Their first destination in Spring was the Nightstone Sect.

"The Nightstone Sect," Gu Changming spoke standing elegantly by a giant cherry blossom tree just outside the gate. It was Wan Mingyue's idea. Honestly, the man must have a habit of using trees instead of roofs to spy. It must be a personal preference as an assassin. "The key piece to finding Midnight Magnolia."

"It is an obvious case of grudge. Your bureau has known of this fact and has planted spies and was permitted to investigate openly. Why do you think you have failed to obtain any critical information?"

As much as it was a sensitive matter to the Bureau's competency, this had honestly puzzled his entire team. The Nightstone Sect was a very renowned sect among more than fifteen sects of this whole continent. Whereas the Lianwu Grand Sect, much like its name, was mostly reserved for sons and daughters of noble titles. The Nightstone Sect was just one of the largest that accepted new ordinary disciples almost every year.

However, it was known that most had given up on their cultivation studies just after a few months because of their ordinary skills and lack of talents. There were only a few who were committed and capable enough to advance. Thus, even with the large bulge of new disciples every badge, the number died out within a few months.

"Aside from the easy acceptance of the Sect, we have not found anything suspicious either on the disciples or the elders that may point towards the murderer." His gaze swiped to the standing figure beside him. At that moment, he saw a mysterious expression on the person's face. So, he continued, "What have we missed?"

Wan Mingyue's lips rose up slightly, "It is the experience." He turned fully to General Gu and the distance between them almost made Gu Changming step off the branch in surprise. Thankfully, Wan Mingyue did not seem to notice as he spoke, "The entry is just in another week. If you can seek ways to disguise both of ourselves, you will uncover a large part of the puzzle piece."

Hurrying his face back to face the building below, it took him a moment to compose himself and considered what he had just heard. "It is no trouble. I am with knowledge of perfect disguise technique."

Wan Mingyue really seemed like he could roll his eyes when he pressed down on his jaw. "Good. Then."

-
March 6

As the days progressed, more and more young people streamed into Liyuan just like carp going for the mud paddies. Businesses flourished but crimes also spiked a little due to some opportunists.

During the entrance day, two fellows were found scrolling into the crowds of humans outside the Nightstone Sect. They lined up quietly behind about a dozen on row number one. When one of them was in front of the table, the inspector raised his drowsy eyes with a question. "Name?"

"Ming Yue," said the gentleman. A nice scar stretched above his cheek and his bang covered the other side of his face. He fetched a tablet under his sleeve then and not for long, he was free to move on.

The next gentleman was a tall and intimidating fellow. He looked at you with the tails of his sunlit eyes but his nose was too high for his face and his lips that were pressing were too big for his chin. "Ying Yue."

The inspector suddenly snickered but he gave back his tablet with a dismissive look. 

"These people are dumb to have not seen the obvious flaw of your technique," General Gu complained as they made their way to the front courtyard. Due to his inability to leak their plan to people in the Bureau, General Gu's so-called 'perfect technique' was not able to be employed. He had answered Wan Mingyue too quickly back then.

There was a spectacular sight going on already with barely half the registers making it past the inspectors. In the middle of the courtyard was a giant circular stone platform and a huge banner was waving through the wind with a large bold word 'Sword Art'.

It seemed that they have adopted a practical plan to sort and pick through the potential disciples.

A guy was waiting for them with his scroll, "State your name."

"Ming Yue."

"Yang Yue."

"Great. Your number is 25. You will be up against each other for the Three Essential Paths test. Wait for your number to be called then step into the platform. I will do a check on your weapons and sleeves."

As they were free to pass again, the 22nd round ended with a winner. The two watched silently as the rounds progressed.

Finally, it was their turn.

General Gu was the first to pull out his sword. Red from the hilt to the tip of its blade, he had only wrapped some black worn-out clothes at the hilt to hide its true form. When his sunlit eyes flickered toward his opponent, he noticed the flash of lime that crossed him quite a number of times.

Wan Mingyue had it easy. He did not need to hide much of his skill back nor the appearance of his sword because apparently, he was still a nobody in Liyuan. Thus, he immediately charged before the leaves could barely settle.

"Both of us cannot lose." Wan Mingyue was gritting his teeth when they each crossed their blades.

"It is no problem if I go alone." His foot nearly lost its grip when it took a heavy blow. Wan Mingyue was getting annoyed. So, he also landed a similar blow to his knee.

Individually, they had not the smallest idea of how long they have fought. However, until fascination turned into boredom and annoyance and the judge finally called off the match.

The two moved on together as a tie.

"I held back for our sake."

"I did not ask," Wan Mingyue was ahead and he was walking straighter than ever even after all the blows they had inflicted on each other.

Archery was next and Gu Changming's air changed completely. When they were up, he did not look at his opponent but he had a message for him, "Work hard to keep up." Its sharp tip reflected the sun and fast like a shadow, General Gu's arrow hit bullseyes. After that, many more followed, and finally his whole set. The crowd was cheering endlessly.

"Show off." Even though he took a decisively longer time to shoot, Wan Mingyue persistently hit bullseyes as well. He looked quite rigid because of his lag but General Gu was unable to say anything to him.

Then came finally, the last test, Elemental Mastery.

Three judges were fitted in front of a long wooden table. One of them was Elder Dong Qui. General Gu saw that he had a natural look of concern that was designed by the features of his face.

"Show us what you can do."

Sighing, his black sleeve waved decisively. Everyone watched with anticipation but there was nothing on the platform. The judges furrowed their brows in angry frowns but Gu Changming beat them to it, "Look around you."

The crowd wheeled ninety degrees and before long, they were shouting in panic.

"Curse you! Why must you light a fire to this garden on such a prosperous day!" Elder Dong Qui could not believe the outrageousness of such youth. While the skill was way above acceptable, the method of expression was way down beyond zero.

"To warm you from the cold."

Youngsters, these days, are wild!

Wan Mingyue stepped outside the rowdy crowds among the chaos. General Gu was confused but then something cold and white hit his tall nose suddenly.

"What is happening?" Someone yelled.

"Is it snowing?"

"No, it's also raining!"

They all turned to the scarred-face gentleman and in their eyes was amazement as big as the stars. Not many could be found in the continent where they were born inherently with the ability to control the weather.

"Which hometown does this talented youth come from?"

"At such a radius!" Apparently, the whole courtyard was snowing and raining hard extinguishing the embarrassing fire of earlier.

"You two!" Elder Dong Qui was exasperated and he had to hold on to the table as he announced his decision. "Both passed! Anyone with earth element that can undo this mess shall pass as well!"

Two days later, the Nightstone Sect made its announcement. Out of 524 registers, 182 new disciples had been accepted on their new cultivation paths. Within two days, all disciples must arrive at the Sect and settle in their respective dormitories and collect their books from the Ancient Night Library.

General Gu was no exception. When he opened the door to his assigned room, he nearly choked because of the dirt. The man stood like a statue outside the courtyard then. A contemplation as important as whether he should sweep the floor himself was on his mind when a shadow stood behind him.

"Brother."

He had expected the person to be Wan Mingyue. However, it was a stranger dressed in a green neat rope. He had seen this person somewhere but he could not recall it any further. "Who are you?"

"I'm Hau Ning," he replied with a lopsided smile. In his hand was a mandarin as red as a tomato. "As a neighbor, this is a lucky mandarin for you, brother. I have also seen your destructive power three days ago. I would have to say...I want to be your friend!" His laughter continued in the background as Gu Changming stared blankly at the supposed gift that was shoved into his hand.

"Hua Ning?"

The youth sighed a little, "That's right. I'm the second son of Chief Commander Hua Lan of the West."

The pair of sunlit eyes grew bigger for a fleet second, "Then..."

"Then what am I doing here in this mediocre Sect?" Hua Ning owned a majestic pair of black marble eyes that had flickered towards the dim sky of early spring. "Well, how do I say this? That I'm neither my elder brother nor my younger brother? There you go. That is why I'm here. Anyway, it seems like you had a lot on your mind earlier. Would you like to share?"

His gaze was quite inescapable so General Gu resigned, "My room is dirty."

"So does everyone."

"Where did they get someone to clean?"

Hua Ning licked his lips with a tilted head, "We didn't?"

"..."

"You can get the cleaning supplies from the storage room over there." They both turned to a small shack room by the well underneath an apple tree. Coincidentally, a familiar figure was drawing water for his two wooden buckets. "Oh, it's brother Ming Yue. Brother Yang Yue, come on."

Along the way, General Gu had only realized how the noble youth had already learned his name prior to his introduction. But when he saw the midnight blue eyes that grazed lazily past him, he decided to keep silent.

"What?" Wan Mingyue's tone was as brazen as usual. It did seem like he was only washing after the chore.

"Brother, our fellow brother over here seemed to have not a single idea of how to clean his room. I was just wondering if we should clean it together and consider it as a bonding time," he chuckled even though Wan Mingyue's unpleasant expression was plastered all over his face.

"A person like him only eats the fruit atop the tree. Surely, he doesn't know that a fallen fruit is also edible."

Hua Ning laughed, slapping his sleeves as if he had just heard a joke. "Brothers, you two sound closer than I thought!"

"Which part of it gives you such an imbecile impression?" Gu Changming gritted his teeth and when he shrugged off to go open the storage door and stepped inside, a spider landed on his head.

"That's a big one," Hua Ning snickered even though he flicked it away for him and retrieved a broom and some cleaning cloth. "Why don't you handle drawing the water instead?"