21 Mud for the Lotus (2/2)

As she followed Zhan Yuemin, they passed groups of people training with weapons and others training their cultivation. Some groups were gathered around a vat of what looked to be blue bubbling liquid. Every so often, a small beast would run around; nipping and yapping with a playmate. With time, the number of people slowly dwindled. The pavement beneath her feet changed; worn grass cushioning her footfalls instead.

After some time, towering trees began to peek through the spaces in-between buildings. Eventually, the space before her opened up; the borders of the woodland coming into view. Before the dense forest was a small, sturdily built shed. Zhan Yuemin entered, beckoning her in. Yun Da Xia hesitated.

”Stop wasting my time. I have no desire to kill you right now.”

Instead of the saccharine sweet voice she had been using a while ago, a dry, impatient voice came out of Zhan Yuemin. Yun Da Xia blinked in shock, studying the other girl. Outwardly, nothing about her changed. But there was something odd about her disposition now.

A sigh escaped the other's lips, and Yun Da Xia felt a force propelling her into the shed. She didn't resist but kept her guard up. Zhan Yuemin seemed to be bordering in the area between the fifth and sixth stage of Earth cultivation. She could take her on if need be.

The shed was stockpiled with an array of different materials: ranging from food supplies to survival tools. She didn't turn to look at Yun Da Xia, ”Know your place.”

A click echoed in the small space; Yun Da Xia thought it sounded like the guns of her time.

”I don't want to stain my hands red with any unnecessary deaths. So just remember to stay out of my way and you'll live.” Zhan Yuemin stuffed some things into a small pouch; then gave it to Yun Da Xia.

The look in her eyes was so different from the soft and cheerful look she held in front of Tian Chan Ge and her fellow students. They were chilling, seemingly numb to mortal pleasures. ”You're incapable of going against me.” She stated it as a cold, hard fact. Zhan Yuemin was praised as a genius, and she knew she was. Her cultivation was currently bordering in the area between fifth and sixth stage cultivation. Against a Yun Da Xia who could not even cultivate, it would be a massacre.

Yun Da Xia did not go against her words, ”Then thank you for the reminder. I wouldn't dream of it.” Although the words were placating, her tone was not humble nor did she lower her head towards Zhan Yuemin in any way.

Zhan Yuemin felt the tips of her lips pull down, but she did not bother responding to the other girl.

She turned towards the forest. Frankly speaking, the daughter of the general wasn't a threat to any of her plans, but she wouldn't be against her dying in the initiation rite either. If she did, or if she didn't; it wouldn't affect her own goals.