Chapter Seventeen

Wang Lan Biyu methodically picked up and donned the pearl earrings and necklaces on her body, though it was just a match Lan Biyu knew she could not allow the other sects to think poorly of them. Only this morning her master had left a baby blue hanfu on her bed the moment she woke up, she had taken a long look at the inconvenient dress before decidedly saying nothing and putting it on. Putting on the simple single pearl earrings and the teardrop necklace Lan Biyu scrutinizes her reflection. Though she wore no powder or rouge the simple pearls didn't take away from her natural beauty and even compliment well with her pair of slanted silver eyes. The girl in the mirror blinked in time with herself fanning her cheeks like black butterflies, she gave herself silent approval.

The hanfu given to her was almost the same as her original clothes but the bottom was dyed soft blue-like waves with each step she took. It didn't drag on the ground so she knew her master took that much into consideration before choosing for her. There weren't any jewels or fancy things embodied in the dress so she was satisfied with how light it was. She didn't stand out but also did not let her master's sect lose face. Unlike the other humans, she wasn't here to sell herself for connections.

The hand tying up her hair froze in place "..." With silver eyes flickering over to the door of her room Lan Biyu spoke up in an irate manner. "Enter or leave. Do not linger around hovering like a ghost at my door." Da Chuanli laughs and pushed open her door fully exposing himself without annoyance or disappointment at being caught. "Juinor sister Wang did you sleep well?" She looks the teen up and down taking in his light blue outer robe and silver sash, and on his hairpin hung a single pearl, just like her necklace. Her brow twitches as the girl stared at that swaying pearl along with his black hair seemingly vexed. His honey eyes curved with a gentle smile capable of charming even the sun to do his bidding. Bringing her vexed gaze from that swing pearl to meet his, she could see his teasing glint at a glance and held in her scoff. Knowing what she was thinking he felt a bit helpless himself and explained to her in a laughing tone. "Master told me to wear this."

"-Don't get me wrong. I also had no idea about this and by the time I saw him enter your room with similar robes, I had already gotten ready. I also had no choice in this matter." At the same time, he allowed his eyes to roam her room while the girl didn't hide her disdain for his presence and went back to putting her hair up turning away from himself. Noticing nothing strange, Da Chuanli narrows his eyes at the window which had been shut tightly by the occupier, and glances over at Lan Biyu as if looking for something.

Sensing his uncanny gaze upon herself Lan Biyu ignores his probing look and tilts her head at herself in the mirror to make sure her hairpin wasn't crooked. Standing up under his stare Lan Biyu went to wrap her guqin back up in its satin case and felt his shadow hover behind her taking the instrument from her arms very naturally. The hairs on the back of her neck rose when she felt his breath beside her ear. "That qulin heart, you didn't sell it did you?" Lan Biyu's cheeks for the first time since the two met flushed a soft pink stunning Da Chuanli whose teasing expression went blank with a hint of surprise. Lan Biyu snaps at the teen snatching her guqin back while stuffing the jade into his hands irritably.

"I am not desperate enough to trade a treasure for gold and silver!" "Junior sister-" Before he could pacify her she already dashed out of the room leaving him to stand alone in the girl's room in puzzlement. Did she remember yesterday? But if she did then wouldn't she have beaten him up instead of acknowledging him before? Da Chuanli was bewildered and looked down at the red jade in his hands only the stare at it blankly with even more hints of amazement.

This...a protection charm? Touching the pulsing jade in his hand carefully, a corner of his mouth softly rose up as he quietly scrutinized the jade that should be familiar but was now foreign to him at the same time. The jade that was used as a warming packet now had faint traces of Lan Biyu's spiritual essence. 'Do not pity Wang Lan Biyu or attempt to get closer to her with that halfhearted recognition of yours. Be satisfied with the acknowledgment she has given you so far and do not pry for more when you are not sincere.'

"..." Da Chuanli's smile falls as his master's words ring in his head freezing the warmth that he had accidentally revealed. His knuckles turn white with the force he held the jade with while the reminder lingered in his heart and mind. Callously eyeing the warm jade he quietly places it in his sleeve as if nothing happened and exits the room without any more acknowledgment.

~

Lan Biyu didn't know what the person beside her was thinking but since they had left the room Da Chuanli had a familiar but fake smile on his face as before. She frowns internally but paid him no mind after he sent her a questioning glance. Minglan also seemed to notice nothing between them and nodded to himself happily seeing his two inner disciple's appearances. "Let's go, by now those elders are sure to be losing their minds over our absence." The man smirks and as he opened the door to enter the hall Lan Biyu could hear him faintly mocking them.

"Serves them right." Lowering her head slightly and pretending not to hear his mutterings Lan Biyu followed behind Minglan gracefully with a cool expression. Da Chuanli also following her lead kept a gentle smile on his face as he too trails behind Minglan occasionally responding to Minglan's ranting with a placating word or two. Unexpectedly, Lan Biyu and the two men stop in place at the end of the hall making her frown and look up fully. Seeing who it was who was waiting for them, almost simultaneously Minglan and Lan Biyu's expressions change from lifelike beauties to distant and reserved.

As the only person whose expression didn't sour or change so drastically, Da Chuanli acknowledged the only one worth their attention for them. Giving a respectful bow to the Patriarch of the Golden Cloud sect Da Chuanli greets him without missing a beat. "For the Patriarch of the Golden Cloud sect to personally welcome us, this disciple thanks you for your generosity in place of my master." As an inner disciple and especially considering the fact that he was the Patriarch's younger brother Da Chuanli could speak for Wang Minglan so this wasn't surprising. Zhang Wei also knew this so he good-naturedly accepts his greetings and bow with a nod of his head.

"I've heard much about you, you must be Minglan's first inner disciple correct? Your elders have high hopes about your future developments, continue in your studies diligently and you're bound to go far." But his eyes still lingered on Wang Minglan who seemed set on disdaining himself, refusing to speak. Da Chuanli straightens and stated humbly "Patriarch Zhang Wei is joking, how can someone like myself be worthy of such high praise?" Minglan shows a mocking look towards Zhang Wei completely unafraid of the other's wraith to which the other merely gave a helpless look back.

Lan Biyu in the meantime. Da Chuanli glances over and could see the girl deliberately avoiding eye contact with the boy who was standing at the north entrance obviously anxiously trying to get her attention. Fuqing whose presence had been overshadowed by the two men wanted to go up to Lan Biyu since he had wanted her to sit with him during the competition. But sensing the tense atmosphere he hesitated and reluctantly left after Lan Biyu refused to look in his direction. Lan Biyu wanted to breathe a sigh of relief after Fuqing left all the while sending her sad looks with every step he took from her.

"Pfft." She pretends to not hear Da Chuanli's puff of laughter and also greeted the Patriarch by politely curtseying. Zhang Wei gave up trying to get Minglan to speak and turned his attention to the beautiful girl standing beside Minglan's eldest disciple. Curiosity enters his gaze as he quickly accesses the girl, she would grow up beautifully. But who was she? After the Azure Patriarch went into seclusion Minglan also stopped leaving the mountains so he had not known that the man had taken in another inner disciple. "And this?" He looks over to Minglan expectantly, the man finally showed something other than disdain in his expression and in a bragging manner pushes Lan Biyu forward looking down at the girl with a doting expression. Da Chuanli carefully and interestingly watches as Zhang Wei's expression twisted something ugly. But the handsome youth shows nothing on the surface and merely smiles wearily to himself pretending to not notice. Minglan doesn't hide his favoritism when introducing Lan Biyu personally.

"This is my daughter, Wang Lan Biyu. Though she is young she takes after me and is a natural genius in cultivation. She's already reached the Martial king stage!" Lan Biyu bows her head slightly, but only slightly as the way her master introduced her it was clear he did not take this person into consideration meaning she didn't have to give him much respect besides the basics. In fact, to her, it seems like her master wanted to brag about her existence to the other just to spite them. Looking up at the man's face, sure enough, the heroic-looking Zhang Wei in his gold robes wore a stiff expression.

Minglan grins widely in a satisfied manner seeing he had angered the "sensible" "legendary" young patriarch. Zhang Wei gave the smug Minglan a rigid smile in return, doing his best to speak without gritting his teeth. "I had no idea you had chosen a cultivation partner after all these years. As old friends," Zhang Wei looks as if he swallowed something bitter spitting this title out. "-I thought I remember a certain someone saying they never wished to settle down I'm surprised you decided to do so. May I ask who it is who is your significant other?"

Minglan asks sardonically with a sneer on his lips "Want to know?" Zhang Wei also gave in with an angry smile "Of course." Lan Biyu felt the hand on her shoulders tighten expressing the anger flooding from the person behind her and peeks at her master's unchanging sneer without a word. Quietly blinking her silver eyes that show not a ripple of disturbance she merely stares at his face not pointing out his lies just like the suddenly presentless Da Chuanli behind her. The two disciples are smart enough to not question the history of the two men before them just because of curiosity.

Minglan laughs harshly and Lan Biyu could feel her master's hands shaking as he brushed past the Golden Cloud Sect patriarch coldly without any sort of tenderness or closeness. "What a shame, I suddenly don't want to say." Da Chuanli smiles unperturbed and followed the two managing to shortly catch the collapsing devastated but furious appearance of Zhang Wei before he left. Lan Biyu and Da Chuanli wisely do not ask their master why he lied. They accompanied him in silence letting him fume and compose himself as they made their way toward their platform.

Each sect had a platform where the leaders of their sect sat. The best seats were of course reserved for the golden cloud sect but to appear fair and magnanimous the platforms were all the same size and merely hung the flag along the banisters. The sect master and patriarch/matriarchs sat on those platforms with their best disciples showing off their favoritism blatantly. Her nose crinkles when seeing a vase of glass flowers next to her master's chair and after glancing around in a subtle manner she could see none of the other sects had a vase full of flowers. "..." Lan Biyu's expression grew as cold as Minglan's.

Da Chuanli merely walks forward and took the vase of harmless beautiful flowers under the two glowering beauties' gazes while laughing naturally. "These flowers must have been sent to the wrong person, allow this disciple to dispose of them for you master." His smile was as charming and gentle as ever but his words were uncouth and uncaring of the sender's feelings. Minglan nods solemnly and took his seat in a dignified manner tossing the incident from before to the back of his mind but he still had a clear scowl on his face when the elders crowded him questioning his whereabouts as soon as he arrived. "Sect Master where have you been?! Not only have most of our disciples failed to defeat their opponents but they've already been disqualified from participating in the An Xing expedition."

Minglan didn't take their scolding to heart thinking it wasn't too surprising for a few disciples to be unable to succeed in their matches and scoffed irritably in response. "Then perhaps you should have trained them harder! Who told you, old men, to spoil the children turning them into useless people?" The elders choke on their spit glowering at the venomous-tongued Minglan with red eyes but they dared not refute his words. It was obvious to them all the young sect master was in a foul mood and whoever dared to step on his toes at the moment would be directly beaten to a pulp.

So, although disgruntled and dissatisfied with his uncaring response they could only bite their tongues and choke on their disapproval of his lateness. Elder Shang at the end eyed the girl who stood behind Minglan's chair with cold disgust which Lan Biyu ignores. Seeing the girl ignoring him he scowled and was angered "Demoness-" An oppressive aura erupted from Minglan, who was already in a foul mood. Several sect leaders turned their heads towards their seats as Minglan seated like an emperor narrowed his eyes at Elder Shang speaking coldly.

"Elder Shang seems to take this king as a useless person after not being put in your place after so long." The handsome man's threat made their hair stand on end and the many pairs of eyes that whipped over quickly turn away once more. But this did not deter them from straining their ears to try and listen in on some juicy gossip. After all, this Azure Sect was a sect renowned for its regal disposition and cool-headedness. Not only that, but almost all of them in that small time frame caught a glimpse of a beautiful girl seated next to the genius Nascent soul cultivator of Azure sect Minglan.

The dazzling silver sash around her waist stated her status as an inner disciple not to mention how she took her seat beside the famous Azure sect master without shame. "Perhaps you have forgotten the Patriarch put me in charge while he was in seclusion. I dare you to speak the curse you were about to call my daughter again." Elder Shang's eyes grow wide as if seeming to understand when looking between the calm Lan Biyu and Minglan. "You knew?"

These were the only words he could utter at the moment of realization. Minglan lazily leans back into his chair after retracting his aura allowing the people around him to breathe sighs of relief and warily edge away from Elder Shang who was the target of their Sect Master's rage. "Knew what? You know that I don't particularly appreciate speaking in tongues. Don't cause trouble where no trouble exists." Elder Shang's face grew red out of indignance but before he could spell the words he wanted to say Minglan cut him off and made the old man grow pale. "Senior brother allowed it, so what do I the Sect Master have to fear?" Lan Biyu took a small glance at the older man, this small glance satisfied her and made her almost want to laugh openly at him. The old man's face was as pale as death and his eyes popped out like a pufferfish. Minglan had no such reservations and sneered at him. Internally he was a tiny bit happier having taken a small bit of revenge for his daughter's pains.

Seeing as there was nothing more being said, the other sect leaders turn their attention back to the rather bland battles beneath them. Minglan had pulled out the Patriarch so even if they were curious they didn't dare to offend the wraith of the smiling lord who was still in seclusion. The whole arena was separated into eight small stages, all of which held two disciples of different factions whose battles took place under the eyes of hundreds of cultivators. Sometimes debris would fly onto the lower seats but a barrier kept the people in the stands safe from harm. Even if a whip flew wide it would still bounce off the barrier like hitting rubber so the cultivators were unconcerned by the violence in the rings and actively cheered for their sect brothers and sisters. Lan Biyu disdained human practices like this, fighting for a ticket to a quick death and a desire for praise from old men and women who only care for power.

In her eyes, these small plays of power to step on the faces of one another were nothing but children fighting for the attention of the heavens. Not knowing that if they were chosen they would have been chosen from birth, and the immortals already long abandoned them. Minglan after dealing with the stubborn Elder Shang took a glance at Lan Biyu as the girl quietly watches the matches below her nonchalantly. He reassures her lightly thinking that she was hiding her unease. "Your shimei and shidi will be fine, if they can't even take a few hits from these failures then it's better to let them go back to the sect and train a bit more before trying again."

Having him whisper this to her Lan Biyu's eyes show a faint flicker of conflict as they swept over her adopted father before she lowers her gaze onto the arena once more. Minglan observes his daughter thinking deeply with her head lowered before she responds to him in an even tone appearing calm once more. "Would master mourn their deaths?" The handsome man was taken aback by her callous words. So he ponders her question and brought his gaze back onto the desperately fighting disciples of his Azure sect, bleeding but biting their lips to stop themselves from crying out.

Their stubborn appearance stood like clouds stained by smog after fighting fiercely with their opponents. "...The fate of others lies within their own hands. You are all still very young and ignorant, if you faced no setbacks due to having been indulging in the safety of our mountains then it would be even harder in the future for you all. The death of companions and survival of the strong will serve as a reminder that there is always one person who suffered more than you and climbed more mountains than you to trample the ignorant." He isn't wrong, but Lan Biyu knew deep down that the guilt would eat at her soft-hearted master on the inside which no one would suspect.

Lan Biyu's lips purse as the face of Hui pops up once more to disrupt her thoughts, and unconsciously she thought of Rui Shi's bright grin and Gao Chang's lingering gaze upon the girl beside him...It would be better if those two fail. She thought to herself faintly. It wasn't abnormal for feelings to grow between two people after spending a lot of time with each other. Rui Shi was one of the few who had shown her true kindness with no ill intent, if Lan Biyu was being honest, she wanted such an innocent child to suffer less.

But that was about it. Indulging a child was nothing new to her, she had watched after many nestlings before escaping her clan. Knowing her master's careful attention towards her social life and which people integrated with her in these past few years. Most likely he was referring to Rui Shi when he said those words of comfort. "Master is right, those who eat soft rice all their lives suffer more when exposed to the outside world later than others. But Junior sister doesn't need to worry so much as the sect has readied teleport talismans for any disciple who passes the test to transport to Master's location in emergencies."

Lan Biyu didn't give the returning teen any acknowledgment however this was within Da Chualin's expectations so after saying this he turns to Minglan and cupped his fists together to report diligently. "Master, the matches of six of my shimei and shidi have already been concluded while we were delayed in arriving." "What?!" Some of the Azure elders were startled by the outburst and glanced over with inquiry in their eyes only to be waved away irritably by the handsome man. Minglan's expression of gentleness when talking to his adopted daughter was quickly ruined by the ugly look on his face after being told this by Da Chuanli. Lan Biyu too was a bit stunned by his words, unconsciously sending the smiling Da Chuanli a look before hurriedly catching herself and ruminating silently.

Already lost six matches? Master's disciples? It was highly unlikely that this could have happened unless...Unless... Lan Biyu purses her lips tightly after her brain reached out grasping onto a possible truth after connecting some pieces of information. The pretty girl did her best to not allow her relief and unease to surface before the two who were still infuriated at the fact that someone had plotted against them without them knowing. Da Chuanli was also confused but after walking around for a bit he only showed a cold smile before returning to report to his master. "You're saying someone is targeting us?"

Taking a deep breath he waved Da Chuali over to his side murmuring this through gritted teeth. Deliberately telling Minglan and his inner disciples the wrong time of when his disciples' matches, wasn't this just too malicious?! What if something had happened to one of his students while he was gone?! Who would stand up for them if they suffered grievances?! Minglan's face darkens and he scolds himself for being careless.

"It was my mistake for thinking that no one would be brave enough to play such a shameless trick. Da Chuanli, go check those rooms we were given." Minglan was stingy and childish. But he was diligent and dutiful in the matters concerning his students never dallying and taking all matters seriously. Lan Biyu with a few guesses in her heart wanted to stop Da Chuanli but the teen was too fast for her and she merely ended up clutching her blue sleeve tersely. Staring at the space her cheap senior brother disappeared from, she took a glance at her quietly fuming master.

"...." In the end, Lan Biyu places her slightly extended hand back onto her lap and went back to watching the matches below her without a word not adding a comment from beginning to end once more.