“Hmm.” Churred Avyr. “I can see it now. That kid over there is remarkably good at controlling his aura.”

“That’s Qin Xinshi.”

“The Young Master?”

Lily nodded, not at all nervously when she realized that Xinshi was looking back at them. Of course he would! No doubt his mother had told him all about the only other Shedding cultivator in his year… “yes.” She finally managed to say. “Yeah. That’s him.”

“Interesting.” And then Avyr turned away to look at the rest of the group, saying nothing more on the matter.

If she was being honest with herself, that was actually a pretty good way of handling the situation… but that didn’t stop her from spending the next few minutes as the last of them gathered stressing about it. She’d known that they were going to be in a group with Qin Xinshi eventually— obviously— but so soon?

“Alright. Good morning, students.” Their instructor— someone Lily recognized actually, one Nin Chaoshang, the unofficial second-in-command of the entire academy— stepped up in front of them, very obviously drawing on his Shedding cultivation to stride up in front of them faster than what should have been physically possible merely walking. “All you know what to expect from this, so I won’t waste time going over minutiae. All your classes will take place in Quad A upper, other than your standard core classes, which will be split up amongst the rest of the student base. I expect the best of you in everything.” She started walking, and none of them— not even Xinshi— dared not to follow.

They stepped into the school, that so very familiar building, bustling with all the other groups of students flowing around them— respectfully, giving them plenty of space. “I cannot impress on you enough,” continued Instructor Nin— “just what this year means for you. Historically, anywhere between one to five of you will be selected by the Bloody Saffron Sect to join the University of East Saffron. If you think that it’s going to be easy to get one of those spots, for whatever reason—” her gaze settled on Avyr for a long moment, then on Xinshi surprisingly enough— “then I encourage you to start thinking again, and fast. While we’re no Third Precinct with entire classes of Shedding disciples, no academy within the walls of East Saffron will ever expect anything less than the absolute best from its students. Little consideration will be given for failure. Success will be rewarded. Your future is what you make of it.” She gave Avyr one final, firm stare, then led them into a small room at the very apex of Quad A upper, sunlight streaming in through the windows on all sides of the massive room.

“This will be your homeroom.” It was a nice room— far nicer than any of the others Lily had ever studied in before, complete with long tables, plenty of space for each student, and swivel chairs. Still, for all its modern opulence, Lily couldn’t help but privately think it paled in comparison to Mr. Leng’s office. “You’re expected to be here on time every day, without fail. Excuses will be accepted only under an extraordinarily rare set of circumstances.” She spun around, stalking towards the door. “You have one hour here for your own pursuits, though every Friday that time will instead be taken by Instructor Leng, who has graciously agreed to teach the art of formations. Beyond that, familiarize yourselves with your schedules and your classmates.” With that, she stepped out and slammed the door behind her, leaving the thirty most competitive students in the entire academy locked together in a room.

Great. This was going to go just perfectly

, she could already tell…

Contrary to her expectations that someone was immediately leap down someone else’s throat for whatever perceived slight, like some bad historical drama, for the first five minutes, everyone sat in more or less silence, just… looking at each other. Everyone there was intelligent, no doubt— though she was sure plenty of people had doubts about Avyr— and everyone there was competition. Other than a few pre-existing friendships… everyone was here because the school thought they had a fighting chance of getting into at least the University.

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Lily didn’t care about that, though. Her great desire was to get into the Sect. And, as such, her gaze naturally fell onto her greatest competitor in that regard— Qin Xinshi.

And the Young Master Qin Xinshi’s gaze fell back on her. Or, not her— she realized after a second he was looking at Avyr with the sort of narrowed, contemplative focus that only someone who refused to underestimate his foes could have. Slowly, chatter began to drift up through the room, students sitting next to each other talking about the coming school year, Avyr glancing about curiously and occasionally getting some student or another to flinch at his gaze, but throughout that entire time, Xinshi only had eyes for Avyr.

It was almost funny, actually, watching Guandong try and fail to get her friend’s attention before giving up and just glaring over her way. It was doubly funny that Guandong only dared look at her, not Avyr, flinching away whenever Avyr met her gaze.

She didn’t imagine it’d last for long, as everyone got to know just how much of a softie he actually was, but it was funny while it—

Xinshi stood, and the class quieted. Step by step, his every motion purposeful and controlled, he strode forward through the silenced class until he was standing right beside Avyr. It almost felt like everyone was holding their breath, waiting for the inevitable confrontation— Lily knew she certainly was. “Cat.”

Avyr glanced up, meeting Xinshi’s gaze. “Human.”

“You dare?” It wasn’t said with much heat, though. “Don’t you know who my family is?”

“No more important than my family.”

“You don’t have a family.”

“Exactly.”

Guandong purpled in fury, and a few people nearby shrunk back in fear— but after a second’s blank silence, Xinshi laughed. “I was wondering if you would be a pushover.” He pulled out a free chair and sat down beside him, resting an elbow on the table and looking for a moment entirely relaxed. “My mother put a lot of effort into making sure nobody of any real merit would be part of my class… which only begs the question— how did you get here?”

Avyr tilted his head. “Who knows?” They had a suspicion, though. “I’m harmless though, I assure you.”

Xinshi rolled his eyes. “Right, and I’m an Immortal. Even if you’ve never trained a day in your life, you’re clearly built for violence. It's in your very form.” He stood, apparently unphased. “I’ll win either way. I’ve been instructed by an Opening cultivator.”

Avyr chirped out a soft laugh. “That’s not that special.”

“Have you ever even met a higher level cultivator?”

“Of course I—” he paused, then narrowed his eyes slightly, a hint of his spiritual pressure rebounding back onto Xinshi. He looked almost upset, which he so rarely was that Lily was half suspicious he was faking it. “Interesting. I’ll remember you, Xinshi.”

“Good.” He stood, once more the image of decorum as he turned his back on Avyr and strode back to Guandong. “That’s only natural, after all.” He flashed them a smile, smugly— “Know your place, cat.” And with that, he turned to Guandong and said nothing more to them.

An inauspicious start.

Lily could only hope the rest of the year would be better…

Hopefully.