Mo Clan's First Team

It was Mo Shui.

The Mo Clan had thus finally arrived.

"It's been a while Shu Qai," Mo Shui said.

Shu Liang had of course already heard of Mo Shui before from Qai and her father, but as soon as she saw her, she felt the urge to size up her strength.

Apparently, Mo Shui and the two others behind her were all half-step Sages.

"Are you sure we're teaming up with these country bumpkins," one of the young cultivators behind Mo Shui arrogantly said.

'Grrrrrrr.'

Shandian, who stood about two meters tall beside Qai, showed his fangs in retaliation to the arrogance of the Mo Clan disciple while emiting a heavy demonic Lightning aura.

Qai, however, mentally communicated with Shandian to step back.

And after a moment of stares, Patriarch Mo Chen suddenly appeared.

"Ho ho ho, it's good to see you little Qai..," the patriarch said, "..and you must be Shu Liang.. good.. good."

"Greetings Patriarch," Qai saluted by bowing deeply.

Shu Liang did the same.

"I can see you and your Lightning black tiger have improved a lot.. ho ho.. good.. good," the patriarch said.

He paused for a moment and tried to look around.

"I've heard a lot of things in here are your ideas," he added.

Qai bowed in approval.

"I can see why even the Purple Mist Sect Master himself has grown interest in you," the patriarch said in jest as he chuckled.

Qai, on the other hand, simply smiled while he rubbed his nose.

All of those around, including Shu Liang, were dumbfounded. Their eyes almost popped out when they heard such news—getting the good side of the Emperor Void himself was like having the entire Purple Mist Sect as your backing.

"By the way," the patriarch remarked, "the five of you will be the Mo Clans first team.. we came this early so you five can spend some time training together."

The five of them definitely needed the next few weeks to make all the necessary adjustments to get their act together. But with the way the mutual enmity was brooding, it might need more than the remaining weeks to resolve the problem.

***************

Mo Shui's companions were both 10-year old disciples of the clan.

The girl who didn't say a word earlier was Lin Qiao. Her elemental affinity was Fire, but instead of threading the alchemy path, she focused on learning attack skills. And at half-step Sage realm, she sure was a strong cultivator.

On the other hand, the arrogant male youth was called Hao Ren. His Metal elemental affinity, like Lin Qiao, deviated away from the occupational path. Instead, he focused on building a metal defensive set up. And at half-step Sage realm, he would be a great tank inside the Wasteland.

***************

As planned, the group headed to the Darkwood forest to test their teamwork.

But even before they set their foot inside the forest, things were already heating up.

"What a stupid thing to learn 'Beast Taming," Hao Ren loudly said to himself while shaking his head.

"So what?" it was Shu Liang who answered.

"You should have known," Hao Ren went on again shaking his head, "..once your contracted demonic beast meets its doom, it's the end of the line."

"For all I care..," Shu Liang responded. "I think you'll even die ahead of Shandian inside the Wasteland."

"Quit it you two," Mo Shui interrupted.

She was the obvious designated leader of the team so she tried her hardest to control the egos of every member.

"Hmmmp," Shu Liang Smirked.

Mo Shui had rolled her eyes in response before she took a deep breath clearly getting impatient with the way things were going.

Qai on the side was simply pretending not to hear a thing.

"Shu Qai," Mo Shui begged. "Please help me tell your sister to control her temper."

"Then tell your friend to shut his mouth..," Qai softly replied. "We are not going to accomplish anything if we let him run his mouth all day."

Hao Ren didn't like what Qai said but before be could say another word, Shandian was already emitting an aura with a gesture ready to attack.

'Grrrrr.'

Mo Shui was indebted to Qai and his tiger. Back then, she was like Hao Ren who acted arrogantly in front of Qai.

Like many of the young cultivators, she was taught how disadvantageous it was to learn 'Beast Taming' skill. But after being saved, she felt nothing but respect for Qai and Shandian.

And this, she specifically teamed up with Qai in the hope of returning the favor. But the egos of Hao Ren and Qai's sister were not helping her cause.

Qai tapped Shandian to stop—and the black tiger obediently followed.

"Here's the thing," Qai told Mo Shui. "You're the leader of this team so just give us our assignments."

The words were plain but it obviously meant something.

"My sister is a great scout..," Qai added, "..that at least I can assure you.. as for me.. you can assign me whatever task you think fits me."

When Qai stopped, there was a moment of silence.

Qai's words were simple—they were not polite, but were not sarcasstic either. It's just that at least he showed signs of willingness to follow.