Zhuan An 6

Following this realisation, Xiao Fan continued as normal, and so laughed off much of the ensuing discussion. He wanted to have no bigger part in the act and mindsets of this place, the part before when he thought how nice the sect disciples were to others of their kin was only one part, not the whole thing.

Nevertheless, now knowing that Zhuan An actually liked her sect and defended it against others continued his testing. Yet there was the constant thought of how could she when they first met properly be so against the sect rules. Was she really a believer, she didn't like some of the things? Reformist? Yes, most likely that; most likely, all her opinions came from Zhuan Shan, the person who to him had shown to be so far a normal person.

What was Xiao Fan's current knowledge of Zhuan Shan? The man was kind of smart, but was he the harmful kind of smart? So far to him, he had acted friendly all the way, even letting him use his full name instead of using the name Elder Zhuan. Could a man like that really indoctrinate his daughter?

For the rest of the one-arm overhead press, he had such ponderings, and those thoughts were in him till the very end of his whole testing process, and despite thinking of it so long he couldn't get an idea what kind of man Zhuan Shan was. And the only way to get more ideas was to follow the father in question more specifically, see the little things and so, maybe go and see if the Zhuan Family had any other members since so far he hadn't seen anyone else when there.

As the last pondering of his was about to end, Zhuan An was giving him the results, or well reminding of them and talking about them to him, such notions as what was good and what were areas needing od extra attention on the training schedule.

On a side note, the testing of Zhuan An had taken the entire night, it was the day already, and like yesterday he was late for his apprenticeship. Zhuan Shan is going to love him as he always comes late, but oh well, the man should understand, maybe even misunderstand?

¨We'll mostly need to keep working on your legs. Those two seem to be lacking compared to every other part¨ Were the closing statements of her long list which had detailed every different lift and their results.

¨So more running?¨

¨Yeah, from now on there will be a lot of running coming for you¨ She could confirm this without thinking.

Having heard this, Xiao Fan made movements with his head, turning it all around like he was looking at the time ¨The day is already here¨ He noted the thing.

¨It's day?¨ Zhuan An got the idea and for the first time during the entire practice not having all her focus on Xiao Fan, she also took a look around them and found that indeed it was already day.

¨That was one long training you made for me¨

¨It was testing. Training will be at a much higher intensity and more repetions¨ She noted.

¨We were going kind of slow¨ He agreed ¨What now? Want me to get you home? I should go and catch up with your father¨ He also wanted to know what would they be doing next. This had taken much more time than Xiao Fan had ever imagined, not that he minded this at all; however, the real reason for getting her out wasn't to help him but to simply enjoy time with her, and doing this she hadn't been her usual self.

Zhuan An when hearing him talk, separating also realised that the whole time had been spent on them working on his cultivation, not doing anything cute...

Yet she didn't stay down for long. Soon she was again the happy and energetic Zhuan An, and this girl had a plan in mind ¨Over? This is not over yet¨She first stated.

¨You want to do something?¨ Sure, currently if he could choose something else than learning surgery under Zhuan Shan it would be to spend time with her, so he would listen.

She nodded several times again ¨We'll go and see the mission board, it's that time almost, so I should go there and see if anything good would pop up¨ Going to do that was her idea of fun seemingly.

'Little weird. I assumed she wanted something like a dinner or something, not to go and see the mission board, but oh well, whatever' He talked to himself.

¨Sure I'm fine with that¨ Was what he spoke outwardly, and then after agreeing with her, the same thing that had befallen his hand in the Zhuan Family house happened.

Someone had taken hold of it.

Still, he didn't complain ¨The mission board is in the main square right?¨ He only confirmed the location of the place they were going before leaving.

¨Yeah its there. The old folk love to preach during the morning on the square, so they keep it there, thinking that the youths going to get missions are listening to their boring teaching¨

¨Old folk? Does our sect have old folk? Aren't they old and ugly?¨ He asked in mild confusion when walking.

¨Father says since old people are powerful, they tend to keep the rules so that they are, in their terms, beautifull¨ Zhaun An spoke, yet saying that those grampas and grammas were beautiful sent shivers to her body.

To which he chuckled before asking more how Zhuan Shan felt about the old people. He might be playing around her, yet he desired to see how much Zhuan Shan had advised her daughter.

All in all, he could conclude that it was an impressive amount, seeing as by the time they were at the main square she still had stuff to stay regarding Zhuan Shan's opinions on a single group of people.

Though when at the main square her speech took a sudden turn in topic ¨Look they have already started to release the new missions!¨ For she exclaimed this.

The next thing following that was how Xiao Fan even before getting to agree with her felt Zhuan An dragging him towards the mission board for a reason he didn't know. Was there something special in this or what? He thought whilst not resisting her hand that was dragging him onwards.

Coming towards the mission board, they were soon amongst all the other disciples, who were either leisurely or greedily trying to get towards the board that was filled with missions.

Looking from farther away, he could see that most of these missions seemed very basic, like stuff that mortals would do but amped up to the cultivator grade, yet matching the complexity of these was the low pay as well. Then again, who was paying someone a lot for carrying trees? Yes, there seemed to be mission requiring one to carry logs. Also, that mission seemed to be popular. For a reason, a rich person like he didn't understand.

Coming back to reality, he noted that they were at the very front of the board, just by the fence that separated lookers from the people who were either taking these missions or putting them up there.

¨What do you want me to see here?¨ He spoke loudly since the noise around them was a wee loud. Like Zhuan An had told him the old people preaching were truly loud thanks to them having some voice amplifiers.

¨I don't want you to see anything here¨ She took her eyes off the board for a moment to look at him and say this, yet then when done so, she went back to whatever.

¨Then why are we here?¨ If she didn't bring him here to see then what for was he here? His confusion only grew.

This time she didn't turn her head, she seemed to be too focussed on the board to do so ¨Were here to pick up a mission¨ She explained why they had come here¨

¨A mission, why are we picking up a mission?¨ He asked immediately after hearing her say so. What? Getting a mission? Why wasn't he asked? And why would they need to take a mission? For some gold coins?

This wasn't helping his confusion.

¨Were going to do something fun! And it will be just the two of us!¨ To speak this, she raised her volume a little more, though she still didn't look towards him.

¨... ...¨ Xiao Fan didn't have anything to say to this. There were too many things inside and outside his head happening at once, too fast, too many questions, shock, confusion grew more.

Scratching his head, he tried to reason what she was wanting to do with their lives. The conclusion? 'Dam romantic' This was his concluding thought to what Zhuan An was doing, in his mind, the girl wanted to experience anything, seemingly death was also on the offer, for they were going outside the sect for no good reason other than that she wanted her own adventure with him.

Despite Xiao Fan realising and so on, he didn't get a good reason not to do it, for there were no good ones. Saying that he needed to work with Zhuan Shan would be countered, and anything else would be countered with even less of a fight. Saying that he didn't want to? Yeah, that was a dream since saying that he might as well be stabbing her heart right now. On the other hand... he didn't really want to go, he wanted to get going with his cultivation and learning, there was so much to do, other than explore the world for no good gain.

Still, one long sigh after, he surrendered to the idea of going outside with her, though he would try to see if there was a mission that would make him do something worthwhile with her. And very favourably there was something that was very beneficial, something that Xiao Fan might have done if he would be spending more time in the Body Realm.

¨Hey, can we do that one¨ He then spoke his opinion to Zhuan An and knowing that she wouldn't be taking a look at him, he pointed his finger over her shoulder and next to her cheek so that she could pinpoint the mission he was meaning.

¨Ah you want to go herb hunting again?¨ Zhuan An could find the mission he was pointing at easily enough.

¨Yeah, well go do that, and we'll find more of those herbs¨ Xiao Fan continued to sell his pick.

¨You want to find a Bit of Wit for me?¨ She didn't mind the mission so much, not after realising that he was willing to find a Bit of Wit for her did she show any disinterest.

¨Well, you want one?¨

¨Of course I want to become smarter and react faster!¨ She excitingly said and even turned to face him, showing that the excitement in her tone had taken hold of her face too.

¨Then you want to do that mission with me?¨

¨Of course I want to¨ She spoke and then after saying so, she runs up to the mission board and takes that piece of paper that had just been put up there, which called for someone to find or deliver a herb named Bit of Wit.

Coming back with the paper, she handed laid the paper on the railing so that both of them could look at it more closely, the small text under the mission name.

In it, there was nothing special, except that the person who this Bit of Wit should be delivered to was Grand Elder Ye.

¨I wonder why he needs a Bit of Wit¨ Seeing this Xiao Fan laughed and pointed the part to Zhuan An.

¨I wonder too, but I think we can never know¨ She too found this funny.