Remembering You For Eternity

2.6 Ji YuLan - Five (2)

Ping sect's cultivators were named as the different shades of colours; from the palest of white, to the darkest of black, and anything in between.

YuLan became the only flower blooming amongst them.

Initially, Zhu Hong wanted to bestow a new name to YuLan, to mark her being admitted formally as an inner-disciple. After all, even the Empress' daughter had to change hers to fit the sect's tradition of naming. For YuLan, a shade of red, was what the Sage had in mind.

However, YuLan refused vehemently. Although a name was just a name, she had a memory of a lifetime that was tied to the name. It also served as a reminder that link her memory to her most precious person. It was her identity that could never be changed.

Finally, the Sage relented. If it was any other girl, Zhu Hong would not condone the impudence and would prefer to just let go of the talent, never to set foot in Ping sect anymore.

But YuLan was a pure yin maiden that was historically as mythical as a phoenix or qilin. How could Zhu Hong bear to not compromise?

In the end, inside the ancestral room in Ping sect – a three story pagoda storing records and plagues of the ancestors and Sages long passed – YuLan's name was carved onto a white jade plate.

YuLan even asked Zhu Hong to not emit her chosen family name – 'Ji'. When she expressed her wish to have her full name engraved, Zhu Hong's eyes twitched a few times, her facial expression was slightly contorted in ire. YuLan only shrugged inwardly. Only someone who knew their worth could ask for a suitable trade. She knew she meant a lot for the sect, and throwing her weight just to get her name properly engraved was but a small request. 

Finally, her identity plate, bearing the cursive characters of 'Ji YuLan', was hung under Zhu Hong's own. The white jade was stamped with Zhu Hong's personal signature in red, and imbued with a bit of the Sage's own qi.

There were only a few of such jade plaques, one under each Sage, that was infused by the respective Sage's qi. These were the succeeding disciples of Ping sect's Sages. Only the Sages themselves could destroy their succeeding disciple's identity plates, which would normally occur when the student-teacher relationship was broken, or when the succeeding disciple became a Sage herself.

Such as Zhu Hong and her shifu. 

In case of an untimely Sage's death, the qi that had been infused into a succeeding disciple's identity plate would also vanish.

Currently in Ping Sect, there were five Sages including Zhu Hong. However, there were only four succeeding disciples. This was because Zhu Hong's shifu -- Sage Hong Yan -- who was the oldest Sage in the sect, did not take any more succeeding disciple after Zhu Hong.

Now that Zhu Hong had her own succeeding disciple, Sage Hong Yan withdrew herself from the world for a closed-door meditation, to a secluded cave which was off-limits to anyone else apart from Ping sect's Sages. She would spend years or decades to try to breakthrough to immortality, a feat that had never been achieved or recorded even in their ancestors' ancient scrolls. However, this time, the old Sage thought even if she met death while meditating, she would leave the world without worry. Zhu Hong's new succeeding disciple, a pure yin maiden, would definitely bring honor to Ping sect.

As long as Zhu Hong and Ping sect could provide the necessary means and resources for the girl to grow, she would undoubtedly be one of the most prominent figures in the sect. The sect's future was as safe as can be, secure and bright.

----------

From their group who had gone through the initiation process, a total of ten girls were admitted as inner-disciples. Two of them, including Yulan, became Ping sect's Sages' succeeding disciples. Six would remain by the edge of the lake, along with the outer-disciples, to train more. There would be more chances in the future for them to be inner-disciples as well. The rest had been returned to their respective homes.