Every year, the actual induction ceremony of Yangjian Sect’s newest initiates took place in the evening, after the moon was high in the air, signifying the transition of the junior cultivators to a new phase on their road to enlightenment. Those who earned the honour of being judged as ready to fully enter their numbers were given the title of ‘Talent’, and the actual number varied between the years.

Immediately after the meal had concluded, Zhang Shengfa had immediately shooed Huoyun out of the room, and from the sly smiles on both his and Elder Mu’s faces, Huoyun knew they would take some time to catch up on what had been happening in each of their respective lives over the past year.

That, annoyingly, meant that he was now being left alone with the four members who, apparently, he would be presenting the daoshi elixir to once evening came. That announcement had come out of the blue midway through the meal; Elder Mu having decided that since he was the one to have crafted the four medicines that were perfectly suitable for their recipients, the honour and age-old tradition that signified ties between their family and the Sect should therefore fall unto him.

It was unorthodox, but unfortunately for him, Zhang Shengfa thrived on the unorthodox. He’d accepted the proposal readily, giving not a single care about Huoyun’s objections about propriety. With the effective leaders of both sides of the long-standing tradition having unilaterally decided on the arrangements, there was no room for him to argue.

“Young Master Zhang,” Wen Guoxiang, one of the Four Talents of this year’s batch of initiates, and the one who had taken the lead in greeting them on their arrival. He smiled at Huoyun kindly, leaning over so as not to otherwise tower intimidatingly over him. “Is there anything you’d like to see while we wait for Elder Mu and Master Zhang to conclude their business?”

They’d been introduced over the meal, and Huoyun was uneasy with the respect being shown toward mortals like he and his father by cultivators such as themselves, even if they hadn’t yet officially ended their training. Even though Guoxiang and his peers were only four years older than himself, they had devoted their entire lives since their childhood to the Sect, and were accordingly far superior to him in any sort of martial prowess and mastery of their own bodies.

Mortals paid cultivators high amounts of respect – monsters, spirits, demons and more abounded the lands, and it fell to the Guardians of Qingliu that comprised of the alliance between the Yangjian Sect, Fengyan Sect, Yuhua Sect, and several other minor powers to keep their lands on this side of the River Zhu safe. Occasionally, when rival cultivators sought to expand their influence, with untoward intentions against the populace of the many villages and cities here, they also banded together in full force to protect the people.

“Umm…” Huoyun said uneasily, glancing between the four faces waiting on his response. Back in the village, outside of dealing with the occasional customer when his father was busy, he hadn’t done much else beyond practising and committing his ancestor’s words to memory. Dealing with cultivators as he was now was so far out of his normal routine that he didn’t quite know what to do.

“No need to be nervous with us, little brother,” Li Rouliang said kindly, bending on one knee. She was the only girl among the Four Talents of this year’s batch. Despite her relatively young age, there seemed to be a motherly air around her, with soft features that otherwise contrasted with the signs of musculature no doubt hardened through a decade of harsh training. “Just tell big sister and all your big brothers here what you want to do, and we’ll see what we can do about it, okay?”

Beside her, Xu Quanhao guffawed boisterously, slapping her on the back with his thick arm, but she didn’t even flinch despite the loud smack the action caused. “Rouliang, he’s twelve, and he made the daoshi on his own! You don’t need to talk to treat him like he’s a little kid! Oi, Huoyun, tell me honestly, these two idiots make you uncomfortable, yeah?”

“Quanhao,” the final member of the group said quietly, looking disapprovingly at him. Zhao Wuqiang had been quiet throughout most of the meal, instead letting his peers speak whenever addressed by Elder Mu or by Zhang Shengfa. “Please behave in front of our guests.”

“C’mon, Wuqiang! Just look at him; you know I’m right!” Before even waiting for a response, Quanhao turned to address Huoyun, an honest smile on his face. “Yo, Huoyun! Which one among the four of us is your favourite?”

“Um –“

“Quanhao…”

“Please stop teasing Young Master Zhang,” Guoxiang said, sighing, grabbing his friend by the shoulder and tugging him aside. “You know that the Zhangs have been the treasured friends of our Yangjian Sect since the time of our master’s masters.”

“Um,” Huoyun repeated, slightly caught out by the exchange going on between the four friends who obviously had quite different personalities. “Could you just call me Huoyun please, Master Wen?”

That sent Quanhao into another laughing fit. “Master Wen, eh Guoxiang? Looks like you’ve made a bit of an impression on Huoyun here! Hey kid, just call that big idiot Guoxiang like all of us!”

“Quanhao,” Li Rouliang warned, before switching her tone in the next instant as she turned back to face Huoyun, smiling warmly. “Very well, Huoyun. How about we show you around our Sect?”

Yes, please, he thought, thankful for the easy out. Anything to get out of this awkward situation. On the one hand, he had Wen Guoxiang, who clearly held his family in high regard, even though the reality of their standing was the exact opposite from Huoyun’s perspective. On the other, there was Xu Quanhao, who despite being extremely open with his thoughts and words, much like how his own father was, knew exactly what to say to tease Huoyun in his own way.

He nodded readily, and taking that as a sign of agreement, Guoxiang led the way. As they passed through the beautiful terraces, he spoke to Huoyun. “Is there anything you’d like to see, Young – I mean, Huoyun?”

Well… if they were offering…

“Back there, Elder Mu mentioned strengthening the qi, without disturbing the harmony between yin and yang,” he said slowly. “Why… I mean, how do you even get started on that?”

“Oh? Want to become a cultivator like us, Huoyun?” Quanhao teased, reaching out to ruffle at his hair, but his arm was seized and shoved away by Rouliang. The glare she sent him barely seemed to bother him at all, but he still began speaking more seriously. “Well… it’s kind of hard to explain. You need to first know how to feel your qi inside of your soul, and for that, you need to meditate long and hard.”

“When did you all start your training?”

Quanhao shrugged. “Depends, doesn’t it?” he gestured with a thumb at himself and Guoxiang. “The two of us; we came from the same village originally. Elder Mu took us in after our parents died to demonic beasts, and we’ve been here since we were five. Rouliang came in a year after us, and most of our other brothers and sisters start at around the same age.” Then, he looked slyly at Wuqiang. “Of course, you could be a hidden prodigy, and catch up within a within a few years like this shy, quiet boy over here. He started at nine.”

Wuqiang glared at him, then averted his gaze, but Huoyun noted just the slightest redness to his cheeks. Having grown up together for more than half their lives, it seemed those four were thoroughly inseparable.

“What was your training like?” Huoyun asked, honestly curious. “If you can tell me, that is.”

“Like the Elder said, the theory alone isn’t a secret of our Sect, Huoyun. Every cultivator out there follows the same principles,” Guoxiang said, guiding him across an ornate wooden bridge under which a soft stream flowed from atop the mountain peak. “For the first few years, we practice meditation and the Yangjian Foundational Forms, honing the qi until we are ready to take it to the next level. Once the Elders judge us as ready, we learn to condense and solidify it, without breaking the inherent harmony that lies within. After that stage, we learn how to suffuse and strengthen our bodies with qi. Only then are we deemed worthy to pass the first stage of our training.”

“We call it Realisation of the Qi,” Rouliang added helpfully. “Some Sects might call it the First Realm, or the Beginning of the Path, or the Opening of the Eyes, or Core Condensation… but we keep things simple here.”

“Almost ten years for the three of us here, and seven for Wuqiang,” Quanhao said, hands folded behind his head as he walked in a carefree manner. “Kinda sucks that it’s only going to get harder from here on out.”

“The daoshi you made will be a great boon to us, though,” Wuqiang spoke quietly, a gleam of respect in his eyes. “It will further set up a solid foundation of our qi, that we may begin the next steps in earnest. You have our thanks.”

“Ah… it’s no problem?” he replied uncertainly. Quanhao cooed, earning yet another smack on his head from Rouliang.

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“There is no denying your talent, though, Huoyun,” Guoxiang said as he continued leading the way. “A proper daoshi is something highly coveted by adepts like ourselves, even if it will only work a single time.”

“Hmm…” Huoyun hummed absently in acknowledgement of his words. Truth be told, he had many questions, especially considering the new possibility that Zhang Shengguang’s words might have in fact been pertaining to exactly what Elder Mu and Guoxiang told him. The exact semantics evaded him, but if he likened it to alchemy…

“You said that you condense and solidify the qi in the middle of your training, without breaking the harmony of yin and yang,” he began saying. “But what happens if you don’t? What if one overpowers the other?”

Abruptly, Guoxiang paused mid-step. There was a grave look on his face, mimicked by the other three around him. “That’s… not good,” he said slowly. “The qi is the very essence of spirit, Huoyun. It is intrinsically tied to the soul. If one triumphs over the other… the soul itself breaks apart.”

Huoyun blanched. That didn’t sound good.

“Yep,” Quanhao concurred. “Boom. You don’t want that to happen, ever. Your body can live on if the qi breaks apart, but you’d never be able to continue on the path of cultivation ever again. And even if you can continue surviving, you won’t ever be the same again, as though a part of you is missing. It’s why the Elders and Seniors watch over us as we meditate in our early years, and whenever we are close to a breakthrough.”

“Oh.” Message received. “Good thing I’m not a cultivator, then.”

“That’s one way to look at it.” Quanhao glanced at Guoxiang. “Oi, Guoxiang, where’re you taking us, anyway?”

“Really, Quanhao?” Wuqiang said. “You haven’t realised yet?”

“Not everyone’s a prodigy like you –“

“Alright, Quanhao,” Guoxiang said, forestalling the argument before it began. “We’re here.”

They were standing in front of yet another building, separated from the main estate that Huoyun had been in previously. Inside, he could hear the sounds of shouts and yells, of heavy stamping and sounds of battle.

“The junior initiates’ training hall,” Guoxiang said as he opened the door. “As soon-to-be members of the inner ranks, we’re tasked with helping to look after our juniors as well.”

Immediately after he entered, all sounds inside paused. Disarrayed bodies that had been in the middle of spars lined up in orderly groups. Then, as one, a dozen voices greeted in unison.

“Senior Wen! Senior Xu, Senior Li, Senior Zhao!”

“Juniors,” Guoxiang said, nodding in return. “Excellent practice. This is Young Master Zhang Huoyun, of the Zhang family that the Sect enjoys close ties with. He is our guest for the day.”

“Young Master Zhang!”

Faced with dozens of people his age and younger treating him with such respect, he found himself lost for words. He hadn’t really appreciated his family’s relationships with the Sect before, but this was taking it to another level.

“Alright, brats, that’s enough.” Quanhao thankfully came to his rescue, seeing that he wasn’t comfortable with being put on the spot. “Back to training with you lot.”

At that point, the group broke apart. Quanhao and Wuqiang joined their juniors, supervising them as they continued their bouts, while Guoxiang and Rouliang brought him to a corner of the room where he could observe the training session.

“Thought you might enjoy seeing what the Sect is like, since you were curious about us, and we couldn’t actually show you those of us practicing the Foundational Forms,” Guoxiang said. “I wanted it to be a surprise, but, ah…”

“It’s alright,” Huoyun said quickly. “This… wow…”

He knew cultivators were a different sort of people from mundane folk like himself, but this really solidified that notion. The ones that looked his age were a blur of motion, striking with grace and precision as they traded blows, and even those that were far younger could more than easily beat him in combat. Quanhao laughed, as a group of four began ganging up on him, entering an impromptu mock battle with his juniors.

“It’s kind of nostalgic for us,” Rouliang spoke up, a faint smile on her face. “We were like them just a few years ago. Hmm… hey, Guoxiang, Wu Rongyao and Fan Xueling look like they’ll be ready to move to condensing their qi soon, don’t you think?”

Guoxiang glanced at a pair of juniors sparring with each other, and Huoyun followed his gaze. They looked to be on the older end of the spectrum of kids in the hall, around the same age as Huoyun. A girl dressed in the battle-robes of the sect was fiercely facing off against a boy, her eyes narrowed. A cheeky taunt bid her to strike, and when she moved, she registered as a mere blur in his vision.

Any faster, and he wouldn’t have been able to see that at all. Somehow, though all that, her opponent managed to fend off the attack, dishing out a counter of his own.

“Seems like it,” Guoxiang agreed. “Jiang Taishan’s might even already be there, I think. Chen Yangchao isn’t far off, either.”

Likewise, another pair of boys were in the thick of action, but their attacks seemed more calculative. They were sizing each other up, waiting for a chance to strike – but when they moved, they moved.

“Kind of like us, huh? Two yin and two yang dominants in their year group?”

“Another bumper year of Talents in the future?” Guoxiang suggested, a smirk on his face. He glanced playfully at Huoyun. “Maybe Huoyun will be brewing the daoshi for them too?”

“What do you think, Huoyun?” Rouliang asked.

He startled at that, having been observing the fights as they unfolded. “O- of course! It would be my honour!”

“Don’t do too good a job, though; we can’t have our juniors catching up with us too easily,” Guoxiang teased. “Hey, why not get you all acquainted now?”

“Wha –“

“Great idea!” Rouliang was already moving, before Huoyun could protest. “Xueling; Rongyao; Yangchao; Taishan! Get over here!”

Her voice carried over easily, and immediately, they paused their battles, heading to their seniors without any reservation.

“Sister Li?” Fan Xueling asked, her face reddened with exhaustion.

“You know how each year, the Talents who make it to ranking members of the Sect are given the daoshi elixir?” she asked, receiving nods from the four juniors in return. “Well, this year, Huoyun here has created the pills for your four seniors. Once all of you are ready, he will probably do the same for you in a few years’ time. You’re all about the same age, so become good friends, okay?”

“Awesome!” Beside her, the boy she’d been duelling with pumped his fist in the air, before stepping forward, grinning widely. “Heya! Name’s Wu Rongyao! Nice to meet you!”

“Rongyao, the Zhangs are honoured guests of the Sect,” one of the other two boys said, before nodding at Huoyun. “Jiang Taishan. My grandfather speaks well of your family.”

His grandfather? Huoyun frowned. Jiang… “You’re related to Elder Jiang?”

He nodded. Huoyun had only met the venerable Elder once before, when he’d accompanied his father up the mountain a few years back. He had given off an imposing air, but not an unkind one. Down below, in the world of mortals, he was highly respected, and often descended to put down threats to their livelihood. He was given the titular nickname of Jiang Jinzhong the Righteous, and there wasn’t a soul in Yunjiang Town who didn’t know of him.

“Wow…”

Looking at him now, Huoyun could see some similarity. Despite being of a similar age, he exuded a resolute air about him that Huoyun could hardly hope to replicate.

“You’re from Yunjiang, right?” the last boy said. “What’s it like over there?”

“Introduce yourself first, Yangchao,” Rouliang said sternly, before Huoyun could answer.

“Ah, right! Sorry, elder sister! Name’s Chen Yangchao!”

Though it had been him who asked the question, Huoyun noticed that the others were curious as well. It seemed that it wasn’t just him who was interested in the world of cultivators – having grown up here all their lives from the time they were children, not yet able to descend the mountain until their training was close to completion, the world of ordinary mortals below was just as foreign to them.

“It’s… different?”

“Different how?” Xueling asked curiously. Then, she frowned. “That’s funny… I can’t sense your qi at all…”

“Mortals don’t cultivate the qi, Xueling,” Guoxiang explained patiently. “They – how do I put this? You’ll understand once you start joining your Seniors on missions in a year, but they live very differently from us.”

“Differently how?”

Her words were laced with innocence, but her curious stare was intense, and Huoyun felt bidden to answer. “I mean… until today, I didn’t actually know what qi even was, right? I just help out in the family business, make medicines… uhh… that’s it, really…”

He let his words hang lamely. Put that way… well, his life did seem boring by comparison.

“Mortals aren’t like us,” Rouliang added. “We aren’t above, or below them in any way. We’re just different, really. We depend on them, in the same way that they depend on us. While we spend our days training and meditating, walking on the Path to enlightenment, they carry out their trades, grow up, marry, and start families of their own.”

Marry. Abruptly, that brought back bad memories of the one-sided conversation from his father he wished he could scrub clean from his brain.

Now that they mentioned it, though…

“Do cultivators start families of their own?”

It was something that had bothered him for some time. From what he knew, many of the young cultivators tended to be young orphans whose families were unfortunately destroyed by evil spirits, monsters, or demons. Yet, there were some like Jiang Taishan, who was born into a family of cultivators.

“It’s… a bit of a difficult question to answer,” Rouliang said, exchanging a glance with Guoxiang. “Families are a bit different from what you might think of in Yunjiang Town. When we marry, it’s usually to reinforce bonds with other Sects, or within the same Sect after spending entire lifetimes together and making it into seniority. It’s a really different concept altogether from what you’re used to, I think.”

That seemed to be the case. If anything, it was definitely different from how his parents had met.

“Are you married, then?”

That innocent question promptly send him into a coughing fit, while Wu Rongyao laughed. “Xueling, you idiot! He’s the same age as us!”

“But Sister Li said that they’re different from us –“

“Not that different, idiot!” Rongyao smiled apologetically at Huoyun. “Sorry about her. She’s been here since she was a baby, so she doesn’t know about how life is like down below. Not me, though!”

That certainly was an understatement. She seemed just as fascinated by mortals as he was curious about how cultivation linked to his ancestor’s words, if at all.

“Well, Huoyun, I’ll leave the five of you to talk for a while,” Guoxiang said, glancing at the other students in training. “Quanhao seems like he needs some help.”

Somehow, he was entangled in the middle of a group of six kids, each of them grabbing at a single limb, holding him down as he laughed loudly, not bothered in the slightest. “Honestly,” Rouliang said, sighing. “Leave him alone for just one second…”

“So…” Rongyao began saying, filling up the silence that was left in wake of their leaving. “Seniors said you made the daoshi?”

“Yeah?”

“Alright! We’re going to be the best of friends!” He grinned widely, extending a hand toward him. “Swear on it!”

“Uhh…” Uncertainly, he accepted the handshake.

“Great! In four years’ time, I’ll be cashing in on that pill!”

“Rongyao…” Jiang Taishan groaned, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. “What did I say about treating guests as guests?”

Fan Xueling and Chen Yangchao just watched on, as they promptly began a friendly argument. Huoyun didn’t have close friends down below on in Yunjiang Town, having lived his entire life committed to the family business, but he thought that if he did have friends, it would be something like how these four were.

Before he knew it, time passed as they continued bickering, and it was soon time for the initiation ceremony of the Four Talents.