Hao stood outside. The number of people being moved up the mountain multiplied; From a dozen to thirty, and then more. Along with them, the number of disciples grew, lingering behind the Hawkish woman.

  The eighth group arrived with all the arrogant disciples. Those who carried a high head despite their station in the sect, with prideful glares at other servants, and bows towards the disciples.

  Almost all of them stayed together in a group. Not shy about their impatience with their pacing back and forth, making other servants move just because they could. They entered the building and came back out just as fast.

  Hao looted every single building on this mountain shelf, and some of them tore roofing tiles right off. The only building in good condition was the one he stood in front of.

  When they looked over, Hao stared them in the eyes until their heads lowered; a few held him for a couple of seconds too long.

  “There is nothing more troublesome than a small dog that has more pride than teeth,” Meiqi said behind him, peeking her head out the door.

  Hao looked back at her. “Do they serve a disciple like you do?”

  It felt strange to refer to her as his servant.

  “Some might, but most here got tossed away. They will have forgotten what it was like to be a lesser to the disciples who sweep the pavement. None will have a connection like us, with Taoyi’s claim of being our ancestor.”

  She grabbed the back of his robe. “Now come in, let me fix your appearance a bit. You look like a wet crow.”

  Hao looked back with a furrowed brow. He really didn’t understand half the things she said. Crows are neat when they aren’t picking at garbage and carrion. Honest, if nothing else.

  “Later. You're letting the cold in,” he said, getting a glare as the door shut slowly behind him.

  He didn't know if Taoyi had any real relation to them at all. Whether it was true or not mattered little. They used his claim to their advantage, but had to deal with Taoyi in turn. Better an affluent cultivator than, as Meiqi put it, the small prideful dogs.

  It seems like a ninth or tenth group wasn’t coming. The disciples gathered in a circle around the well, bowing to each other more in mockery than respect.

  “That is all of us then?”

  A disciple, wide-jawed, with a wider forehead, took a step back from the circle. “Where is Brother Juren Mei?”

  The hawkish woman glanced back at Hao. “Junior Brother Mei went back down to the courtyard; it was the best option. He was failing to control his temper.”

  Junior Louse’s name is Juren Mei? An easy name to forget. At least I hope I don’t have a reason to remember it. What did he call me? ‘A fishing eating bastard?’

  Hao chuckled. Admittedly, a very dimwitted kind of laugh. Junior Louse ran after saying it, not that he expected much courage from the people whose entire livelihood was pushing around their lesser at Taoyi’s command.

  The whole crowd followed her glance at his laugh, but they all looked away when she started speaking again.

  “Once we get everyone organized, we can head back down the mountain.”

  Their little circle broke apart into teams of two, and servants were herded; those who struggled to pick a home or walk to the one they wanted were shoved to the nearest. Any fight was quickly broken up. Despite all the pride the toothless dogs had, they listened when another with more teeth barked.

  Soon, the courtyard was nearly empty of white; Only traces of melting snow on the mountains' caps around them. The rest of the sight was gray tiles, brown mountainsides, and blue robes.

  Hao walked to the edge of the veranda.

  The wooden boards creak, and the rails threaten to fall from the blast of mountain wind.

  Slowly, the group of disciples approached. Not all of them. Some of them were still moving disciples around and pushing a few heads inside doors.

  The hawkish woman led ten of them up to him, two tiles away from the home. They cupped their hands, much to Hao’s surprise; the Secret Realm’s tension was still in his heart.

  “Senior,” she addressed him, raising her head.

  “These are all the servants we have. We will head back down to watch the Elder’s announcement in the arena. I was wondering if Senior wanted to join us.”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  They all stood from their bows.

  Hao took a few steps forward, so the overhang of the porch wasn’t shrouding him in shadow or droplets of melting ice. He returned the gesture, cupping his hands in earnest, expecting no fight. From just a tile away, he could tell which of them had sensory skills by how intently they watched him move.

  “There is no need. Junior Sister,” Hao felt strange addressing anyone as such. “I have a few things to do on my way down.”

  The hawkish woman nodded. A few of the group at her back gulped and looked away at the answer. It was a shame words weren’t just words; everyone always sought some extra hidden meaning in what was a simple farewell.

  Hao took another step forward. “I never got Junior Sister’s name, or got the chance to thank her for going along with my requests.”

  That eased the furrowed brows and wrinkled foreheads. Their group grew larger as more disciples gathered at her back.

  The Hawkish woman leading them turned to the girl. She quickly moved a strand of hair out of her face, pushing it behind her ear.

  Meiqi taught him this so-called body language. He didn’t quite understand, but he was doing something right.

  “Senior can call me Rufang, or Junior Ying. You don’t need to thank me; my Hall Leader gave clear instructions, but all of that is out of my hair now. Your request didn’t interfere with our job.”

  The group started to turn and leave, the hawkish woman, Junior Ying, lingering a little longer than needed.

  “Senior, I hope we meet at the announcement.” She said, bowing again as she led the group down the path towards the courtyard.

  A whisper echoed between the cliff faces reaching Hao’s ears: “Senior Sister, surely you don’t favor that boy, he has the face of a thirteen-year-old, not to mention, did you see his hair?”

  Junior Ying, “I’m not blind, are you? He is near the ninth rank if not already in it; he could be in the peak of Reclamation.”

  Hao tilted his head, curious. Unconsciously raising his nose, his fingers interlocking behind his back. He wasn’t actually at the ninth rank, but that is how his presence felt to someone who practices sensory skills.

  It was nice to hear, but a disadvantage if an opponent could estimate his strength.

  “Senior sister, he could be inbred. Those Islanders only know ten or twenty people.”

  Inbred? Surely not? My mother isn’t even from the Island… perhaps somewhere in the ancestry on my father’s side. Hao felt himself deflate, but puffed himself back up as he walked back to the house.

  Meiqi was adding the finishing touches to breakfast. Mostly, she ran her fingers along the edges of the pot and licked them. The steam was gone. Zhengqi had left her patient at the side, the emaciated fellow now bound up in ropes.

  Hao didn’t dare let him be free in this building while he wasn’t

  “Do I look inbred?” he asked, crossing his legs to sit at the fire.

  “Ahk!” Meiqi choked, dropping the one good ladle they had on the floor. It rolled, gathering ashes. Zhenqi similarly dropped the comb she was using to brush her hair.

  “No, never mind.” Hao felt a little absent-minded. His bare hand moved the hot cookpot off the fire. “I saw a rather strange-looking woman while I was in Forging Hall.”

  “Was she pretty?” Meiqi cleared her throat, reaching for wood bowls.

  That queued breakfast. Zhengqi took her time, hiding her face as she ate. Meiqi was more in the middle ground with her education nowadays. To her, breakfast was something to get out of the way. Once she finished eating, she washed her hands and fixed Hao’s hair.

  “It's growing fast, it's longer than shoulder length now, so it doesn’t look bad like this.” It seemed routine; she muttered something about the length of his hair every time she touched it, trying to rip his scalp off in the process.

  He didn’t know or care much. It was a waiting game, his only entertainment in the moment, watching the servants already on the move outside the window.

  “Why don’t they escape the mountain, leave the sect?” he asked, but already knew the answer as the question found his lips.

  “Would you Hao? Go back to the mud after you lived life on a heavenly mountain.” Meiqi muttered, probably having thought this through a few times before.

  What was a city, town, or village, compared to the majesty of a mountain pulled from legends? With ponds, rivers, forests, and giant beasts, martial arts, heroes, ghosts, and beauties?

  A life in squalor?

  Here at least, they had clean clothes, were given shelter, and had guaranteed food if they worked for it. Those were plain things. The average medicine here was impossible to mortals; even the monks at the Temple of Water seemed weak in medicine and literature compared to a random woman like Zhengqi.

  There was no rejection or a list of who got treated. Perhaps a line at most, disciples first, but there was still a chance. Islanders were shunned by most of the South Tip. He didn’t think it was true, but he wasn’t a little boy on a boat anymore. He found his place here instead. The so-called dancer clan that Meiqi was a part of was shunned from the temple, too. She was here, less accepted but living with a full belly.

  There was one that the temple accepted. That fellow Islander, Nial, the one who arrived on land with him.

  Strangely, Hao was grateful the temple turned him away in turn. He never would have landed on this mountain otherwise. Found the magic of this place. Or the people.

  “There is always that hope too…” Hao muttered out loud.

  “Yes. There is always that, to go from the one that washes pots and sweeps stone roads to an Immortal that can leap over mountains.” Meiqi said, tapping his shoulders.

  “But not everyone is you, Hao. Every other servant you met in the mining hall, have you seen them ascending beyond that servitude?”

  Hao stood. She was right. Of course, she was. As far as he knew, no one else had. Still, to anyone, Emperor or peasant, it was hard to ignore the possibility of holding the sky in your palm. If Hao had never seen a person walk on the air, he would have run away the day he got the chance and vanished into the land of the Southern Tip.

  “I’m not anyone special.” He looked back at her, sneaking over to the fire to pick up another piece of Boar bacon. He wasn’t hungry, just enjoying the feel and taste.

  “You only say that because you never look at your own reflection.” Meiqi took another piece of boar bacon, too.

  Hao waved away the comment, taking out two blades. “I’m going to leave these with you.” He had confidence they could use them well enough. When Zhengqi took one, it felt like he was taking one of the locks off a tiger's cage.

  Meiqi held hers well, too. An awkward way to grip a blade, but a reverse grip had uses. To kill and main. She set it down where she stood.

  “Alright, now go. Go!” Both her hands smacked his shoulder.

  Hao took the emaciated man, still bound in ropes with him, Meiqi shooing him, Zhengqi bowing as he turned away. Outside, he walked around the courtyard. Sliding one of the buckets over to their home and dropping the man off outside one of the open doors.

  More servants were still coming outside. They watched him, they wandered, tapping their fingers and thumbs, chewing on rationed millet balls and dry wheat crackers. Their spit and crumbs hitting the tiles of the courtyard, he saw as a part of home.

  Hao looked at them, smiled, and nodded his head. “Don’t approach that building. Leave the women inside alone. I permitted them to fight you off and kill if they have to, I'll tell the Elders the same, or interfere myself if I must.”

  “If you want to kill each other, however, go down the path a little bit. Clean up after yourselves.”

  If they weren’t looking before, they were now. He let their glares stay on him as he turned and walked down the mountain path, letting pity nest in his stomach for whoever didn’t listen.

  “Tell the others that didn’t hear what I said. Repeat it to yourselves while you're lying on the floor feeling impatient at night. Or you might be the fuel that keeps the others warm.”

  Now, to this so-called Elder’s announcement. Hao felt his chest thump.