As far as I could remember, I've always been by her side. Ming Youyou. Her radiant, sunny smile. Her innocent and hapless demeanour. That tiny, palm sized face. Her sparkling, rich warm brown eyes. Her fine dark hair. Her amusing shortness. We are what can be considered late childhood friends. I was adopted by Master first, as the sole disciple, and then around five later, Master picked her up from some random mortal city. 

At first, I thought she looked a bit ugly and annoying, with her dirty and sallow mud-stained face, grimy hands, and skinny, malnourished figure. She would always cower behind Master, exposing only her big, wide dark eyes. Because of her skinny and malnourished face back then, her eyes only served to make her look like some alien. It was very creepy and ugly. 

Master would always tell me to stop glaring at her, but the thing is, I wasn't. At that time I was only 10 or something, and hadn't yet learned the term 'resting bitch face'. But at Master's behest, I decided to give him some face and smiled at Ming Youyou more. It ended up having the exact opposite effect, causing her slightly rosy cheeks to pale in fear. After staring at the trail of dust she had kicked up running away from me, I was honestly a bit sad. 

I was raised in the sect, and was taught cultivation by only Master. I grew up isolated on the Qing mountain peak, which in hindsight, probably stumped my social skills quite a bit. Another reason for my inability to socialize was because I practiced the path of Silent Ripples, just like my Master. Who was known for looking cold-faced and detached. I had been picked up from my mortal family because of my great affinity for the water element (Interestingly enough, although my master and I both have water affinities, he picked up Ming Youyou, who has a strong fire affinity). Coincidently, my Master had been passing by one day when I was toddling around outside the thatched up straw house (I assumed the house was like that since most mortal ones were like that), covered (presumably) in mud and pig shit. He came and (probably) bought me off my birth parents. He was never that clear on the details of my past before entering the QingShan sect, although some hints have been dropped here and there. 

Anyways, ever since that one time Ming Youyou ran away from me, my self-esteem had taken a surprisingly big hit. Disappointed, I decided to see just how horrendous my smile was. I had managed to procure a hand mirror from my Master, and slowly smiled at it. Suddenly, I could see why she was so horrified. I think because I had spent the last five years purely cultivating and doing nothing else, my face had forgotten what it was like to smile. The face that was reflected back at me looked like a mockery of what a face should look like when smiling. I showed a bit too much teeth (you could see a bit of my molars), and the smile looked stiff and wide, like a doll drawn by an amateur doll maker's apprentice. My eyes narrowed into tiny crescent slits while my face wrinkled like a prune. Truly, a horrific sight. My Master, who had been standing beside me at the time, doubled over and began laughing. That was probably the first time I saw him laugh that much in my life. Embarrassed, I shoved the mirror back into his hands and quickly ran away using Rippling Steps, a beginner Art. 

After that, I tried my best to fix my smile, but in private by using still ponds that never seemed to evaporate (because the mountain constantly rained). It was also covered with rivers, streams, and such, along with a dense fog around most of it that never lifted. Whoever said 'Practice makes perfect' can eat my shoes. 

Since then, I decided to avoid my junior sister and diligently cultivate. A few months was spent of us mutually avoiding each other.

Until one day, when I was practicing my sword arts (as always), she timidly approached and asked for pointers. Now, usually, you would smile comfortingly at the timid person to show your friendliness, but I decided to spare her her face. I think when I didn't change my expression, her tense shoulders slightly relaxed. 

From then on, she would consistently show up to my courtyard asking for pointers or questions on some of her beginner's beginner arts, like simple Qi Breathing or Breath Concealment that even a (albeit mature) 10 year old could easily explain. That was how our healthy (notice how I emphasize 'healthy') friendship began.

"Senior sister!" a hand gently shook my shoulder. I jerked back from my daze. 

"Hm?" I hmmphed. 

"You were having one of those broody moments again," Ming Youyou laughed, sitting beside me on the cultivation pad, her legs splayed out haphazardly. 10 years had passed since our friendship had begun, and we have both matured and grew into young adults. 

"Hm," I said.

"Stop hmming!" She pouted, kicking my knee lightly. I let out a small laugh. 

"Aren't you excited for the secret realm's opening? We've been training so long for this, and I can't believe it's only tomorrow!" She squealed, laying flat on her back.

"Sit properly. You're going to get my floor dirty with all that dirt on your clothes," I said, making a disgusted face.

"How dare you! As if! Look at my clothes, they're perfectly clean! Look at them!" She said, grabbing a handful of her outer clothing and shoving it in my face. She pounced on me and forced my face into them. "You see this!" She said triumphantly. "Not a speck of dirt!"

And surprisingly, it really was clean. Usually, she likes to spend her time outside on our mountain running around and hopping from tree to tree using her movement techniques. 

"Fine, fine," I relented, covering my no doubt blushing face under the guise of fixing my hair. 

"And! And Master said we can meet the other disciples in the sect! Don't you think it's so boring with just the three of us? I can't believe Master would forbid us from going down the mountain! It's not fair! I bet the other disciples are all having fun together in one giant group!" Ming Youyou groused, laying on my legs.

"Calm down," I sighed, massaging her face to smoothen out her frown. "You'll get wrinkles and no boy will want to date you." I internally suppressed the twinge of disappointment. I had made peace with it already, ever since I discovered her fantasies of her ideal man.

"I wish we could enter the same layer together. If only I had the same cultivation base as you!" Ming Youyou sighed. "If you make other friends, promise I'll still be your best friend?" She asked, widening her eyes cutely. 

"Of course," I said, quirking my lips slightly. That was a promise I intended to keep.

-

As we flew down the mountain on our spiritual artifacts, Ming Youyou shouted, "Last one down's a rotten egg!" And promptly sped up her speed. Quickly, she was lost in the thick fog that covered the mountain. Shaking my head helplessly, I sped up as well and easily tracked her. We had both grown up in this fog, after all, and could both navigate it easily. 

Slowly, I could feel my heartbeat quicken as well. Soon, it will be both our first times meeting our fellow sect mates. I wonder if they would like us? 

After what felt like an eternity as well as an instant, I broke through the heavy fog that had been present for my whole life for the first time. I felt a strong ray of sunshine for, and was almost blinded by the radiance of it. I paused my flight, taking in the warmth. When my eyes finally adjusted, I looked back at the mountain.

With the sun shining above, the outlines of the mountain could been seen faintly through the canopy of fog and clouds. The mountain peak, where my master, junior sister, and I all made our homes, was somehow still covered with a layer of fog, albeit thinner than the rest of the mountain. It was well above the cloud layer, rising jaggedly and steeply over the rest of the mountain that tapered gently down. In some parts, I could see some sparkles where the sunlight reflected off the multiple rivers and streams flowing down the mountain. As I flew lower, the fog around the mountain grew even denser and silhouettes of a forest of misshapen, twisted trees could be seen crawling around the base of the mountain. 

"Senior sister!" A voice yelled. I looked in Ming Youyou's direction, and gasped.

Around my mountain were more mountains, all bustling with activity as many cultivators buzzed around the air like busy bees, getting with their day. The ring of mountains made up a valley, and in the valley sat the main sect, like a jewel being cradled. The sun shined down from above, lighting the sect up completely. I could see courtyards after courtyards, each far bigger than what I was used to. I could hear the cacophony of noises being produced from there. Everything looked so much bigger. So much shinier. 

Why did our Master forbid us from leaving the mountain until now? I wondered.

"It's amazing," I whispered, floating slowly towards Ming Youyou. My junior sister nodded numbly next to me, equally in awe.