Justin was the grandson of one of the Elders of Silver Cloud Sect and could be considered one of its prodigies; at least that was what Grandfather Wei claimed. Indeed, he was talented for his age. He broke through to secondary level when he reached the age of fifteen and he was better than the majority of the same age when it came to martial arts. However, considering that this was so, he felt as if his skills could no longer be honed fighting his peers and was not experienced enough to spar with those of similar cultivation, but much older. Thus, he convinced his grandfather to let him apply to the Ascending Mountain Institute. Naturally, he entered straight into the inner Martial Arts school, unlike his unfortunate 'brothers' who had to settle in the outer school. Still, he did not look unfavourably upon them, knowing to cultivate good relations with them. Even if they could not match his skill, did not mean that they could not be of use to him.
When he entered the school, he turned several eyes of the female persuasion. His hair was silk lengths of mahogany and his eyes were of rich earth and pleasingly shaped. He walked confidently, but not arrogantly and his lips were always curled slightly upward in a gentle, welcoming smile. But though heads turned, he was not interested in fulfilling any fantasies he might have summoned. His heart beat only for one girl. Miss Merylin; daughter of the sect leader and his first wife.
Part of his success in Martial Arts lie in the hard work he put in everyday honing his skills. He was skilled as he wanted to be a strong husband for Merylin in the future and wanted her to be proud of him. He wanted the sect leader's blessing, wanted to prove himself worthy. And so he tempered himself and fought hard, even managing to reach the top thirties of the Standing's this year. Not bad considering it was his third year in the school.
When he had heard that Merylin and her sister Maimai had enrolled into the Institute, he was beyond ecstatic; his sweetheart had followed him to school! Granted, it was the Alchemist school and she had to start in the outer school due to her inexperience with the subject, but he knew she would not remain their long. Merylin was not only beautiful, she was gifted and could turn her hand at anything she wished to. He was correct and Merylin soon was transferred into the Alchemist Inner school. Unfortunately, the students in the two schools did not meet often.
Some Martial Arts students would go to the Alchemist school to see if they could purchase directly pills, but they would only get so far as the outer school. Some Alchemists would come to the Martial Arts school for the same reason, but again they were prohibited from entering the inner school, without permissions from a teacher, thus there were ridiculously few times that Justin might meet Merylin. The last time had been at the Standings, where she had given him her usual cold shoulder. He just believed that it was because he was not yet worthy of her and needed to work harder.
Thus when he came to the outer school to chat amicably with a few sect-mates in the Food Hall, he was not expecting the girl of his dreams to enter it, especially not following that man!
There were few that had not heard of the man known as Jin Li. He was a difficult person to approach, his aura was often dark and cold and his temper biting and he had the appetite that could rival the obese seventh prince. He fought with foreign moves, but each one was executed with precision and finesse. There was rumours that he was of tertiary stage cultivation, despite being the tender age of seventeen. Justin did not believe this rumour. Justin himself was nineteen years of age and nearing the peak of secondary stage, but he knew that he would need perhaps two or three years to surpass the threshold into tertiary and even that was considered amazing, so why would he believe that this first year was greater than him?
And why was his darling Merylin following him into the Food Hall?
He managed to train his ear enough to discard the jesting about him and hone in on their conversation, but not soon enough. Jin Li suddenly left the Hall and Miss Merylin was about to follow him out, it seemed, however the two seniors, Pike and Bowyer from the inner school stopped her.
Justin knew the seniors, of course, though only on distant terms. They were both highly respected by his peers in the inner school and were generally approachable. Justin had learned on more than one occasion from them and though he was defeated soundly in skill and strength, he felt that his skills and mind set improved because of their few encounters in the arena. However, he was not aware that they were friends with Jin Li!
He was startled from his own thoughts when he came to note that Miss Merylin had decided to depart and was considering ways he could cross her path, perhaps offer to see her out safely, when he saw her hand two bottles of pills to Jin Li's roommate... Soon or Sun or Something... His brows fell into a frown as he heard her ask him to hand them to Jin Li and his heart felt sour. Why? Why was the girl he had fought so hard for giving her precious pills to an ice sculpture like Jin Li? That rogue was not worthy of her! He decided to seek out that bastard himself and put him in his place. Let him know to stay well away from his sweetheart!
Author's note; will be adjusting a couple of 'facts' about average ages of people breaking through cultivation levels. Mainly as otherwise, everyone at the school would be first or second level; a bit static.