The daughters of the Sect Leader were spoiled and their mothers were, although from cultivation families, were not necessarily talented cultivators themselves. The Leader had married them for connections or because he was interested in them physically, not due to such reasons as love. But as 'poor' a husband he might have been in EQ terms, he loved his daughters, spoiling them and not placing expectations upon them.
Their mothers, on the other hand, did have expectations, but that was as future mothers of strong sons and as wives of men who could support their father-in-law and his sons in the future. Thus the daughters of the Sect Leader were given the tools to cultivate, but not expected to succeed in cultivation.
Merylin and Maimai showed talent in cultivation, but their mothers pressed them with lessons to shape them into virtuous wives, stifling their potential until Merylin snapped and begged her father to let them attend the Ascending Mountain Institute. Originally, it had been her thought to delay her marriage, allow her some freedom from her mother's heavy expectations and overly doting father suffocating affection, but there she had discovered she had real talent as an alchemist. She began to soar and left her little sister behind in her shadow.
Maimai didn't mind this though, it was nothing new to her and she was happy just to have skimmed some benefits for herself, aka the freedom to be herself and to enjoy whole heartedly her pass times . Yet now, she too was about to blossom, shedding off the stigma of being stuck in primary stage cultivation due to her mother's interference and beginning the true step onto the path to immortality as a secondary stage Cultivator!
Merylin naturally would not be far behind, but her body was not quite ready for that step yet.
Leon, the best friend and 'long suffering shou' of an 'overwhelming gong', was also experiencing changes in his cultivation, however it wasn't due to the arduous task of herb farming.
He'd forgotten about it, but that didn't mean it had gone away; the discordant yet somehow benign little gem star in his innersea's universe, that moved against the stream of his naturally circling energies. Just as before, it was weaving in and out, over and under the tiny stars about it, which were sluggishly moving in one direction while it moved in the other. Whenever a star came into its sphere of influence, that star seemed to glow just a tiny bit more for a while, but otherwise there seemed no other effects to his innersea.
Making pills were as normal, his mostly average pills still average, his good pills still good. His control over fire and cauldron were unchanged, this ability that was what made him originally stand out over other things. His innersea was still calm, not turbulent nor deviating, so nothing should have changed, right?
But on this day, he had decided to cultivate some more. Now the field work was done and he had no Jin Li to distract him (that man had returned reluctantly to the inner Martial Arts school), he wanted to focus on this somewhat neglected task. If he wanted to catch up to Jin Li, even a little, he really needed to put more effort into this. He didn't feel like he should rely on them being Dao Companions to keep Jin Li by his side. Death could still part them without mercy. The average life span of a secondary Cultivator really wasn't much more than a mortal of noble descent after all and that was because one had to survive still to enjoy old age. The world of cultivators was as cruel if not crueller than this realms mortal scape. Only by advancing and becoming stronger could he truly stay beside Jin Li longer.
If Jin Li knew his intentions, he would be smugly satisfied.
As usual, Leon made himself comfortable as he sat and focused on his inner sea. He stirred the energies within into a quickened pace, that the thick clusters thinned and the space between specks widened before bringing it into his meridians to circulate. All the while, he chanted the words taught to him within that jade scroll from the library as he moved the energies along a specific route. Who knew that the discordant crystal star would become suddenly obedient and follow the flow into his fragile meridians!?
A stinging sensation followed in its wake, like a trail of needles poking into his body along the intricate network path. However, before he could debate whether to risk damaging his body by letting it continue or risk damaging his body by forcefully stopping midcycle, the stinging was soothed with a heady warmth and a most comfortable feeling spread throughout him. He felt that to explain it would be to describe it as if his body had frozen before stepping into a hot bath, suffering the pain and comfort that would come from such.
So he did not stop midcycle, but continued into the next and that is when he felt that his cultivation had changed again a little. If the celestial cultivation method had felt smoother than the basic cultivation method, then this feeling was even more so; it was the difference between hemp and cotton before switching to satin or silk. He couldn't help but expel a long drawn out sigh.
After that, he cultivated without pause, not noticing that the sun had set, the moons taking up the duties of lighting the sky before retiring as the sun once more rose at dawn. A fierce hunger drew him back from his meditations, his belly rumbling loudly in the confines of the bedroom. By that time, a whole day had passed and Leon found himself facing two sullen coeurl who'd been forgotten about him again.
The coeurls' growth had not been small during the winter season. Wu Ye's shoulder now met the apex of Leon's head, he would not be able to mount at all if the beast did not lower itself to allow it (in more ways than one). It would not now grow much more in height and width, just muscle mass unless it managed to shed this adult form to become an evolved beast. To evolve was the potential of all spiritual beasts, but only a few would achieve it. Teacher Volun believed that Wu Ye's bloodlines were good, however, so its chances were also excellent.
On the other hand, Li Ming was, while unusual of pattern, only a runt of his litter. That and while its mother's bloodline was good (though not as impressive as Wu Ye), its coat was a sign that it had inherited a second bloodline and in that lie doubts. Female coeurl could carry a litter of many fathers, usually one bloodline or the other was inherited, it was rare to find mixed bloodlines and that in itself was generally not a good thing. Li Ming's growth, however, was reasonable, it was predicted it would definitely reach the height and mass of a full adult Male in due time.
Right now, the tip of its pointed ears were just above Leon's shoulder, its growth having been steady, not explosive like Wu Ye's. However, it had not yet lost the snowy and jet black mess of baby fur around it's neck and the upper portion of its chest. Leon didn't mind this, though it hurt the striped coeurl's pride to mention it, as it was soft and warm to snuggle against.
Apologising to the intimidating midnight coeurl, who shadowed him with its mighty presence, Leon opened the gate of the courtyard to let them out. He did not need to remind them to hunt only in the areas most distant from the schools, they were intelligent beasts, but he did remind them to return before sunset, as he'd most likely lock the gate then. Actually, he didn't need to remind them about that either. The last time it had happened, Wu Ye simply battered the wood door until the lock broke, then sauntered straight in. Unfortunately, that had cost it the promised beast pills the following day as Leon had had to fix the lock instead. There were battles to pick and choose from, Wu Ye might grumble, but it would not bite the hand that its little companion favoured.
Happy New Year everyone x x
The Headmaster of the Ascending Mountain Institute disliked troublesome matters. By troublesome, that did not necessarily mean the necessary intricacies that came from running and developing an institute of learning the size of this one nor the little details of dealing with one's personal matters to ensure one's home remained standing and health remained vital. The first and to some degree the second and third, could be delegated to trusted others so that it failed to become troublesome in the first place and without troublesome matters, he, the Headmaster, could do others things more pleasing or amusing to him. Such as winning against Teacher Plutos a game of chess or attempting to entice Teacher Volun into finding him a Dragon egg that he might hatch and raise as a pet.
The Ascending Mountain Institute ran as well as the mortal clockwork device that he had obtained once from a lower realm while adventuring in his youth. All he was required to do was to oil it from time to time and replace its cogs every few decades. If he wished to upgrade it... well that was a little more complicated, but he found that he had the time to deal with such things as development at a pace comfortable to snails and slugs and things would fall into place so long as he nudged the butterfly to flap its wings at the correct moment, eventually anyway. Some might claim he is like a puppet master holding loosely onto a thousand strings only pulling one here and there when the effort was required, otherwise wouldn't he be worn out all of the time or worse, unable to continue in position of power?
Anyway, back to troublesome things.
With his personality, he naturally would not go seeking for troublesome things, but that didn't mean that troublesome things would not come to seek him. Corvus was one such troublesome thing that had appeared in the last year, but he was easily dealt with; he just needed to be occupied by something equally as troublesome and his natural instinct would be to bother his older brother rather than himself if it became too tiresome. Actually, allowing Corvus to find his own apprentice had been a bit of a risk, but actually had worked out extremely well. Corvus had become too preoccupied to become troublesome, thus the Headmaster was very happy.
Sun, who wailed as he was instructed to 'cool down' by running twice around the perimeter of the inner martial arts school by Teacher Corvus, could not agree less with the Headmaster's assessment.... had he known about it.
Now something else had come to trouble the Headmaster... actually two troublesome things. Worse, one of these things turned out to be related to Teacher Corvus. The Headmaster realised that he had relaxed too soon.
"From what you are saying," his amicable smile was not reflected in his rather weary eyes, "the little miss of your family had her innocence taken by Teacher Corvus and you require him to take responsibility?"
"That is correct," the woman before him replied in a perfunctory manner.
"This one always advised shidi to carefully choose one's subordinates," the man sitting to his other side said in an arrogant tone of voice. The Headmaster did not respond to his provocation, still considering his response to the woman.
She was tall, slender and like bamboo she was both strong and flexible of physique. Her nature came across cold like the most frigid north and she appeared more so due to her snow white skin and steel-blue hair. However, though she seemed unfriendly, she was not actually cruel and while she seemed rigid, she was not unjust. Her name was Siren and she was the Mistress of the Azure Heights Finishing School, one of the five most notable schools for cultivators and the only one which refused to allow any men through their gates. Their's was a school for women, to guide, strengthen and develop without distraction nor masculine comparison this minority group amongst immortals.
Naturally the Headmistress of such a school that stood proud and tall against the norms of society had to be an exceptional woman. Yet there was just one chink in her formidable aura; a female Healer named Nereid, Siren's adored little sister.
On the other hand, the man that had also entered his reception to trouble him, was known as Phichus and he just happened to be of the same martial family as the Headmaster. Only, where the Headmaster's shifu was the former Headmistress of the school, Phichus followed that woman's shixiong, the Headmaster's Martial uncle who did not receive the approval of the first Headmaster to run the school. This had to do with the principals of the first Headmaster, who wished for this school to be accessible to anyone with the talent and ability and the will to cultivate and learn. Phichus' Master stated he wished to 'purge the Institute' of 'undesirables', indicating that he wished to have weaker elements leave in order to focus on honing the best. In actuality, he wanted the school to kick out commoners and merchant offspring and only cater for the nobles.
As his Master disagreed, he could only leave disgruntled and form his own school near the Wind-Swept plains, close to the grand capital city of the Empire in West Xulaphrey, where he achieved his own objectives. Qilin First Academy of Excellence still could not outshine the Institute after all of these centuries however, but they refused to alter their creed. Phichus and himself had not been a part of this matter, but it did force them to become like oil and water before they'd ever met.
As for why Phichus was present at the Institute, that was obvious; he'd come to attempt to poach talent. Of course, it would not be just any talent, the persons would have to have a background on par to his students and have no more than two internal roots and none less than a minor root. If there was anything he could abide less than commoners, it was 'wastes' after all. Plus there were a plethora of other minor requirements, such as if they were beast tamers, they could not be partnered with anything inelegant or unsavoury, if they were martial artists, they needed to favour the sword or the halberd or similar, that sort of thing.
He usually chose this time of the year every three years or so, when the noble first years were usually at their most disgruntled point and where other nobles might be most irritated by the lack of class barriers within the school, having been once more spoiled at home during the winter break. Those feelings could have even strengthened with the competition; why had lowly commoners been chosen to form groups with over themselves? Of course many of the disgruntled would be lesser talents and Phichus still wouldn't deem them worthy of their so called plight, but they would not be aware of that.
A third reason, not the most crucial of points, but still a factor in his reasoning was that the Imperial City had a much more temperate climate than these cold mountains. Phichus disliked the cold, a side effect of his pure fire root, so he seldom came earlier than the end of winter when the unpleasantness had yet to become a memory, but the vivid chills no longer seeped deep into their bones.
The Headmaster disliked all of this scheming to claim his valuable students, however, he would also not stop it. After all, it was really troublesome to keep hold of disgruntled students who did not wish to stay.
shifu - Teacher, shidi - junior brother (there is no term that I could find for ‘cousin’ of the same martial family so I chose this based on the fact that cousins in paternal families would also call relations of the same generation as sister or brother), shixiong - senior brother.
Chose to separate the use of shifu and Teacher to refer to formal relationships between master and apprentice over informal relationship between teacher and student, one that would end after graduation.
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT