Volunteering to defend an entire contested neighborhood for the day, Lin Songmei, along with Yan Mingqing, Han Youhong, Wang Taigang, and Zhao Liying, all set out from the courtyard. Though the morning was still young, the neighborhood Wrath had given them was one of the farthest, and as... well, not broke direct disciples, they still hadn’t bought transportation for themselves.
“Why couldn’t they have given us a closer neighborhood,” Liying murmured, stretching as she munched on some breakfast while walking. “Isn’t there the one we fought in a couple of weeks ago? The one that’s like... two minutes out from the courtyard?”
“Well, we were there pretty early today, so we have time to walk over, don’t we?” Taigang chuckled, shrugging as he led the pack. “Sometime, once we leave Westriver though, we really should all think about transportation...”
With some murmurs of agreement filling the conversation, a silence fell onto the group. No one wanted to address the elephant in the room. Well, they were walking, so the elephant in the middle of the street might’ve been more accurate.
Putting aside the other random factors, Songmei for sure didn’t want to be the one to broach the topic. For one, she and Mingqing were—without a shadow of a doubt—in the best position. They were dating, had the same master, and would go back to the sect where they’d... maybe move into the same room.
They’d be having more sleepovers for sure at least.
But, in general, the party had been a little more subdued. Sure, Songmei was dense, but she wasn’t dense enough to miss the awkward pauses and down looks cropping up during their game nights—she made them herself too...
Sure, it’d be nice to hang out with Lu Qiang and Cai Yufei once more, but... they really just weren’t the same as the current party. And who knew how long it’d be until they all saw each other again?
“I mean... I’ll miss you all,” Liying broke the silence, deciding to poke the bear, “I don’t have many... well, really any genuine friends in my sect currently. So, I’ll really miss you all... we should somehow organize ways to hang out...”
“We can try to figure some online stuff out?” Youhong murmured, his hands still at his sides for once as he strolled along. “We can, at the minimum, call each other, yeah?”
“That’s... true,” Liying murmured, a little comforted as Youhong walked beside her, comforting her as everyone else fell into a pensive silence.
The general problem they were facing was... complicated. No one was really worried about falling behind. At this point, even Songmei herself, who was the most insecure about her cultivation, had confidence to at least keep up with her friends. The problem was, could they all remain friends?
Cultivation, in general, had been split into four main chunks, beginning, middle, late, and end. Each section was divided based on two things, the major tribulation one had to face to cross the chasm, and the time frame in which realm progress was measured. As meridian cultivators, they were still in the beginning, of course, which meant they were disciples still shackled by their sects. That also meant progress still was fast—the largest unit of measurement was still years.
Then there were the people in the middle. The middle was were lines began to blur. Depending on one’s ambitions, or talent, this was already quite high. In the lower tiers, or levels, depending on which terminology was being used, sects could be founded if one was a cultivator who fell into the ‘middle section.’
In fact, in rural areas, like where Songmei was from, where the cities were smaller, and non-cultivator focused, a middle-level cultivator was a super powerhouse. Ancestor of a sect type of thing.
Then came people like Yan Mingliang. Songmei shuddered just thinking of him. He had such a famous reputation, and yet... she was dating his little sister. Songmei just crossed her fingers at night hoping he wouldn’t blow her head off. He was known as a doting older sibling after all...
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
But Yan Mingliang, being a genius, stepped into the middle realms just after thirty years old. Though the progress in realms categorized in ‘the middle,’ was measured in decades—a commonality in the early realms in ‘late’ as well, someone like Yan Mingliang was still very much a disciple. It wasn’t until late in the middle stages when someone could even attempt to be an elder at a sect like Starlight Lake.
And oftentimes they’d be given something close to a janitorial position if they weren’t a rising star, future of the sect, type of person.
But, what mattered was the freedom given to disciples in the middle section. Once they passed the tribulation and entered core formation, they could journey to the central continent. Everyone planned on meeting up by then, their party could reform, but would their friendship last?
“So... what’s the plan then?” Songmei ventured, breaking the silence as she could think of nothing. “We’re not going to just all be long distance for twelve or so years are we?”
“I mean, the plan is to not do that,” Youhong shrugged. “At the minimum, because we’re all near the top of our year, we’ll all be sent to sect competitions, so we’ll see each other then?”
“Oh, maybe we should start signing up for realm expeditions then? You know, the ones where you go into some pocket dimension?” Mingqing interjected, stroking her chin as she looked down at the pavement. “I just remembered they exist, we’re probably way too young for the vast majority of them, but some of them have realm restrictions. So only lower realm people can go in.”
“YOU’RE SUCH A GENIUS!” Liying cried out, bolting over and hugging Mingqing, “Wait, we could totally do that. Do you think they’d let us form a party even though we’re part of different sects?”
“We have history,” Taigang nodded along, getting into the idea. “Why didn’t we think of this before? Are we all dumb?”
“I think most of us were trying to figure out some strategies with stuff unrelated to cultivation... and also realm expeditions are so painful, haven't you heard?” Youhong sighed, looking around as they strolled along the empty, post–morning rush streets. “They’re still the leading cause of death for all cultivators.”
“Yeah, but you improve fast,” Liying raised a point, “that’s something isn’t it? Yan Mingliang was practically solo’ing those for five years. That’s how he improved so fast.”
“Well, that’s my point,” Youhong pondered out loud. “It’s not very fun reuniting with your friends if you’re all running away at full speed from a bear the size of a house, you know? And it doesn’t help that the bear is probably part of a pack of two hundred.”
Looking down to check his watch, Taigang got everyone’s attention with a loud clear of the throat. “Let’s talk more about this the next time we have a game night. We’re running behind schedule so let’s... uh... run I guess.”
“You right, you right,” Youhong agreed as everyone put away everything they were holding, breaking out into a light jog—one aided by their techniques of course.
Hopping over a rock and leaping onto a ledge to run along, Songmei sighed as she thanked herself for staying consistent with her cardio. “No matter when we meet up again, we better all have vehicles. These morning runs have been getting old really fast.”
With a chorus of agreement sounding out from the rest of the group who was just as annoyed as her, Songmei looked over towards Taigang. “Didn’t you want to buy a tank?”
“I feel like that’d be too over the top...” Taigang sighed, “I’d have to wait until I’m older and famous. If I’m still alive when we’re older and like... I don’t know, a war breaks out, I think I could get away with it. I’m just thinking about a four-wheeler heavier, bulkier car for now. How about you all?”
“Sports car,” Youhong answered with a short burst, keeping his breathing intact as he watched Taigang clutch his side from a cramp. “Don’t talk so much you smooth-brained gym bro.”
Raising an eyebrow as Taigang had no breath to retort, Mingqing shrugged. “Motorcycle. Taigang, you go to the gym so much, do you ever use the treadmill?”
“I don’t think he does...” Songmei trailed off. She might’ve started much later than most with training cardio, but she—with a few exceptions—only did cardio, so she was fine. “I’m thinking about car too, sorta similar to Youhong I guess...”
Speeding up a touch with an annoying grin plastered across her face, Liying flashed a peace sign to Taigang as she tapped her chin. “Probably a sports car, or a motorcycle. Something cool and hopefully fast. I’ll be sure to have the moment I leave Westriver, so I can show it to you all whenever we meet up again.”
Taigang, just trying to not die from his cramp, could only nod along as everyone made similar promises, swearing in his mind he’d do more cardio in the future.