Half the break had passed in a blink of an eye.

It was the next year, and their classes would be starting up in a few weeks.

Through these past few weeks, Lin Songmei didn’t end up doing too much. Songmei worked out with Yan Mingqing, getting some help from the other elders that managed the daily affairs of the training hall. Beyond that, Songmei also got to know the two other direct disciples after a few conversations and bumping into them in the training hall.

Lu Qiang, the first of the other direct disciples she had met was fit. That was one of the few words Songmei could really use to describe him. Lu Qiang was, by no small margin, the most fit person out of the four of them, even if Mingqing and Cai Yufei had worked out most of their lives. Being a hunk of muscle, Lu Qiang was still very encouraging towards the three of them, cheering them on during each workout.

Moreover, as a person, Lu Qiang was popular, he was respectful to everyone, though, his ability to not sniff a semblance of an innuendo even if it was served on a platter in front of him was... impressive.

To contrast Lu Qiang though, was Cai Yufei. Cai Yufei out of the four of them was the most ramrod upright, rules-following person Songmei had ever met, and she herself was a teacher’s pet!

Cai Yufei was disciplined, everyday he woke up at the same time, 5:30 am. Cai Yufei would then go on a morning run, wash up, then begin the day’s activities.

Dude lived like a machine.

Songmei liked Lu Qiang and Cai Yufei though, and with the addition of Yan Mingqing, the four of them spent the majority of their days during the break hanging out, whether it was something small like working out or eating, or something larger, like a direct disciple camping trip their masters took them on.

That was something else too.

A fond smile surfaced on Songmei’s face every time she remembered the camping trip the 6 of them went on. Nothing much had happened, but she, Mingqing, and Lu Qiang, had managed to drag Cai Yufei into staying up later and singing campfire songs with them.

It was through that camping trip that Mingqing had begun to get close to Lu Qiang and Cai Yufei, surprising the two of them when they learnt how talkative and extroverted Mingqing was once the ice queen melted off.

Through these past few weeks too, Songmei had studied up and reviewed some cultivation-related things. One of the biggest takeaways she learned was how the association managed to stay relatively unknown even though they were so important.

For one, they took a ton of measures to dodge media attention and reporting, such as keeping the location of their headquarters secret, along with turning down media reporting requests.

Another reason was that, as an administrative body, they didn’t accomplish much. Even with the demon hunting squads being managed by them, any achievements a squad made, the association would push the publicity and credit to the sects of the members and members themselves.

Lastly... one of the most important things that Songmei learned from all the stories Mingqing had ready at a moment’s notice, was that the Cultivator’s Association, with all its importance, was boring as hell...

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They made a decision in what felt like once every two years, they’d spend most of their meetings discussing their personal lives, and they would push as much work onto the sects as possible.

Songmei wouldn’t have been surprised if they were all top mahjong experts too.

At the present moment though, even while immersing herself into her own thoughts, Songmei was suffering. Her legs felt like she had dipped them into the sun, every step she took felt like a heavenly tribulation.

Even if there was snow outside, she was running around an indoor track, baking and sweating like an oiled whale, cursing how the temperature was set to the preferred temperature of anyone who enjoyed feeding koi.

These past few days, Songmei tried to run at least 16, sometimes even 20 laps around the track a day.

Not having enough energy to muster up words or gestures, Songmei just plodded along her last lap while Mingqing, Lu Qiang, and Cai Yufei cheered her on to finish.

Today was the day too, Songmei just had to push through, today was the day that Xueli would return from her business trip. Returning from her trip, Xueli had promised Mingqing and Songmei that she’d help them begin their cultivating journeys.

She’d wanted to earlier, but over and over again Xueli had been dragged away by the Sect Leader to go do some work.

Not wanting to delay it much more, Xueli and the master of Lu Qiang and Cai Yufei, Wu Sen, had decided that the day Xueli came back they’d both begin instructing their disciples.

One final stretch.

Songmei only had to run one final little stretch.

Her mind emptying as she ran, focusing on just pushing through the pain, Songmei made it across the line after a few moments.

Heavy breathing.

Panting like a dog.

Her lungs were on fire... no, they were already burnt to a crisp.

Forcing herself to walk around instead of collapsing, Songmei gave a small thank you to Mingqing as she was being handed water. “Life... Lifesaver.”

Her hand clung onto Mingqing’s shoulder, it was a stable rock, without it, Songmei felt like she would fall. “Any... any word from our master?”

Mingqing brushed her dark blue hair out of the way so that Songmei could use her shoulder as a better support. Shaking her head, Mingqing showed the message the two had received before they began running.

[Xueli: I’m on my way~ I know you two missed me! Meet me at the main courtyard at our house after lunch! I’ll text you if I’ll be getting back earlier~]

“That’s the last message still, I’ve been checking but she hasn’t sent us anything else,” Mingqing sighed, her distaste and resignation towards the small stream of emojis that followed that message clear in her tone. “Everytime I look at my messages though, I feel like Xueli is getting older and older... you ever get that feeling?”

“All the time,” Songmei sympathized, handing back the bottle of water that Mingqing had given her. “Thank you for the water and cheers.”

Giving her thanks to Cai Yufei and Lu Qiang as well, Songmei and the others walked towards an open area to do some stretches before they’d head off to eat lunch.

“You know,” Cai Yufei murmured as they all sank into a hamstring stretch. “Lu Qiang and I overheard your conversation earlier. Do you... do you two ever get the feeling that our master is younger than yours?”

With Mingqing and Songmei looking away and suppressing their laughter, Lu Qiang waved his hands around with an apologetic smile. “It’s just that... you know. Even though our master is a fair bit older than yours, he knows slang, he dresses in fashion, his hobby is playing video games... like... he might be a real rule stickler, even more than Yufei, but he’s... youthful.”

Snorting, Cai Yufei nodded and murmured, “I’ll give you that one, man is more uptight than me. On the note of uptightness though, it’s been a minute and 3 seconds that we’ve done this stretch so change sides already you three.”

Groans.

“Yes sir, Mr. Police Officer Yufei.”

“Amazing sense of time you got there, Automated Timer.”

“Thanks Yufei.”

Shaking his head with a smile at Mingqing and Songmei’s teasing nicknames, Cai Yufei sighed, taking solace in the fact that they had at least listened to him, and that Lu Qiang as always was pure and thankful.