100 Clan meeting registration (1/2)

Bai Yun spend the next two weeks in the blacksmithing pavilion. He slowly build up an arsenal. He made two swords for Bai Shi and Bai Ling-er, three daggers for his own use, and a few flying daggers and small needles to use as hidden weapons.

Bai Yun then spend the last week of his free time working on his alchemy technique and his movement technique. He made a small improvement in the movement technique, improving his speed by another ten percent, but he was no closer to a breakthrough.

Bai Yun spend the whole time in his room and did not take even a step outside. Someone would arrange all his meals and other necessities for him. Xiao Mei-er was more than happy with this arrangement and gave Bai Yun a lot of medicinal ingredients to experiment with. In her eyes Bai Yun was even worse than his father. It seems as if every time he went outside, he returned injured. And each time was worse than the time before it.

Bai Yun was sitting in his room working on his alchemy. He was almost completely oblivious to the passage of time. When the door to his room suddenly opened, Bai Yun was stunned. He was nearly blinded by the sudden beam of light that came in. He was working hard on alchemy and had neglected everything else so his room was in near total darkness.

”My eyes.” Bai Yun screamed and covered his eyes.

Bai Mu who had stepped into Bai Yun's room was amused. He looked around the room for a while before turning to face Bai Yun. The room was not even close to tidy. Most of the objects in the room were overturned. There were dirt and grime on the walls and the floor. The ceiling was black with smoke. All in all it was a horrible sight.

And there was a reason for this mess too. Once he succeeded in concocting a pill, Bai Yun would easily be able to make it again. But he would typically fail a few times before he succeeded for the first time. So most of what he tried to concote these days were failures. As a result there were a lot of by products that were made. But all of this wasn't without any result. Bai Yun's alchemy skill had improved by leaps and bounds. Now he was better than a genius of alchemy who had spend a couple of years in the profession when it came to concoting pills. He was just lacking a bit on the familiarity with various medicines.

”You know, we do have an alchemy pavilion where you can work.” Bai Mu said.

”And who will pay for it.” Bai Yun retorted. ”If you will give me the clan points, I'll gladly spend it there.”

Bai Mu simply chuckled when he heard this. His way of upbringing that was passed down in his family required that someone be responsible for their own expenses. So he had not give Bai Yun much money. Though Xiao Mei-er was more than happy to spend money to make sure that Bai Yun would stay indoors.

”True. But you can get to know other people.” Bai Mu continued.

”Other people are idiots. It's much easier to do things by myself.” Bai Yun responded.

Bai Mu groaned when he heard this. No father would want his children to grow up as loners. But it wasn't as if Bai Mu could say anything else either. He was just like Bai Yun when he was his age.

”Anyway, why did you come in. What's going on?” Bai Yun asked his father.

Bai Mu looked at his son in amusement. ”Its the final day for registering for the fighting competition in the clan meeting. You already missed the first few days. I came in to confirm you really are going to attend the meeting.” Bai Mu said.

”Really. Already?” Bai Yun was surprised.

”What day do you think today is?” Bai Mu asked Bai Yun .

”Sunday?” Bai Yun replied quietly.

”Which date?”

”The nineteenth?”

”Try Thursday the twenty seventh.” Bai Mu said with a laugh.

”You know, how can we truly say that today is really a Thursday.” Bai Yun said. ”For all we know, today could be a Sunday, and someone made a mistake in-.”

”Get ready if you want to register for the meeting.” Ba Mu cut him short.

”On it.” Bai Yun said, jumping up and running to the bathroom.

An hour later a sharply dressed, but half sleepy Bai Yun was walking next to Bai Mu. When Bai Yun walked out of his room after taking a bath he was dressed in comfortable clothes suitable for fighting, and not an official Bai clan robe. Xiao Mei-er nearly had an aneurism when she saw how sloppily dressed Bai Yun was. Both Bai Yun and Bai Mu got an earful before Bai Yun changed into the clan's robes and was finally allowed to leave the mansion.

Bai Mu then grabbed Bai Yun and then the two of them disappeared. The place for registration is quite far from their mansion, and it would take Bai Yun a couple of days if he was to go there by walking. The only other option was to take the bus but it was easier for Bai Mu to take him there by flying.

A few moments later, Bai Yun found himself in a large field. There was a row of tables in one end of the field and there were a huge number of people queuing up in front of them. There was also one table that was at the very end that was empty. No one was queuing up in front of that table alone.

Bai Yun immediately identified the location he was in as the place to register for the fighting competition in the clan meeting.

”Why is that table empty?” Bai Yun asked his father.

”That is the table for important members of the clan.” Bai Mu explained. ”Only direct descendants of clan elders or the princes of the clan are allowed to register there. So it is almost always deserted, as only a few people qualify for such treatment.”

”That doesn't seem fair. Everyone else has to queue up.” Bai Yun said.