“…which became the driving factor behind the city’s growth. Now as I already alluded to, the surrounding cities, especially those part of the pentarchy, didn’t particularly enjoy witnessing Moonlake’s rapid rise to power and prosperity.

“We’ll come around to their eventual response in the next lecture, when we’ll cover the City-War of the Bloody River and how Moonlake came to establish its ties to the Lunar Peaks Sect. To complement that, we’ll also start exploring the ethical implications of war and warfare.

“Please remember that there is going to be a one-month break before that, since a large part of you will be off to see the tournament from tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll hold open discussion-rounds instead, those who remain at the sect are welcome to join me for that, same time, same place. For everyone else, I advise you to take some time during your travels to reflect on what you’ve learned here so far.

“As always, thank you for your attention and have a great week.”

Zixin joined the rest of the crowd in applauding loudly as Professor Lei left the podium. Like always it had been a phenomenal two hours, a real shakeup from the endless training and cultivation that took up most of their time. Not that Zixin disliked those things, he enjoyed them a lot more than the majority of his fellow disciples actually, but even he certainly welcomed a little variety to his routine.

Like most, he had been rather skeptical about being taught by a non-cultivator in the beginning. With all the instructors they had, what could a mortal possibly add? He’d only gone to the first lecture, since Elder Wei had officially recommended it. He hadn’t missed a single one since.

The Professor was incredibly smart and knew about all kinds of things Zixin had never even considered before. He felt the horizon of his world expand with every minute he listened to the man, even while the fascinating stories he told captured his attention on their own.

In his current series of lectures, the Professor talked about the history of cities and sects on the peninsula, following both personal and societal stories as he moved through the ages years or decades at a time. It blew Zixin’s mind how much there was to know and think about out there.

Clearly the others felt similar, since the crowd attending the lecture kept growing every week. The first lectures had been held inside, but they soon had to be relocated to the main plaza because they ran out of space. Attendance was free and everyone was welcome, so more and more people were likely giving it a try after hearing about it from someone else. Even a few members had started showing up lately.

As the applause slowly faded, Zixin looked over to Chonglin who was seated right next to him. If Zixin was happy about these lectures, his friend had become a full-on enthusiast. He was even spending some of his allowance on ink and paper that he used to make detailed notes which he would review in between lectures.

“Are you done yet?”

“Almost, just give me a second!”

Chonglin scribbled one more sentence on his scroll before rolling it up and putting it away alongside his ink and quill.

“Maybe you should have become a scribe instead of a cultivator.”

Chonglin clicked his tongue as he stood up.

“Maybe I should have. I wouldn’t have needed to deal with your comments then. Do you think the library would take me?”

“You know damn sure that wouldn’t save you from me. Come on, let’s get going!”

“That’s actually a fair point.”, Chonglin murmured as he followed behind Zixin.

Qiao was waiting for them at the edge of the plaza. She always remained outside the crowd for the same reason that she was wearing a long cloak with a pulled-up hood: She didn’t want to be recognized. Zixin understood her. She was likely the most well-known disciple their age, if not overall, especially after her stellar performance in the competition.

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She’d also told them, that her family wasn’t on good terms with Elder Wei, so neither side would be happy to learn of her regular trips here. It wasn’t hard to imagine – Zixin vividly remembered what Elder Bai had done to the hall just a few months ago. Qiao wasn’t to blame for that of course, but Zixin knew that cultivators were great at holding grudges.

As Qiao spotted them approaching her, she kicked of the wall she had been leaning against and came towards them.

“Hey there, Qiao! How’ve you been?”

“I? Well… I have mostly just been training, like usual. And I’m of course looking forward to the tournament. How about you two?”

“I’m honestly really nervous. I mean, I’m not even gonna fight, but…”

“But you’re afraid of water. And people. And…”

“Hey!”

“Ignore him, he’s been chewing my ear off all week about this and that that could happen once we’re out there. Which means we’re doing fine, business as usual.”

Qiao snickered.

“That’s good then.”

The three got moving, continuing their exchange as they made their way towards the training court they liked to use.

…

“You’re being too obvious!”

Qiao twirled around Zixin’s overhead slash, using the momentum of her turn to deliver a perfectly aimed blow to the top of his shoulder. They had agreed to use that as a substitute for hits to the head and neck, since they didn’t want to actually hurt each other, so he was out.

When Chonglin tried to use her preoccupation to deliver a stab with his spear, she shifted her weight slightly to the side, dodging it by a hair’s breadth. Before he could recover, she stomped on it, pinning it to the ground. Instead of counterattacking immediately, she looked him in the eye and smirked.

“Good thought, but too slow. If you want to make something obvious like that to work, you’ll have to work on your speed.”

To Chonglin’s credit, he didn’t give up or let himself be distracted. Instead, he tried to sweep his spear to the side to destabilize her. To his misfortune, she had worked hard on stabilizing her footwork since he had beaten her this way back in the competition so she didn’t even budge, instead casually tapping his neck with her sword before he could react.

“You’re out.”

Chonglin dropped his spear and bent over, catching his breath.

“Just… How?”

“Don’t feel too bad. I’ve been mentored in this since I was five years old.”

“I know, but you’ve gotten better again!”

“Well, that’s what we’re training for, isn’t it?”

“Stop beating yourself up over it just because you beat her once in the competition.”

Zixin came over, rolling his shoulder. He was grinning widely, seemingly even more satisfied by the fight than her, despite his loss. Qiao was quite fond of combat herself, but this guy was a genuine battle-maniac.

“Besides, your style puts you in an inherent disadvantage once you fight someone repeatedly. Your opponents in the tournament won’t have time to learn how to counter it.”

“That’s true. If you can surprise them like you did me, you’ve got a good chance to take second place.”

“Why second?”

Qiao smirked again.

“Well, because I’ll take first of course!”

“Anyways, you guys wanna go for another round?”

Qiao laughed out. Something about Zixin’s eagerness in contrast to Chonglin’s strained, red face was just too funny to bear. His confused expression only made the whole thing even more hilarious, cracking Zixin up as well. Soon, all three were just standing in the middle of the training court, sharing an extended laughter.

When they had finally gotten it together again, someone they hadn’t noticed approach cleared his throat.

“I don’t mean to disturb you three, but…”

Qiao staggered back in shock. Standing right next to them was an old man with long, white hair and an equally long and well-groomed beard. Elder Wei!

“E-Elder Wei! We’re sorry, we didn’t notice you at all.”

Zixin bowed, Chonglin and Qiao following suit.

“I take no offense, Zixin.”

Then he turned to Qiao.

“Hmm… Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“N-no, I don’t think so, Elder.”

“Please do introduce yourself then. You seem… familiar… Oh, I’ve got it! You’re Qiao, the young talent of the Bai Family, correct?”

“I-I…”

Qiao pulled off her hood and bowed again, keeping her eyes to the floor.

“You are correct, Elder.”

“And what might you be doing here?”

Qiao felt his piercing gaze on her. Then, suddenly, Zixin stepped in front of her.

“She’s… not doing anything bad! She’s just training with us. She’s our friend!”

Their friend!?! Qiao felt the blood shoot into her head.

“I see…”

Elder Wei studied her for a while longer before continuing.

“I came here to talk to Chonglin and you about the coming tournament, but she might as well join us then.”

Qiao felt a massive weight fall off her shoulders.

“Follow me, if you would. I’d prefer to talk indoors over a cup of tea.”

“Yes, Elder!”

Elder Wei headed off, Zixin and Chonglin following and Qiao trailing behind them. It was good that the Elder hadn’t taken offense to her presence here, but her heart was beating faster than ever and her head swirled with a strange, warm feeling.

Friends…