Interlude: The Wandering Young Master

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“Young Master! Young Master!”

The words are like the screeching of metal. Xiao Fang closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, one that makes his shoulders heave. His hand slowly curls into a fist, which he presses against his forehead. He cannot give into anger. Not right now. Calm is of the essence.

Empty yourself.

Enter the void.

Words taught to him as a child, yet only now do they seem useful.

“Don’t say it.”

His voice comes out strained, but at least he is not screaming or yelling. That can certainly be called progress.

“Young Master! We’re lost!”

“I told you not to say it!”

Xiao Fang whips around to scream into Big Nose Li’s face. His feet sink into the sand as he does so, further dirtying his clothes. Gone are the days when Xiao Fang wore robes made of the finest fabrics the Xiao Sect could afford. All he has on him now are common brown robes that match the color of his hair and a blue sash that is a little less blue every time he washes it. Even the soles of his shoes have been worn down by the long journey.

Age has eroded away the softness of youth and turned him into a handsome young man, though that may be hard to tell with all the sand on his face and clothes. Sand has an annoying way of getting everywhere, he has discovered, especially when it stretches for countless miles all around.

Li has not fared not any better. The last few weeks of their journey have been trying ones.

“But Young Master,” Li says. Whines, really. The sound ill-fits someone like him. Time has not made his nose any smaller, but it has turned Big Nose Li into a man who towers over everyone. “It’s true. Here in the Great Red Plains, this one doesn’t know left from right, and neither does Young Master.”

Xiao Fang laughs. There was a time when he could have said the sky was green, and Li would have agreed with him. They were such stupid children back then. Time and a healthy dose of mortal danger have a way of realigning one’s priorities.

They have had plenty of those ever since they left Eastern Port City.

The first leg of their journey to visit all the branches of the Xiao Sect was a pleasant one. The branches they visited were minor ones so that Xiao Fang would gain experience and not offend anyone truly important later on.

Then Liu Jin’s letter arrived.

With naught but a few paragraphs, Xiao Fang became an orphan. No longer the Young Master of the Xiao Sect, but a child with a position that was tenuous at best. The Elders who would have supported him lay dead. The city that would have financed his endeavors was sacked. The fighters who would have bled for him were no more.

Why should anyone listen to him?

What stopped one of the more powerful and influential branch heads from taking over?

Xiao Fang didn’t want to acknowledge the truth at first, and indeed, he hadn’t. He clung to denial even as most of the disciples traveling with him deserted him. It took Elder Gang taking him aside and giving him the most stern talking-to of his life for Xiao Fang to accept his situation

Everything changed from that moment on.

The purpose of Xiao Fang’s journey is no longer to know all the Xiao Sect has to offer him. It is now a journey to gain the loyalty of all the Branch Masters. It is a journey to prevent the splintering of the Xiao Sect by uniting it under him.

The results have been mixed so far.

Landing themselves in the middle of the Great Red Plains is not something he planned on. Xiao Fang can say that with certainty.

“This desert is no more than a momentary obstacle, a mere footnote in the stories they will one day tell of us,” Xiao Fang says with confidence and bluster. The combination has served him well so far, so he sees no reason to abandon it. “As I am sure you will agree, it was the safer alternative.”

Big Nose Li has no problems nodding fiercely to that.

“Your Aunt is scary, Young Master.”

Xiao Fang scowls. Aunt is not the proper term, but with families as large and as complicated as the Xiao Clan, there is little point in determining the exact relation. Whether he calls her Aunt or something else will not change the fact that Xiao Yifan is the Branch Master of the largest and most influential branch of the Xiao Sect, which is located in the imperial capital.

Naturally, she is determined to take the Xiao Sect away from him.

“You will hear no arguments from me. We’re quite lucky your brother has his loyalties where they should be.”

“He is truly the best, isn’t he?” Big Nose Li says with his nose held high and a big, proud smile. The smile soon falters. “Does Young Master think… My brother, is he…?”

“Nothing will happen to him,” Xiao Fang says with resolute certainness. “Nothing will happen to him, and I will remember his loyalty when I am restored to my rightful place.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Weeks ago, his Aunt invited him to discuss things in a neutral branch of the Xiao Sect. Xiao Fang was instantly wary of the offer. While his Aunt’s support would be invaluable in uniting the Xiao Sect, Xiao Fang doubted she’d be willing to step aside for him. Sure enough, Big Nose Li’s brother, who has been stationed in the capital for many years, managed to warn them of her plot just in time.

His Aunt is not planning to support him. She does not even plan to lock him away in some lesser branch or use him for the sake of passing down his seed.

She plans to kill him.

Even with Elder Gang protecting them, Xiao Yifan is not an opponent they can face, not if she has the might of the strongest branch of the Xiao Sect behind her. They had no choice but to flee into the Great Red Plains in hopes of losing her spies.

That had been ten days ago.

The lack of food does not bother Xiao Fang. Neither does the searing heat or the lack of water. As a cultivator in the First Level of the Spirit Realm, he can handle all those things.

The lack of anything resembling a map, however, is proving to be an obstacle. Walking around for days without getting anywhere is starting to grate on him. On everyone.

“There you are, Young Master! We thought you had gone too far ahead!”