Transcending Dreams

The speck of light in his Lung Meridian seemed to get brighter by the slightest of margins after he directed the additional Qi into it. It didn’t magically increase his Stamina as he had hoped, nor did it make him feel any different. However, he still felt a strange accomplishment for making that speck shine brighter.

William took deep breaths for a few more moments before slowly opening his eyes. He was taking to this meditation business with surprising ease. He stood up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand to check for any blood, but luckily, he coughed out everything without staining his face. He pointedly ignored the red puddle on the floor and left the room, having nothing else left to do.

He noticed that the jade tablets had been removed, making the existence of this ‘private study’ even more questionable. What did Lan Yin expect him to do here? Unless she was talking about the Qi-filled rooms, which unfortunately didn’t have much use for him.

William shook his head in disappointment and climbed down the stairs, holding the pass to the outline on the wall to reveal a very excited Ren Bo.

“Brother Liang!” Ren Bo almost squealed before shoving William to the side, “Is Goddess Lan coming down?”

“Fuck,” William hissed, rubbing his stinging shoulder after hitting the wall, “What’s wrong with you?!”

“Ignore Ren Bo. He’ll get over his obsession with Senior Lan eventually.”

Turning his gaze from a visibly anxious Ren Bo, William noticed a tall boy sporting a bored expression. The boy’s good looks were to be expected, but his appearance had a noticeable touch of aristocracy, unlike the others.

[Name: Yang Fan | Level: 33]

“What do you mean?” William moved a safe distance from Ren Bo to stand next to Yang Fan.

“It’s his thing,” Yang Fan shrugged, “Ren Bo goes through a phase of fixating on his supposed ‘dao partner.’ That partner changes every month or so.”

“Huh…” William had wondered why it seemed like everyone ignored Ren Bo’s creepy phrases for Lan Yin like it was normal. It was because they actually were used to it.

“Is he… right?” William whispered, “Mentally, I mean.”

“He’s fine,” Yang Fan shrugged before tilting his head like he was thinking about the correct answer, “Probably. Even if he wasn’t, Ren Bo is a prodigy, and it’s rumored that an Elder will take him in as a disciple as soon as the regulations allow it.”

All William got from that was it was acceptable to be a creep as long as you’re talented enough. A far cry from the first impression he got from Ren Bo.

“Should I tell him Senior Sister Yin has already left?”

“NO! Where’s Goddess Lan!” Ren Bo wailed when the hidden passage started to close.

“Leave it,” Yang Fan said with a shake of his head, “He has to get out of it himself.”

William stared at Ren Bo dramatically clawing at the wall, making him wonder what stopped Ren Bo from entering while it was open for him.

“Like I said, ignore him. And welcome to the Sect, Brother. My name is Yang Fan.”

William returned the greeting by clasping his hands together and nodding slightly. “Greetings, Brother Yang. I’m Wei Liang.”

“So it’s Brother Wei,” Yang Fan gave him a lazy smile, “I’ll depend on you in the future.”

“Brother Yang… I just joined the Sect. You’re much stronger than me.”

“For now,” Yang Fan corrected without shame, “I’ll be a respected alchemist, while you’ll be the fist that’ll keep the undesirables away from me.”

“…. Thank you?” William wasn’t sure if that was an insult since Yang Fan said that in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Hey, you want to do something fun?”

“What do you mean by fun?” William asked warily, suspecting someone that seemed to be friends with Ren Bo to have some strange quirk of his own.

“Let’s go to the Mission Hall! I’ve never partnered with a Sentinel before!”

“Brother Yang, I’m not a Sentinel yet,” William corrected, “And I could barely be called a cultivator, so I’m not sure how much help I will be.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Yang Fan dismissed William’s concerns as he started to walk to the exit, “Let’s go, Brother Wei!”

William hesitated, looking at Ren Bo glaring at the wall with tears running down his face, before deciding that Yang Fan was a better choice. However, he was tempted to go the opposite way, forget about the two weirdos and meet Wang Mei as planned.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

William turned to the disciples watching Ren Bo breaking down a short distance away. “Wouldn’t do what?”

“Ignore Yang Fan. He’ll keep bothering you until he’s bored again.”

The jumbled mess of blue text floating above their heads didn’t help with much of anything until the system reacted to his annoyance and took away the unneeded information before leaving one above the person he was focusing on.

[Name: Liu Yan | Level: 68]

Liu Yan was a short girl with thick glasses and an unassuming appearance. However, in typical cultivator fashion, she still made the look somehow work for her.

“Is he dangerous?” William asked with a frown.

“Not at all, but…” Liu Yan looked at Yang Fan’s retreating back and lowered her voice to a whisper, “He can be really, really annoying until he loses his interest in you.”

William nodded, feeling relieved that it wasn’t anything serious. “Thanks for the warning, Senior.”

“If you really want to thank me, follow Yang Fan before he comes back.”

William turned to see Yang Fan gesturing at him from outside the Library to follow. He sighed before waving at Liu Yan and went outside to join Yang Fan. 

With how small the Outer Court was, the Mission Hall wasn’t too far away. Still, William was already starting to regret his decision to follow Yang Fan. The boy was already talking nonstop about his latest alchemy successes, and saying that he found himself struggling to keep up was being kind. William had no idea what gibberish was coming from Yang Fan’s mouth.

However, all William had to do was nod his head occasionally to make Yang Fan start talking again. This personality change was so far from the boy’s bored expression at the start that he wondered how it could be the same person.

As they approached the Mission Hall, William noticed it was much busier than when he had last seen it. A group of disciples were gathered around the entrance, all talking excitedly about something. William glanced at Yang Fan, who just shrugged before walking straight to the crowd.

“What’s going on?” Yang Fan asked one of the disciples, a tall, bulky man with a fierce expression.

[Name: Zheng Tao | Level: 73]

“We just got word that there’s been a sighting of a sentient spirit plant,” Zheng Tao explained, his excited voice not matching the face, “We’re forming a team to go out and catch it.”

“Sentient? Can we join?” Yang Fan asked eagerly, “I brought Brother Wei to experience his first mission.”

The man looked them up and down, his eyes lingering on William momentarily before shaking his head. 

“Yang Fan, you play around too much. I can sense that some mortals are stronger than this Little Brother,” Zheng Tao paused before saying to William, “This is not an insult. It’s for your own safety. Besides, Senior Lan would kill me if I put her Junior Brother in danger carelessly.”

William shrugged at Zheng Tao, showing that he didn’t take offense.

“I can’t believe I forgot about that,” Yang Fan said as he sighed in frustration, “Brother Wei, you’re still too weak to take any of the missions.”

“… I know, Brother Yang,” William wanted to slap the kid for acting like he just realized it, “I told you that before you led me here.”

“Actually, there are quite a few missions that Little Brother Wei is eligible for,” Zheng Tao interjected, “Yang Fan, why don’t you choose one of the farming missions?”

“It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing for you to do, Brother Wei!” Yang Fan ignored Zheng Tao, “I can’t accompany you since Senior Brother Zheng asked me to join his team, but I’ll make it up to you!”

Zheng Tao seemed used to Yang Fan’s antics if his expression was anything to go by, but William was more than happy to be rid of the chatterbox.

“How unfortunate,” William agreed sarcastically.

Zheng Tao chuckled slightly and gave William another look before leading his team away from the Mission Hall. It was suddenly devoid of disciples other than the one manning the booth and William himself.

Since he was already here, he might as well check out what kind of missions were available before leaving.