Mei Jian found herself struggling to give the full story to Wei Feng. Mostly because “I tried to take a nap and ended up killing someone to stop them from killing someone else, and no, I don’t know who either of them are” didn’t qualify as a passable explanation in his eyes, and that was the only one she had to give.
“I would like to point out that I undertook a massive debt in order to bail you out there, farmgirl.” His eyes narrowed. “Not that I don’t have full confidence that I will be able to repay it with ease, but still.”
All the tension that had built up melted out of her, and Mei Jian bowed to him as deeply as the throbbing in her chest would allow. “This one is truly grateful. Please consider both halves of the debt her responsibility, and know that she will do all she can to repay that which you have done for her as quickly as her limited abilities will allow.”
He reacted with a sound that she could only describe as flustered, but when she stood straight once more his face had been covered with a smirk once more. “Where was that proper respect before? I was starting to think you’d been raised by barbarians rather than farmers.”
“Forgive me. I have misjudged you gravely.” She started to bend into another bow, only for him to stop her halfway by seizing her shoulder.
“Enough with the bowing!” He clicked his tongue. “I can see you trying to hide a face of pain every time you move. For heaven’s sake, please sit down already.”
She obliged him reluctantly, leaning against a nearby tree and slowly sliding down it. “I really mean it, Wei Feng. I swear, I will do whatever I need to in order to make this up to you.”
He snorted. “I should hope as much. Although, considering your track record of picking fights with those beyond your skill, I wouldn’t have as high hopes for you surviving long enough to do so.”
Mei Jian grinned at him. “I haven’t lost yet, have I?”
“If the old man hadn’t stepped in to save you, you would have lost to me.”
He cut off her reply. “Although, I suppose you have earned some praise for beating them.”
His hand gestured to the corpse of the shadowy figure. “You could probably get a lot of contribution points, even if that one isn’t well known. After all, slaying villains and demons is the ultimate goal of martial sects. It’s proof that you have enough skill to at least overcome one opponent, even if not on my level.”
For a moment, she paused, held by the desire to accept his praise. “It would have been a total defeat. I just happened to have my sect token where the killing blow took me, and just happened to land a counter in that moment. It was luck and luck alone that spared me.”
Wei Feng chuckled, at first small, and then growing into a full uproar, peals of laughter bouncing through the trees and nearly choking out his next words. “Why would you admit to that?”
“It’s my responsibility!” she protested. “If I started lying about this situation after you bailed me out, what kind of person would I be?”
“One better regarded by her peers?”
“At the cost of being a deceiver of them!”
“You’re awfully stiff, you know that?” He shrugged, before walking over and taking a seat against the tree across from her.
Mei Jian glared at him. “Why on earth did you even enter this sect anyway? A leech like you with no sense of honor or responsibility?”
“Seemed fun,” he said flippantly. “It’s the Plum Blossom sect, known in equal parts for beautiful swordsmanship as it is for beautiful grounds and beautiful women. Where else would I go?”
Her scowl deepened. “Some of us spent years training to come here, for the sake of important goals.”
“Oh? And what would that goal be,” He trailed off. “I seem to have forgotten whatever your name was.”
“What kind of person throws themselves into a massive debt for someone of whom they don’t even know the name?”
“I’m so forgetful today,” Wei Feng pointed a finger to the unconscious woman. “What was the name of that girl you took on the debt for? She must have been really close to you, to do that even after fighting a demonic practitioner for her. Please, tell me about how you two met.”
Heat coursed into Mei Jian’s cheeks. “I had no choice! That’s different!”
“Of course it is.” He smirked at her again. “That doesn’t answer my question, though. What is this ‘grand reason’ for which you entered the sect?” His hands made quotations in the air as he spoke, emphasizing his words.
“I didn’t say I had a grand reason. I just said it was important to me.” For the first time, she looked away. “I have another debt that I need to repay, beyond the one I incurred to you and the sect ledgers tonight, owed to another. I entered the sect to repay him.”
“Him?” Wei Feng leaned towards her. “A forbidden lover? One that has driven you to rise above your role in the world, to be with him once more?”
“No!” His words drove her halfway to getting up before a jolt from her ribs made her think better of it. The pain wasn’t enough to stop her face from turning pink at the cheeks. Of course, the young master didn’t miss that for a second.
“How sad, how sad. After you came this far for his sake, only to have your heart stolen away by this Young Master on the very first day instead. Tragic, as many such cases are.”
“I don’t have a lover! If I did, I wouldn’t even leave a pig for the likes of you!”
He raised a hand over his mouth in feigned surprise. “To think, my own Sect Sister is the type to give such intimacy to animals? What a scandal indeed! Is this truly how all those girls raised on farms take leave of their innocence?”
“You—” Mei Jian’s face had turned fully red, but his mockery was not yet complete.
“Long have scholars wondered as to the creatures of the southeast, beasts that walk upright like men and men who bear the characteristics of beasts. To think, they stemmed from woman such as you all along! Shall I expect a new mystic creature, half-pig and half-peasant to appear around this sect in the upcoming years?”
All responses of denial and defenses of her reputation had failed her, not that any part of his insults stemmed from misunderstanding. “Incorrigible. You foul, perverted, disgraceful, honorless, stuck-up, spoiled, arrogant, man. I should demand another match right now, this time with sharpened blades.”
He shook his head. “But when I cut you down, who would repay my debt?”
“I’m half convinced you did it just to piss the healer off.”
Wei Feng grinned. “What can I say? If I didn’t carry a sharp tongue, I’d never be able to fend off the crowds of fair maidens.”
She tried to stare him to death, but her vision started to fail as she leaned back against the trunk once more. “Jerk.”
The young master had, at some point in time, stood up, and was now looking down at her. Bending over, he extended a hand. “Come on, stand up. You’re going to need real sleep if you want to recover from your injuries, and I suspect that drifting off in the forest won’t do the trick.”
He paused, and then shot her a wink. “Again.”
“What about her?” Mei Jian’s gaze shot over to the injured woman, only to find that she had been moved to an area free of blood, what remained of her clothing tied back over her to give some semblance of decency. How long had she been passed out for?
“I’ll take her to a bed where she can recover herself. It’s not as though I can get any more entangled into this, right?”
She stood up, using the tree behind her in place of his hand. “I’m grateful to you.”
A finger poked her forehead before her bow could start. “Instead of the whole display, just go to bed. Ruining your complexion with a lack of sleep won’t help repay your debt.”
It was a long walk to the communal sleeping hall of the sect, and having to offer a hushed explanation to the man at the doorway while trying not to wake those inside was frustrating, but neither could quell her sense of relief when Mei Jian slipped into a bedroll at last.
With slow careful breathing, the throbbing in her side slowly faded away to background noise, while her drowsiness took the center role. Three times in a single day had she pushed herself to the limit, first with the token’s test, and then the two duels. It still all felt unreal.
She couldn’t help but wonder if it was all a dream, and she would awaken to find herself still on the farm, or in one of the stables she had bedded in on her journey to the Plum Blossom Sect, still awaiting with nervous feat for the upcoming trial, hoping that she would make it on time, that she wouldn’t be turned away at the gate.
With a faint smile of comfort at having at least overcome that one challenge, Mei Jian let the world around her fade away slowly as the embrace of sleep took her.
It wasn’t the noise that awoke her, of those people moving around inside the main hall, eating and cooking on the lower floor. Nor was it the faint beams of sunlight that angled in from the shallow windows, carefully constructed to illuminate the room without ever directly striking anyone’s eyes.
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No, it was either the spike of pain in her chest, no longer dulled by the remaining traces of adrenaline and distraction, or the way that every muscle in her body seemed to have hardened together into one great lump that protested at the slightest move, permanently tensed and stiff.
A curse rose unbidden to her lips. It was even worse than her first day on the martial path, being forced to run sprints until she collapsed, and to stand in a wide stance while holding pots of water outstretched until her arms or legs gave out.
At least then she had been able to freely stretch away the pain the morning after, without the ever-present fear of twisting in a slightly wrong fashion and setting off her broken bones again.
Standing up was a challenge, one that made her thankful it would seem she was by far the last of the initiates to rise. The wall proved Mei Jian’s greatest ally, both lifting her to her feet and guiding her to the stairway, where she somehow managed to muster the strength to walk unassisted.
She wasn’t sure if the dried bloodstains and rips in her clothing or the way she walked as though beaten half to death drew more stares, but even both together seemed to garner less attention than she would have expected. On second thought, a martial sect was likely no stranger to either, though if she knew anything about gossip there would be half a dozen stories floating around about her condition by the end of the day, each more unplausible than the last. Some of them might even rival the truth in terms of ridiculousness.
The growling in her stomach was enough to convince her to eat before seeking out Wei Feng and the patient she had left to him, so she headed to the dining hall and received a bowl of rice porridge. It was somehow both cheap and fancy in appearance, the texture and consistency unremarkable from the food of any common villager, but the plums neatly laid atop it in the pattern of the sect crest giving an unmistakable air of artistry.
Mei Jian couldn’t deny that that added complexity to the flavor either, as monotone as it may have been.
With her hunger fulfilled, and the first traces of soreness starting to fade, she left the communal hall to find she had no idea where to go next. If not where she had just come from, and her eyes had confirmed as much, then where would Wei Feng have brought the injured woman? The sect infirmary? Was there such a dedicated place?
A short walk confirmed that there was, and the man tending to it that no woman had been brought in last night.
“Perhaps this friend of yours thought they could rest more easily in a private room?” he said. “For enough contribution points, you can rent better accommodations. You can even get a cabin of your own among the woods without spending much, if you’re willing to swear to the upkeep of the grounds around it. That serves as a type of training on its own.”
“And if I wanted to do this, where would I go?”
He pointed out a window. “The building made of logs, over that way. The one with vines growing from the roof. They handle everything regarding the upkeep of the sect grounds.”
As she thanked him, Mei Jian was struck by the realization that the main area of the sect alone was enough to rival her village in size, consisting of nearly a hundred buildings scattered about, many of which were more than a single story, and many of which displayed unique styles of design.
The ringing of hammers came from a structure with huge, open windows that let seep out trickles of smoke. Across from it, a faint scent of pungent herbs from one that couldn’t be farther in construction, sealed in a manner that looked almost airtight, likely for that reason.
The forge and apothecaries’ brewing hall, she would presume, though many other buildings dodged her guessing entirely, being devoid of such obvious clues. Like the one that seemed aggressively bland, every bit of personality stripped from it to the point that it stood out from the intricate designs around it with featureless walls of gray stone. Perhaps though, that was the point.
It was between this building and one that smelled distinctively of plum wine that she found her destination, and was able to locate a woman who wore too much makeup on her face within, engrossed in a book while seated.
“I have a question about someone who may have come by last night,” Mei Jian said. “Did a man by the name of Wei Feng make a deal for a dwelling? And if so, could you please give me directions to it?”
The woman behind the desk squinted at her, clearly annoyed at being roused from her novel.
“Look, I’ve seen his type before. No matter what sweet nothings he may have whispered into your ears last night, nothing good is going to come out of tracking him down now. Even more so if you can’t even find your way back to his bed on your own.”
She continued while Mei Jian sputtered. “Besides, take it from your Sect Aunt. Focus on training your way out of being an initiate before you try to find love. It can wait a year, or even two. You’re still young.”
“It’s not like that! I haven’t- I wouldn’t spend the night with that asshole!”
That earned her a smirk. “Alright dear. Awfully quick to deny friendly relations. Just a tip from one who’s been there and done that; that much passion only makes people more suspicious to the truth.”
Mei Jian hid her face behind her hands while she struggled to regain composure. “That’s not—We aren’t—”
Why is everyone I have to encounter so perverted? Is the whole sect infected by this twisted view of relations, to see forbidden romance at every turn, under every rock?
“I have to repay a debt to him,” she managed to say with a straight face. “That’s why I need to know where he is. I promise, there isn’t anything illicit going on, and I don’t mean him any ill will.”
“Tch.” The woman actually clicked her tongue at that, face showing disappointment of all things. “Alright, then. You’d come to this Auntie if you were having spicy relationship troubles though, right? I’m always here to lend an ear to a pretty new junior.”
“Do you know where he is?” Focusing on the pain still in her chest as she spoke was the only way to keep the heat of anger from her voice.
“He should have a cabin in the northwest segment of the groves. The area where the red oaks and plum trees intermingle, with the paved paths in-between. Be sure to look for the name outside before you go barging in though.”
Mei Jian raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t planning on throwing open the doors of random sect members, you know.”
“Well, many of those willing to make the commitment to caring for the land want the privacy for a reason.” The older woman winked. “Illicit relations and trysts, that they don’t want anyone to know about. But I’m sure you’re free of such things, right?”
She went back to her now questionable seeming book, not expecting a reply. Mei Jian didn’t dignify what she had said with one.
It was easy enough to find Wei Feng, lazing around in the lower branches of an oak outside the cabin. A small building, consisting of what appeared to be only a single room and designed in such a way as to draw attention away from it and to the forests around it. As she approached, he jumped down with the wave of a hand.
“You sure took your time.” The young master looked up, as though trying to track the path of the sun. “I suppose everything you hear about farmers rising early is a lie.”
She sighed. Don’t give in to his provocations, not that easily. You aren’t a child. “How is she doing?”
“Fine, I suppose. Not much more bleeding, nor much else. Still a rock in my bed, unmoving.” He shrugged. “I know my stunning wealth of medical ability may have dazzled you, but I am sadly no doctor at all. I can’t tell you anything more than that.”
Her next words were hesitant, and something about voicing them felt wrong. After all, for all his faults, Wei Feng had come through when she needed him the most. But still, he was a lecher and a flirt, through and through, and young masters were rarely known for their restraint. And just what had the sect woman she spoke to said was the reason behind the cabin again?
“You didn’t—” Mei Jian swallowed the rest of her sentence.
“I didn’t?” He leaned in close, a look of curiosity she couldn’t judge the authenticity of marring his features. “Do go on.”
“You didn’t do anything untoward to her while you two were alone, right?” She mentally cursed the woman and her gossip for putting the idea in her mind.
His eyes widened with shock she was now sure was fake. “Why, farmgirl! I knew you had no concern for partners, but to think even the boundaries of willingness don’t hold you! Your lusts would put even the emperor and his harem to shame indeed!”
“I’m serious!”
He only patted her on the cheek in response, and she turned her curses to her own blushing face even as she turned it away.
She didn’t turn quickly enough, based off his teasing laugh. “Afraid that I’ve been stolen away by another woman? It’s true, she has much less of a harsh tongue than you do. But still, I’m not the type to settle for a bedroom partner so dull as to not react. Fear not, the object of your lusts is still untainted by the women of the sect.”
She took a breath, embracing the feeling of pain from her grating ribs and using it to push away every inch of embarrassment until only the scowl remained on her face when she turned back to him.
“For someone who wants to lecture me about my words, you should first stop leaping to the most crude and vulgar option at every chance.”
“If you truly disliked me that much, would you have come all the way out here to my lonely cabin? It cost a whole thirty contribution points, so it would be a shame not to make the fullest use of it.”
“I thought that you couldn’t go any further into debt?” She tilted her head. “Did you earn that many already?”
Wei Feng smiled at her patronizingly, as though he knew something she did not. The truth behind that smile made it all the more infuriating.
“I told the woman in charge of such things that I had a less than clear-minded maiden in desperate need of a private cabin under my name. She was quite an understanding soul, though I fear not the type to keep a secret.”
The realization hit her like a hammer. “That was your fault! How do you think it made me look when I came staggering in the next morning, demanding to find where you live?”
“It was the truth.” He shrugged. “I received an all too convincing speech last night about being honest, and I decided to give it a try. Can’t be a problem, right?”
Her glare intensified, but the blush beneath it began to creep back in. Surely that woman wouldn’t sink so low as spreading gossip about her brand-new juniors on their first day in the sect, right? A vision of her painted visage smiling behind a hand crept to mind. She absolutely would. Without a second thought.
“Don’t you have an ever-growing debt to start paying off, farmgirl?” He dismissed her with a causal sweep of his hand that looked all too natural. “Perhaps the sect mission board is what you should be glaring at.”
The board was easy enough to find, planted out in the open with three others standing before it. One of them-wearing the same initiate’s robes as her-reluctantly scurried away without taking anything from the board. She took his place, careful not to disturb the view of the other two seniors.
Now, to find something that could pay off this debt.
There seemed to be a loose hierarchy, with the most important and challenging of tasks placed at the top with plenty of space to breathe, and the least buried at the bottom, edges all overlapping. None of them looked promising.
Sweep and wash the road of the shopping street - 5 contribution points.
Trim the branches of the trees beside the river in the willow grove. – 5 contribution points.
Work the line in the communal dining hall – 3 contribution points.
Wash the clothes of the Lower Sect - 2 contribution points.
She cast her eyes higher, searching for those offering rewards with more than a single digit. There was no way to repay a debt of more than a thousand with two points at a time, not with a deadline of a year, even assuming that she didn’t end up needing to spend more on medical supplies or the like in the process.
Wipe out wolves threatening livestock – 25 points.
It wouldn’t be worth it. Even if she was skilled at hunting or tracking, the village listed was a week’s travel away, and once there it wasn’t as though she had the ability to make beasts show themselves at will, meaning the whole trip could take more than a month to return from. Judging by the way the paper had aged, she wasn’t the first to turn it down.
Bring back the head of the bandit Xi Rong of the flames – 730 contribution points.
A promising amount, and in her area of expertise as well, but far beyond her level. Mei Jian had heard of the target before, even in her isolated village, and he had struck down multiple martial warriors attempting to bring him to justice before. A novice like her wouldn’t stand a chance.
Searching lower again, she skimmed the pages with something akin to desperation. Something well paying, not too time-consuming, and that she could accomplish with her current level of ability. Her eyes caught, and before she could second guess herself her hand darted out and yanked it free even as the grimace marked her face.
Things were about to be unpleasant.