ALL NOVEL 159: A Small… Excursion Of Sorts
With the hostages rescued, Lin Songmei and the others fell into a simple routine. They’d go out, do some scouting and maybe end up in a fight with some people who worked under Pride or Avarice. Unless they had an overwhelming advantage though, the goal was just to escape unscathed.
Time flew and before Songmei realized, she and Yan Mingqing were a week away from the cultivation record set by Yan Mingliang. Everything, though, had settled into place. Because of the added pressure weighing down on their daily lives, everyone found their cultivation speed accelerating.
Songmei and Mingqing were gearing up and doing their final preparations, trying their best to break into foundation establishment. Han Youhong, Wang Taigang, and Zhao Liying, on the other hand, had just opened their eighth and last extraordinary meridian.
The three of them, as far as Songmei could tell, would need just a little more time to solidify their gains before they could challenge the tribulation. They wouldn’t break Yan Mingliang’s record, but they’d be just around there.
Records didn’t matter much either anyway. They were quite arbitrary and staying alive and being safe was—at least in Songmei’s opinion—was a lot nicer than being good at cultivating. At least cultivating did help with those two things.
Today, though, was the day Liu Xueli had decided Songmei and Mingqing were going to challenge the tribulation. Having been in the city throughout the entire situation, Xueli had been hanging around, sipping tea, and reading the news to pass the time.
Once Songmei and Mingqing had opened their last meridian however, Xueli had begun to take a more active role in teaching.
“You’ll never feel ready, trust me, so I’ll just monitor your internal situation. I’ll know when you’re strong enough to pass the tribulation without issue. Just believe in me, but more importantly, believe in yourself.” Xueli had explained, patting both their shoulders with a rare motherly gaze—rare, of course, because Songmei and Mingqing were used to the grandmotherly gaze.
Having kicked Youhong, Taigang, and Liying out of their room to go... do whatever, Songmei and Mingqing were now sitting in the living room. Cross-legged with their lips pressed in tight lines, Songmei and Mingqing took slow deep breaths to focus themselves as the afternoon sun glowed, showering its golden beams onto the world below.
Cracking her eyes open, Songmei reached out and grabbed Mingqing’s hand. “How are you?”
“I’m okay,” Mingqing shrugged with a slow exhale. “I won’t deny though, my hands are a little clammy and shaky.”
“Mine too...” Songmei sighed, giving Mingqing’s hand a squeeze before pulling it up and giving it a kiss. “Hey, it’ll all be over by dinner at least.”
Opening her mouth, Mingqing froze as the toilet flushed. Letting go of Songmei’s hand, Mingqing, along with Songmei, sank back into her meditative state as the bathroom door opened once more.
With Xueli trudging out of the bathroom, Songmei was amazed. Before Xueli, Songmei had never met anyone who had such fine control over the sound they produced; at the same time, Songmei was even more astounded when she found out Xueli, of all people, was as loud as an elephant in the bathroom. Throat clears, toilet flushing, hand-washing, soap bottle moving, if there was an action done in the bathroom, Xueli could make it five times louder by just existing.
Relaxing her shoulders, Songmei made an imperceptible head shake, taking a few deep breaths as her mind refocused on preparing and sharpening itself for the upcoming tribulation.
---
With a golden plane flying out of Westriver late in the afternoon, no one suspected a thing as five direct disciples left Westriver for the first time in over a year. Landing on a deserted flat area, far from any prying eyes, the plane touched down and released Songmei, Mingqing, Youhong, Taigang, and Liying.
Having looked out the window on the way here, Liying walked around with wide eyes. “I didn’t know the rest of the plateau had this much area... I knew it had been closed off, but now I realize why Westriver could house two sects at once.”
Liying’s words, of course, had no chance—absolutely none at all—of being heard as Songmei, Mingqing, Youhong, and Taigang all ran around cheering “FREEDOM! FREEDOM!”
Crossing her arms and leaning against a tall rock, Xueli stood there with a small smile as she waited for everyone to calm down. Unable to resist the urge to spoil her two precious disciples a little, Xueli had decided to bring the two, plus their three friends and party members, out for a nice dinner and party night.
They deserved it after all the stress they had been put through.
Surveying the area with her eyes, Xueli found a workable, already-deserted area for the two to challenge their heavenly tribulation in. Xueli, with her ever-wise intuition honed over years and years—or decades and decades depending on who was asked—had felt she needed to find a larger than normal deserted area.
Songmei and Mingqing’s cultivation—from what Xueli had seen—was intertwined to an eerie degree. The two always joked they cultivated so fast because of the ‘power of love,’ but Xueli was starting to wonder if the heavens really had a special eye on those two.
Therefore, Xueli felt the Songmei and Mingqing’s tribulations would go much smoother should they challenge the tribulation at the same time.
“Han Youhong, Wang Taigang, and Zhao Liying! You three! Get your butts over here!” Xueli waved them over, snapping a table into existence. “Go into the plane and gather the food. You’re in charge of setting the table for when those two finish their tribulation. I want you three to watch though. It’ll be useful information for when you three go through your own respective tribulations.”
“Yes Elder Liu!” Liying saluted, dragging the other two towards the plane. “We’ll get right on it! Also, thank you again for bringing us.”
Waving Liying off with an “It’s only natural,” Xueli began meandering over towards Songmei and Mingqing who had—to absolutely no one’s surprise—immersed themselves in their own little world again.
With the two sitting on a rock and staring off into the distance, Xueli walked up behind them, placing a hand on both their shoulders. “You two ready? It’s a big day.”
“We’re as ready as we’ll ever be,” Mingqing nodded with a long exhale before craning her neck to look up at Xueli. “Have you decided on an area yet?”
“Of course I have!” Xueli laughed with a smug grin. “Your genius master has everything prepared. No need to doubt!”
“Uh... huh.” Mingqing murmured with a hesitant nod.
“Definitely,” Songmei agreed with another hesitant nod and knowing glance towards Mingqing.
“Well, I sense another two approaching people, so we’ll wait for them to start. But I’ll guide you over to your spots so you two can start getting comfortable.” Xueli patted the two on the back, pushing them forward with a bright smile. “Just remember, it’ll be twenty bolts, okay? One for each meridian you two opened. Believe in yourselves. It’ll go great.”
Getting pushed along by Xueli, both Songmei and Mingqing—as they agreed upon earlier—dragged themselves to a stop before turning around. Giving a small bow each, they took turns giving Xueli a hug. Having stunned Xueli, both Songmei and Mingqing paused.
““Thank you for all the help you’ve given us. Really, thank you for everything so far.””
