Zixin groaned as he carefully sat down at one of the tables in the dining hall of the outer disciples. The wounds on his back that he had received the previous afternoon would take a few more days to fully heal up, even though he had used most of his meagre funds to purchase some low-grade healing supplies.

His body was already tougher than that of even the most hardened adult mortal because of his cultivation, but the lashes he had received hurt him badly nonetheless. That was nothing to the loss of his pill and the time it would take until he was allowed to cultivate again though.

Zixin’s dreams of being noticed by one of the halls and becoming an inner disciple had been shattered before he even got the chance to fully form them.

Even his instructor and his friends had slightly distanced themselves from him after hearing that he had incurred the wrath of an elder. Needless to say, this had hurt more than anything else, even though Zixin couldn’t really blame them. Another frustrating thing. He could blame no one but himself for his idiocy.

It was late noon and he had just come from a long session of scrubbing the floor in the outer relations hall. After eating he would have to go to his next assignment of sweeping stairs in the commerce district. Punitive work wasn’t exactly interesting to say the least.

Zixin stopped eating as the crowded room suddenly grew silent. Looking up, it didn’t take him long to identify the reason for this. Standing by the entrance was the same elder that he had offended just yesterday. Zixin heart began pounding once again as he watched the elder’s eyes scan through everyone present before settling on him.

Thoughts raced through Zixin’s head as the elder made his way to him with firm steps. Had he somehow made another mistake?

As the old man stood before him, Zixin quickly scrambled to his feet to properly bow before him.

“This disciple greets the honored elder.”

Glancing upwards, Zixin saw the elder looking down at him with the same contemplative look as the day before. Finally, when the silence began to become unbearable the man spoke:

“What is your name, disciple?”

“This disciple’s name is Zixin, Honorable Elder!”

“Zixin then, very well. I am here because my punishment for your actions yesterday was quite a lot too hard.”

Zixin was completely lost for words on this. Had the punishment been too hard? It had been hard, that was for sure. He didn’t really have a measure for what was an appropriate punishment for offending an elder. He didn’t even really understand what he had done that was worth punishing, but then again, he was just an outer disciple, what did he really know?

“Please stand straight.” The elder continued. Zixin did as he was told.

“I, Elder Liu Wei, wish to formally apologize to the outer disciple Zixin for my overly hard punishment.” At this declaration, Elder Wei slightly declined his head. Zixin felt the entire hall collectively drawing in air.

“Your remaining punishment is hereby forgiven. Please take this as a recompense.” Elder Wei handed him a small wooden box. It looked much the same as the box that Zixin’s pill had been in, the only difference being that it was intricately decorated with beautiful engravings all around.

“This contains a Superior Qi Refinement pill alongside a mid-grade healing pill and a level three spirit stone.”

Zixin gasped. The spirit stone alone was worth more than the entirety of his possessions.

“This concludes my business here. I hope everyone present will continue to put in their full effort to continue the journey of their cultivation.”

With that, the elder turned around and left, leaving behind a hall of baffled disciples and instructors.

…

Liu Wei carefully monitored his own emotions as he exited the hall. He had expected to feel at least some amount of shame in this. It was, after all, the first time ever since he had become an elder that he had so openly admitted to a mistake.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

He couldn’t find any shame to speak of though, in fact he felt quite good about himself. Bringing out the words of apology had taken quite the effort, especially doing so while sounding calm and certain about when he had in fact been as nervous as a disciple on the day of an important assessment.

Now that it was done though, it felt as if he had accomplished something important and as if in doing so, he had removed a heavy burden of his shoulders.

If there had been any doubt in his mind remaining about this new path, he was treading on, being the right one, this feeling was enough to fully dispel it.

For now, it was time to return to his home. Apologizing to disciple Zixin had been a priority of his, both because it had weighed on his conscience and to verify his new ethical compass. Now that it was done though, there were lots of plans to be made regarding how he would act in the future.

He didn’t yet have any concrete ideas for how to act, but knowing himself and how little this sect’s structure fit his newfound ideals, he had little doubt that while this apology would raise a lot of eyebrows when the elders heard of it, it would soon be overshadowed by far more drastic and politically important actions.

…

“Did the latest report from the eastern commercial district arrive yet? If we want to do something about the growing black market over there, we have to act on the information we receive as quickly as possible.”

“I know, senior Li. I assure you once again that I shall notify you as soon as I receive the report.” Qingge replied to the discomposed man.

“I trust that, it’s just… alright. I’ll try to be patient.”

“Thank you, senior Li. I am sure you won’t have to wait much longer.” She offered him a reassuring smile.

“I hope so. See you later, junior Qingge.”

As he left the room, Qingge couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh. Guowei Li was not a bad person but he tended to be a little overexcited when it came to his work. Not that she could complain too much about that, she would take dealing with someone with too much diligence over dealing with someone with too little a hundred times over. Especially when that person was above her in status.

Qingge couldn’t help but let out a silent yawn as she refocused on the documents before her. It was early in the morning, just before dawn, but she still needed to get some paperwork done before she accompanied Elder Wei to the council meeting.

One could never tell just how exactly these meetings would go and given the elder’s recent breakthrough, she suspected this meeting would be long, tedious and charged to the brim with politic interests. Luckily, she didn’t have to participate all that much in those, but as his assistant it was expected of her to be able to lay out all important facts about the recent actions of the enforcement hall.

She just hoped the whole thing would be over by the evening and not stretch out long into the night or even to the following day. Staying awake that long was one thing and entirely possible without much discomfort at her level of cultivation, but remaining concentrated throughout was a different one.

Looking up from her work as the door was once again opened, Qingge already prepared to once again calm Guowei Li’s worries. Stepping inside however was not the overly worried department head but her fellow attendant Daiyu.

“Good to see you. What brings you to me this early?” Qingge asked, immediately lighting up at the sight of the girl that was one of her closest friends in the entire sect.

“Good morning. I’m here to inform you that Elder Wei has just arrived.”

Qingge immediately felt her heightened mood sour again.

“This early? Aren’t there still a few hours left till the beginning of the meeting?”

“I couldn’t tell you the reason myself. He looked to be in a pretty good mood though.”

“Well, that’s something at least. Could you go greet him first? I’ll be right after there. Just need to put away all of this stuff first.”

“Sure thing. See you there!” Her friend left the room at that.

Qingge hurriedly sorted the mess of documents on her table as well as she could and straightened her robes before following her.

Upon arriving in the entrance hall, Qingge quickly moved into a bow to greet the elder who seemed to be waiting for her there.

“I greet the Honorable Elder!” she exclaimed.

“Greetings, junior member Qingge.” The elder replied in a rather warm tone.

Qingge paused briefly. She couldn’t remember the elder ever addressing her by name before.

“How can I serve the Honorable Elder?” She asked after catching herself.

“I know this is contrary to my prior instructions, but please drop the honorific language as much as you comfortably can. It will make conversing easier.”

This one truly caught her by surprise.

“As you command, hon… As you say, Elder Wei”

“Alright. I didn’t want to disturb your work, but I need you to prepare the most recent and complete report on the Enforcement Hall’s assets, both financial and personal, that we have access to. We will need it for the upcoming council meeting. Is that doable?”

“Of course, h… Elder Wei. I will prepare it.”

“Thank you. Have someone help you, if it’s hard to do in time.”

“I will consider it. Is there anything else I can help with?”

“No, that would be it. Please arrive here half an hour before the start of the meeting. Oh yeah, and mentally prepare yourself for change.”

With those words, the elder left the two friends behind, moving in the direction of his own office.

“Want me to help with that report?” Daiyu offered.

“That would be great. Let’s do it together.” Spending some time with her friend, Qingge thought, might help her process the confusion about what had just happened a little better.