Shadowy smoke seeped from his middle finger.
Mo quickly flailed his hand.
It hit the wooden bed.
Pain flashed through his hand. He gripped his wrist tightly.
The smoke was gone.
He rubbed his middle finger with his thumb.
Mo pushed himself up from the bed, his head pulsing. His vision darkened.
Before he could steady himself, his body slumped sideways—half on the bed, half hanging off it.
...
The wood had not struck wood yet.
Mo checked every corner of his room. Nothing. " Was it really just my imagination?"
The bell rung, work.
Mo followed behind, in front a few strands of hair were sticking out of the sea of pale white hairs, the third young master approached the second talking to a servant just below the stairs.
"Good. Add that our family will get the root orb and we look forward to seeing the talented young masters, something like that and then send the letters to the other nobilities."
"Understood, I'll see to it."
The servant bowed and carried on.
Mo's eyes fell upon the second young master's clothes, he wore a rose red shirt with an open chest, sleeves dragging far below the wrists and black veins covered it, and a lower half that almost blended with the shirt.
The Third Young Master's gaze moved from top to bottom as he took the final few steps toward him.
"What are you wearing?"
The Second Young Master smiled.
"It's a new fashion. Don't you like it?"
"No, it looks... bad," the Third Young Master replied.
"Hmm... I'll still wear it though" the second still smiling.
The conversation continued. Mo's eyes drifted to a manservant in the distance.
He wore a headpiece that rose at the front, curved around his head like a half ring, and dipped down at the back.
Mo remembered the time during his collapse. The man had taken his position at the time.
"Has he become the Head Steward?"
Elder Mian descended from the stairs, holding some clothes. He greeted them.
...
Inside the carriage, Elder Mian and the Third Young Master sat facing each other, while Mo sat beside Elder Mian.
The Third Young Master leaned forward.
"Master, these clothes are too heavy. It's too hot. Can't I wear my old clothes again?!" he cried.
"No," Elder Mian replied.
"Why?!" the Third Young Master asked in a high-pitched voice.
Elder Mian raised a hand and poked Jun's nose with his index finger, pushing him back into his seat.
"Because we're going to the market, not trying to attract attention," he said with a smile.
"Yeah but why are we going?"
"It's a secret"
Just then elder Mian knocked behind, the carriage stopped.
Mo stepped out and held out his hand.
The Third Young Master came first. He grabbed Mo's hand and jumped out of the carriage.
Then came Elder Mian, who gave Mo a slight smile as he stepped down.
Several streets later, they entered a market.
There wasn't an inch of space to breathe.
Voices crashed into one another.
"Even a beggar may ascend!"
The shout came from a stall.
"Qi herbs from distant regions!"
A wrinkled man standing outside a shop screamed. Above him hung a signboard engraved with a golden dragon.
"A single root changes destiny!"
An old woman sat by the street. A crystal orb rested atop a table draped in red cloth.
Not a single stall stood empty
Mo walked with a straight face, his eyes fixed on elder Mian infront.
The Third Young Master kept a handkerchief over his nose.
As they walked, noises dulled, only one remained.
"Master, can you tell me now? Please? At least let's go to those martial technique stalls!"
Elder Mian stopped.
Mo looked up. The signboard above read:
Chiquo Valley
A faint red light glowed across the characters.
"Here we are!"
"Here?...It looks shady." Bai Jun frowned.
"It is shady," Elder Mian said with a smile.
Mo turned to look at Elder Mian.
"I mean, this is where you'll have your first little experience with... cultivation."
Jun stared at him for a moment.
A tear slid down his cheek.
...
Mo slid the door close, he turned around.
Lanterns hung all around the place, radiating a weak blue light.
A guy leaned over a desk, talking to a girl.
Elder Mian walked up to him, placed the money on the table and tapped once very lightly on the table, far from the woman's eyes.
"Nice to meet you," they shook hands, the man offered a big smile.
"I am Denal" the man said. They both introduced each other and the conversation was over. Denal continued to talk to the girl.
They turned left, a library began, different books had different coloured ribbon attached to them.
Above a green lantern hung.
A golden ribbon trailed to the ground. A black-covered book rested at the edge of the shelf, an old crack running through the wood beside it.
Mo's gaze drifted past it. A woman, cloaked, taking a black covered book from a man blocked by the narrow bookshelf.
The woman turned to leave. Her cloak flared, revealing a Bai Family servant insignia.
They passed by a staircase that had "inn" written above it.
A paper-thin white door stood in the corridor. Beside it, a man watched them.
He shook hands with Elder Mian, and the door opened.
The Third Young Master and Elder Mian walked through.
The door shut inches from Mo's nose.
Through its paper-thin surface, he could vaguely make out the other side.
His gaze shifted to the man staring at him.
His face much more visible than the fading figures at the back.
The man had passed through the door as well and now stood on the other side, staring back at him.
Mo looked away.
At the end of the long corridor stood another gate, black with a purple outline.
Mo's mind circled back to the entrance.
"This is a shady place"
He turned back, the man was eating a rice ball with one hand and held a book with the other. Some rice smothered on the cornor of his lips.
"Huh?"
Mo pressed his hands against his face and exhaled, "no... it's normal"
Mo leaned against the wall opposite the man, one foot crossed over the other.
After a while, he asked,
"Am I the watchman for this area now?"
Just then the the door opened, elder Mian walked through it.
Mo stopped leaning against the wall and stood upright.
Elder Mian exhaled as his eyes met Mo's head.
"Wait here" he said firmly.
A few minutes passed.
Elder Mian held a few books in one hand. He turned and there he was staring at him with a straight face.
He held out the books to Mo.
Mo took them with both hands and looked up at him.
Elder Mian patted him in the head.
"They will help you. Make sure you read them at home."
Mo immediately bowed down and thanked elder Mian. His heart beat crazily.
As Elder Mian was going back, he said, "Ah. You can sit in the library..."
His voice grew weaker as the man closed the door.
He looked down.
The first one read Emotional Fogage. It was a purple book with a white ribbon.
A chair sat in between two book shelves plastered on the wall.
He sat down, one hand supported his head, the other held the book. He turned the first Page, the first ch began- Repression.
...
— Crack —
Another thin crack spread beside the black-covered book.
Above, the green lantern hung from the ceiling, flickering,
On the left, Mo quietly read a book, his head lowered.
On the right stood a bookshelf. Numerous books sat on it.
A shout from the third young master drifted in from somewhere down the hall.
Mo got up.
After a few steps, he paused.
A strange sensation crawled up from his foot to his thigh.
He looked down, his hands bent high close to his chest.
Wet footprints stained the wooden floor.