Disclaimer!
Besides my original characters, the other characters do not belong to me (I'll name them when they appear). I am not making any money off this story, and am merely writing Fan Fiction.
I hope you enjoy Soul Land: Generation Talents Journey :)
Hello everyone! I just want to make an update about my posting schedule. I'm restarting school again, and I think I will have trouble posting frequently so instead I'm going to try doing it once every two or so months. I hope you will all understand, thank you. Wishing everyone a wonderful day!
"Dead?" Rong Xi Chong's eyes widened. "H-How can that be? He's a Spirit Dou Luo."
"This, he did not tell me, but he entrusted his school to me. Young master Rong, Xi Yuan's last wishes were for his school to have somewhat of a name in the spirit master world, I intend to do this for us."
Huh, he's mysteriously disappeared and you don't even know how? Rong Xi Chong was unbelieving but didn't choose to pry. It wasn't as if he could control what Zhuang Xi Yuan chose to do and didn't give it any more thought. As for "making a name", he understood what that meant quite clearly. "I'm not so sure on how this will be achieved. The Continental Elite Spirit Master Academy Grand Competition has always been for Advanced Spirit Master Academies, however Zhuang Xi Yuan never even accepted a single student into his school. There's another strong academy vying for that spot our kingdom has. Although they can't be considered incomparable geniuses, they are talented enough. The competition is in around 6 years. The year before it starts, my family will look over the statistics of the academies in the kingdom and choose one. As much as I want to support Xi Yuan, if my father isn't impressed then I can do nothing on this matter."
"Don't worry about that. However, there's also another matter I want to discuss with you. I've been informed that Zhuang Xi Yuan often worked as your bodyguard."
"Yes, a very efficient man despite some of his...quirks. Are you suggesting that you want to take his place? What rank is your spirit power at?"
"I actually would like for my students and me to work together."
"Your students? What are their ages? You want to compete in the Continental Elite Spirit Master Academy Grand Competition so they have to be at least 6 years younger than 24 since the participants of the contest have to be less than 25 years old. If they are around my age, then their rank is probably not too high."
"Don't worry, I'll be with them." There was a sudden pressure in the room that made Rong Xi Chong feel as if he was being pounded by dozens of heavy rocks. Even though it only lasted for a few seconds, and the pressure wasn't beyond his endurance limit, he was still sweating heavily. His eyes widened in a different manner as he looked at Cao Li Yang in front of him who was just calmly sipping tea.
"Young master Rong, you're a spirit master, correct?"
Rong Xi Chong gave a nod.
"Then you should know about the certain pressure Spirit Saints and above can release. Although I did not show my spirit rings, I believe this is proof enough of my capability. Are you willing to hire me and my students? I warn you though it will not be cheap."
Rong Xi Chong almost wanted to shout. Not be cheap! You're the one asking me for a job! Still, remembering the pressure released from before, he couldn't help but shudder slightly. Of course, his rank had to be over a Spirit Saint, a bodyguard like that would never come cheap, however, the pressure released made Rong Xi Chong guess that his rank was much higher than just 70 and so. Thinking of this again, Rong Xi Chong became quite eager, nodding in succession so much so that even Cao Li Yang was slightly dizzy from looking at him and moving it up and down so much.
It's not if I'm short of money, and building a good friendship between those who are high-ranked is never something bad! How many powers were there on the planet? Probably less than a handful. With Zhuang Xi Yuan's untimely disappearance, or death if this Cao Li Yang said was true not that Rong Xi Chong believed it too much, it was already quite fortunate that he had gotten such a powerful person at his disposal!
"Yes, of course, I'm willing." Rong Xi Chong said, again resuming his earlier calm, though his heart was thumping in his chest. "Name your price."
"I'll be lenient with the price. An hour of service of one of them will cost 10 gold spirit coins. Myself, I will be along with them, and that will be another 40 gold coins."
"10 gold spirit coins?" Rong Xi Chong's eyes widened, but he quickly regained his composure. "How many of the kids will you be bringing?"
"When you hire us is up to you, and how much security you need is something you'll have to inform us. Did Xi Yuan ever show you the school?"
Rong Xi Chong nodded. "Yes, the next time I'll send someone over to inform you when I require your services."
"Thank you. Now, I must be going, it was a pleasure meeting you, Young Master Rong."
"Wait, there still are some details we need to discuss. Contracts that need to be written and situations that had to be debated over, I ask that you stay a little while longer."
Cao Li Yang nodded his head. It was better to finish things cleanly right now if they were going to work together in the future. The children shouldn't be in much trouble, I trust that Qi Long will manage things well.
It had already been evening when they returned to the Academy so it wasn't long until the sky darkened some more and stars began appearing over the sky. Qi Long had already guessed that Cao Li Yang might take more time to return, something that they were warned about beforehand so he took charge and got everyone to go to bed since they would begin training the next day. Seeing all the lights close, he smiled and then headed back to his own cabin, being careful not to disturb Ning Tian Cheng or Bai Shu inside.
Giving a slight yawn, he also wrapped himself in blankets, his eyelids lowering. Truthfully, the boy's cabin was in not much better condition compared to the girl's. Similarly, the bathroom was filled with mould and the beds had already collapsed when they entered. Since there were only three of them, they chose to postpone fixing the bunk beds for later and instead work on fixing the cabin as a whole lest the roof falls onto them out of the blue. So the mattresses were put on the floor as their beds while the wood was left outside the cabin. From where he slept, he could already see the figures of Ning Tian Cheng and Bai Shu, their chests rising slowly with their breathing.
However, outside the boy's cabin and outside the girl's cabin as well Zu Que was in the nearby woods, running in an outfit that was definitely not her pyjamas. Crossing over some hills, she rolled down their slopes before landing on her back with her face looking up towards the stars. No matter where she was or what she was doing, the night sky also seemed so familiar along with the twinkling specks she could barely see on the mass blanket in the sky.
It had already been so many years since she encountered Cao Li Yang and became a family with every one and this small habit of hers was something that most of them were aware of. Of course, some like Qi Long would chide her not to do it so much since it might affect her sleep, but she didn't really care about things like that too much. Gripping onto the grass, she slowly began to count the stars she saw in the sky stopping after she slipped up and starting a few numbers back again.
"Hello." Suddenly, there was a voice nearby. Perhaps whoever had come had come was too quiet for her to notice or maybe she was just too focused.
"Ah!" Zu Que rolled away, frightened by the sudden presence of someone even if that face was so familiar. She soon got into a defensive stance, but it was just as quickly discarded after she calmed down. "Yan Ling, what are you doing here?"
Compared to how messy Gu Yan Ling's hair would be after she slept, that night, it was tied in a ponytail like she often wore, only much tighter than she would have normally cared for. "Sky-watching, star-seeing, whatever you're doing," She smiled, tilting her head to the side. "I'm doing."
"Well, then I guess we're doing nothing then."
"Then do you want to do something?"
"What something?" Out of all of them, Gu Yan Ling was definitely the most mischievous. There were times when one really couldn't understand her words because it was as if there was another layer of understanding that had to be uncovered first before knowing what she truly meant. It was only later on after a series of...events, that one would understand what she meant. Of course, she wasn't always like this, but when she was something that happened randomly. Though, her manner of speech was something that didn't change so much. Gu Yan Ling continued to smile, patting Zu Que on the shoulder and wiping away some of the grass. "I was just wondering...how many apples did you buy today?"
Even knowing that there was something else she was implying, Zu Que didn't mind too much. She always had a go-with-whatever process of thinking and was quite easy to get along with. Besides, Gu Yan Ling also had a sense of reason. Whatever she did wouldn't be something ridiculous. Still, if Zu Que was swapped with someone such as Dan Guo who was taciturn to the point of frustrating others with her silence and was even more unfathomable than Gu Yan Ling, the conversation would have been much different. Then again, would Dan Guo ever come out in the middle of the night to do "nothing"?
ManofLead - Okay, I'll do my best to add more characterization. This is my first time writing a story with my own characters, I really appreciate your advice!