"Now since Shiren is no longer available we need to ask everyone of you again… are you still able to execute the infiltration into the Jade Palace?", the chieftain, with Jil´s presence, asked her students, except for Shiren, in his the temporary office.

Jil alluded to a previous conversation with him: "I already told to you that I know my students are all capable to do this mission. Leaving Shiren behind hurts me as much as it hurts everyone else here but I still do not expect any big threads for them. I know those are all just about to make their test to mark themself a true master."

The chieftain turned to her students: "Yes, I believe you but… what do your students think about that? I won´t rely on people for such a dangerous and simultaneously important mission who are not in top conditions."

Jil students looked at each other and waited to someone speaking up until Xing took the opportunity to talk: "Now, we know about our situation and… I really want this war to end in our favour and to end the suffer. I know it would hurt him but in order to help him we need to-"

Xin stopped talking as someone entered the room. It was Shiren himself.

"Shiren!", Jil surprised said as she saw him entering: "You should be resting right now. If you need something you should ask Huan or someone around. We are currently in an important discussion."

Shiren looked up at his master, nodded and said: "I am well, I assure you. But please… may I have a moment of your time?"

Few moment of silence passed this room before the chieftain allowed Shiren to speak on with a nod: "Thank you.", Shiren said and spoke onward while he had everyone´s attention: "I know that might be a little bit sudden right now but … I had come to a decision during the day: Whatever it might take… I… I will be ready and willing to engage the Jade-Palace and get their scroll."

"Are you sure about this?", Jil, asked right after he finished his sentence: "We don´t want to risk loosing you because you did not pay attention for a moment. We all know you lost someone very special to you."

Shiren slightly nodded: "Yes indeed. I know Hao´s death will occupy me for a bit of time. But I won´t let it be today or tomorrow. I just must not! I will cry my tears when I got time for it. I will mourn for her and the rest of my folk. But today… I want to fight on your side as I always did. That´s… what she wanted me to do.", he explained strongly and excited.

Yong shook her head and said: "We all are already fine doing this mission on our own, Shiren. I would prefer you to stay here where nobody can chase you down. That´s what Chang wanted, as you said.", she tried to argue.

Shiren wheezed disgustedly: "As if it would be any difference." Then he breathed and talked on: "I already made peace with my mind. Nobody can tell about what would happen tomorrow. And to be honest, I prefer to be on your side, though I must admit leaving this encampment scares me. But all in all I feel more comfortable when I am at the place of the Jade-Palace with you where nobody is after my life in specific. I did not come so far just to give in now. I learned what it means to be in war."

"That´s enough!", the owl said, broke Shiren´s speech with it, stood up and spoke calmly: "I don´t have to hear one more word from your mouth, Shiren.

I understand how you do think and I can feel your confidence. Though I must admit if you leave this place it can be more than dangerous. But I also had come to a decision now as well:", he said and everyone looked at him while he paused.

"Shiren: One day ago I told you to not leave this encampment. I have no attention to risk the lifes of my people. But after everything that happened I agree to your statement. I think being with your classmates is the most safest place for you now. Who knows if we caught every last one of Quántóus bandits and how many still at freedom? Sadly we have no time to find this out now."

He looked at everyone else in this room: "Do your preparations if you did not finished them already. You will meet each other on the northern entrance as soon as possible. Your have your orders. Shiren, you wait here please. I want to have a word with you alone."

Lao chuckled at Shiren as he passed by him and said: "Alone with the chieftain? Na, I´m not interested in switching with you now."

Shiren formed a "Thanks" with his mouth but did no longer pay attention to him and turned to the owl.

As the last one leaved the room the chieftain sat down. "So, you´re from Yǐnshé as you said?"

Shiren sat down as well and nodded: "Yes. My home.", he answered.

The owl smiled. "So may I ask you: Who is your mother?"

"My… mother? Why?", Shiren wondered.

The owl nodded. "Yes. I feel very familiar with your appearance and your choices according to the reports I´ve received. Just like a part of Qi returned after so long."

"Wait. Do you want to tell me you know her?", Shiren wondered. He never expected any kind of such a conversation now.
"Personally, yes. The last thing I heard is, that she currently is living in that village you call your home."

Shiren chuckled easily: "Living… nah, living is the wrong word but…officially she has her home in Yǐnshé, yes." He felt a bit strange talking to a stranger about his family but he was very up to find out what he knew.

"So you are really her son. I wasn't aware of that until yesterday.", the owl siad.

"How so?", Lieren asked: "Or rather: Why are you sure right now?"

He grinned: "It is kinda funny. I know your father and your mother but I never knew they got married. But I must admit they both are great adventurers. I mean, who does not know your father, right?"

"You´re scaring me. Why does someone like you know about my family? Yǐnshé is one of the most separated villages I know!", Shiren said and wondered more and more about what he just heard. He never knew his father was a popular person.

"Oh, you don´t know? I mean, your father is sort of a legend. On his own stile that is. He and his friends are known as great explorers. They say he found places nobody knew about. I´m surprised you do not know about him in this way."

"I know him in other ways.", Shiren answered.

"I am sure this wily fox… or snake was willing to tell you sooner or later. However, your mother was such an adventurer too, nearly as much as your father. But she was more an explorer. Searching for forgotten realms, studying old ruins and present her discoveries to the people."

Shiren did not interrupt that man. As ridiculous as it looked like for him but it turned out this owl knew a lot more about Shiren´s parents than Shiren himself.
He always heard they were very busy with their jobs and he never asked what their jobs really were. A few times his father took Shiren with him wherever he went but Shiren never noticed something about his job or something.

He never heard anything about them being adventurers and explorers.

And now he heard all of that from an owl in the most odd situation for such a conversation.

The owl noticed Shiren´s silence and high attention to his words and said: "I guess you should ask them when you see them next." Shiren looked aside and nodded.

A weird feeling grew in his mind. A bad feeling that, irrespective of whatever happened until his time in Xun, his true journey was just about to start. With Yǐnshé, as a place, gone, where should he start looking for his parents, or for Chang? How is he gaining that Inner peace? And what should be his next place to be? Which place is worth to call home?

But every thought of that would be wasted if he does not succeed today or tomorrow so he stopped wonderong about these questions.

He answered: "Yes I will. But first I will get this scroll and think about the future when I am ready for it."

"Yes, indeed. I apologise for delaying your preparations. After the battle tomorrow, make sure you come to me. I might have a message for you. Now go and make your final arrangements.", the owl said and turned to some papers on his table.

Shiren did not have to do any critical preparations. Without talking to anyone he went back to his tent, grabbed his bag and was ready to go.

The way to the backside of the mountain from the Jade-Palace was not that hard to walk on neither was he guarded.

The first struggle appeared as the five warriors were meant to climb up the mountain.

"Okay, how do we deal with this? Should I fly around and carry one by one?", Lao asked but already answered with his next breath: "Yeah, I don´t like this idea either."

"You are right.", Yong said, as an expert in breaking into buildings: "They probably positioned guards everywhere to have an eye around the whole mountain in order to look for birds flying up. We have to do the more saver way.", she said while judging the mountain for any faults she could start climbing.

"And by the way…", Ku Zhan mentioned as he saw her bag which was filled with stuff: "How are you planning to get all of this stuff up? I think you know that we are going to climb up a difficult mountain so why are you carrying so many stuff with it?", he asked and pointed to her heavy and big bag.

Yong grinned, put her bag of and opened it. "Actually…", she explained and put a piton: "With this stuff."

"Oh, Yong, what would we ever do without you?", Xing asked with a smile.

Yong spun her piton in the air, caught it with ease and turned to the mountain: "Hurt yourself with the sharp stones I guess.", she answered, run towards the cliff, jumped it up and pricked the piton into the stone as high as she was able to, reached for a climbable part of the wall on and raised herself on a higher ledge with five metres heigh.

"That´s impressive.", Ku Zhan said: "But don´t you think we need to get some platforms higher?"

"Don´t complain yet. We need to do this pretty much more often I guess. And don´t forget we have to stealth at some point. Lao, make yourself a bit useful and get the other gadgets in my bag up here! This little flying should not get too much attention. And whoever climbs at last, bring the piton with you! We will going to need it more often probably."

"Sure, boss.", Xing answered with ease, got up to the wall and did it mostly like Yong. As she was holding on the piton it broke a little bit out of his prick but Xing made it up save.

"I hope you have good reflexes like Xing.", Shiren said: "This could get dire if we are some metres upper than this."

"What do you got to laugh?", Ku Zhan asked: "That are the same circumstances for you as for me."

Shiren just smiled at him and Ku Zhan reacted, as he saw Shiren´s explicit smile, with a groan. "Or course… go ahead…", he said and let Shiren go next.

Shiren slithered on the rocks and plants so he was not really depend on the piton as the others. He came up the same time as Lao, who flew silently and carefully to this location after Yong asked him, did. As an eagle he was luckily naturally able to fly in the air without making too much noises. Ku Zhan came at last and brought the piton with him.

"Now this path here.", Yong said and climbed up a ledgefull path she needed no piton to climb up to.

"Good thing the masters are distracting the Jade-Palace for us, right? I won´t imagine to fight after we finally are up at the Jade-Palace...", Lao commentated and flew up again carefully. Since he was an eagle he was not really able to climb. "Five metres done, Just thousands of metres to go..."

The way up was filled with plants and insecure paths and some walls which were luckily very good to get climbed on thanks to the plants and cracks or ledges in the rocks.

Yong also gave many tips at the start as they climbed the first hundreds of metres how to use those things she used properly, where they should grab as best and told a lot about how often she had to climb up things like these, though this climbing action was not the first time they actually climbed up a mountain. Specially Shiren had no big troubles and Yong´s tips about grabbing stuff were not even that important for him anyway.

Nobody got actually really exhausted on the road up but at some point as they already were more than thousand metres up Yong who leaded the party, stopped at one point.

They stood on a ledge and had to climb higher but Yong touched the stony wall and wheezed: "That´s not good. We can´t use the pitons here… let´s seek for another way. This is a dead end."

But Ku Zhan pointed on another ledge few metres away and like ten metres higher. "Can´t we get there?", he asked. Yong looked at him perplexedly and asked: "How? You think Lao will bring us all over there and the tools after us? He need his energy after we reached on the summit."

Ku Zhan winked Lao to give him Yongs bag. "I did not mean that. But I saw something in your bag that can help us here." He said, and put out a part of a rope. "It should be fine carrying our weight, right?"

"Should. Not all of our at once, but what...", Yong asked but Ku Zhan already moved on his plan: He took pit the rope and it turned out it was actually a grabble, and targeted a tree on the ledge.

"Are you sure you can do this?", Xing ased worried. "The way down is pretty… huge."

Ku Zhan did not look away from the tree and swung the grapple very high.

He swung it that high it actually reached the tree and entangled around it. Then he pulled the robe to test it´s stability and grinned to the party. "I have been trained to do such things. And I also got some tips from Shiren where you can entangle as best."

Xing clapped silently and Shren went on the robe: "Let me go first this time.", he said and carefully but swiftly went up to the other ledge while Ku Zhan was holding the rope. On that ledge he saw a way up but also some guards. Few gooses or something. Luckily he was well hidden behind the plants.

He turned back and pulled on the robe to get the groups attention.

After he got it he symbolized about enemies. With his fragile tail he was able to make good recognizable forms. Yong was turning to Lao and they were discussing it seemed like.

Probably since Lao got the best eyes he should know what Shiren wanted to say. Ku Zhan gave the robe to Xing and climbed it up.

As he came up, Shiren whispered:"Guards." and Ku Zhan nodded.

"Yeah, we already assumed something like that. I mean your mimic could also mean there is a waterfall or something like a beautiful tendril plant but we were guessing you meant enemies."

"We can go around with ease, right?", Shiren asked and Ku Zhan looked around.

"Probably.", he answered: "But I´m not sure. Lets wait until Xing and the others are here.

"I hear my name?", Xing asked behind them and pushed Ku Zhan a bit away to get on the ledge.

"It´s nothing important.", Shiren answered.
"As always when we are talking about you.", Ku Zhan added.

Xing was not punching him physically this time. Maybe because she knew this time they had to be silent but she really did not like this comment.

The robe made light noises as Yong jumped from her ledge, waited until the robe was stabilized and calm and climbed it up. After she raised up she turned to the others and asked: "Can you help me with this please?"

Shiren realized Lao was no longer on the previous ledge but also not in the air. Ku Zhan and Xing helped her getting up the robe and at some point he saw Lao clutching at it.

"They are looking for birds.", Yong explained: "So we did not want this guy here in the air."

"Just promise we do not have to do this any more often...", Lao sighed but Yong shook her head.

"Probably we need to do this every time from now on."

"So let bring this behind us more quicker.", Shiren decided and turned to the little path.

Yong found alternative ways to avoid the guard who was looking around the mountain, probably tired and looking for any activities in the air. He had a little chair and a box with him. There were probably some food inside.

Xing tapped on Shiren to get him moving on as he held on in order to to spectate.