Beside a rge ke with a massive bridge spanning its length, a lone mansion with a bck roof stood, surrounded by tless fruit trees. Maal poles were stuto the grounds beside it, unlit paper nterns hanging from them. A training ground was close by, a sandy clearing with racks of ons lined up.

  Ying Shi and Mohei ran over from a distance as they followed a stoh, stopping before the mansion.

  "Whoaaa!" Mohei said, waving his hands arouedly.

  Meanwhile, 10 metres behind. Baiyun heaved as he ran with all his might. He caught up with them shortly, hung over with his hands on his knees and wheezing.

  His knees were shaky and pletely numb, but he suppressed the feeling and eled his soul to mend his muscles.

  "Hm. Not bad." Ying Shi said.

  "I did well?" Mohei perked up.

  "Not you."

  "Eh?"

  Baiyun cursed to himself. When Ying Shi and Mohei took off, he had to push himself to his absolute limit to keep up, running out of stamina in a mere 10 minutes.

  He puppetted his legs and followed them further into the mansion grounds, taking a better look at the surroundings.

  As he examihe metal poles with nterns, the on racks and the fruit trees, he frowned. He hadn't used Diviou them, learning the hard way from before that perhaps attempting to touch everything was a faux pas. But all of these appeared to merely be ordinary mortal items, which puzzled him.

  Was it a sign Ying Shi wasn't that valued by his , or was even this a massive expense here in the WanLi? Baiyun was used to mortal materials being practically worthless; he still didn't have a clear grasp of the eic situation in this world.

  Meanwhile, Mohei was very excited.

  "Ying Shi, Ying Shi!" he said, pointing everywhere. "This whole mansion belongs to you? All of this?"

  "Naturally." Ying Shi said.

  "Aaaaaahh, that's so awesome! I'm so jealous, I wish my gave me my ow hideout too!"

  "Perhaps after you've proven your value to your , they might sider such a thing. Until then, dream on."

  "Meanie!" Mohei pouted angrily.

  "I speak only the truth."

  From Mohei's rea, It seemed even just this humble mansion was quite a prestige, at least to young masters of their age.

  Somehow, despite Ying Shi having had no i in recruiting Mohei earlier, the two were now bantering away. Baiyun was slightly speechless by how he, the "recruited" had now ended up as the third wheel. He decided to leave the two of them to their versation and wandered off slightly.

  As he approached the massive ke, he suddenly spotted something. Fei An was hanging upside down from the bridge, the ends of her long hair submerged ier like a paintbrush. Her eyes were focused as her hands reached into the water.

  This annoying kid was io the hunt too? Baiyun supposed it made sense giverength.

  Ying Shi gnced over in Baiyun's dire, then widened his eyes as he spotted her.

  "Fei An, what do you think you're doing?" he yelled.

  "Ah!"

  Fei An flipped bato the bridge, flustered.

  "I have told you many times. This is a ke of oral fish, you are not permitted to fish here!"

  Ying Shi walked past Baiyun and onto the bridge, approag the troublemaker.

  "I wasn't pnning to eat them! I was going to release them back afterwards!" she protested.

  "Fei An. I have made this clear many times. I don't care what your iions are: Do not harass my fish!"

  As the two began tue, the door of the manor swung open, a young boy running out.

  "Fei An! Stop! You're embarrassing me!" he yelled.

  "Ah! Jingfeng! I'm not going to listen to yging... so... bye!"

  With those words, Fei A into the air and flew far into the distance, ughing all the while.

  "e back!" Jingfeng yelled.

  But he could only look helplessly as the speck that was Fei An grew smaller and smaller.

  "Ying Shi! I'm really sorry about my big sister!" Jingfeng rao the two of them, bowiedly in apology.

  Ying Shi shook his head and crossed his arms.

  "Raise your head," he said. "ologise when you're not at fault? This is between me and her."

  "But I'm supposed to keep a close eye on her..." Jingfeng mumbled. "Our patriarch heard big sis was causing trouble, so he told me to supervise her..."

  "Enough of that." Ying Shi waved his hand, shooing him away. "I have no i in hearing the ways you bme yourself. "Baiyun, Mohei, it's about time I introduced you to the rest of the team."

  "Yay! We're part of the team!" Mohei cheered.

  "For now."

  "Hmph!"

  Ying Shi marched to the mansion with them in tow and opehe door.

  "Sorry, Ying Shi!" Jingfeng said. "I o chase my sister down, so I won't be able to attend."

  "No worries." Ying Shi said.

  Jingfeng nodded in gratitude then took off. The remaining three ehe mansion.

  Inside was a huge room lit with warm e mps, various shelves and boxes of miseous supplies lined against every ossible. 13 youths were gathered, most of them standing around a round table covered in various wooden boards and game pieces, some of them holding bags of tokens. The rest sat to the side, tending to ons or reading from manuals.

  Baiyun hat 10 of them were dressed in a certain uniform, likely guards of Ying Shi's . It seemed to be the guard team Ying Shi wao recruit him into. He stared at them doubtfully, noting none of them were older than the disciples they supposedly protected. At such young ages, were they an actual effective group or just a py group formed by a young master's whims?

  The uniformed group stood up and bowed toward Ying Shi, who merely nodded.

  "You've been taking your sweet time to arrive, I see."

  A muscur woman iwenties approached, crossing her arms. Despite her bulk, she carried herself with mannerisms befitting that of a noble. Amidst the children, she was like a giant that towered over the rest of the group.

  "I had matters to attend to, elder sister Yingtao." Ying Shi said. "These two will be joining us on this expedition, Baiyun and Mohei."

  Baiyun he dy's face had a remarkable resembo Ying Shi's. In this case, "elder sister" was quite literal. But her face was far from stoilike his; while she wasn't wearing her heart on her sleeves, her face had a slightest inkling of amusement from seeing her little brother.

  Her aura was restrained so it was hard to guess her cultivation, but it was strong. He wondered if she was the elder who supervised them.

  "Oh?" the woman stared at them.

  But while Yingtao did not have much to say, a disciple stood up from the table. He was a young boy with lightning-shaped scars and a tinge of yellow in his bck hair. His eyes were full of pt as he stared at Baiyun and Mohei.

  Baiyun reised him. It was Sanguang, the kid who "beat" a wolf after struggling to prey its mouth open for a whole 10 minutes.

  "A rejed a useless servant." he scoffed. "What are you two doing here?"

  Ying Shi didn't answer, but a short young girl who held a long staff looked rather annoyed.

  "Do you have to do this every time?" she said.

  "It's none of your business, Qinghe!"

  Mohei ched his fist angrily.

  "Hmph. You're just jealous because Baiyun scored above you!" he shouted. "And you call me a reject? Fine, let's have a duel then!"

  "Ridiculous! He's a weakling who only won because of a fluke!" Sanguang harrumphed. "Since you want a beating, who am I to refuse? e at me! And you too!"

  He made a "e at me" gesture at Baiyun, who sighed. Again with the pointless infighting and duel requests. To think Sanguang would still be holding a grudge over such a small thing. Kids were such a handful.

  Baiyun turo Ying Shi to see his rea.

  For a subordio openly question the new members was to question the leader's ability to recruit. Sanguang might have spoken carelessly without thinking, but in Baiyun's eyes, influenced by the strict ws of his old sect, this alone was enough to warrant his removal from the team.

  But Ying Shi looked the same as ever, perhaps with even the slightest hint of amusement from the edge of his mouth. Baiyun was baffled.

  Yingtao spoke up.

  "I suppose it's a good time for each of you to show your capabilities to the team anyway." she said. "e to the training grounds."

  The chaperone was encing the fight too? What exactly were those siblings thinking?

  Ying Shi led the disciples out, the guards marg behind them. She looked around briefly and firmed no one was missing, then nodded.

  CLAP!

  Yingtao let out a dramatic d the ground began to rumble, dust billowing to knee level. Earth and soil crumbled, the tip of a massive boulder pierg through much like a bamboo shoot. It tio rise, until it reached the height of a house.

  The boulder had a stroh st and atchwork of textures grey and brown.

  "Whoa!"

  Mohei ran up to it and gave it a few sps, firming the rock was in fact rock solid.

  One of the young guards cpped excitedly with a smile, but no one else ping so he awkwardly slowed his hands to a halt. But at the st moment, Mohei began to cp as well. The guard turned over in surprise, then quied his cps once more.

  Yingtao gave them a baffled look briefly before resuming her speech.

  "We will demonstrate our strength here. Sanguang, Mohei, I have no i in you injuring each other, so pete here instead."

  "Ehhh?" Sanguang cried out in dismay. "I'm a lightning cultivator, this is an unfair matchup! I want a proper duel, not this!"

  Mohei began to ugh.

  "What's wrong? Are you scared you'd lose?" he jeered.

  "Shut up! Your fire attacks won't do much either!"

  Yingtao flicked both of them on the forehead. Baiyun nodded. It seemed he had misuood her earlier.

  "Ack!"

  "I'm not letting you roast each other alive with fire and lightning. Just suck it up." she said.

  "Grrrr..."

  her of the two seemed happy, but Yingtao began to gre which quickly shut them up.

  Baiyun meanwhile frowned as he examihe boulder. With its irregur position of whatever happeo be beh the ground, he would certainly find many oints with Diviouch. But he wasn't strong enough to do much even with that advantage.

  With his meagre strength, it took him thousands of attacks merely to chip a wall of Undying Basalt. Even if this boulder was nowhere as strong, he wouldly look good if it took him 10-30 attacks to remove a few ks from the wall.

  "Who will go first?" Yingtao asked.

  The g guard raised his hand almost too eagerly.

  "Master Yingtao, let me demonstrate!"

  Perhaps eager to wash off his embarrassment from earlier, he rushed to a on rad grabbed a halberd. He spun it in his hands and stirred the winds slightly, blurring the on into a whirling white circle.

  "Hah!"

  He yelled as he leapt high into the air, smming the halberd downwards! A loud bang echoed through the air as half the on sunk into the boulder. He winced as the impact shook his hands violently, the pole of the halberd visibly vibrating, but he barely held on before letting go.

  Baiyun looked serious as he stared at the spider-webbing cracks on the boulder. Even if the kid made use of gravity and momentum, not to mention an unrealistic attack that was easy to dodge in actual bat, this was quite the firepower for a Qi Gatherer.

  He hadn't firmed the guard's cultivation stage, but somehow he got the feeling the guard was still far from the Foundational stage.

  "Not bad." Yingtao said.

  Not bad? Baiyun frowned. Were all the disciples here as monstrous?

  One by ohe guards demonstrated their skills, damaging the boulder to a simir extent. The tall boulder was covered in cracks, multiple ons stig out of it. By now, the entire boulder was covered in cracks, seemingly about to shatter at any moment.

  Baiyun took back his words. Despite their age, these were all fairly petent guards.

  Yingtao gestured to Ying Shi, and he nodded back.

  "The guards are done demonstrating. Baiyun, you're up first!" Ying Shi said.

  First again? The guards had already softehe rocks, but Baiyun was still dismayed. He touched the boulder and activated Diviouch.

  The cracks had spread through the boulder a lot. There was a huge fault that looked promising, but if he split the entire boulder in a single blow, it would cause an uproar! If they overestimated him, he would likely be pced on the front line of their formation, putting himself into needless danger.

  Baiyun was staring hard at the on rack when Jingfeng's shout suddenly rang out.

  "Sorry! It took a while for me to find her!"

  High in the air, Jingfeng ran over with a sso in hand, dragging Fei An along as she floated disgruntledly.

  "Ahaha! Fei Aurned you into a kite!" Mohei ughed.

  Fei An suddenly rushed towards him, yanking Jingfeng forward until he fell forward.

  "Eek!" Mohei yelped.

  "Big sis!" Jingfeng yelled.

  "Yeah? I'll turn you into a kite too!" Fei An grinned devilishly. "Take this- Ow!"

  Ying Shi suddenly flicked her on the forehead, interrupting the floating spell she was about to cast on Mohei.

  "Enough." Ying Shi said. "Demonstrations have begun."

  He poio the side, where the disciples and guards were waiting their turn.

  "Not fair." Fei An grumbled. "Only adults are supposed to be able to do the finger flick! You're not any older than me! Not fair! Not fair! Cheater!"

  "I have never heard of such a rule." Ying Shi said.

  Fei An was about tue, but Jingfeng got up from the ground and dragged her away, wiping the mud from his scowling face.

  Baiyun watched the farce speechlessly. Havi with troublesome young disciples in his past life, he could empathise with Jingfeng.

  At the same time, he had finally made his decision. He reached out and grabbed a bow and quiver.

  He didn't have the physical strength of the disciples here, but even if his arrows couldn't dig far into the hide of spirit beasts, it would at least serve as support.

  Baiyun imagined a quick sario. As a spirit beast rushed towards a disciple carrying a mace, he released an arrow aimed at its eye. The beast panicked and dodged, leaving an opening for the disciple to bash its skull in!

  He o himself. It wasn't fshy, but the most realistic way he could make himself useful given his current strengths. And most importantly, firing arrows from the back was the safest bet.

  Alchemy was an art that required the most precise of hand movements, the bance of elements and the most delicate of qi trol. Even the smallest of mistakes could lead to catastrophic failure, even cauldron explosions in the worst case.

  pared to that, how difficult could using a simple bow be?

  He slotted an arrow into his bow fidently.

  "A bow? What's that going to do against a boulder?" Sanguang ughed.

  But Baiyun didn't answer. He was going to aim at the hilt of every on, striking all of them sequentially.

  He aimed the arrow and closed an eye; a strange air of focus came into the air. The other disciples grew silent, sensing his seriousness.

  Whoosh!

  The arrow shot through the air, pierg it in a perfectly straight lihere was no thud of stone being stuck, only the faint whisper of wind.

  Baiyun turned away.

  "What happened? Did he pierce the entire boulder somehow?" Mohei gasped.

  "No." Ying Shi said. "He missed."

  Yingtao, who had remained posed until now suddenly burst into ughter. Hearihe other disciples began to ugh as well.

  Baiyun's eyes twitched. He thought he had aimed that perfectly, but the string bounced in an ued way, sending the arrow veering off course!

  "It's the first time I've used a bow in my life." Baiyun coughed.

  Tsk... if only he had practiced with the bow before this...

  "Then why'd you use it?" Mohei asked.

  Baiyun was silent. It wasn't as if he could say he was overfident and assumed aiming a bow would be child's py.

  Sanguang was ughing the hardest, jeering at Baiyun with childish taunts.

  "Baiyun, go beat him up! He only knows how to say stupid things!" Mohei yelled.

  But Baiyun had little i in fighting a kid over petty squabbles. He turo Ying Shi, who seemed indifferent. He still wasn't going to do anything?

  Seeing Baiyun's questioning look, Ying Shi finally turned over.

  "Do you expect me to resolve your flicts? Resolve it yourself through battle." Ying Shi scoffed.

  His sister sighed and shook her head.

  Baiyun frowned. From hned Yingtao looked, it didn't seem like she po stop him. Did this kid have a screw loose? What sane person would ence their team to bicker and fight?

  "Ying Shi." he said. "Your sister told us not to duel, or we'd injure each other."

  "Don't worry." Ying Shi said. "I'll pay for the recovery elixirs."

  Baiyun was left speechless.

  "What's wrong? Chiing out?" Sanguang said.

  Baiyun stared at him, then at his own bow. He thought to himself for a moment. If practice was what he needed...

  "Fine. You're on."

  Baiyun picked up the bow again but picked a quiver full of padded arrows this time. His aim might not be there yet, but it seemed a practice target had offered itself to him.

  He didn't feel any aowards Sanguang, but something within seemed to pel him. Something he didn't uand.