Hou composed himself and closed his eyes, then took a deep breath,
"Thank you, when I'm back I hope I can visit,"
"Of course, it's as much your land as mine. What is my land is yours, remember you are my direct disciple,"
Hou took another sip of the tea, keeping back any tears. He focused on the tea itself, the Miasmatic Lavender tea.
It had a sweet floral taste but a bitter sting from the miasma. The juxtaposition on Hou's tongue was a pleasant sensation and distracted him from his welling feelings.
He opened his eyes, slightly watery but the tears ultimately stopped. He put down the tea cup and spoke up,
"So you said we would meet the Sect Master?"
Mo Huai saw Hou holding back any tears and decided to not bring it up,
"Yes, let's do that now"
Huan Die then spoke up,
"Then I'll open the door, bring him in..." She pointed behind Mo Huai at the stone wall.
However as he turned around, the wall had already become a door. Mo Huai was used to it and sat up. Turning the door handle and opening the door, Mo Huai stepped through.
Hou was left with Huan Die, waiting for Mo Huai to return with Sect Master. Hou turned to Huan Die while holding up his teacup,
"I really like this tea, the Miasmatic Lavender. The sweet lavender flavour with the stinging miasma is a nice juxtaposition,"
"Thank you, it's usually quite a rare tea but I can easily make it with Mo Huai's help. Normally, people have to find a lavender which grew in a miasma rich land but with Mo Haui I can make a large batch easily."
"I see, I guess I should thank master too. So what is the Sect Master like?"
"Hmm, I don't think I could do justice to him. I'll just say one thing, don't be too formal."
"Too formal? So I shouldn't be formal, but he's the Sect Master?!"
"Yes he's peculiar, he doesn't like when people are too formal to him. You'll see,"
"I guess I will. Do you know how long it will be?"
"Not long, they should be coming back any time now,"
Hou nodded and took another tasting of the tea. His tongue tingling from the miasma, not in a harmful way but a gentle sting. Akin to the peculiar sensation from spice or menthol or sour.
As Hou was waiting, almost finishing his tea, the door clicked. The handle was turned and it swung open. First Hou saw his master, Mo Huai walking through.
Hou tried to look behind but he couldn't see anyone, so he asked,
"Where's the Sect Master? I thought you were bringing him?"
Mo Huai chuckled and bent down, he stood back up with a child in his hands,
"Here he is" Mo Huai smiled as if this was normal.
He then closed the door behind him and sat down, the child in his lap. It was a small boy, looking to be around five to nine. He had curly jet-black hair and a round face. His eyes were a striking orange, with specks of golden shimmer.
He wore a large robe, completely obscuring his figure. He could have been chubby and thin, from the looks it was completely ambiguous. The face could go either way.
Hou's mouth opened and he furrowed his brows,
"...a...hm.." Hou tried to say something but he was confused and just stumbled out a few sounds.
Mo Huai burst out in laughter,
"This is the Sect Master, don't mind his appearance. This is him"
Then the boy, the Sect Master, looked up to Mo Huai with a pout,
"Stop laughing, you're making me dizzy!"
Mo Huai just laughed even more, before calming himself,
"Sorry, I'm done now"
"Enough, I was called here for a reason, what is it?" The Sect Master had a pout and crossed his arms.
"Don't be angry, I have a few reasons actually. First is to show you my disciple, Hou Zhigong. The one sitting opposite and staring at you,"
Hou quickly looked away,
"I wasn't staring!"
The Sect Master looked at Hou and squinted, his pout loosening. He looked into his eyes,
"Nice to meet you, welcome to the Nine Clouds Sovereign Sect. I'm the Sect Master, Lao Zu."
He outstretched his small child hands out over the table, moving very little inwards. Huan Die saw this and said while waving her arms in patterns in the air,
"No one else joining us?"
As she moved her arms, the table started to move, it shrunk into a small circular table in the centre of the room. The chairs also moved accordingly.
Hou now stood up and stretched over the table, reaching over and shaking Lao Zu's hand, his adult hand swallowing Lao Zu's hand fully.
As he did, Lao Zu looked up to Huan Die,
"Yes just me, everyone else was busy"
Then he looked up, at Mo Huai again,
"So that's the first thing, what else?"
Mo Huai put his hand on Lao Zu's head and petted him,
"Well the next thing is related to Hou, it seems he inherited something from True Sage of Celestial Ink. I thought you might be able to tell us more? You are the only person in the sect who knew him personally, maybe you can unravel something about the inheritance?"
Mo Huai felt Lao Zu's legs contract. He put his hand on his chubby chin and thought. For a second the room was silent as Lao Zu thought, until he opened his eyes.
"Yes True Sage of Celestial Ink... I was thinking he was familiar. Mo, bring me to him, and you boy stand up,"
Lao Zu instantly showed his leadership despite his appearance, Mo Huai stood up and carried him in his arms.
Hou's fingers dug into his thighs under the table. He pushed back his chair, standing up and awaited whatever Lao Zu was to do.
"Don't be scared, I'm just going to check you're inheritance," Lao Zu tried to reassure Hou.
However, while Hou looked somewhat nervous on the outside, inside he was extremely nervous,
'What if he finds Yue, or Araxis or my quasi-Nascent Soul? I have way too many secrets! Calm, calm. I need to calm down and just act normal. It's not like I can do anything to stop this, I should go with the flow...'