章 3: Chapter 1 - Festival of Awakening

Many autumns after Mei Lien's passing, in a mortal realm that had long lost most paths to the immortal realms along with all knowledge of the divine realm, a very important festival began in dozens of small towns and country villages.

Nestled in the forested foothills of the Storm Wind mountains, the residents of Turning Leaf town hurried about with preparations for the autumn festival. Strings of paper lanterns were hung across many cobbled streets while shops unfurled brightly-colored banners announcing their specialties.

The smells of roasting spirit beast meat and fruit wine filled the air along with the voices of young hunters bragging of their victory over the dangers of the Thundercloud Forest. Many of them would move from boasting to outright lies and exaggerations as the day went on and plum wine flowed like water but few elders would begrudge them their enthusiasm.

Just outside the town itself, a steady stream of adolescents made their way to the Holy Light Abode, the only cultivation sect within two hundred li of the town. Calling it a cultivation sect might be an exaggeration, truly it was only one of many branches of the Holy Light Temple, but to the people of Turning Leaf, any cultivator above the stage of a Martial Brawler was already a rare sight, to say nothing of the Worldly Mystic who served as the branch manager here or the Martial Soldiers that served as guardians of the Abode.

Among the many adolescents who walked the path from town to the Holy Light Abode, Ao Wen tried to hide her apprehension. "Feng Xi," she said, forcing down the butterflies in her stomach as she looked at her best friend walking beside her. "I promise, I'll make this up to you." Though she came from a humble background as the daughter of a stonecutter, Ao Wen carried herself with a quiet dignity as she walked beside her closest friend. She wore simple orange robes tied with a black sash at the waist serving as her only visible ornamentation. The billowing sleeves of her robes hid lean, muscular arms hardened from years of assisting her father. Around her neck hung a simple jade carving of a carp on a leather string, placed there by her father before she left when he wished her luck.

"You're nervous aren't you?" Feng Xi said, laughing gently as she reached out to ruffle her shorter friend's hair. In contrast to Ao Wen, Feng Xi possessed an elegant, refined beauty. She stood several centimeters taller with long straight black hair spilling freely down her back like a silken waterfall. Her skin is pale and unblemished, her features delicate and aristocratic. When she spoke, her piercing emerald eyes sparkled with quick intelligence and mirth. She wore fitted green robes made of the finest silk, tailored to complement her alluring figure. The neckline plunged slightly to reveal the barest hint of cleavage. Whenever she spoke, her sleeves swayed gracefully as she walked gesturing animatedly while speaking.

"It's just a few small crystals," Feng Xi continued, playing down the investment she had made in her friend. "I know it feels like a lot and you've been working so hard these past few years to save up for today, but once you've awakened, you'll find that it's not so challenging to get a few small crystals, even for a low level Aesthete like me."

"I know, but your father's medicine…" Ao Wen began, guilt creasing her brows.

"Is purchased with medium crystals from the family treasury," her friend interrupted. "My pocket money is my own. I earned this playing zither for the City Lord's greeting banquet a few days ago when the Honored Elder from the Holy Light Temple arrived. If I want to spend it to make sure my best friend has a chance to become a cultivator, then I'll do it," she said firmly in a reassuring tone. The melodic sound of faint wind chimes followed her steps as they walked, born of the restless wind energy contained in her body. As much as she tried to project calm, she was also nervous about today's Awakening Ceremony and what it meant for her best friend.

"You played for the City Lord? He didn't ask anything inappropriate did he?" Ao Wen asked, her voice moving from nervous to fierce in an instant. In Turning Leaf town, Feng Xi had no shortage of admirers. Truthfully, Ao Wen considered herself among them, but she shoved those feelings down deep. Ever since Feng Xi had embarked on her cultivation journey two years ago, Ao Wen knew that she had no right to pursue those feelings unless she could awaken herself.

"No, he didn't" Feng Xi said, oblivious to the complex feelings swirling in her younger friend's concerned eyes. "City Lord Zhang is many things, but he hasn't taken a new concubine since his son came of age. Thankfully, Young Master Zhang Bai is an uncultured Brawler. He's more interested in the dancers his father hired for the banquet than the music of my zither," she finished, a trace of scorn for the uncultured Young Master coloring her musical voice.

"Then he's a deaf lout," Ao Wen said sharply, indignant on her friend's behalf. "I lose all sense of time when you play. How he can focus on anything else when you're playing, I'll never know."

"You will," Feng Xi said with a smile. "You're only entranced so easily because you've yet to awaken. Once you do, you'll find you don't fall so easily into the spell of my music."

"If I awaken," Ao Wen said, fluttering her hands in the billowing sleeves of her orange robes. "No one in Father's family has awakened since Great Grandfather Ao Guo, and Mother says her family hasn't had a cultivator in living memory. I'm already sixteen winters old this year. My last chance is my only chance," she said, trying to keep a premature sense of defeat from creeping in but struggling when she knew how unlikely it was for her to succeed.

"It's okay," Feng Xi said, stopping to pull her younger friend into a reassuring embrace. "I failed at thirteen, and at fourteen. I didn't awaken until my third attempt. You've wanted this your whole life haven't you? You're not any less talented than me. If not for trouble paying the testing fees, I'm sure you'd have awakened the same year I did, if not the year before!"

"Thanks big sister Xi," Ao Wen said, pulling back from her friend and blushing slightly at their closeness. "You're right. Now is my time. Let's go!"

"That's the spirit," Feng Xi said with a warm smile, pulling Ao Wen along. "Still, about the crystals I gave you. I've changed my mind," she added with a growing grin on her soft lips.

"Ah, what?" Ao Wen panicked.

"I think you need to do something to make up for it," her friend continued with a mischievous gleam in her emerald eyes. "Plum buns and scallion cakes. I want you to cook for me!" Feng Xi teased, enjoying the look of panic that had spread across Ao Wen's face.

"Pfft, big sister Xi, are you after my cooking or my mother's?" Ao Wen pouted. "You know she's better at making both of those than I am!"

"No, you cook for me or it doesn't count as you returning the favor. Besides," Feng Xi said with a smile. "Little sister Wen has no idea how cute she is when she gets flour everywhere while she's cooking!"

"You!" Ao Wen blushed to the tips of her ears. "I'll get flour all over you!"

"Now how could a starling think of dirtying a heavenly swan like Fairy Feng?" an arrogant young man interrupted from the stream of youths approaching the Holy Light Abode. "If it's delicacies that Fairy Feng is interested in, surely these Young Masters can host you at the Four Garden's House after the Ceremony of Awakening is complete," the young man continued, glancing at his friends to see them smile at the invitation to his father's famous restaurant.

"Young Master Tang Jin, I don't recall inviting you to join our conversation," Feng Xi said, her green robes fluttering in the breeze as her aura flared with displeasure.

"Fairy Feng," Tang Jin said, stepping forward to hide his nervousness despite the increasing breeze surrounding Feng Xi. The tawny hair he kept short on the sides but long on top, where it hung down to frame intense golden-amber eyes fluttered in the wind created by Feng Xi's aura. His angular features appeared sharp enough to cut glass, all planes and arcs rather than soft curves. High cheekbones sloped down to a strong jawline darkened by the faintest shadow of stubble struggling to form. "A man needs no invitation to be drawn to true beauty," he said, repeating a line he had often heard from his older friend Mo Yan. "It pains me to see one of heaven's flowers stuck in the mud. Come with us, you can watch as we brothers awaken our martial might during this year's ceremony."

"You lot?" Ao Wen said, her voice dripping with scorn. "What might could a gaggle of flower pickers awaken today besides an excess of wasted yang?" As she spoke, she moved between the group of elegantly dressed young masters and Feng Xi, her hands curling into tight fists.

"Careful brother Tang," the most extravagantly dressed and youngest among the young men said. "The muscles of common laborers aren't to be underestimated," he continued, his voice dripping with disdain.

"Of course brother Zhang," Tang Jin said, stepping back with his hands raised as though afraid, inwardly relieved to have an excuse to back away. "Weapons are forbidden on this road so we've all left our swords behind, but this stonecutter's daughter is probably dangerous with any clod of mud on the ground," he said, glancing at the more extravagantly dressed youth for support.

"Am I air to you, Young Master Tang?" Feng Xi said, stepping up beside Ao Wen. "Do you think I need my zither to deal with the four of you?"

"Oh no," Tang Jin said with a forced smile. "Fairy Feng is an awakened cultivator. We four heroes will join you in the journey of cultivation soon, but for now, I'm sure the crime of a cultivator attacking a mortal isn't one you would choose to bear" he asserted nervously. "Especially not when the City Lord's seventh son is present, don't you think Brother Zhang?" Tang Jin finished lamely, hoping that the other youth would come to his rescue.

"Of course," the richly dressed young man replied. "Fairy Feng played so beautifully at Father's banquet. I'm sure he'd be pained to pass judgment on such an enchanting flower, but father has always been strict with the rules, you know," he drawled. "If she harmed anyone here, I imagine I could only plead with my father for mercy on behalf of the women so captivating that I promised to take her as my first concubine," he finished, a lust filled gaze twisting his smile.

"You wouldn't dare!" Ao Wen cried, trembling in rage.

"Brothers," a third of the young men said in a soothing tone. The third Young Master was a tall, handsome sixteen year old young man with chiseled features and a muscular yet lithe physique. His long black hair long was tied back in a flowing ponytail, giving him the graceful air of a refined gentleman. His eyes were brown, almost black, with thick brows arched over them and he carried himself with a relaxed grace that projected an aura of easy confidence. "Today is not the day for this," he spoke smoothly, eyes flicking to each of the people involved to see their reactions. "Fairy Feng, forgive my brothers' hot tempers. Their yang energy overflows with supplements to assist in their awakening today and they've been discourteous to you and your servant today. We'll withdraw and meet again as fellow cultivators," he concluded, cupping his hands and bowing slightly.

"Young Master Mo Yan," Feng Xi said coldly as the four young men left. "Make sure your brothers understand something. Once everyone has awakened, disrespecting my sworn sister isn't likely to end well for them and I won't have to pluck so much as a string on my zither for her to teach them why."

It wasn't until the four had vanished around a bend that Ao Wen turned to look at Feng Xi with wide eyes. "Sworn sister? But we haven't…"

"We will," Feng Xi interrupted, her voice determined, the breeze of her aura finally dissapating. "You'll awaken today and we'll swear a cultivators' oath to the Heavens. But first, you must succeed today. Don't let me down little sister," she finished with a smile.

"Never," Ao Wen promised, her mind spinning and heart aflutter as the two resumed their walk to the ceremony that would change everything for both of them.