Teammates

After finishing up the rest of their lunch, Chen Jun Tian and Hu Wu Yi walked side by side to the Spell & Curses faction, none of them ushered a single word on their way. They were both lost in their own thoughts. Their afternoon classes were usually conducted in small auditoriums but for that specific day, the faction's counsellor, Elder Zhen, notified every second, third and fourth year student to the faction's main auditorium. Jun Tian and Wu Yi took a seat in the front and waited patiently for the counsellor to arrive, still not exchanging words with one another.

Meanwhile, the other students who had already taken a seat were all curious about the reason why the counsellor had called them there and their curiosity only deepened when they saw Elder Zhen walking into the auditorium with floating boxes following behind him. The room was soon filled with students' chatters as they tried to guess what the old man was going to tell them.

"Silence!" A blue-eyed woman, dressed in white silk brocade with pale golden embroidered serpent patterns, appeared out of thin air. She stood next to Elder Zhen and with a snap of her fingers, a few more boxes similar to the ones their counsellor brought in with him appeared in the same manner as she did. She was none other than counsellor Bai of the Alchemy faction and despite her youthful looks, she was actually older than Elder Zhen.

Once they saw the white-cladded woman, the students' excitement suddenly died down as they felt a certain chill instead but just when they were about to chatter once more, the counsellors of the other three factions also appeared, along with more floating lottery boxes, followed by the entrance of second, third and fourth year students from the other three factions into the grand auditorium. The Spell & Curses students were confused as to what exactly will happened to them but the fading excitement suddenly regained back its strength when they saw their friends from the other factions and the spacious room was filled with chatters once again.

"Silence!" Counsellor Bai interjected. "We did not call you out here to chit chat!"

"In a few months, some of you will head north to the White Snow Forest for the Winter Hunt." Elder Zhen revealed. "This year's hunt would be more special than the typical annual winter hunt since the mystical Snow Lotus will be in full bloom inside of the imperial hunting grounds but we could only send a few students to attend this event. I am sure you've all heard of the Feast of Flowers."

Upon hearing what Elder Zhen had said, the students were even more excited than before as each and every single one of them desperately wanted to attend the Feast of Flowers, in which its main structure is similar to an average winter hunt but with more difficulties as it is only organised once every decade according to the blooming cycle of the Snow Lotus.

"Therefore, we must test your strength and knowledge in a team battle." The white-cladded woman claimed in a monotonous voice. "The members of the winning team will be able to attend the Feast of Flowers."

As soon as she finished speaking, the once silent room was soon filled with students exchanging words with each other. Some were excited about the team battles since they thought that they would be able to choose who they could be with while others were worried about the incompetence of their unknown teammates. As for Jun Tian, he was feeling a bit nostalgic when the elders mentioned the Feast of Flowers. He made a promise with someone a decade ago to attend this event together but the two of them ended up not being able to practice what they preached. The Chen clan was exiled back to their homeland in the Central Plains so he missed the event of that specific year, consequently breaking their childhood promise. Jun Tian wondered if that person would also attend it this year.

"To make it a fair competition for all, your teammates will be decided based on your luck." The Martial Arts faction's counsellor Xia clarified the way the teams will be assigned, making all the students who thought they could be with their friends saddened by the sudden revelation. "Luck magic is prohibited."

"An Ba Shan, come forward to the front of the auditorium." Elder Xia read a name off his faction's attendance list then a blue-cladded youth step forward to the front. The Elders then guided him to pick out something from the floating boxes that was brought by his faction's counsellor. It was a piece of paper with a number written on it. "Team number two. Go back to your seat then wait for everyone else to pick their number from the boxes." Elder Xia proceeded to call another student.

After everyone had picked out their numbers, the Elders ordered everyone with the same number to team up together and that was how the teams was assigned. Jun Tian had picked out a piece of paper with the number nine but he still hasn't found his teammates yet. His friend Wu Yi had number five so they weren't in the same group.

There were currently over a five hundred and something students inside of the main auditorium so it was not easy to find the other four persons in his team, especially since the room was filled with people walking around from here and there. It took a few good minutes for Elder Zhen to realise that it was quite chaotic for the students to find their teammates so with a whisk of his silver staff, he made tables with floating consecutive numbers appeared one after another.

"Go to your designated number, children." He gestured the students towards the tables.

Jun Tian waited a bit for some people to make a move then walked towards table number nine. There, he was surprised to see the ever so familiar Fei Qing Niao who looked at him with pure delight and Bai Ye Hua who was glaring daggers at him. At that moment, Jun Tian knew that this will be one heck of a team as an uncomfortable premonition of fear invaded his senses.

"Good afternoon young lady Bai and young master Fei." The grey-eyed youth bowed to them in courtesy.

"I am so happy to be in the same team as you, senior brother Jun!" Qing Niao exclaimed gleefully while little miss Bai only gave a small bow back to Jun Tian in return for his polite greetings.

Meanwhile, a tall and quite buff man walked towards the three of them. He was wearing a black silk brocade with simple golden swirling patterns embroidered on his belt and since his shirt did not have sleeves, the trio could clearly see the many veins on his well defined muscles. Qing Niao and Jun Tian felt a bit intimidated by the sight of this robust-looking man whereas Ye Hua was mentally judging him for wearing gold cuffs that are way too thick on both of his wrist and a small golden turtle pendant that did not go along with his strong man image.

"Good afternoon, fellow brothers and sister." He greeted them with a bow in a very low and husky voice, making Qing Niao even more afraid of him but before any of them could respond to his greetings, another youth appeared before them.

"Good afternoon." A tall handsome young man with slender yet well defined figure bowed to them in courtesy. He was wearing a plain white silk hanfu decorated with pale blue serpent embroideries on the hem of his sleeves and belt and he had his long black hair tied up in a simple ponytail, tightly secured with a serpent-shaped hairpin made out of the purest white jade. Ye Hua's heart thumped a little when his clear electric blue eyes stared straight into her very own indigo ones.

"It would be great if you would present yourself one by one." The robust man who was silent just a few moments ago cleared up his throat when he felt like he had seen enough of this lovey-dovey scene. "I am Ao Xia Ming of the Northern Valley's Ao clan. Fourth year student of the Martial Arts faction."

"Lin Han Xin of the Eastern Islands' Lin clan." The blue-eyed young man greeted the others once again. "Fourth year student of the Weapon faction."

"Bai Ye Hua of the Northern Sea's Bai clan. Second year student of the Beast Taming faction."

"Fei Qing Niao of the Western Forest's Fei clan. Second year Alchemy student."

"Chen Jun Tian of the Central Plains' Chen clan. Second year Spell&Curses student." Jun Tian said in a low voice as he was afraid that the others might be dissatisfied when they knew of his identity but to his surprise, they did not say anything so he felt a little weight being taken off his shoulders. As the heir apparent of a fallen clan, not many students would want to associate with him so he initially thought that they would make a fuss about how unfair it is to have him in their team.

"Listen up, children!" Elder Zhen's loud voice resonated throughout the grand auditorium. "Since you've all familiarised with your teammates, it is best if you would go prepare your luggage for tomorrow's trip."

"What? Tomorrow?" The auditorium full of students erupted in worries.

"Grand Elder He will open up a portal tomorrow that will take you to the Xing Guang campsite at the Sea of Falling Stars to train there until the day of the competition so that you could familiar yourselves with the battle grounds." Elder Zhen explained calmly but the students soon panicked since they did not have much time to pack up their belongings for a month. "You're all dismissed for the rest of the day. Go back home and prepare yourselves."

"Do not be late. The portal will be closed at noon." Elder Bai added and with that, everyone hurried back home to prepare their luggage for the trip to the Sea of Falling Star with both great excitement and worries.