"So soon?" Wu Ningli said, her hands frozen halfway to reaching for a large mug of her favorite soup. "Not just a breakthrough, but a successful reawakening?"
"He didn't say much about the reawakening," Yao Meifeng explained. "Only that he followed the guidance his master had provided to awaken on a path that was uniquely his."
"I see," the young man's mother said, the worry gathered between her brows fading slightly. "It's still too soon. Did he say that he would be returning home any time soon? Has Xiang'er broken through?"
"Nothing about coming home," Yao Meifeng answered. "He mentioned succeeding in his first mission for the sect, killing a man who killed one of the senior sisters of the sect. He also said that they successfully hunted an empowered spirit beast with the strength of a Soldier and that many of his companions made substantial gains from the hunt. He thinks Sister Su Xiang will break through once she finishes adapting to her new manual."
"Su Yao," Wu Ningli said gently. "I do not wish your cousin any ill when I say this, but I hope that her breakthrough doesn't come too soon. Or, if it does, that they still spend longer in the mountains before coming home. Once Ling'er returns, too many things will need to happen and I'm afraid that we're not ready for enough of them."
"Because he'll be moving to the Inner Sect?" Su Yao asked, having a vague feeling that Wu Ling's return would be more significant than something as simple as moving from the Outer Sect to the Inner Sect. Since training the Strokes of Grim Fate, she'd become sensitive to moments that could have greater than normal significance to a person's future and this moment felt like one of them.
"Hall Master Bian has plans that are waiting for Wu Ling's breakthrough," Wu Ningli said with a sigh, opting to sip at a bowl of fragrant wine rather than the soup cooling at her elbow. "Those plans also involve the two of you, particularly you Little Meifeng," she added, her silvery gaze becoming more intense.
"Yingxu," Wu Ningli said, shifting her gaze to one of the attendants the sect had sent. "In my nightstand, there is a small box made of Midnight Ash. It contains five formation stones and a core crystal. Please set the stones in a circle around the courtyard, it doesn't need to be precise, it just needs to enclose our gathering, then bring me the crystal."
"At once, Elder Phantom," the lithe young woman said, bowing formally as she seemed to recognize that the normally detached and mild Elder had become much more focused.
Once the stones were in place, Wu Ningli poured a thin thread of energy into the formation crystal, surrounding the entire courtyard with a dark, misty barrier that dimmed the light of the sun and silenced noise from outside the courtyard. Only when the warding formation had sprung fully into being did she continue to speak.
"Hall Master Bian has been delaying her promotion to Grand Elder for a number of years," Wu Ningli began. "She's done so because it would have been even more impossible for someone in the Inner Sect to awaken using Ling'er's manual than it was in the Outer Sect. Now that Wu Ling has awakened, she's prepared to move to the Inner Sect herself. The last thing she was waiting for was Ling'er's breakthrough so she could take him as her direct disciple in the Inner Sect."
While Su Yao's mouth hung agape at the news, Yao Meifeng had already heard about this move from Warden Mu. She didn't realize, however, that Wu Ling played any role in the Hall Master's decision to move to the Inner Sect.
"Why is A'Ling so important to Hall Master's plans?" Yao Meifeng asked, fighting to maintain her calm heart of ice even as a storm threatened to break down the walls of her heart.
"It's dangerous for you to know when you're so weak," Wu Ningli said bluntly. "If you choose to help and follow Hall Master Bian's arrangements, you will learn more in time. Right now, both of you will need to make a decision about whether or not you wish to do so. Little Meifeng, I'll start with you."
"Three years ago, when I failed to rescue my sister and her daughter, I provoked the Sanguine Saber Sect and nearly doomed our branch of the Bamboo Silk House in the process. If Wu Ling hadn't stolen that manual and successfully awakened using it, I think Hall Master would have left me outside the sect until matters between our family and the Sanguine saber Sect were resolved. As it stands, however, things didn't work out that way," she explained.
"Since it was my child who inherited the manual, Hall Master Bian has altered her plans, and she's doing so to be generous to Ling'er and our family," Wu Ningli continued. "But she still needs to hide matters from the Sanguine Saber Sect while she stabilizes her faction in the Inner Sect. When Hall Master Biang becomes an Inner Sect Grand Elder, I will give up my title as 'Elder' and so will my sworn sister, Hyacinth. We will become Grand Elder Bian's Left and Right Blades."
Both young women's eyes widened at Wu Ningli's statement. The Left and Right Blades of Grand Elders held a status higher than any Elder in the sect and they answered only to the specific Grand Elder they served and the Sect Master above her. It was a position of tremendous power within the Bamboo Silk House, placing them above even the Hall Masters of the Outer Sect branches!
"That, that sounds very important," Yao Meifeng said, wrapping a layer of cool energy around herself to help slow her racing heart. "But I don't know how such a grand event could affect Sister Su or me. We're both very small characters in the sect."
"You're small at the moment but that will change if you accept Hall Master Bian's arrangements," Wu Ningli explained. "Little Meifeng, Hall Master doesn't intend to allow Ling'er to enter the Inner Sect under his own identity. She'll ask him to select a new name by which he'll be known and he will enter the Inner Sect as her direct disciple, but not as my child," she said, her voice becoming thicker toward the end.
"I know that you and Ling'er have yet to develop feelings so close as to become betrothed," Wu Ningli continued in a gentle tone, her silvery eyes meeting the younger woman's gaze directly.
"But I believe the feelings between you are growing even while you're apart. Ling'er's painting is a testament to that. So, in order to divert attention away from Ling'er and form a shield against the Sanguine Saber Sect's Inner Sect spies, Hall Master has asked me to adopt you as my daughter and to bring you with me into the Inner Sect."
"If there were no feelings between you and Ling'er," she added, reaching out to clasp the young woman's hand with her own frail fingers. "I would look for other methods. Ling'er has mentioned that you've been trying to find a way to escape your family's arrangements. By becoming my daughter, I can bring you into the Inner Sect. You'll have to become an Understudy by twenty to remain in the Inner Sect, even with the identity of my daughter, but I believe you have the potential to do so."
"Likewise," the older woman said, turning to Su Yao. "I've already told the sect that I would take you as a direct disciple if you managed to become an Understudy by twenty. In order to allow you to enter the Inner Sect, I'll make that arrangement now so you can follow me sooner."
"It isn't entirely appropriate," Wu Ningli cautioned. "And you'll have to take over many of Yingxu and Jieyan's duties to explain why I've taken a direct disciple who doesn't quite meet the standard," she explained. "But, if your identity as a direct disciple is wrapped up in the identity of an attendant, people will look the other way enough for things to stand."
"Neither of you needs to give me an answer immediately," Wu Ningli told the young women. "But, the sooner you provide an answer, the sooner we can make appropriate movements. Matters in the Inner Sect are different than the Outer Sect. It's more dangerous and Hall Master Bian's plans will only increase the amount of danger you face."
"I won't look down on you if you choose not to follow along with these arrangements," Wu Ningli added. "They're very forceful. Hall Master has tried to consider benefits for each of you in making these arrangements, but the choice is one I leave in your hands. I will not force either of you. When you're ready, tell me what you've decided. You have until Ling'er returns to make up your minds."