"The Masters have returned!"

It was a useless exclamation—anyone could see the giant jade peacock parting the clouds and descending from the sky. By the time the first disciple yelled out, every disciple had already noticed and began running towards the courtyard.

"The Masters and Disciples have returned from the Eight Clans Martial Meeting!" Yelled one senior disciple in between heavy swings of a hammer, slamming away at a giant metal bell. "Come to the courtyard now, new disciples, and pay respects to your seniors!" he heaved, slamming against the metal construct that was at least three times his height, vibrating with every hit.

The junior disciples, hearing the bell's screeching sound echo through the halls, moved frantically. Disciples threw themselves out of windows, cut their bathroom breaks short, and vacuumed up their meals, stopping everything to rush to the courtyard. Sleepy disciples, shocked awake by the noise, were dragged out and thrown into the ensuing crowd, getting consumed in the stampede while the bell continued to ring in the background.

"Senior brother, please wait~!" begged one of many junior disciples.

"I cannot wait for you, junior brother!" yelled the senior brother. "I must get as close to the courtyard as possible! This is one of the rare times you will ever see all three beauties of our sect in the same place! And most importantly, Senior Mo will be there!"

"Who and who!?" screamed the lagging junior brother. "It's too early in the morning for this! And brother, don't you have senior sister!?"

Suddenly, as he finished that sentence, the junior disciple heard a yell from the roofs above, followed by the distinct shockwave of a martial art.

"Rush now, sisters!" he heard be yelled out. "We of the Silk Jade hall must secure the best lookout spot and witness Senior Brother Mo in all his glory!"

Sounds of fighting ensued and the senior sisters' voices drowned out into screams and yells.

"…Silk Jade Hall?" remarked junior brother. "Isn't Senior Sister—" he asked, pointing at the rooftop that just had a huge hole blown through it, accompanied by some truly demonic screeching.

"Yes, yes she is." Remarked the senior brother as he witnessed, from the corner of his eye, a senior sister trying to choke another disciple with her long hair. "So forget about her for now, junior brother. As disciples of the Nature Sect, it is our duty to fight!" He said, elbowing a fellow disciple to try and squeeze through.

"Well said, brother!" Yelled the disciple he elbowed, twisting around and delivering a punch straight to his gut, knocking him back two paces into the arms of the junior brother. "Junior brother, rid yourself of hesitation! This is a tradition of our sect! RAHHH!" he screamed before turning around and rushing ahead, only to get suplexed unconscious by the hulking disciple in front of him.

"You've all gone craz—" muttered junior brother, before noticing his senior brother pulling out a red pill from his chest pocket. "—Senior Brother, no!" He yelled, blocking his brother's mouth. "You can't possibly be trying to take a Life-giving pill for this! Is your lifespan worth so little?!"

As the two continued their comedic tomfoolery, the glowing green peacock finally descended on the courtyard, releasing a gust of air onto the awaiting crowd.

One by one, the venerable figures of the Nature Sect stepped down. The master of the Natural sect's library, followed by the female master of the Silk Jade Hall, the two caretakers for the martial meet. Following behind them were the five top disciples of the sect, including three senior disciples and two junior disciples. Their representatives for the martial meet.

Did they win? All the disciples wondered. Even the female disciples who were prepared to scream and cheer, and the male disciples who were ready to profess their love to the sect's beauties, all went silent as one man stepped forth and reached into his sleeve. Before everything else, first came this: Did. They. Win?

The man dug deeper into his sleeve, rummaged around, then in one fell swoop lifted something out—

"It's the Gold Fan!" Yelled the disciples. "Senior Mo has brought us victory at the Martial Meet!"

The instant the gold fan flashed in the sun, all the Nature Sect's disciples erupted into cheers, screams, romantic confessions and an all-around cacophony of jubilation. Even the glorious beauty of the three beauties was soon drowned out by the visceral excitement conveyed by the gold fan. Victory over the other sects. Glory for the next ten years. Domination, standing tall at the peak of the continent.

The cheers intensified, becoming a collective scream of incoherent excitement, celebration and reverence.

"I swear, could we not have a more civilized welcome?" sighed the female master of Silk Jade Hall, deploying a jade-green barrier with a flick of her hand to prevent the disciples from swarming them. "They're louder than the crowd at the martial meet."

"Let them celebrate." Interrupted the Library master, stroking his long white beard. "When's the last time this glory came to our Nature sect? I daresay, only us masters remember the last time we won the martial meet."

"And the credit goes to him, huh?" said the Jade hall master, giving a casual but warm glance at the boy holding the golden fan. "You have a good eye, Library master. Wasn't it you who welcomed him to our sect?"

"Indeed, it was I." he replied with veiled pride. "The fates must have smiled upon me and our sect that day."

"At least you did one useful thing before you croak, you old fossil." She said with a mischievous smirk.

"Oh ho ho! I see being called 'master' has given this junior a big mouth." He replied in a jokingly threatening tone. "But let us ignore that. We shouldn't fight and take the spotlight from the disciples."

"I don't think anything could take the spotlight from them right now." noted the Jade hall master, peering towards the crowd of disciples that extended from the courtyard as far as the eye could see, every building in the vicinity teeming with bodies. She gave a small wave to her disciples on a nearby roof, but only a few saw and even fewer responded. The rest were too busy chanting, alongside the rest of the disciples, one name:

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"SENIOR MO! SENIOR MO! SENIOR MO!"

However, their cheers didn't end with just yelling his name over and over.

No, they got much more creative:

"I shook hands with Senior Mo once, and the softness of his hands gave me the enlightenment to achieve a breakthrough!" said one disciple with a hand encased in worn bandages.

"By styling my hair like Senior Mo, I was able to land a dual cultivation partner!" said one beaming disciple whose hair extended down to his waist.

"I was able to use a painting of Senior Mo as currency to purchase a heavenly treasure!" said another disciple, parading around a silver earring.

"When I used a piece of Senior Mo's hair to brew a pill, it tripled its effectiveness!" said a disciple who was immediately jumped by several disciples of both genders, demanding whatever he had left of Mo Weishing's hair.

"After sniffing Senior Mo once, all the impurities in my body were cleansed!" said one disciple. If it weren't Mo Weishing he was talking about, he would've been called a pervert.

"SENIOR MO! SENIOR MO! THE GREAT MO WEISHING!"

It was a miracle no one had been trampled over yet (several people have been jumped, but regardless). In fact, the library master had to deploy an additional barrier to keep the crowd from swarming the returning disciples… and also to keep the sound at bay. They. Were. So. Loud.

"Senior brother, give me the Life-giving pill! I must get closer to Senior Mo!"

"Touch my pill, Junior Brother, and we will become mortal enemies in this life and the next!"

"…Mo Weishing, why must this happen every time you greet our fellow disciples?" Asked the only other male disciple among the five that went to the martial meet, giving a hearty sigh. "And what are these ridiculous stories they're spouting out? If it wasn't for this barrier, I'm afraid my ears would rot."

"Of course they're excited! It's Senior Mo after all!" said the Junior sister and #3 beauty of the sect, hugging Mo Weishing's arm. "The stories are just them showing their love!"

"But you must agree, they are quite loud." said the #2 beauty of the sect and the oldest disciple among the five. "Mo Weishing, how about you come with me to the Silk Jade hall? We have various private rooms… They're completely soundproof, not just from the outside, but inside as well~." She said, tracing a finger along Mo Weishing's nape.

"How about the both of you take your hands off?" said a voice tinted with killing intent, coming from the #1 beauty of the sect and Mo Weishing's peer. "Isn't it rude to caress one's Dual Cultivation partner in front of them?" She said, her face contorting into a tense and distorted smile. She looked seconds away from biting someone's head off.

"Mo Weishing, I hear having two dual cultivation partners can be beneficial to one's longevity…" Whispered #2 beauty, giving a soft peck to Mo Weishing's ear.

The sound of the first beauty's patience snapping like a twig was nearly palpable.

"Senior, I recommend you get off Brother Mo~!" She said, reaching into her sleeve to pull out a sword wrapped in talismans. "We wouldn't want Brother Mo to be accused of Necrophilia, now would we?" she growled with the tip of her sword raised to second beauty's neck.

"Oh, but I'm perfectly healthy." Replies the second beauty with smirk. "In fact, I think my breasts grew a little in the past month~" She cooed, pressing up against Mo Weishing.

"I'll kill you~!" cheerfully exclaimed first beauty.

"Honey, you can try~!"

As the two beauties glared at each other like mortal enemies, the third beauty pulled Mo Weishing to the side. "Senior Mo, while those two fight it out, let's make a break for it!"

"Could you all stop acting like cheap consorts?" said the other boy. "I'm going into seclusion. Don't let me hear about any counts of public indecency when I come back, you whores."

"HUUHH!? What was that!? You just screw off and play with your sword in the corner!" Yelled third beauty, giving a middle finger to the boy. "Senior Mo, let's go now~"

"Mo Weishing, rather than go with this brat, come with me~."

"Weishing, as your dual cultivation partner, I say you can't go with either of them!"

Being pulled by both arms and neck, Mo Weishing was stretched taunt while his sleeves began to tear around the seams. When a big enough hole was made, the second beauty slipped her finger into it, gently ticking the underside of Mo Weishing's arm. This then made the first and third beauty pull harder, their arms throbbing with tension.

But as they continue to pull in three separate directions, Mo Weishing, the star disciple of the sect, begins to… creek…? and… crack?

Suddenly, Mo Weishing split into three parts as his chest opened with a crack, spreading wooden splinters everywhere.

"WEISHI…! Weishing?" Screams first beauty, until she noticed the face she was holding slowly lose detail, fading like a wet watercolour painting. Soon enough, the face was nothing more than a round chunk of wood.

"""It's a wood substitute!""" Yells the three beauties alongside the onlooking crowd, everyone narrowly avoiding a heart attack. Only the two masters looked on with a dismissive smirk.

"Wait, then where's the actual Mo Weishing?" asks second beauty.

There was a moment of silence as everyone proceeded the information, then suddenly, as if a bomb had exploded, the entire crowd began to disperse, spreading out like ants looking for food.

"Find Senior Mo!"

"Sisters, find him! Look for that long, glorious and silky black hair and perfect body!"

"Brothers, find that tall blue-eyed bastard! We must ask him about his endeavours at the martial meet!"

"And we must get bits of his hair to sell to the female disciples!"

"That too!"

"And get his used clothes! The robe he wore at the martial meet will be invaluable in the Mo Weishing Black Market!"

"That also!"

While the crowd began funneling into every corner of the sect, the three beauties were long gone, using their superior cultivation to leap around the roofs and search for Mo Weishing. Meanwhile, as everyone was disbanding to search for Mo Weishing, two disciples were wrestling over a pill in the corner.

"Now is the time! Return me the pill, Junior Brother!"

"Senior Brother, this Junior must refuse! As a member of the Nature Sect, there are things I must fight for!" yelled the junior brother who was so against using the pill moments ago. "After witnessing a sliver of senior Mo in person, I now realize this is a cause worth risking my life for! This pill shall be mine!"

"Now you're getting it!" said the senior brother, taking a stance. "You are truly a member of our Nature Sect, Junior brother! NOW DIE!"

As the corner of the courtyard devolved into a scuffle, everyone else was already long gone, looking for the man of the hour.

However, none of them could've expected that he wasn't even there at the sect.

He was far off in the territory that surrounded the Nature sect, the Grand Forest. From a great distance away, in a cave torn into the side of a mountain, sat a man with long, silky black hair, quietly meditating with a small wooden puppet in his hands. That puppet wiggled and squirmed until it suddenly broke across the chest with a snap, prompting the man to open his eyes and reveal a pair of beautiful deep blue eyes.

…It was wise to use a wood puppet. Thought the man, looking at his crushed puppet with slight horror. I must thank the Library Master and Silk Jade Hall Master for going along with my ruse.

Before they left on the final stretch of their journey back to the sect, he had the masters discreetly drop him off in the forest, replacing himself with the wood puppet. Thus, here he was in a far-off, secluded cave in the mountains: Mo Weishing.

But first, I must finish my preparations.

He drew ten wood puppets from his pocket, each no bigger than his hand. He then places a finger on each of them and begins meditating, doing something unnoticeable to the naked eye. After a long while the puppets begin to writhe as if possessed, suddenly standing up on two wooden feet to offer a soldier-like salute.

"Perfect." Said Mo Weishing, returning the little salute.

Ten puppets. With some weapons and disguises, this should be enough.

And so, Mo Weishing would continue to work in that isolated cave for the next few days. The excuse "I want to stay in seclusion for a while until the excitement dies down,' he gave to the masters afforded him this uninterrupted time, where he would tend to his own plans.

The total time I have left is… Seven days.

Seven days to make this forest a death trap for his enemies.

It was almost too much time.