None of us will back out now, Yin." Gale answered, and the others nodded in agreement to this statement. They all were certain no matter how this would end, they would go through with it regardless of how it ended.
The night was spent together, each with a bit of a place to sleep. Room service delivered a late dinner, and they headed back to school at the first signs of the morning. As much as they may have disliked it, and even Tang Yin did so, by now, due to the treatment the literary department received, they understood the education or at least the skills they could learn there.
They expected it to end like usual; the teacher would enter, give them a working exercise and then vanish to his other class. But instead, this time, things were a bit different. The heavy door opened, and they all sat down at their places and waited for something to happen when he entered.
He had short black hair, a long black grown, and his hands behind his back with a noble bearing.
"You may address me as the Grandmaster.", he said to them and shocked all of them in the same breath. Then, in the last line, Yu Hua started to tremble, "From now on, all of you will be my students."
"Like seriously?" Tang Yin blurted out, and she felt the Grandmaster's amusement literally.
"Yes, I am quite serious; after the happenings of the last evening, Tang San informed me of a few curious facts. First, I am honestly ashamed that children like you have been treated as you were for years."
"We don't need grown-ups, especially useless ones.", Yu Hua interrupted, "All you ever do is lie and cheat, and what does a spirit master more useless than we want with us? Think you can be our savior or what?"
Silent agreement from all sides, and even Tang Yin knowing better than to think like that, kept her mouth shut, feeling uncomfortable. On one side, the Grandmaster was her Brother's teacher and, until now, seemed to be a decent person; on the other, the others had become her friends, and she did not want to betray their trust. They changed many of their original plans to accommodate her and treated her as if she had been one of them for years.
"Yu Hua, maybe..." Tang Yin tried to say something but didn't know what to say until she crossed her fingers and hoped she wouldn't make a mistake by saying so.
"Yu Hua, we don't really know him; he does not know us. But I believe even if he uses us for our own gain, what advantages he can give us compensate for it." Silence. Tang Yin squirmed inside. Hopefully, this was no mistake.
"She is right.", Gale agreed, "we don't need to like him, but we can make a deal with him. A deal, ironclad, agreed over by us all and for our gain, right Grandmaster?"
"If I don't agree, then I can leave right away, correct?" Yu Hua threw in angrily. The silent nod from the others was agreement in them. The one belonging to Damian is the one who convinced Yu Hua to finally agree. The Grandmaster gazed at them, observing them and their study of contrasts. They were too adult; he did not believe children could carry eyes like that. Eyes that told of distrust, determination, and coldness.
"Y-yes, w-we trusted T-tang Y-Yin because D-Damian said s-she is a g-good. N-now we need t-to s-see about y-you." Ning Feng stuttered, and Damian stared at the Grandmaster with a gaze that could tear apart a weaker person.
"I agree; write your Deal, state your case, and I will sign. I decided to sign since you took Tang San and me along on the spirit hunting operation. Just one question, why did you do so?" The Grandmaster's words were silent again as all eyes fell on Tang Yin; she had been the one to propose the Deal.
"Simple. Knowledge, safety in numbers. There are few better martial artists than Tang Yins Brother, and everyone will agree that your knowledge about Spirit mastery and Beasts is second to none. If we want this to succeed, we need knowledge above all." Gale answered for them, "After all, even Spirit Hall respected you in that regard, Yu Xiaogang."
Yu Xiaogang, the same last name as Yu Hua, is pronounced the same. Could they belong to the same Clan? Or was it a coincidence?