Qi Like Tar

It felt like a brick had just dropped on his head. Paike stared open-mouthed at Guan Li long enough that the boy looked up and noticed.

"What?"

With a sigh, Paike prepared to explain. "A personal disciple is a massive boon. Typically, they are all core disciples before they even get an elder's attention. Sometimes an inner disciple gets chosen at the same time as they are raised to the core sect. I think it is unclear whether that's just how it works or if the promotion is due to the elder taking them on. I'm definitely sure that it is, though. For you do be offered it in the outer sect..."

"So I would have to join the core sect?" Guan Li asked, crest fallen. "I guess I'll have to tell him no thanks. How do I do that politely?"

Paike paused. Honestly, he wasn't sure there was a polite way to turn down the offer to become a personal disciple of an elder. Such offers were not given lightly. They took years of searching and making a good relationship with an elder who matched their path. The only case in which one might be rejected was if another elder had made the offer; in that case, it would be between the elders in most cases.

But for someone like Guan Li to reject the request would surely be an insult. He would probably be fine, but why would he want to?

"Actually, I don't think you can say no politely. And I don't know, I have never heard of an outer sect member being offered the position." Paike said. "But why would you want to say no?"

"Well, members of the core sect are committed to it. I remembered Elder Chu explaining that." Guan said.

He was right. Most of the time, core disciples were those on track to become elders of the sect, or at least committed to staying beyond the minimum three years required without joining the army. How that worked with personal disciples was between the elder and the disciple.

"No, and I'm not sure about staying, but I don't want to leave the outer sect yet," Guan Li said. "I feel like I'm finally getting my feet under me, and there is so much to learn here. If I have to leave to go do something else..."

He shrugged, but Paike understood his fears. He had some friends here and was making progress. But Paike didn't want to be the one to hold him back, as touching as the sentiment was.

"Elder Ji would make sure you learn everything you need. He would be able to get you enough sect points, if you even need them, so that you can get all the instructions you need without fumbling for yourself. You would have all the resources to speed through the early stages."

Guan Li shrugged, "What we have now is already so different from what I was used to that I couldn't tell the difference with more."

"Okay, well..." Paike stopped to think. "I think the best course of action is to tell Elder Ji that you want to accomplish joining the inner sect yourself. If you frame it as a challenge you have personally taken on, I think he would understand. That might let you put off officially becoming his disciple for the rest of the year, and you can figure it out by then."

"Thanks!" Guan Li said with a relieved look. "Elder Ji seemed a little confused that I didn't immediately accept. But you know how he seems to hate explaining things."

Paike had gotten that impression and could totally see the elder just moving on without addressing any confusion. If it hadn't been for the last lesson of critiques, he wouldn't have thought Elder Ji was one to take a disciple at all.

They finished breakfast and headed out. They had several errands to run to stock their house before they had class again.

While they were out, Paike asked around about the boy who originally owned the staff. By the time they got back, he had three possible names that people said matched his description. Each of them was from a small family that Paike had heard of, but wasn't notable that he knew anything about their reputation. In his free time, he would have to get a look at each of them to see who it was.

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They made it to class to find the mats on the ground gone and the elder not there yet. Walking over, they joined his sister and a few girls not from their obstacle course group who. Paike didn't know their names, but they surrounded Liming, all whispering as if they were holding court.

When Liming looked up and saw him, she made a slashing gesture with her hand, and they all scattered instantaneously. Paike frowned after them, wondering what was going on. Were they causing trouble for his sister? He would need to remember them. But from their reactions, it didn't seem like it.

"What was that about?" He asked when they stopped in front of Liming.

"Oh, nothing!" She said with a winning smile. "How was your night?"

"Good," Paike answered, "The elder's advice was quite useful, so I made decent progress in preparing for my next stage in physical cultivation. How was yours?"

"Not bad," Liming said, "I was able to talk to a few of the other girls a bit before I got to cultivating, which was fun."

There was something else there. Paike doubted that they did something as simple as having tea or finding a hot spring. But before he could press, she turned to Guan Li.

"And how about you?"

"Huh? Yeah, it was a nice evening," Guan Li said. "The new house is pretty nice. Having my own cultivation chamber is pretty convenient."

"New house?" Liming asked with raised eyebrows.

"Oh yeah, it got knocked down, so we had to move." Guan Li explained.

"When were you going to tell me this?" Liming rounded on Paike.

"We just got here!" Paike defended himself from the totally unwarranted attack.

"You said your night was good!" She exclaimed while throwing her hands in the air. The action messed up how her robe was supposed to hang, and she smoothed it out while glaring at him.

"It was. I made a lot of progress in my physical cultivation." At first, it had honestly slipped his mind. Now he was just teasing her, and it only took her a second for her to realize that. Huffing, she looked away.

After a second, she forgave him, judging by the smile she could see forming on the corner of her mouth from the side.

"Well, I'm glad you had a productive time." She said with a much more composed tone.

"By the way, did you happen to know the name of the boy from whom we took my staff in the first trial?" Paike asked. He thought the odds of her knowing were very low. She hadn't really cared about those kinds of things and was young enough that it hadn't been drilled into her like it had for him.

"No, why?" She asked, confirming his suspicions.

"It was the only thing that was missing, and we were pretty sure he or his allies had something to do with it, and I need to make an example of them." He explained.

"Haha," she fake-laughed. "I thought you were done with this."

"Wait, so we don't need to find him?" Guan Li asked, now clearly confused. "Even I know that might cause problems later, reputation means something."

"How did he get you to play along with this?" Liming asked Guan Li.

"Huh?" Guan Li was still not following. "Play along with what?"

"Wait, so did your house actually get knocked down?" She asked.

Paike and Guan Li both nodded. Liming sighed.

He was surprised that she wasn't angry. This had actually been a really effective way to manage what otherwise might have become a big deal. He would need to remember this.

"What have you found so far?" She asked.

He quickly summarised what he knew.

"Wait a moment." She commanded and walked away.

The two boys watched as she walked up to a group of girls, talked to them for a couple of sentences, and then went to another group, butting into their conversation. She quickly got a few responses and then turned and left.

It was astonishing that she was able to elicit such reactions, Paike thought; she had made no effort to be polite in her approach and had interrupted their discussions quite abruptly, but none of them seemed to be offended in the slightest. That had been almost half the girls in the advanced physical cultivation class. They were the best of the best for the most part. Surely someone would have said something. But none had.

Liming returned. "The one you are looking for is the boy from the Ling family."

"Thank you, I'll check him first," Paike thanked her with a slight bow. "Impressive work."

She snorted. "I just asked around."

He had the feeling there was more to it. But then an unfamiliar person walked into the clearing. She was clearly an adult and far above them in cultivation. Clapping her hands once got everyone's attention.

"Elder Ji will not be attending today's class. He has asked me to inform you all that you are to take this time to meditate on the advice given in the last class. When he returns, he expects to see progress. Anyone who is not sufficiently pleased will not be welcomed back."

The class broke into nervous murmurs as the lady turned and disappeared. Paike ignored everyone and took a seat right where he had been standing. He closed his eyes and just dove back into what he had been doing all night.

With how much Elder Ji had to say to him in the last class, he had a lot of work to do.

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