choose which one of them was allowed to use it. Her emotions were tempered by the fact that he was apparently confident enough to appear before all three of them like this. There was also the fact that he had managed to follow them without being noticed.
"You know you can't attack us, right? The truce is still in effect. You can't make any of us stay away from this place."
"Rules and laws are relative," Huang Da replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "And all things are not as they seem. You should know that well enough, Ling Qi. Did not Bai Meizhen harm someone on your behalf only a few weeks ago? The truce is not nearly so ironclad out here in the wild. So I really am afraid that I can only let one of you stay here with me, how sad…"
Li Suyin was trembling behind Su Ling, who looked ready to outright assault the boy physically if her body language was any indication. This was a problem. Ling Qi needed every advantage she could get, but she couldn't bring herself to play along with this asshole to get it. That didn't even take into consideration that she would have to betray Li Suyin and Su Ling to do so.
He had to be confident to confront them all like this, but if they all attacked together...
Chapter 30-Mountainside Clash 2
It was probably telling that the first guy to ever compliment her looks was both a complete creep and also physically blind, Ling Qi thought irritably. It was an irrelevant thought but one that crossed her mind nonetheless as she thought furiously on how to resolve this situation in her - their - favor.
If she kept him talking, it would give her more time to think. She was wary of being the first one to attack; he could be bluffing about the laxness in the Elders' enforcement of the rules, trying to trick them into breaking truce first..
"So… I'm thinking that I see a few flaws with your plan," Ling Qi pointed out politely, if dryly.
Huang Da cocked his head to the side. Ling Qi's instincts, honed from years in the street and perhaps a little from observing her mother and her clients, told her this guy was bad news. He was the kind of guy who wouldn't just hurt someone because he had something to gain but because he enjoyed it.
"Is that so? I suppose I could explain some of my reasoning if it would gain your favor," he mused, not seeming perturbed by Ling Qi's observation.
It was difficult to keep a straight face, particularly with Su Ling shooting her a suspicious look.
"How do you figure that you're going to keep this to yourself? Whatever you say, I doubt the Elders are going to just ignore two or three people disappearing before the truce is even over. Especially since two of us are in the advanced courses." Ling Qi suppressed a wince at the fox girl's scowl but pressed on. "But if we don't… disappear, we can just share the location, you know. This is assuming I don't just give it to Bai Meizhen."
Huang Da hummed thoughtfully to himself, the sickle in his hand twitching with the tightening and loosening of his grip.
"That is a pretty good point," he admitted. "For all that you lack my lovely scholar's refinement, you have a bit of wit to go with your resplendent qi and grace. I think you may overestimate the Elder's interest in such things. But I may be wrong. Some may cleave closely to the supposed spirit of the rules. Suffice to say, I am confident that whoever leaves this place will not speak of it, even without such permanent solutions," Huang Da finished pleasantly.
Ling Qi swallowed. That wasn't ominous at all. Su Ling certainly thought so given the way the tension in her stance ratcheted up.
"Well, call me convinced," Ling Qi said flatly. "But there's no way that I'm going to willingly stay with you alone or let you take advantage of Li Suyin. You'd probably just slit our throats afterward anyway."
"That kind of accusation is just uncalled for. I'm hardly some barbarian brute," Huang Da replied, sounding affronted.
"U-um, can we please… please not fight? I-I understand that you want to win the competition. I-I don't know why you want access to the archives so badly, but it can't be worth hurting your fellow disciples like this. Couldn't we come to an agreement instead?" Li Suyin asked plaintively. "I would… I would really appreciate that, and…"
Li Suyin trailed off as Huang Da shook his head.
"Your naivety is sweet. A lovely trait for a lovely girl. But no, that is a request I cannot fulfill. I will not be the loser in this competition," he said regretfully. "Now, I think that is enough chatter. Sadly, it seems neither of you seem interested in joining me. I imagine you will be pliable enough once we have some time alone, Li Suyin."
Su Ling began to snarl something, no longer able to keep a leash on her temper, but Ling Qi didn't have time to listen. Her time in Elder Zhou's lessons had not been for nothing; she saw the minute twitch in his shoulders and the change in his stance so she was ready when he moved, rushing her in a shadowy blur.
Even with dark qi flooding her legs and blurring her shape, she was unable to completely avoid what came next. She ducked the initial swing of the straight edged sickle but was unprepared when his other hand clenched and moved. She felt something heavy and spiked smash against her ribs. Although she managed to move with the impact, it left a heavy bruise.
Ling Qi could see a glittering black chain extending from the bottom of the sickle now, and the malevolent-looking spiked weight at its end was now a spinning blur as Huang Da adjusted his footing to face her. Her ribs felt cold and numb where he had struck her, but she didn't have time to think about that or the excited and admiring look she saw on his face. He hadn't been expecting her to dodge even that well.
Ling Qi flicked a knife into her free hand and plucked at the threads of the wind around her before flinging the knife at center mass. She didn't need a perfect hit; even a nick would be enough to trigger the Zephyr's Breath technique and slow him down. She would be essentially tapped out on qi, but she couldn't afford to hold back at this point.
Her first throw was merely a feint, but it did its job of drawing the spinning chain and weight up and out of position as she dropped her flute and flicked a second knife into her other hand. This one flew true, and she had the pleasure of seeing the boy's blank eyes widen as the knife passed under the sickle blade he'd tried to use to bat the knife out of the way. It struck true on his side but bounced away in a flare of black qi rather than dig into his flesh.
This didn't matter to her though. She felt the currents of air take hold around him just in time for Su Ling to charge into the fray, ghostly fire glittering on her fingers and knife in her hand.
Huang Da dodged to the side to avoid Su Ling's knife, but his movements, hindered by Ling Qi's technique, were a hair too slow to avoid the wispy burst of fire from her other hand. He came out of it with only a few embers burning on his robes and hair and a burn on the hand holding the swinging chain, which seemed to have blocked the brunt of the fire. He looked thoroughly displeased.
"Get out of my way," he snapped, a twitch of his hand sending the glittering black chain darting out. Su Ling avoided it, but she was unprepared as it changed direction mid-air to coil around her arm, leaving her unable to dodge as he brought the sickle blade down, The blade slashed down from her shoulder to her waist with a spray of blood.
Ling Qi went pale at the sight, but instinct drilled into her during training with Instructor Zhou prevented her from freezing at the sight. She stumbled as she felt the bruise on her ribs throb painfully, and the numbness spread from it, making her right arm tremble violently.
Some kind of poison?
This just made it all the more urgent to finish this fight quickly. Huang Da's weapon was still tangled up with Su Ling, and she took the opportunity to fish out the Qi card imbued with Bai Meizhen's technique from where it was tucked under the collar of her gown. She pushed her qi into it, focusing fully on the dangerous boy as she did so.
The brush of Bai Meizhen's qi against her own was like ice in her veins, the numbing, deadly cold of impossibly deep waters. It was a heady rush. For a moment, she felt as if she were a giant staring down at a pathetic insect from on high, his fate entirely hers to decide. It passed quickly enough, but it was clear that it had struck the boy successfully. He was pale-faced and trembling, not even looking at Su Ling as she slumped to her knees in front of him.
Despite his seeming paralysis, his chain seemed to have a will of its own, uncoiling without a single motion from him. There was still an unsettling intensity in his blind gaze, an undercurrent of excitement and want beneath the supernatural fear she had inflicted on him.
The disturbing moment passed when Su Ling let out a snarl and raised her head.
"D'n't you fuckin' ign're me," she slurred, clearly in a great deal of pain. "Burn."
Her final word was very clear, and Huang Da barely had a moment to tear his eyes away from Ling Qi before the tiny embers still smoldering on his robes erupted into blazing blue-grey fires.
Huang Da cried out in pain, stumbling back as Su Ling collapsed to the ground, having expended herself with that last move. The Huang Da that emerged from the flames was decidedly worse for the wear, his robe burnt away to expose his thin physique and angry red burns covering his skin.
"I really did not imagine you were this beautiful. To reduce me enough that a beast could do this. To make me feel this way..." His voice was manic as he stared at Ling Qi. "But it's time to end this."
"It is."
Ling Qi blinked in surprise as she heard Li Suyin speak. She had lost track of the other girl entirely during the fight, so focused she had been on her opponent. So it was shocking to see her standing behind Huang Da, having just laid a hand on his back. The boy arched his back and retched, coughing up blood and bits of flesh, losing his grip on the sickle half of his weapon as he did so.
The boy spun instinctively, backhanding Li Suyin across the face, causing the girl to crumple to the ground with a cry of pain. Whatever poison Huang Da had inflicted on Ling Qi seemed to be fading thankfully as the numbness in her side seemed to subside after another painful pulse that left most of her right side and arm numb and useless.
Huang Da's breathing came out ragged and wet, trickles of blood running down his chin. Though he was still standing Ling Qi could read body language well enough. He was going to run. Whatever Li Suyin had done had pushed him over the line from thinking he could win.
The question was if she wanted to allow that or not. He had stalked them, tried to intimidate them, and hurt them. She wasn't feeling very merciful, but she wasn't feeling very strong either. She was out of qi, wounded, and surrounded by potential hostages if she couldn't put him down right away.
The decision was taken from her Her moment of indecision gave Huang Da time to stumble backwards a few steps and rip something off of his wrist with his free hand, vanishing in a burst of starlight.
"...Damn it," Ling Qi cursed under her breath, hands clenching into fists as she stared at the spot he had been.
Ling Qi hurried over to Li Suyin and Su Ling. Li Suyin was already sitting up, moaning weakly. She had tears in her her eyes as she cradled her cheek, which was already swelling and bruising purple. Her lips were bloody where her teeth had cut them.
"M fine," Li Suyin murmured at at Ling Qi's concerned look. "Check Su Ling."
Ling Qi nodded distractedly, turning the fox girl over so that she was lying on her back.
"What did you do to him?" Ling Qi asked. "And how did you get so close?"
Su Ling was breathing shallowly, blood flowing sluggishly from the wound that extended from her shoulder to her hip. Fortunately, she had been wearing something like a vest of cured leather under her robe, and although the piece of equipment was ruined, it had prevented the cut from being fatal. Ling Qi guessed that Su Ling had been knocked out by the same spreading numbness that had been inflicted on her.
"I-I studied a movement technique… after… things got hard for you. It lets me avoid others when I… when I need to," Li Suyin explained haltingly. "And...it's easier to break things." Li Suyin's shoulders were shaking and further tears welling in her eyes even as she pulled herself over to help with Su Ling. "I can't heal. I don't have the control… but if I just reach in and twist…"
Ling Qi wasn't sure what to say. She wished that the girl could have just made the bastard's heart explode, but she doubted Li Suyin would want to hear that. Whatever Li Suyin had done seemed to have really bothered her. Ling Qi had a feeling that her friend was only holding it together out of a need to make sure Su Ling was okay.
Instead, she just patted Li Suyin's shoulder silently and helped her get Su Ling bandaged up. Su Ling soon stirred to wakefulness.
"Shit," Su Ling cursed as she cracked her eyes open, taking a moment to focus on their faces. "...I get him?"
"No, but we drove him off in the end," Ling Qi said.
Su Ling glanced from Ling Qi's somber face over to Li Suyin, who had her head down with tears still running down her cheeks, and let out a huff.
"Sucks he got away," Su Ling murmured uncertainty. "Guess we're gonna have to come up here together from now on."
"Yeah, probably," Ling Qi muttered. "We should probably head down by way of the cliff once we figure this place out. It'll be shorter, less beasts. We're not in any shape for another fight."
"Yeah, sounds good. I have some rope in my pack," Su Ling responded with a bit more confidence before glancing at Li Suyin and losing it. "...You still gonna be okay to identify stuff?"
"O-of course," Li Suyin responded, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry for that. I-I'll just be a moment."
The site really was amazing. Just sitting around it for an hour or so while everyone caught their breath was enough for Ling Qi to feel her dantian beginning to refill. She could feel the 'skin' she had created with Argent Soul pulsing in time with the mist rising from the vent, growing infinitesimally thicker with each passing moment. It was worth making enemies over, she thought.
Once they could manage to move, they headed down the cliffside and took a look through the remains of the guardian as well. The shiny crystals she had seen turned out to be spirit stones, which a still-distressed Li Suyin had murmured was normal for such things. They divided the jagged natural spirit stones as evenly as they could by weight.
The expedition could only be called a success, but it was only the beginning. The truce, dubious as she now felt it was, would be over soon, and Ling Qi had a feeling that Huang Da wouldn't be content with just licking his wounds and backing down.