“The Ice River Martial School is now accepting disciples! Fellow practitioners seeking to advance themselves upon the harsh and bitter journey that is cultivation, applications may be submitted at the city plaza!”
An eager and approachable voice rang forth, the words seeking to stoke the blazing ardor hidden within each and every single youth’s hearts.
At the same time, a young practitioner dressed in a light azure daoist’s robe shouted at the top of his lungs, his countenance rushed scarlet not due to fatigue or overexcitement, but embarrassment.
“Heavenly Yang Martial School is now accepting disciples! Fellow practitioners seeking to achieve a glorious radiance in the jianghu, Master Huang is accepting disciples for a week!”
An equally powerful and exuberant voice dwarfed that of the youth’s and a well-built man slapped at the signboard standing besides him, his palm wreathed in a dark orange glow.
Compared to the young practitioner’s overly flushed expression, the man retained a steady countenance as though his current occupation was not akin to an irrevocable stain on his career as a practitioner.
As the passerby busied themselves with the tedious process of applying for the chance to become accepted as a disciple of the jianghu, the two advertisers of opposing martial arts schools glared at each other with an equal contempt and disdain.
They cared not about their own embarrassment and tarnished reputations, merely seeking to humiliate the other for their increasingly aggravated misfortune.
Thus, the youth and well-built man maintained their staring match, only to –
“The Golden River Martial School is now accepting disciples! Fellow practitioners seeking to achieve great heights in the jianghu, seek tutelage underneath our Master Wang Yinxue!”
…a third signboard had joined into the fray, the characters gleaming with golden dust, the ink of a viscous magenta.
As the practitioner of the Golden River Martial School leaped into the chaotic waters that were the streets of Dong Lin City, he was swarmed by the sea of eager countenances bewitched by the offer stated on the signboard.
As a consequence, the practitioner obtained an overflow of prospective junior brothers and sisters, directly snatching the lion’s share of the populace from the other martial schools.
The advertisers of the Heavenly Yang Martial School and Ice River Martial School glared in hate towards the newcomer who dared to absorb the direct majority of the prospective market, their fingers tightly clenched into fists. As they unanimously relinquished their hate towards the other, the youth and well-built man bored daggers into the third practitioner’s body.
This Golden River Martial School was far too oppressive in their actions!
Just from their Master Wang Yinxue’s name, they had swallowed nearly all of the people who were originally intending to apply to their martial schools!
Granted, studying under the tutelage of a highly beautiful woman with a gentle, lilting voice was…
Ahem!
Sensing the stares of hate directed towards his back increase in intensity, the practitioner of the Golden River Martial School sighed with a despondent expression.
Patting himself on the back of his neck and reassuring the abruptly worried countenance of a young mother and proclaiming the contents of his signboard, the practitioner howled his grievance to the heavens.
His Master Wang Yinxue’s prestige improved with each advertisement like this, but he… attracted all of the others’ hate. At this rate, he was going to have offended nearly all of the other martial arts schools in the entirety of Dong Lin City.
Oh, life is unfair!
–
Detecting the hint of agony and despondency in the practitioner of the Golden River Martial School’s voice, An Fei’s lips curved into a gentle, teasing smile.
As she waded through the crowded street, the young girl’s mind fluttered to the tender memories of her schooling days, of which she too had enacted on those actions, shouting into a megaphone whilst facing the innumerable floods that were the business roads of Shanghai.
“What had I said back then…?” the young girl murmured, her fingers touching the base of her chin in thought.
Freshly steamed vegetable baozi, three yuan each? No better deals in all of Shanghai?
Ah, how innocent youth could be…
The wide sleeves of the purple hanfu carefully enclosed around her delicate hands as An Fei aimlessly strolled around the streets of Dong Lin City, earnestly immersing in the rapid culture of a flourishing city.
Although there were several key differences in the experiences from that of her memories, the exhilarating and reassuring sensation was the same.
Cultivators society or not, a flourishing city would retain its fast-paced, raucous and festive atmosphere.
–
“So… to return to Jiang’an, I have to immerse myself with the Hundred Clan Coalition one way or another?”
An Fei’s lips twitched as she sifted through her memories, a steaming cup of longjing tea simmering before her on the table. The young girl leaned back into the chair of the private room, staring at the wooden ceiling with a listless gaze.
After spending her morning reminiscing about the few bubbly memories of her past, she had settled herself into well-performing teahouse by the name of Fluttering Heart Pavilion.
The young girl had casually requested for a pot of longjing tea and a private room without even glancing at the prices, thoroughly startling the servants who tended to balk at the mere mention of the price.
…three silver coins for a pot of tea… was indeed exorbitant.
“I lost my leather bag and butterfly swords,” An Fei released a heavy sigh of exhaustion.
“Furthermore, Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai disappeared without leaving anything behind. I wonder… are they doing alright?”
The young girl gently sipped at the fragrant tea, her brows scrunching into a frown of dissatisfaction at the sour taste racing through her senses.
Rubbing her finger over the rim of the porcelain cup and wafting away at the curling steam, An Fei suppressed the urge to smack the hot cup towards the wooden wall.
In her absentmindedness, the hot water had caused the longjing leaves to become… oversteeped.
The fragrant and mildly sweet with a faint undertone of bitterness had been spoiled by the overly hot water, tarnishing the taste and texture until they were both unrecognizable.
In the end, An Fei bitterly stared at the spoiled cup and pot that had been painstakingly paid for with three silver coins.
“…I am indeed becoming quite violent nowadays. Maybe that old geezer was correct about the qama influencing my thoughts?”
…or her poor, weak-willed self was venting the aftereffects of at least three years of sustained, heavy-intensity psychological trauma…
The young girl reached out to force herself to undergo the painful trial of soured tea, her lips trembling at the unfathomable and discernably unpleasant sensation racing through her senses. With each sip, An Fei forced herself to resist the violent urge, resist, resist…
She was able to temper her psyche under the tempering of continuous S&D missions enacted by the most elite organizations of the modernized world and their extraordinarily terrifying silent weaponry, and here she was – being utterly defeated by a cup of soured longjing tea?
This was no laughing matter!
The young girl wiped the stray tears leaking from the corner of her eyes as she finished the small cup resting on the table before her, her baleful glare threatening to make the teapot’s life miserable if she were to undergo a second round.
An Fei’s fingers reached into the folds of her dress to play with a small silk pouch she had collected from the countertop of a wooden stall, of which it had been filled with a few silver coins…
Knock!
A sharp rap of delicate knuckles brushing against the wooden door of the private room aroused An Fei from her self-induced haze of delusion. As the young girl tilted her head towards the door, the anxious voice of the waiter rang from the other side.
“Esteemed Guest, the Esteemed Guest… has a visitor.”
“Visitor?” the young girl’s lips drew downwards in a light frown.
“When did I have a visitor? Are you sure that they specifically requested this room?”
An Fei’s sharp words caused the waiter’s back to shiver with cold sweat, his heart palpitating in fear.
As he quietly mulled over numerous plains of which he was to dissipate the anger of this seemingly enraged Esteemed Guest and avoid being sliced into two, the self-proclaimed ‘visitor’ cleared his throat and stepped forward, his palm resting against the door.
“Xu Lingxue, your Master is here. The two of us, why not have a good chat over a pot of tea?”
The… Esteemed Senior of Shen Ming Yue’s back at that secluded, worn-down restaurant?
How did he know where she was?
An Fei’s frown deepened itself as her heart tinged with an unfathomable sense of wariness, and the young girl’s hand reached for the veiled hat resting against the base of her chair.
At the same time, her other hand fluttered downwards towards her waist, where an elegant taijijian was sheathed in a leather enclosure…
