Yu Di gathered the team the next day in front of Bai Feng's home. A few more joined them as the other Elders didn't want them. With Fu Homei joining them, he could finalize his plans. It was going to be ugly, but he felt he knew enough about the other sects and his fellow disciples in the sect to know what to expect from them in the coming festival.

  Bai Feng had told them that the other sects were weaker than the "Forgotten Spirit Sect." This was mostly due to the large blue diamond that gave their disciples better access to higher quality Qi. So they had the advantage.

  However, that meant that the Elders would be more careless in their arrogance. This might lead to infighting.

  As usual, Bai Feng was cooking. She had large strips of meat roasting over a barbeque and making congee to go with it. Everyone sat down on the ground, enjoying their meal.

  Yu Lin sat on the rock, rocking back and forth with a large stick of fried dough. She waved it in the air like she was playing the drums.

  Yes, Yu Di allowed her to play with the drum yesterday. Well, a normal drum that was worthless that they found within the sect's commissary. It took him an entire spirit stone to trade with Elder Yen for it.

  It was not his finest moment, but he gave in to preserve the peace he needed to develop his plan.

  Yu Di set up a large black slate and leaned it against Bai Feng’s home. He used chalk to write down four major points.

  “Attention my fellow disciples,” Yu Di called out. “You can keep eating. Elder Bai has assigned me the task to formulate our strategy when we enter the festival.”

  One servant groaned.

  “Can we stop calling it a festival already? It’s going to be our graves where the strong are going to cut us down like wheat.”

  “Fine, the upcoming life and death competition that will determine the fate of our sect. Better?”

  The servant frowned and then buried his face into his bowl of congee.

  “As I was saying, I’m here to tell you the strategy. First, I will say this. If you all follow my strategy, then there is a good chance we will survive.”

  This time most of the servants groaned.

  “Just tell us what we have to do already,” another servant said. “We follow Elder Bai because she has been kind to us. We are willing to die for her if necessary.”

  Yu Di was surprised by that. The only people he ever felt that kind of kinship for were his fellow disciples from before they all ascended from the sect. But even those connections were superficial once they grew apart.

  As he thought closely about it, these servants and most of the disciples here had been here for a long time. Bai Feng probably helped them all one way or another.

  “Very well. The first thing we have to do is: Avoid Ourselves.”

  “Don’t tell me that’s some high level cultivation mantra, because that’s too high level even for me,” Fu Homei said. She stood off to the side with Yu Lin. They played together all night.

  “No, what I mean here is to avoid other people within our sect,” Yu Di said. “They are going to be the ones that will try to break our group since we are so seemingly weak. All they want is for us to be their shields and scapegoats. So if you see them, run away even if it’s toward an enemy.”

  There was a sea of conflicted faces among the servants and even among the two outer sect disciples. It didn’t take a genius to know the kind of conditions they had in this meager sect. The weak tended to bully the weaker.

  “The second thing is: Never Alone. You will all be assigned partners. Go everywhere with them no matter what.”

  “Even if they’re dead?” one servant asked.

  Yu Di looked over at Yu Lin now playing another game with Fu Homei.

  “No. If they die, meet up with another group. Never be alone. Which brings us to the third thing: Group Up. I know Senior Fu has said many things about honor and face, but this is survival of the strongest. We are weak. We can’t face any of them alone, so we must attack with enough force to win or we run.”

  “But will it matter if they’re so much stronger than us?” an outer disciple asked. “Senior Fu defeated us all despite us all working together.”

  “That’s why even Senior Fu and Elder Bai are going to be working in unison to take down our enemies. They are going to be our hammer.”

  One servant laughed.

  “We’re the anvil.”

  “That’s right. Were you a smith?”

  The servant teared up.

  “My father was.”

  “Well, then you know what happens when the hammer hits the anvil.”

  The servant chuckled.

  “Nothing but an itch. That’s what my father used to say. No matter how much he hammered, it would never feel anything.”

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  Yu Di nodded. He put his hands up, encompassing everyone in his vision.

  “If we stick together like that anvil, then no matter how hard we get hammered, we will feel nothing more than an itch.”

  “Easy for you to say. You’re going to be staying with the hammers, aren’t you?” one servant asked.

  “No, I’m bait. I’ll be the first out there pulling in our enemies so that our hammer can break them all. The goal is to maintain an area of safety and wait for them to come to us. Everyone will think we’re the weakest and easiest to crush.”

  “Because it’s true,” Fu Homei said. “Even though you all almost beat me yesterday, I can crush you all with one pinky if I wanted to.”

  “True as that might be, you are but one person,” Yu Di said. “You might crush us, but you will lose that pinky if not more. We want to make anyone think twice before approaching us. We want to be able to flee when needed and charge at a weak spot when we can.”

  A female servant looked up.

  “You might be asking too much of us. We were hoping to simply be Elder Bai’s shield so that she could live to the end of the festival.”

  Yu Di frowned. She wasn’t wrong. They were going to be thrown into this life or death battleground in two days.

  “While I appreciate your desire to die, I desire for everyone to live,” Yu Di said. “Which is where the fourth thing is: Report Everything.”

  Yu Di took out the transmission jades.

  Each of the servants looked at them with wide eyes.

  “We are all going to attune to these transmission jades,” Yu Di said. “With them, we can communicate silently on the battlefield no matter how loud everything is. Sadly we don’t have enough so some of you are going to have to share in your group.

  “The goal here is to report everything you see to our base of operations. Does anyone have any experience running a large business?”

  After a bit of silence, one hand reached to the sky. To Yu Di's surprise, it was Cui Ying. He wore a plain gray servant's tunic.

  “My father sold porcelain throughout the country," Cui Ying said. "I helped him run much of the business.”

  Yu Di wondered why he came back, but it didn't matter. He now had a powerful pawn.

  “That’s good. Then you will be our central command."

  "Wait, me? I don't know anything." Cui Ying took a step back.

  "You know enough to help me keep these people organized. And besides, you're a natural leader, Head Servant Cui."

  Cui Ying looked down, rubbing his hands.

  "I'm not the head servant any more."

  "Of course not. You're our central command, like the dantian for every cultivator. You have to keep us all organized so that we don't die. I know you are an expert at that."

  Cui Ying didn't look up. He only nodded.

  That's all Yu Di needed from the broken man for now. With a little more training, they might all make it back without him expending the rest of his life span.

  "Moving on." Yu Di raised the transmission jade up into the air for everyone to see. "I want to teach you all how to use these transmission jades.”

  Fu Homei scoffed.

  “How hard is it to use it? You connect it with Qi and then say what you want. The other person hears you in their head.”

  Yu Di picked one up to show everyone. While the rectangle piece of jade was a flawless green, it had three dimples colored red, black and orange.

  “I made modifications to them.”

  “Did you also give them some crazy powers that others would kowtow after seeing it?” Fu Homei asked.

  Yu Lin broke free from Fu Homei’s grasp and ran to the jades. She picked one up and raised it to the sky. The sunlight shone through the thin jade, casting a green shadow on her face. She pressed the different colored dimples.

  All the other jades buzzed when Yu Lin pressed them.

  “Little Lin, don’t do that. You’re going to break them,” Bai Feng said. “Come here and I’ll give you another bun instead.”

  “No. I like this one.” Yu Lin kept pressing the red dimple. “This one feels funny.”

  Yu Di smiled, patting his daughter on the head.

  “Just don’t press too hard. But yes, they will all feel funny. I think it’s better to show you than to explain. Does anyone want to hold one?”

  One servant raised his hand. He was the doom and gloom one.

  Yu Di passed a jade to him.

  Yu Lin pressed the button again and the servant’s eyes widened.

  “What do you see?” Yu Di asked.

  “I see everyone. I know exactly how many people are sitting beside me. I also see a few other people standing… at least two li away from here. They’re sitting by the trees. This is amazing. It’s like I’m flying in the sky, looking down.”

  “Stop pressing the red button Yu Lin.”

  Yu Lin released the dimple.

  “Baba, I saw so many aunties and uncles.” She rubbed her eyes.

  “Yes, it’s a little overwhelming at first, but I made the jades to also track people around us. As long as they are within two li, then they will connect and send out a pulse. Both people holding the jade can see the map, as it were.”

  “Yes but the drawback is that I couldn’t see anything else. What if we were under attack?” The servant put the jade back down.

  “Well, that’s where the orange button comes in handy.” Yu Di picked up another jade and pressed the orange dimple. He sent a small amount of Qi into it.

  All the other jades began buzzing.

  “Baba, I see you!” Yu Lin closed her eyes.

  “Can you point at me?” Yu Di asked. He moved away and walked around the group of servants toward Bai Feng.

  “Yes! I see auntie Bai there too.” Yu Lin laughed while clapping.

  Yu Di jumped up into a tree.

  Yu Lin was able to point at him no matter where he jumped.

  “The orange button hones in on the one pressing the button, telling you exactly where they are and who might be around them,” Yu Di said from atop the tree. “It’s a more focused lock on the other user so we know how to help them.”

  “Or whether or not to help them,” the doom and gloom servant said.

  Yu Di jumped down from the tree, landing next to Bai Feng. He slowly approached the group.

  “This senior is not wrong,” he said. “There is no guarantee that any of us will make it back despite any preparations we have. But I have hope. Because I know what I will be fighting to get back to.”

  Yu Di lifted Yu Lin into his arms.

  “I will tell you all now, that if I were to not make it back, I hope that you will all take care of my daughter in my place. After this festival, you are all my brothers and sisters not only in name. That is why I, Yu Di, personally promise to try and help everyone here no matter the danger.”

  The servants all looked up at him solemnly. Most of them came from wealthy families and were forced into this sect. None of them chose this path.

  In an ironic twist, Yu Di did. He could have abandoned his village and ran with his daughter. He was glad he didn’t. Otherwise, how else would he have learned how to unlock his curse?

  So this was the very least he could do for his fellow disciples. He hoped he had enough strength to ensure their survival and enough wits to know how to save them all.

  Curse unlocked: .8% lifted.

  Yu Di laughed. One of these days he had to figure out what this curse was about.