Qi swirled in Yan Yun’s dantian, her lightning arts crackling like a whip of power among her fists as her face turned red from anger. A shudder went through her spine as she relived the sensation of the rat crawling up her leg to grab a pill from her pouch and a murderous rage began to boil in her.

She churned her Qi, staring at the little rat and the confused boy. Both standing frozen in front of her.

“Is it yours?” Yan Yun asked, her voice clipped. There were very few things that she hated, snakes, insects or such bothered her little. Pests could not hurt a cultivator after, but rats were the one thing that she despised. It had stemmed from being bitten once as a young child, and the encounter had given her an unreasonable fear of rats that she hadn’t managed to overcome yet.

The boy stood with wide eyes, gulping once before he nodded. Yan Yun took a breath, modulating her Qi as she cut off her Thunder Tempest Arts.

The boy hurriedly bowed his head, as the rat chittered, running away. “Forgive me, Senior sister, I’ll keep a closer eye on him next time. It was my mistake,” the boy spoke, clutching the little rat protectively.

“He ate my pill,” Yan Yun said as she saw the boy wince. She would’ve felt pity normally, but she wasn’t feeling charitable.

“Whatever, forget about it,” Yan Yun said, infusing her voice with Qi. She clicked her tongue, feeling her mood sour. She looked forward to the little respite she got at the end of every week when she escaped to the outer sect to finally be free of her grandfather’s influence, but the heavens seemed set on spiting her today.

Her mood further soured when she saw the boy just standing there instead of just running off at her dismissal. She was about to say a few scathing remarks when Yan Yun realised something.

“What’re you doing all the way out here? Much less with a rat?” Yan Yun asked, her eyes briefly glancing at her surroundings.

This section of the outer sect was one of her hidden places. A peaceful thicket filled with gentle calm Qi that soothed her nerves from the overfraught training her grandfather put her through, or the lustful and bickering noble heirs and lords who kept eyeing her with distasteful eyes.

It had been her hiding spot of respite. The little groves, this and a few others, being the only places she could escape to, for some peace and quiet. To find others coming into these parts, made her feel as if her private space had been invaded.

“Err, umm. I was well, Labby can search for spirit herbs and...” the boy trailed off, leaving the rest of his words unsaid.

Yan Yun curled her eyebrows as she turned to look at the Rat hiding in the pouch at the boy’s waist. She extended her senses, inspecting the rat when her eyes widened a bit at what she saw. Her discipline quickly kicked in as any hints of surprise was erased yet Yan Yun still found herself staring at the rat, and the miniscule amount of Qi sitting inside it.

She turned back to stare at the boy, as laughter began to well in her. A spirit rat of all things? Yan Yun had never heard of such a thing in her life. Spirit animals tended to be serene and pristine, marvels to be coveted, and beacons of strength that thrived under Nature’s embrace. The rat in comparison, was tiny, with black fur and a cowardly disposition, not to mention the meagre amount of Qi it held.

Yet she wouldn’t make a mockery of the boy, or the rat. All under the heavens had their places, even rats, spirit animals or not.

“Where did you find that spirit rat?” Yan Yun asked the boy, curious about how he’d found such a strange creature.

“Well, Labby had been eating up stuff in my chamber. And one day I caught him doing that, that’s how,” the boy replied, scratching his head as he ducked his head awkwardly.

Yan Yun snorted, amused by his reaction and the curious rodent. She could smell spirit herbs off the boy, their Qi mixing almost imperceptibly with his own, as if he bathed in them almost everyday.

“What do you even do with all those herbs?” Yan Yun asked, as her curiosity began to grow. There seemed to be something strange about this boy.

“I… well, I… eat them?” the boy said, almost as if he was unsure of himself. Yan Yun almost coughed in surprise as she stared at the boy silently for a moment.

“You- you eat spirit herbs?” Yan Yun asked, horrified by the boy’s words. She knew that the outer sect disciples got few resources, to hear that one of them simply ate the spirit herbs, not even utilising their Qi to cultivate- Yan Yun shuddered inside.

“They taste pretty good actually, and there’s interesting ways you can cook them,” the boy said, as if urging her to try them out. Yan Yun felt a headache mounting, the stupidity of the idea making the world spin. Why would anyone not make pills to further their cultivation from spirit herbs and simply eat them as is? It made no sense, and she found a smile breaking out, as her discipline began to slip.

“You… are one strange boy,” Yan Yun muttered, eyeing him. He looked to be older than her, around twenty or so if she were to guess. There was little remarkable to be noticed about him aside from his cultivation being only at the peak of the third realm. She’d have thought him to be a former cultivator, working as a servant if not for his outer sect robes.

Yet despite his simple appearance, something about his demeanour felt strange to her. Yan Yun silently stared at the boy for a moment, his eyes drifting around as he shuffled the rat that occasionally squeaked from his pouch.

A quick glance had him looking back at her, with a very awkward smile that he sent her way, that made the answer obvious to her. This man seemed to show almost next to no interest in her. Yan Yun wasn’t arrogant enough to believe herself the most beautiful person around, but both her bloodline and her high cultivation meant her youth were captured at their peak. She knew that she was not the most beautiful one around, yet she was still quite beautiful.

It wasn’t something she took pride in, and if Yan Yun could trade her beauty for a quiet life, she’d do it in a heartbeat. Her beauty had made her the target of many young men’s courting attempts and not all of them had been civil with their attempts. It had forced her to be better than her peers at all times, to remain a step ahead, as no man wished for their wives to be stronger or smarter than them.

It had forced her into cultivating against her wishes, and live through the heavy expectations of her grandfather, as he imposed lessons on her to be more feminine and to stop her rambunctious and tomboyish behavior.

Yan Yun hated every moment of it. She had no interest in embroidery, or to be married off to some noble by her grandfather. And so, cultivation had been her respite, her struggle for freedom, which she had desperately clung to.

That was why, it surprised her to no end, to find the boy not eyeing her as all young men did. Not turning lustful eyes away, as they derobed her in their minds. She had grown sensitive to such thoughts over the years, and the lack of which baffled her.

Another thought hit Yan Yun just a moment later. What if the boy was not interested in women? Yan Yun paused, taking another look at the secluded location she was in. She vaguely remembered sensing another presence nearby, one of the boy’s and another one that had been distinctly male.

Pieces began to fall together in Yan Yun’s mind. A young boy, uninterested in women, with a quirky spirit rat and the habit of eating spirit herbs. A secluded location and a tryst between two lovers that weren’t meant to be.

Yan Yun’s Qi began to pulse faster, golden lightning began to crackle in her eyes. Ideas upon ideas began to spin themselves together, tales of forbidden love spinning in her mind as she looked at the boy in a completely new light once more.

Had she just found herself interrupting a meeting between two hidden lovers? Yan Yun almost giggled out loud. A secret hobby of hers had been reading the romance between those of the same gender, and a hidden stash of books still remained in her closet to this day that she read through occasionally.

Yan Yun coughed lightly as she saw the boy slowly inching away from her. She’d gotten too excited and her Qi had begun flaring up.

“What’s your name?” she asked the boy, struggling to hold back her squeal of delight. The boy hesitated for a moment, before he spoke.

“Lu Jie,” the boy said, and his rat squeaked as if in agreement.

Yan Yun felt the name was a bit bland, but not everything could be as per the books she’d read. “Lu Jie, I would normally ask you to not visit this place again, or to ever speak of it with anyone as it’s my private place for respite.”

Lu Jie nodded, gulping once.

“But, I have changed my mind. You can visit this little area, so long as you don’t share its existence with anyone else, outside of… the other person who knows.”

She watched horror descend on the boy’s face and Yan Yun hurriedly reassured him.

“Don’t worry, I, Yan Yun, with the heavens as my witness swear to treat your secret as if it were my own.” Yan Yun exclaimed as her Qi flexed, and the oath was formed. She gave the boy what she thought to be a reassuring smile as she pushed down another delightful giggle threatening to burst out.

Lu Jie huh? She’d have to keep an eye on him.

***

I stared at the crazy girl, as she flashed me a smile, her eyes still glowing with what looked like electric sparks. I was torn in asking her to use her abilities to test if it followed normal electricity and just dashing the hell away from her.

She’d talked about keeping my secret and even swore an oath to the heavens! Lu Jie’s memory had quickly informed me that even a weak oath like that would set her back a month in her cultivation. Not something to be taken lightly, and that baffled me all the more.

Hadn’t she just caught me red handed? Hadn't Labby just stolen her alchemical pill? Why was she being so nice? Or more accurately, crazy? I couldn’t think of a single reason she’d not just tell this to her grandfather and get me kicked or crippled or whatever punishment the sect had in place.

“You can go now,” the girl said, waving her hand away.

“Thank you Senior Sister,” I bowed, trying to sound as grateful as I could. It wasn’t even a lie, I was very grateful to her for not ratting me out. But I was also extremely suspicious and creeped out. She’d just barged in and mostly just glared at me before her demeanor had flipped around all of a sudden, as she’d started smiling to herself.

Whatever, don’t fuck with the crazies as they say. Especially if they have a high and mighty cultivation grandfather. The girl was trouble and I wanted as little to do with her as I could. I hurriedly turned around, cursing Su Lin for his quick escape and Labby for being pretty much a drug addicted Lab Rat as I hurriedly walked away.

Labby squeaked, sinking into my pouch as he felt my emotions from my Qi. I sighed, giving in as I bestowed some pets onto the little rat. I had been too naive with Labby. I’d need to train him and teach him not to run off like that, not only can it get me in trouble, but it may also just get him killed.

I should be glad the girl didn’t just straight up murder me because she was strong. The lightning Qi I’d felt from her still made my arm hair’s rise from its intensity.

I shook my head, shelving the thoughts for another day. I was too tired. I set the pouch down, letting Labby out into my room.

“It’s alright Labby. I just realised that I need to pay more attention to you,” Labby squeaked in reply, before he ran off to some corner to do whatever he wanted to.

I let him go, sighing before I remembered the original purpose I’d went to all that trouble for. I dug into the little pouch, as I dug out the spirit herbs Su Lin had given me.

Qi spilled forth alongside the pleasant smell of the various assortment of spirit herbs that sat in my hands and a smile began to cover my face, my exhaustion already fading.

A lot of fun experimentation awaited me, and I had no intention of letting any of these go to waste.