Orientation

Hong Wu reached for her sect token desperately, only to have Du Hu grab her wrist and mercilessly bite into the pad of her finger. Wincing in pain, Hong Wu smothered a cry of pain in her throat as blood oozed from her finger. Forcefully wiping her blood onto her sect token, Du Hu then transferred all of her merit points over to himself.

"Not even ten merit points? What gives? I thought the way Junior Brother Li described your ability to find treasured plants you would at least have a few saved up. No matter, if you are as good as he says you are then I'm sure you'll find something valuable. Consider these merit points back taxes for past grievances. Junior Brother Liao!"

The boy Hong Wu saved earlier that day stepped forward, "Yes Senior Brother Du!"

"Orient this young lady, make sure she knows the earth from the heavens and her place within them. Outline our borders for her and assure she stays within them. I don't need turf war with Ding Kun or Shen Shuren."

"It will be done."

"The rest of you, off to find more plants. I hear Cloud District Exchange recently received a shipment of pills forged by the Holy Pill Sect's new rising star, and I want to be in peak condition for the Young Dragons Competition."

"Yes, Senior Brother Du Hu," the group of disciples shouted in chorus.

With their marching orders all the disciples quickly dispersed. The man with eight fingers surnamed Li lingered briefly to direct a mocking sneer in Hong Wu's direction before heading off into the misty woods.

Du Hu turned back to Hong Wu and the young man surnamed Liao. "I look forward to working with you young lady."

With that Du Hu also left the location, cackling with self-satisfaction.

Hong Wu was still lying on the ground on her back, petrified with humiliation and rage. 'Dammit! I thought I was getting stronger; I was getting stronger. Just as I was hitting a stride I'm back to being stepped on. That monster now holds my fate in the palm of my hands. I couldn't even speak in front of him! Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!'

Hong Wu was not even given the chance to wallow in her own self-loathing before she was rudely interrupted by the boy she almost forgot was there. "I am Liao Yin. What's your name?"

Hong Wu's anger peaked at the sound of the boy's voice. The gall of interrupting her pity-party, multiplied by the fact that saving his life allowed today's events to unfold the way they did almost sent Hong Wu into a blind fury. Hong Wu's anger revitalized her as she furiously shot up from her position on the ground to a sitting position, transfixing a fierce gaze of pure venom at Liao Yin, as if trying to kill him with her gaze alone.

Liao Yin shuddered and her gaze and quickly averted his eyes. Hong Wu continued to stare daggers at him for what seemed like an eternity to the young man, until he could take it no more and broke his silence. "You're one of us now so you might as well get used to it. The quicker I catch you up to speed the sooner we can go our separate ways. Fair enough?"

Hong Wu continued to say nothing, but did not voice any disagreement. Liao Yin took that as a tacit acceptance of what he said and continued talking.

"Du Hu is in charge of a six-thousand square meter area in the forest. Across the stream to the west is Senior Sister Shen Shuren's territory. It is no secret that Du Hu harbors feelings for her; as such, crossing into her territory is off limits.

"To the north, once broadleaf trees give way to pine, you will find yourself in Ding Kun's territory. Du Hu wishes to use the upcoming Young Dragons Tournament to finally surpass Ding Kun. Du Hu has been working us tirelessly to collect more plants worth merit points in the hopes that he can buy enough resources and magical tools to match Ding Kun. Du Hu and Ding Kun often have skirmishes along the border of the tree line, but nothing ever truly comes from them. More often than not, Ding Kun and his gang will push us back into our own territory to lick our wounds.

"To the south is a restricted area of the sect. Attempting to enter it will end poorly for you so best just avoid it entirely. Once a week we will gather to offer tribute to Du Hu. Du Hu will summon us with our sect tokens and we will all meet up at his location wherever that may be."

Liao Yin stopped speaking to check that Hong Wu was still listening, only to find she was still piercing him with a deathly intense stare. With an exasperated sigh, Liao Yin huffed, "What? If you have something to say then say it. Looking at me like that isn't going to do anything other than just creep me out."

Hong Wu scowled, "I should have let the boar kill you."

Liao Yin paused for a moment, internalizing these words. A mix of complicated emotions danced across his face. "Yeah well you didn't. You're not the only one stuck in this situation. You really think Du Hu got us all to cooperate willingly? He has all our sect tokens. You cut off Li Yu's fingers and that put you on Du Hu's list. I found you; you matched the description of Li Yu's attackers; I reported in. All of our actions have consequences, cause and effect. This is a reality of cultivation and of life. You go against the laws of heaven and you'll get crushed. It's as simple as that. I did what I had to, and now I have some pressure taken off of me for this month's quota. My advice, accept things for the way they are."

Hong Wu wanted to refute this boy as simply spouting nonsense, but found it hard to do so. All her life, Hong Wu had struggled endlessly, suffering hardship after hardship. Thinking that becoming a cultivator would alleviate the misery she felt in life was foolish. So far, becoming a cultivator in fact had quite the opposite effect on her life. 'Still…'

"Tch," Hong Wu scoffed defiantly as she stood up and marched away.

Liao Yin watched Hong Wu stomp away furiously until she blended with the forest and fog. Losing sight of her, he sighed deeply before heading off in the opposite direction.

Hong Wu headed back south on auto-pilot making her way back to the cave, steaming in anger. 'I cannot resign myself to this fate. Under Madam Ji I was submissive and that just got me sold-off like livestock to be tortured in this sect. If I am stuck here I am not going to be the same pushover I once was. I will-'

Hong Wu had a much longer list of complaints and promises she was going to tell herself before she started to see a slight warping of the space around her. Ripples began to spread out, and in that moment Hong Wu remembered Liao Yin's warning about the sect's restricted area. 'The Drifting Cloud Quarters! My sect token!'

Hong Wu had only just put the pieces together when the ripples in space violently converging on her position and blasted her back with a force triple the amount of Du Hu's punch. Hong Wu was sent hurtling through the air and slammed right through the trunk of a young tree and into the base of an older, larger one.

Hong Wu spasmed on the forest floor hacking up blood. Her right arm was broken in two places. Her internal organs were ravaged and it felt like she was about to vomit up her innards. Luckily, some of the damage was mitigated by her newly refined bones. If she had not refined so many of her ribs, the possibility of a lung being punctured from the impact would have been an almost certainty.

After writhing in the dirt for what seemed like hours, Hong Wu finally exhausted herself. Unable to even wince at the pain she felt, she lay motionlessly on the ground. She did not know when, but at some point between being rejected by the barrier and now it had started raining. Alone, cold, and wet Hong Wu's thoughts once again drifted to her mother.

'It hurts mother. Why does it hurt so much? Is this really all life has to offer? Did you suffer same as me? I'm cold. I want to go home. I want to see Yan. Mother, why is this happening?'

As Hong Wu faded out of consciousness, she dreamt of an unfamiliar scene. In her dream a haggard mother held a baby lovingly in her arms. The mother's facial features were impossible to distinguish, but the daughter she held was a beautiful, healthy baby girl. The baby began to whimper. The mother gently rocked the little one back and forth slowly. As she did this, the mother whispered to her daughter.

"My goodness, you're so tiny. So small, and so beautiful. My gorgeous little *****. Shhh, don't cry, don't cry. Mama will always be here for you. I love you *****."