We spent the remainder of our time in Liusha city cultivating, or in Ji’s case, blacksmithing. I managed to reach body training with my viscera and part way through my muscles. Jia managed to cultivate her muscles with water qi using the lake we found on the first day in the city. Ji learned a lot about blacksmithing and promised Huang and Yu that he would continue smithing in his free time at the sect. Apparently it was a tearful goodbye on Ji’s part if what Yu had told us was true.
The trip back to Cheng Lian city with the caravan was mercifully boring as the only danger we encountered was the occasional demon beast pack. When we returned to Cheng Lian city we headed to the Violet Abyss association to give them the letter from the council of Fuschia village requesting aid. The association thanked us for completing our mission and bringing them word of the village’s unfortunate circumstances, writing a note we were to deliver to the mission hall upon returning to the sect.
As a group, we stepped onto the teleportation platform that led to the sect and were transported. We stepped off the platform and were heading to the mission hall when we were waylaid by an angry looking Ban Li.
“You! Blue haired girl. I challenge you to a duel!” Ban Li stated when he was close enough to be heard. I looked around for any other blue haired girls nearby but everyone nearby was bereft of colorful hair.
“Uh. No thanks Ban Li, I just got back from a weeks long set of missions and really want to go lay down in my bed.” I told him, beginning to walk towards the mission hall.
I heard gasps ring out behind me as Shimmer yowled, signaling that I was being attacked. Jia, Ji, and I all rolled out of the way as a gout of flame passed by where I had been standing before.
“I won’t be taking no for an answer, girl. I’m the laughing stock of rustling petal peak because of you!” He shouted at me. My group was now facing him in battle positions while other disciples ran off and others gaped at the exchange.
“Because of me?!” I asked.
“What did I do besides save you from that snake?!” I asked him.
“I saw how you killed that snake from where I was. You could have killed it the entire time, but instead you let it suck out my qi reducing my cultivation to the lowest level of the foundation establishment realm. Now I’m treated as the petal’s slave by other outer disciples!” He yelled, his face turning red.
“If you saw how I killed the python, then why do you think you have any chance of beating me?” I asked, manifesting my qi swords into the air. The wood and metal qi sword seemed more solid than the others, something I would need to look into later.
“That doesn’t matter. I think you killing that qi devouring python was just a fluke. Someone else must have injured it before it got to us and you killing it was just a mistake!” He yelled, sounding more manic now. He was starting to make less and less sense as he spoke. He launched another gout of flame at me and I dodged out of the way. He rushed at me and engaged me in close quarters combat forcing me to fight him with my fists so as to not accidentally hurt him too badly with my swords. Each time he attempted to fire flames at me from up close, I intercepted the flames with the fire and water qi sword, nullifying his attacks. He was getting more and more frustrated as I dodged and parried all of his attacks.
“Why. Won’t. You. Just. Die. Already!” He yelled at me, spittle flying from his mouth and onto my face.
He backed off for a moment and looked to be preparing a large scale flame attack. Jia pulled out her sword and prepared to intercept him, but before any of us could make a move a sword appeared at both Ban Li’s and my throats. I instinctually blocked it with one of my swords, but the sword didn’t budge.
“What is going on here?” A tall disciple in the familiar robes of the sect said. The only things that set him apart from other disciples I had seen was how he held himself and the large white flower symbol over his right chest marking him as a member of the disciplinary hall.
Ban Li remained quiet but I explained what had happened to the disciple. He nodded and asked the same question of the onlookers. They corroborated my story and that seemed to bring him to a conclusion.
“Very well. I believe your story for now, disciple Astra. You and disciple Ban Li will follow me to the disciplinary hall where you’ll explain your story to elder Chin. He will then dole out an appropriate punishment. Follow me, please.” he said motioning to the disciple still holding a sword to my throat to release me but not affording Ban Li the same amount of courtesy. I told my friends I would catch up with them outside the mission hall when we were done and followed the disciples to the disciplinary hall. Like most other buildings in the sect, the disciplinary hall was made of wood and looked like it was built centuries ago, its architecture being very ornate with sprawling designs and symbols etched into the wood.
We walked into an inner room of the hall where we were greeted by the sight of elder Chin looking over paperwork. Disciples stood guard all around the room, stalwart statues ready to jump into action at a moment’s notice.
Elder Chin looked up from his work and frowned when he saw me.
“Disciple Fuo, what’s the meaning of bringing these two disciples to me?” Elder Chin asked.
Fuo, the disciple who had led us to the disciplinary hall, explained the situation and told me to explain it from my point of view. I did and then he forced Ban Li to give his interpretation which didn’t differ very much from mine except his colorful description of my actions was much more lurid than what really happened.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Elder chin thought for a minute when the explanations finished and the grin that appeared on his face made shivers run down my spine.
“So you’re saying that you both engaged in an unsanctioned duel on sect grounds. That breaks one of the cardinal rules of the sect. I sentence you both to a week in solitary lockup without the privilege of cultivating. You’ll both be placed in qi dispersing restraints and be taken to the cave of reflection for a week.” He stated.
“But elder-” Fuo tried to interrupt but was cut off by elder Chin, now furious.
“Be silent disciple Fuo. I have given my decree. Empty both of their pockets here, confiscate any treasures they have in their possession as restitution to the sect and bind them with the restraints!” Elder Chin commanded.
I tried to speak out but my words fell on deaf ears as the disciples situated around the room restrained Ban Li and me and began rummaging through our pockets, flinging our items onto the table in front of elder Chin. Once the contents of our pockets were emptied, elder Chin looked over them briefly, his eyes widening when he saw my pile.
“I’ve changed my mind. Take disciple Ban Li away to the cave of reflection, but leave disciple Astra here with me for a moment. I will decide a different punishment for her.” he said, confusing everyone in the room. The disciples would not disobey the elder and released me while dragging Ban Li off, him screaming about the injustice of the situation.
I was very confused about why elder Chin, who didn’t like me, seemed to be taking mercy on me. But to my horror I wasn’t confused for long. When elder Chin dismissed all of the disciples in the room and we were left alone, he pulled a familiar wooden token out from his pocket and my blood went cold. I didn’t change the expression of confusion on my face, I couldn’t, I was too shocked at the revelation that elder Chin was a member of the church of the one true dao.
“Disciple Astra, why did you not report to me when you entered the sect if you were a fellow member of the church.” he asked, standing up from his desk and walking around it to face me. I thought for a few moments and came up with the best excuse I could in the moment.
“I’m a new initiate sir, I wasn’t apprised of your status before entering the sect. I’m sorry for not reporting to you sir.” I told him in my most respectful tone I could muster.
“I’ll admit I was angry at you for interfering and killing the qi devouring python before it could kill that city lord’s brat. It messed up our plans in Cheng Lian city temporarily. But no matter, you’re quite close with the girl, which will work out for us in the end. Are you aware of our orders in the sect?” he asked me. I shook my head, not daring to say anything out loud after the reveal that the qi devouring python was meant to kill Jia.
“Very well. I’ll briefly explain them to you and give you new orders so listen carefully. In a few months time the outer sect competition will be held. During the finals of the competition, our agents within the sect will cause multiple distractions, drawing the elders away from the arena at which point an elder from the church will make himself known and join me in killing the patriarch. With the sect’s patriarch dead, the blooming violet sect will fall into chaos and I will take it over. While I’m fighting the patriarch, I’ll need you to kill Lian Jia which will cause Cheng Lian’s city lord to become unstable and allow our church to usurp him. Do you understand?” he asked.
I was well and truly freaking out now but managed a vigorous nod which elicited a nod from the elder.
“Very good. I’ll be confiscating your treasures as a show of discipline, but you should keep the token with you. Should anyone in the church attempt to contact you, show them the token and you will be given assistance in your mission should you need it. You may now leave.” Elder Chin stated and without delaying any further I grabbed the church token and left the room. I left the building and headed to the mission hall as quickly as I could without looking suspicious.
“Oh hey there she is.” I heard Jia say to Ji when they saw me but the look on my face must have clued her in to my mental state because she frowned after getting a good look at me.
“Astra, what’s wrong?” she asked me when I got close enough.
“Later.” I told her, not willing to risk explaining everything without being certain that we wouldn’t be overheard by anyone. Jia and Ji shrugged and we all walked into the mission hall receiving our rewards for the missions we completed and extra rewards for delivering the letter from fuschia village to the Violet Abyss association. We all walked back to the dorm to talk, but when we reached the top of the peak’s stairs Cassandra was waiting for us with her arms crossed.
“Hi cuties! I think it’s time we had that little talk we talked about in the forest. Come with me, I know somewhere secret we can speak without being overheard.”
That was perfect! Now I could tell Cassandra about elder Chin. She’ll know what to do. But wait, what if Cassandra was a member of the church? I’d be killed if she was and she found out I was spilling secrets about the plan to outer disciples. I had to find out if she was with the church.
She showed us to a small wooden building off to one side of the peak. We entered it and I realized it was someone’s house. It was decorated with pink everywhere and I figured it must be Cassandra’s house.
Cassandra put down some kind of artifact onto the table in the middle of the room and when she activated it with her qi, a translucent bubble expanded out from the artifact, covering all of us. The normal sounds of the sect from the various bird calls and disciples talking were all suddenly much more muted now, but when Cassandra spoke I heard her perfectly fine.
“I’ve activated a privacy artifact so no one can hear us from outside the bubble. Now will one of you explain why you’re all body cultivating and spirit cultivating please?” she asked, but before anyone could start speaking I pulled the token out of my pocket and discreetly showed it to Cassandra. She saw the token, looked at it confused and then changed her question.
“Alright, new question, what in the worlds is that token, Astra?” She asked. I heaved out a sigh of relief and put the token onto the table. Jia looked at me confused but before anyone could say anything about the token I explained what had happened in the disciplinary hall.
At the mention of elder Chin’s involvement with the church, everyone’s eyes went wide. And their shock only grew with my explanation of the plan elder Chin explained to me. Cassandra looked the most troubled by the news and after my story she took a few minutes to think before speaking.
“If this is true Astra, then this is very troubling information. We’ll have to postpone our talk about you three and your weird cultivations. I need to go speak to elder Niang right now. Wait for me here you three and don’t say a word to anybody. If someone comes to the door looking for me, just tell them I’m out and will meet up with them when I return.
With that, Cassandra left the room and took the artifact with her. We talked about various mundane topics, none of us daring to speak about what I had told the group before cassandra returned with the artifact. Before too long Cassandra returned and opened the door.
“Astra, elder Niang needs to speak with you, come with me.” She said.