"Who?"The smug expressions of the confronting youths tightened noticably, their "leader" was unable to prevent his face from morphing into one of complete disbelief. Meanwhile, Sun simply rolled his eyes heavenward.
"Miss Merylin is the girl that gave you those pills," Sun reminded him, "and the sister of Maimai, who is friends with Leon."
At the mention of his small alchemist"s name, Jin Li"s face fell and his sullen aura began to once more leak. "I know of no such person!" He sneered as he turned to beat the mannequin with his sword.
"Are you looking down on our Sect Leader"s daughter?" One of the youths behind Justin questioned with an angry tone.
"This Lord cannot understand of what you speak," Jin Li claimed, coldly as he spun around and pointed the length of his sword at the man. Justin pushed the blade down with two fingers, noticing well the resistance. As much as he disdained the first year before him, he could not deny his strength.
Sun sighed, deciding to sheath his own sword before playing mediator. "Look, your young Miss approached us... or rather Jin Li, wanting to gift him her pills." He did not say that it was not the first time the young woman had approached them... or rather Jin Li. He didn"t think it would matter even if he did. "So what is the point of confronting us?"
Justin glanced at the smaller youth and wrote him off in his heart as one who bl.u.s.tered without backup (weak with a big mouth), before returning his attentions to Jin Li. "Consider this as us doing you a favour," he said in an almost lyrical voice. "Upsetting the Sect Leader is unwise. No matter your strength in comparison to other students, to him you are still just a fly."
"If your Sect Leader was weak," Jin Li sneered, "he would not be a Sect Leader. This Lord is not a fool. As for this Miss Merylin, I do not care. Should she stay away from this Lord, this Lord will naturally stay away from her. You do not need to think that this Lord has intentions towards your female!" His last sentence surprised all of those who could hear him. For Sun it was the revelation that Jin Li could identify any emotions in others, when he usually just flattened them with his walking feet. For Justin, it was being caught despite not once vocalising his true intentions.
Who knew that Jin Li had an amorous Uncle who fell in love at least once a season and would love and devote his being to his newest concubine. Eyes filled with tenderness and care as he introduced his latest love to his brother and sister-in-law (the former would reveal an uncaring expression, while the wife carefully examined everyones reactions just in case her husband"s eyes or that concubine"s wandered toward the wrong place). How could Jin Li not recognise the softness in Justin"s eyes and the sweetness of his tone as he said Miss Merylin"s name?
What bothered Jin Li was why did this fool think he had any interest in that woman? He had seen countless pretty women wandering into his Uncle"s harem, the women he crossed swords with were much worthier of his attention and as for pills... well, that matter was as yet unsettled, but there were countless more alchemist"s in the cultivation world, he did not need particularly that woman"s pills and potions.
But even when he attempted to suppress the sourness that tainted his throat at the thought of other alchemist"s, he could not stop the image of a hard working, small alchemist with yin and yang hair concentrating on his cauldron with complete focus from flashing before his mind"s eye. He couldn"t help but wonder what was that alchemist doing now? Was he making pills for others? And why did he hate that idea so much?
So deep into his own thoughts, he almost missed Sun"s following words; "Why do you even like that girl?"
Sun said this as he had taken an instant dislike to here, but Justin did not seem to notice as his whole demeanour seemed to soften and he even slightly blushed. "Miss Merlin is a white rose in a flower bed of red roses. She is pretty and kind and talented, softly spoken and modest. I admired her very much while we were in the sect together, but now she has blossomed more, using her own strength to rise from the outer sect and into the inner sect of the alchemist school. What is there not to like?"
Although Sun could not deny the fact of Miss Merylin entering the inner sect on her own merit, he still thought Justin was an idiot. He doubted that girl was anything like what he described. "Each to their own," Sun murmured aloud.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sure enough, one of Justin"s followers wished to continue to play a tiny antagonist role. To them, Miss Merylin was the ideal woman! How could they stand for others to insult their ideal?!
"Simply me saying that she is not my type," Sun muttered, "should this not please you? One less compet.i.tor for her attentions! And I don"t believe that she is Jin Li"s type either!"
"Oh, my young student has a type of girl he likes?!" All turned to see Teacher Corvus leaning against the entrance wall of the training grounds, his arms crossed about his chest. "Do tell, this Teacher wants to know!"
"Not talking! Training!" Sun declared and withdrew his sword to restart the sequence he was supposed to be practicing diligently. Justin and the others stepped aside, viewing cautiously this Teacher, who was said to be quite eccentric, but also the mighty Teacher Corne"s younger brother.
"But Teacher wishes to know!" The man pouted, childishly. "Also just what is Jin Li"s type? There is a whole slew of young ladies who would pay handsomely for the knowledge!"
The thunderous aura about Jin Li darkened and Justin and his followers made quick excuses to leave well enough alone.