Xie Ling decided to take a circuitous route to the courtyard, taking time to observe the people and things that now surrounded him, hoping to get some insight into this strange new world. On his way, he saw alphas of the various sects and he thanked his stars that he remembered to stop and bow his head as they passed him. He saw omegas like him and greeted them with the subtle acknowledgment of equals who recognized each other.
The hallways were similar in style and design. The walls were paneled with rough-hewn oak, bright with an oiled finish, and decorated with tapestries depicting ancient battles that fascinated Xie Ling so much, he knew he would have to return to study them properly. As he walked in the hallway, Xie Ling could perceive the strong smell of old leather mixed with pork and potatoes drifting in from elsewhere, but outside in the courtyard, the air was cool and fresh. Before joining the cultivators who were in the middle of a playful late-afternoon joust, Xie Ling took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the cool fresh air.
He had barely taken three steps into the courtyard before multiple eyes started to turn in this direction. Even in a world free to make its own rules as this, his hair, hair, and eyes were still a big draw. Two of those eyes, of course, belonged to Zhang Wei. The manner in which Zhang Wei's eyes flickered toward him did something to Xie Ling's insides that suddenly made him hyper-aware that he was being looked at. Remember, Xie Ling, do not talk to him directly if you do not want to lose points. Zhang Wei kept his eyes on Xei Ling as the latter walked into the crowd, maintaining a position that Xie Ling knew could not be fun for his opponent. Zhang Wei was holding his opponent down with one leg on the poor boy's chest and both of his legs up in the air and restrained by Zhang Wei's right hand alone. The boy's features were contorted in agony.
Xie Ling felt a tinge of pity for this boy who for whatever reason had to be the one to suffer through this but at the same time, found himself admiring Zhang Wei's strength and skill. He had never seen someone fight like Zhang Wei did, with such ease and confidence. As he got closer, he noticed that Zhang Wei's eyes were intense, almost as if he was in some dark trance, and Xie Ling wondered if this was what it meant to be in the zone or if this was just a normal state for him.
"So, word around the courtyard is that you had an eventful afternoon," a sonorous voice said to Xie Ling as he settled in his place among the celestial phoenix sect, only a few feet away from Zhang Wei. The voice belonged to Jiang Yan who had stepped away from her father and was now standing next to Xie Ling. She had a gentle and encouraging smile on her face that made Xie Ling feel instantly warm and welcome.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Did she know he had just found himself in this body barely one hour ago? It would be smart of him to not assume he knew what she was talking about. Better to let her get to her point by herself rather than offering information she was not privy to.
"Your adventure in the temple with Zhang Wei. He said you two fought a daolaogui," she said, her eyes wide with fascination.
Temple expeditions were not exactly things that omegas like Xie Ling and Jiang Yan often got the chance to partake in. Even as he stood next to her now, Xie Ling wondered what he was doing in that temple in the first place. It made sense that an alpha like Zhang Wei would be there but why was he there too?
"I think Zhang Wei was being a little too generous if he said that us two fought the daolaogui," he said, watching the subject of their conversation still mercilessly whooping the ass of this poor soul who Xie Ling had to give some credit for his tenacity.
"What do you mean?" Jiang Yan asked, a playful smirk tugging at her lips. She knew Xie Ling well enough to know that he had just as much to do with fighting a ghost as a person who was not even in the temple at all but she wanted him to be the one to say it himself.
Around here, class politics had infiltrated things to levels beyond comprehension and even now as he stood in the courtyard, observing all those who were around him, Xie Ling could feel the way cultivators were judged based on the class they belonged to. First, there were the sects. Xie Ling, Zhang Wei and Jiang Yan all belonged to the celestial phoenix sect, a mixed sect whose members possessed a powerful presence that often made them the attraction wherever they went. This was perhaps why the alphas of this sect walked around like they owned everyone else, courting envy and anger from all the other four sects - the golden lotus sect, the moonlight sect, the celestial jade sect and the dark moon sect.
Members of each sect had their own distinctive style of fighting and special abilities that made them unique and powerful both as allies and as opponents. Because of this, cultivators often banded together based on their sects and it was rare to find transcending these established sect rules.
As if gathering in these sects was not enough, each sect always had three types of people - the alphas, the betas and the omegas. By all accounts, the alphas were the most powerful people in each sect, far along in cultivating their dao than anybody else and able to protect their sect if push came to shove. They were fast, strong and powerful fighters able to face the kinds of adversaries and foes betas and omegas would never survive. The betas were less experienced and less in tune with their dao. They were often skilled fighters in their own rights, able to protect themselves from most enemies and defend others if they had to, but beta was still a beta with a significant journey ahead of them. At the bottom of this stratification were the omegas, often new and inexperienced cultivators, the omegas were the runt of courtyard training and field fights. Sometimes, they were not new but weak and non-progressing cultivators stuck at the bottom and unable to move forward in their training.
These established power dynamics made it so that alphas often stayed close to alphas and betas to betas. Meanwhile, omegas were perhaps the ones most likely to be leeches. It is often common to find new cultivators attach themselves to an established alpha or beta, staying with them as a bottom servant in exchange for protection and guidance.
While other omegas had done this months ago, Xie Ling had decided to stay by himself so that he would learn his own strengths without running around as somebody's servant. Jiang Yan had been the only one who was friendly to him and it was because of that they were both still so close.
"Zhang Wei fought the daolaogui all by himself. Look at him," Xie Ling said and they both did.
Just then, as though he had sensed that both Xie Ling and Jiang Yan were looking at him, Zhang Wei twisted his opponent's leg eliciting a loud yelp followed by a quick raise of his arms in surrender.
Naturally, surrendering in a fight, especially a mock one like this, should mean the end of such a fight. After all, there is a fine line between fighting and bullying, but Zhang Wei and that dark aura that seemed to encircle him seemed not to be interested in acknowledging that line.
Xie Ling and Jiang Yan watched in horror as Zhang Wei took his opponent's surrender as an avenue to inflict more pain, twisting his leg into an angle that made Xie King's blood curdle.
"What is he doing?" Xie Ling asked, panic welling inside him. "That boy already surrendered."
At this point, everyone around fully understood what was going on because the courtyard had become silent with only the screams of agony of the boy Zhang Wei was punishing filling up the air, yet nobody moved to do anything. Xie Ling could not understand why nobody was attempting to help this boy or why Zhang Wei even felt like this was something he had to do.
He was confused and very much afraid.
Zhang Wei's presence made Xie Ling feel like he was walking on thin ice, afraid that one wrong move could send him tumbling into a bottomless abyss.
Who was this guy and why did Xie Ling feel the hairs at the back of his neck bristle?