Still Learning To Live As A Cultivator

Chapter Sixty Four - Three strikes and you are out!

The tea shop manager was a refined, genteel woman, versed in the etiquette of tea brewing, poetry and was apt at making her guests feel welcome and relaxed... but every coin had a flip side. Without warning, this coin revealed it tail. "Get out! How dare you disturb the tranquility of laoniang's business!"

Two young ladies were pushed out of the doors without breath spare to defend themselves, while two embarrassed relatives bowed in apology and appeased the hostess with a few silver each. The woman tested the weight of the purses in her palm before sounding out a loud 'harrumph' and striding back inside, where she once more transformed into her amiable, elegant self.

Without tea to drink and the mood of shopping spoiled, it seemed it was time to return to the Institute.... and it seemed that the two parties of two just happened to be intending to return in the same manner; via Griffin. They walked in cold silence, but once their joint destinations became obvious, the competitive nature of females began to once more rear its head. Carmen was undoubtedly the instigator this time; after giving a disdainful glare in the direction of the two girls across the street, she hurried her pace to get ahead.

Ordinarily, Merylin would never rise to such obvious provocation, but the number of griffins flying too and from school were limited and it was true that she did not wish to have to wait half a shìchèn or so for the next beast to land following a return flight. Thus she discreetly picked up the pace as well.

Seeing that the gap between them had not increased, Carmen's strides became less 'ladylike' and far longer, gradually the distance grew to her satisfaction. And then it shrank once more. This continued until both girls were pretty much running ungainly with Maimai and Sun just dragged along for the show. Both girls approached the Griffin handler intent on leaving the other behind.

"We can't fly at the moment," the handler mentioned, indicating the overcast sky with his finger. The rumbling thunder in the dense and darkening sky was increasing, becoming particularly strong in one area off to the north east. An odd hunch caused Sun to frown, but it was another that put words to his feelings.

"Someone is breaching a cultivation level!"

Sun didn't recognise the speaker, but suspected from the age and temperament, and the fact he also wished to ride back to the Institute, that they were one of his seniors. He was with a friend who happened to blurt out;

"But are there any Teachers in closed cultivation at the moment?" He was not wrong to ask this question. His assumption was that the cloud formations above were not due to some ominous winter storm, but were actually due to a Cultivator ascending. Lightning tribulations were a common occurrence for any Cultivator breaching levels above the quinary stage; completing Body Tempering brought with it the first trial of the Heavens and every stage after that also.  Most students would leave the Institute prior to forming their core, leaving no more than a handful of the most talented each generation to manage to form their core before graduation.

"I think Teacher Compari was," the other mentioned.

"Who is that?"

"Oh, you've not met him," the other realised. "He went into closed cultivation after I started attending the Institute. He must have been cultivating inside the mountain for ten years now..."

Sun also had no knowledge of this mysterious Teacher, but for some reason, his intuition felt as if that their words did not quite fit the current scenario...

"Jin Li, he's in closed cultivation in that mountain as well," Maimai murmured aloud. Sun glanced at her and the uncertain feeling in his gut began to solidify.

The Heavens had no care for the speculation of mortals nor Cultivators on their first steps towards attempting to breach their gates. The sky filled with a blinding white light before streaking towards its destination in an angry manner. It clashed with the barrier around the mountain which wobbled like a soap bubble pressed by a finger before springing back into shape and vanishing before the naked eye. As if furious at being thwarted, the Heavens sent down two further strikes, but the could not penetrate the barrier, just explode against it, sending out booming cries causing immense pressure to the ears of normal people. A few fell to their knees in the wake of the loud thunder. This seemed enough to satisfy the Heavens, for the clouds above began to disperse, once more revealing the cold, pale blue sky beneath.