A thin bead of sweat dripped down my brow as I breathed deeply. Each movement had to be precise, one mistake meant defeat, and defeat may not be deadly, but it was undeniably painful.

  “Good work today Daoist Yi. It's good to see that you’ve settled in well.”

  The instructor smiled as he tossed me a towel.

  “Instructor Xiao. when will I be allowed to join the sect officially?”

  The stately man tapped his wooden practice bde on the stone floor and hemmed and hawed for a moment before simply tapping his head.

  “Eventually?”

  “... Not funny Instructor”

  I pulled back my practice sword and drew it forward pointing it at the featherbrained instructor. He hopped back out of range, just before my blow could nd on his head. Perfectly timed.

  For all his faults, the instructor was certainly capable of his job.

  “You’re only an outer disciple right now, before you’ll be accepted within the sect walls, You’ll have to prove yourself in some way. The sect won’t take in just anyone. As it is you should be proud that you have a pce right outside it’s walls”

  I turned to look upward at those walls, tall and spotless white, like a holy citadel on a distant hill. The walls seem almost oppressive. The pressure they give off is undeniable. For outer disciples like myself, those walls represent everything that we work toward.

  Sects are usually pced in areas with a lot of Qi, so it should come as no surprise that sitting outside the walls still nets you a little bit more Qi than simply meditating in the middle of nowhere. Thus outer disciples come to be. Parasites that leech off of the little extra Qi that floats around the walls of a sect. As self deprecating as it may seem, this is simply the way it is.

  “You say that I need to prove myself to enter the sect, but how would I go about doing this?”

  I tilt my head and shoot my instructor a questioning gnce.

  “Hmm… I know of one way, but I can’t say for certain whether you’re ready just yet. In a few months, the Sect will hold its yearly Phoenix Festival. It might be an opportunity to catch a few eyes and make a path.”

  I stopped swinging my practice sword for a moment and wiped away the sweat on my brow.

  “Phoenix Festival?” I frowned slightly in confusion.

  “What’s that?”

  The old instructor hung up his own practice sword and plopped down on a cushion.

  “Legend goes that about four thousand years ago this nd was a dry desert. Abundant in fire Qi perhaps, but not much else. Certainly nothing alive. Around that time, there weren’t any human settlements that could survive here, maybe a few beast holes here and there, but even that is doubtful. Then, one day a traveling mythical beast, a Phoenix, happened across the area and decided it’d be a great pce to call home.”

  “So what does this phoenix do? Well, it evidently terraformed the entire damn desert, keeping the source of the fire Qi that had made it into the inhospitable pce it was, but restoring nature and life to the area, and ultimately transforming it into what we see now. A lively beautiful valley, filled to the brim with Qi, and quite comfortable. I like to think that when the phoenix looked at the desert, this valley is exactly what they saw.”

  As the Instructor talked, he carefully grinded up some dried herbs, and sprinkled them into a little stone pot over a fire he lit. As the story went on, the calming herbal scent of tea slowly permeated the area.

  “Is any of this real? It’s just a legend right?”

  I couldn’t help but be a little doubtful. It definitely seemed like too much to be true. Even assuming a beast as rare as a Phoenix would simply be wandering around aimlessly, why would it suddenly decide to terraform an entire desert? And even if it did that, why would a territorial beast suddenly allow humans to build a settlement there?

  The instructor picked at his lip for a moment before speaking up again.

  “Hard to say kid. There definitely is a surprising amount of fire Qi in this valley. More than there should be for this area since there’s no natural phenomenon that should be creating all of it. It’s undeniably weird, but at the end of the day, it’s up to you to choose what you want to believe. I’m not going to tell you what you can and can’t believe in.”

  The instructor lifted a teacup out of a spacial pouch hanging at his waist, and dipped it into his pot, withdrawing it and taking a careful sip before sticking out his tongue.

  “Blech… too hot. But yea, if you intend to make it into the sect as an inner disciple, the Phoenix festival will be your best bet. You’ve got about three months till then though, so keep training, and keep doing your best. I’ll make sure to have you at an acceptable level by that time. What do you say?”

  He grins as he offers me a cup of tea.

  I sigh and accept the steaming cup.

  “You really should act more your age Instructor…”

  The instructor smiled bitterly and recoiled a little

  “Ack… Why do all of my students tell me that?”

  “Because it's true, Instructor.”

  “Ugh…”

  I pack up my things and head out of the dojo after thoroughly destroying my instructor.

  My bare feet pound the cobbled street as I make my way to where I’m staying.

  After I left Hàorán’s estate, I spent some time searching for him, but he was nowhere to be found. The estate was empty, completely devoid of servant and master alike. He’d evidently had prior warning that the sect was coming to raid him, and had made a hasty escape. Nonetheless, I would find him someday.

  I sighed and looked up at the sky as I contempted my situation. I’ve been doing live-in work at a local soup shop. The owner there was kind enough to take me in and I was thankful for that, but I couldn’t afford to stay there forever. I needed to enter the sect if I hoped to get stronger in order to find Hàorán.

  Ding

  As I open the door to the soup shop, the sparkle of a bell rings out making my entrance evident. A bang followed by rapid thumps echoes from the back of the shop as the owner runs out to see me.

  “Yi! You’re back!”

  A flying pink comet pnts itself into my stomach, almost knocking me over as a small girl catches me in a flying bear hug.

  “I’m back boss. Training went well again.”

  This is Xaio Ling, despite her youthful appearance, she’s the owner of the soup shop. She’s always appeared much younger than she actually is, and it’s led to quite a few problematic customers thinking she was the owners daughter, and getting themselves tossed out of the shop.

  “Is it alright if I rest upstairs for a bit before my shift starts?”

  “Hmmm…”

  Ling bounces from side to side for a moment as she considers my request before nodding excitedly.

  “I’ll give you till Rén. Rest well miss Yi”

  SorisBckwinter