12 Preparations

Wu Mei scowled, a hand on her sword. "What do you think you're doing?"

Song YongNian waved a finger around to get her to stop talking. "Shhh! I'm trying to figure out Fan GuiRen's weakness."

"Oh?" Wu Mei smirked at him. "And how's that going?"

Song YongNian's silence clearly conveyed the answer. Wu Mei scoffed, a scowl marring her face, and put her sword back in its sheath. Looking over the boy's shoulder, she could see Fan GuiRen in the middle of training, his forms perfect and fluid, as if he hadn't just been learning those moves for a few months. The unfairness of it made her scowl harder, until anyone would be hard-pressed to consider her beautiful.

Not that anyone ever did. The only time that she was ever complimented on her looks was when she was in the civilian society, and even then, it was just people trying to sell stuff to her calling her 'pretty'. Not even beautiful. She was just pretty, and that was when she had money.

Otherwise she was invisible. She wasn't ugly. Just so average that nobody noticed her.

She walked around Song YongNian and stalked over to Fan GuiRen, who had now stopped to rest before he proceeded with his next exercise. She stopped right in front of him and crossed her arms.

Fan GuiRen sighed. "What is it, Shifu?"

"I need you to help with the preparations."

Fan GuiRen furrowed his brow and asked, "For what?"

"The Alliance Conference meeting." Wu Mei sighed and blew away a stray piece of her hair. "I'm busy with my duties and making sure that Sect Leader doesn't slack off, so I just need you to train the disciples we'll be taking with us in the meantime. Make sure that they're up to par and won't embarrass us. I trust it'll be right up your alley?"

Fan GuiRen's eyes lit up with an unholy light. Wu Mei decided not to worry about it, and instead just told him, "You have free reign over the training, so long as nobody dies or is permanently maimed."

With that, before she could see something that would make her regret everything that she had just said, she turned around and walked away. On the path, she walked passed by Song YongNian again, who was still spying on Fan GuiRen. She didn't even bother saying anything about it, knowing full well that she couldn't change the boy's mind.

Men were idiots like that. Stubborn to a fault. Jin ZiXin was like that too.

Flying on her sword over to Sect Leader's office, she stepped off of it gracefully. Her feet landed lightly on the ground, as if she was floating off it, and she gladly soaked up the admiring looks she gathered from a group of disciples that were for some reason hanging around.

She inspected their uniforms, and once she confirmed that they were part of Liu Xiang's brood, she no longer held any interest in them. They hadn't improved much under her training, so they weren't worth much thought yet.

Wu Mei burst into Jin ZiXin's office with none of the elegance that she usually displayed.

Jin ZiXin, who was in the middle of stacking incense sticks in a pyramid like structure, glanced up with the look of someone caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

Wu Mei stalked across the room and gripped his ear tightly, "What do you think you are doing?"

Jin ZiXin rose out of the chair so that his ear would remain in one piece and asked, "Working?"

"How," she shook his ear and his whole head rattled, "is this work?"

Jin ZiXin didn't have a reply for that. Wu Mei scoffed as she released his ear, and he rubbed at it with a frown. Mumbling something rude under his breath, he froze when she glared at him, having the feeling of being a chihuahua standing in front of a lion.

"Sorry?"

She scoffed again, her whole being radiating displeasure.

Wu Mei sat down on the chair across from his desk and stared at him with a frown. "So? How are the preparations for the conference going?"

"Fine."

Wu Mei gave him a harsh look. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Hm? You're sure about that?"

"Yes. Stop asking. My answer isn't going to change."

"Not even if I told you that Liu Xiang just spent two hours in my office, complaining about how far behind you are? How you haven't even started the preparations?"

Jin ZiXin blinked. "He told you?"

Wu Mei smirked at him. "No. You did."

Jin ZiXin stopped himself before he could say something even more stupid, and just sort of deflated, as if all of the air left him at once. He sat down in his chair, his head meeting his desk with a painful sounding thud.

Groaning, Wu Mei just barely heard his mumbled, "I don't even know what to do. How does one even prepare for this?"

She sighed, and her face smoothed out. She knew Jin ZiXin well enough to be able to tell when he was lying, so she knew that he was telling the truth. Undoubtedly, part of why he hadn't started was due to his laziness, but it was mainly due to this. She supposed she should have seen this coming. He had never been in charge of this before, after all.

She reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't need to worry. I have had Fan GuiRen take over training, so I'll be able to help you."

"Really?" he peeked up at her, and she didn't understand how this pitiful looking boy and that cold man that masqueraded as a sect leader could be the same person.

"Yes."

He perked up, sitting up straight and smiling at her softly. She found herself smiling back before she could stop herself.

Jin ZiXin stood up and went around to a cabinet, opening it up and pulling out a decimeter high pile of papers, balanced on his hand easily. He sat it down with a flourish in front of Wu Mei and beamed at her. "Then can you help me with these?"

She picked up the nearest paper and got started.

Nine hours later, and they were done with all of the paperwork that related to the conference.

Relieved, Jin ZiXin leaned back in his chair and laughed. Across from him, he could see Wu Mei frowning heavily at him, her displeasure on clear display. Jin ZiXin just laughed harder.

"Well then." Wu Mei stated and sighed deeply, thoroughly done with everything. "I need to go make sure Fan GuiRen hasn't killed anyone."

"Why would you assume he killed anyone?"

Wu Mei stopped. "Are you—?" she sighed again and dragged a hand through her now messy hair. Several hours of hair-pulling in frustration had not done her any favors. "No, of course you're serious."

She looked over at Jin ZiXin's confused, innocent face, and kept in the urge to sigh again.

Jin ZiXin rose from his seat and walked around the desk to her side, looking like he wanted to grab her but was unsure how. He asked, "Are you sure it was fine to help me? You're sounding like you're a little confused."

This time, she really did sigh. Then she said, "It doesn't matter."

She left and Jin ZiXin watched on with furrowed brows.

Out the building, Wu Mei hurried over the her peak, legitimately worried that she had lost a couple of disciples during the last day. And considering that she was supposed to bring some of them along to the Alliance Conference, and that she had in fact, already let them know how many she would be bringing, that wouldn't be good for the peak's or sect's reputation.

When she arrived, she didn't step off her sword. Instead, she hovered above the training ground and counted heads, using her superior vision to make sure that the various collapsed figures were still breathing. In the middle of it all, she found Fan GuiRen.

He was unmasked, his eyes shining with sadistic pleasure and the joy of causing pain, a devilish smirk on his face and a whip in his hand. She would be worried, if that whip wasn't his own magical weapon.

Truly, she did not want to know what turned him on.

He was practically a child.

Huffing in relief when she realized that they were all still alive — and still with all of their limbs attached too — she set down on the training ground. She stepped off her sword and it flew — seemingly on its own — into its sheath.

She crossed her arms and frowned. "Well? How much will they disgrace us?"

Fan GuiRen turned towards her and it was as if someone had turned over a painting. He smiled, and suddenly he was the innocent youth that Sect Leader was so fond of. Sparkles shone in the air around him, his eyes glittered with mischief, his cheeks were a rosy pink, his eyes were crinkled from his smile. He truly looked like a good-natured angel.

Too bad he was a demon in disguise.

Fan GuiRen opened his mouth and a heavenly gentle voice sounded, "Not to worry, Shifu, I've ensured that they will live up to expectations."

"Were there any problems?"

"Not at all."

A groan rose collectively from the collapsed disciples. Wu Mei ignored them like a champion.

She hummed a little and ordered, "We're leaving in two days. Make sure they're up to our standards by then."

She received a firm nod in response. As she left the grounds, she heard cries for help.

She didn't turn back.

Fan GuiRen watched his Shifu leave and grinned bloodthirstily. He turned his attention to the poor, unlucky disciples. Ah, it was such bad luck! Shifu had given him authority to torture them for forty-eight more hours!

Truly, they were so unlucky~~~

Feeling the excitement bubbling in him, Fan GuiRen grinned wider and felt his cheeks stretching dangerously wide. Human faces weren't made for the expression he wanted to use. It was such a shame.

Wen ZiHao gulped and closed his eyes in futility, trying his best to pretend to be dead. Surely, if he was dead, Fan GuiRen wouldn't torture him? Surely?!

Fan GuiRen's demonic expression cleared from his face and he said, "Off to rest now. Eat a proper breakfast tomorrow and meet back here as soon as the sun rises. If you're late.... well, I'm sure I could think of a pun~ish~ment~"

Wen ZiHao fainted.

Song YongNian glared up in mulish silence at the demon. He scowled and as soon as the demon's eyes came in his direction, Song YongNian pressed his face back in the dirt, fully prepared to eat mud.

That bastard! Who did he think he was, to torment them like this?! Did he think that just because he was the peak's head disciple, he was going to get away with this?! Song YongNian vowed on his life that he would destroy this bastard, one day! He was going to pay him back for every inch of misery that he had ever doled out!

With interest!

He heard steps walking away and soon, the oppressive aura of the demon disappeared. Song YongNian rose from the mud and scoffed at the retreating back of that bastard, feeling his willpower increase again. He wasn't going to let that bastard win!

He picked up Wen ZiHao and stalked off with the other boy slung over his shoulder. Soon, the boy woke up and let out a shrill scream in surprise.

"Relax." Song YongNian scowled. "It's just me."

Wen ZiHao screamed again. He was promptly jostled for the trouble and he shut up with a peep, curses soon starting to slip out of his mouth.

Song YongNian didn't say anything. He wanted to curse as well.

That damn bastard Fan GuiRen.... one day, Song YongNian would get his revenge!

One day!