Wolf King And His Fox Consort

Chu Yun was too stunned to do anything while Xiao Zai helped Hua Nanyi off the door. Cursing under his breath all the while.

He was still stunned by the revelation that Chu Hean was what...some elite martial artist? Part of an organisation that deployed omegas to carry out secret assignments?

No sooner had Hua Nanyi been freed from the door than someone kicked it open from the other side. Several figures wearing veils obscuring the lower half of their faces streamed into the room. All of them were carrying a different type of weapon, from whips, to daggers, to swords. 

The three of them were obviously outmatched. They retreated towards the centre of the room, lifting their hands in surrender, as the veiled figures surrounded them.

Chu Yun stepped in front of Xiao Zai, afraid that he would do something daring and put himself in danger.

No one said anything, everyone in the room seemed to be collectively holding their breath. The sound of a staff striking wood came from outside the door. An elderly man, clad in white, with a white ribbon tied over his eyes, entered through the open doorway and cut through the veiled figures who parted for him like stalks of millet in a summer field.

"What's going on here? It's the middle of the night. You're disturbing everyone's rest."

A disciple near him, said, "Intruders, Master. Chu shixiong and his friend are gone."

The elderly man hummed, tapping his wooden staff against the floor. "Disciple Chu's elder brother I presume?"

The room was filled with people, all of them omegas from the looks of it. Chu Yun had never been surrounded by as many omegas before, and their combined scents were overwhelmingly cloyingly, a mixture of fruity notes that made one dizzy. Among so many omegas, it would have been surprising if the elderly master could have picked the scent of two alphas.

"That's right," Chu Yun said, raising his voice and lifting his chin. "And I demand to know what's going on here."

"You were told to leave," one of the veiled figures said, making her veil flutter with her harsh words. Chu Yun recognised her voice as belonging to the woman who met them by the gates and told them to search in Lanzhou for Chu Hean.

"It's obvious we didn't follow that advice," he returned the vitriol in her words tenfold. "And now I want some answers. Or we're going to have a problem."

From the corner of his eyes he saw Xiao Zai discreetly stuff the crumpled letter Chu Hean had given them into the pockets of his robes. Out of sight from the veiled disciples around them.

Even though the elderly master couldn't see, Chu Yun felt as if he was being probed into. As if somehow he was looking through them and into some secret recesses of their souls. 

After some unspoken inner deliberation he nodded twice to himself and said, "Very well, our guests please follow me."

---

They followed the man out of the room and the pavilion they were in, and into an adjacent pavilion. A few of the veiled omegas trailed after them, weapons at the ready in case they tried anything.

The elderly man opened the door into a small office, overlooking an inner courtyard where several training dummies stood on a gravel path.

Chu Yun, Xiao Zai, and Hua Nanyi stood in front of the desk, while the elderly Master took a seat behind it. He waved towards the disciples that had followed them into the office, and they left as silently as they had come, closing the door behind them with a soft thud.

There was no sound of footsteps afterwards. They were all keeping guard on the other side of the door. Ready to intervene if their Master showed any signs of distress.

All the same, Chu Yun's shoulders still drooped in relief at not having those cunning eyes follow his every movement.

The elder in white laid down his staff over the desk and reclined on the tall-backed chair.

"My name is Chen Yi, and I am Master of Harmonious Radiance Academy. I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have."

"How long as this actually been a martial arts school instead of an arts and etiquette academy for genteel omegas?" Chu Yun asked, getting the big one out of the way.

Master Chen joined the tips of his fingers together on top of the table, his lined face radiated kindness and patience. "Since its inception. Harmonious Radiance has always prepared omegas for both family life, and war."

Xiao Zai scoffed. "Family life and war? Those things couldn't be more divergent."

The elderly master smiled kindly, seemingly with genuine amusement. "I understand why his Highness would think so, but perhaps he can conceive of situations in which an omega's family life more closely resembles a battlefield."

Xiao Zai's face fell, and he went immediately quiet. Chu Yun knew exactly what was running through his mind. The image of Gu Wei's split lip, along with Min Sezhui's dark eye immediately swam to the forefront of his mind. It was hard to claim they weren't both fighting in a sort of silent war, one where no reinforcements would be coming.

"So, you teach omegas how to protect themselves...," Chu Yun said, clearing his throat and sounding out the words. 

The Master tilted his head sideways with a pensive hum. "In a way... except we also teach them how to kill. Defence can only take one so far."

He said the words so casually that it took a moment for their full meaning to sink in. "But why? Isn't that dangerous?" He exchanged a look with Xiao Zai and Hua Nanyi who seemed just as lost as he felt. "Why put so many omegas at risk by turning them into...," he was at a loss for words, "what even are they?"

One corner of Master Chen's lips quirked up in genuine amusement. "Whatever they want to be. Some of them are spies, others are assassins, some will be dams, mothers, spouses....At Harmonious Radiance, the choice is theirs."