Despair. The Spear Squad

The instructors were thus left to clear up after the two big shots had left. Ning Fulan and some others cleared the debris, while the rest tended to the injured. Meng Yue was fed an antidote to her beserk cultivation state, and after a while she blinked as she opened her eyes, which had returned to their normal color.

"Tutor Sal!" She pushed herself up onto her elbows, "what-- what happened?"

The cultivation instructor, Sal Qilan, ignored her question and moved on to tend to another person. Su Hanlin had joined them and was currently applying ointment that Sal Qian had retrieved from her spatial space to Gu Yuwei's injuries. Ning Fulan strode over.

"I'll do that. Go take care of the rest,"

"Ahh- yes, tutor," Su Hanlin got up and approached Feng Chusan instead, who was crying.

"It's okay, Chusan. You still have me and Yuwei," Su Hanlin comforted her. Feng Chusan hiccuped.

"But-- but you're already also chosen; and Yuwei might be too anytime-- what will happen then? I'll be all alone!"

Su Hanlin shook her head, as she pressed down gently on Feng Chusan's swollen eyelid with essence imbued into her fingers.

"Keep training hard and make sure you're at your cultivation peak any waking moment. You'll be chosen,"

"But-- what if I'm not chosen to the school you're in. You're in the Medicine Guild; Yuefeng has gone to the Spear Squad -- what am I to do?"

"Don't think about it like that. I'm sure we'll be able to see each other," Su Hanlin said, "don't worry,"

"What!?" Meng Yue exclaimed from where she was. Did-- did she hear correctly?! Han Yuefeng had been chosen by the Top Senior?! And- and-- Su Hanlin had been accepted into the Medicine Guild?!? Then-- then what about her??! What about her?!? Would she rot in this hatchery forever?! Would any squad leader select her now once the news of what she had done reached everywhere? Fighting in the hatcheries! Berserk cultivation! What should she do?!? She felt like dying.

"Tutor," she got up and approached Sal Qian, who had her back to her, "Tutor!" She shouted.

Sal Qian heaved a long sigh and rose up. She turned around to face the panicking girl.

"Yes, what now, Meng Yue?!"

Meng Yue flinched. Her face was pale and she was trembling all over. She burst into tears and knelt down with a thud.

"Tutor-- please-- accept me as your disciple! Please!" She grabbed the tutor's robe, "please, don't abandon me, Tutor Sal!"

The other instructors gathered around them. They had finished clearing things up and taking care of the injured. Sal Qian glanced at them. Their faces were impassive. It was up to Sal Qian if she wanted to accept Meng Yue or not.

"I-- I can't," Sal Qian said eventually, "sorry, Meng Yue," she reached out and raised the girl off the ground. She then took a deep breath and turned to leave the hatchery. The other instructors also left one by one, till it was just Ning Fulan remaining.

"Let there be no more fighting," she said tersely, addressing everyone, "understood?"

"Yes, tutor," all the girls said meekly. Ning Fulan glanced at the still shock Meng Yue, but she didn't have anything to say to her, so she just nodded at Gu Yuwei, and left the hatchery as well. The girls were silent for two minutes, then all arranged themselves wordlessly. Su Hanlin's twenty-two, all chose beds surrounding that of their leader. Fifteen girls came forward and knelt before her, accepting her as their leader. Gu Wenwen and the three remaining ones (the lackey girl, the crippled Chu Gumei whose legs had been mended surreptitiously by the instructors and Fan Yurou) approached Meng Yue and led her to her bed... Gu Wenwen got up and came to Su Hanlin.

"Give the five of us our share of the foodstuffs," she said tonelessly. Su Hanlin nodded at Ye Haobei, who brought out commensurate items from within her spatial space. Gu Wenwen collected them and walked away.

"Is this the end of it?" Li Beiyao asked Su Hanlin, who shrugged and smiled.

"It could have been much worse, if not for Yuefeng,"

"That's true! How did she manage to get the Top Senior here?!" Li Beiyao spoke with a reverent hush, "I wish she wasn't gone so we could ask her!" She crunched her face unhappily.

"Yeah," Feng Chusan sighed. Li Beiyao put her arms around her, startling Feng Chusan.

"I know you'll miss her the most, but we'll all do. Cheer up. She might even talk to the Top Senior about you!"

"I wish," Feng Chusan sighed again, "I hope she'll be fine. Yuefeng is young. Who knows whether they'll bully her in the Top Senior's school?" She asked worriedly.

"They wouldn't dare," Su Hanlin commented, "her status is different. She's the Top Senior's disciple. Others are just students of the Spear Squad,"

"But, Sister Hanlin, you're really lucky!" Li Beiyao suddenly chuckled with a blush on her face, "your master is sooooo handsome!" She covered her face in ecstacy, "I was so embarrassed when he appeared; I looked terrible, and he looked in my direction!"

In another time Feng Chusan would have been behaving in exactly the same way Li Beiyao was; after all this was the first time she was also seeing the 'ethereal beauties' of the Si Lak Mercenaries without masks on too! But she scoffed.

"So?"

"So!" Li Beiyao seized a pillow and lugged it at Feng Chusan, "if I could be his disciple-- starring at him would be what I'd be doing all the day long!"

"Stop it," Su Hanlin frowned; all she was remembering was ghost man, "he's not fine at all. That's just a facade. He's very terrifying,"

"Who cares?" Li Beiyao laughed, "if a facade is that handsome, then a facade is all I want!"

Su Hanlin sighed and rubbed her aching forehead. Li Beiyao continued to rant and drool about Yi Hei all morning.

*

It was one of those rare times Meng Yue dreamt of her past. Perhaps it was because she had been thinking too much, but what else could she do? After eating the meal Gu Wenwen and the others had cooked she had climbed up into her bed and thrown a quilt over herself and cried herself to sleep and slept for the whole day. She had found herself, despite wishing for a dreamless slumber, back in her childhood home; if the torn down shack in which she and fifteen other children bundled in when night fell could be called a home. Meng Yue had been a street child, after her parents had died and her insane grandmother had thrown her out. She was fourteen years old back then and the second only reason she was not in a brothel was because she could fight off her abductors every single time: she was a cultivator. Meng Yue found solace from the stark misery of the streets by cultivating, and she was already a Martial Skill at this age. Her cultivation had reached a bottleneck because there was no where she could go to in order to secure a Skill Scroll to practice. But she never stopped trying to cultivate, even though it went nowhere and the esscence she was absorbing was just layering up in her oasis without converting to cultivation strength. One day she had even tried to create a Skill of her own, procuring a rough broken knife and trying to form some combat steps. She did everything she could!

That day another brothel abductor had raided their shack. She fought back trying to protect the kids with her but she was overpowered. Though they still hadn't been able to take her they had taken some of the girls away. Meng Yue experienced despair and hopelessness that day, riddled with injuries and an even greater hole in her heart. She had ran away from that town to another, and there encountered the Mercenary that took her in, Whistle Night, who was surprised and intrigued at a seventeen year old Martial Skill cultivator with far too much acquired essence with which she should have broken through to another stage. She had pleaded with him to please follow her to the next to the neighbouring town to free some of her friends from a brothel. Not exactly bothered, Whistle Night had obliged and had helped raze down the brothel. Those girls were brought back to Si Lak town while Meng Yue herself had been deposited in the hatchery. Naive her had thought he was going to come back and get her some days later...

Meng Yue woke up with a start. Whistle Night. Perhaps she could ask around about him, and become his disciple. After all, Su Hanlin had gone down to the main camp. Han Yuefeng had as well, and encountered the Top Senior! Sitting in here and pining away was not going to help. She had to take matters into her own hands.

Meng Yue slipped down from the bed soundlessly. Yet, she woke Gu Wenwen as she crept by her, who rubbed her crusty eyes.

"Where are you--"

"Shh!" Meng Yue put a finger to her lips, "I'm just going outside for some air," she said quietly, "sleep,"

Gu Wenwen rolled back in her bed. Meng Yue nodded satisfactorily. She slipped into her sandals and retrieved from the clothes box in the room the black cloak Su Hanlin had used that day. She then stealthily crept out of the hatchery.

Once outside, Meng Yue did not delay and made towards the path that led from the hatchery to Mt. Lingwu at once. She had overheard the girls talking among themselves in the aftermath of Su Hanlin's return from the main camp that this was where she had passed through to get there. Meng Yue went up the hilly incline with great anticipation in her thumping heart. It would soon be over...it would soon be over...it would soon be...

That damn Su Hanlin! Meng Yue cursed in her heart as she retched into a bush. She sat with a thump on a boulder, huffing. Was this a prank?! Did that girl really pass through this place to get to the camp! Why, she'd come to the end! It was a cliff! A damn sheer drop cliff about a hundred feet high.

She crept to the edge carefully. Ah! Lights! Silhouettes of houses! Turrets and towers! Wide acres of training fields! This! This was the Si Lak Mercenaries!!!

How had Su Hanlin gotten down? Meng Yue examined the cliff and noticed that it could be climbed down. However, that would take a very dexterous and experienced person! What was she going to do?!

She decided to jump. First of all she conjured a large bubble shaped mass and threw it down. Hopefully she would land on that and not fall somewhere else and break all her bones. She took a deep breath as she noticed where the mass had fallen.

Heave!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

She had landed, yes, on the mass. But she had sprained her ankle for her weight fell onto her leg. Meng Yue sat up and examined her ankle. She quickly poured in healing essence unrestrainedly. Before long, she could now stand on it again.

Meng Yue looked up. It was so far away! She plucked up courage, however, and ran towards it...

*

Han Yuefeng stood in the wide courtyard with a feeling of homesickness, holding to her chest a bundle of clothes wrapped in a quilt. Even though the courtyard was bustling with activity and people came in and went out of all the surrounding buildings all around her, she felt very lonely. She would rather be in the hatchery with her friends rather than here, but...

"Hey," finally, someone noticed her standing there all by herself and going nowhere. A tall spangly boy wearing the red and white uniform of the Spear Squad. His hair was held up with a headpiece, but he still had his hair braided at the sides. He carried a longsword with a tassel, and carried himself with a sense of pride and confidence.

"Hello," Han Yuefeng scuttled back a step and looked up at him. He was almost twice her height.

"Are you new?" He asked her.

"Yes," she replied quietly.

"But your hair hasn't been made tho!" He shouted, drawing attention to them both. Han Yuefeng looked around wildly as other students started to surround them.

"What's the matter, Yan Xiao?" Someone of authority asked among them. Yan Xiao made way.

"Umm, this girl-- she claims to have been selected, but she still has her 'hatchery hair',"

The other young man frowned as he surveyed Han Yuefeng from head to toe.

"Who brought you back?" He asked sharply.

"Um-- Se-- Senior-- the Top Senior," Han Yuefeng stammered. The onlookers paused for a second.

"Hah!" Yan Xiao suddenly snorted, "really!"

"Where did you encounter her?" Another student laughed as well.

"Yeah-- in your dreams?"

"Hahahaha!"

"So hilarious!"

Han Yuefeng was on the verge of tears. She hid her face into the bundle she was carrying and wished to disappear.

"What are you all doing there?" A stern voice coming from the entrance of the Spear Squad school suddenly sounded. The students surrounding Han Yuefeng straightened their backs unconsciously as they stood at alert.

"Elder Nalan!" They all bowed to her at a respectful ninety degree.

"Rise," Nalan Yu waved her hand, "what's happening here?"

"Replying to Elder, this girl walked in and said she's a new student and we noticed she didn't have the Spear Squad's hairstyle, so we reckoned she was lying," Yan Xiao piped up at once.

"Oh! I've been looking for you all over!" Nalan Yu strode over to the befuddled Han Yuefeng, "so you came here. Are you alright?"

"Hmm," Han Yuefeng nodded, wiping the lone tear that had sneaked out of her eye. Nalan Yu frowned.

"What! Have you been bullying her?! Do you know who you are bullying?! Pay your respects to the Fifth Elder of the Spear Squad!"

"Ahh?!?" The students were flabbergasted! Fi-- fifth elder?!?! How come?!?

"What are you standing there for?!" Nalan Yu barked.

"That--" a pretty girl raised her head and spoke up, "Elder Nalan, has-- has she really been chosen as Senior Flaming Spear's disciple?!"

"Yes!" Nalan Yu glared daggers, "now go ahead and pay your respects!"

"Ahh-- the disciples of the Spear Squad greet the Fifth Elder!" All of them had no option but to obey, and gave Han Yuefeng the same respect they gave Nalan Yu.

"Good! Let's go," Nalan Yu took Han Yuefeng by the arm, taking the bundle she carried and throwing it to the pretty girl who had talked earlier, "You, carry the Elder's load!"

"Ye-- yes, Elder Nalan!" The flustered girl caught the bundle in a jiffy, her face red. She hurried after the duo at once. Nalan Yu brought Han Yuefeng to a beautiful manor-like house behind the Spear Squad school. The plaque overhead read Limitless Potential.

"This is your house," Nalan Yu commented.

"Mi-- mine?!?" Han Yuefeng was shocked. Even the girl behind them had her jaws dropped!

"Yes," Nalan Yu nodded as she pushed open the door, revealing an exquisite main room. The door on the left side of the room was opened to a medium sized courtyard with a small stone pool in the middle, a cultivation room at the far end, a kitchen, and even a gazebo!

"I know you wouldn't be able to manage it on your own so I'll go into town to find some maids for you," Nalan Yu said.

"That-- Elder Nalan, can I serve her?" Luggage bearer immediately spoke up. Nalan Yu turned around to glare at her.

"So how are you going to learn to be a Spear Squad member if you spend all your time here serving the Elder?"

"That--" She stalled. Nalan Yu hissed.

"If you have nothing better to say, just keep quiet," she snapped, "drop the load and return,"

"Ye-- yes, elder!" Her face even redder than it already was, the girl dropped the load on the wooden table in the room and ran out.

Nalan Yu turned to face Han Yuefeng.

"So, do you like it?" She smiled. Han Yuefeng was blown away by her beauty. Blushing, she nodded.

"Come. I'll bring you to where the others are. Let's teleport this time," Nalan Yu grabbed Han Yuefeng's hand.

"The others?" Han Yuefeng asked, but they were already hurtling through a void. They landed inside a long hall.

"Hey! Nalan Yu shouted to the people inside the hall, who were basically lounging around.

"What's the matter?"

"You're back already?"

"Yes, and I'm back with the fifth!" Nalan Yu smiled widely as if she had been given all the candies in the world.

The three people in the room approached them. The first, Luo Bai, with his heterochromatic eyes.

"Hello," he nodded to Han Yuefeng, "you can call me Brother Luo. My name is Luo Bai,"

Han Yuefeng gulped as normally a man Luo Bai's age was supposed to be her father! But she smiled instead.

"Hello, Brother Luo,"

Luo Bai froze as if shot. The younger man beside him grinned as he shove him to one side and introduced himself.

"I'm Si Jihei," he smiled widely, showing pointed canines. Half of his hair covered the side of his face, and the other half was held back with a ribbon. He wore a loose robe open at the chest, deep red with blue stripes at his shoulder line.

"Hello, senior Si,"

"No, no, you can't call me senior!" Si Jihei panicked as he waved his hands quickly, "that title is only reserved for Master and the other Seniors. Best you can do is call me Brother Si or Second Brother or just my name,"

"Oh," Han Yuefeng nodded and smiled, "I'll learn,"

Si Jihei held his chest in mock fright as if he was going to get an heart attack from Han Yuefeng's smile.

"Ahh! Why is our fifth so cute?!?? Where did Master pick her up from?" He shouted. Luo Bai glanced at him and shook his head. The last person finally came forward.

"I'm your third martial brother, Mu Tianjin," he was more reserved than the others, and wore a black robe with an intricate crane pattern.

"Hello, brother Mu," Han Yuefeng had now realised why Nalan Yu was quite happy. It turned out that she had been the only female disciple of the Top Senior for a while.

"Alright, after this, you can just ignore them," Nalan Yu said happily as she turned around with Han Yuefeng.

"Hey!" Si Jihei shouted at their backs, "we don't even know the tiny one's name yet!"

"Oh!" Han Yuefeng turned around, "I'm sorry!--"

"What a weird name; Sorry?" Luo Bai commented. Han Yuefeng blushed.

"No, I mean--"

"Haha!" Si Jihei laughed, holding his belly, "you're sorry! Hi, sorry, I'm Si Jihei!"

"Do you seriously feel the need to do that?" Mu Tianjin raised his eyebrows.

"I'm-- I'm Han Yuefeng,"

"What a beautiful name," Si Jihei held his cheeks like a smitten fan girl, "don't mind Nalan Yu and come visit your big martial brothers often! I promise I'll give you lots of goodies!"

"Let's go," Nalan Yu pulled Han Yuefeng out. They were outside when she talked again, "and don't mind him-- I'll give you everything you want,"

*

Agate Pavillion, Li Manor, Phoenix Empire

"Waah! Bun Bun not do again! Bun Bun not walk! Bun Bun want snacks!" Li Silan fell to the ground with a loud bump. The before time round ball of fat was now almost unrecognisable; she now looked like a normal human being! She was still big, but had already lost about half of her original weight.

Her driller stood over her with a menacing expression. Some distance away, Tao He and Jun Ru didn't know whether to be laughing or crying.

"Get up,"

"Nooooo! Mother! Mother! Bun Bun want Mother!" She started crawling away from this scary personage. Wu wu wu, where had her caring Big Sister gone?! Who was this stranger and what had she done with the lovely indulgent Big Sister, waah!

The only person in the entirety of the Li Manor who could go against (not strictly speaking) this frightening girl who was not her Big Sister was her mother! However, Li Sihan was not the Grand Chief of the Si Lak Mercenaries for nothing. She only made sure to do Li Silan's (she had even stopped calling her by the nickname) weight loss drills when the madam of the house was not around. Today, the couple had gone out again and yup, they refused to have scary blood-thirsty mercenary escorts. Li Sihan had been low-key annoyed by that but Madam Li had cajoled her.

No one could tell Li Silan that her sister wasn't transferring aggression onto her! Waaah! Why not just let her continue to eat her snacks in peace?! Now, her meals had been reduced to seven per day, wu wu wu! She wasn't allowed any more sweets and snacks! What a life! What a sad sorry life!!

"Young miss!" A servant dashed into the Agate Pavilion in a hurry, "it's bad! It's bad!"

"What's bad?" Li Sihan drawled lazily. Jun Ru and Tao He, however, had stood at alert at once.

"I received a pigeon from the butler at the summer home that Master and Madam had yet to arrive still!"

"They could be taking their time," Li Sihan waved her hand, unbothered.

"I-- this servant doesn't think so! It's been twelve days and they should have arrived on the seventh! Don't -- don't you suppose a mishap has happened?"

"Why are you thinking ominously," Li Sihan retorted. Jun Ru walked up to her.

"Grand Chief, I reckon we should really look into this to make sure my lord and lady are alright,"

Li Sihan pouted.

"Could there be anyone with the guts and balls to do them harm after I declared my identity?"

"Yes," Jun Ru's face was straight, "the Scorpion Hall,"

Li Sihan's face turned ugly.

"They. Don't. Dare," she stood up immediately. Her expression was so dark and scary it frightened even Tao He and Jun Ru, much less the poor hapless servant.

"Let's go!"