A group of boys sat in a circle eating sandwiches in a grassy field. Two boys, practically identical, were arguing over the last game they had played. Neither of them wanted to admit who the true loser of the round was. They were eleven years old.
"Huang Bo! Huang Fu! Shut the hell up, will you?!" An older boy, around 16 years old, cried out with a huff. He narrowed his eyes at the two, putting down his sandwich. He was one of their older brothers, Huang Xinjia. The twins dubbed him the crankiest of their brothers.
"Why, huh? We're not harming anyone!" One of the boys, Huang Bo, said, sticking his tongue out at him.
"Yeah! We're just having a normal conversation! Right Baby Nie?" The other twin, Huang Fu, said. He turned on a small boy sitting next to them. This boy wasn't a brother of theirs, just the twins' best friend. Baby Nie had big, wide, eyes and a round face. He was a head shorter than the pair of twins.
"Uh," the younger boy said nervously, glancing at Xinjia. "I guess. I don't know!"
"Don't bring him into this," Xinjia said, rolling his eyes. He took a bite out of his sandwich, staring at the twins as he ate. "He's innocent!"
"Alright boys, let's finish up and get back to training," a young teen with dyed blue hair said, walking over to the group. Haoming followed behind Xinshan, wearing a set of sky blue robes with his hair tied back in a matching ribbon. They made their way over to Sichao and Niran, who was discussing something pretty serious not too far away from the kids. Niran looked up with a smile.
"Xinshan, Haoming, how nice of you to join us," Nie Niran said with a laugh. Haoming rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. Of course he was coming out here to train. Wasn't that always how it was?
"Excuse me, but unlike you, I wake up before sunrise to start training!" He said with a huff, his tone sounding a bit judge-y.
"Excuse me, but you're the only one that takes it that seriously, Haoming," Huang Sichao said, also rolling his eyes. The two of them always seemed to get a little snarky with each other when they were around the other. They were best friends, but they also brought out the worst of one another. "Some of us actually like our sleep."
"There's a reason I'm the best one in our clan," Haoming said, causing everyone to let out an annoyed sound at his words. Xinshan reached out and patted Haoming's shoulder. Of course he agreed that Haoming was the best.
"No need to brag or try and sound cool," Xinshan told him with a laugh. "We all know how good you are and how strong your cultivation is."
"I'm the strongest in the Shui Clan," Haoming said again, taking out his sword. "Anyone want to be my dueling partner?"
"Actually, you need to work with Nie Chang," Xinshan said, pointing at baby Nie. Haoming let out a groan, putting his sword away and crossing his arms. "My mother said she wants you to train him today."
"I don't want to train a child," Haoming said, stomping his feet in annoyance with a pout on his lips. He always got pretty childish when he had to do things he didn't want to do. "I want to duel someone with my skill level!"
"You said so yourself. No one here is as strong as you," Sichao stated. Haoming could only glare at him. "And you've been dueling with Xinshan all day today. So shut up and just train the kid. I have to train one of my brothers."
"Actually, Huang Fu is probably gonna whoop your ass," Xinjia said with a laugh. Sichao glared at his brother. It was normal for the Huang brothers to make fun of Sichao's cultivation skill. Other than Xinchun, who had absolutely no cultivation, Sichao was the weakest of the brothers.
"What!? We all know how clumsy you are!" Xinjia said, grinning at the look on Sichao's face. "You can't even hold a sword properly!"
"Oh shut up asshole, yes I can," Sichao said, rolling his eyes.
"Guys, let's start training," Haoming said with a whine. He was getting pretty impatient listening to their banter. "I want to get this over with so I can go train on my own."
"You are absolutely annoying," Sichao said, shaking his head and looking at Huang Fu. "Alright, let's go train, didi."
"Nie Chang, let's go," Haoming said, turning away and walking towards a secluded area in their training yard.. Nie Chang let out a soft sound before quickly following behind Haoming. The kid knew not to piss him off. Haoming intimidated the children, since he was always so serious.
"Do you remember our technique training from yesterday?" Haoming asked once they made it to a remote area of the training field. He started stretching, staring at the younger kid. Nie Chang shyly nodded his head, also starting to stretch. "Show me what you remember and come at me full force. I don't want any holding back, got it?"
"Yes," Nie Chang said with a soft voice. Haoming nodded his head and stood up straight, staring at the young child. Nie Chang cleared his throat and stood straighter as well, gripping onto his sword. He gave a soft bow to Haoming, which was swiftly returned. Haoming then spun away, getting into a defensive position.
Nie Chang let out a nervous sound as he jumped forward with his sword, attempting a spin that Haoming had taught him but failing and tripping over his own feet. Haoming let out a sigh and crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at the young boy. This only caused Nie Chang to get even more nervous.
"Why are you so scared? I'm not going to bite you," Haoming asked, stepping towards him. Nie Chang took a step back. "You need to loosen up. If this was an enemy, you would have been struck dead already! Now breathe. Stop being scared of me."
"He wouldn't be so scared of you if you learned to be less tough," the voice of a girl said, causing Haoming to groan and turn to find a young girl leaning against a tree and watching them. This was Mia Kitti. She was Niran's best friend, so Haoming saw her around alot. She loved to tease him.
"Mia, I got this," Haoming said as he flicked his wrist, letting the ribbons that were around his wrist flow with the breeze from the movement.
"Do you, though?" She asked, before pushing off the tree and making her way over to them. "Nie Chang! How about you try the move on me."
"Oh, uh, okay," Nie Chang said awkwardly, nodding his head and taking position in front of her. He was way less nervous as he faced her.
Mia grinned and got into position as the boy got the spin down swiftly and came at her with his blade. She easily brought her own blade up, blocking the attack. The two of them then backed away from each other, giving respectful bows. Mia grinned and turned on Haoming.
"You got this, huh?" She asked, causing Haoming to frown.
"Shut up," he spat out before looking at the kid. "Come on. Try it on me again. If you can do it, don't be fake and act like you can't! You obviously can! You just did it with her!"
"Good luck, Baby Nie," Mia said, patting the boy's shoulder and walking away. "Have fun you two."
"Get out of here!" Haoming cried out, waving his fist as if threateningly. He was joking with the threat, though. He could never actually hurt any of his clan members.. He then huffed and turned on Nie Chang again. "Let's do it."