A series of cracks web across the tiles beneath the guards’ feet as they all kick off on Sun’s mark. Almost immediately after their first step, all their eyes grow wide with disbelief in response to the rumbling space above them. The air suddenly collapses towards the training field, crashing down on their shoulders with immense pressure. All eleven guards clench their jaws as they circulate their aura to barely remain standing.
“ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” A deafening scream fills the air as Guard Jiefei urges himself to take a second step.
Sun observes every single guard, staying vigilant to bail them out the moment their knee buckles.
“THIS-” Guard Jiufei yells as he lifts his foot to take another step. “IS-” Upon planting his forefoot firmly onto the tiles, he takes another step. “NOTHING!”
One heavy step at a time, he makes his way towards the line. Upon planting the tenth step down, Guard Jiufei winces in pain as his knees suddenly buckle. On the way down, he grits his teeth and slams his palms onto the tiles to prevent his knees from touching the tiles.
Meanwhile, the other ten guards trail behind with varying distance from the line. Six guards trail behind Guard Jiufei by two to three steps whilst two more trail further behind by five to six steps. The remaining two are still stuck on their first step, struggling to even maintain their current stance beneath the crippling pressure. The moment they try to lift one foot, their grounded foot trembles uncontrollably. Despite knowing that they have no chance of reaching the line, they both will themselves to try and take that second step.
With every ounce of power in their bodies, the two guards successfully stomp their foot forwards to complete the second step. Whilst feeling dejected over their measly two steps, both guards know full well that this is the limits of what they can endure. Seeing the look of defeat in their eyes, Sun lifts his heels and disappears. He reappears beside one of the guards a split moment later, tapping him on the shoulder before disappearing and reappearing beside the other guard and doing the same. Both guards fall backwards, heaving heavily as they stare blankly at the sky above.
One by one, the guards collapse onto their knees, eventually leaving only Guard Jiufei standing. With about three steps left, Guard Jiufei screams in agony as he tries to remain steady on his feet. The destination is so close, yet so far away. Each step up til this point had been a struggle in itself, forcing him to his absolute limits. Unable to control the trembling in his knees, Guard Jiufei realizes that this might be as far as he can go.
DAMMIT! JUST. THREE. MORE!
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“Go.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
As the squad of guards dash forth towards the line, Dan, Wei, Yuyu, and Lia continue their lunch from the side, making themselves comfortable for the show before them.
“Senior Brother, how many steps do you think you could take?” Wei asks as he lifts a dumpling to his mouth.
Still chewing, Dan lifts up his hand in response, fingers curled with his thumb to form an “O” shape. Although initially shocked that their master had only been using a thousandth of his strength, they were both able to recover without much trouble. Having witnessed the legend of the parting skies during the long night, they found it easier to accept that there was no exaggeration in Sun’s statement.
“The first step doesn’t count unless you stand steady.” Dan follows up as he sets his chopsticks back into the bamboo container. “Chunhua could probably hold steady after the first step.”
“You’re giving that clown too much credit.” A playful comment joins the conversation from behind.
“Sister Maoyi!” Yuyu jumps to her feet and wraps her hand around Maoyi. In the middle of their hug, a familiar aroma causes Yuyu to pull back and turn her attention towards the cloth package beside Maoyi. “Ehh?! Fried rice?!”
“Mhmmm!” Maoyi chuckles as she hugs the little girl back. Bending her knees, she unties the knot on the cloth, allowing it to unfurl to reveal two stacks of metal containers. “I brought food for everyone, but I guess they’re not back yet...”
After exchanging greetings, the group takes turns catching each other up on recent events. Despite the odd scene unfolding on the training field, Maoyi pays it no attention beyond the first glance as seeing esteemed guards of the Academy, all Masters in their own right, struggle to stand before Sun is well within her expectations. Instead, she immerses herself in the soothing voices of her juniors, feeling at peace as she listens to their stories of day to day life. Occasionally, Lia and Yuyu would chime in to share Sun’s embarrassing moments, bringing everyone to tears with laughter.
“Wait wait wait!” Amidst the joyous reunion, Maoyi suddenly notices something that doesn’t quite feel right. Her eyes grow wide, fluttering back and forth between Dan and Wei. “What’s going on here? Since when did you two become so buddy buddy?!”
“Oh, I guess we skipped over that part.” Dan chuckles before turning to Wei. “Why don’t you tell her, Junior Brother?”
“EHH? ‘Junior Brother’?” Maoyi cuts in, not giving Wei adequate time to even start explaining. “You mean to tell me that Weiwei–our Weiwei, everyone is nobody except me Weiwei, esteemed member of the Zhou royal family Weiwei, ‘your sect is second rate trash’ Weiwei, ‘my family supports the Alchemist Association’ Weiwei, I can’t eat peasant food Weiwei, member of the cat whisker duo Weiwei–actually got on his knees and kowtowed nine times?!”
“Wait, were we supposed to kowtow nine times?” Dan asks, suddenly feeling worried that he might have accidentally disrespected Sun. With their official master-disciple relationship forming in the midst of chaos, there was no room to spare a thought for proper etiquette. However, thinking about it now, Dan realizes that there was more than enough time between then and now for him to show his respect. “Wei, we would probably…”
Initially, Wei’s face grew flush as he listened to Maoyi listing off his embarrassing moments. But upon hearing that Dan hadn’t kowtowed, Wei’s face lost all color. He stares blankly at his Senior Brother, unable to fathom how someone so smart could be so stupid.
“Senior Brother…” Wei begins, his fingers pressing tightly against the crinkle between his brows to fend off the surmounting headache. “I did my kowtows the moment that Master accepted me.”
“What about the… uh…” Maoyi’s voice trails off as she thinks of a word fitting of the rumors that had once floated around the Academy. “...what about that, uh… entanglement?”