A bird twittered in a tree overhead, singing its lyrical song wordlessly out into a park busied with the warming weather. A bright and cheery sunlight filtered down through the lush canopies, catching on each and every green-scale leaf and scattering sunlight in dappled sheets through the undergrowth— a golden warmth that made the whole place only feel more alive, trapped between it and the comfortable forest gloam.

The park was far busier now than it’d been before. It was almost odd, compared to their solitude during the long winter months, when in the early morning and evening they’d been pretty much the only ones who’d ever come out there at all. A change, but not an entirely unwelcome one. Their space was so much more vibrant.

It made sparring a little more difficult, but that was fine. Both of them were more or less comfortable in their sparring skills— they were far towards the top of their class for that. Actually, they were towards the top of their class for everything, which… it was what was needed. They needed to be the best, because only the best were sent to the University of East Saffron.

She sighed, slowly sliding one of Mingtian’s glass ampules between her hands. She’d need to make that preservation formation soon, or else the Outer Disciple would be on her case, and if there was one thing she absolutely didn’t want, it was to be pinned beneath the annoyance of someone from the Bloody Saffron Sect. That was career suicide at best and actual suicide at worst.

Beside her, Avyr flipped through a book, his form half-shrouded by the rich summer grass. For all the world he looked like he was totally focused on the contents of the textbook, but Lily knew better— with his Opening cultivation, he would hear anything far before she got close enough to actually do things. Which meant no pranks for her, unfortunately…

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It also had led to some funny moments in the classroom. She chuckled just thinking about it. None of the teachers really knew how to teach someone who’s cultivation so obviously outstripped their own. Avyr liked to talk about how everything was so much easier

than it had been before, and Lily… well, she wondered if she’d feel the same when she finally became a cultivator. Soon. Soon, she’d get into the University of East Saffron and get the treasure that would allow her to start on her path to ascension, because no other possible path existed. She denied any other possible path.

The glass ampule slipped between her fingers, down, up, again— a rhythmic little, dexterous dance, the red-dark liquid in it catching the light beautifully. It was really difficult to distinguish the difference between the various ingredients, sometimes— something Avyr could do with almost contemptuous ease, which was pretty annoying despite her best efforts not to get frustrated a two-step gap in cultivation. It wasn’t impossible though.

Each of them had this… she struggled to describe it easily. An essence to themselves, a strange and superreal, surreal impact on their world around them that her mortal mind struggled to comprehend. One of the vials of metal dust, for example, gleamed like starlight, but also smelled like brilliance, which was a weird thing to smell but by and far not the weirdest sensation she’d gotten from some of the little spiritual materials. Several of the different blood vials were strong enough that they had taste to them, even when she didn’t actually try and drink them. Because that’d be stupid, and she wasn’t stupid.

Probably. Mostly.