Birds were not yet singing when the order stirred and whispered. A compound normally empty heard the rush of feet. In the training halls, students huddled together, murmuring what they had seen. At dawn, Meng Zhao had come together blow for blow with anyone else and lived. When they heard that, some people said it was almost legendary, and others took it as an insult that must be avenged.
Since the return of Lin Xuan, according to Elder Ji's words, Elder Ji stared grimly into space. His bushy beard trembled in response to Tom's questioning sentence. "Just at the start of his first day then? Clashes with careers of centre disciples. This Lin Xuan upstart discard disaster."
Elder Su had this to say, her azure eye by wrinkled one similarly serious, shook her head. "Upstart? Can that word be used? Elder Ji, tell me: how many externalist disciples are there who would be able to defeat Meng Zhao in hand-to-hand combat? Even most members of our inner sect would fail in this."
The oldest, Elder Qin, took several seconds to consider before at last he made an announcement finally. The long fingers rimmed edge of his teacup in silence before he gently but with enough force that there was no doubt about the need to listen to what had just been said. "Talent like this, therefore, has always had to rely on cultivation carefully tended. It can become the mainstay of a sect. What's more, treated lightly jolting vibrations will inevitably be admitted from within and without as well one's cup of woe prediction. We will deliberately consider which path this young boy should take."
Their three pairs of eyes met within the fog of incense, each one seeing not just where the boy would be led under such inducing checks and balances but also which direction the scales for this whole inquiry cayenne sect might soon tilt toward instead.
If Lin Xuan today before daybreak, Lin Xuan was already up and about. Although still showing the aftereffects of being cut by Meng Zhao's sword, his body hummed quietly with the Omnitired. He seemed to be asleep, when actually it was because his Complete Idea System had begun quietly circulating the new Qi method that had been rewarded to him earlier.
*The Flowing Meridian Path of Mid Grade Qi Flow Technique Operation Efficiency +28 percent: Recovery time reduced.*
With every passing breath, it felt a little easier. The blood ebbed away and gathered, going through his body like thrice-break ice fields recover spring, slowly he was regaining his strength. When he stepped into the outer courtyard, the disciples, whether they openly or with their faces turned away in ridicule, all saw him off. The faint murmuring followed him like a second shadow.
"There he goes... gone!"
"Meng Zhao's robe was torn in that thing."
"How long before he disappears into the night like a shadow?"
Lin Xuan simply ignored them. He had died once and lived, so whispers did not go in deeper his skin like poison from a winmglass.
It was during the fifth set in the morning drills that the first overture came. A slim youth with clear eyes and a composed expression stepped forward to offer his respects.
"Disciple Wei Qing of the Ironwood Spear Hall. I witnessed your duel. Should you ever wish to train, you may enter my courtyard at any time."
There was no hostility in his gaze; it was the cool appraisal of one cultivator to another. Lin Xuan returned the bow slightly. "I will remember."
Later came another—this time a laughing girl with twin daggers at her waist.
"Senior Brother Lin," she said with a chuckle but Lin Xuan was sure she had to be older than him, "what an elegant staff technique. It is a shame that Meng Zhao has no eyes. Perhaps you might sin with me one day?"
Among the bright grin to see from which her eyes are smiling, she was, nonetheless, in all her coquetry sharp-eyed as the fox she resembled. Lin Xuan bent his head slightly and responded without committing himself. For each friendly gesture, he knew, there was a book of secret aims being recorded in the mind of the other.
In another courtyard, Meng Zhao remained silent as men brought his wound workers. The gash across his chest was shallow, but his soul bore a big scratch.
"It's the Outer Sect mob," he murmured. "Do they think they have won this battle? That I... lost?"
His cousin, Meng Li, knelt nearby, her head bowed. "Brother Zhao, he has made quite a name for himself. Elder Su has spoken highly of him."
Meng Zhao's hand clenched into a fist. "Then let her praise him. In the absence of a strong background, talent is as nothing. Nuttin! What is he? A nobody who fell upon a knack. Knacks can be broken. Families are what are really forever."
Moreover, not a wrinkle appeared in his robe as he stood. Then his gaze shifted towards the towering mountains where the elders lived. Though stained with crimson, his garb was in perfect folds. His eyes shifted towards the mountains, where the elders lived.
"I will not crush him right away. Not yet. Let him rise a little higher. The higher he climbs, the more shattered the fall can be."
His various followers bowed before him. The shadow of his ambition fell heavily like a thick net over the whole sect.
The night when Lin Xuan secretly practiced in the moonlit yard, the System began to stir.
*Audit judgement: Unstable sect hierarchy. Present status of Host: vulnerable asset.*
"And what do you recommend?" Liqi Lin is young.
*Recommendation: Make alliances. Get higher skills quietly. Keep a low profile until you have a stronger basis for cultivation.*
A faint smile flitted across his lips. "In other words, grow sharp in silence and speak up only when necessary."
The System beeped and replied, *Right.*
The second night after the fight, footsteps approached his door. Lin Xuan had a spear in hand before the knock came.
"Lin Xuan," came a voice.
It was Yun Ruo. She stepped inside looking everywhere but up, as though there might be assassins hanging from the rafters.
"The hornet's nest we stir," she told him bluntly. "Half the sect now whispers your name; half whisper Meng Zhao's wrath."
Lin Xuan placed his spear against the wall. "And you? Which do you belong to?"
Her lips slipped a smirk. "None of them. I am the half that hangs on. And you'd best learn that fast. You just can't grow anything on this land, child—it's who you make your friends here and who you make your enemies that counts."
Even after she left her words stayed in the room.
By week's end, the Jade Crane Hall was unlocked and the door was opened.
Elder Qin nodded stiffly. "We will neither suppress him nor favor him. We'll let time show whether he's a curse or a blessing to the sect. This sect is like a melting pot that can either forge steel from a man or else reduce him to ashes."
Elder Ji looked angry but said nothing. But Elder Su went on smiling, faintly.
And so the ruling went out. Lin Xuan, nevertheless, would be left as an outer disciple. His progress, however, would be watched carefully.
At dawn, broadsides appeared at the training hall. Lin Xuan stopped just inside the door while disciples crowded around to read.
*Outer Disciples: An Exploratory Expedition has been decided*
*Place: Broken Fang Abyss*
*Objective: Amend the spirit ores from that area for the use of our sect*
*Note: Probability of survival: once taken for granted.*
"How exciting," muttered others. "Now is it that Abyss either—where even the wild beasts have got to later Qi Returning…"
But Lin Xuan's eyes narrowed. Far too soon, and dangerous for an ordinary assignment. The System's reminder had barely sounded when Meng cautiously went and gave him another chill smile in greeting. That all the way from outside the crowd.
The trap had already been baited.