The last few hours had been exhausting, keeping up with a higher realm cultivator setting a deliberately punishing pace through difficult terrain, one who was deliberately making some small effort to throw them from their trail and get them lost in the twisting misty vales that lay between the higher peaks at that, was no easy task. Still, she had made it along with her 'classmates'.
Ling Qi stood at attention in line with a half dozen other disciples, none of which she particularly recognized. Two were only a few years older than her, but the other four were older men and women, all caught in that awkward halfway state between second and third realm, or in one case, fully second, but on the edge of breaking through. She felt awkward, being the youngest, yet also the of the highest cultivation.
...She was a little surprised at her fellow disciples attitudes as well. The two fully third realm disciples, with ranks in the lower eight hundreds, had eyed her with envy and not a bit of resentment. The rest, who Ling Qi estimated to be in their early thirties, and who held ranks in the nine hundreds, had seemed ambivalent to her. Perhaps that was simply military discipline, seeing as she was sure that they had all been promoted from within the Sect's army. They were probably used to being overshadowed by much younger people.
Of course, no one was looking at anyone else right now, because she was pretty sure the fourth realm core disciple currently examining them would put anyone who showed such a lack of attention on the ground.
The young woman standing across from them with her arms folded behind her back had managed to remind Ling Qi of her first physical cultivation instructor before Ling Qi heard her name. Guan Zhi resembled her father in other ways as well, like that man, she was scandalously dressed, wearing only a tight, dark green cloth wrap that covered her chest and little else, and form fitting pants of a lighter shade tucked neatly into sturdy black boots that rose almost to her knees. Cloth bandages wrapped her forearms and handages. Her long hair was tied back in a single tightly braided tail.
"Not going to ogle this one?" Sixiang commented idly. "Usually you can't get enough of muscles, even if this one isn't as bulgy."
Ling Qi kept her eyes ahead and her expression studiously straight. 'Still not interested in women Sixiang,' she thought dryly.
"Right, I keep forgetting how that division works, is it really only the reproductive bits that…"
Thankfully whatever musing Sixiang was going to do was cut off as their instructor began to speak. While her voice was feminine, she had the same air of command that brooked no inattention. "Good, you can all at least stay at attention. The seven of you have been screened for introduction into the officer level of the scouting and skirmishing forces," she spoke in a quick, clipped tone, not moving one inch from her starting position. "It is a dangerous duty, we act with less support than our main branch comrades, and often undertake missions of greater personal danger. As an officer, your responsibilities will only increase. For the remainder of the year, you will all receive training in small unit tactics, reconnaissance and various other minor but still crucial skills."
Ling Qi had known that the Sect would be offering military tutoring, even if she was going to be departing in a short time. So long as she was in the Sect, she was a member of their forces after all. That was part of the Inner Sect's purpose after all, giving young nobles a taste of responsibility and discipline.
"I will oversee the instruction of those of you promoted from the actual Skirmish Division," Guan Zhi continued without pause. "You do not require lessons on the basics, only the additional responsibilities that arise from being an officer," Ling Qi sensed a tiny flicker of pride and a minute straightening of stances from the older and lower ranked disciples. "For the three of you remaining… you will be acting as understudies to current officers. Follow their instructions exactly."
Ling Qi glanced at the others, seeing them surreptitiously looking around as Guan Zhi gave a sharp gesture to the other disciples and began to lead them away, where were…"
"Still so inattentive, Junior Sister Ling?" Ling Qi nearly jumped out of her skin, at the smooth male voice that spoke as if directly in her ear.
She spun around on instinct, bringing herself face to face with her one time tutor, Liao Zhu. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other disciples who remained receiving similar frights from what she assumed to be their own instructors. Liao Zhu looked much the same as he had when she had seen him a few months ago. The tall, muscular boy still wore an open vest of leather, hung with a dozen or more black knives, and a silver fanged demon mask over his lower face. The only new feature she noticed was a star of scarred flesh on his left shoulder.
"Nothing wrong with this one though, right?" Sixiang needled.
"Senior Brother Liao's skill is still too great," Ling Qi replied, ignoring the pest in her head as she offered a small bow. "May I ask what Senior Brothers Lesson plan is?" Despite herself, she found her eyes drawn to the red crescent tattoo around his eye. She felt a knot of worry about going alone with someone who was associated with… that.
"As the lovely and redoubtable Guan Zhi said, you must first learn the basics of a skirmisher's duty, before taking up the duties of an officer," he replied seriously. "Today and for much of the rest of the week, this skilled brother will be familiarizing you with terrain, and the signs of nomad movements in it, as well as the marks for supply caches, and signal language. Come along then, Junior Sister, we have no time to slack off."
She stared at his back for a moment, before following him as he leapt up to a higher trail a few meters above the cliffside they had stopped on. They swiftly left it behind, splitting from the other recruits as they and their tutors took different paths into the mountain vales. "Could you explain what exactly a skirmisher does, Senior Brother," she asked, voice carrying on threads of music despite the wind whipping by as the ground blurred away below them.
Where Ling Qi supplemented her movement with minor boosts of flight, Liao Zhu simply seemed to blur from one outcropping or scraggly tree to the next. Ling Qi could have done the same she supposed, but doing so would have required that she use an actual art, where she sensed no such thing from him.
"It is in the name," he replied airly, turning back to face her despite continuing his path. He seemed to suffer no loss of grace or coordination for leaping and jogging backward. "The Scout and Skirmish division ranges outward in smaller groups than our more regimented brethren in the proper combat core. We are often even tasked to travel in pairs or even alone. Our duties involve tracking and monitoring the movements of our enemies, the Cloud Nomads, as well as less human threats. We are also tasked with checking those movements often enough, if the matter is too small to require a full regimental movement. As an officer, you will be responsible for a delegating tasks to lower ranked members in an assigned region, and organizing larger operations."
Ling Qi's brows crinkled in worry. Could she really do something like that, being responsible for other people in enemy territory, she supposed she had to be, given her position, but all the same… She found her eyes drawn back to his tattoo, though she had come to terms with it somewhat could she really be relied upon in danger.
"Has something marred my handsomeness, Junior Sister Ling?" Liao Zhu asked lightly as he landed with a heavy and deliberate thud on a small, scrubby cliff. Ling Qi landed beside him a moment later, and even a moment's glance showed her some sign that there had been something here before them. Ash and scorched bones mixed into the dirt, a clump of fur clinging to a thornbush off to their right. Her tutor seemed uninterested in it for the moment though. "Or is it about the blood and regret that stains your spirit?"
Ling Qi stiffened, eyes darting from his face and then back to her surroundings. Of course someone several stages above her would notice. "I had an unpleasant run in with your patron," she replied, more than a little stiffly. "Shouldn't we focus on training Senior Brother?"
"Perhaps, perhaps," the young man replied, seating himself on a boulder and cupping his masked chin in his hand as he observed her. "But a lesson to a distracted student is a wasted one. Tell me, which side did you fall on, in that terrible dream?"
"...Maybe not, this guy is pushy," Sixiang grumbled. "Though I guess its no wonder."
Ling Qi looked away, she supposed that it was pretty likely that someone who had earned the Bloody Moon's favor had gone through a site dedicated to her. "...The Hunting King," she replied shortly. "You?"
"Both and none, at one time or another," he said with a chuckle. "I tried so many times for a satisfying outcome, and always failed."
Ling Qi stared at him for several seconds. "Why would you do that to yourself?"
"It is my nature, I could no more stop than you could cease collecting your treasures, Songbird," Laio Zhu shot back, making her flush. Had he been there, or had he just heard about it? "Do you know what would have happened, had you sided with the rebels?"
"...They would have lost anyway, it would have been futile, against a White cultivator." Ling Qi replied.
"Not so!" He replied brightly, leaning forward. "For given enough time, the rebel King would complete the ritual he had been preparing, and strike a terrible blow to the Hunter that allowed him to be fought!"
"Oh," Ling Qi replied, feeling even worse than before, she really had…
"Of course, with their King slain, the rebels would then swarm out, burning and killing with abandon, to clap their former brethren in chains for use as labor to rebuild that which the King had destroyed, and greater projects still," Liao Zhu explained, meeting her eyes without blinking. "Or indeed, they could both die in the clash, and the chaos would spread, until at last the rebels were extinguished at great cost, solidifying the iron grip of the isolationists of the Weilu for all time, as it did in the waking world."
Ling Qi knew better than to ask what the point had been then. She knew that there wasn't one. "It was cruel and pointless to show me that," Ling Qi replied. "She stopped my spirit from giving me context, and berated me at the end, despite saying that there was no lesson, why?"
"Vengeance is cruel," Liao Zhu replied with a lazy shrug.
"She's not just supposed to be vengeance," Ling Qi replied, her voice snappish.
Laio Zhu's eyes wrinkled behind his mask, and she knew he was smiling. "Justice is a wholly artificial thing. It is born from order. It cannot care about the happiness of the individual, else it be perverted. Justice is also cruel."
"It shouldn't be," Ling Qi replied stubbornly.
"Hah, well spoken," he laughed. "I do not disagree, to a point, but that is the purpose, despite there being no inherent lesson, you know? Would you even ask yourself these questions, without the bloody reality forced into your face? Justice is decided by those with power, if you wish to make it align with your vision, then do so with your own hands, your own words. Convince those around you that your justice is correct. A great spirit cannot change, it can only BE changed."
"...You really are arrogant, Senior Brother," Ling Qi replied, perhaps it was the vein of music twisting through her spirit, or perhaps it was the clear sight given her by Argent Mirror, but she could feel his sincerity. Liao Zhu sincerely intended to change the nature of a great spirit.
...Then again, maybe you needed that kind of arrogance, to reach the peak of cultivation.
"Your compliments will not dissuade me from making your training difficult," Laio Zhu replied, hopping lightly to his feet. "You are too intriguing to be allowed to wallow in mediocrity after all. Let us move on."
"Wait, what about this place?" Ling Qi asked, glancing around in confusion.
"This?" He asked with furrowed brows. "Just a disciple's campsite. Worry not, by the end of this week, you shall not make such mistakes."
Ling Qi sighed and followed after him. She had a feeling it was going to be a long month.
Liao Zhu Bond Acquired, rank 1
Please vote for Ling Qi's first bond action for the month, there will be second bond action vote later this turn, though the options may not be the same
[] Li Suyin: The proper paperwork is done. You can do the expedition any time. Who knows what you might find, deep below the earth.
[] Xuan Shi: For once, the odd boy has called in your offered favor. He wishes for your aid in penetrating the interior of an odd little temple full of traps and puzzles.
[] Ling Qingge: Your new household is arriving from Tonghou, perhaps you should put in an appearance and see how your Mother is handling things?
