Ai Mingxia closed her eyes and meditated. By the time she opened them again, her former group from the first test surrounded her. Ah. She must have dozed off. There was never really any danger since the elders were watching, but she still felt slightly apprehensive.

“Liu Xiuying…! Are you alright now?” Lei Chonglin stared at her with a concerned face, eyes wide. “I mean, ah, no offence, but you looked really, uh…”

“You looked as though you weren’t having a great time,” Guo Qiuyue said, voice hushed, “to put it lightly, and then you blacked out. Are you alright?”

“... I’m fine.” Ai Mingxia was alright. She was just weak. That was all. And it wasn’t as though they cared. They were just too polite for their own good.

“Well, uh, if you say so…”

“Didn’t seem like it,” Luo Yanmei cut in sternly but still quietly. “We’re sorry we didn’t really believe you about the hallucinations. Wouldn’t want to intrude, but if you ever need to talk, we’ll be here, yeah?”

Ai Mingxia nodded faintly. A lie. She didn’t need to talk, nor would it help, nor did Luo Yanmei really mean it. And if she really did… Ai Mingxia wouldn’t make the same mistakes.

“Well, me and Guo She have found a secret trial domain thing,” Luo Yanmei explained, lowering her voice even more. “Lei Chonglin, Liu Xiuying, wanna join in? We’ll invite Si Ma Zhilian too if she’ll agree.” She cracked her knuckles enthusiastically, a grin widening across her face.

“Of course,” Lei Chonglin answered cheerily.

It could be a trap. It was probably a trap. 

“Alright. Thank you for offering,” Ai Mingxia affirmed. 

Guo Qiuyue and Luo Yanmei looked at each other with satisfied looks on their faces. “Very well,” Guo Qiuyue expressed. “How were your respective tests? Remember, if the number of disciples doesn’t exceed twenty by the next hour, we’ll be able to skip out on the third test by default.”

Ai Mingxia blinked. She’d all but forgotten about that rule, but it didn’t really matter. She couldn’t count on the failures of others to warrant her own success. It would be good if it turned out that way, but she doubted it.

“Ah, mine was … strange,” Lei Chonglin allowed. “I had to go to a city and I tried to figure out where the token was by asking them. I had to stop a fight too. It was… hard. I’m not much good with people.” 

“I’d have to disagree.”

“You’re very good at getting people to trust you, I’d say,” Luo Yanmei laughed, the sound hearty. Ai Mingxia couldn’t help but agree at least a bit.

“I, ah… thank you? Um, and then I fell into a tunnel and had to fight a few hungry ghosts. Also hard.” He did indeed look a bit the worse for wear, but not especially injured. “After that, I got the token, and then I walked here.”

“Mm, I see! I had to go hiking, yikes. Had to trick some kui beasts, bleh,” Luo Yanmei added. “Think I got off pretty lucky, though!” 

“I had to fight a horde of gu insects,” Guo Qiuyue said darkly. “It was awful.”

Ai Mingxia suspected he was, deliberately or not, omitting parts of his test. It was understandable. She herself hadn’t brought up her own at all. Luo Yanmei laughed loudly again before her face darkened. “Ugh. Do you think Wu Jianzhu’s gonna pass as well?” 

Guo Qiuyue ran a hand through his undone hair before beginning to braid it. Atrociously. Luo Yanmei sighed and swatted Guo Qiuyue’s hands away and began to braid it for him, with far more precision. Ai Mingxia swallowed and looked away.  “... Probably. I must admit, he is strong and can be quite clever at times,” Guo Qiuyue groused mutedly.

Right on cue, the doors slammed open. Wu Jianzhu entered, part of his upper robe torn to show a heavily clawed shoulder and part of his chest. Ai Mingxia winced. He’d clearly not gotten off easy.

Guo Qiuyue lifted his chin into the air snootily and sighed, Luo Yanmei stopped braiding his hair to glare at Wu Jianzhu, and Lei Chonglin looked away holding his hands over his face. Ai Mingxia almost sighed at this despite herself. 

Wu Jianzhu glared back at them for a split second before scanning the room and sitting with some other disciples Ai Mingxia didn’t recognize, who welcomed him gaily. 

The hour passed quickly, and only nineteen disciples were in the room by the time the hour was over. Had she counted incorrectly? 

Lei Chonglin, Guo Qiuyue, Luo Yanmei, Wu Jianzhu, some boy in black meditating alone, four disciples in ordinary blue staring at him in curiosity, the five Wu Jianzhu were chatting with, three girls fawning over each other, and two similar-looking disciples huddled together over something she couldn’t make out. 

Ai Mingxia blinked. Well, she wasn’t going to complain. 

Luo Yanmei clapped her hands together. “Hell yeah! Suddenly, I’m feeling really proud of myself.”

Guo Qiuyue cupped her hands in his. “You should always be,” he said with such sincerity that Ai Mingxia couldn’t help but laugh slightly even as a heaviness welled up in her throat. Lei Chonglin sighed slightly, so softly she doubted Guo Qiuyue nor Luo Yanmei noticed. 

Ai Mingxia glanced at him and offered him a small nudge of sympathy despite herself. As if it took a few seconds for him to register it, he paused before whispering something to her.

“I, ah, know it’s silly, because I didn’t really know him anyway, and he’s, uh, not as good as I thought, but I still feel kind of, uh, well, upset about it.” She blinked at his surprising honesty. “And I know it’s stupid, but, uh…”

“You’re allowed to,” Ai Mingxia attempted softly. “It is a bit stupid, but we’re just human. We’re allowed to be sometimes.”

Lei Chonglin smiled gratefully back at her, a foreign feeling. “Alright.” Lei Chonglin was human. Ai Mingxia wasn’t. But maybe, one day it might be alright for her too.

This is the shortest chapter up to date - I apologise. My slow typing speed and lack of planning out the story over than some vague arc ideas is weighing on me.