Chương 144: Chapter 143: You are my Martial Uncle?

Shixiong - Older male fellow disciple of the same master. Shidi - Younger male fellow disciple of the same master. Shijie - Older female fellow disciple of the same master. Shimei - Younger female fellow disciple of the same master....... They were still building speed when Senior Sister Shen Yue came up almost alongside them, and Yang caught the expression on her face a fraction before her sword swerved into theirs.

Senior Brother Lin Yi let out a laugh and moved to slam back, but before either of them could make contact Senior Brother Xu Kai came from behind and knocked them both sideways, laughing as he shot ahead. The race proper began. For the next several minutes Senior Brother Lin Yi, Senior Brother Xu Kai, and Senior Sister Shen Yue struggled through the sky in a tight cluster, each one trying to pull ahead and cutting into the others whenever anyone came close.

Yang kept his hands on Senior Brother Lin Yi's shoulders and leaned with the swerves, finding himself really enjoying it. Senior Brother Xu Kai broke free first, pulling ahead and ignoring the others long enough to open a gap. Senior Sister Shen Yue and Senior Brother Lin Yi looked at each other, faced with the reality that continuing to fight each other would only ensure they both came last, they reached an unspoken agreement, and both swords accelerated in pursuit.

The speed Senior Sister Shen Yue and Senior Brother Lin Yi pushed to made the view blur at the edges. Yang had a feeling it would have been worse without the improvement the first Molten Body Pill had given his sight. Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao and Senior Sister Xing Fei with Ye Xuan were already far ahead and almost out of sight.

They caught glimpses of them as they cleared the lower cloud layer, Senior Sister Xing Fei close on Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao's tail, the sound of his taunting carrying back in the wind. As Yang's group closed the distance, Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao's taunts expanded generously to include the rest of them as well. Senior Brother Xu Kai was the first to reach striking range and moved to crash into Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao's sword directly.

Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao laughed and dodged, then sent a water jet technique back at Senior Brother Xu Kai. Senior Brother Xu Kai swerved. Most of the blast missed him. The part that did not went straight into Senior Sister Shen Yue, who was directly behind him, and hit her squarely on the head.

"Jiang Zhen Hao, I am going to murder you." She threw fireballs at his head. Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao dodged her attacks with ease while laughing freely, and sent a few back himself. Senior Brother Lin Yi, Senior Brother Xu Kai, and Senior Sister Xing Fei all fell smoothly to the sides and let the two of them deal with each other. Yang watched in what he could only describe as horrified fascination.

Senior Brother Zhen Hao, with his advanced cultivation, proved himself the clear superior, dodging every attack Senior Sister Shen Yue threw at him while finding time to return several fireballs of his own, and eventually left all of them behind entirely as the ground came into view through the clouds below. Yang saw Senior Sister Shen Yue use a technique to dry off and restore her appearance as the city came into view below. Yang saw a large structure ahead, a wide domed building with a glass roof.

The seniors began descending and veering toward one side of it, where the visitors' landing area was. Senior Brother Zhen Hao arrived first. As they landed and summoned their swords back into storage, Yang noticed an employee of the pavilion already waiting for them in light blue robes who bowed as they approached.

"Fellow Daoists, please come in. Your private room is prepared." Yang registered that the employee was a cultivator, a few minor realms ahead of him. Senior Brother Lin Yi let out a laugh.

"Liu Te." The realisation struck the group. In the distraction of trying to get ahead of each other, they had forgotten Senior Brother Liu Te entirely, who had simply flown ahead undisturbed while they were busy flying into each other. Senior Brother Zhen Hao looked deeply aggrieved. Senior Sister Shen Yue wore a smirk, clearly satisfied with any outcome that put Senior Brother Zhen Hao away from the first place.

Before Senior Brother Zhen Hao could say anything that might reignite things, Senior Sister Xing Fei simply said, "Don't," and walked ahead toward the waiting attendant, who bowed again and led them inside. Yang took a slow breath as he stepped into the entrance hall. The entrance hall was open and high, with a stage at the centre where several music cultivators were playing. Nothing like the golden core performers at the Wide Resonance Trial.

This was more of a background music, designed to fill space rather than to demand attention, a guqin, a harp, a zither, and one or two flutes being played by cultivators wearing pastel colored robes. Most of the customers appeared to be sect disciples in white robes with occasional colours among them, seated at low round tables throughout the hall, eating and talking quietly while listening to the music. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

They were led to a staircase and up one flight. The private area on the upper floor was not rooms exactly. It was a large open space divided by intricately carved screen partitions. There were no doors, but the configuration meant that no one would encounter the entrance to a given area unless they were looking for it specifically. Senior Brother Liu Te was already there, seated at one of two round tables placed beside each other, a cup of wine in his hand.

He looked up and offered a serene smile, directed particularly at Senior Brother Zhen Hao.

"Smart. Flew high and ahead while we distracted each other," Senior Brother Xu Kai said dryly, taking the seat beside him. Senior Brother Liu Te maintained his expression of perfect innocence. Yang settled next to Ye Xuan, who had Senior Sister Xing Fei on his other side. Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao took the seat on Yang's other side. They placed their orders with the cultivator attendant, and once he had left, several of them turned to look at Senior Brother Liu Te simultaneously.

Senior Brother Liu Te raised one eyebrow. Senior Sister Shen Yue was the one who broke it.

"Whatever. I am satisfied as long as it was anyone other than Zhen Hao who won," she said, letting go of the matter entirely.

"With friends like these, who need enemies," Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao declared mournfully.

"You shot a water blasting technique at me," Senior Sister Shen Yue said flatly.

"It was water. It could not have hurt you. You could have drunk it. You on the other hand, tried to blow my head off."

"I have seen you survive larger blasts without flinching," Senior Sister Shen Yue replied, dismissing the accusation with a wave of her hand.

"He has," Senior Brother Lin Yi agreed, "Remember that sect mission five years back. Zhen Hao was surrounded and used a blasting technique that almost took out everyone in range, including himself." Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao's expression darkened.

"Don't remind me. I had to regrow an arm. My eldest shixiong was furious."

"Not your master?" Ye Xuan asked. Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao brightened.

"No. He was impressed. Said I take after him." The others rolled their eyes. Yang and Ye Xuan exchanged a wide-eyed glance. Yang found himself wondering again exactly what kind of master Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao had.

"If it had been me I would have been scrubbing cauldrons like a mortal for years," Senior Brother Liu Te said dryly.

"Seniors," Yang asked, "do only Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao and Senior Brother Liu Te have masters in the sect?" Senior Brother Liu Te answered first.

"Yes, we are the only two with masters here. We all entered the sect around the same time and were friends even as outer sect disciples. Xu Kai and Zhen Hao were the first to reach Foundation Establishment and were admitted to the inner sect. By the time the rest of us joined them, Zhen Hao had already become a core disciple under the peak master of Lingyun Peak." He paused.

"It was more than a decade later that I showed strong enough alchemy affinity for my master to take me on."

"The rest of us are simply inner sect disciples with no master," Senior Sister Shen Yue added.

"Technically," Senior Sister Xing Fei said, "Brother Jiang Zhen Hao is the highest rank among us. Not only in cultivation but in lineage. Strictly speaking, we should all be addressing him as Younger Martial Uncle." Yang and Ye Xuan both looked surprised at the information. Yang himself was amazed that Senior Brother Zhen Hao was not making all the other Seniors call him Younger Martial Uncle just to needle them. Senior Brother Xu Kai elaborated.

"Jiang Zhen Hao calls Liu Te's master Senior Brother because they are of the same generation. Liu Te's master is the direct disciple of the Cloud Fire Peak peak master. Zhen Hao's master is the peak master of Soaring Cloud Peak himself. They are peers of the same generation."

"Does it not cause problems?" Ye Xuan asked.

"Ignoring generational hierarchy like that?" Senior Brother Xu Kai gave a small smile.

"You must be from a large clan. Such things matter a great deal to most people, mortal and cultivator alike. But as you may have noticed by now, White Cloud Sect members are not inclined toward unnecessary fuss."

"Unless you are Zhen Hao," Senior Sister Shen Yue said.

"Then you make fuss over everything." Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao just smirked without any offense. Ye Xuan gave a slightly sheepish look.

"My clan is large but not prominent. A few cultivators among a mostly mortal family. But even there, the hierarchies are kept carefully."

"Most sects are strict about it," Senior Brother Lin Yi said.

"Here, we do not care much beyond cultivation and living as we please. Such politicking is better left outside." The others nodded.

"Junior brothers," Senior Sister Shen Yue said, looking at both of them, "especially you, Junior Brother Yang. Do not take White Cloud Sect as the standard for the cultivation world. Once you reach Foundation Establishment and go beyond the sect's boundaries, you will encounter the real harshness of it. The sect is strong, stronger than most give it credit for, and that strength gives all of us a rather peaceful life. But once you cross the sect boundaries, the reality is different." The table went quiet.

Even Yang did not know what to say.

"She is right," Senior Brother Lin Yi said.

"White Cloud Sect is considered unconventional among the orthodox sects."

"Unconventional," Senior Sister Xing Fei said, letting out a short, delicate snort.

"We are considered the oddities of the cultivation world."

"They claw and bite at each other, friend and kin alike, akin to starving beasts, and we are the strange ones," Senior Brother Zhen Hao scoffed.

"Junior brothers," Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao said, looking at both of them, "what Shen Yue says is true. But do not let it frighten you," His expression serious.

"We have the sect behind us. As long as our conduct is beyond reproach and our lives are preserved, the sect stands at our back."

"You are giving the juniors a rather grim picture," Senior Brother Liu Te said. He turned to Yang and Ye Xuan with a calm smile.

"Shen Yue and Zhen Hao are not wrong, but it is not the whole truth either. The outside cultivation world is like the mortal world. There are good people and bad people, and mostly people who manage to be both at different times. White Cloud Sect has a way of finding disciples inclined toward living freely rather than grinding others beneath them. The people here cultivate to live. They do not live only to cultivate."

"The outsiders are not wrong to say that we are the odd ones," Senior Brother Liu Te admitted.

"How does the sect actually find disciples that match that criteria?" Yang asked.

"I have asked before and never gotten a real answer. Everyone says fate, or something inexplicable. My own admission to the sect surprised me as I was allowed to join just because I stated my wish to do so to the elder in charge."

"It is a technique," Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao said simply.

"Some kind of karmic or fate-reading technique. The main entrance trials use it in the formation form to test candidates in large numbers. Recruitment trips are always run by an elder who knows the actual technique." The other seniors looked at him.

"What? Did you not know already?" He glanced around.

"I understand the juniors not knowing. But why are you all surprised?" Senior Brother Xu Kai closed his eyes briefly.

"Because the sect tends not to share this openly. It is not common knowledge. Forgive us for not having powerful masters to inform us of sect secrets."

"How did you find out anyway?" Senior Sister Shen Yue asked. Senior Brother Zhen Hao looked irritated at being pressed, then gave up.

"My master has been passing his recruitment turns to my older shixiongs. He is not the only one. Most peak masters pass the duty to their own disciples once they are advanced enough to learn the technique."

"He is right," Senior Brother Liu Te said.

"I have heard my Grand Master urge my Elder Master Uncle to advance faster so he can take the task in his place, but I, of course, wasn't informed of the particulars." Senior Brother Jiang Zhen Hao was about to say something more when the sound of the employee approaching with the food cut across the conversation. They all settled back as dishes arrived one after another, followed by jugs of wine, and the talk dissolved into the more immediate pleasure of eating.