Cool rain ran down the cloaks adorning the rows of Fan Clan warriors in formation. They stood in a broad clearing just outside Little Green Bamboo village with a path that led to ship-filled docks. Standing in three by two rows each one was clad in flowing martial robes with cloaks drawn about their bodies to stave off the drizzling downpour. For the traditional clan warriors, their robes were resplendent gold with the Fan clan crest emblazoned on their backs. In contrast, the cloaks surrounding them were azure that was almost as dark as night.

Gold and Azure were the traditional colors of the Fan clan as such the observers standing in formation with their warrior counterparts wore robes with flowing patterns of the two. Wrapped around the graceful forms of the eyes of the clan were ephemeral cloaks of moonlight silver that seemed to let light pass through them making the observers seem transparent. At the head of each small formation of six clan members stood a warrior or observer with either a silver or golden symbol set to the collar of their robe demarking them as squad leaders.

Among the squads, most of them consisted of four warriors and two observers with two consisting entirely of either. In all, ten of these squads were gathered inside the clearing with nine of them being arranged into small square formations. These small formations were themselves arranged in an equally spaced pattern to form a three-by-three grid. This represented the might of a Fan clan Legion assembled for inspection and deployment.

Standing at the head of the formation of squads was another, of the six people in this squad five of them stood in a straight line with their hands clasped behind their backs. In front of those five stood a regal and aloof observer. This was the commander of this legion, master realm observer Fan Ping and her headquarters unit. Among those standing behind her Fan Zhong noticed that Fan Shun was present

Standing behind Su Fen he could feel the gaze of the commander sweeping across the gathered legion as the cool rain chilled him to the bone. As they stood in silence to present themselves to Fan Ping for inspection, mild breezes swept their cloaks here and there as tall bamboo shoots swayed in the wind. In the distance, the storm rumbled like war drums from long-forgotten faraway battlefields.

The atmosphere weighed down on the assembled Fan clan soldiers like a mountain, the heralding thunder making it feel as if heaven were simply preparing songs for their eulogies. Trying to take his mind off the ominous feelings, Fan Zhong focused on what he had learned since his brother had seen him just a day ago. Firstly he had received his orders that his squad would be receiving new members to make a fully prepared and manned battle squad for the upcoming deployment.

This didn’t come as a surprise but it was nice to know that the clan wasn’t so short-staffed that they would send teams into military action without sufficient manpower. He had been told that the normal compliments for such a squad consisted of two observers, which was the same as the team would’ve had on their bodyguard assignments if staffing had permitted. It had taken Fan Zhong until this morning, only three hours ago as it was just an hour past noon at this point, to meet one of his new comrades.

This ended up being the more senior of the two, Su Dai, who was one of Su Fen’s kinsmen as well as an experienced second-grade realm observer. She had seen many missions through to completion and since the squad lacked another senior martial artist the clan had thought it prudent to assign her to this role. Effectively, this killed two birds with one stone as one of the observer positions was filled and now there were two veterans present to balance out the leadership in the team.

When meeting her Fan Zhong had been expecting someone older, perhaps around mid-twenties or early thirties. However, Su Dai was actually around his brother's age with her being 20 years of age to Fan Cheng’s 21. At first sight, it had been obvious to Fan Zhong, who had lived his whole life with many senior female observers around, that Su Dai was a clan observer.

Her emerald green eyes gave way to a gaze that had the same piercing quality that all of those who practiced the mental techniques seemed to carry. With that, her figure cut a graceful shape that left her no less beautiful than even the master realm observers who had been training their bodies for dozens of years. Of note, instead of the pale jade-like skin of those like Fan Yuhai, her complexion was coppery and darker like polished brass with a filter of silver sheen layered over it.

What truly caught Fan Zhong’s eye though was Su Dai’s hair as she had flowing curly locks of blonde hair that ran down to the middle of her back. In all, the senior observer cut an alluring figure that spoke of beauty, grace, and most of all deadly confidence. Adorned in her martial robe complete with the silver cloak that seemed to hide her from sight, she was currently standing in front of Fan Zhong to the right of Su Fen.

To his left stood the other addition to their squad, Mo Hui. As one of the three most junior members of the team, Mo Hui was standing in the back row of their squad alongside Fan Zhong and Fan Yong. Zi Bao was the second most senior warrior so he was standing in the front row to the left of Su Fen. Remembering the junior observer, Fan Zhong thought of what he knew about the young man.

Mo Hui was a year younger than him and hailed from a clan that called the village home. His family had a tradition of being tailors and normally only trained in the martial path for personal health and emergency defense of the village. All families in Little Green Bamboo Village were encouraged to do the ladder as the Fan clan wanted the village to be as guarded as possible. So it was that although it wasn’t required to train one's martial arts, most of the village did so happily in their spare time.

Being tailors, the Mo clan over time began developing certain talents with the mix of their precise needlework and martial training to be part of the village custom. It became obvious that many of them excelled in mental techniques after just a few generations and as such, they made it a tradition to have their children tested for mental technique aptitude alongside the warrior clan children. Normally, this was optional for clans that had nonmartial occupations and didn’t serve as warrior branch clans.

However, the observer elders had been overjoyed to hear that there was a potential source for more trainees and quickly agreed to let whoever wished to try. As such, the Mo clan had become one of the biggest sources of male observers, aside from the Fan clan itself. This was mostly due to the sons of warrior branch clans preferring to take the traditional path. All children who were tested regardless of aptitude were still given a choice on what path they wished to take as no one wanted to force a martial path on someone.

Thinking about this triggered Fan Zhong’s own memories of his aptitude for the observer path. At the time, he had scored well enough to become a temporary disciple and would’ve had to pass a competency test after a year to continue onward. Both his father and mother had been adamant that he was free to pick whichever he wished, regardless of talent.

For a young Fan Zhong, at the time, the choice had seemed obvious. With the observer path, he would have had to begin training immediately as Fan Jingyi had at that age. Choosing the warrior path had allowed him to procrastinate and enjoy the wonders of life.

Possibilities spread out in his mind of the different outcomes that could have been had he chosen a different path. In the end, he could only sigh and accept that his choices were his own, only in doing so could he accept himself and move forward. Examining Mo Hui further, Fan Zhong noted the man’s stocky build. Surprisingly the third-grade observer was only a few centimeters shorter than himself and was a decent amount wider at the shoulders than him.

It had amazed him that Mo Hui could still pull off the graceful and silent movements required of observer training with his build. If anyone saw him at a distance they might assume he was a boulder! However, there he was, shifting slightly in the wind with his martial robes and almost transparent silver cloak as graceful as Fan Jingyi.

Fan Zhong had to admit that it was almost unnerving to see such a large person able to stand and move so silently. Fan Yong had just laughed at him and said that he was mad that there was finally someone who could see the clouds just as well as Fan Zhong could. Thinking of Fan Yong brought a smile to his face and he refocused his mind to use his mental technique to try to pick out the features of Mo Hui. The junior observer had not met them until arriving at this clearing for the assembly.

Although he had seemed good-natured and kind when they exchanged words before the commander arrived, Fan Zhong still preferred to know the face of his teammates. Finally, after a small gust of wind, the cloak pushed back and he glimpsed the other man’s visage. Mo Hui had a rather gentle face with short brown hair that didn’t leave the top of his head.

His eyes were like distant mountains mired in a rainstorm, gray and somewhat murky. All in all his face gave one the feeling that they were speaking to a kind, if perhaps somewhat slow, fellow with only the slightly angular line of his jaw to give away anything else. However, in his eyes sat the birthing form of sharpness and wit that all observers gained, and as such Fan Zhong didn’t think for a second the man was actually slow of mind.

Glancing upward he found that commander Fan Ping had been working her way to each squad looking them up and down individually. Their squad was in the last in the second row of three and she was just about to stop in front of them when he looked up.

“Warrior Su Fen, you command this battle squad?” Fan Ping’s voice was pleasant like a beautiful song while carrying the cold ice of analytic calculation.

Quickly Su Fen gave her a martial salute and bowed before responding with his best imitation of Fan Shun’s stoic professional tone.

“That is correct commander Fan Ping, it is my honor to lead them to fight under your legion.”

“No warrior Su Fen, the honor is mine. Officer Fan Shun speaks highly of your martial prowess. Personally, I hope your comrades never have to see it. For that will mean we’ve avoided engaging in this terrible ordeal for at least one more day. However I’ll make this clear, this is MY legion. You AND your men need to understand that here and now” Fan Ping’s voice rang out, infused with a small amount of qi, the emphasized words weighing down on the squad like a mountain.

While speaking, the commander’s eyes landed on Fan Zhong and for a moment anger flashed. As their gazes met that anger melted into the worry of an aunt seeing her nephew following her to war. Finally, Fan Ping’s expression iced over returning to stoic icy calculation in a flash.

“Commander, this one understands. None of them question your command or ability, our loyalty is to the clan as always” Su fen replied, kneeling and bowing his head to the ground to show sincerity.

With a deep breath and a sigh, the commander nodded and continued to inspect the rest of the squads. Fan Zhong let out a deep breath and straightened his stance as she walked away. Seeing the elder observer brought hot shame to his face, making emotions flare inside Fan Zhong’s troubled heart. Trying to forget the awful incident at the academy he internally concentrated on the information Fan Cheng and Su Fen had taught him over the last day about the clan’s structure during military operations.

Normally the clan operated in a business-like capacity with individual teams of six or fewer taking on missions that were requested of the clan. Many of the observers would either serve as part of a bodyguard team or take yearly jobs to serve a village or city. This left many observers working in one or two-man teams as they didn't require warriors to help them fulfill a long-term role as an observer who simply monitored ongoing and outgoing traffic to a community.

Those communities would have warriors or guards of their own and would rarely require the observer to fight as their job was to simply report if powerful martial artists were entering population centers without announcing themselves. Knowing this, the village elders set one-year limits on the missions that observers could take and required them to complete at least two team-based jobs per year to keep their skills sharpened. To accommodate this the average observer served a community with a partner serving to lighten the work and take over full duties when their partner went back to Little Green Bamboo Village to complete team missions.

Loose-form teams that didn’t stay together long were the norm during times like this as usually the warriors would form teams of four stable members and allow observers to rotate into the two remaining slots freely. As such, there was no larger grouping of teams during times of peace. Occasional missions may require more than one team however they would be determined on a case-by-case basis by the clan elders.

Now that war was coming to the valley the clan recalled all personnel that could be spared and decreed military deployments. During military mustering and deployment, the Fan clan had a different set of guidelines to organize their warriors and observers. Battle squads were the official group and it just consisted of the normal mission team with four warriors and two observers.

To lead a squad a martial artist had to be at least second-grade and have at least a dozen missions under their belt. Above this was a legion consisting of ten squads with nine normal battle squads and one headquarters squad that was led by the legion commander. To qualify as a legion commander one had to be in the master realm or higher and be an active warrior or observer for five years.

Alongside the commander was their headquarters squad which consisted of veterans who acted as senior officers of the legion. Qualifying for those positions required you to be at the peak of the second-grade realm at a minimum. Even then, often it was preferred for these spots to be filled by first-grade realm martial artists.

If further manpower was required for an operation three legions could then be formed into a Palm with the most veteran headquarters squad assuming the head command position. From there the other two command squads would defer to the Palm commander’s orders. To lead such a force the clan required one to be a veteran master realm martial artist.

In addition, the master had to have a decade of experience operating and performing duties with their master-level, or higher, strength. Finally, if there was an emergency that needed the entire clan to muster they would form an army of ten legions. Three palms make up the bulk of an army muster with the tenth legion being known as the core legion

In the core legion, every squad was made up of elders and veteran fighters with it being personally led by the clan leader. With this type of gathering each of the palm commanders would defer to the core legion headquarters squad. Every position in the core legion required one to be at least one realm higher than what would be required to hold that position in a normal legion.

For example, to even qualify as a normal squad member one had to be a veteran second-grade martial artist. Think of such a gathering of might had Fan Zhong’s head spinning as the mere legion that he now stood in felt like a great gathering of might. He couldn’t help but marvel at the amount of experience, training, and martial prowess held collectively by all of his clansmen standing here.

It was truly terrifying to imagine what type of monster needed such might to take down. This brought him to the actual details of the legion’s deployment that Fan Cheng had relayed to him. Apparently, the valley clans had still been trying to negotiate with the Wei and lure them into a bargain or some sort of martial competition to decide the conflict, like the fabled trials of combat in the legends.

Unfortunately, the haughty overlords of the west hadn’t been receptive and had secretly gathered a force of mercenaries both from cities under their control in the valley and lands slightly beyond that they had influence in. Just a few days ago mercenaries carrying Wei clan banners had assaulted a few small fishing villages along the banks of the northern parts of the Flowing Grass Valley.

The Wang clan and their allies hadn't finished gathering their own forces at that time. Caught unaware, the smaller communities that the Valley clan alliances hoped to protect were being razed and their people slaughtered. As one of the pillars of the alliance and the strongest singular martial clan, the Fan Clan had been asked to deploy one of their legions to hold the line. Their defensive point would be Forest Depths Village, a strategically vital staging point for the Wei forces to encroach further into the valley.

This village was important as it was the largest fortified community that wasn’t one of the Wang clan’s direct villages. The Wei knew that they couldn’t easily break the Wang clan as they were possibly the second strongest clan in terms of martial prowess besides the Fan Clan. However, the Wang clan mostly controlled coastal villages and didn’t have great mobility over land.

As such if they could secure the Forest Depths Village which was farther inland the Wei forces would have a fortified stronghold that could fortify their troops and bypass the need to take control of the river from the Wang, who were masters on the water. It was estimated that the alliance would need six months to gather a force to secure the western border between Wei clan territory and the rest of the valley. As such, Fan Ping’s newly assembled legion needed to hold Forest Depths village long enough to buy that time.

Early reports had described the mercenaries as little more than scattered bands of raiders without truly organized structures. With no other info, the clan could not reasonably deploy more than a single legion without evidence of a larger more organized force. Fan Zhong secretly hoped that the gathered might of an organized, and imposing, Fan clan legion would cause the mercenaries to lose heart.

Whatever the case, they had been assigned the duty and he was going whether he wanted to or not. Choosing not to dwell on his thoughts, Fan Zhong focused himself back on Fan Ping who had returned to her position in front of the gathered legion. As the commander's gaze fell upon them the air seemed to vibrate and he could only guess that the veteran observer was gathering qi to disperse it throughout the clearing.

“Clansmen, today we gather for a solemn task.” Fan Ping began in a commanding tone “ The clan has not gone to war for nigh on a century at this time. We have lived in prosperity and grown to love our home. Today, the dogs in the west bare their teeth at our home. They bark and nip, like jackals looking for scraps. A better commander might tell you to give your blood for the clan. They would tell you that to die in battle is your honor as a warrior and soldier. I regret that my talents fall short here as I refuse to tell you such lies. Dying is final, it is messy. When you die it will be in a pool of filth and grime. Covered in shit and blood you’ll splutter on the floor trying to choke out your last pitiful words.”

She paused for a few moments, letting the words sink in. Some paled at the words, others met the words with fierce glares of challenge. Still others, those most veteran among them, simply had expressions of deep sadness. In the dreary rain under the peel of rumbling thunder, the seconds of silence seemed to stretch on for eternity under that dark sunless sky, a patch of time hidden from the heavens themselves.

“That is why you won’t die. You’ll fight, rip and tear. These dogs will bleed for every moment they dared think of killing the good people of this land. If you dare die under my command I’ll reap a thousand Wei clan bastards for your eulogy and then ride them to the hall of the ancestors myself to make you wish samsara would take your soul faster!” Fan Ping’s voice rose in fervor and intensity as she spoke “Today, we set out to send a message! To remind these whoRESONS WHY THEY ONCE FEARED THE NAME FAN!!... Now come, sons and daughters of heaven, we have jackals to hunt.”

By the end of her words, the commander's voice was like whispering wind snaking into the ears of each of them. As beautiful as undisturbed snow atop a mountain as deadly as the coldest winter abyss. Like this, for the first time in a century, the Fan clan went to war.