1027 Chapter 1027 Labyrinth Reference f𝗿e𝗲𝘄𝚎𝐛𝚗𝐨𝙫ℯl. c𝗼𝚖

“Hmph” huffed Bing as she raised her nose to the sky. “I see how it is. I guess I’ll just go get ready for my match then. You can all make your way over to the main stage. I’ll meet you there later, when you’ve all got something better to chat about,”

Lily transformed just as the door open to reveal a butler coming for Bing, apparently her outburst was more about having a dramatic exit then any true annoyance with the rest of the group. This was further proved by Bing’s comical bow as she left the room by pushing herself backwards with the wind so she could keep bowing all the way out of the door.

“Might as well move…” said Kat, “… no sense in getting settled again when we’ll need to move for the next few rounds. Do you think we’ll see the finals today?”

Kat got up and the other two followed alongside her as she made for the door. “I’m not sure…” said Sue, “Lian, any idea?”

Lian nodded and said, “Yeah I think we’ll have the finals today. The day isn’t over yet and I think the sect would rather wrap everything up today. The only thing they might delay is the award ceremony. I suppose it depends how much of that they want to advertise. A simple, ‘these are the winners’ before they pull the winners away to discuss the real prize… or they’ll hand everything over in a big event tomorrow,”

“Hmm… makes sense I suppose…” said Kat as they rounded the corner, “… do you need to go somewhere to announcer your forfeiture?”

“Technically no… if I don’t show up they’ll do that automatically… but then I’ll have a grand time for a few weeks…” Lian coughed “months” Lian coughed louder “years maybe” before continuing normally, “where they’ll act like arrogant passive-aggressive assholes… so I guess I should forfeit properly,”

With that decided the crew diverted their steps, with Lian leading the way this time. They headed down, down, down quite a few flights of stairs till they got to a door with a set of guards. “Competitors only past this point,” said the one on the left.

“No competitors past this point,” said the one on the right.

.....

“Ok no, we are not doing this Jim,” said the one on the left, “We are not doing this truth, lie, guard bullshit. This is why you’re still single,”

“Shut the fuck up David, not all of us have dicks the size of our arms, finding a good woman is hard ok?” retorted Jim.

“Who said anything about women?” asked David.

Lian, tired of the comedy routine, desperately wanted to curse their mouths shut, even just for like five minutes. If only she wasn’t so exhausted. So with punishment of the table, she just side and walked through, “Just wait here for a bit guys, I’ll be right back,”

The guards continued to argue about nonsense after Lian left, clearly not paying attention to their jobs. Lily, just as a test, walked through the doorway without being stopped. She then walked back to Kat with no troubles on the way out either.

In the end, it didn’t take long for Lian to walk back out, but she looked even more exhausted then before… and the guards were still arguing. “Carry me?” asked Lian jokingly while making grabby motions with her arms.

Sue was about to tell her off for being lazy, or silly, or some other form of gentle ribbing… when Kat pulled Lian into a princess carry and started walking. Lily rode proudly on Lian’s stomach, as if she was watching out for attackers… while Sue and Lian were both surprised and confused.

“Um… I know I’m not heavy, not for a demon like you… but I was just joking…” mumbled Lian.

Kat shrugged, the motion lifting Lian as well with no effort. “It really isn’t an issue for me. You’re clearly tired, and looked even more so after putting in your notice of forfeiture. I really don’t mind carrying you till we get to the new VIP room. What’s got you so tired anyway?”

“Ugh… the ass at register wouldn’t let me forfeit unless I provided him with the correct forms all written out and then stamped with my qi signature, that of a medical professionals, or one of my guardians. Something he DIDN’T NEED TO DO. That procedure is only for when someone else is trying to withdraw me on my behalf. The fact that I was there, in person, should be enough!

“Not only that, but those forms are for visiting cultivators so that we have evidence of who made the withdrawal and how. We don’t bother with that when we’re all Holy Icy Wind Sect disciples! I was obviously exhausted but I needed to make a fancy ass qi imprint, despite the fact nobody else in the sect uses Curse qi which SHOULD be plenty to prove my identity even if they were just being paranoid… but no… seems like it’s bully the curse cultivator day again,”

“Why would they do that?” asked Sue. “I mean, you explained, a bit more generally that you weren’t liked for your affinity, but why cause you a problem like this now?”

“Eh, probably a combination of Bing being busy right now, and this ‘minor issue’ is ‘beneath Bing-sama’s notice’. If I bring it up, and they get taken to task for it they can just say they were following procedure, which they were, just not the unwritten rules for Holy Icy Wind Sect members. So technically they can’t be punished for this sort of thing… but if I didn’t tell Bing, she’d find out eventually… and for something ‘beneath Bing-sama’s notice’ I’m pretty sure it’ll result in Bing breaking his hand,” said Lian with a huff.

“That’s… a bit brutal,” said ‘Lily’ “Is going straight to breaking someone’s hand for something like a good idea? It seems like it would just encourage resentment?”

“Well… it’s not a particularly permanent injury, a quick trick to the healings to get it fixed is nothing, plus, if Bing offers to pay for the treatment, then they’re not out of pocket for it… and are embarrassed about the fact Bing had to pay for their healing, and explaining WHY their hand was broken to the healer.

“Ms Shun, the head of the healing pavilion actually really likes me for some reason. I have NO idea why, but it’s true, and I’m not going to let that sort of goodwill rot you know? So I go around to chat with her when I know she’s not busy, I make sure that she’s not skipping meals, and sometimes she helps me with designing outfits,” said Lian.

“Sounds like she’s your Mum,” said Sue.

Lian winced, “That’s… that’s probably closer to the truth of things then I’d like to admit. I mean, she’s not my biological mother… but… well… if she was ok with it… I’d be happy to call her ‘mother’ I think,”

“Your parents aren’t great?” asked Kat.

“No, no they aren’t” said Lian with a sigh. “They’re both mortals, and they don’t understand much about cultivation… but when you also add in my Curse affinity and the fact that people started causing trouble for them because of it? They were just about willing to throw me out on the streets… or dispose of me in a more permanent manner. A tragic accident I’m sure,”

“Oh… oh dear…” whispered Kat, horrified at the statement.

“Yeah… they can’t really do anything to me NOW, because well… mortals as I said but… that doesn’t mean I wasn’t hurt by the whole thing when I was younger… and I do still visit because I’ve got siblings but… none of them seem to have potential to be cultivators so my parents were actually good to them. Allegedly,” said Lian with a shrug.

“When I ask, they always insist that our parents have treated them well, and that I’ve got no cause for concern. I’ve even done… maybe a bit of… surveillance work in the area and pretty much confirmed it’s all fine… but I just don’t think I can trust them after what they did to me. Most of my siblings are grown and moved out, but… well… what if the grandkids end up having cultivation or mage potential? I don’t know what would happen then… or if my siblings can stand up to my parents…” continued Lian.

“Ah… I can understand. I already mentioned I grew up in an orphanage so I have a fair bit of experience with various… non-ideal parental situations. Most kids lost their parents but… well… let’s just say that some parents ‘lost’ their kids,” said Kat through gritted teeth.

It was not particularly pleasant to recall the state of some children that showed up on Gramps’ doorstep. The bruises. That one little boy with a broken arm. It was very, very rare thankfully, and they’d all found good homes… but it was never pleasant to remember.