Chương 17: 35-41

Chapter 35-Dwindling Peace 3

"I am sorry if the question is presumptuous, but how do I go about earning knowledge of the successor to the Argent Soul cultivation art?" Ling Qi asked with her head bowed. She had considered how to word this question all day, nervous that it would be viewed rude. Although it was easier for her to approach Elder Su - the woman was not nearly as intimidating as Elder Zhou - she still worried.

The medicinal energy surging in her veins, nerves, and channels didn't help. She had gone all out with medicines, even going to far as to use one of her precious Sable Light Pills. Her fingers and toes tingled almost painfully, and her skin sang with sensation at the brush of even the slightest breeze. It was incredibly hard to stand still like this without fidgeting when she felt as if her bones were trying to vibrate their way free of her flesh. Even her thoughts were filled with a low, irritating buzz as her dantian stormed and churned, making her feel uncomfortably stretched.

Elder Su regarded her with a slight smile. She didn't seem perturbed by the question. If anything, there was a hint of amusement in the older woman's eyes. Ling Qi flinched when she felt the Elder's soft, cool hand on her forehead.

"I am surprised you managed to concentrate as well as you did in my lecture. You are burning up, young lady."

Ling Qi couldn't help but fidget uncomfortably as Elder Su removed her hand from her forehead and then pressed two of her fingers to Ling Qi's throat. It was useless to be nervous. If Elder Su wanted to do something to her, she would, and there was nothing Ling Qi could do to stop her.

"I think it is important that I learn all I can about formations while I have the opportunity to do so," Ling Qi replied, swallowing anxiously as Elder Su hummed softly and cupped her chin. Elder Su raised Ling Qi's head so that she could look directly into her eyes.

"... Is something wrong?" Ling Qi asked, unable to hold back the question. None of the pills she had purchased from the market had any warnings to them…

"I am always glad to have a student with a passion for what I am teaching," Elder Su replied, withdrawing her hand. "I had not taken you for the type to focus on that sort of thing to be honest." Ling Qi squirmed under Elder Su's gaze, glancing to the side. She just wanted to make sure she was ready for the end of the truce period.

"Do not worry," Elder Su continued, ceasing her examination. "I was merely confirming a suspicion. You truly did have good fortune during Elder Zhou's exam to have acquired such a pill. It is no wonder you can barely hold still."

Ling Qi stiffened, hoping there was no one in earshot. Which of course there were; others had questions for the Elder too.

"I… won't deny that," she admitted carefully.

"No one will overhear you, child," Elder Su replied kindly. "To expand your qi as much as you have since arriving while rising so quickly in other areas as well? It is rather obvious to one with knowledge of such things. That friend of yours, the Bai girl, would likely consider herself lucky to have such a pill. Do be careful should you have any left."

Ling Qi swallowed, her mouth feeling dry. The Sable Light Pill was that valuable? She knew it had helped her greatly, but…

"Thank you, Elder Su," Ling Qi said. She still hadn't gotten her answer though. "About the successor art…"

"More advanced arts are typically on the second floor of the archive. Like the first, it can be accessed with sufficient Sect Points or an Elder's pass."

"Sect Points?" Ling Qi asked. She thought she had seen something like that on the paper slips stuck to the notice board in the building's main hall.

"The pay for performing duties for the Sect," Elder Su explained. "The system will be explained at the end of the week, but to put it simply, disciples may perform tasks for the Sect. In turn, they will be rewarded with points, which may be traded for various privileges or simply for spirit stones. I will leave the more detailed explanation to Elder Jiao."

Ling Qi nodded in understanding. She wouldn't bother Elder Su about that if it was going to be explained soon anyway.

"So I just have to do some work then," Ling Qi murmured under her breath. That was simpler than she expected.

"The Argent Genesis cultivation art, the successor art to Argent Soul, is only provided to those who are chosen to become disciples of the inner peaks," Elder Su continued. "That selection will not occur until the end of the year, so do not worry about it over much for the moment.

"Now, run along, young lady. You look to be dearly in need of a bit of cultivation."

Ling Qi hastily nodded and stepped aside, ducking her head again and murmuring a thanks. Elder Su was right; she really needed to burn off some of this energy.

By the afternoon of the next day, she felt significantly better even if she found herself jittering and fidgeting whenever she was still. She could feel the pool of her qi expanding again, the foundation formed by her practice of the Argent Soul stretching and warping to contain the deep, calm lake that her qi was beginning to form. She had chosen to focus on her arts this week, diligently practicing with her knives in Elder Zhou's training while playing the soothing notes of the Forgotten Vale Melody at the vent with her friends.

Actual solid improvement of either yet eluded her. The next measure of the Melody was more complex than anything she had ever attempted to play, and she could not quite understand the full meaning and feeling in the words that went along with it.

Ling Qi faced a more physical challenge with Zephyr's Breath. She simply couldn't manage the flow of the wind well enough to master the spiralling motion necessary for its final technique, Gale Shield - at least not well enough to do more than to kick up dust and send everyone's clothes fluttering.

Everyone was preparing for the end of truce in their own way... Gu Xiulan intended to break through to Yellow. Su Ling had taken her poor reception at the joint training session in stride, focusing hard on practicing with her new weapon, the sword. She also cultivated physically, occasionally prodding Ling Qi for advice or pestering her to spar.

Bai Meizhen was inscrutable, simply sitting in absolute stillness by the vent. She intended to complete the Argent Soul technique this week. Li Suyin, though, for all that she had broken through to Late Red Soul and Mid Gold Physique, seemed to have withdrawn again. As they strolled to the lecture hall from the vent, Ling Qi breached the subject.

"I'm sorry I pushed you into that training session last week," Ling Qi began awkwardly. "I didn't think Gu Xiulan would be like that."

Gu Xiulan had always been pushy and domineering, but the disdain for Li Suyin had been unexpected.

"Please don't apologize. Even if it was a little hard, I benefited from it," Li Suyin replied before murmuring, "After all, she wasn't wrong."

Ling Qi looked worriedly at her friend. "She was. It's not like you're taking advantage of me. We're helping each other."

"It doesn't feel like that," Li Suyin said glumly. "I'm… I am not a strong person. I don't want to be a burden on my friends."

"You're not," Ling Qi said stubbornly. "You've helped me just as much as I helped you. You're keeping up just fine."

Li Suyin looked like she wanted to protest more, but in the end, she smiled weakly. "Of course. Thank you, Ling Qi," she said softly.

"It's no problem," Ling Qi huffed. Worry about the truce's end clouded her thoughts. She had only a few days left to prepare herself, but she could not help but wonder, how well would Li Suyin weather the mess that was coming?

Chapter 36-Dwindling Peace 4

The rest of the week passed in a blur of training and cultivation. Ling Qi's meditations opened one channel after another, her surging qi burning new paths outward through her body. With the opening of the channel in her head, her eyes and ears burned with new sensation. Even the taste of food seemed to grow stronger, and her thoughts seemed clearer than ever.

The new meridians in her spine and heart also had noticeable impacts. Her body tingled every time qi flowed through the new channel in her spine, and the beat of her heart was ever stronger and steadier.

With Han Jian's help, she mastered the second level of the Sable Crescent Step, learning the trick of activating its full power in an instant while channeling other techniques. This, in turn, helped her complete her mastery of Zephyr's Breath, allowing her to reactively pulse her qi and kick up furious winds to push foes and missiles alike away.

All the while, she could feel the still lake of her qi growing deeper and wider, filling her body with more power even as the excess medicinal energy soaked into her flesh and bones, leaving her feeling strained and… full in a way she couldn't quite explain. She had felt something similar when breaking through to the higher levels of gold, but now she felt a strain as if any more qi would cause her veins to burst apart and her bones to break.

Ling Qi felt awkward as she explained the feeling to Han Jian at the tail end of their training session. His expression was hard to read like he was carefully keeping his reaction in check.

"Have I run into a problem with my cultivation?" Ling Qi asked carefully. "I don't want to hurt myself this close to the end of the truce."

She shifted nervously as she noticed Fan Yu's dark expression and the way he clenched his fists until the knuckles turned white. Han Fang gave her an encouraging smile from where he sat, pausing in polishing his warhammer. Han Jian smiled as well, but the smile was strained.

"No, it's the opposite really," Han JIan said jokingly. "You've reached the peak of this realm. You're ready to work on advancing your physique to Silver."

"Really?" Ling Qi asked in surprise. She hadn't even really put much focus on cultivating her body outside of lessons. She had thought it would take much longer to reach the peak given how everyone else seemed to regard it. She knew many people had retreated from public this week to attempt breakthroughs to Yellow Soul or Silver Physique, but they had all been cultivating for years. She couldn't help but smile.

"That's great," Ling Qi added, feeling a little giddy and no longer worried about the odd reactions of the others.

"It is," Han Jian replied, his smile a touch more genuine as he chuckled, seemingly amused by her good humor. "Anyway, want to help me finish up advancing my Dust Devil technique? The wind resistance you can cause really helps. I'd like to have the next step mastered before I start my own breakthrough to Silver."

Ling Qi nodded, shaking herself out of her thoughts. "Of course. Just give me a second to prepare."

The final day of the truce came all too quickly. Ling Qi trained alone as Han Jian and Han Fang followed Gu Xiulan's example and retreated for their breakthroughs, only emerging for Elder Zhou's lessons.

On the last day of Elder lessons, Elder Zhou stood before the assembled class in his signature pose, straight-backed and with his arms clasped behind him. The difference between today and the first day Ling Qi had seen him was in his expression. That first day, he had been disdainful, giving them neither regard nor respect. Today, his face did not exactly show pride, but it did hold a certain satisfaction.

"Each of you who stands here today is one who has a chance to truly make something of yourselves in the Sect," Elder Zhou began without preamble. "You have worked hard and diligently, keeping up even as I have pushed you to your limits day after day."

Ling Qi straightened up, feeling pride from the instructor's words. It had been hard; the long runs through the mountain paths, climbing sheer cliff faces weighted down by heavy packs, and numerous other difficult physical exercises flashed through her memory. The spars might have been the most memorable part of the training, but the rest was certainly just as grueling.

"Yet today is still the last I will see of many of you," he continued on evenly. "I am not unaware of the internal workings of the Sect. Some of you will fall at each other's hands. Some will give up, and still others will end their Path due to the numerous dangers one runs across while training.

"I have been away from the front for too long, and I no longer have the time to guide you. I remain confident that one day, I will see at least a few of you again. Perhaps, at that time,we may strike down barbarian scum together as the fist of the Empire." Ling Qi liked to think his panning gaze had paused on her for a moment, but she knew well enough that it was simple wishful thinking.

"You are dismissed, disciples. Good luck to you."

Ling Qi took a deep breath as the instructor turned away and vanished in a plume of kicked-up dirt.

She wouldn't be one of the ones who fell.

She might not look forward to having to fight, but she thought it would be nice to meet the older man again as a grown woman and a cultivator worthy of his respect.

There was absolutely no need for Gu Xiulan to smirk at her like that. For all her good breeding and status, that girl's mind was a gutter.

Only a few short hours later, she was seated in Elder Su's class, awaiting the arrival of the second of her teachers for the final lesson. She felt more nervous here as today, she would find out if all of her hard work had been enough to satisfy Elder Su.

The archive pass represented a vast resource. For one such as her, who had nothing but what she could scrounge together and who often simply didn't know things that her fellow disciples took for granted… She wanted it.

It wouldn't be the end of the world if she failed to do so, but it would be a disappointment, particularly if that creepy ass Huang Da won and she didn't. She would also be much more reliant on whatever she could "acquire" in the coming weeks.

"Good afternoon, my students," Elder Su greeted them as she appeared in the lecturer's pulpit. Her expression was somewhat wistful today. "I shall not tarry overmuch on introductions as I know what you are waiting for.

"First, I would like to state that each one of you who has managed to stay in this class is a diligent cultivator deserving of respect. However, the world is not fair. Whether it is talent, good fortune, or simply an unusual drive, some will always advance leaps and bounds above their peers. Today, I will be awarding those whose performance has impressed me most of all."

Ling Qi held her breath, clutching her knees with her hands as Li Suyin beside her chewed on her lower lip. The whole room was silent as the gathered disciples waited on the Elder's word.

"Ji Rong, your growth has been truly phenomenal. Reaching the peak of both Red and Gold from nothing within three months time, mastering three separate arts to their fullest extent, as well as your other accomplishments… You have earned a pass to the archives," Elder Su announced. "I would suggest that you take some time to settle yourself. A prodigy who burns out does nobody any good, particularly themselves."

The scarred boy's lips twitched into a scowl, but he bowed his head from where he sat in the front row anyway.

"Thank you, Elder Su. I will heed your advice." The formal words seemed awkward coming from Ji Rong's lips. The older woman's gaze flashed a trace of pity.

"The second pass belongs to one who has been just as inspiring in her growth, if a bit differently so. Ling Qi, you have earned your pass. Though you have not mastered as many arts as Ji Rong, you have grown the base of your qi more than any student I have seen in years while still rising nearly as quickly as Ji Rong in other areas."

Ling Qi's breath caught in her throat, and she had to fight down a silly grin as she bowed her head. "Thank you, Elder Su," she quickly replied, wincing at the sound of her too loud voice.

"Of course, young lady," Elder Su replied cordially.

"For the last pass, I found myself deliberating over the decision for quite some time. Many of you have done very well, but in the end…" Li Suyin was trembling beside her, her grip on the desk in front of her turning her hands white. "I believe Huang Da has earned it."

Ling Qi's stomach dropped as she saw the proud smirk light up the silver-haired boy's face. Li Suyin slumped beside her with a pained expression.

"Through mastery of several difficult and esoteric arts, as well as reaching the Yellow Soul realm with such a solid foundation and fully mastering the Argent Soul, I have found you to be deserving of a pass.

"However, one's attitude reflects on their cultivation." Elder Su shot the boy a stern look. "It is important to learn to temper one's pride as well."

"Of course, Elder Su," Huang Da replied smoothly, bowing his head. "Thank you very much for this opportunity."

Ling Qi patted Li Suyin's shoulder, scowling as Huang Da shot her a bright smile. Great. Now he would be even more insufferable.

"All three of you will receive one final Qi Foundation Pill," Elder Su continued. "Li Suyin and Hong Lin have earned the remaining two pills."

That announcement hardly seemed to comfort her friend. Her own happiness at winning was damped by Li Suyin's failure and the looming knowledge that the truce would end the following morning.

Ling Qi was dreading the day and wondering just how she should handle the inevitable outbreak of violence. She did not want to stay around Li Suyin and Su Ling since she would only draw more ire on them. Similarly, she did not want to get in Bai Meizhen's way if - or when - the most powerful disciples came calling to challenge her.

This left her with very few options.

So, when she was caught up in the wake of an exultant Gu Xiulan on her return to the residential district and dragged off to celebrate the proud girl's breakthrough to the Yellow realm, Ling Qi was pleasantly surprised.

It seemed like her luck just might hold out - at least for awhile longer.

Chapter 37-Truce End 1

Ling Qi startled, nearly dropping the cup in her hand when the sound of a warhorn blared violently, rattling the window panes in Gu Xiulan's home. The first rays of dawn were just beginning to shine through the panes.

Elder Jiao's voice followed, magnified to an ear-splitting volume.

"GOOD MORNING, OUTER DISCIPLES OF THE ARGENT PEAK," the man's obnoxiously cheery voice announced, practically vibrating the air. "TODAY, I SHALL EXPLAIN THE CHANGES IN THE RULES FOR NEW DISCIPLES! DO PAY ATTENTION.

"FIRSTLY, NEW DISCIPLES ARE NOW ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE MOUNTAIN AND MAY GO AS FAR AS THE TOWN AT THE BASE AND THE SURROUNDING FOREST. GOING BEYOND SECT BOUNDARIES REMAINS PROHIBITED. YOU WILL KNOW THE BOUNDARIES WHEN YOU SEE THEM." Ling Qi groaned as the voice pounded on her ears.

"IN A RELATED MATTER, NEW DISCIPLES... WHAT. Xin, stop that. Tch. Ruin my fun, will you." The voice suddenly decreased in volume to a more normal one, taking on a petulant tone.

"Hmph. In any case, new disciples may now make use of the Request Board in the primary lecture hall. Simply take the request note from the board and bring it to the disciple in charge of the Payment Hall once the request maker has stamped it complete for you."

The Elder's voice took on a slyer tone as he continued, "But that is all rather minor, is it not? Allow me to explain the more important changes. While killing or maiming your fellow disciples remains prohibited, you are now allowed and even encouraged to challenge one another. The only exceptions as to where you may do so are inside the Sect buildings, such as the main hall, the archive, and the market. All violence remains against the rules in such areas.

"While a victor does deserve some spoils, it is highly frowned upon for violence or other untoward harm to be laid upon your fellow disciples after they have been defeated. We are not barbarians after all." Elder Jiao's voice was amused despite the dire subject matter. "Now, please report to the plaza to pick up your spirit stone allowance. As of today, stones will only be handed out from dawn until noon. Do not miss yours."

Ling Qi grimaced as the Elder's voice died down, staring into the cup in her hand. Gu Xiulan had acquired some kind of strange fruity wine from somewhere for her 'celebration' and cajoled Ling Qi into drinking it. Ling Qi didn't care for the overly sweet drink much, and the announcement only made the aftertaste sour in her mouth.

"Why so glum?" Gu Xiulan asked brightly, swirling the liquid remaining in her own cup from across the polished table the two of them were seated at. Gu Xiulan occupied one of the larger homes, and as such, she had a separate dining room appointed with comfortable cushioned benches.

They had stayed up through the night chatting and eating sweets. Well, Gu Xiulan had done a lot of chatting. Ling Qi had just been doing her best not to think about the following morning and Li Suyin's disappointment.

"We can finally stop restraining ourselves. Don't tell me you don't wish to have a few of those ruffians who have hassled you at your feet."

Ling Qi gave Gu Xiulan a sour look, setting down her cup to instead pick up her mostly finished bowl of grass jelly.

"I wouldn't mind a humbling a few of them, but I don't care much for the idea of everyone being allowed to attack me," Ling Qi said flatly, downing the last of her portion of the night's sweets. The sticky, syrupy drink was more to her taste. It had gotten a little warm, but she still enjoyed the soothing flavor. She wondered if it would be rude to use her fingers to scrape up the last traces from the bottom of the bowl.

"You really do worry too much," Gu Xiulan replied. "Once you have proven yourself strong, most of the yapping dogs will fall silent. It is the way of things. Now is the time to stand out and gain glory." Gu Xiulan nibbled daintily on her last piece of crystal cake.

"I'd rather just stick to the shadows until the worst of it blows over," Ling Qi said dryly. "I've never had much use for glory."

After deliberating, she decided that being a little uncouth was fine. She scraped a finger along the bottom of the bowl and popped the resulting dollop of jelly into her mouth. Gu Xiulan gave her an amused but long suffering look as Ling Qi licked her finger clean.

"Well, that was when you were a mortal, wasn't it?" Gu Xiulan responded chidingly. "Mortals have a use for obscurity, and I will not lie and say that there isn't a time for your talents in that regard. One cannot expect to go everywhere in the world in obscurity though. You cannot mean to tell me that you wish to languish at the bottom forever. I refuse to believe that I have misjudged you so badly."

Ling Qi glanced to the side, not quite meeting the other girl's eyes. It was true that she had a temper, and these last few months had made her more prone to indulging it than her previous years. The other girl… wasn't wrong. What was the point of gaining strength if you were just going to cringe away and let yourself be bullied anyway?

While she didn't dare compare herself to the top disciples, why should she just allow people who weren't any stronger than her to do as they liked to her? To talk about her like she was still just gutter trash?

Hadn't she been in the Elders' advanced classes? Hadn't Elder Su acknowledged her specifically?

"There it is." Gu Xiulan smiled savagely. "You like to play at being reserved, but there is a fire inside you."

"I'm mostly worried about getting ganged up on," Ling Qi admitted. "What's to stop a dozen people from getting together and deciding to put me in my place?"

"I will do my part to help, of course," the other girl preened. "I have reached the Yellow realm and have mastered the next technique of my family arts."

"As you've said a few times already today," Ling Qi replied dryly.

"Must you? Allow me my pride, you cruel girl." Gu Xiulan pouted at her and huffed. "In truth, I doubt such a large group would form unless a stronger disciple instigated it. Who would get the spoils from such a thing? Who would get the glory? That is another reason you should stand out and accept challenges from your peers. It will deter such scavengers."

Ling Qi sighed. It went against years of instinct, but Gu Xiulan knew more about cultivator culture than she did. It also helped that after weeks of being whispered about and snubbed, she dearly wanted to slap a few people around. She could use their spirit stones better than they could.

"Fine. So what do we do?"

"We walk down to the lecture hall with our heads held high," Gu Xiulan said cheerfully as she stood up. "I doubt we will have to wait overlong for a challenge. But if their courage fails them, I'm sure I can arrange something."

Ling Qi stood up herself, expression set in one of determination. She had to face a fight some time.

When the two of them left Gu Xiulan's home and set out into the street, the other female disciples were already out in force, clustered in groups of three or four. Each group eyed each other warily. It was an ominous atmosphere, charged with tension and anticipation.

Then the earth rocked under their feet and a boiling hiss like a thousand teakettles screaming at once sounded from further out. Ling Qi startled as a wave of icy cold and familiar qi washed over her, and a bright red figure shot from the dust cloud now roiling over the rooftops.

Squinting, she could see that the figure was Sun Liling. Malevolent and spiked crimson armor was forming over her torso even as the red mist she emitted in sparring fights erupted and spiralled into her hands, forming a thorny, twisted black and red monstrosity of a spear. It was the first time she had seen the girl with a weapon.

"Someone is starting early," Gu Xiulan mused beside her, squinting upward as the red-haired girl slammed back to earth with a thunderous crash and kicked up another plume of dust, passing back out of sight. "Did you want to go see?" she asked, eyeing Ling Qi.

They both knew who Sun Liling's opponent was. Ling Qi swallowed and shook her head. A fight between Bai Meizhen and Sun Liling? She would just get in the way.

"No, Bai Meizhen can handle herself. I need to deal with my own problems first." Even if Bai Meizhen was wounded in this fight with Sun Liling, she couldn't see her housemate having any other challengers today. Bai Meizhen would be fine.

"Very well. Playing spectator has never been my preference," Gu Xiulan replied with a shrug. "Shall we be off then?"

Ling Qi nodded as another icy cold breeze washed over them and the other nervously chattering disciples. The terrifying hissing sound erupted again.

The two of them set off down the path, leaving the battle in the distance. Ling Qi was glad that she kept all of her important things on her person. She wasn't certain how intact her house was going to be by evening.

The plaza was much the same as the residential area save that the clumped groups were not exclusively female. A great number of disciples were streaming in and out of the lecture hall. Gu Xiulan and Ling Qi passed several other duels in progress, none as flashy as the fight that had broken out between the two top ranked girls. They were able to reach the lecture hall and collect their spirit stones with little trouble.

Ling Qi had her suspicions about that, and they were born out when they left the hall.

"Ling Qi and Gu Xiulan. A beggar and a desert rat. I suppose I should not be surprised to find the 'nobility' of the east keeping such poor company."

The two of them were halted by a loud voice cutting over the chatter of the surrounding crowd. The speaker was Hong Lin, the girl with the pink-streaked hair who had crushed Ling Qi in her first sparring match. Hong Lin stepped out of the crowd, her arms crossed under her modest chest. Stepping out behind her were two faces Ling Qi vaguely recalled. The staff in the hands of the scowling girl was rather more familiar.

"I wouldn't expect scum to keep good company, no," the boy said tightly, his twinned swords already in hands and a scowl on his handsome face.

"You will both pay for humiliating us and blinding Lei Qing," the girl with the staff added quietly, determination on her face.

"I'm sorry. Who are all of you?" Gu Xiulan asked blithely, making the two bristle and Ling Qi shuffle nervously. This scene screamed of being staged to Ling Qi. In the open plaza, the two of them were surrounded by enough watchers to make retreating difficult.

"No, my apologies. I believe I have seen you in Instructor Zhou's training. Fong, was it?" Gu Xiulan added in a sweet and entirely insincere voice.

The pink-haired girl scowled at them. "I see poor memory is among your flaws," Hong Lin replied tartly.

"Trash like her never should have wasted the Instructor's time merely due to a little good luck," Hong Lin added, glowering at Ling Qi. "Nor should she even be in the Sect making pretensions at things she does not deserve. Now that the truce has ended, I no longer need tolerate it."

Hong Lin seemed to have a personal grudge with Ling Qi. This was strange given that Ling Qi had hardly given the girl a thought outside of sparring.

"And you picked up a couple of failures with a grudge to distract me while you fight my friend, Ling Qi? I suppose that is what I would expect of a girl from the core provinces. Your kind have never been much good at fighting your own battles," Gu Xiulan sniffed.

This was what Ling Qi had been afraid of. She couldn't run without leaving Gu Xiulan behind, and she couldn't be certain that some members of their audience wouldn't jump in given the chance.

Still… this was an opportunity too, wasn't it? If she fought off another member of Elder Zhou's class in public, that would warn off weaker disciples.

The other two… She had put them out of her mind after her initial check-up on their status post-Elder Zhou's test. While the girl's speech had relieved her assuming 'Lei Qing' was the girl she thought Gu Xiulan had killed, she couldn't really afford sentiment here.

"I don't know what has you so angry, but I've beaten you before in training," Ling Qi stated flatly, doing her best to sound confident. "I don't have any quarrel with you, but I won't hold back if you start this." That sounded suitably threatening, didn't it?

The twins were too busy glaring at Gu Xiulan to look her way, but Hong Lin bristled.

"You… You wretched little gutter rat. Do not pretend that we have no quarrel even ignoring that you have no place here," Hong Lin snapped.

"I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about," Ling Qi snapped back. "What - are you that angry that Gan Guangli put you in a crater last week?"

"No," Hong Lin said coldly. "I am furious that an ungrateful little harlot of a commoner has been leading my fiancé along."

Ling Qi blinked. She blinked again as the other girl's guai appeared in her hands.

Hong Lin couldn't mean… No...

Dammit, Huang Da.

Chapter 38-Truce End 2

Ling Qi scowled. That guy… He was just causing her one problem after another.

Bad enough that he was a creep who switched 'targets' at the drop of a hat. That people thought badly of her for his interest. And now, that someone was actually going to attack her over it.

"The creep? Do me a favor and leash him."

The other girl's eyes were just beginning to narrow in outrage when Ling Qi's right hand blurred, and a white streak shot out. She flung one of her new knives at the Zhu girl. Even as she was doing so, she darted backwards, the wind stirring around her frame and making her gown billow around her feet.

Throwing without looking at her target had cost her some accuracy, and the Zhu girl nearly escaped her attack, spinning her staff to deflect the knife. A slight tug on the projectile with a current of wind was enough to alter its trajectory, scoring a shallow cut across the back of the girl's hand. It was enough for her qi to take hold.

"Ha ha. Is there anything more pathetic than a woman who cannot even keep her man's eyes upon her?" Gu Xiulan laughed as she paced away to the right to reduce their vulnerability to a group attack.

An arc of flame burned through the air, a wide crescent with a core of flickering blue that forced the sword wielding boy to sidestep in front of his sister and disperse it with a twinned cut of his blades. Ling Qi felt her control of the wind contested in that moment the fire was blown away, but she could also see a grimace on the boy's face as qi flickered around his body where the flames had licked at him.

Ling Qi didn't have time to pay the twins attention though because a furiously scowling Hong Lin had appeared in front of her with a muffled boom. The bar of Hong Lin's guai was coated in a solid shell of grey qi as it swung upward to strike her across the ribs. Ling Qi's eyes widened as she tried to call up a heavy burst of wind to push the other girl back and out of range. She remembered this attack. It was the one which had laid her out in a single strike in her first spar against Hong Lin.

Her Gale Shield wasn't enough as Hong Lin simply bulled through the rushing wind currents with a snarl on her lips. The air flew from Ling Qi's lungs even as her qi drained precipitously to cushion the worst of the blow, and she knew she would be sore after this.

"You don't know anything, you wretched little strumpet!" Hong Lin shouted as Ling Qi desperately ducked under a follow-up strike from the girl's second guai that would have cracked her across the temple.

"Do you think I enjoy watching that boy flit about from one girl to another?" Hong Lin muttered, low enough that Ling Qi doubted anyone else had heard it.

Ling Qi couldn't spare a glance for Gu Xiulan, but she could hear the girl laughing even as a green glow lit up in the corner of her vision and the flagstones were carved open by sharpened wind currents. With Gu Xiulan's greater cultivation and speed and the hobbling that Ling Qi had inflicted, Gu Xiulan seemed to be doing well.

"That sounds like your problem. I don't want the asshole," Ling Qi snapped as she managed to open the distance. She felt so slow under the bright light of dawn, and it irked her that her Sable Crescent Step was so limited without low light. She would have to fix that.

Her flute appeared in her hand. Even as Hong Lin narrowed her eyes and tried to close the distance again, Ling Qi raised the instrument to her lips and began to play the first haunting notes of her Melody. There was a susurrus of surprised and disappointed noises from those watching as thick, cloying mist spilled forth from her flute. The battlefield was quickly consumed by a thick bank of fog.

Ling Qi suppressed a wince at the off tone of her first few notes; she was still short of breath and the aching bruise throbbing on her lower ribs didn't make things any easier. Despite the distraction, she remembered to include Gu Xiulan in the mist's protection. Ling Qi could feel her friend like a cheerfully blazing hearthfire off to her right.

"Of course you would use this cowardly thing," Hong Lin said darkly as she peered through the mist, eyes darting about as she tried to locate Ling Qi. Ling Qi, who had started moving the moment the fog rolled out, was nowhere near the place where the girl's weapons struck. She winced as she felt the furious wind of their passage.

The breathing room she had gained did afford her the opportunity to give the other battle going on a look, and she was pleased to see her earlier assessment was correct. The boy's robes were tattered, revealing that his skin had taken on a bark-like texture that seemed to be protecting him from Gu Xiulan's flames. The girl's eyes were verdant green lanterns in the mist though, and she was surrounded by a circle of viridian light. The Zhu girl's shoulders were trembling from exhaustion, but she was preparing something. However Ling Qi had to focus back on her enemy because Hong Lin wasn't taking her inability to find Ling Qi well.

"If he will not respect me and if I cannot strike him, I can at least break his toys. I cannot be reproached for that."

Ling Qi didn't like the way Hong Lin had paused, fists clenched. Hong Ling's muttering was weird and nonsensical, which worried her. Ling Qi's fears were confirmed when Hong Lin's skin flushed red, qi streaming up visibly around her as her hair and gown fluttered in a phantom wind.

Instincts screaming at her to move, Ling Qi leaped backward with all of her strength, flickering through the mist as soothing dark qi rushed through her veins. She just barely avoided the other girl's paired guai slamming downward in an overhand strike at where Ling Qi had just been standing. The plaza flagstones shattered, chips of stone flying outward from the impact.

Ling Qi only grew more concerned a moment later. The circle of green around the staff girl had pulsed and expanded outward, washing over everyone. As it did, she felt her grip on the twin's qi through her Against the Wind technique disrupted. That girl had to go.

She didn't want to stop playing the Melody, but her qi was rapidly draining away through the rapid-fire use of her techniques. Her only comfort was that if she was draining her qi quickly, the others must be nearly running on fumes too. This gave her one good solution. If the twins were suffering so much fighting Gu Xiulan alone, she would just have to give them more foes.

Avoiding another thunderous strike from her own opponent. Ling Qi played first dissonant note of the new verse, the shadows grew darker and hungry eyes appeared in the mist. All three of her enemies stiffened, moving to dodge the shadowy claws and fangs now nipping at their heels. Hong Lin shrugged off her attacker with a snarl, the mist failing to do more than scratch uselessly at her flushed skin, but the other two were not so lucky.

A trio of bloody cuts slashed across Zhu Mei's forehead, causing her to stumble and cry out in pain as blood began to pour down into her eyes. Zhu Fong was similarly unlucky, except his misfortune was the jagged cut across his knee that caused him to stumble when a burning, many tongued whip blazed into existence in Gu Xiulan's gloved hand and coiled around his limbs with a flick of the laughing girl's wrist. He screamed as it burned through his clothing and slammed him bodily into his sister, sending them both to the ground in a tumble.

Ling Qi winced as she heard the crack of breaking bone, but she had no time to worry about that. The qi aura around Hong Lin was beginning to fade, and she could see the girl breathing heavily. Whatever Hong Lin had done clearly strained her. However, it didn't stop her from raising her hands and weapons, her hands and forearms darkening to the color of steel as qi infused them.

This time, when Ling Qi flew backward, it wasn't entirely of her own will. When Hong Lin struck the ground, the earth rocked, and a rippling burst of dark, iron-colored qi erupted from around her like a shimmering wall. It struck Ling Qi like a speeding carriage, and Ling Qi could feel bruises forming all across her body even as she did her best to move with the motion of the blow as Elder Zhou had taught her. It was her movement art, Sable Crescent Step, that saved her the worst of it. Ling Qi could feel some of the force of Hong Lin's attack passing through her harmlessly in places as she melded with the mist.

The blast still disrupted her song and blew the mist away with a thunderous crash, leaving her standing exposed in the middle of the damaged plaza. Hong Lin was hardly in the best shape either; the flush was fading from her skin as she panted for breath, shoulders slumping tiredly as she stared incredulously at Ling Qi.

"How! How are you still standing after…"

Whatever else Hong Lin was going to say was cut off as she screamed in pain. The lance of white hot fire seared across her lower legs and sent her tumbling to the ground, her badly burned legs apparent among the burning tatters of her gown.

"Because she is simply better than you, you whining child," Gu Xiulan said coldly as she strode over. Gu Xiulan looked somewhat battered. A thin stream of blood flowed from the corner of her lip, and she looked furious.

Ling Qi surreptitiously popped one of her qi restoring pills while Gu Xiulan spoke, choosing not to comment on just how close the fight had been. She was all too aware that they still had an audience with nearly a dozen other disciples watching them. She absolutely could not afford to appear tired right now so she did her best to stand straight and keep her expression confident despite the pounding in her ears. Thankfully, Gu Xiulan was fully willing to take the attention for herself.

"Let that be a lesson to you," Gu Xiulan said haughtily, voice cracking through the air like the whip she had been wielding as sparks danced in the air around her. "Do you truly think that I, a daughter of the Gu family, last descendants of the Purifying Sun, would extend my friendship to a weakling? That Elder Guan Zhou, the great Bulwark of the South, would accept an unworthy student? Check your pride and delusions. We will happily break them for you should you find yourself unable to do so."

The murmuring around them grew briefly louder and angrier, and Ling Qi tensed as she scowled at her fellow disciples. Then, the tension broke, and the first of their audience turned away, a pair of boys who inclined their heads slightly to Gu Xiulan before leaving. The other disciples drifted away as well, some with more reluctance and unfriendliness in their expressions than others. Gu Xiulan continued to glare before hmphing and reaching into her pouch for a restoration pill herself.

"Shall we take our spoils then?" Gu Xiulan asked brightly after swallowing the pill, turning to Ling Qi with an expectant look. "I believe an even split is fair in this case."

Ling Qi nodded slowly, looking at their opponents. Hong Lin was struggling to sit up, a grimace on her face, and Zhu Mei was slumped at her brother's side, tears crawling down her face as she frantically worked to heal her brother's burns. As for the boy himself, he was unconscious, bleeding from a shallow cut on his head where it had struck the flagstones.

She had… won?

Chapter 39-Truce End 3

"Yeah, I guess we should collect our due," Ling Qi replied absently to Gu Xiulan, glaring at Hong Lin. Despite her words, she still felt ambivalent when she glanced at the other two. It wasn't precisely guilt because in the end, they had attacked her and her... friend. She couldn't really think of Gu Xiulan any other way after her words to the crowd although she was still wary of the other girl's temper and inclinations.

"Zhu Mei, right?" Ling Qi called, studiously ignoring the handful of people still lurking within ear shot. The girl's shoulders stiffened and her head shot up even as the green glow around her hands continued unabated. "You have till we're done with Hong Lin to finish up healing your brother. Then you drop the staff."

Ling Qi glanced to Gu Xiulan for approval even as she spoke. It was a little presumptuous to take the lead, but hopefully, the other girl would be fine with it. Gu Xiulan simply cocked her head to the side slightly, an amused smile on her lips.

"There is no rush. I will keep an eye on her," she said simply, turning to face down the twin cultivators with her arms crossed in that slightly irritating bust-emphasizing way she had.

Zhu Mei's face twisted with helpless frustration, but after a moment, she meekly nodded and returned to her work, dropping her gaze from Gu Xiulan's unimpressed stare. Ling Qi strode toward Hong Lin where the girl had finally managed to sit up. Hong Lin's legs were burnt badly, and Ling Qi's stomach churned at the scent of cooked flesh. All the same, she kept her glare unwavering as she flicked a knife into her hand.

"I don't want anything to do with you or that creep," Ling Qi said quietly. "But you attacked me, and I won't just forgive that. I figure you know what comes next."

Hong Lin sneered up at Ling Qi, but Ling Qi could see the weakness in Hong Lin's expression and the trembling in the hands keeping her upright. "Of course. Now you rob me, correct? It isn't as if I would expect anything else from a beggar."

"Oh, do stop that," Gu Xiulan said dryly, not turning around. "You soft central cultivators do so love your pretensions, but let us not seriously entertain the notion that you would not be taking spoils in our place."

Hong Lin sniffed, somehow managing to sound haughty despite the obvious pain she was in. "A token of victory is hardly the same as the robbery you sand-dwelling bandits engage in. Get on with it."

Ling Qi rolled her eyes, having no further desire to engage with the girl. Hong Lin sat stiffly as Ling Qi scooped up her weapons, only barely managing to avoid lurching under their tremendous weight. Her expression darkened when Ling Qi spotted a familiar grey ring on her right hand and reached down to take it. The last thing that caught Ling Qi's eye was a pair of glittering silver anklets that Hong Lin wore, shimmering and unburnt despite the state of the girl's leggings and shoes.

Ling Qi felt bad at the restrained sob of pain that the other girl let out when she removed them, but she crushed the feeling ruthlessly. Just because she had resolved to be a better ally to her friends didn't mean she had to be kind to enemies. A quick scan showed her nothing else of value, and Ling Qi wasn't about to escalate to strip searching the other girl.

"Don't come near me again," Ling Qi said flatly as she stood up. "I don't want any further conflict with you. Deal with your own problems."

Ling Qi could see that her words were futile from the hatred in the other girl's eyes. Hong Lin rose unsteadily to her feet and turned away, slowly limping off in the direction of the market and the medicine pavilion. Ling Qi would just have to get strong enough that the other girl and her lunatic fiance couldn't threaten her.

"I will show you how to attune the storage ring when we are done," Gu Xiulan said conversationally as Ling Qi turned around to face the same way as her. Ling Qi grunted in response, arms trembling as she continued to support Hong Lin's paired guai.

"You… don't want it?" Ling Qi asked carefully. She had gotten the impression that storage rings were pretty valuable.

"Father will be sending me a similar one now that I have reached the second realm," Gu Xiulan said with a shrug. "Now, allow me to take care of this since your hands are full."

Zhu Fong had stirred to consciousness while Ling Qi had been relieving Hong Lin of her items, and he glared up at Gu Xiulan from the ground. "This won't be the end of this," he vowed stiffly as the glow faded from his sister's hands.

"It should be," Ling Qi replied tiredly. "You aren't going to help anyone like this."

Gu Xiulan smirked, idly brushing a few strands of hair that had come loose from her braid out of her eyes.

"Ling Qi is right. You'll only waste your time on this nonsense. It is hardly my fault your families lack the expertise to aid her," Gu Xiulan said dismissively, causing Zhu Mei to flush in shame and Zhu Fong's scowl to deepen. "Now, place your talismans and pouches on the ground, or would you prefer to be crude like that Hong girl?"

"Bandit," the boy spat, even as he kicked the sword still lying at his side toward them and began to remove his belt pouch. Ling Qi uncomfortably shifted from foot to foot as she watched the girl set her staff down with a pained look and remove a rather pretty white jade hairpin in the shape of a lotus flower from her hair. Her brother merely unwound his sash and threw it atop his sword. Gu Xiulan collected it all while humming cheerfully to herself, along with the boy's other sword and Ling Qi's knife that she had thrown at the start of the fight.

Gu Xiulan dismissed the Zhu twins with a wave of her hand after that, and Ling Qi fell in beside her as they walked away. They were heading back toward the lecture hall to organize and go through their winnings. Ling Qi took the time to take another of her qi recovery pills.

In the first empty room they found, Ling Qi dumped their newfound treasures on an empty desk before turning to Gu Xiulan. "How does this work?" she asked, holding up the little grey ring.

Gu Xiulan looked up from the paired sabers she had been examining. "Ah. Just apply a drop of blood, and channel your qi into the ring. It will attune easily enough."

Ling Qi frowned dubiously, but there was no point in doubting Gu Xiulan now. She grimaced as she pricked her finger on the tip of one of her knives and let the resulting drop of blood fall onto the dull ring.

The drop was immediately absorbed, and Ling Qi hurried to push a thread of qi in after it. The moment she did, she stiffened when a 'window' seemed to open in her mind. It was disorienting at first, like looking out of a third eye, but the disorientation soon faded to the point where it felt more like something hovering just on the edge of her vision.

If she focused on it, she found that she could see the inside of a small hollow stone cube in which pills and spirit stones were piled. Excited, Ling Qi tried to reach for them… only for a dozen pills and a two score or more of stones to rain down on the floor in a noisy clatter and go rolling wildly away.

Gu Xiulan raised an eyebrow, and Ling Qi gave her a sheepish grin. It looked like she would need some practice in using storage rings.

Once they had recovered their spoils from under the desks and benches and piled them up, Ling Qi remained amazed. On the desk before them was more spirit stones than she had seen in her life up to that point, including a few glittering yellow ones. Yellow stones were worth ten red ones, according to Gu Xiulan, but the exchange rate for higher tier stones apparently grew steeply with each level to the point that a single green stone was worth fifty yellow ones.

The pills, which were meant to help someone cultivate metal, mountain, and wood arts, were sadly not much use directly. The two of them agreed to simply split the proceeds on the pills rather than bother dividing them up. Gu Xiulan would get the larger split since Ling Qi had taken the storage ring.

The talismans were another matter

"Do you want to go to the market before we decide what to do with them?" Ling Qi asked tentatively as they considered the small pile of gear. Ling Qi was reluctant to suggest it - and not just because the idea of spending the next several hours being dragged around by Gu Xiulan on a shopping trip was pretty unappealing. She was worried about everyone else. Bai Meizhen had been fighting Sun Liling, and who knew what was happening with Li Suyin and Su Ling or even Han Jian and the others.

Gu Xiulan contemplated her proposal. "I had considered going to see how Jian was faring," she said thoughtfully. "Or at least find a few of our more insulting peers to put in their place…"

"What was up with that anyway?" Ling Qi asked, idly twisting the new ring on her finger. She couldn't do anything for Bai Meizhen, and her other friends were probably hiding out at this point if she knew them at all.

"I understand why they were insulting me, but what was that 'desert rat' stuff? And what were you talking about at the end there when you were scaring them off?" It had slipped her mind at the time, but she was curious now that they had a moment's peace.

Gu Xiulan sniffed disdainfully., drumming her fingers against the desk she was leaning on. "Childish and outdated insults about my home and nothing more. You are familiar with the tale of Lu Guanxi?"

"Yeah. He was a hero who saved the Empire…" Ling Qi wracked her brain for more details, but she hadn't exactly had time for bedtime stories after leaving Mother behind. She had recalled parts of this story when she first met Han Jian though.

"From… some huge army of walking corpses," Ling Qi finished a little lamely, unable to remember the rest of the story. "The King of… Something?"

"The Twilight King," Gu Xiulan corrected gently. "A pretender to the imperial throne who used forbidden arts to craft abominations of his slain foes. In any case, the Gu family is a surviving branch house of the extinct Lu family. Hence, we are descended from the Purifying Sun."

Ling Qi was pretty sure she was missing something. Her understanding was that Gu Xiulan's family was lower status than Han Jian's. But if they were related to a Founding Family, shouldn't the Gu be higher ranked?

"Alright," she replied slowly. "So that explains the speech. What about the insults?"

Gu Xiulan scowled, and the air warmed slightly. "My esteemed ancestor's actions were necessary, but they were hardly without ill effect. Much of Golden Fields remains an ashen wasteland to this day, and in the first millennia after the Scouring, the surviving houses of the province… struggled to stay competitive with the rest of the Empire.

"Of course, my family has worked long and hard to ensure that we are no longer poor vagrants scrabbling among ruins. Such words betray the speaker's lack of knowledge and poor education."

Ling Qi nodded slowly, considering that. Was that why Gu Xiulan liked flaunting her wealth so much? She doubted that was the entire reason, but she suspected this common misconception about Golden Fields might be part of it.

"That's interesting…" Ling Qi considered how to gracefully segue back into the other subject, and upon failing to think of a way to do so, she just bluntly raised it. "So, the market?"

Gu Xiulan raised her hand to cover her mouth and laughed lightly. "Ling Qi, if you really wish for me to help you get yourself well appointed, you only had to ask," she said cheerfully. "That gown of yours is so ill fitting. I know. Why don't we both get ourselves fitted for new gowns? I have had about enough of these dowdy grey things."

Ling Qi felt a creeping sense of dread as she glanced down at her wrinkled gown with its twice-wrapped sash and too short hems. "This is fine. Really," she said hurriedly. "Besides, isn't this the Sect uniform?"

"It really isn't," Gu Xiulan replied chidingly. "You aren't presenting yourself strongly with such things. The soft color works for you in a way that does not for me, but I think you might be better with black and shades of blue instead. You will want to stick the high cut to avoid drawing attention to your more... deficient attributes. Do you have anything against veils?"

"I don't need to hide my face. I don't look that bad," Ling Qi snapped.

"No, no." Gu Xiulan rolled her eyes. "I wasn't implying anything of the sort. That said, you could do with making a bit more use of your cosmetics. But your hair is coming along very nicely."

Ling Qi fingered one of the stray strands that always hung in her face. It's true that her hair wasn't quite as lank and stringy anymore, but that wasn't the point. Ling Qi hadn't missed that comment about her "deficiencies" either. "Then what did you mean?"

"I mean that you could very well manage the mysterious look with a bit of work, silly girl," Gu Xiulan said in exasperation. "You know the sort - the ones with veils and trailing lengths of silk that billow with their movements. It would certainly fit with that movement technique of yours.

"Besides, a proper cultivator's gown will do you better in protection than that ugly thing you are currently wearing under your garments. Did you go out of your way to select the least appealing gear at the market?"

"I got what I could afford," Ling Qi replied defensively, but her anger had simmered down. Gu Xiulan wouldn't get her something explicitly worse than what she was already using, even if she'd probably insist on a bunch of silly aesthetic stuff. And Ling Qi did have a lot of stones right now and could have more from her share of the proceeds if they sold a few of the talismans...

Besides, keeping so much money on her felt like asking for trouble. Wouldn't it be better to get useful things?

Chapter 40-Truce End 4

"I'm not dressing up like some dancer," Ling Qi said stubbornly as she walked beside Gu Xiulan down one of the streets in the market. "I just want something practical."

Gu Xiulan gave a put upon sigh as she led them around a corner; she apparently knew where she wanted to go for this so Ling Qi simply followed her.

"You are such a difficult girl," Gu Xiulan grumbled. "I do not think I have ever met another young lady so stubbornly opposed to improving her appearance."

"Probably because I'm not a 'lady,'" Ling Qi replied waspishly. "There's no point in trying to pretend to be something I'm not."

"Isn't there though?" Gu Xiulan shot back immediately, seeming frustrated. "No one will respect you if you choose to continue behaving and appearing the way you do."

Ling Qi frowned at the other girl. "If I get strong enough, they will. That's the point of cultivation, isn't it?"

"And mastering one's appearance and its effects on others is a form of strength," Gu Xiulan argued passionately. "When a lady can halt aggression or guide those around her with a smile and a few honeyed words, that, too, is strength. Similarly, the ability for a man such as Han Jian to inspire loyalty and awe with his words and presence is also strength."

"I suppose," Ling Qi grudgingly replied. "I don't like it though. I'll just follow your lead. I'm not wearing something that's going to take an hour to put on though."

Gu Xiulan smirked at her victory, and Ling Qi hunched her shoulders in irritation. She knew the other girl was right. Choosing to refuse the trappings of culture and wealth wasn't going to do her any favors in the long run. Was that what Mother had been trying to do? Ling Qi had thought Mother was just grooming her to follow in her footsteps at the brothel, but… If she was honest with herself, Mother had never mentioned anything of the sort.

"Gu Xiulan, the Sect said we could communicate with those outside the Sect now, right? Do you know where I would have to go to send a letter, even if I'm... not sure where the recipient is?"

Her companion blinked at the change in subject but recovered quickly. "I suppose there should be an office of the Ministry of Communication in the town at the base of the mountain. They rarely fail to deliver their messages to the intended recipient," Gu Xiulan replied slowly, eyeing Ling Qi curiously.

"And is there a way to trade a red stone or two for silver?" Ling Qi asked tentatively. It hurt to spend her scant resources on something that didn't immediately help her, but she remembered her conversation with the spider spirit in the well. She also remembered how thin and listless Mother had looked the last time she had seen her. There hadn't been that much grey in Mother's hair when Ling Qi had left home. Mother's profession wasn't exactly one kind to aging, even if, or indeed because, looking back, the… establishment Mother worked at was pretty high class as those things went.

Gu Xiulan pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I suppose you would be able to do that in the same place. The Ministry typically handles such things as part of their business dealings. Why would you wish to waste your stones so though?"

"Why do you think?" Ling Qi asked irritably, giving Gu Xiulan an unimpressed look. "You know I am a commoner. I just… I didn't part on great terms with my Mother, and I thought I could help her out a little." She had to be careful. Too much money at once would just make Mother a target… Maybe she could set up something to mail her a little every month?

Gu Xiulan paused in the street. "Ah. That is rather obvious in hindsight. How obtuse of me. Well, I don't see that being a problem. Interfering overmuch in mortal affairs is frowned upon, but no one would rebuke you for seeing to the care of family." Gi Xiulan furrowed her brows. "Why would you not know the location of your own mother?"

Ling Qi shifted uncomfortably, barely avoiding bumping into one of the passerby. "I… kind of ran away from home when I was… ten," she replied slowly. "Yeah, I had just recently turned ten. I've only seen her once or twice since so I'm not sure if she still lives in the same place."

Ling Qi saw a flicker of genuine surprise on the other girl's face. "I… see. Yes, that would be a problem," Gu Xiulan replied neutrally while giving Ling Qi an appraising look. "No wonder you act like a ruffian. You will apologize, of course. I know not your circumstances, but to abandon family in such a way is shameful."

Ling Qi scowled defensively, but then looked away, shoulders drooping. "...Yeah, I know. That's the idea." How does one go about apologizing for that kind of thing?

'Hi Mother. It's me, Ling Qi, the daughter you probably assumed was dead in a gutter years ago! Turns out I'm an immortal now so you shouldn't worry. Here's some money because giving it to you hardly costs me a thing. Sorry for being a selfish and disobedient daughter!'

As Ling Qi held back a snort of laughter at her own musings, Gu Xiulan came to a stop. "Leaving that aside for now, we are here. I am going to make a lady of you yet," Gu Xiulan said with cheerful determination.

Ling Qi felt a spike of regret that had nothing to do with her lack of filial piety.

The next few hours were a drag of poking, prodding, needles and cloth, and more than a couple of fairly heated disagreements with Gu Xiulan over the exact specifications of what Ling Qi wanted. In the end, Ling Qi managed to avoid all the gauzy scarves Gu Xiulan wanted to dress her in and came out of the whole mess with something she could actually feel comfortable wearing.

Her new gown was high-necked and covered everything below her collarbones. It had the same long and billowy sleeves she had gotten used to. The outer layer was dark blue, nearly black silk with embroidered patterns of silver flower petals being blown in the wind across the chest. The hems were silver embroidery as well, but they were arranged in patterns of formation characters rather than flower petals. The sash and underlayer of the gown were a lighter blue.

Most importantly, the new gown fit her perfectly, which was nice from a comfort perspective even if Ling Qi felt awkward about the way the cloth tightly hugged her hips, and while it helped that the formations woven into the gown meant that right now, she was better armored than most guardsman, there were still a couple features she wasn't very happy about.

"Was it really necessary to have it slit so high?" Ling Qi said self-consciously as they strolled out of the dress shop, clutching the silky cloth closed in her hands. The slit nearly came up to her knees!

"Do stop that. You're going to wrinkle the dress," Gu Xiulan chided. Her own gown was all reds and golds and cut significantly lower than Ling Qi's to boot on top of having tighter and less open sleeves. "You said you wanted practicality, did you not? It will not hinder your movement at all."

"I feel like the second I really start moving or a breeze kicks up, I'm going to be flashing my legs like some kind of deviant," Ling Qi grumbled. "...Thank you though." For all her complaining, this thing was worth it from what the tailor had told her of its abilities. On top of the base level toughness it would enhance the effects of techniques using water qi, like her Forgotten Vale Melody.

"It's a good thing you have some command of the wind then," Gu Xiulan replied dryly. "So that you may ensure that you only flash your legs when you wish to. You're welcome. I suppose this is a good start, but one dress hardly makes a wardrobe."

Ling Qi blinked, feeling sheepish as she smoothed the wrinkles in her dress and instead took hold of the currents of air around her.

"Right. Forgot about that," Ling Qi mumbled, feeling foolish. She would have to practice to avoid doing anything embarrassing. "I'm not going to do it on purpose."

"If you say so," Gu Xiulan replied dubiously. "Now, shall we go about ridding ourselves of our remaining load?"

"Yeah, let's. I'd rather have some space in my new ring," Ling Qi agreed. "I actually want a couple of the talismans so I was thinking…"

The two of them chatted about the details as they shopped around for good prices on the talismans Ling Qi wasn't interested in keeping.

Despite being tempted by some of the more expensive pills and elixirs, Ling Qi spent only a small amount of her stones on them given that she planned to attempt breakthrough in the near future. She did, however, stock up on qi recovery pills and healing salves.

The majority of her take went to the purchase of the only dark qi-enhancing talisman she had found in the entire market. It was an innocuous thing, a ribbon of black silk meant to be worn around the neck like a choker. Merely putting it on let her feel the qi in her dark-aligned meridians flowing more smoothly.

Still, despite the shopping trip with Gu Xiulan being surprisingly enjoyable, her other concerns niggled at her mind more and more as the day wore on. Were her friends alright? Had Bai Meizhen won her battle? Ling Qi began to feel guilty for spending so much time on something like this.Gu Xiulan seemed to pick up on her growing disquiet and so with the last of the spoils they intended to sell gone and their purchases made, the two of them left the market and headed back toward the female residences.

The bad feeling in the pit of her stomach only grew as they drew close enough to see the smoke rising from the residential area.

Chapter 41-Truce End 5

Ling Qi and Gu Xiulan parted ways at the entrance to the female residences, and Ling Qi hurried along toward the center where her home lay.

Things had changed since this morning. There were signs of battle in the streets from scorched or cracked stonework to deep gouges and craters in the earth. Ling Qi wondered who would be repairing the damage or if they would at all. Maybe the Elders only repaired infrastructure when a new class was incoming, and the disciples would just have to deal with the damage they had inflicted on the residential area themselves. That seemed like the sort of thing the Elders might do for several reasons.

Such thoughts fled her mind as she approached the house she had been living in for the last few months. Her stomach dropped when it came into sight. Maybe it was because it had been the first real home she had had since she left Mother, but seeing it in ruins was disheartening.

Much of the front wall had collapsed, and it had taken a chunk of the roof with it. Pieces of the wall were scattered across the street, which, along with other nearby buildings, was scarred by deep pits. It almost seemed like great chunks of earth and stone had simply melted.

Amid the wreckage, Bai Meizhen sat silently in a meditative pose, pristine and pale, atop a flat slab of rock that looked to have previously been a part of the their roof. The image was somewhat ruined by the blood staining both the bottom of her silver robes and her shredded sleeves. It left much of her snow white arms bare, but Bai Meizhen seemed unbothered by the nearly indecent exposure.

The other thing that broke the image of serenity was the great, poisonous green serpent coiled around the meditating girl. From the pattern on the serpent's scales, Ling Qi could tell it was Cui, but Cui was far from the tiny, finger-thick snake she usually was. Bai Meizhen's cousin was now currently as thick as one of her thighs and several times longer than Ling Qi was tall if her estimation was correct.

Cui twitched at her approach, raising her head and letting out a threatening hiss as her eyes locked onto Ling Qi. Ling Qi stopped immediately, raising her hands in a carefully non-threatening manner. The serpent regarded her silently, tongue flicking in and out as she tasted the air.

'Cousin Meizhen, your little mouse has returned.'

Ling Qi blinked in surprise; Cui had avoided talking to her since that first time when Ling Qi had asked about repaying Bai Meizhen. Cui's voice was no longer garbled and sounded like the voice of an arrogant girl a few years younger than her. Ling Qi frowned almost immediately when the words processed. What was with spirit beasts and not using her name?

Bai Meizhen opened her eyes then, her expression weary and somber. "Ling Qi, I am glad you are doing well," she greeted, studying Ling Qi as she turned her head to look at her. "I see your day has been profitable."

"Yeah," Ling Qi replied, picking through the rubble field around her friend as she approached and studied the other girl in return. That was… a lot of blood on her gown. Ling Qi felt guilty at the contrast between the two of them.

"I got in a fight when I went to pick up my stone allowance. I didn't get too badly hurt so I went to the market to offload my spoils." She paused, and the awkward silence stretched between them. "Are you alright? If you're hurt, I picked up some healing salves while I was there."

"Thank you, but I am afraid it would do little good," Bai Meizhen replied, looking up from her study of Ling Qi's gown. "Wounds dealt by that wretched girl's blood do not heal easily. Common medicines will have little effect."

"... Oh," Ling Qi said, feeling even worse. She fidgeted with her gown as she came to a stop a short distance from the barrier that Cui formed around Bai Meizhen. "Did you beat her? And what do you mean by her blood? I saw she had that spear, but-" Ling Qi immediately shut her mouth, horrified that she had just let slip that she had seen the fight and done nothing. What would the other girl think of her?

Bai Meizhen furrowed her brows, and Ling Qi saw her hands clench atop her knees. The temperature around the girl dropped, and Ling Qi felt a stirring of fear in her gut.

"It was a draw," the serpentine girl said grudgingly, her normally even and controlled voice simmering with a hint of worrying anger. It didn't seem directed at Ling Qi, which stung a little if she was honest. She almost wished the other girl was angry. As it was, her friend simply had no expectation that Ling Qi could have meaningfully helped her in the fight against Sun Liling.

"The Scarlet Devil's Raiment is a foreign technique, twisting and manipulating the user's blood into superlative armaments. It works particularly well with that wretched girl's potent lineage. Her family has truly gone native," Bai Meizhen added with disgust.

Ling Qi honestly had no idea how to respond to that. The weapon and armor she had seen Sun Liling summon were made of her blood? How in the world had she not simply bled herself dry? Why would someone from such a wealthy family not simply have talisman armor and weapons?

"Are your legs going to be fine?" Ling Qi asked. Now that she was closer, she could see that Bai Meizhen's legs were swathed in bloody bandages under her tattered gown.

Bai Meizhen pursed her lips, her intense yellow gaze drifting to the side awkwardly as she tugged at the tattered portion of her gown to better cover herself. "I will heal in time. We chose to stop before either of us could harm one another permanently," she said. "I am afraid we will require a new residence though."

"Nevermind that. We can look for another house later. Let me help you to the Medicine Hall," Ling Qi said firmly. She felt a twinge of fear as she stepped over Cui's emerald coils andoffered Bai Meizhen her hand. Ling Qi hadn't been there for her in the fight. Maybe she couldn't have affected it, but she could do this.

Bai Meizhen blinked at her, nonplussed.

"That will not be necessary. My constitution is hardly so fragile. A few wounds like these are not worth bothering the healers over. Grandfather has inflicted far worse in the course of training," she replied coolly. Ling Qi caught the tiny bit of discomfort in her voice. "Besides, I do not wish to sully your new gown. I am aware that you cannot afford many like it."

It was Ling Qi's turn to frown. "Are you really going to worry about something dumb like that?" she asked incredulously. She couldn't say anything about what had just been revealed about her housemate's family situation and couldn't rightfully comment on it besides, but she was honestly thrown by the last comment.

"It's just a dress. I can wash it," she said flatly. "And I'm not going to let you sit there wounded because you want to be tough. There's no reason not to visit the Medicine Hall. Or are you really going to tell me that you can't afford it?"

Ling Qi was uncomfortably aware of Cui's head hovering behind her back within easy striking distance as she finished speaking. That… might have been presumptuous and rude now that she thought about it, but it was too late to take the words back. So instead of apologizing and backing away, she simply firmed her expression and continued to hold out her hand.

Her housemate stared at her silently, making Ling Qi begin to sweat. Finally, she reached up and took Ling Qi's hand. Her skin was oddly cool and felt very soft against the rough calluses that persisted on Ling Qi's hands despite her cultivation. Bai Meizhen let out a soft and prolonged hiss of pain as she moved to stand with Ling Qi's help and stumbled as her legs buckled beneath her.

Ling Qi managed to catch her, slipping an arm under the other girl's shoulders to help support her. The pale girl leaning against her chest straightened up almost immediately, her snow white cheeks pinked from the exertion. There was a faint look of embarrassment on the stoic girl's features though so Ling Qi kept her eyes straight ahead as she supported the other girl. Bai Meizhen was obviously not used to accepting help.

"C'mon, just take it one step at a time. Once we take care of you, we can see about picking out a nicer house," Ling Qi said brightly, trying to break the awkward silence.

'Hmph. Cousin Meizhen will listen to the mouse over I, Cui. How insulting,' the huge serpent sulked as she uncoiled to get out of their way and follow. Her voice still made Ling Qi twitch.

Bai Meizhen was silent as she limped along, leaning heavily against Ling Qi's side, expression wooden. Ling Qi worriedly snuck a glance at her now and then. She figured the other girl was concentrating on simply moving given the trembling she could detect in her steps. It was during one of those glances as they made their way down the street that Bai Meizhen looked up to meet her gaze.

"Thank you," she said quietly before looking back down.

"It's nothing. I can't do much more than this anyway," Ling Qi said bitterly. She still wasn't strong enough. Not to help Meizhen, not to take care of herself.

She needed to break through. That was the first step toward real strength.

The trip was difficult. Despite her obvious effort, Bai Meizhen was unable to move faster than a slow walk. Ling Qi grew more tense as they moved through the residences; out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the other girls murmuring to each other and shooting unfriendly glances their way. It looked like between her stunt in the plaza earlier and Bai Meizhen's current weakness, they were attracting even more hostility than usual.

Ling Qi simply set her shoulders and kept walking, refusing to let herself be slowed down. Besides, Cui was still slithering at their side, and she thought the serpent made for a potent deterrent.

For a time, she was right. They made it out of the residential area and were well on their way toward the market when they found themselves approaching a crowd in the middle of the road. Nearly a dozen people, boys and girls, blocked the path. Ling Qi recognized a handful of them from Elder Zhou's lessons, although not enough to remember their names. She was fairly certain they were all people she had beaten after she revealed her techniques though.

"Stop," the boy at the front of the group called to them as they came within earshot some twenty meters away. "I apologize, Miss Bai, but my associates and I require words with your maid." He sounded arrogant to Ling Qi, but she could detect nervousness in his tone.

"What is the meaning of this?" Bai Meizhen asked coldly, standing up straighter as Cui let out a threatening hiss from beside Ling Qi.

"She has insulted all of us deeply with her conduct," the boy replied stiffly. "Elevating herself above her station, being rude to her betters, and now beating and robbing Hong Lin and the Zhu siblings? If you cannot discipline your servants, it falls to us, your peers, to do it for you."

"They attacked me," Ling Qi replied flatly. "I only returned the favor. Aren't you being a little too arrogant?" She tried to project confidence, but she really was worried. There were too many people here. Eight to be exact, five girls and three boys.

"He is. You all are. What do you intend to do exactly, should I not stand aside and allow this farce?" Bai Meizhen said with a scowl.

The boy scowled back. "It is the two of you who are being too arrogant. If you will not stand aside, Bai Meizhen, then you will find yourself our enemy as well. Many of us have older siblings and relatives in the Sect. Do you think you can simply bully everyone and get away with it? You are hardly in the sort of shape to contest us all."

Ling Qi almost wanted to cry at the sheer unfairness of that statement. In contrast, Bai Meizhen's expression only grew darker. "Cowardly trash. Do you think I fear your petty retribution? That your pathetic families, scrabbling in the dirt, having existed for only a bare few millennia, concern me? Truly, things have fallen far that so many would forget their place so. It shows only the rot that has been allowed to set in."

"I don't disagree," Ling Qi replied quietly out of the corner of her mouth, looking for good escape routes. She saw several, but she wasn't sure Bai Meizhen could make it up those cliffs as she was. This felt more and more like she and her 'indiscretions' were just an excuse to take a shot at a wounded Bai Meizhen. "But should we really be antagonizing them this much? We should retreat."

"The Bai clan has always been too proud." The boy drew the straight sword that had been sheathed on his belt. "Its history is indeed mighty, but the rot you speak of lies within your own house. While the Empire grows strong, you turn on yourselves and devour your own. The days in which your clan could do whatever it wished have passed. Or has your family forgotten the execution of Bai Meilien so quickly?"

Ling Qi could hear the tremble of fear in his voice despite his brash words.

"Real pretty words from a guy who needs eight people to face two. You all are just oh so brave," Ling Qi snapped, preparing herself to run. She could probably pick up Bai Meizhen and dash for it if it came down to it. It would probably be better to take the upward…

Her thoughts cut off as she felt her skin crawl and a wave of paralyzing terror rippled out, nearly making her scream despite the fact that she could feel that it wasn't directed at her. She looked down and found Bai Meizhen's expression to be absolutely livid. The pale girl stood, no longer leaning on her.

"It seems you wish for pain." Bai Meizhen hissed. Ling Qi had never heard the girl sound so cold. Even Cui had reared up, baring fangs coated with clear venom that melted smoking pits in the dirt where it dripped.

Ling Qi's face fell. She wasn't the best at reading people… but she really didn't think Bai Meizhen was going to run now - if she ever would have in the first place. Ling Qi could probably still scoop the other girl up and dash for it - she was good at hiding, and Sable Crescent Step only made her better - but she didn't know if the furious girl would allow herself to be carried away.

All of her instincts told her this was a terrible idea. Fighting against four times their number was suicidal, even if almost half of them were trembling and white-faced from the feeling of Bai Meizhen's qi.

A quick glance showed that four, including the asshole doing the talking, held swords. The melee fighters moved forward in a staggered line. The remaining four were more eclectic in their weapon choices. There were a couple of archers, a girl who was unarmed save for a pair of faintly glowing blue gloves, and a boy with a heavy pike who was murmuring something under his breath.

Bai Meizhen was still badly injured and nearly immobile. Even if Bai Meizhen were stronger, could she and Cui really stand up to them all? Ling Qi felt a chill of her old fear, urging her to flee and leave this all behind.

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