Spear School, Si Lak Mercenaries

  "Classmate Feng, what did you call us here for?" Several Spear School disciples asked of Feng Chusan, who sat on one of the many concrete cube slabs dotting the main courtyard of the Spear School.

  "I've gotten the details of my mission, and I need three of you to join my team," Feng Chusan replied. They all looked interested.

  "Lu Hetian, you're the best matrix practitioner I know. Will you come with me?"

  "Of course," Lu Hetian blushed a little at Feng Chusan's praise. He rubbed his hand over his forehead awkwardly.

  "Yu Biaoli, I've seen you've mastered twelve out of Elder Nalan's fifteen Hawkspear Stances. I need you as well,"

  "Alright," Yu Biaoli grinned widely.

  "However, I'm stuck between you two," and the turned her face towards the twins of the Spear School. Yan Hu and Yan Li were identical twins and also almost equal in cultivation talent. The two shrugged.

  "Let both of us come along,"

  "Fine then!" Feng Chusan thus got her team. Pulling them close, she whispered some information to them. Their eyes all widened.

  "Chusan! That's a difficult mission!" Yu Biaoli exclaimed. Feng Chusan shrugged.

  "The mission came from the Top Senior herself,"

  "Really?" They were all stumped.

  "How are we going to go about it?" Yan Hu asked.

  "I don't know. First thing is: where can we find it?"

  'It' was a Rank Three Mystic Horned Boar, which Feng Chusan had been tasked to kill and retrieve it's core to deliver to the Alchemy Guild. Such mystic creatures were not to be found in the surroundings of the Si Lak Mercenaries camp, so it was probable that they would have to search for it somewhere else. Unfortunately for Feng Chusan, all four of her teammates had been born and raised in Si Lak town, and had joined the Mercenaries when they got older. They knew next to nothing about the outside world. Feng Chusan, on her part, only knew the socialite ladies haunts in the capital of Phoenix Empire, and even these were becoming faint in her memory.

  "We'll get a map of what lies after the camp," said Feng Chusan.

  "Shh!" The rest hushed her looking scandalized, "haven't you learnt this yet?" Asked Yu Biaoli, "it's taboo to speak of 'what lies after the camp'!. To keep the secret of our location, even we Mercenaries are not allowed to know! Therefore, when you have to leave the camp for a mission, you can only get a teleportation scroll from an elder which will transport you fifty li away from where the giant concealing matrix protecting the Mercenaries starts from."

  "I didn't know this," Feng Chusan rubbed her nose, "so there's no way of knowing what empire we're in?"

  Yu Biaoli sneered as she shook her head.

  "Dummy, everyone knows we're suspended in a space-defying wonderland which the Grand Chief," she hushed reverently, "--created. We're somewhere hanging between the Upper Prefectures and the Mainland."

  Feng Chusan looked around her wildly, imagining if the floor beneath her would suddenly plummet to earth. It did not seem that way, though. The ground beneath her feet seemed even more solid than that at home.

  "So where does the teleportation matrix drop you at, and how do you return?"

  "On the peak of a mountain called Mt. Yiwu. And of course any higher up leaving the Mercenaries gets the space tearing token that lands them back inside. However, rookies like us will have to be escorted by transport creatures on Mt. Yiwu." Said Lu Hetian.

  "There are transport creatures on Mt. Yuwu?" Asked Feng Chusan, "why?"

  "Why can't you guess? Mt. Yiwu is the 'gate' of the Si Lak Mercenaries, if we can call it that. Long ago, when the Si Lak Mercenaries used to meddle in the affairs of the world, Mt. Yiwu was where anyone desiring the Si Lak Mercenaries' services would come to. Back then before we also closed our doors, cultivators used to come to Mt. Yiwu to participate in the annual acceptance tests. All down to the foot of the mountain, there is a big market dealing in all sorts of things. Several people in Si Lak town have their businesses on Mt. Yiwu. It's a pretty exciting place, from what I've heard," said Yu Biaoli with a twinkle in her eye.

  "Wow, I've never heard any of this before. So, I guess from Mt. Yiwu we'll then make our way to wherever we can come across a horned boar, right?"

  "Mn," they all agreed.

  "Then, when should we go?"

  "Tomorrow should be good. Early tomorrow," said Yan Hu.

  "Okay. I'll go meet Elder Han to get our teleportation scroll," Feng Chusan got up. The others also left to pack whatever they might each need for the journey.

  ***

  A cold gust of wind blew past the solitary girl standing in the courtyard and she shivered. Even from afar, a bronze token was visible where it hung from her waist. Upon closer inspection, this token had inscribed on it two domineering characters: Si Lak!

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  The girl was wearing a mask, shaped curiously like a cat's face. It was the only one that had appealed to her of all the masks displayed outside in the Weapons Guild market. She turned, peering through the gathering mist, looking to see if anyone was approaching.

  Presently two wrapped figures emerged from the buildings behind the girl and hurried over.

  "It's cold!" Yu Biaoli hissed.

  "I can't help it. Where are the twins?"

  "I think they went to get their masks," even then Yu Biaoli retrieved her own mask from her spatial space. It was a black mask with intricate silver rune markings. It only covered half her face, her pouting lip was still visible.

  "They took seven rings from me for this mask, the cheats," Lu Biaoli complained. Copper rings were the internal currency of the Si Lak Mercenaries, tenderable as a means of exchange within the camp, town and of course, Mt. Yiwu.

  "Does it have any quirks?" Asked Lu Hetian. He had fashioned his own mask himself from the skull of an orc, an heirloom of his family.

  "I don't know." Yu Biaoli shrugged, "I didn't even ask. Those Weapons Guild people are just too cocky. They also make the most money," she added with a huff.

  "You can also start a business if you are in need of money," commented Feng Chusan, peering into the mist surrounding them, "let's head to the Weapons Guild and meet up with the twins, shall we?"

  "Sure,"

  Thus they fell into step, hurrying along. They left at the gate of the Spear School and went down the main street. Around them, the buildings rose up from the gloom suddenly when they passed by them, and disappeared again as they went past. The mist was thicker now, and they only saw a few feet ahead of them. Though it was rather early, there were still people milling about the main street, who they nearly kept bumping into.

  "Do we go in or wait here?" asked Lu Hetian as they arrived in front of the Weapons Guild, the gate of which was wide open with quite a number of people entering and leaving.

  "Let's wait," Feng Chusan decided, "you're sure they came here though, Biaoli? What if they're still back in the dorms?"

  "I know they're here," replied Yu Biaoli, "you guys stay here. I'll go hurry them out," she strode away and joined those on their way inside. Feng Chusan retrieved a cloak from her spatial space and pulled it around herself as she and Lu Hetian turned aside out of the way of the driving wind.

  "Classmate Feng," Lu Hetian glanced at her, "what will you do after receiving your mercenary name?"

  "What will I do?" Feng Chusan repeated quizzically.

  "Receiving your mercenary name means you've graduated from the Spear School. So...are you going to join the Spear Squad? Become an hatchery tutor? Join or start a squad on Mt. Yiwu? Join the patrol team?" He shrugged, "have you thought about it?"

  Feng Chusan was stunned. She hadn't reckoned that career paths even within the Mercenaries were so diverse.

  "I...I don't know,"

  "As for me," Lu Hetian turned around so he could look into her eyes, "I'm going to start my own squad and recruit talents straight from the hatcheries. I might also hold a selection test on Mt. Yiwu when we're powerful enough. There's a small unoccupied plot of land not far from the Tiger Squad that I've been eyeing for a while. We can build our courtyard there. What do you think, Chusan? Care to join me?"

  Feng Chusan blinked as she was hit with the full force of Lu Hetian's charming side which he had been practising for weeks.

  "Oh-- I'll -- I guess I'll think about it," she finally managed to mumble. Lu Hetian grinned. It was just as well. Yu Biaoli had emerged from the Weapons Guild with the twins, who it turned out had been held up because they were looking for identical masks. Due to not finding any, they had requested it to be forged on request.

  "That's what happens when folks have a ton of money," Yu Biaoli hissed as she joined up with Feng Chusan and Lu Hetian. The twins now sported two king Yama masks, one black one white.

  "Let's go," Feng Chusan led them away from the crowded area of the Weapons Guild. The mist was clearing and the sun had started to rise in the east, it was just over the crest of Mt. Lingwu. Their feet led them to the central courtyard of the Si Lak Mercenaries, and here Feng Chusan halted.

  "Isn't this place off limits?"

  "Only the East Hall and the Boilers are," replied Yan Li, "though why anyone would want to visit the Boilers voluntarily is beyond me," he added with a chuckle.

  Feng Chusan retrieved the teleportation scroll from her spatial space.

  "Come on, guys, huddle together,"

  They all crept close around her.

  Riiip! Chusan tore the teleportation scroll in two. A matrix formation formed beneath their feet almost immediately. With a blinding flash of light, they vanished.

  *

  "Ugh!" only Yu Biaoli lost her balance and she fell face down onto the hard ground. Feng Chusan glanced around her, even as a gale of wind swept by and threatened to knock her off her feet.

  They had landed on what appeared to be a wide expanse of ground. The wind howled around them, blowing strongly. Yu Biaoli got to her feet.

  "Come on,"

  Leading the way, Yu Biaoli walked across the plateau and descended a flight of steps that had been hewn out of the mountain. These steps went around the mountain in a circular spiral. When they had gone about forty steps, they came to the gate of a little village which had a plaque bearing An Hu Gate, attached to it.

  "Do we go in here?" Feng Chusan asked.

  "No need," said Yu Biaoli, "it's too early, I doubt anyone's up. Besides, we don't have anything to do there."

  So they kept going down the mountain. Before long, they reached an area where there was a little hustle and bustle. Even from afar, they could see giant transport creatures being tended by their grooms. As they descended into the clearing, they attracted many stares and envious looks. It was clear at a glance where they were coming from.

  "Folks from the Si Lak Mercenaries!" A short beefy man let loose the giant horned eagle he was tending, and with a loud screech and a great flutter of wings the eagle rose into the air and circled the mountain once before disappearing from sight. The man's comrades shouted, but he just shrugged. Clearly, the eagle would come back.

  "Hello!" He waddled over to Feng Chusan and her crew, "it's quite seldom we see you esteemed seniors on Mt. Yiwu, especially since *that event*," he grinned, peering up into their masked faces, "how may we help you?"

  "Never mind," said Lu Hetian on behalf of the rest, "we're just going down,"

  "All the way down?" The man chuckled, "i wouldn't advise you do that. Why not take my eagle to take you where you're going. My rates are the cheapest here,"

  "No thank you," said Feng Chusan, "maybe when we're heading back,"

  The man tried to dissuade them, telling them that they would be held up at the foot of the mountain by people who had camped there 'from ages past' trying to get into contact with the Mercenaries for whatever reasons. They brushed him off and went on their way. As they hurried on down the mountain, they came to several other little villages where they were gawked at by little children peeking out of windows, for the time was now around yu zhong1 time. In front of all the villages they came to was mounted a big blackboard next to the gate on which was pasted many notices, adverts and mission requests, much like in the Mercenaries itself, where each squad and school had a huge board in the central courtyard where people who had received their mercenary name could scout for missions. Feng Chusan now understood Yu Biaoli who had said both Si Lak town and Mt. Yiwu were extensions of the Mercenaries.

  They hurried on down, not even stopping to eat. The base of the mountain was now visible and they could see a bustling town that went on for a few li. Apparently the campers from ages past had settled at the foot of the mountain and founded a whole town!