Violet Horizon

The afternoon hours weren't so bad since the students were having courses in groups instead of having them with the whole class. At Yun Lin Academy, there are five main factions which are the Spells & Curses faction, the Martial Arts faction, the Alchemy faction, the Weapons faction and the Beast Taming faction.

Each student is selected to be in a certain faction depending on their entrance exam results then during the afternoon hours, he or she would be studying with other students who are the same age as them and in the same faction. However, since Chen Jun Tian did not went through the entrance exam, he is sent to the Spells & Curses faction by default and he was thankful for that because He Kai is in the martial arts faction and the people in the Spell & Curses faction aren't maniacs like him.

He needed to become stronger in order to not be bullied by those sons and daughters of the elites again. He knew that they would always mock him for his family background but if he doesn't at least try to improve himself then doesn't that mean their insults were true? He wanted to prove to them that he was not the waste that they depicted him to be.

Despite not having a divine beast as his familiar like the rest of the students in Yun Lin Academy, he was accepted into this academy without going through the entrance examination and it was solely due to his own innate abilities. Therefore, as of today, he would double his efforts and push through his limits in order to not let his potentials go to waste.

Time passes by so quickly and in a blink of an eye, it was already the end of classes. Chen Jun Tian worked especially hard that day and the Elders were secretly praising him. His Chen clan had always been good with spells and curses so he finished his assignments before his classmates, yet he did not dare to slack off one bit even though the elders let him off early.

He left the Spell & Curses faction and walked towards the library at the academy's main courtyard to borrow a few textbooks but when he was about to take out a book from the shelves, someone suddenly puts their hand on his shoulder.

At that moment, his heart almost stopped beating as the book in his hand fell to the cold floor but he soon let out a sigh of relief as he made a 180-degree turn and identified the person.

It was just Fei Qing Niao, a thin and gawky exchange student from the Western Forest's Fei clan. The youth was dressed in a very bright orange brocade with silver embroidered birds and he was smiling as if life's made out of only glitter and sparkles.

"Do you want to work together for the alchemy homework?" Fei Qing Niao asked out of the blue while picking up the book that Jun Tian dropped and returning it to him.

The latter's eyes widened in surprise since he barely even know the person in front of him as the both of them were not in the same afternoon class for starters.

"You do realize that we have to do it individually, right?" Jun Tian tried his best not to sound mean.

It wasn't as if he didn't want to work with the orange cladded youth but it's just that it was very strange for someone to want him as their work partner. Not to mention, someone he barely even talk with.

"I'm pretty aware of that but I was hospitalized for the whole third semester last year so there's a few things that I don't really understand." Young master Fei lowered his head as he spoke and looked at his own shoes as if they were the most interesting things in the world, probably out of embarrassment. "I thought it'd be nice if you could help me but it's okay if you don't want to."

"Of course, I'll help you when I can..." Jun Tian was still confused by the whole situation since no one in this class has ever asked him to help them before so he just agreed with the boy in front of him, not wanting the youth to get the wrong idea that he was mean person.

"Thank you, senior brother Yun!" Qing Niao took Jun Tian's hands and shook them out of happiness.

"My name is Jun..." Jun Tian looked at him in disbelief as he quickly let go their hands and covered his mouth.

Good grief, what's with this boy? Jun Tian thought to himself. The orange cladded boy didn't even know his name, yet he wanted Jun Tian to help him out. Jun Tian mentally gave himself a face-palm.

"Ah my bad." Qing Niao gave an apologetic look. "Oh my! Why you look at the time!" He shrieked a bit as he checked his silver pocket watch, his voice was almost similar to a female's. "I have to catch the train. See you again soon, senior brother Jun!" He then waved goodbye as he ran towards the Golden Express station in front of the school's gates, not even leaving Jun Tian a chance to ask him why he chose the former to help him.

It was strange that out of a hundred and something students in the same grade as them, Fei Qing Niao chose him. Him, the Chen Jun Tian. Yes, that Chen Jun Tian who is the victim of mass bullying and the person who is less likely to be a good work partner if you don't want to stir in troubles for yourself. Jun Tian had no idea what's on Qing Niao mind but he was sure that the orange cladded youth was not a simple person. Oh well, who was he to judge? Jun Tian is also not a simple person in others' point of view. He slowly shook his head as he watched the orange cladded youth running to catch the train.

Qing Niao is a plain-looking guy according to the beauty standards here. He has a tall nose bridge and big round hazel eyes but he's unusually thin and his long golden brown hair were unkempt. It was not that big of a deal though since he has just gotten out of the hospital and was probably still recovering from his accident to even bother with his appearance. Come to think of it, no one here has the slightest clue of what caused him to be hospitalised. Maybe because none of then cared enough to even bother finding out or maybe they were simply scared of the outcomes if they were to speak up... Jun Tian gave the youth another glance then decided to return back to his estate.

On the way back home, the clear blue sky soon turned into the same pinkish colour that Chen Jun Tian was too familiar with. Nothing has changed after all these years except for the seasons and the colour of the sky throughout the day. His estate wasn't far from the academy so he didn't pass by many unfamiliar places. The old dumpling stall down the alley was still there and Madam Wang, an old woman who lived in a nearby run-down residence, was still feeding stray cats at a park not so far away as usual around the same time he got out of the academy. As a person who doesn't hang out much with other people because he has neither the time nor enough financial support to do so, the only thing he ever did after school was walking down this familiar road back home before going to his part-time work. Not that he minds much anyways.

Walking alone under the violet horizon as wind rustles through the cherry blossom trees on each side of this narrow street has always been therapeutically pleasing for him, especially since he tried to suppress the pain in his heart as much as possible.