Chapter one: The A-list

Meilian gripped her sword tighter, keeping her eyes on the target. She cursed her heart for beating so wildly, cursed her knees for trembling. And she cursed this damn monster as she leapt backwards to avoid its lengthy forked tongue, which decimated a poor tree instead.

What was going on?

Why had it woken from its slumber?

Everyone knew the story of this giant snake with a scorpion sting for a tail. It had been one of the "pets" owned by the demon king, Huang Yichen. After his defeat at the hands of the martial god Ming Yao, his pets, cut off from their master, vanished into an eternal sleep...or at least the cultivation world wanted to believe it was eternal.

The demon king was dead, so why in the world was this monster attacking Lan village?

And did this mean that the other pets would soon wake up as well?

Meilian shuddered at the thought.

What was she even doing here?

As soon as the news of this monster's attacks had reached the Pan sect, the elders had promptly dispatched their best students, all in the senior class- Pan Yuchen,Meng Xinyue,Wang Hui, and Guangchang Meilian.

The A-list,as the cultivation world liked to call them. Meilian scoffed as she narrowly avoided getting crushed.

A-list indeed. Cultivators sure love the number four. Four major clans, four major cultivation sects, of course they had to have four top students as well.

As far as she knew, the true A-list... were those two. Meng Xinyue, the Saintess of the Silver Blade, and Pan Yuchen, the Jade Dragon of the Pan clan. She and Wang Hui were simply on the list to make them four in number. They were skilled too,of course, but still no match for those two geniuses.

Meilian watched the Saintess and the Jade Dragon as they battled side by side, their moves perfectly in sync. So far only those two had managed to deal any damage on the relentless monster.

Meilian clenched her jaw in frustration.

What exactly was she doing? Even Wang Hui was doing more work than her. She had been dodging and evading since the battle began, and had not even landed a single blow.

She might not be a genius, but she was Guangchang Meilian, successor of the Guangchang clan, and she was not going to bring shame upon that name.

With a spirited battle cry, she charged forward, and swung her sword with all her might.

Crack!

The blade shattered upon impact with the monster's armor of scales, steel shards scattering into the air.

Meilian's eyes widened, but before she could properly express shock,its massive tail slammed into her, the sting raking a deep slash onto her chest.

For a moment, all went soundless...as if someone had casted some sort of silence barrier.

The world was turning black...

"A-Lian!".

That golden voice cut into the hush, instantly pulling Meilian back into reality. Right at that moment, she fell into Xinyue's waiting arms.

Immediately, Yuchen appeared in front of them and swung his sword, separating the monster's tail from the rest of its body.

"Hang in there, A-Lian"Xinyue whispered gently as she used her acupuncture skills to prevent the poison from spreading.

The monster hissed in pain, rearing its ugly head towards them. It lashed out with its fangs and tongue, only to bash its head on an invisible protective barrier Xinyue had set up... without any hand signs?!

Meilian was still struggling to digest this realization when several spots on the monster's body glowed, lines of yellow light connecting each of them.

Wang Hui's talismans.

When had he placed them?

Then Yuchen executed sword movements her eyes couldn't follow, and the next instant the massive creature had been relieved of its head as well.

Pain had rendered Meilian immobile, and she watched as he sealed the monster's parts into a small pouch with the Pan clan's crest.

Since monster carcasses could reanimate if left lying around, they had to be sealed away properly.

Tears that had nothing to do with physical pain filled Meilian's eyes.

Those three were special. And she...

What was she?

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What was I even doing, Meng Xinyue wondered bitterly as she stood before the gates of Peony Halls, home of the Meng cultivation sect.

She had been right there,yet Meilian had gotten injured and poisoned.

She knew she should have paid better attention to the welfare of her teammates, instead of trying to outdo Pan Yuchen. The spirit of competition was a bad habit of hers, and now Meilian was suffering because of it.

It wasn't her fault, though. There was a lot of pressure on her to be the best- from Madame Meng, the Meng clan, the Pan sect, and the cultivation world at large.

Still...if she could not even protect one girl, how could she bear to hold her head up as the Saintess of the Silver Blade?

She looked up at the towering manor with a peony crest displayed proudly. She had been permitted to take a short break after escorting a weakened Meilian home to the Phoenix Retreat, which housed the Guangchang sect.

Meilian was brave.

Xinyue had always known this,yet her heart almost broke as she recalled the condition of the other girl as the carriage bearing a phoenix crest hurried towards Phoenix Retreat- her jet black bangs plastered to her sweat soaked forehead, her eyes tightly shut, long lashes wet with tears, snow white teeth digging into her small pink underlip, small white hands clutching at her injured chest.

She had not let even a whimper escape her.

Please let her be okay, Xinyue prayed as she pushed the gates with both hands.

They swung open to reveal several cultivators with bows pulled taut, ready to fire arrows.

They relaxed when they saw her.

"Xiaojie"they called respectfully.

Xinyue reached inwards and pulled out the brightest smile she could muster despite her heavy heart.

"Keep it up"she replied, walking on.

As she got closer to the main building, the weight on her heart began to ease, and her beautiful face bore traces of a genuine smile.

"Jie Jie!".

At the sound of that familiar voice, Xinyue's face even glowed with a grin as a girl threw herself at her, spinning her three times.

"A-Yue. Where did you come from?".

"It was easy to spot you..."the girl pointed at the camellia trees flanking the manor.

"Climbing trees again, A-Yue?".

The girl pouted.

"Mother is asleep. And father doesn't mind. You know he doesn't".

"But I do mind".

"No, you don't. That'd be too unfair!".

Xinyue giggled. Yingyue sure knew how to put her in an excellent mood. She looked up at Yingyue's hair, obsidian black tresses going every which way, as usual.

"Let's go in. I'll greet father,then I'll tend to your hair".

"My hair is fine!"Yingyue whined.

Xinyue smiled indulgently. Yingyue was sixteen, only a year younger than her, yet she was nothing like the lady Madame Meng was raising her to be.

A Young Lady of a cultivation clan who climbed trees because she could,gorged herself on sweets because yum, left her hair unruly because why not.

"Come on, A-Yue"Xinyue reached for her wrist but Yingyue pulled away.

"No!"she insisted, ready to sprint off.

"I'll tell you about the Jade Dragon of the Pan clan".

Yingyue paused, her lips pursed in consideration.

"Well...", she drawled"I guess my hair could endure a little tending to".

It was all Xinyue could do to contain her amusement.

"Go sit in my room,then. You can read my story books while you wait".

"Yay!"Yingyue squealed, skipping off.

Xinyue turned,a smile still on her lips, and made for Clan leader Meng's study.

It was just as she remembered,a vast, sparse room with an ample view of a butterfly garden.

He sat at his desk, writing gracefully, several books open before him.

Xinyue stood at the open doors for a while and watched him, this man whom she idolized more than the gods themselves.

Suddenly,as if alerted by a sixth sense, he looked up.

"A-Xin?".

"Father".

He laid everything aside immediately as she approached.

"Is something the matter? You should be at the Pan sect, shouldn't you?".

"I was allowed to return, after escorting an injured classmate home"she replied.

Meng Zhipeng rose to his feet, and Xinyue moved into the waiting hug.

"Will your classmate be fine?".

Xinyue wasn't sure. The situation was quite severe, but if she told Zhipeng that, he would definitely notice her worry and become worried too.

"Meilian is strong. She'll pull through".

"That's good to know. Meilian is the Guangchang heiress,is she not".

"Yes, the very same".

"What happened to her?".

"We were hunting a monster".

She would not tell him which one. He would only become alarmed and worried for her safety.

"Nothing went wrong afterwards, though", she hastened to add "Meilian succeeded in distracting it, and Pan Yuchen was able to kill it".

"Pan Yuchen killed it, did he?" a third voice, colder than the middle of winter, interrupted.

Inspite of herself, Xinyue felt her body stiffen.

She dared not turn around.

"Lanfen" Zhipeng acknowledged his wife as she walked into the room, her daffodil dress trailing after her.

"The Saintess of the Silver Blade neither slayed the beast nor protected her comrade. Is that not what we call pathetic,Mo Xinyue?".