Li Kong was walking back from his training and arrived on the village with listless expression.
"I'm so tired."
White snorted before saying, "Today was just an introduction. Things would only get harder and harder from now on. After this, we'll take a break for two hours before continuing with cultivation session."
"It will only get harder from now?!" Li Kong eyes wide opened.
"Yes and that's why you better rest your body and refrain from staying up to late."
"Aye, aye, captain." Li Kong said, head hanging low.
Completely numb at this point, White brushed off Li Kong's weird remark as a special condition he had and carried on.
"Li Kong! There's someone approaching!" White alerted.
Li Kong jolted off and observed his surroundings with caution before a thump sound heard, coming from in front.
"You goddamn brat!" Li Kong's heartbeat stopped.
"Didn't I tell you to not go to the forest until this late?!" A furious stride coming from the distance and to Li Kong's demise, it was Zheng Liyang.
As Zheng Liyang approached, Li Kong went into defensive stance. "W-Wait, uncle! Look! Look!"
Li Kong pointed at the sky. "The sun's still up! It's not that late yet!"
With a deep voice, Zheng Liyang asked, "What did you do?"
"I practiced archery! Yeah, archery! Y-you know that I made uncle Ye mad because I didn't bring my bow when we are hunting right? Right? So-so I thought that maybe.... Maybe I practiced archery in the forest to s-s-surprise him." Li Kong conveyed.
'Clever brat. I was wondering why he took the bow with him so that was the reason...' White watched over the youth with amusement.
Listening to his explanation, Zheng Liyang bull-like breath gradually subsided. After that, he took a quick look at Li Kong's clothes and found traces of sweats on it.
Li Kong was unsure of what was going to happened as he glanced at his uncle's complexion fearfully and breathed out a sigh of relief after assuring that the demonic face had disappeared.
That all before Zheng Liyang raised his arm and swung it downward, landing his knuckles perfectly at Li Kong's head.
"Ah!!!" Li Kong immediately crouched and held his head tightly.
"You stupid brat. Tell me beforehand if you wanted to do something. Sigh... Now, quickly scram! Go home and take a bath! You reek of sweats." Zheng Liyang pinched his nose and walked away, leaving behind Li Kong who was still holding his head.
While still seething through the pain, he heard loud laugh coming from in front of him and quickly lifted his head up. There he found two familiar faces, busily cackling and laughing.
One of them was his familiar friend, Yu Mei, and the other was Tang Xia...
While Yu Mei carried her action with grace, most of the time without Li Kong in the nearby vicinity, Tang Xia was the opposite of her showing free-spirited and playful attitude..
"You deserve it." Tang Xia grinned.
"Try laugh again and see if my fist don't land on your head." Li Kong stood up and raised his fist.
"Oh no! I'm so scared!" Tang Xia retreated and shielded behind Yu Mei. "Sister Yu, please help me. Li Kong tried to bull- At!" Yu Mei hit her head with her palm.
"Wai du yu du det, swiste?" Tang Xia sticked her red tongue out and tearfully looked at Yu Mei.
"That's what you get for mocking me." Li Kong snickered.
"You!" Tang Xia glared at him.
"What? Do you think I'm scared of you? Come here!" Li Kong raised both of his arms and took a stance.
"Stop both of you! Geez." Yu Mei stood between them. "Could you two not fight each time you met?"
""He/She started it first."" They both pointed at each other.
"The heck you mean I started it first? You're the one laughing at me." Feeling wronged, Li Kong pointed back at her.
"Yeah. If you weren't that stupid, I wouldn't laugh." Tang Xia replied swiftly and turned her face away.
"How does that even make sense?" Li Kong was taken back at the logic.
"Maybe, if you weren't that stupid maybe it would've made se- At!"
"Enough you two!" Yu Mei sent a huge blow at both of their head.
"Aim stwating tu tink yu dan dis on pupos, swiste Yu!" Tears flashed in Tang Xia's eyes as she stared at Yu Mei and on the other hand, Li Kong was holding his head and rolling on the ground like a worm dancing after a pinch of salt.
"Ah..." Yu Mei covered her mouth and helped both of them got on their feet.
After that, not even a minute had passed, and both of them had talked like nothing had happened before.
"So what did you do these days? Don't you know that uncle Zheng was fuming over you this afternoon, you know? If look can kill, you'll be already dead!" Tang Xia said.
"Hehe. I was busy training in the forest, you know? Bows and arrows. Stuffs like that." Li Kong rubbed his nose and spoke with confidence.
Tang Xia arrived beside him and nudged him lightly on his side. "You? Training archery?" She inspected at him for a moment before continuing, "Don't make me laugh! Didn't you just get scolded a few days before because you didn't bring your bow?"
Tang Xia squinted her eyes on him. "I bet that you are up to no good so you better tell me what you do in there in full detail then I might be able to cooperate."
"And why do I have to tell you the detail of what I'm doing there?"
"Because I was curious?" Tang Xia raised the both of his arms and stared at him incredulously. "Did you really have to ask that question?"
"No answers for you." Li Kong closed his eyes.
"Three tanghulus?"
Li Kong took a quick peek at her, let out a whiff before closing his eyes again. "You wish."
"Five?" Tang Xia asked again.
Li Kong shook his head.
"Six? Seven? Ten? You greedy pig! How much tanghulus did you want?"
Blood rushed to Li Kong's head. "I already told you that I'm not saying anything! What's wrong with you?"
While the pair was bantering each other, Yu Mei was busy figuring out what Li Kong was doing inside of the forest before something flashed in her mind.
"Could it be about what you told me about days ago, Li Kong?" Yu Mei asked.
The question went to deaf ears as they continued to bicker.
"Do you two..." Yu Mei smiled and tilted her head to the side.
"Want to die?" Her whole expression dropped.
The bickering pair had reached for each other face and all of a sudden they froze at the same exact moment as icy field entered their vision.
They turned their head silently only to found Yu Mei casted down a chilling gaze at the both of them.
They released each other grip and returned to their former position then tidied their clothes before silence commenced.
Feeling the silence was uncomfortable, Tang Xia cleared her throat before asking. "Um, I remember that sister Yu said something like it was related to your talk with him or something. Would you mind repeating that, sister Yu? Wait, where is Li Kong?"
Confusion filled their entire complexion and by the time they realized it, the figure of the young man had already distanced considerably from them.
"I remember I had to do something! See you later everyone!"
"That sneaky head." Tang Xia said.
"Sigh... Whatever. Let's go, Tang Xia. At least we know that he was fine."
"Did his absence leave your heart desolate, sister Yu?" Tang Xia closed their distance and nudged on her a little.
"It's not like that!" Red immediately filled Yu Mei's complexion as she swatted Tang Xia away.
"Oh... Did I make you embarrassed sister?" Tang Xia grin becoming even wider than before.
"Shut up!" Yu Mei couldn't take it anymore and stormed off somewhere else.
"Eh? Where you going sister? Why are you so fast? Wait! Don't leave me behind sister!"
...
Inside of his house, Li Kong walked into his bedroom with towel on his waist and reached to his wardrobes.
"That girl is driving me crazy!"
"That girl Yu Mei?" White asked.
"No! Tang Xia! That little mongrel." Li Kong went into full yapping mode which White wasn't planning to hear all of that.
"Sigh... just talking about her made me angrier. I better forget about this. Right, White?" Li Kong, already wearing clothes, glanced at the bead and asked.
"White?" Li Kong said again.
"Oh? What? Yes, yes, yes. I agree." White sounded he just like woken up from a sleep.
"Now you already washed out your sweats. Let's continue with the next session." Before Li Kong could talk again, White already cut off his words and continuing with something else.
Speechless, Li Kong could only resigned himself to fate and said, "Okay."
...
The next morning.
In front of Zheng Liyang's house, Li Kong knocked on the door for a few times and not long after, a tall figure emerged from inside of the house. His hair and clothes still messy.
"What are you doing in my house this early?" Zheng Liyang asked while scratching his stomach and yawning.
"I want to ask permission to not go to the field for a long period of time."
Zheng Liyang yawned and scratched his stomach before asking, "Reasons?"
"I want to go on a training." His eyes shone with sparkles and he gripped tightly on the bow on his chest.
The light of the youth was too blinding for Zheng Liyang who had just woken up.
"Alright, alright. Stop looking at me like that." Zheng Liyang swatted him away and warned him. "But remember you can't go too deep inside of the forest. You understand?"
Li Kong's eyes filled with even more sparkles as grabbed on Zheng Liyang's arm and shaking it causing his body to swayed.
After shaking his uncle arm for a while, Li Kong gave his thank to Zheng Liyang and disappeared into somewhere else.
A cold wind brushed off him, sending chills to his entire body and as he shivered, then he closed his door shut and thought to himself.
'I want to go back to sleep.'