Elder Shen’s expression slipped and his fingers steepled as if under a great weight.

“One must not let themselves be lost in vanity, little sister.” Said Elder Shen.

“Don’t lecture me, fatty.” Said Elder Zhenzhen. She waved her hand dismissively and snuggled into her cloud. “Now go away. I am getting tired.”

Elder Shen closed his eyes and mumbled a chant of patience. More disciples began to make themselves scarce and guest Elder LongWei gave the Monk a questioning look. Elder Shen continued a bit longer as if to gather strength and then opened his eyes.

“Sister, please listen to reason.”

“Fatty, what did I say about pointing that filthy eye at me?” Said Elder Zhenzhen.

She lazily raised a tiny hand and a person sized hand appeared in the sky above Elder Shen. The floating hand was gnarled, twisted, and pulsed with green light that made those of lower cultivation sick to look at it. Disciples began to lose all semblance of a discreet retreat and began fleeing with open haste. Xue and LongWei began to back up with their respective charges as well.

“Zhenzhen, calm down.” Said Elder Shen and held his hands out placatingly.

“Mmmm, no,” said Zhenzhen and brought her hand down.

Elder Shen’s eye’s bulged and his right palm shot up. A golden hand appeared above him to meet the descending monstrosity. Felix flinched as they met yet no great explosion occurred. The air warp around the two hands yet seemed to be contained by a green light that leaked from Zhenzhen’s attack.

The two almost appeared evenly matched. Then tiles cracked beneath Elder Shen. Ever so slowly, both he and the golden hand began to be forced downward.

“Sweet sister Zhenzhen.” Said Elder Shen with his left eye now closed. “could you please stop. Unlike you, I have zero confidence in not harming the disciples if this escalates.”

The diminutive elder looked around at the remaining disciples and sniffed. Then the green hand was gone and Elder Shen’s golden one shot off into the sky before dissipating. Elder Shen looked at the dirt up to his waist and blurred to appear next to the new monk sized hole. He bowed to Elder Zhenzhen.

“Many thanks, dear little sister. I see that your strength has progressed yet again. You truly bring honor to this brother of yours. How about we take this somewhere I can go all out?”

Zhenzhen puffed out her cheeks and looked away. Her eyes wandered and landed upon the unconscious Huu.

“I will help the pauper if it will stop your preaching, Brother Shen.” Said Zhenzhen. She flicked her finger and a pill bottle shot forward to be caught by guest elder LongWei. “That should fix all the damage. Though I fear even my pills can’t fix deeper seated issues.”

Zhenzhen yawned and pulled a section of cloud over like a blanket. Seconds later the small elder was snoring softly as her cloud floated in the middle of the pavilion. The Dragon Spear elder glared at the tiny woman before he scooped up the still unconscious Huu in his arms.

“You have my condolences, Brother Shen.” Said Guest Elder LongWei. “I thought my senior was a handful. When can I receive the rest of the compensation?”

“Just stop by our medicine hall.” Said Elder Shen. “I’ve already sent word ahead of your compensation.”

Guest Elder LongWei nodded before letting his spear hover in midair. He hopped on it and disappeared. Elder Shen looked over the crowd before giving Xue a nod. He gave the sleeping elder an annoyed look before walking away into the sky.

The disciples, those who hadn’t fled, watched Elder Zhenzhen as if she was a monster. They slowly began moving only for a Mammoth disciple to sneeze. The crowd froze as her snoring paused for a moment before continuing. Ever so slowly they all began to move as silently as possible. A few walked toward Xue, but one cold look had them scampering away.

Well, at least they are barely giving me a glance. Thanks for that Elder Zhenzhen.

He studied her sleeping face and tried to connect her to the sinister hand from earlier.

I can’t believe someone who looks so angelic could use something so evil looking. I suppose it might not really be evil. Yin maybe?

His eyes left the Elder to find that Xue had already disappeared. Further searching was halted when a firm hand spun him to face a very enthusiastic Yang Mei.

“Felix, I can’t believe you did that to Young Master Huu.” Whispered Yang Mei. “That was so awesome. It was so great to see that bastard put in his place. I really can’t thank you enough.”

“I did?” Said Felix.

“I can’t believe it either. You actually put down an Essence Condenser? I mean, people are going to be talking about this forever. Well, with the war going on it feel likes something new happens every day so maybe it won’t stay around as long as normal but still.”

“Well, I’m glad I could help.” Said Felix.

“You don’t sound that enthusiastic.”

“Sorry, Yang Mei. I just, things happened so fast. I was nearly killed and then the elders fought. Still a little frazzled.”

“Oh!” Said Yang Mei, her smile wilted before it bloomed again. “I didn’t even consider that. You just looked so in control. Are you okay?”

“I have a lot going on but I think I’ll manage. At least I could help you.” Said Felix. “So, what is this place? I would assume it has something to do with the Martial Alliance due to the décor.”

“It's the new mission Hall. Do you want to see it?”

“Sure?”

She grabbed his arm, and they made their way around the still sleeping Elder toward the open doors. As soon as they entered it felt as if the sound had been turned. Lines of disciples from all sects filled the room and waited for their turn to talk through a few harried clerks. They all seemed confident that whatever kept the sound in would work as they adamantly discussed the previous conflict.

Felix felt grateful when Yang Mei took him away from the sea of eyes through a doorway nearly as big. They passed mostly empty tables and a large board to a lone booth worked by a disciple in Clear Sky Sect robes. They stopped in front of him but he continued his work.

“Excuse me?” Said Yang Mei.

“Yes?” Said the disciple, looking up to reveal the bags under his eyes. “Can I help you?”

“My friend and I want a copy of the Alliance Report. I heard it was free?”

“Yes, that is correct. At least for now.” Said the disciple. He turned around to rummage amongst the stacks of paper on the various shelves before he pulled out a thick pamphlet. He handed it over to Yang Mei but Felix took it first, frowning at the writing.

“You guys wrote this?” Said Felix. “It doesn’t look like it is written by human hands. Is there a, uh, device or something that does this?”

“No, though I have heard of something like that.” said the disciple. “This though is a technique for producing massive amounts of paperwork. I know it looks weird but I don't care. Now, can you leave? Or is there anything else you need?”

Yang Mei and Felix exchanged a look.

“Are you okay?” Said Felix.

“Sorry,” said the disciple. “A large portion of the sect’s bureaucracy has fallen on us due to our Sect’s specialization. It is fine for those of high enough cultivation but for us normal disciples the strain is a little much. I haven’t slept in five days. Five days! It was either that or don’t cultivate.”

“Well, hang in there. It really is appreciated.” Said Felix.

The Clear Sky disciple gave a half hearted smile and returned to his paperwork. Felix opened his mouth to ask more but Yang Mei dragged him away. They took residence at a table in a far table and Yang Mei laid the report out on the table. It was packed full of reports on the war effort.

“Yang Mei… What is all this? I expected things like this to be on a need to know basis?”

“A need to know basis? That is a funny way to say it. You are right that this is a little unusual. We never had anything like this before, but it was actually suggested by the Clear Sky Sect. Apparently, they made most of their money before the alliance selling information like this but they also offered it to their disciples for a discounted price. The Elders must have decided for them to continue this role for the Martial Alliance. I heard they have had a nightmare integrating people from other sects for this to keep up with the workload.”

Felix paged to find a summary of the Kingdom’s Movement. It said that the entire front was a mess as a noble named Count Nico had started attacking the other kingdom nobles. Despite that, kingdom forces had pushed through a few sects’ territories before being stopped by the Alliance.

“Yes, but why did we get this information for free? I mean, I would think they would avoid telling the rank and file anything?”

“Rank and file? You are using a lot of weird phrases today. If you mean why us disciples can get the information, it is due to that Elder of the Mammoth sect. He reasoned that if we allow disciples to choose individual missions without orders like the empire, then the disciples need to be better informed. So, the Martial alliance is supplementing the costs for these reports. Though Elder Jackie told me that more sensitive information can only be required if you accept certain missions.”

“I guess that makes sense… then is our entire strategy to fight their organized force with missions. That seems… like it is doomed to fail.” Said Felix.

“I don’t think so. Elder Jackie told me that anyone at the core rank and above is following much more strict orders. Though there may be politics involved. He described it as the proactive strategy of the Alliance and the missions as the reactive strategy or something.”

Weird. Shouldn’t Xue be on a mission then?

Felix continued paging until he reached the report on the Empire.

“Wait, why does it say that the fighting with the empire has been minimal?”

“Probably because the wilds to the south wrap up and turn into a forest to fill most of the area between the Empire and the central region. Only in the north near the Kingdom is there really any traffic. The kingdom border on the other hand only has a few random mountains and then open plains.

“Why would a forest block them?”

“Felix, the forest is full of spirit beasts. I suppose they could fight them but there is always the chance they would lose massive amounts of troops. The few sects in the way further north are also famous for their defenses. It might make sense for them to go around them and swing through the kingdom to coordinate with them but… I don’t really know if the politics will allow it.”

“Are the spirit beasts really that much of an issue?” Said Felix

“They can be. Don’t underestimate them.”

“I really know nothing about them. Are they really so dangerous?”

“Yes.” Said Yang Mei. Her voice lowered conspiratorially. “In fact, one of your Elders is a spirit beast.”

“Which one?” said Felix, leaning in.

“Well, apparently…” Said Yang Mei, leaning a little too far in. “Elder Ja is one. Though no one knows what kind.

“I think Xue mentioned that.”

“Aww, I was hoping to be the one to tell you.” Said Yang Mei. “So, do you want to accept a mission with me?”

“Maybe…” Said Felix but then he saw her face fall. “Look, Yang Mei, I would love to, but I am not even sure I am allowed to. I mean, doesn’t the sect have rules to wait to essence condensing before leaving?”

“Oh,” said Yang Mei. “They made new rules. Our Elders wanted to keep it that way but the other sects weren’t having it. So, they compromised and made it so that any group with essence gathers must be led by someone at essence condensing. Not only that, but the leader needs to be certified by the alliance. Apparently, some of the smaller sects weren’t happy but our elders wouldn’t budge.”

“I still don’t…” Said Felix but leaned back at her crestfallen face. “Well, I guess it can’t hurt to look at the missions. What’s the incentive though? I mean, we get plenty of resources from our sect.”

“True,” said Yang Mei. “Though I have already learned that is not the case in most sects. There you have to scrape by for anything you can get. Still, more is a good thing as long as you avoid impurity build up. Also, I have heard that you can get some of the more specialized pills that aren’t normally traded. The amount and variety of resources that the Martial Alliance has gathered are insane. They are even offering weapons and other treasures.”

“That’s all well and good but I am pretty confident in getting by even without those.” Said Felix. “Is there anything else you can get with these missions?”

“Well, you can request things I’ve heard.” Said Yang Mei, deflating. “Though that mostly means specialized treasures and resources. Um, I guess you can also ask for manuals, but you already have some so that’s not interesting.

“…What?”

“Manuals? I heard it was done more as a sign of commitment, but you can get access to Sects secret manuals with enough contribution. They are really overpriced though.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Said Felix. “You have my interest now. So, we complete missions and get contributions. I assume it is some kind of point system, and we can then spend them on these resources? Even other Sect’s secret manuals”

“That’s right.” Said Yang Mei.

“Okay, I’m in. I just have some things I need to double check before we go. A few days should do it. Who did you find to be our essence condensing leader?” Said Felix.

“I was sort of hoping you would know someone.”

“…Okay, I’ll think of something.”