Fengli was running along the riverbank, chasing after a small frog, when suddenly she felt an immense force push her off feet into the water. As she sunk into the depths, she was barely able to hold her breath and struggled to move up. Just when it seemed she might suffocate, bubbles began rising to the surface. Soon after that, her head broke the surface, and she gasped desperately, taking deep breaths in between coughing and spitting. After stabilizing her position, making sure she won’t sink again, the wolfgirl looked around to see what was happening.

There, standing above her was a young man, dressed in white cultivation robes, with his arms crossed. His blue eyes met hers and he gave a cocky grin.

“Good job, you can do it!” he commented mockingly. Before she could give him a piece of her mind, he turned away and shouted something incomprehensibly, then quickly left the scene, disappearing into the surrounding woods.

Fengli was just dumbfounded, and for a moment she felt like she’s about to sink again. As tears pricked her eyes, she swam towards the muddy shoreline, somehow feeling both weak and strong at the same time. After reaching the shore, she just fell over, breathing heavily, and occasionally coughing out whatever water remained in her throat and nasal passages.

This is certainly not how she imagined spending the evening on her day off! This dumbass has been pulling pranks on her before, but this is the first time he went this far! She could have drowned back there! Did he not know that swimming is not her forte!? She’ll get him…later!

After some time of cursing and shaking her fists at the invisible opponent, Fengli finally calmed down. She stood up, examined her clothes and dusted off some of the dirt and mud that stuck to them, but most of it was unfixable without proper washing. It would certainly be a tragedy…if she was the kind of girl who cared about her physical appearance.

Still, the servant quarters had some rules about how presentable their servants were supposed to look at all times, and she could get in trouble with the supervisor for walking around in dirt-stained outfit, even on her day off. Bah! Whatever! She’ll change after coming back to her room. For now, she had a different destination in mind….

Chenfei village was one of the southernmost settlements in the northern mountains, however, the proximity to the relative civilization of lowlands didn’t make it any less remote than any other mountain village that one could find in the area. Its inhabitants were mostly farmers and shepherds, there was also a rather prominent bakery and quite successful pottery business that exchanged its goods with whatever traveling caravan happened to visit this backwater location.

But the main attraction of this location, and one that made it somewhat famous in certain circles, was the one and only school of Shuangshan cultivator sect located on the twin hills overlooking the settlement. In stark contrast to the relative poverty of Chenfei, the school, funded by a famous war hero, was an image of wealth. It had its own arena, gymnasium, barracks, warehouses, and even a library. Over one hundred warriors, mostly not native to the local area, trained here, and even though the school barely had 20 years of age, it was known to produce several prominent cultivators already.

Wen Fengli, however, didn’t count among them. She was one of the countless servants employed by the sect, and, being part animal, her qi cultivation potential was of rather dodgy quality.

Walking along the dirt street, despite her rather ragged appearance, she didn’t look that much different from the locals, most of whom were farmers and shepherds, and hardly a sort to care about their looks enough to wash their clothes or bodies regularly enough.

Finally, she reached her destination.

The beating heart of the village was a stall selling snacks, pastry, and drinks, which served as a sort of ad-hoc cafeteria for the locals. Needless to say, it was also her favorite place in this heavensforsaken settlement. She quickly grabbed a bag of pastry and ordered a cup of her beloved green tea, then went to sit at the corner table nearby.

Inside the paper bag were two sweet rolls, the northern specialty, and one of the few culinary advantages the mountaineers enjoyed over the people of the plains. Taking the first bite into the sweet, soft bread, she took another bite, and then another, and another. Then, without even swallowing, she hastily took a sip of tea, the fluid and solid mixing in her mouth and turning into a rather unsightly mess of goo. Her tail was wagging rather quickly, and it was clear that she was quite pleased, the memory of the river incident slowly melting away in the ocean of sweetness.

Looking around, she saw that a group of teenage villagers entered the establishment, and made their way up to a table near Fengli, sitting down beside each other, laughing and having fun. Since it was late afternoon, they were probably done with working the fields and came here to unwind. Socializing here was probably the only thing they could look forward to the whole day long, a little cherry on top of their boring life cake. Is this her future?

“Busy day, dear?” asked the owner of the stall, the elderly man, Mo. He was eyeing up her wet and muddy clothing, probably having figured out what happened.

“That Wang Shunji!” exclaimed Fengli, in between taking another bite, “only because he’s the top student, doesn’t mean he can do whatever he wants!”.

The elderly man nodded his head but said nothing. After finishing her meal, Fengli bowed and paid him 3 gold coins, getting 50 silver cents of change. The village rarely saw paper money, and most transactions were concluded with old-style coins or barter. By paying him with currency, Fengli was basically saying “sorry, I can’t drop over and help you with anything in the following days because I’m busy”.

After leaving the stall, she set off towards servant lodgings located on the eastern hill, where all her belongings were.

The journey uphill would be rather tiring for the average person, but thanks to a combination of wolf blood and regular training sessions undertaken regularly in the secret cave hideout, it was a breeze for her. Just as she was about to get inside the main building designated as living quarters, the young man from earlier, Wang Shunji, appeared again, seemingly out of nowhere. In response, Fengli jumped in surprise and felt her heart skip a bit. He laughed mischievously.

“What are you doing here?” yelled Fengli, glaring daggers at the young man.

He grinned, “Didn’t you know? The master called for you this morning. However, you were nowhere to be found! Entire servant quarters have been looking for you all this time!” he said in accusing tone, but his face was decorated with a dumbest little smile she has ever seen. He leaned closer “What on earth have you been doing all this time?”, he glanced all over her, taking notice of her mud-stained clothes, continuing to play dumb “And why are you so *dirty*? I know you’re just a servant, but please…”

At this moment Fengli couldn’t take it anymore and screamed at him to get out. Get out, get, get out! She didn’t know how long she’s been screaming but by the time she was finished, he was already gone. She decided to use this moment of peace to change quickly into her spare set of working clothes and go see the master. His house was located in the small forest, beyond the western hill, where the warrior lodgings and main training grounds were.

It would take quite a while to reach his secluded dwelling. Perhaps she should run?

While casually jogging downhill, then uphill again, she pondered the current situation.

A long time ago, Lan Caolu was a powerful cultivator, known for his martial achievements and strength of character. As he got older, he eventually settled down in the village of Chenfei, where he opened Shuangshan cultivation school, passing his skills and personal philosophy of honor and benevolence to the next generations of martial artists. That was about two decades ago. Many flocked to the school because of its master’s reputation, and despite its relatively young age, some of the prominent cultivating clans of the middle kingdom send their offspring to train there, hoping that some of the wisdom and discipline of the old master will rub onto their children.

However, in recent months, the master became progressively more and more secluded from worldly matters. Though nobody knew the reason why, considering his advanced age, rumors of dementia and lunacy began circulating the village, and soon enough, rumor repeated many times enough became a piece of common knowledge. And with that, talks of succession begun as well, and two factions, each with their own candidate formed within the ranks of the sect.

However, this was of little consequence to the servants. All of them were Yaren, and as mixed breeds, despite not being able to efficiently manipulate qi, they were valued in the north for their enhanced physical abilities and sharp senses, often employed as physical laborers and housekeepers. Since regular weapons and traditional martial arts were of little consequence when faced with the otherworldly abilities wielded by cultivators, they were often ignored by those who had such powers, and thus, no matter what power struggles were taking place among the warriors, none of that concerned nor affected them. They were just supposed to quietly and diligently do their job regardless of who was in charge.

She arrived, panting heavily, and walked inside. After entering, the master greeted Fengli with a warm smile. His eyes looked muddied, and his facial expression was ambiguous. His clothes were far from being well maintained, and his shriveled, wrinkled face betrayed signs of malnutrition. He motioned for Fengli to come closer and talk.

He looked her up and down for a while, his mouth open and closed several times wordlessly, as if he was trying to say something, but couldn’t quite find the correct words for it. Finally, when he spoke, his voice was devoid of all the power and charisma it had as little as five years ago. It was a shaking voice of an old man, no different from the voice of any other local pensioner or down-ridden beggar.

“You’ve finally, arrived. I’ve been waiting for you for quite…a while”. She glanced at a tea set upon the table. The cups had but traces of brownish fluid inside them, whatever nightmarish fuel was brewed in the teapot has already long left this mortal realm. Fengli thanked the heavens for not arriving here earlier, else she’d suffer the fate of having to politely drink some of the mysterious substance. As always, heavens didn’t answer.

“You’re…troubled?… Is it your mother’s death?” asked the master, tilting his head, and looking straight into her eyes with his unseeing gaze. Lan Caolu was her mother’s old friend, and he took Fengli in after she passed away. However, that was a long time ago. Fengli has already gotten over it. The very fact he mistook her disgust at the so-called tea with childhood trauma and started this meeting with that particular question told her that this gonna be good, and the man is totally out of it today.

Nonetheless, the master wasn’t wrong in his perception. She was indeed troubled by something, on a deeper, existential level.
The pain of knowing that your best is simply not good enough.

Little did she know, that tonight, her fate will take an unexpected turn, and goals and aspirations she once thought to be forever beyond her reach, will become possible.

*Yaren: demi-humans. They will also be called other names such as: furries(for all types other than lizard and bird derived), beastmen, anthros, mixed breeds as well as designations based on their animal type, for example, "wolfgirl", "wolfman", "catwoman" etc.
*Shuangshan: twin hills
*middle kingdom: general name for civilized lands where humans live and rule