The next morning, it appeared as if the happenings of the previous day were nothing but bad memories. At least the other four appeared like it was the case. Ren was still mulling it over in his head, though his thoughts merely ran in circles with no results or insights to show for.
"Brother Ren, have you thought about what we should do in the weapon division yet?" Han Ting asked him jovially while eating bread with some kind of meat in big bites.
Ren was torn between being impressed and peeved by his table manners. The other boy hadn't eaten with such vigor before. At least not in front of Ren.
"Not really, sorry, Brother Ting. Maybe we could just take a stroll through the division and take things as they come?" Ren suggested, as he had to admit his negligence in thinking of any particular activity. Seeing as they had no true plan in the heart division either made him not worry about it as much though.
"That would be fine, Brother Ren, you are an important part of the weapon division, but you joined not even a year ago. Unlike for the rest of us, there is no pressure to show us some secret or even an especially interesting place. Just do what feels right." Shen Junan said, Han Ting and Xin Jing nodding along.
They sat inside one of, as Ren understood it, many buildings that were at Zhi Mu's personal disposal. One and the other two dark-clads still continued shadowing them, though it was slightly harder for Ren to spot them as they moved even farther away from their location. They continued being black spots at the corner of his senses.
"Is everyone ready then? I personally really want to see the weapon division. I haven't ever been to it, not even in passing like with the others." Xin Jing said, sounding enthusiastic as she smacked her fist into her open palm and gave them a motivated smile. Ren couldn't pretend to understand her eagerness, but was thankful for her words nonetheless.
'Even if it is going to be far less exciting than any of our previous visits.' He thought, but didn't say. Instead, Ren began taking the lead and leaving the quaint mansion behind. The distance between the puppet and weapon division wasn't as large, and the five of them arrived within a few minutes.
Having seen a few other divisions now, Ren thought that the weapon division was most similar to the body division in layout. It was expansive, and its disciples were focused on their cultivation, strength being the most important part of any Cultivator. Though, Ren mused, that wasn't far from what happened in other divisions.
The disciples that crossed their way were far more reserved in their greetings than those of the body division, but they also didn't ignore their presence, all of them at least recognizing Zhi Mu. Some gave their group weird glances, but no one gave any further comments. There was not a single person among them who suggested they sneak around in some manner. It also made him think about how many disciples were part of the different divisions. He had until recently thought that all divisions had about the same amount, but when he thought about it further that didn't seem to be the case at all.
The puppet division clearly housed far more disciples than the body division, and he had no idea how many were part of the other division, not even his own. Ren kept the thought in the back of his mind, it wasn't truly important to him after all, but maybe he could figure it out on his own without simply asking Zhi Mu or Darkhaven. Perhaps it was even common knowledge and easy to obtain.
"It is very peaceful, Brother Ren, but I must ask. Where are you taking us?" Han Ting asked, breaking Ren out of his musings, as they walked down the winding paths. Ren had, out of habit, simply taken the paths towards his usual training ground. He could already sense it, even. Only a single person was training beside the gushing waterfall right now, though.
"Like I said earlier, Brother Ting, I don't have anything planned and just walked about, my feet just brought me to where I would normally go." Ren said, trying to sound sophisticated and not startled like he truly felt, his chest pushed out and one hand behind his back. He could sense Xin Jing rolling her eyes behind him, putting an embarrassed smile on his face.
They left the regular trail and entered the clearing. Everything looked just like before he left. Multiple meditation mats were arranged in a semicircle, chess pieces and boards lay about together with some quickly scribbled notes on cultivation, tactics, or some half finished poems. It gave of a disjointed feeling, that was only enhanced by the fact that no one used any of those things right now.
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On a stone directly in front of the waterfall sat Xiao Bao, her eyes and other senses closed to the world. She was obviously in deep meditation. Ren could tell that she slowly rotated part of her spirit around herself. It felt almost as if she would turn into a storm any moment, giving him pause, as he hadn't encountered this flavour of spirit in her arts so vividly before.
"Well, this certainly is not what I expected when you said that this is one of the places you normally go to, Brother Ren." Xin Jing said, looking around with curiosity. "Why is all this stuff just lying around?" She asked, as she delicately picked up a chess piece. "And who is that girl, sitting by the waterfall?"
Ren scratched his neck sheepishly. There wasn't any good reason he could give for different things laying on the floor, therefore he jumped on the second question.
"That is Xiao Bao, she is one of my friends and regularly trains with me. Normally there would be a few others here right now, but they are likely preparing for the Novice trials in their own ways." Ren said, a smile on his face as he thought of his friends.
"Then this is a beautiful opportunity, Brother Ren, why don't you introduce us to your friend? She would certainly benefit greatly if we gave her a few pointers before the trials, and you could also show her how far you have come in these last few days." Han Ting said, enthusiastically and with a shining smile, though Ren couldn't quite put the look that he was giving Xiao Bao. Nonetheless, seeing no harm in it and having wanted to introduce his friends if they met them, Ren agreed.
He walked up to Xiao Bao, her spirit still slowly revolving as she was cultivating and employing some art unfamiliar to Ren. When he reached her, Xiao Bao still hadn't reacted to his presence, even though Ren was standing just outside the range of her spirit. Ren sighed and turned back to the others.
"Let's just wait for her to finish her session, I don't think she would like it if I just disturbed her." Ren said.
The others nodded, and began sitting down, taking a closer look at their training ground. Shen Junan looked at Xiao Bao as if something about her was bugging him.
"I must say, Brother Ren, this friend of yours is extremely reckless in her cultivation. I hadn't noticed it before, but it is good that you didn't disturb her. The consequences of it might not have been to your liking." The bespectacled boy said, seriously observing the flow of her spirit and somewhat surprising Ren. He didn't think that if he raised her out of cultivation that it could become dangerous, and so he asked for the reason.
"What do you mean, Brother Junan? I read that only if someone were to cultivate a dangerous art or was trying to reach the next realm would it be dangerous to distract them." Ren said, incredulous. He didn't like the thought of accidentally putting her into danger very much at all.
"Just observe her more closely, Brother Ren, I am sure you can figure it out on your own." Zhi Mu interjected before Shen Junan could answer.
Ren in turn honed his senses in on Xiao Bao, trying to see what Shen Junan and Zhi Mu meant. Once again he observed the spirit that revolved around her and looking even closer revealed to him that she was clearly straining to control it, little snakes of lightning running across her body. Her muscles were constantly contracting and releasing their tension in accord with those snakes. It was clear to Ren, that Xiao Bao was pushing herself, and if Shen Junan was right, even putting herself in considerable danger if her training somehow failed.
Her spirit continued to rise, slowly, but steadily. The bubble of spirit around the young girl expanding and taking on a violet tint, more and more lightning streaming back and forth. Her hole body was tense, her hands clasped and pressing together with all her might.
Even worse was the state of her body. Like outside, her spirit was rampaging through with seemingly no limitations. She was cooking and rupturing her insides while desperately circulating her cultivation art in tandem with this new art that he hadn't seen before.
As her cultivation session neared its crescendo, the water and earth being split around her and parts of her skin flaking off, showing the red underneath, Ren stepped forward. He didn't know what he would do, but seeing her in such a state made him immediately want to rush to her aid. A firm hand on his shoulder stopped him before he could take a single step further, though.
Han Ting's large hand covered his shoulder completely, the large boy's face serious.
"We can not help her right now, Brother Ren. Not even Brother Mu, if I am not mistaken. Any interference would certainly make her fail. You have to trust in your friend's ability and should she fail we will make sure that there are no lasting complications. That is all." Han Ting said, not taking his hand off Ren's shoulder, fearing that he would rush to her side regardless.
Ren grit his teeth and looked at Zhi Mu, who was sitting down, seemingly quite casual. His spirit though, was coiled and ready to explode at any moment. He had even taken out some kind of flask with multiple light brown pills inside. Both Shen Junan and Xin Jing had also taken out medicinal flasks and observed Xiao Bao.
As there was nothing that he could do for now, Ren decided to sit down as well. He closed his eyes and shut out everything but the feeling of the struggling girl's spirit.