"Wake up, you lot!" Xiao yelled into the disciples' rooms. Despite the perfect pupil, Bradley, training them, the disciples never managed to get up at five o'clock sharp.

Lucas blinked at him. "Xiao-Ge?"

"What are you staring at? Get up!" he yelled. "I thought you star pupils all follow rules like the glorious knights that you are!"

They all scrambled out of bed in a rush.

"I want you lot in the yard in two minutes," Xiao told them and slammed the door behind him. Then he went outside into the yard to collide into Bradley.

"What were you going at?" his older brother asked.

Xiao rolled his eyes. "The Grandmaster's star pupils, of course."

"Is it true that you are to stay here for the next two months?"

Xiao laughed. "You'll be happy, won't you? Without a loafer like me following you around?"

Bradley forced out a laugh even though he was shocked at Xiao's behaviour. "When have you ever followed me around?"

Xiao looked at him and smiled a self-pitying smile. Patting Bradley's shoulders, he walked into the middle of the yard to grab a spear from the weapon rack.

"You lazy bastards!"

The disciples, Jonah, Peter, Lucas, Kevin, and Aidan, came out, harassed and scared. "Xiao-Ge," Aidan said. "What's wrong?"

"Listen up. You will be training with me the next two months - "

"Next two months?" Peter demanded. "Why?"

"Because Grandmaster said so."

"What about the Maiden Case?" Lucas asked.

Xiao's eyebrows raised. "Lucas, you've never shown so much potential! The Maiden Case! That's a good name for it."

Lucas stood there for a minute, confused, before grinning nervously. Seeing him grin, Xiao smiled and his posture softened. At the end of the day, he couldn't stand being so mean to his brothers as a way to release his anger. "Alright, you lot. From now on, every morning, you'll wake up at five o'clock straight to train. You'll be under my supervision and probably the supervision of Grandmaster Liang - " 

He could only speak so many words before someone interrupted him. "But why are you staying?" Aidan asked.

Xiao's smile faded in an instant. "Jonah will tell you after training today. For now, I suggest you train hard."

Once the disciples started practicing, Xiao sat down on the top of the yard wall to watch, stopping them as they made a mistake. Bradley joined him.

"I'm surprised you haven't interrupted me once," Xiao said.

Bradley had a straight face. "What's up with you?"

Xiao rolled his eyes. "Haven't you heard from Grandmaster Liang?"

"I only know that training this lot has became your job for the next two months," Bradley said.

"I don't know what mentor was thinking, appointing me," Xiao said. "Me being the disappointment that I am."

Bradley furrowed his eyebrows. "What did he catch you doing?"

Xiao snorted. "Training Jonah with hidden weapons."

Bradley ahhed.

Xiao sighed. "Lucas, your left arm should aim higher! I thought you fixed that two years ago!"

"It's because you're back," Lucas shot back.

Xiao let out a stone at him that hit him in the stomach. "Ouch!" Lucas complained.

"Xiao-Ge! Mentor said no hidden weapons!" Jonah cried.

Xiao shushed the disciples. "Keep on practicing!"

Bradley looked at him. "Mentor banned hidden weapons?"

Xiao sighed. "I'm afraid I ruined everyone's life last night."

Bradley shook his head. "All they care about is that you're back."

Xiao was bemused. "What?"

"They've missed you the past two years."

"That explains everyone being against me yesterday."

Bradley sighed. "Xiao, I'm sorry for starting that fight. It's just that ... I missed you too."

Xiao refused to look at Bradley for a full minute before answering, "I hope to get everyone to like me again."

Bradley smiled. "We all like you, despite your recent actions."

"What recent actions?" demanded Xiao, instantly defensive. Perhaps it was because he felt guilty of not being of help to his brothers that he was so defensive.

"Going missing and barely talking to any of us."

Xiao lifted his chin. "I had my own things to do."

"But you'll focus on your brothers from now on, won't you?" Bradley was almost begging. 

"I'll do that in addition to my own business," Xiao replied.

Staying true to his word, he trained his brothers in the morning then trained with Grandmaster Maguire in the night. With all these training, the week flashed by with Xiao barely paying attention to anything or anyone and eating a great deal. Occasionally, he would meet Cole at the back. Cole often nodded at him and made to speak but Xiao would have sped away by the time he opened his mouth. Some days, he would stumble upon Jason, Gary, and Owen practicing swordplay and would be met with a few inappropriate remarks from Jason. 

On the last night of the guests' stay, all the disciples gathered outside the walls of the residence. There was food and wine, and the young men talked and laughed, barely knowing what they were saying by the middle of the night. Xiao found himself with Cole and Robbie from Xue Lake, two of the three being intoxicated. Cole had remained a non-drinker. 

Looking at Cole leaning against a tree in the lantern light, Xiao smiled at the image. Who would have thought Cole would lean? He hadn't once seen Cole sit in a position that was not upright and not care about dirtying his robes. He then saw Cole's sword. It had a white scabbard adorned with gold. He fuzzily thought that he wanted to see Cole fight. Then his gaze shifted to Robbie and an idea popped up.

"Peter, come here," he called.

The fifth oldest disciple of Mount Huai came over, a goblet in hand. Xiao gently swatted him. "Look at you, drinking! How old are you? Is this the right image to display to other sects?"

Peter grinned, knowing Xiao was joking. "Why did you call me over, Xiao-Ge?"

Xiao stretched up and made to whisper in Peter's ear, and Peter leaned down. "Don't you want to see the Xue Lake disciples fight?"

Peter pulled back in shock. "How?"

Xiao grinned. "Just watch."

He stood up and cleared his throat loudly. "Everyone, since we all practice and love the martial arts here and since tonight is our last night together, I propose that we have some sort of fighting ring."

He saw Bradley in the crowd giving him a death glare and Cole looking up at him with a curious stare. He smiled.

Peter jumped up. "That doesn't sound bad!"

Bradley scowled. "Peter! What are you doing messing about?"

"No, I think it's a good idea," Jason said, smiling at Xiao in an unsettling fashion. "I haven't really seen Xiao-Ge around lately and I was really hoping to learn from Xiao-Ge."

Xiao faked a smile at him. "So do we all agree?" he asked, hyping everyone up.

Younger disciples like Gary from Wen River and Jifang from Svetlana River cheered and older ones agreed as well, under the influence of some alcohol.

Cole stood at the back of the crowd and watched it all unfold, wondering what Xiao was up to.

"We all know the rules, right?" Xiao asked, volunteering as the host. "It's King's court. But I think for fun, the King should be allowed to demand an opponent. What do you guys think?"

They all agreed. Being young and competitive, the disciples, even the most reserved, wanted to participate in the fighting ring. 

"I'll start," Peter volunteered.

Xiao beamed at him and everyone backed away to form a big ring around Peter.

"Anyone willing to fight Peter?" Xiao asked. He knew not many would, with Peter being underage. If they won, that would have been regarded as bullying a kid, but if they had lost, that would have been very embarrassing.

Sure enough, no one answered. Peter looked at Xiao and Xiao nodded at him encouragingly. "Then I'll request Hao as my opponent," Peter announced.

Cole instantly understood what was happening, and so did Bradley and Hao.

Bradley glared at Xiao before saying, "Peter, seriously. This isn't for kids."

Xiao rolled his eyes. Of course Bradley would oppose. However, he had one more friend. 

"Bradley-Ge, this will be a nice experience for Peter," Cole intercepted. "Hao-Ge, please just compromise as the first opponent. After you beat Peter, we can challenge you and the fighting ring will actually start."

Xiao worked hard to control his facial expressions so his gloating wasn't visible. Cole wasn't so bad after all, he thought. Perhaps he had a heart somewhere under his white robes. "Hao-Ge, what do you think?" he asked. "If you really don't want to ... "

Hao smiled coldly. "I'll fight with Peter."

Xiao grinned widely and went to stand next to Bradley to watch. The older brother punched him in the arm. "I bet half the people saw through your ploy."

"I bet more than half the people support my ingenious plan."

Bradley scowled. "Let's just hope Peter doesn't make a fool of himself."

Xiao brushed it off. "Even if he does, it's as expected."

In the fighting ring, Peter and Hao saluted each other and Hao invited the younger one to start.

"Hao-Ge, you're older. You should start," Peter said, with a lazy grin on his face that made Xiao proud. 

Bradley scoffed next to Xiao. "They inherited all your disgusting traits."

Xiao laughed and bumped his shoulder against Bradley's. Perhaps it was the alcohol, or it was because Xiao had been disappearing less noticeably, the two of them were hitting it off pretty well.

Hao laughed coldly. "Peter, just go."

Peter smiled and went in for a punch. Hao twisted aside and strike at Peter's neck with the speed of lighting. Xiao hissed in shock. Hao was really good. Luckily, Peter seemed to have seen it coming and blocked it. At the same time, he punched at Hao's side. 

The spectators wooed and ahhed as the fight went on. It was easy to see that though Peter did well at the beginning, Hao was way more experienced. Soon, after three minutes, Hao's victory occurred. He punched at Peter's head, which Peter dodged speedily. However, it had been a fake and Hao's other hand went for Peter's neck. Everyone gasped in shock as Peter tried to twist away from it and failed to do so completely. The strike hit Peter in the shoulder, and he stumbled back, cursing.

Jonah appeared instantly by Peter's side and helped him to the back of the crowd. Xiao's breath became heavy in anger. Did Hao have to strike so hard? He made to challenge Hao and saw many of the Mount Huai disciples doing the same thing. Seeing them, he recollected that he should not act so rashly as an older brother. The other sects hadn't done anything yet, after all. So he glared at Stephanus and the rest of them until they understood his meaning.

Not disappointingly, Gary from Wen River went up to Hao. He saluted and said "Hao-Ge, let's not be too cold-blooded, yeah?"

Hao smiled at him. "It's all fun and games."

Xiao snorted as he watched the fight unfold. "Yeah, right," he muttered to Bradley. "Fun and games means hitting an underage disciple with all your strength?"

Bradley looked at him. "It was all your idea, Xiao."

"I didn't think he would be like this. I thought he was alright, but turns out he's just another proud bastard flaunting around his cool just because of his prominent sect."

Bradley shushed him. "Don't let him hear you."

Xiao huffed in contempt. "Just wait until I beat them."

"You think Gary will lose?" questioned Bradley. The fight between the two was fierce, and neither seemed to have an upper hand.

Xiao nodded.

"Why?"

"Gary attacks fiercely but doesn't give himself a second option for every move he makes," Xiao explained.

Bradley nodded. "And Hao?"

Xiao smiled. "Still under investigation."

Bradley scoffed. "You just want Gary to lose, that's all."

Xiao didn't answer because just then, Gary was tripped by Hao's kick and he fell on the ground hard. Smiling, Xiao glanced at Bradley with a smug expression.

Bradley rolled his eyes. "There's no need to be smug about a single correct prediction."

Xiao grinned. "At least I'm not as bad as Hao." Indeed, Hao's mouth was almost at the right side of his face due to his smug expression. His eyes were narrowed as he looked about the spectators.

"Who's next?" he called arrogantly.

Xiao scoffed and many others were indignant too. Brian from Svetlana River stepped up. "Hao, I'll play with you," he said coldly.

Hao smiled at him with a frosty glare. "Go ahead."

Brian lunged at him with all the ferocity of killing an enemy. 

"What's up with them?" Xiao asked Bradley.

Jifang from Svetlana River came to Xiao's side. "Xiao-Ge, you don't know? Svetlana River and Xue Lake aren't too friendly with each other. We are all part of the Gudu-Xue Alliance, just like Mount Huai. And eight years back, the alliance leader fell to the Grandmaster of Xue Lake and not our grandmaster because the Xue Lake sect had a longer history. Naturally, we wouldn't be too fond of Xue Lake."

Xiao nodded at him slowly. "I see."

"When will you go up, Xiao-Ge?" Jifang asked. 

Xiao smiled. "I don't want to make a fool of myself in front of all these people."

Jason came over, too. "What are you saying, Xiao-Ge? We are all friends here, aren't we?" His eyebrows lifted and he looked at Xiao flirtatiously, making Xiao cringe inwardly.

"Do you plan on going up, Jason?" Bradley came to Xiao's defence.

"Of course," Jason replied, still looking at Xiao. "When there is a worthwhile opponent like Xiao-Ge here."

Xiao laughed a short laugh. "What's the obsession with fighting me, Jason-Ge?"

Jason smiled and his eyebrows flew even higher and his head tilted down to the side seductively. "You are the famous swordsman of Mount Huai, Xiao-Ge. Why wouldn't I be obsessed with you?"

Xiao twitched his mouth. "Please be more proper, Jason-Ge."

Bradley stood closer to Xiao and glared at Jason. Jason only laughed and walked away. Xiao, Jifang, and Bradley watched him go back to Cole. Jason said something in his ear and Cole took a step back from him, clearly in shock. Cole said something that made Jason shake his head and walk away.

"I don't like him," Bradley said, his eyes following Jason.

Xiao snorted. If only Bradley knew what Jason had done. He kept his own eyes on Cole, who was standing there, not focusing on the match at all. What did Jason say to Cole? Since their talk a week ago, Xiao's opinion on Cole had been heading to the positive direction, especially when he realized that Cole rarely interacted with Jason. At meal times, he was sat directly from the Wen River disciples. If not spoken to, Cole barely talked to anyone, even his own disciple-brothers. When Jason whispered to him, which wasn't seldom, Cole just smiled coldly. Just then, Cole looked at him, his eyes meeting Xiao's. Xiao started and turned back to the match quickly.

Brian and Hao were equally matched. If one attacked, the other skillfully avoided it and returned an attack of their own. 

"Who do you think will win then?" Bradley asked him.

Xiao shrugged.

"I think Brian is going to lose. Hao's sequences are really bizarre."

Xiao smiled. They really were.

Soon, Brian did lose and Kun went up and lost as well. Xiao looked around. He knew who he wanted to go up.