After finishing the meal and saying goodbye to her little siblings, Jian Ye quickly left the table and left Jian Li and Jian Chen to finish eating by themselves. Even with her shoulders that looked like they were carrying too much weight for her own good, she stood tall and continued to walk. Jian Ye never looked back at them and she vanished into the distance.
"She really isn’t good at hiding things.", Jian Chen muttered to himself.
"I know.", Jian Li said. "But she does worry about us."
Jian Chen sighed. "I know. I just wish she would tell us what happened."
"She will tell us when she's ready.", Jian Li said.
"I hope you're right.", Jian Chen said. "I just wish she would tell us the truth more often."
"She will.", Jian Li said, reassuring him.
"I guess so.", Jian Chen said after a brief pause.
Jian Chen stared across the table at Jian Li, who was now quietly chomping down on her food as she enjoyed her meal. Even after everything that had happened to her in such a short amount of time, Jian Li was still trying to stay bright and positive.
Jian Li looked up and grinned at Jian Chen. Jian Chen couldn't help but laugh. He smiled at her, and the two of them sat, enjoying each other's company while they slowly ate in the dining hall.
After eating most of the food, both of them started to feel more than satisfied and stood up to leave the table. They told each other they would meet back up there for breakfast the next day and left to their own rooms to settle down for the night.
When Jian Li entered her own room though, she instantly noticed a huge difference.
Her room had been completely remodelled. All the furniture was changed and it appeared that more decorations had been hung up everywhere. There were a couple of smaller bookshelves by her bed and even a new big closet had been slotted in.
As she opened the closet, she noticed that the clothes inside looked like a mix of old clothes she had and new clothes she had never worn before. Pleasantly surprised, Jian Li looked around and spotted a red robe with a note on it.
´I've instructed the servants to get your room and wardrobe done while you were gone. Congratulations on being a member of the True Sword Sect. I´ll see you soon. And you should try to place your badge on this robe or any other sect clothes when you get the chance.´, Jian Li read.
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Jian Li put the note in her pocket as she walked over and put the badge onto the robe. A dim red light shone from the core disciple badge as the badge and robe melted together. It kind of reminded her of Chen Zhen and how he had his badge on his chest. She went into the bathroom to take a bath and afterwards tried out some of her new clothes.
When Jian Li came back out, she noticed an attendant had brought over a whole set of new red robes, red shirts and red pants along with a completely new pair of red sandals and various other red little accessories. She quickly got changed and looked in the mirror as she put the new clothes on.
Wearing the clothes made her feel powerful and in charge. She started to feel and look more like a full member of the True Sword Sect.
Jian Li played around with the core disciple badge a bit more by moving it around and placing it on different clothes until she felt tired and went to sleep. She decided to go to sleep normally and not meditate for the first time in a long time.
It was a surprisingly long and peaceful sleep that Jian Li had that night. Dreams of happiness, extreme focus and even danger danced through her head as she slept.
After hours of good sleep, Jian Li´s rest was interrupted by an older woman bursting into the room to deliver a pretty extravagant breakfast. Jian Li, although she felt slightly surprised by the amount and quality of the breakfast, took it in stride as she tried to behave naturally as if it was a regular morning.
The older woman just stood there watching as she let her eat for a while. She had a stainless white robe on and greying hair. Jian Li somehow felt like the woman was analysing her as she watched her eat. Her stare made her feel slightly unnerved.
"Your elder sister told me to take care of you and I'll make sure that you at least get a good meal out of me.", the woman abruptly said. Jian Li's eyes widened as she guessed who the mysterious woman was.
"My name is He Yu, but for you and your brother I am Master Yu. Get dressed, we're heading to the training hall where the other disciples of the elders gather.”, Master Yu said as she got up and closed the door after the stunning breakfast for the morning. Jian Li got quickly dressed in her new red attire and left the room.
Master Yu stood at the other side of the door calmly waiting for her with her elder brother Jian Chen. He was dressed in a red tunic with his badge on his chest.
He gave a gentle nod to Jian Li as Master Yu lead both Jian Li and Jian Chen to the training hall where the core disciples of the sect came to practice almost every day.
There were many disciples who had arrived by the time Jian Li and her brother walked into the training hall. One rather plump boy craned his neck to look at the group as they came in. A dozen core disciples stopped practicing and turned towards the new group of people to enter the room.
Master Yu slowed down to a stop as she walked into the middle of the training hall and at a sign from the other elders in the room started to introduce Jian Chen and Jian Li. "These two are my newest disciples, Jian Chen and Jian Li.", Master Yu slowly said as the eyes in the crowd focused on Jian Li and Jian Chen.
"These two have been personally vouched for by Honorary Elder Jian Ye. The core disciples had better treat them with respect or they'll be punished severely.", Master Yu said with a rather dangerous edge in her voice.