This wasn’t fair.

Qiao was lying on her bed, her head buried face first into one of her massive pillows.

Grandfather had lost his mind. Why would he do something like this?

She was educated well enough to understand that this was a political move. There was no way her grandfather actually cared about some smugglers. Not when he was acting like this, rolling up with a host of other elders and apprehending an entire hall.

She didn’t know whether this was a smart move. Considering this was her grandfather, it probably was. But she didn’t care. It wasn’t fair. Just looking at the scene of a bunch of armed guards taking in dozens if not hundreds of incredulous people had been enough to confirm this. There was nothing all of these people could have done to collectively deserve this. Qiao had tried, but she couldn’t believe that.

So then why did grandfather do it? Were he and the other family heads not the ones trying to uphold order and fairness in the sect? So why did they act like this? Even if the other elders were trying to stoke up chaos and undermine the sect’s strength, their subordinates were hardly the ones to blame!

And what about the disciples? How was Qiao supposed to prove she was better than Chonglin if he couldn’t properly train? Her victory would be worthless and all her training for nothing!

It was all just not fair. She didn’t want her side to be the ones doing something like this.

And now? What now? What was she supposed to do about this? Try and convince her grandfather to change his mind? No shot. Even if they would let her see them, there was no way he cared about her enough to give up a strategy he had come up with. Just the thought of her trying to argue with grandfather was ridiculous.

But just going back to her training didn’t work. Qiao had already tried, but it had just felt wrong. She couldn’t just go on like nothing had happened. Even if it didn’t change much in the large picture, there had to be something she could do! Was she this powerless? Had years of training her body and mind amounted to nothing?

Qiao wanted to talk to someone. But to whom? Lifen wouldn’t be able to help her this time and Qiao didn’t want to bring her into this. It was dangerous enough for her to be having those thoughts and for all she knew, her maid was genuinely appreciative of her family.

She didn’t know anyone else good enough to trust them with what she was thinking. Or rather, the people she did know well enough, she specifically didn’t trust because of that. She felt lonely.

Giving herself a push, Qiao sat up. This wouldn’t do. Wasting away in her bedroom, spiraling into negative thoughts wouldn’t help anybody.

“Lifen!”

A few moments went by before the old woman entered the room.

“Yes, young lady?”

“I’m going out.”

“Have you recovered from your illness?”

Qiao had told her that she wasn’t feeling well earlier to explain why she wanted to stay in bed.

“Mostly, yes. I am going for a walk to get back on my feet.”

“Anywhere in particular you are headed?”

“No, just the forest.”

That was a lie. Qiao knew where she would go.

“Then I’ll get you some practical clothing if that is alright.”

“That is perfect, thank you.”

If she wanted to do something, whatever it was, there was only one place to go right now. She’d return to the Training Hall.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

…

“Come on, get up. Don’t just sit there. What’s gotten into you?”

“I… just… I don’t know what to do.”

Zixin looked at up Chonglin, then back at the ground. How could he be so unfazed about what had happened?

“What to do? Train. That’s what we are here for.”

“But… Instructor Guiren… and all the others…”

How could they just go on when everything had gone so wrong?

“I know. But what are you supposed to do about that? If anything, that’s one more reason to keep training. It’s the only way you are ever going to be able to change anything.”

“But… I don’t know how.”

“You don’t know how? Come on, stop kidding me. You are the one who kept dragging me to train every free minute. If there’s anything you know in that thick head of yours, it’s how to do that.”

Chonglin was right, like always. Zixin kept staring at the ground. He had done that. And objectively, it was what he should be doing right now. But he just couldn’t bring himself to…

With a massive splash, a bucket of cold water was emptied above his head. Zixin winced and let out quite a high-pitched shriek. Not his proudest moment. It took a few seconds before he caught his breath again.

“What was that for?”

He immediately knew the answer he would get.

“I’m sorry, I thought someone might need to be woken up.”

“Okay. Okay! I see how it is. You want some? I’ll get you some!”

With that, he jumped from his seat, already reaching for his wooden sword. He’d have to keep his worries for later, right now there was some smugness to wipe of his friend’s face.

…

Qiao pulled up the hood of the long cloak she had thrown on. She really didn’t want to be recognized right now. Not only did she not want to explain what she was doing here to her family, she also wouldn’t be surprised if the disciples here were less that well-inclined towards her. She couldn’t even blame them after what her grandfather had done.

In the end, it didn’t matter because nobody seemed to care about her presence at all. The streets were more populated than the last time she had been here, but the atmosphere was noticeably gloomy. Most disciples seemed to fulfill their duties or training, but they were all silent and tense, many not actually focused on their tasks. Others were just strolling around or playing dice.

Qiao felt like shit. This situation was her grandfather’s fault. And just what was she hoping to accomplish here? Nevertheless, she kept walking. Turning around now would just be hiding from the truth.

A few minutes of walking the streets later, she found her attention drawn by a spar happening on one of the training fields. It was an outlier in that it seemed very energetic and intense, not at all fitting the surrounding. When she came closer, Qiao realized that she recognized the faces of the fighters: Chonglin and Zixin.

It was almost entrancing to see them fight. Each of them clearly knew the other’s strengths and weaknesses and was trying to exploit the hell out of them. Qingge liked to describe her martial style as a dance, but this was like a well-rehearsed choreography. Moreover, both of them had clearly gotten much better since the last time she had fought them.

Zixin’s fighting style had remained just as erratic and risky as she remembered it, but it had more of a continuous flow to it than before, becoming both more elegant and efficient. On closer examination, Qiao realized that he had incorporated part of her style into it to archive that. Chonglin on the other hand had vastly improved his method of preemptive defense. Instead of standing mostly still like in the fight against her, he was now constantly moving with his opponent, alternating between putting pressure on them while also preventing them from going in for a proper attack with his spear’s superior range and giving them ground only to make them run into a wall of defense. It was quite scary, even though it was probably much less effective than it could, since Zixin knew what he was up against. Both had also worked on their speed and strength a lot.

It would be disheartening if it wasn’t so damn impressive. Despite all of the work she had put into training herself, these two had kept with her pace. How on earth had they been outer disciples if they were this talented? Did they have something she didn’t?

…Now that she thought about it, of course they did. They had a dedicated training partner. Someone they could go all-out on and who would answer in kind. Someone who they could grow alongside of. She had her teachers, but that wasn’t the same thing. She couldn’t push herself to try and beat them, they were too good for that. They’d never dare to overpower her, even if she was doing terribly. And they certainly wouldn’t grow from their spars themselves, outside of the payment they received from her family of course.

Suddenly, an idea bloomed in Qiao’s mind. One that she was scared to think out, but it was probably now or never.

As the fight came to an end, Zixin had eked out a victory, she entered the field and sheepishly approached the two. Chonglin was first to notice her.

“Hey there, I don’t think we’ve met. Nice to meet you, I’m Chonglin and this idiot over here is Zixin.”

Their attention turned to her, Qiao pulled back her cloak to reveal her face, earning her two confused gasps.

“Um… Young Lady Qiao. I apologize for not recognizing you. What’s the reason for your visit?”

Qiao gathered her courage. She had never asked for something like this, but she had fought in front of a crowd of thousands without issues. How hard could this be?

“I-I…”

Very hard apparently. Her hands were trembling, and she felt her face starting to glow red. Which, in a vicious cycle, only further added to her embarrassment. She took a deep breath before she continued, doing her absolute best but only partially succeeding at keeping her voice steady.

“I was… wondering if you would… maybe… let me train with you.”