Blood River

14. Group Hunt: Part One

The Cloud Recesses had a very tight schedule, one of their strictest routines were their sleeping and waking hours.

Yet, on the first night of their stay at the cloud recesses, young masters and maidens stayed in the second room of the splendor hall 'til late.

Having been abandoned by all the elders and older disciples, as well as most of the disciples their own age, Jingyi and Sizhui were left to watch in horror as chaos ensued in this wierd culture clash that befall the hall with excessively loud noises, uncharacteristic of the Lan clan - the latter in more horror than the former, who was more amused.

The children played multiple games, at some point the Lans were convinced someone had sneaked alcohol because of how loud they were.

In truth, the Lan clan was just overly quiet, now more than ever in fact. It was only natural with their 4310 rules. This kids had never been exposed to crowds which made noise, people who yelled or weren't mindful of their image and character, it was a whole new world for the pair who'd been abandoned by the disciples who'd escaped to complete their daily routine.

Sizhui eventually managed to calm and disperse the crowd two hours past bed time in of them. As the duo again led the group to the guest bedrooms, they walk extremely slow, even Jingyi, who'd joined the group in being a headache starter-pack for his elder brother, was now drained out due to it already being way past his bedtime.

The two led the still loud group through the stone paths of the cloud recesses. Gladly this side was away from inner and outer sect disciples' quarters, non of the Lans would hear all these noise from this far.

The guest rest pavilion had a small arch of a wooden bridge leading to it, a small stream ran beneath it. From this stream one could see algae and beautiful fish living in the excessively clear waters.

Aside from the fish, the cloud recesses was loitered with small creatures both in and out, and though all disciples took care of the various small beings, non took ownership of them as earthlings of their nature were prohibited - no pets allowed.

Having successfully forced the large group each into their own respective rooms, the two brothers finally relaxed and retreated back to their own respective chambers all the way across the huge cloud recesses.

Having been completely drained in recieving the guests, the two collapsed the moment they reached their private quarters.

.....

The Gusu Lan sect's home had the name 'Cloud Recesses' and the mountains in which the large structure stood reflected this name.

It had long stairs leading up to it, though a lot of the towns in gusu were in the mountains, this place lay on the tallest mountain, not just in gusu, but the world. It was constantly surrounded by clouds and mist all day round, most commoners believed gods resided here, cultivators had dreams of studying here, they knew the Lan clans virtuosity and great intellect was to admire, and dreamt of coming up to this seemingly heavenly residence.

Five years after the second great war - The Sunshot Campaign is what it was officially dubbed - the clan opened its doors to all cultivators, age group remained the same, but along with this, they also expanded their rule toward taking in outer disciples, being a bit more open minded, despite the screening still being tight.

Eight years ago, the best known and most admired teacher in not only the Lan clan, but the entire cultivation world, went into seclusion. As they had a no gossip rule, the reason why never left the lips of any of the people who were aware. And like that Lan Qiren simply disappeared from the cultivation world.