Was the dummy actually sentient, or was that just repair magic?

Fueled by her curiosity, she hacked at the same dummy again. This time, the head went off much faster.

As it bent down to grab its head, Mei snatched off the head and ran off. In the distance, a few disciples watched in amusement.

The dummy chased, but it wasn't very fast. Mei could easily outrun it with her first level body cultivation.

Suddenly, Mei got another idea. She went to work and lopped off the head of another dummy.

Just as it reached down, Mei handed it the head of the other dummy. The dummy accepted it and screwed the head onto its neck, returning to its position.

Moments later, the chasing dummy caught up grabbed the other head and screwed it back on too before leisurely walking back.

So they didn't actually care whose head it was. Staring at the two dummies, she couldn't help but feel like something was wrong for some reason. She continued to stare at the 2nd dummy until something clicked.

Its neck was so short it almost had no neck! Mei had no idea how it took her a few seconds to notice, but now that she realised, she found it rather funny.

Running back, she confirmed the first dummy now had a doubly long neck.

She held back a giggle, looking back and forth at the two altered dummies.

Carefully, she chopped off the head of the first dummy again, this time making sure to leave no neck. The moment the head fell, she rolled it across the room and attacked a different dummy, cutting as close to the base of its neck as possible.

...

There was now a dummy with a towering neck almost half the length of its body. Around it were many dummies with no necks. Mei kept laughing as she stared at them.

"Hey!" someone yelled.

Mei froze, afraid that she was going to be scolded for her mischief. She turned over and saw it came from a group of approaching disciples. Most of them were disciples that had come here earlier than her and were watching, but a few were disciples that had come in while she was having her fun.

"Let us help you!"

Mei's anxiety faded, replaced by a grin.

 

---

 

As Xiuying and the rest of the group came in, they were instantly struck by a majestic sight. A single dummy, looking to pierce the heavens!

The neck was at least 10 metres tall, making the dummy extremely wobbly. As it tried to balance itself, it spun in circles, as if dizzy.

"What...?" she mumbled.

Mei was right at the forefront of it, aiming her axe carefully. The king fell, the head hitting the ground with a thud.

At the side, another disciple held down a headless dummy with a neck. Mei bestowed the 'crown' to it. The dummy accepted it eagerly, screwing the neck on. It put its hands to the ground, disciples helping it up. Somehow, it looked rather proud.

"What... what the heck are you guys doing!" shouted Xiuying. "Don't damage the sect property!"

While Yiying and Liu Qiang laughed uncontrollably, Wang Wei looked flabbergasted.

"Um..." Mei started to sweat.

"I'm sure they can fix this easily!" shouted back the disciple who held back the dummy earlier. "Besides, the dummies are cooperative!"

Xiuying was about to argue when she realised that what he said was true. The stubby dummies were crowding around the 'king' dummy. But as a normal dummy approached from a distance approached by itself, they parted ways for it. They even seemed more enthusiastic than the disciples.

"But still..." she mumbled.

She didn't expect Mei to be so mischievous.

To be honest, Mei felt like it was getting too much at some point and was getting a bit nervous. Her arms were getting sore too. But with so many disciples joining in, she felt pressured to continue. Plus, the blame would probably be divided with so many of them.

 

---

 

"Yang Fei. Don't you thinking it's a bit strange?" the axe elder asked.

The spear elder, a youthful man with long hair looked over.

"Maybe."

He picked up the cup before him and took a sip. It was a small teacup without a handle, only enough to hold two mouthfuls of tea.

Right now, the weapon elders were sitting around a table, drinking tea. From the teapot, steam flowed gently, filling the air with the aroma of spirit tea. As they didn't need to teach today, they decided to all relax.

Near the table was a round bamboo window, looking out towards the square before the temple. Usually, the disciples would have had their fun and start to return to their dorms by now.

Oddly, very few disciples had left, and the ones that did seemed to be in a bit of a hurry. Even stranger was how loud thuds and cheers were coming from the dummy room.

But none of them wanted to be the one to check on the disciples.

"As the youngest elder, maybe you can have a look for us?" the axe elder said with a grin.

"Huh? Why me?"

Yang Fei really didn't want his relaxing tea time interrupted.

"Now now, Xuefang. Why don't we give him some face and have a fair vote instead?" said an elegant woman who looked in her twenties.

Despite her slender frame, she had some muscle to her. She was the elder in charge of swords.

The youthful man let out a sigh of relief.

Reaching into their bags, the elders too out slips of papers and wrote something on them before piling them neatly at the centre of the table.

Glowing characters floated off the page.

"Yang Fei." it read.

The bastards! Of course it would be him.

"So what was the point of that?" he grumbled. "You guys always make me do the work..."

Xuefang laughed.

"It's because we trust you." he got up, patting Yang Fei on the shoulder. "Not everyone can do such good work, let alone at your age."

"I'm 220."

"Yes, very young."

Refilling his teacup, Yang Fei got up. He knew Xuefang wasn't lying about them being impressed by his work, but still, he wished he didn't get pushed around to do more work as the youngest. Other than that, they were very nice though. He thought back about when he was in his first sect, still a young child and shuddered.

Even though it was a neutral sect, the cruelty was unbearable. Disciples would secretly fight over limited resources and the elders didn't care much if the weaker ones died. Over here, the most danger to one's life was probably getting scolded. Ignoring cultivation and spell mishaps.

Immersed in his thoughts, Yang Fei finally reached the room. He drank the rest of his tea and entered.

And immediately spat it out.

"What in the world are you disciples doing?" he shouted. "And you spirits, you should know better!"

The dummies all seemed to panic. Strange glows came from them as they fell apart. Hundreds of little green spirits came out and began disassembling the 'king' dummy whose head almost touched the ceiling. The 'king' seemed to be very against it and struggled.

As she watched the dummies slowly return to normal and go back into position, Mei felt a strong sense of loss. But at the same time, she was relieved. She could barely feel her arms anymore!

Yang Fei sighed.

"Disciples, you may continue testing your weapons, but please refrain from causing trouble. If you've had your fun, return to your dorms."