"Hi Mark!" She Tao's happily chirping voice came almost half a year before today.
"You're logging in again? What's going on over there?" Mark raised his left eyebrow. After all, his chán friend had summoned him to the communication system they both used for the fifth time this week.
"Nothing exciting. The others are just stupid, as always." The chán boy shrugged.
"What did they do wrong now that you're free for hours every day?" Mark chuckled as he leaned back in his chair.
"You won't believe it, but exceptionally nothing." She Tao pulled his lips into a half smile. "Our clan leader just showed up and told them off, saying they were no good for anything. Theoretically, the clan leader has new disciples from the west." He waved. "And then he disappeared and now everyone is looking for him." The chán boy yawned.
"If your clan leader is missing, shouldn't you be there with the others to look for him?" The western cultivator asked.
"Why? Shizuin didn't go far, he's about fourteen miles north." She Tao rolled his eyes.
"If you know this, why don't you tell the bastards?" The man who had been known as the deputy director of Floating Air Barracks for a long time was confused.
"I would rather tell the undead! Mo Shizuin specifically told them where he was going and that he just wanted to see how good they were anyway, and he even told them how much time they had to find him. I'll go get him tomorrow if they still can't find him." She Tao leaned back, sitting in the canopy of his favorite tree.
"So your clan mates are really useless." Mark laughed to himself, when She Tao sit up.
"Oh, there's action! We'll talk later Mark-ge!" The boy said with sparkling eyes, but he wasn't really paying attention to his conversation partner anymore.
"Later A-Tao." Mark shook his head as he closed the communication system between them and returned to his own business. Which at that moment meant nothing more than completing the paperwork that had accumulated thanks to the director, namely Weruh Sesanti.
The few days following the conversation between the two friends consisted of Mark chasing the director of Floating Air Barracks with more or less success. Although this was not surprising anyway, since you almost never find Weruh Sesanti where he should be.
"A-Tao, are you still alive?" Mark began their next conversation with this.
"You're not lucky enough for me to start pushing up daisies." The chán boy laughed. "Imagine, Shizuin's western disciples, the Athamanas, dropped by. Speaking of Athamanas, you wouldn't believe the gadget I saw. You can travel miles with it in seconds, amazing, right?" The boy asked with his hands on his hips.
"Ah, you've heard of the Seven Mile Towers." Mark nodded.
"You know about them and you didn't tell me about them?" She Tao's eyes widened and his gaze became angry.
"Why would I tell you? You can travel much faster with our warp field runes than with those. Especially with the version you made." Mark looked seriously at his friend.
"Well, that's right." He started to nod, then grinned again. "Anyway, these hegins are very funny. They're much looser than ours, if only one of them wouldn't make the hairs on my back stand up." The younger boy said shivering from the cold. "Oh, and imagine." His mood changed immediately, then he straightened up and started to grin widely. "Our plan has entered phase three." He announced, causing Mark to narrow his eyes suspiciously.
"And how did you become the chán Grand Leader? It wasn't that they were still picking and choosing?" The man scratched his head.
"It was very much so. But then Shizuin showed up and these crazy people wanted to give him the title, and he almost sent them to hell." She Tao laughed.
"I would have loved to watch that." Mark chuckled too.
"It was funny." The chán boy agreed. "Then Mo Shizuin resigned from the title, the previous Grand Leader was summoned by a hegin, who gave his blessing that anyone could follow him in the title.
"Don't say it was futile to poison him." Mark's features became serious as he interrupted his friend with his sentence.
"Can I continue?" She Tao rolled his eyes.
"Excuse me, continue A-Tao." The Deputy Director of Floating Air rolled his eyes, a faint smile on his lips.
"Yes, so in the end it turned out that Mo Shizuin had to choose the next Grand Leader and since no one wanted to accept the title, I volunteered." The young chán grinned.
"And the elders had no problem with that?" Mark blinked in surprise.
"Oh, no, like hell they didn't. They had a lot of trouble. But then who showed up, who?" She Tao asked.
"Who?" The Western cultivator repeated the question.
"Your clan leader!" The younger friend announced, causing Mark to slam his fist on the table.
"So that's where dissapeared to yesterday! I've been looking for him all day and I can't find him anywhere." Mark turned his head to the side, accompanied by a grimace. "You could have at least sent a message with the Shadows that he was there. Then I wouldn't have looked for him in the first place." He frowned.
"Well, you know, I was paying attention to something else, so I didn't have much chance to send a message. Especially not with the Shadows." She Tao rolled his eyes.
"Okay. Let's forget about this problem. We have more important things to do. Phase three, go through the previous Grand Leader's papers and send everything useful from them." The Deputy Director of Floating Air Barracks issued the task.
"I'm on it. As a matter of fact, I've already started, but I quickly get bored of the war reports from the war with the Utauchi. They're too monotonous!" The newly appointed Grand Leader chán frowned.
"Then leave them to me. I always do these things with Weruh anyway." The older cultivator waved a hand. "By the way, you work much more efficiently when you're doing something you're interested in. So God forbid I stop you from having fun." The man raised his arms defensively.
"Hahaha, you're really funny, Mark-ge." The younger cultivator stuck out his tongue.
"I thought that's why you were working with me, A-Tao." Mark laughed.
"Believe me, your humor wasn't the first thing that made me find you interesting." The new chán Grand Leader folded his arms in front of him.
"I guessed not." Mark chuckled, then became a little serious. "Now that you've met that famous group, what do you think we should do with the Athamans?" He asked his friend.
"Nothing, they're too strong. The smartest thing is to take every opportunity to side with them. Whatever the cost." She Tao thought, holding his chin.
"Then for now we will continue the activities of the Shadow and chew through the former chán's papers ourselves. It promises to be an exciting pastime." The man says in a clearly sarcastic tone.
"We have been in worse situations before, Mark-ge! We will get through this too." The new chán Grand Leader encouraged him.
"You may be right, A-Tao. We will get through it." The deputy director of Floating Air finally agreed with his friend.