Things settled into a routine, as much as anything could settle into one. I spent most of my days at the Medicine Pavilion, doing menial tasks - I changed beds, cleaned the patients who couldn't manage on their own, changed chamber pots, and of course, cooked the food. That was probably my main duty, really, and it was a big enough one that it meant I didn't have to do much of the other things.

The other half of my time at the Pavilion was basically spent as a nurse-in-training. I followed the more senior Disciples around and just assisted with whatever procedures they were enacting. Most of it was kind of fascinating in an alchemical sense - I learned a lot about diagnosing weird illnesses. I learned more than I'd like about the sexually transmitted varieties.

Senior Tong's expression when she impressed the importance of protection on me was one that would haunt my nightmares almost as badly as seeing some of the results of what could happen if you weren't… careful.

My relatively limited free time was spent either cultivating in peace, or cooking for Zhou Cheng. He'd started hanging around more as of late - it wasn't as though he didn't seek me out before, but a few days after our little 'argument', he seemed intent on hanging around more. I wasn't going to complain - it was nice to spend more time with him, and if it took a little argument for it to happen, well, I was okay with that.

Although… I had a sneaking feeling it wasn't really about the argument. And I had confirmation, I think when an Inner Disciple I'd never seen before made to approach me as I was leaving the Medicine Pavilion. They can't be that much older than me - maybe fifteen, sixteen? There's just the faintest wisps of facial hair beginning to form, made only harder to see given their straw blonde hair.

Naturally, I bow to them. "Senior," I greet quietly, "How can this lowly servant help?"

He looks at me with a cold, assessing gaze and half a sneer on his lips, and I was already making up my mind to hate him when he reaches over to snag one of the bao I was carrying in a small basket under my arm. I'd made them for dinner for the Pavilion, but kept some to share with Zhou Cheng because they were damn good.

I didn't say anything, because I wasn't an idiot, but I did think several unkind things involving my knives and his hands.

"Hei Lian," he begins, and it's never a good sign when they know me by name, chewing a mouthful of the bao he stole, "I hear you make pills."

"As much as anyone in the Medicine Pavilion does, Senior. The quality of my craft is surely too low for someone of your esteemed status."

A faint pressure began to build in the air around us. "They were good enough for that bastard Zhou Cheng to get where he is now."

Ah? I guess it was inevitable for someone to put together those dots, but I'm still annoyed it has to be this kind of guy. If he asked nicely, I might've even offered to do some work for him - if he provided the ingredients as well, as was only proper.

"Senior flatters me to say so - but I only helped a little, surely. It is Zhou Cheng's talent that got him where he is."

This is apparently the wrong thing to say, because Young Master Dickhead's lip curls back in a sneer. "Junior Hei should work on his sense of humour, to be telling such terrible jokes to me."

Young Master Dickhead should work on his manners if he wants anything from me.

"Working for someone like him will get you nowhere, Hei Lian. If you wish to climb, then you should find a greater benefactor." As though he wasn't done annoying the shit out of me, the bastard crushes the bao. If you're going to steal my food, at least fucking eat it! "Swear yourself to my service, and I will reward you far more than that brat can."

There are a lot of things I'd love to say to him at this moment, but I like my bones the way they are. Taunting him into attacking me would be satisfying on some levels, but painful on just about every other one. Despite that, I cannot help getting the smallest jab back in. "Senior is very kind to offer this to me," I say 'pleasantly', with a smile that doesn't reach my eyes, "But what I receive from Zhou Cheng, Senior can never give me."

I don't regret my choice, even as the pressure intensifies and his eyes narrow. "You dare imply there is something that brat can offer that I, Lei Ming, am unable to?"

"Oh, I would never dare imply such a thing, Senior." I shouldn't. I really fucking shouldn't. I just told myself why I shouldn't five seconds ago. But quite frankly, I'm annoyed, angry, and generally peeved, a state that is slowly being exacerbated the longer I have to listen to him. And - honestly - the Medicine Pavilion is right there. If I'm going to get the shit kicked out of me, I'm at least doing it on the front steps of the hospital. "I'm saying it out-right."

The pressure intensifies enough that I can feel sweat building on my forehead. Lei Ming is only within Foundation Establishment - compared to the likes of Ao Long, he's nothing, so I can honestly say I have been under much worse pressure. But compared to Ao Long, any Disciple would be nothing, and compared to Lei Ming… I am something, but I am not something significant.

His face twists into something vicious and cruel, and violet Qi begins to shroud his hand.

"Lei Ming! How fortunate to see you!" calls a faintly familiar brash voice from behind me, and I chance a quick glance back to see Tian Mingfei striding towards us, a bright, guileless grin on her face. "Are you free? I'm not interrupting anything am I?" I can't be sure, but it kind of sounded like there was an edge to that - but if there is, Tian Mingfei is very good at hiding it.

Lei Ming's Qi has already vanished when I glance back at him, and he has a frustrated scowl plastered on his face. "Tian Mingfei. I was just leaving. I'm afraid whatever business you wish to have with me will have to wait."

"Ah, is that so, is that so? You're a very busy man, Lei Ming!" she declares cheerfully, either completely ignorant of his very obvious frustration and anger at her or just not bothering to acknowledge it, "Well, such things cannot be helped! Perhaps you will be free the next time we cross paths."

"... I'm afraid I must take my leave now," he bites out, shooting me one last glare full of malice and the promise of pain before he stalks away with a murderous air.

The two of us watch him leave in silence, and then I feel Tian Mingfei's hand slap me on the back hard enough to make me stumble. "Well!" she says, still painfully cheerful, "That was bold of you, Hei Lian! But you should really be more careful. Lei Ming isn't someone you should insult so freely, even if he does deserve it."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I guess she was warning him off. She's a good actor then. "Thank you for your assistance, Senior Sister, but even if he were to injure me, the Medicine Pavilion is right there."

"Ah? And here I thought you were the cautious one," she says lightly, still with that same cheerful and guileless tone. I suppose it is a bit hypocritical of me to fret over Zhou Cheng and tell him not to do reckless things and then turn around and taunt a Cultivator higher than me - especially when said Cultivator has already indicated a willingness to be a bastard about things.

"Zhou Cheng is my sworn brother. If someone insults him, how can I remain silent?" I won't claim it's different - although I imagine he'll just tell me he can manage that on his own.

"Ha! You're not at all like they say you are." I can't tell if that's a compliment. She says it so cheerfully it sounds like one, but if her earlier words to Lei Ming are any sign, that doesn't mean anything. "Where is that brother of yours, do you know? I'd like to fight him again."

… Tian Mingfei, didn't you just come out of the Medicine Pavilion after getting injured in another fight? I'm pretty sure I saw Senior Bang putting your leg back together. I'm not sure I would want to tell you where he is if he's going to end back in the Pavilion.

It's a bit of a moot point, however, because I don't know where he is to begin with. "I cannot say, Senior Sister. At around this hour of the day, Zhou Cheng is usually training or cultivating somewhere in the Inner Ring." A place I'm not allowed to go, unless I have explicit business there, of which 'I want to visit my Senior Brother' doesn't count. "He tends to find me for dinner soon though."

I regret saying that a little, just because Tian Mingfei's face lights up and before I know it, we have a third guest for dinner.

----------------------------------------

Out of consideration for the fact that the bao I made were really only enough for me and Zhou Cheng - with a little extra, just in case - I decided to expand the dinner menu with a simple salad, and some pork belly. It was technically Wyvern belly, but the meat was reaching the end of it's usability in my qiankun pouch. A high quality pouch could keep it in perfect stasis, but I wasn't able to afford that kind of thing, although I'm sure there was a trick I could pull with my Qi to do it - some kind of cleansing Qi to eliminate bacteria and other microbes perhaps?

Still, I prepare it as dutifully as I prepare everything else, perforating the skin with a skewer and covering it with a layer of coarse salt. Then, it goes into my little makeshift clay oven to be roasted whilst I carefully control the heat with my Qi. The cooking is faster when I focus my Qi on it, allowing the heat to suffuse things more evenly and faster than it normally would but it will still take a little while, so I turn my attention to my… guests? Dinner mates? Zhou Cheng is my sworn brother, but I don't know what to call Tian Mingfei.

'My unwanted guest' feels a bit rude, even if it is accurate. Zhou Cheng doesn't seem to mind her presence though, and I suppose she does have an easy going nature about her that makes it easy to just accept her presence. That she clearly has more depth to her makes me concerned there's more to this than just friendship and geniality, but well.

If she's trying to get at me like Lei Ming did, then at least she's polite about it.

"You're very dedicated to your craft, Hei Lian," she offers, and she's probably the first person to say that in a way that doesn't make me feel like it's an insult, "Is this the secret of your power?"

Zhou Cheng makes a face. "No? It's just delicious."

"If this were the secret of our power, it's a very poorly kept one, wouldn't you say, Senior Sister?" I offer lightly, adjusting the heat a little before preparing a pot of rice to be boiled.

"I'm not talking about the food, but the cooking." She points at the oven I'm working with. "Controlling the heat and the flame so precisely isn't something anyone can do and often takes years of training."

… Does it? It feels odd to be the kind of person who goes 'What, like it's hard?' for once, but I've been doing this for ages. It was a little tricky at first, but this had to be one of the first tricks I picked up because it seemed like one of the simplest. I used it against the plants back in the Forest, but surely turning your Qi into heat isn't… hard, is it?

"You use your Qi a lot when you're cooking - you should really think about translating that into fighting."

I grimace. "Must I translate it into fighting, Senior Sister? Isn't it enough to be good at cooking and leave it at that?"

She shrugs lightly. "If you're no good at fighting, then someone who is will come along and take your food sooner or later."

Well… she has a point. Lei Ming already stole one of my bao and the bastard didn't even finish eating it. "I'm already training to be able to defend myself, so I suppose I will have to take this under advisement." I'm not sure I entirely like the idea of fighting with cooking, but I guess I already kind of am with the Yin Vessel Cauldron Technique - I might be able to work in some more… elemental based techniques? Can I cook my enemies with flames, fillet them with my knives? Almost definitely. Do I want to is a more pertinent question. Treating my enemies as food seems… sketchy.

Whilst I'm busy pondering that, Tian Mingfei finds another topic to blunder into. "So! Where are the rest of your little gang?"

That's a question I would probably ask, myself, if I were more concerned with the answer. If I'm perfectly honest, I actually kind of like that they're not around because it means I get to spend more time with Zhou Cheng alone, although I must admit some level of annoyance. I still don't consider them 'friends', but it felt like we were getting along after the Heron fight…

"They're busy," Zhou Cheng explains 'helpfully', "Shan Guojin's scaling the mountain at the moment and doing lots of training because he lost so early. Song Ren's spending all his time learning from one of the Core Disciple's to master the spear."

"And that pretty fairy?"

"Kong Meiling is usually training with me," Zhou Cheng admits lightly, "But she doesn't like to visit Hei Lian. Something about it being bad for her reputation."

It must be tough to be an Icy Beauty like Kong Meiling. I'm choosing to believe she's worried people will think I'm prettier and not, you know, more slanderous things. "You don't seem that concerned about that, Senior Sister," I note, in what I hope is my most polite voice. I don't want to imply anything… untoward about her reputation, naturally. Even the implication that Tian Mingfei does not care for her reputation could be taken as an insult.

"Kong Meiling's reputation is Kong Meiling's reputation," she says breezily, "My reputation is mine."

I'm not really sure what she means by that, but I don't really have to, so I just nod along. The wyvern belly's almost done, so I kill the flame and focus on the lingering heat. A gentle brush of Qi helps confirm what I already suspect - which is that the skin has crisped up beautifully already.

"But I didn't come here to talk about pretty fairies!" she declares, grinning brashly, "I came to see if you'd like to trade pointers sometime. Either of you, really. I'm running out of good sparring partners now that Fan Bing won't spar with me anymore."

I nearly choke, and before I've even eaten anything! Senior Sister should be more considerate before saying ridiculous things! "You want to trade pointers… with me?"

"Why not?" she says blithely, "You're learning to fight aren't you? Some practice is always good before you have to do it for real."

Zhou Cheng nods seriously, which may as well seal my fate entirely. "If Lian-er's serious about training, then it's only natural to trade pointers."

Is it too late to say I'll use my points and get training from someone saner?

Tian Mingfei slaps me on the back again, grinning. "Come now, don't make that face! I'm very good at exchanging pointers with my Juniors!"

I wish I could believe that. Instead of commenting though, I simply open the oven and remove the Wyvern belly, letting the aroma of it fill the air around us. I hand each of them a bowl of freshly cooked rice, still steaming, and one or two bao before slicing the belly into even pieces.

"Mh! This is really good!" Tian Mingfei declares, around a mouthful of belly and rice. "You'll definitely make someone very happy one day, Hei Lian!"

"Lian-er already makes me happy," Zhou Cheng interjects, "Why should I share him with someone else?"

I'm glad I was only just about to take a bite myself, and not in the process of it, or I might've choked for real this time. I'm pretty sure he didn't realise she meant when I got married.

"Ha! A valid point, Zhou Cheng. Now, that technique you used to defeat me, I had an idea for countering it…"

The conversation quickly shifts to the nuances of fighting and combat, which almost entirely goes over my head - that suits me just fine, as it gives me more time to get a pot of tea brewing as I refill their bowls when necessary.

It would've been nice for the others to be here, I think, but it's their loss. If they don't want to hang around for dinner, then they don't get to enjoy it.