v4c12.2: Induction part 2

“Ah, how lucky you are! Your man is already in the Inner Sect!” Yushang complained as she walked with Ri Zu towards the pavilion that would decide their placements in the Sect. The woman had her hands clasped behind her head as she walked, her sword slung across her back. “I wish I was so talented, but this village girl has to do things the slow way!”

Ri Zu rolled her eyes as Yushang complained. She was rather like Tigu. Energetic and relentlessly cheerful… if a bit much. Ri Zu didn’t know exactly why Yushang was so friendly, but Ri Zu couldn’t sense any duplicity from the girl.

Ri Zu had been quite worried when she didn’t hear Bi De’s morning cry, only to find his room empty. Yushang had found Ri Zu, worried—and the girl’s eyes had become serious.

“So, where do you want to start looking for him?” she had asked.

For that… well… she was tentatively a friend.

Ri Zu hadn’t been planning on making any. This was ‘enemy’ territory, after all, but Yushang was a recruit just like them. Perhaps she would never be like the rest of this sorry lot.

Of course, Ri Zu had just been about to go and get Yun Ren when Bi De had returned with news—he had already been elevated into the Inner Disciples for his prowess.

“Of course. Brother Bi De not being in the Inner Sect would have been stranger. The examiners would have to be blind to miss his talent,” Ri Zu said after a moment, trying to sound like a ‘proper’ cultivator.

She had an excellent guide in Xianghua.

“Indeed!” Yushang said. “Just as a woman would have to be blind to miss those abs. Unf.”

“Yes, and his abs are very—” Ri Zu cut herself off and glared at the girl who looked entirely too innocent. Ri Zu reevaluated the brat as a friend.

“Hey, hey, don’t look at this poor Sister like that! He’s beautiful! Is looking such a crime?” she whined.

Ri Zu sighed. She was getting a bit… too jealous. Bi De was not the kind of man to go off with hussies.

“Ri Zu supposes she can’t blame you,” Ri Zu admitted, and Yushang brightened up.

“Good. See? Our first fight is resolved already! We’re becoming better sisters.” Yushang hugged Ri Zu from the side. Ri Zu nearly flinched at the action, but there was no ill-intent, just like Tigu. Ru Zuy sighed and allowed it. “And good sisters share things, yes?”

Ri Zu almost nodded, but she realised what Yushang had said just in time. Then Yushang was doubled over as Ri Zu jabbed a pressure point in her wrist.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Big Sister! Yushang yields! She yields!” the other woman yelped.

Ri Zu removed her finger, and Yushang straightened up while shaking her arm. She was still smiling like she had won.

“You are far too much like Ri Zu’s Master.” Ri Zu huffed.

“This Yushang is an honest sort, and won’t deny her desires!”

Ri Zu lifted her chin and sniffed, “Shameless.”

“Absolutely!”

Ri Zu snorted and shook her head, but smiled. Yushang giggled.

“What did we miss?” a voice drawled, and Ri Zu looked up at Yun Ren. Her friend was with Fat Han. The corpulent, bearded young man had a small smile on his face.

“You did not miss anything,” Ri Zu said primly. Yun Ren looked like he did not believe it at all, but didn’t press. “You know about Brother Bi De?”

Yun Ren and Fat Han nodded.

“An Inner Disciple already. I would expect nothing less from the man who so swiftly defeated an Examiner,” Fat Han declared. “But it is a shame we must bid him goodbye so soon after hardly knowing him. He seemed a decent fellow.” Fat Han took out several tea eggs. He caught Yushang staring at them, and sighed before offering them around.

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“Thank you, Brother! I’ll get you a hundred tea eggs in repayment for your generosity!”

Fat Han snorted.

“Why would we have to bid him goodbye?” Ri Zu asked as she took a tea egg.

Fat Han shrugged. “My brother had a companion who he spent most of his time with. But alas, as soon as he reached the power he needed to enter the Inner Sect he left my brother behind and acted like he knew him not. A sad state of affairs.”

“…he would not do such a thing,” Ri Zu stated.

“Truly? Well! Then we must have supper together again! And Biren, you must show me more of your images, they were exquisite! Your diligence in capturing this section of the mountain’s majesty is quite something.

Yun Ren smiled and nodded. “Thanks. It’s a beautiful place—and your brother is here too?”

“Indeed. Our family has been contributing members to the Outer Sect for three thousand years! Our family’s history says one of my line has died honourably in every major conflict the Shrouded Mountain Sect has been in.” He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Which is why this Fat Han aims for the Artifact Pavilion, rather than a Fulmination Squadron.”

Ri Zu couldn’t help but let out a bark of laughter at the morbid humor, nor could any of the others.

“Now, remember to choose the North Wind Pavilion,” Fat Han said, grinning. “It has the best dorms for the Outer Sect disciples. Avoid the West Cloud Pavilion if you can. And if we all choose the north, we could even be neighbors!”

“North Wind sounds great,” Yun Ren said.

“North Wind!” Yushang cheered.