The Unsurpassed Maiden

"Teach—"

"Mi Young!" A woman's voice shouts at Mi Young, stopping her from her tracks and running after the genius teacher. Then, a hand pulls Mi Young aside, the smiling face of Lady Ning Gwang coming into view. "That was a really good show!"

Mi Young looks behind the exit door once more and realizes that the genius teacher has already gone out. Sighing in defeat, the black haired girl turns towards the librarian once more. "Speaking of the show, teacher, you are really evil!"

Lady Ning Gwang laughs at first before she says, "Why am I evil? I helped you get tons of amazing opportunities in one go didn't I?"

Mi Young pouts at her teacher, "But still! You could have put me in so much trouble with your rash actions! If I wasn't born to be lucky, I could have died right there!"

"But you didn't! And that's what makes it more beautiful." Lady Ning Gwang says with a proud smile. Mi Young rolled her eyes at her teacher. She really doesn't get her teacher's fascination with untimely events. Looking at her student's expression, Lady Ning Gwang pats her head before continuing, "But at least you got a whole club for yourself with tons of money and beasts. Aside from that, you have also earned this."

The white haired woman snaps her fingers and a sigil materializes out of nowhere. Mi Young looks at it closely and sees a wolf emblem engraved on it.

The sigil looks somewhat old but it carries a strong aura with it.

"What's that?" Mi Young questions her teacher.

Lady Ning Gwang had a small smile on her face before answering her student. "This is the sigil of the Zhong clan."

"The Zhong clan?" Mi Young asks as she repeats the clan name in her head. She had never heard of that clan existing in their kingdom before.

"Uhn. Zhong Yu, that's the name of the genius teacher I was talking about." Lady Ning Gwang says while giving her student a knowing smile. "The Zhong clan was said to be a well-known clan back before the time of the First Sage. It is also said that this clan was here even before the Ahn family, which are the royal bloods, came to this land."

"Zhong Yu." Mi Young repeats, she thinks she had heard this name before but she couldn't remember when and where. Then she turns to Lady Ning Gwang once more, "If he's one of the teachers inside the academy, why is teacher Zhong not allowed to teach students?"

With Mi Young's questions, the librarian laughed gleefully. "Oh my, I have a lot to tell you first before you meet teacher Zhong."

"Meet? But I thought he doesn't want to teach me at all." Mi Young says. "Unless I amazed him, right? But seeing as he had already left before I could even approach him, he must have found my performance unworthy."

"Mi Young, why do you think so lowly of yourself?" Lady Ning Gwang asks with gentleness in her eyes. She softly touched the black haired girl's chin before slowly lifting it up so they could meet eye to eye. "You are a very talented maiden who is so full of potential. Never think so lowly of yourself again, okay?"

Mi Young can feel the blush spreading through her cheeks as she tries to look away from her teacher. "O-Okay."

"Good." The librarian says before letting go of her chin but not before booping the tip of the black haired girl's nose which earned a glare from her.

The both of them exit the Beast Club before they walk towards the library again where they can talk privately.

Lady Ning Gwang led Mi Young towards her private office which was located on the innermost part of the library.

"Woah." Mi Young whispers, full of amazement as she looks at the interior of the librarian's private office. "This place looks so luxurious."

The white haired woman scoffs at Mi Young before answering her, "Do you really think I would stay in a simple and bare looking place? I love to collect luxurious things that will catch the attention of many people."

"More like to catch the attention of men."

"Hey!" The librarian announces while throwing her students a small throw-pillow which Mi Young caught easily. They both laughed loudly after that.

Once they had settled down on the elegant black couch embroidered with gold outlines in the center of Lady Ning Gwang's office, both of them faced each other, with the white haired woman sipping her tea from time to time.

"So, where do I start?" The librarian asked.

"Uhmm...I think you should start by answering me why am I still going to meet teacher Zhong when he clearly rejected me at first sight." Mi Young says in a serious but accusing voice, making her teacher laugh.

"Well, my dear Mi Young, teacher Zhong left the moment your show ended."

"I know—"

"But that doesn't mean he didn't watch your show." Lady Ning Gwang continues, not letting the black haired girl speak at all. She places her index finger on her mouth, asking Mi Young to let her talk first, to which the other girl answers with a nod and an eye roll. "Anyway, right after you commanded your dragon to go back to its home, teacher Zhong approached me and gave me this sigil and said that you can go meet him whenever you are free. This sigil represents teacher Zhong, which means he is willing to accept you under his teachings."

Lady Ning Gwang snaps her fingers one more time and the sigil she presented to Mi Young earlier appeared right in front of the black haired girl once more. And then she continued her explanation, "As I have mentioned earlier, this sigil is the sigil of the Zhong clan. The clan where teacher Zhong Yu belonged to. The Zhong clan was one of the most ancient and well-respected clan back in the days. They are proud and mean. However, despite their prideful attitude, all of the people that have the blood of the Zhong's running through their body are very powerful and talented. Based on my knowledge, the Zhong clan are called the 'favored ones'."

"Favored ones? What does that mean?"

"The favored ones are what the other people call the clans that are blessed by the gods." Lady Ning Gwang says. There was a glint in her eyes that told Mi Young that there's more to it and it's making her more excited.

"Tell me more." The student says, scooting closer towards her teacher.

Lady Ning Gwang smiles at her before sipping her tea. Then she continues explaining to her eager student. "Before, when there was still no king ruling our kingdom, the Zhong clan was among the nine clans that were feared and respected by the people. Looking at your face right now I know you're already wondering why there were nine clans that ruled the kingdom before."

Mi Young nodded at Lady Ning Gwang with much eagerness. It was her first time hearing about the nine clans. She grew up knowing about the Four Great Clans that were all the descendants of the Big Four but she never heard of the nine clans before.

"It's true. Before Tartarus invaded the kingdom and caused havoc, there were nine clans that ruled and stood out among the people. Those were the Jeon, Shin, Park, Kwon, Zhong, Han, Hwang, and the Do."

"That's only eight. Where's the ninth?"

"The eight and the ninth clan have the same surname, which are the Do's." Lady Ning Gwang says. She does a couple of hand movements and a miniature map of their kingdom long ago that was made from earth, appeared in front of them. "Now, we all know that the Four Great Clans of today are in charge of the North, East, West, and the South part of the kingdom, right? However, back in the days, there were also clans that ruled on the Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest and the far West, or what we call now as the Land Beyond Men."

"The Land Beyond Men? That's the place outside the borders of our kingdom, right? The one where they say that is ruled and full of savage beasts." Mi Young says while pointing at the part of the map where the Land Beyond Men was located.

Lady Ning Gwang nodded her head in agreement. "Yes. Before, that part of the earth was owned by our kingdom; when the savage beasts were still afraid of us and that part was also ruled by the second Do clans."

"The second?"

"We'll get to that part later. Anyway, the Zhong clan which has the symbol of the wolf, as you can see on their sigil, ruled the Southeast part of the kingdom, together with the Jeons who ruled the South and the first Do who ruled the Southwest. Now, these clans have different elements on their own. When the Celestial beast, Tartarus, attacked our kingdom, only the four heroes which are now known as the Big Four from the Jeon, Shin, Park, and Kwon clans helped defeat the beast. Or more like seal it away for good. Because of this, the reigning King that time, grew hatred towards the five other clans who did not lift any single finger into saving the kingdom. Because of that, the king announced that every single person who belonged to those five clans shall be casted out from the kingdom or face death."

Mi Young's body turned cold upon hearing Lady Ning Gwang's words. She never expected something huge had happened before and that they were all erased from the history and the heads of all the people, just so the royal family can cover up their crimes. The black haired girl, without noticing her words, said in a soft whisper, "How cruel can the Crown be."

"Cruel isn't the right word, dear. Many call them as the family of murderers." The librarian says while sipping her tea and giving her student a wink, "Well, of course those were spoken in whispers since they are afraid that the Crown would come after them if they heard such words. Anyway, there are still a few people out there that know about the true history of our kingdom."

"But I thought no one knows about them anymore? I thought the King had ordered to kill them all?"

"True. Men, women, children, even babies and pets from the five other clans were slaughtered and massacred by the King's orders. However, those who were wise enough were able to hide themselves and conceal their identities for years. Although they are so little in number and that they aren't pure blooded anymore, there are still descendants from the other five clans that have survived to this day." Lady Ning Gwang says with a smile.

"So you mean to say teacher Zhong is one of those descendants?" Mi Young asks, eyes rounding in amazement.

"Not a descendant actually. But he is the master of and the leader of the Zhong clan." There was confusion in the eyes of the black haired girl which made the librarian laugh once more, "Are you confuse?"

Mi Young nodded her head.

"Very well, Mi Young. Today's lesson is about the history of our Mage Kingdom. And the first person you should know is the leader of the Zhong clan, which is none other than the genius teacher Zhong Yu." Lady Ning Gwang says.

"But…that was thousands of years ago…clearly he can't be…" Mi Young starts to trail off as each word comes out from her mouth.

"Oh you would love to hear more about what magic can do, darling.." Lady Ning Gwang says with a very mischievous smirk playing on her plump lips.