Chapter 5: An Ungrateful Little Wolf

Cai Zhao let out a faint sigh.

This was precisely why she had never wanted to roam the martial world. Wherever you went, the strong preyed on the weak, and anyone with a conscience couldn't simply walk past. In Luoying Town, this problem didn't arise—you knew everyone, and disputes got settled over tea. Out here, righteousness was an exhausting full-time occupation.

But she was out here now, and someone was clearly in distress. She followed the sound.

Around a dark-green mountain hollow, she found them: a ring of young sect disciples laughing and jeering, having cornered a tall, lanky youth against the cliff face. At the front stood a beautiful girl in apricot robes who had apparently appointed herself the ringleader.

"—Be sensible and obey, and we won't take your life—just a bit of skin and flesh!"

Cai Zhao blinked. So it wasn't a helpless maiden being bullied. It was one girl leading a group to bully someone else. What a waste of perfectly good righteous indignation.

A sharp-faced youth behind the girl pressed forward: "That's right! Chang Ning, you should be dead already! If the master hadn't put in the effort to save you, you would be!"

A square-jawed one added his voice: "You survived—but you took the Snow Lotus Pill meant for our senior sister and damaged her cultivation. Don't you deserve to die ten thousand deaths for that?"

General agreement rippled through the group. "Let us take a bowl of your heart's blood and we'll spare you—or else we'll skin you alive—"

The youth they'd cornered—Chang Ning—turned slightly. His clothes were dull and worn, but his voice, though hoarse from injury, was entirely unhurried. "Who exactly claimed that my heart's blood has the same effect as the Snow Lotus Pill?"

He turned fully, and the crowd got a proper look at his face.

It was covered in festering sores. Some had crusted black. Others still wept. The overall effect was considerable.

The group lurched backward with sounds of disgust.

"You don't actually want my heart's blood," Chang Ning said, facing them squarely. His ruined face contrasted sharply with his eyes—clear, luminous, bright as the moon seen through still water. "You're looking for an excuse to torment me. I know the difference."

He held his ground.

"I won't submit. If you have the nerve, kill me and be done with it. Otherwise, I'll repay this tenfold when I'm on my feet."

Some of the disciples began to waver.

"He's the son of the master's old friend. If the master finds out—"

"We're outer disciples. If he throws us out over this—"

"Senior sister, is this worth the punishment?"

The girl in apricot bit her lip. "He damaged my cultivation progress. We can't just let that go." Her eyes moved quickly over the options available to her. "We won't take his heart's blood. We'll just—beat him. If Father asks, I'll say it was sparring between fellow disciples. We're martial artists—no one tattles over bruises. Father won't expel anyone for that."

This was clearly the lower-risk option, and the group agreed with relief, rolling up their sleeves.

And then a voice came from behind them—light, unhurried, entirely at ease.

"Have you had enough fun yet?"

The group jumped. They spun around.

A young girl in embroidered robes stood at the edge of the hollow, sunlight filtering through the canopy and landing on her in the particular way that made things look arranged. Her cheeks were the color of peach blossom. Her expression was mild.

"The two-hundred-year memorial of the Patriarch is the day after tomorrow," she said pleasantly. "Every prominent sect in the martial world is gathered here. If they see this going on, won't it embarrass the Azure Tower Sect?" She sighed, as if genuinely concerned about this. "Such a pity."

The girl in apricot took a step forward. Two beauties meeting in a mountain hollow was, apparently, sufficient provocation. "Where did you come from? What business is this of yours—how the Azure Tower Sect handles its own disciples?"

She had assumed this girl was from some minor sect outside the Six Branches. Few people in the world stood tall before the Azure Tower Sect uninvited.

"It concerns me," Cai Zhao said, "because in a few days, I'll be joining Sect Leader Qi's school. Once I do, it's my sect's reputation too. I'd like to protect it." She smiled. "And then I'll be calling you Senior Sister Qi."

The girl in apricot—Qi Lingbo—faltered. Her expression flickered. "You—you're from Luoying Valley? Cai Zhao?"

"Indeed."

Qi Lingbo remembered her father's enthusiasm on the subject of Luoying Valley and felt the strong pull of tactical retreat. But her entourage had been watching her all morning. If she backed down now, visibly intimidated by a few words from a girl who'd just arrived, she would never hear the end of it.

She arranged her smile back into place. "Junior Sister Cai must have just arrived. It's getting late—you should go back to the guest quarters. There are things here you may not fully understand. This really doesn't involve you."

Cai Zhao raised an eyebrow. "What if I'd rather stay?"

Qi Lingbo kept her smile, though it had acquired an edge. "There are only two girls under my father's tutelage. We'll be training together for years. If you insist on being difficult and ruin things between us before we've even started—how will that work?"

Cai Zhao considered this seriously. "That's fine. I don't actually care for martial arts. My parents never taught me any to speak of. In the future, Senior Sister can focus on training while I read books and enjoy the mountain views. No conflict at all."

Qi Lingbo's smile stiffened. "If you don't care for martial arts, why are you here?"

"To become a disciple. I want to be the master's student," Cai Zhao said, with the faint tone of someone explaining something obvious.

"But if you're not here for the martial arts, why become my father's disciple?" Qi Lingbo could not locate the logic. The Azure Tower Sect's arts were the finest in the world—people gave their lives for the chance.

"Senior Sister is being too utilitarian," Cai Zhao said, with genuine-sounding regret. "Isn't cultivating one's character and moral virtue also important? Sect Leader Qi is known throughout the world as a sincere gentleman—benevolent, principled. If I can absorb even a fraction of that example, it benefits me for life." She looked around at the young men, whose expressions had traveled somewhere complicated. "Why is everyone looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?"

—A shop owner giving an opening speech doesn't announce that they're here to make money. They say they're here to serve the community and foster goodwill. This was the same principle.

The young men muttered vague agreement among themselves. Qi Lingbo's expression darkened past the point of maintaining any pretense.

"What a tongue you have. I'm not sure the Azure Tower Sect can accommodate such a grand figure!"

Cai Zhao laughed—genuinely, not unkindly. "Senior Sister, are you threatening that the Azure Tower Sect will turn me away? But is that your decision to make?" She tilted her head. "Workers answer to managers, and managers answer to employers—this is a basic principle. I'm surprised Senior Sister doesn't know it. Poor Uncle Qi—such a kind and reasonable man, and his daughter has such poor judgment."

Qi Lingbo's mouth opened. Nothing came out.

"If Sect Leader Qi has decided to accept me," Cai Zhao continued, "and Senior Sister dislikes this—does that mean Sect Leader Qi will reverse his decision to please her?"

The smothered laughter from somewhere in the group of young men was not entirely inaudible. Qi Lingbo's expression moved through several rapid configurations.

Had Song Yuzhi been present, he might have warned Qi Lingbo: do not argue with this person. Do not even speak. You will only end up further from where you started.

"Chang Ning offended me," Qi Lingbo said, through teeth that had ceased to pretend. "And today, I intend to do something about it. If you won't step aside, then as your senior sister, I'll have to teach you some manners first."

She had already worked out the logic: Cai Zhao's martial arts were reportedly unremarkable. A few slaps, a claim of friendly sparring gone slightly too far, an apology to her father—manageable.

Chang Ning, from his position against the cliff face, looked between them. "Are you done?" His tone carried the specific exhaustion of someone who has been standing in the sun waiting for other people's argument to finish. "First you want to teach me a lesson, then you want to teach her a lesson. If you're going to act, act. Stop dragging it out."

The group glared at him. Qi Lingbo turned back to Cai Zhao with a smile that had abandoned all warmth. "You see? That's how he is. Since arriving at the Myriad Waters Cliff, he has been nothing but insolent—never respecting his seniors, never listening—"

"Aside from being rude," Cai Zhao interrupted, "has he actually done anything wrong? If so, say it now. Otherwise, I'm stepping in."

"You'd still defend him after seeing how he acts?!"

"As long as he isn't a villain and hasn't provoked anyone, I have no right to look away simply because I find him disagreeable." Cai Zhao's aunt had told her once: acting chivalrously doesn't always earn rewards. Sometimes it doesn't even earn thanks. That wasn't the point. "Whether he's polite or pleasant to be around has nothing to do with it."

Qi Lingbo's beautiful almond eyes had gone wide with something beyond frustration. She had had enough. She raised her right arm, pivoted into stance, hand poised like a blade—

"Lingbo! Stop! What do you think you're doing?!"

Everyone turned.

Zeng Dalou was coming through the trees at speed, several disciples behind him, his expression combining urgency with profound exasperation. He had clearly been looking for her.

Cai Zhao exhaled softly. Her aunt had also mentioned: in the martial world, maintaining composure in front of mediators was non-negotiable. Even if every bone in your body wanted to act, the moment a third party arrived, you smiled. Harmony brings prosperity.

Zeng Dalou arrived at the center of the group and did not slow down.

"Lingbo, you are becoming more and more impossible! I've told you repeatedly—do not torment Chang Ning. What did you promise everyone? And now here you are, escalating, and not only that—you're picking on a guest from Luoying Valley on the day they arrive! I will report all of this. You—get out of my sight, now."

His voice was sharp, but Cai Zhao could read the structure of his scolding: the words were hard, but they were also pointing Qi Lingbo toward the door rather than toward consequences. He was, genuinely, trying to protect her.

Unfortunately, with an audience this large, Qi Lingbo was not in a position to accept being protected. She stamped her foot. "This is my business! I'll answer to Father myself! But today—today I'm going to teach these two—these—a lesson!"

"And how," Cai Zhao asked pleasantly, "do you plan to teach me a lesson?"

Zeng Dalou stepped in front of her and said, under his breath, "Don't talk."

Cai Zhao found this peculiar. She had known the man for less than two hours, and he was telling her to hold her tongue rather than his own sect's problem.

"Martial artists settle things with their fists!" Qi Lingbo announced, to the group at large.

Cai Zhao, from behind Zeng Dalou's considerable frame, tilted her head around to look at Qi Lingbo with an expression of genuine puzzlement. "All I did was say a few things. I didn't take your Snow Lotus Pill, and I haven't been rude to you. And yet you're putting me in the same category as this junior brother Chang Ning? How exactly does that reasoning work, Senior Sister Qi?"

Qi Lingbo's eyes went red. "You dare say you weren't rude to me—! If you hadn't appeared, I wouldn't be getting scolded, I wouldn't have to face Father later, none of this—"

"You're wrong," said a new voice.

Everyone looked at Chang Ning. He had been quiet for some time. He was looking at Cai Zhao.

"I'm older than you," he said. "I'm not your little junior brother."

A beat of silence spread across the hollow.

Cai Zhao regarded him for a moment. "You're the one being bullied here, and I came to help. Shouldn't you simply accept being called little junior brother in exchange for the assistance? When one receives help in the martial world, flexibility is generally considered a virtue."

Chang Ning glanced upward briefly, as if requesting patience from the sky. "I would rather take a beating from someone younger than be called their junior brother. Their fists are weak anyway. It wouldn't hurt."

"You two—!" Qi Lingbo looked on the verge of some kind of episode.

"Enough! All three of you—stop talking!" Zeng Dalou's voice came out at full volume.

Everyone went still and looked at him.

Zeng Dalou pressed two fingers to a throbbing point at his temple. "Today, every sect in the martial world is gathered at the Myriad Waters Cliff. Do you want outsiders watching us embarrass ourselves?" He breathed. "Lingbo—come with me, face punishment. Everyone else—disperse."

Cai Zhao raised both hands to indicate she had no objection. Qi Lingbo's eyes filled with tears at the injustice of everything, and she dragged her feet.

Before the situation could fully resolve, another figure came hurrying into the grove at speed—brushing past Cai Zhao in a gust of movement before planting himself between Zeng Dalou and Qi Lingbo with his arms spread wide.

"Wait, wait—let's talk this through first!"

He was young, handsome, recognizably a sect disciple from his clothes, and his forehead was damp with sweat—he had been running. He had clearly heard that Zeng Dalou was involved and calculated that his presence was urgently required.

Qi Lingbo's entire bearing transformed. One small, devastated step forward. "...Second Senior Brother."

Cai Zhao awarded this performance full marks. Pitiful yet coquettish, resentful yet frightened, frightened yet appealing. Clearly, Junior Sister Qi had found her demographic and was performing directly to it. Truly, every talent finds its application—when one door closes, find the door that opens for you.

The young man clasped his hands toward Cai Zhao first. "Junior Sister Cai, you've only just arrived, and our sect failed in our duty as hosts—leaving you to wander the grounds alone and nearly causing a misunderstanding with little junior sister. This reflects poorly on us. I must apologize."

The phrasing was polished. Wander alone. Misunderstanding. Blatant bullying, reframed as a minor administrative failure. Cai Zhao noticed the craft of it.

"Not at all," she said, with a cheerful smile. "I have no issue with Senior Sister Qi. As long as she doesn't try to instruct me further, we're perfectly fine. What I'm concerned about is this junior brother Chang Ning—"

She stopped.

The space against the cliff face where Chang Ning had been standing was now empty. Sometime during the debate, he had simply left.

Cai Zhao gave a small, slightly embarrassed laugh. "Well. Then there's nothing left to settle."

The young man turned to Zeng Dalou with another round of carefully modulated pleading. "Things are extremely busy up front—the master is occupied receiving all the sect leaders, and there are many matters below waiting for your oversight. Why not leave little junior sister in my hands? I'll scold her properly myself. Would that work?"

Zeng Dalou looked at the situation he'd been handed, found it entirely beyond improvement, and waved everyone away.

Qi Lingbo wiped her tears—quickly, before anyone could benefit too much from the image—and broke into a genuine smile, tugging at the Second Senior Brother's sleeve as she walked off with him, entirely recovered.

With her departure, her entourage seemed to deflate all at once. They edged toward the mountain wall, backs pressed flat, and attempted to leave without drawing Zeng Dalou's eye. He gave them a look. They scattered.

Cai Zhao watched the hollow empty out, then looked at the space where Chang Ning had been standing.

Another day in the martial world. Another act of righteous intervention.

And yet—she appeared to have rescued an ungrateful little wolf who had disappeared without a word of acknowledgment.

Her aunt had warned her about this. She really should have listened more carefully.