Chapter Four

It was safe to say, Ling Da Chuanli got exactly what he wanted that day because of her naïve adopted father. Wang Lan Biyu having not learned the sword flying technique cursed her past self for not learning the skill beforehand. She did not find a need in learning it because Fuqing had always flown with her, but now that Da Chuanli was basically the overseer for their whole group. The irritating teen smiles at her, kindly holding out his hand towards her patiently waiting for her to take it. His robes swayed in the wind as he stood on top of his sword with incredible grace and balance. It was clear he was very experienced being able to stand so confidently on his sword without wavering under the wind pressure around them.

She could only grumble under her breath that he indeed looked more reliable to ride with than Fuqing. Although Fuqing wasn't too bad, once in a while she would feel uncomfortable and feel the need to prepare herself in case he caused them to fall. "Junior sister Wang is afraid?" If looks could kill Da Chuanli would have died ten times over asking this question with a teasing glint in his eyes. Seeing her stubborn stance, Fuqing who was watching the standoff of their Master's two favorite disciples from the sidelines couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction in his heart. He steps down from his sword and tries to explain to Da Chuanli, moving to stand slightly in front of Lan Biyu as if protecting her from a leecher.

This amuses Da Chuanli even more, especially seeing as Fuqing's actions cause Lan Biyu to furrow her brows a bit at the older boy. Da Chuanli seemed to be the only one who could tell she did not like being protected like a fragile maiden. "Senior brother, it's not that junior sister is afraid but that she has not ridden with anyone but me." In translation, basically what Fuqing was saying was. 'Junior sister considers you a stranger unlike me, it's best if you take a step back.' But Da Chuanli refused to back off and sent Lan Biyu a light look full of humor while insisting gently. "That's no good, Master has specifically instructed me to watch over junior sister Wang."

"-How can I burden junior brother with such a daunting task? What would I say to master if something happened to junior sister under my watch?" Fuqing's confident face sags, not having expected their senior brother to actually fight with him on this matter. He felt a bit miffed and confused, was their senior brother pretending to not see that junior sister was uncomfortable riding with him? "Chet." The sound was short but it cut through the awkward silence as Lan Biyu impatiently took Da Chuanli's hand with a not-so-good look. She was trying to keep a neutral expression but it was obvious to some who look close enough she was trying to either not grimace at both of them, or, trying to not roll her eyes at Fuqing who lost so easily to Da Chuanli. "Wasting time by speaking in tongues, hurry and depart already." Watching the girl he liked getting pulled up behind Da Chuanli and seeing how she held his waist so as to not fall off without any more protests. Fuqing's expression becomes even more sullen.

But hearing his sweetheart speak so impatiently, of course, he wouldn't say anything anymore and mounts his sword under the unwavering gentle gaze of their senior brother. Gao Chang lets out an annoyed "Hmph." while facing forward inwardly mocking Fuqing and his senior brother for their childish behavior. One tries to purposely provoke their junior sister and the other only knows how to annoy her by being an unwanted puppy whining at her feet. What a joke. But that wasn't the end of it, at the foot of the mountain when Da Chuanli took out two spatial carriage homes for the students to travel in to conserve energy.

Fuqing offered to carry Lan Biyu's things inside with the other girls only for Da Chuanli to take out the third carriage with a caring smile, which both Fuqing and Lan Biyu frowned at. Gao Chang felt sympathetic toward his junior sister and sighs with a shake of his head, he watches Da Chuanli offer her a hand again which the girl viciously smacks aside before boarding alone. Gao Chang saw an interesting thing then, the show of a true smile on Da Chuanli's face which he hid by massaging the sides of his mouth before he follows her inside good-naturedly. "..." He didn't know how to make of the situation as the two had always been at each other's necks since they were young. But it was the first time he had caught their senior brother with that look no his face.

Gao Chang fell silent and pondered to himself deeply with furrowed brows. "Junior sister, can't we come to an agreement? I understand your standpoint but surely there must be something you can find tolerable about me." Lan Biyu held in her temper and shot him a look that said it all, making him chuckle. "Then can junior sister at least compromise for my sake? Master has already agreed to have me watch over you so I cannot let you go with an escort that is not me. Otherwise Master truly wouldn't be able to lay his eyes on me anymore and abolish me from the sect." Lan Biyu pays no attention to his over-exaggeration, she was not foolish enough to fall for his ploy.

There was no way on earth Master would ever banish senior brother Ling unless he betrayed the sect for the demon sect or something ridiculous like that. Comparing her Master's care towards her and Da Chuanli, the difference was too big to even compare. Though he scolds and punishes Da Chuanli on the surface, nine out of ten times it would be out of fondness and not real anger. Seeing he was being ignored Da Chuanli also somewhat grew bored and began peeling leechys with a faint smile. The silence was welcomed by Lan Biyu. Especially when it came to having to listen to the voice of someone as irritating as this senior brother of hers on an almost daily bases since he came out of seclusion.

Out of her peripheral vision, she sees a bowl of juicy leechys peeled with their seeds removed being pushed in her direction. Then also hears the sound of rustling as Da Chuanli left the tea room to enter his own room benevolently deciding to leave her alone. "Around half a day's journey will get us to the nearest village for the night. Junior sister should rest up while you can, at night we will be demon-hunting near the village borders." Her stiff expression relaxes when he was gone, and the migraine that came from having to deal with him faded too. She sends the offerings a wary look as if wondering if they were poisoned or not.

This kind of treatment was nothing new for Da Chuanli, although she evaded him during their brief time together he always did this. Annoy her to death then offer her a peace offering as if to make up for the time she had to waste avoiding him. Taking the bowl into her hands carefully, Lan Biyu stares at them as if silently debating something. Not long after, the sound of a window being opened followed by the sound of tiny fruits hitting the ground outside fills the silence of the forest before the window is slammed closed again. Behind an extravagant spatial carriage, tiny animals nibble on ripe fragrant leechys happily.

Da Chuanli who was meditating inside his room grins to himself and felt it was rather funny while feeling no loss for the valuable fruits being tossed out like trash. Lan Biyu bypasses the sound of laughter coming from the room across from hers and roughly shuts her door to make a point to her senior brother defiantly. Da Chuanli leans his hand on his chin with an amused grin, his eyes twinkling. "What a waste of food, they costed quite a fortune as well." As Da Chunali predicted, the sunset was what she opened her windows to after cultivating and bidding her time till the carriages stopped.

A handsome face blocks her view of the last sunlight that was hiding behind the trees, showing her a nice close-up of the handsome older boy looming over her with a smile. His hair was tied into a ponytail making him look more like a young master, swaying and brushing against her cheek. "Junior sister Wang is up? Why don't we all gather for a small dinner before hunting? It is also a good time to test the knowledge of our young leaders." She scoffs at his attempt at being friendly while pushing his face from hers to open the carriage door and leave without him. The boy who was ignored chuckles silently to himself for an unknown reason before following behind her. Outside Gao Chang and Fuqing's groups were separated. Two separate campfires lit the small clearing with each group busy doing their own things. Fuqing choose some boys to gather more firewood and had the girls gather local ingredients to help cook their dinner. On the other hand, Gao Chang made the girls sit still to rest while the boys went to do most of the work. Thinking this was unfair some of the other disciples show scowls until Gao Chang sent them a sneer.

"Boys and girls will switch duties each night, don't think too highly of yourselves and assume you understand my thoughts." The girls send the red-faced boys mocking looks and giggle praising Gao Chang's thoughtfulness. The aggressive youth was quite popular with his junior sisters so it wasn't a surprise they didn't think badly of him. It was completely unlike the boys who were most of the time jealous of how easily the girls stood up for him. Without thinking too much about it, Lan Biyu strides towards Gao Chang's group and sat with her other sisters who happily pull her into their circle to gossip with them. Da Chuanli shrugs not really caring about which one she chooses and walks towards Fuqing's group to help gather firewood. Some of the girls who were in Fuqing's group send the carefree girls on Gao Chang's side jealous looks. One of them, Qing Mianyang was particularly bitter since her clothes had been torn due to having to lean over and gather herbs in the dirt and accidentally ripping them. Her sharp eyes narrow at the laughing group with a tiny sneer, jealousy clear in her gaze. "Sister Rui must be happy to be so carefree during this trip."

The cute girl with her hair pinned up loosely yet stylishly flicks her brown hair behind her back shamelessly beaming at Qing Mianyang. "Absolutely, sister Qing speaks the truth this disciple is indeed happy to be so carefree! Older brother Chang takes good care of us girls and is a true gentleman." Her words were vicious and mocking, she even smirks at the fuming Mingyang with a haughty look until she was jabbed sharply by one of the girls who sent Lan Biyu. Who was known to be Fuqing's 'sweetheart' a worried look. But Lan Biyu didn't show any reaction and continued disregarding their dialogue so the girls all relaxed slightly seeing she wasn't offended.

In fact, Rui Shi didn't mean to offend Lan Biyu, it's just that all of them knew that Qing Mianyang was sweet on Fuqing. Even though he obviously didn't like her the same way. So rather than insulting the girl, she poked fun at the fact that she got the group she wanted but the person she joined didn't give her any special treatment at all. Instead, Fuqing treated her like any other fellow disciple and had her do hard work without discrimination unlike how he would usually treat Lan Biyu. If Lan Biyu was in his group the boy would have most likely done her share of the work for her. It was quite embarrassing, to say the least being treated so blatantly differently by the youth who occupied her young heart.

Qing Mianyang flushes red and openly started glaring at the smirking Rui Shi until she was pulled away gently by her fellow sisters. "Sister Qing, come on, it's not worth it." The girls in Gao Chang's all laugh with each other sending the dirtied girls across from them teasing smiles. It wasn't really malicious but more making fun of them for trying to pick fights for no reason and losing. One of them, Ming Ailing thinking Lan Biyu would be offended by Rui Shi's unfiltered mouth hurries to explain so she wouldn't be upset with them. "Junior sister Wang does not need to worry, those words sister Rui spoke were just meant as jokes."

In response, the girl only said, seemingly not caring what they had to say about Fuqing. "Ok." Rui Shi sent Lan Biyu a teasing look "What do you know? By now sister Wang doesn't even need to care about that Fuqing anymore! She has senior Ling looking out for her!" Unbeknownst to the gossiping girls, Lan Biyu's expression grows even colder as she practically glares at the fire at the mention of the older boy. Chun Hua, the oldest of their group bobs her head up and down excitedly. Her gentle appearance was ruined by the childish look of envy on her face as well as her next words. "Did you see the way senior Ling carefully helped sister Wang onto his sword?! I swear his eyes were full of gentleness and care when looking at sister Wang!"

Ming Ailing also couldn't help sighing with a dreamy look on her face. "Ahh, senior Ling is so handsome and gentlemanly!! Sister Wang is so lucky!!" Lan Biyu couldn't take it anymore and finally spoke up sending them all hard looks. "There is nothing between that th-Senior brother Ling and me." Rui Shi asks her curiously catching the girl changing her words last second. "Sister Wang, did you cut short what you were going to say just now?" Saving her from having to acknowledge the question, the sound of approaching footsteps causes them all to turn around to look at the returning foragers. Having just came back from the woods the tired-looking Gao Chang stuffs a bunny-shaped apple into the loud girl's mouth to shut her up.

Rui Shi sent him an accusing look even though she still ate the surprisingly sweet fruit obediently. The teen scowls at her "Stop gossiping and eat. Soon we'll be helping patrol the village east of here for a few hours. Gather your strength." Nibbling on the apple Rui Shi rolls her eyes imitating under her breath. "Gather your strength." But being shot a hard glare the girl finally shut up and ate her fruit like an innocent rabbit blinking at him cutely, her lashes fluttering softly.

He sighs with a shake of his head, not even bothering to reprimand her. Gao Chang's group feasted on fruits and berries having found it too risky to hunt any longer with potentially dangerous nocturnal beasts roaming the area alone. But across the camp, a tantalizing smell came from across the tiny clearing. The other group had been lucky as Fuqing managed to catch a pheasant. Although tired the group was proud of Fuqing's accomplishment and sent Gao Chang's fruits a look of contempt because of their little argument earlier. Rui Shi huffed and sat up straighter eating her apple as if it was the most delicious thing in the world.

She gives Gao Chang a thumbs up speaking loud enough for everyone in the clearing to hear her exaggerated praise. "Gao Chang, apples are my favorite!! It's very good and delicious. Thank you for the hard work!" The group was humored by her attempt at 'cheering up' Gao Chang and some girls sent the two of them knowing looks with tiny smiles. The teen only gave her a simple side glance before stuffing her mouth with another bunny-shaped apple slice. "You talk too much." Being shot down, Rui Shi pouts to herself and quiets down to sulkily eat her apple slices. Chun Hua giggles and comforts Rui Shi by whispering to the girl words of encouragement. He turns to Lan Biyu and offers the girl a pear, seeing the variety they had. Lan Biyu assumes they had traveled near the mountains for them to be this sweet and took the offering with a nod. Reaching into her spatial ring for a dagger she starts peeling with a skilled hand, this, obviously catches the boys' attention. "Junior sister Wang knows how to peel fruit with such a large dagger? What if you cut yourself?"

Lan Biyu acknowledges him with only a glance before continuing to peel until the juicy white flesh of the pear shone by the firelight. Awed by her skill many of the girls crowd around her to ask her to help them peel their own fruits cutely. Being reminded of a group of children playing coy at her skirts. Lan Biyu didn't reject their large blinking eyes and obediently did as they asked earning restrained pets on her head as they couldn't hold back their adoration for the attractive girl. When Lan Biyu didn't reject their affection, their eyes shone even brighter. Only Rui Shi sat back watching curiously while Gao Chang fed her another rabbit-shaped slice. Minding his own business not surprised at all by Lan Biyu's skill. "Stop watching and eat."