Tai Lui sat firm in his jade-carved seat. The pavilion that contained him was massive, stretching across almost half a kilometer in size. It was designed to contain tens of thousands of people, with chairs set up everywhere in a colosseum-like manner, all with his throne at the center. But it was empty now, aside from Tai Lui and the thing that bowed before him.

"What did you say?" He said, his voice echoing throughout the empty hall.

"Cai Xiun is back Honored Clan Patriarch, and the Sect Patriarch calls for your presence," the man spoke, with his head still perpendicular to the floor.

Tai Lui stood up with such force and fury that the jade throne beneath shattered into infinite pieces, with some of its fragments flying toward the outer disciple and burying themselves into his face. The disciple did not move, even as blood leaked from his face and onto his clothes, he did not acknowledge the pain. The young man was in pain, of course, but the only thing worse than a marred face was death. And all those under the Tai Clan knew that not showing the Clan Patriarch respect, even in the face of agony, meant death.

"Did the Patriarch tell you why he calls for me?" Tai Lui growled.

"No Clan Patriarch, merely that it was a gathering of all the Clan Patriarchs and Sect Elders within the Flowering Sword Sect."

Tai Lui nodded and walked out into the courtyard, with a hidden grimace on his face.

"Dammed Hollowed Echo bastards," he whispered.

How could they fail an assassination of a mere second rank boy, especially after all he’d paid them? He’d gone through the trouble of setting up most of the assassination himself. It was he who had helped the boy’s mother flee the sect, and it was he who planted the seeds for his punishment.

Had the boy learned of this? No. That couldn’t be it. Even the Hollowed Echo didn’t know who he was, though he didn’t doubt they had their suspicions. But they wouldn’t have turned tail for no reason, it would have incriminated them as well.

If it was a meeting of all the elders, he would have to attend. To not attend would only bring suspicion in the eyes of others. And though many hated the bastard child, no one wanted to take the blame for this attempted assassination. They would be scrambling to find a scapegoat, and Tai Lui couldn’t allow them to push that role upon him.

And he had not used anything that could be traced back to him. He had done all the work himself, and yet… yet all that was for nothing. Tai Lui breathed an angry breath and contained all of his frustrations. For now, he would need to act impartial to avoid suspension. He had worked towards his goals his whole life, making sacrifices of both people and resources, and no mere bastard would get in the way of that.

Tai Lui leapt into the sky, pulling out his sword mid-air. He funneled his qi into the blade, activating the flight enchantment. The blade itself was large and flat, and it wouldn’t do well as a weapon, but this specific sword had been designed for flight, not for battle.

The sword carried him higher and higher until his pavilion turned into a small dot beneath him. From this height, he could see all the landmarks of this specific area and navigation became an easy task. It was as if he was floating over a map.

With hidden fury, Tai Lui aimed his sword toward the Broken Isles of the Flowering Sword Sect’s headquarters and propelled.

********

Cai Xiun sat down comfortably in his new room. They hadn’t believed him at first. When he told them his story he’d been called a deluded liar. The grand elder he’d spoken with had sneered at him and brought him directly before the patriarch to recount his tale.

He had probably been expecting Cai to crumble and admit that it was all a lie, but Cai hadn’t. Had the grand elder taken the time to ask Cai for proof, he would have presented it. But instead, it was the patriarch who asked for proof, and it was to the patriarch it was given.

Cai had pulled out the cup that the Honored Master had used to demonstrate the Flowering Sword Style and presented it to the patriarch. The cup itself was undeniably common, but the Dao it contained was immense. The Honored Master’s demonstration had left a bit of understanding imbued within the cup and made it a treasure for those who practiced the Flowering Sword Style. Words had flown, rage had spewed, and at one point Cai had been accused of sharing the technique with someone more powerful than him to support his lies.

But the patriarch had shot all those theories down one by one.

"This Dao represents an understanding of the technique that even I can marvel at. Even if Cai were to have shared the technique, this level of mastery within a matter of days is immense. Whoever this person is, their strength is comparable to mine if not greater," the patriarch had said.

And so Cai was put away while the elders came together in discussion.

It wasn’t awful, waiting as others discussed your fate. It wasn’t something new to Cai, but he never enjoyed it as much as he did this time. He had been given a new residence, one five times the size of his old one, and it was located near the center of the Broken Isles, making it supreme for cultivation.

The servants here were skilled. He had no servants in his old courtyard, they had all been killed by his cousins when he was young. He could have asked for new ones but he knew they would follow the same fate, so he had kept a servantless house. But the ones here seemed strong, and the guards at the gate were beyond the third realm, meaning his cousins couldn’t kill them if they wanted to.

Though Cai did wonder whether they were guarding him against others or preventing him from escaping, a little bit of both he supposed. News like this would make the whole of the region go mad. A new cultivator, one they had never heard of before suddenly appearing and settling down here had a lot of implications, and they would get whatever knowledge they could from Cai before approaching him.

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Some might wish to approach him in an attempt to earn merit for the clan by bringing the man to their side. Others would be scrambling to sell the news to the other sects, either way, Cai’s information would be valuable.

But it seemed like even the Sect Patriarch had made note of that and had given Cai a room only a few li away from his own, and he had assigned Cai guards to keep him safe from his cousins. Had this been the Cai before the journey, he might have confused the action with love, but the Cai of now could see things clearly.

And then there was the matter of his assassination. The honored master had given him some advice pertaining to this problem.

"Be wary of those that defend you. When it comes to cultivators, if they butter you up they’re probably planning to eat ya."

Though the wording was unusual, Cai understood the meaning. The guilty will act in excess kindness if only to hide their malice.

Cai kept this in mind.

There was a knock on his door followed by a yell.

"Cai Xiun," the guard yelled.

"Your cousin wishes to meet with you."

"It’s alright, Cai knows me. Now step out of my way-"

"The Sect Patriarch has declared that Cai Xiun is to be left undisturbed."

There was a noise that sounded like an attack, and followed that was the sound of a body hitting the floor.

"You dare? Do you know who I am? My father is Li Fou and he will have your head for this!"

Ah, so this was Xi Fou.

"Cai Xiun, tell this dog off and send him away!"

If they butter you up they’re probably planning to eat ya.

Xi Fou should have known better than this. The boy was stupid, but he was never this stupid. The guards outside wore the uniform of the sect patriarch and even Xi Fou should have known that his father had no ability to command the patriarch’s people. So… what was truly happening?

So far it had been the patriarch who had defended him. His own grandfather, who had treated him as if he was nothing more than a dirty dog on the side of the street, had suddenly started to show obsessive kindness. The man hadn’t apologized for anything, because to apologize was to admit fault and he was incapable of that. But he had been treating Cai better now, even gifting him a new residence with new servants and guards.

The patriarch had as much to gain as anybody else from Cai’s information. Maybe Xi Fou’s appearance was a part of that plan.

"Let him in," Cai said.

There was a click as the door was opened. A square-faced disgruntled young man entered, giving the guard a dirty look as he came in.

"You need to get yourself better guards cousin. He may be strong, but what use is a servant who doesn't know their place."

Cai's mind flashed back to the day he had found his servants' dead and dismembered bodies piled up in his courtyard. There had been a group of children there, laughing at his horrified expression. Xi Fou had been one of them.

"What do you want?" Cai asked.

Xi Fou smirked.

"Little Cai," he teased. "It seems what they say is true. You must have gotten stronger during your little mission. Either that or you’ve grown more stupid."

"I don’t care to see you Xi Fou. What do you want?" Cai repeated.

"Hmm, well I came by because I’d been hearing all those rumors about your mission. Some say you’ve found hidden treasures, others say that you have learned techniques from some great hidden master. I’ve merely come to learn the truth."

Cai looked at the Xi Fou, not just a mere observation but truly inspected the man. He glanced up and down the man, studying his posture and demeanor. Xi had clearly come here for something, but Cai doubted it was for information. Although Xi had tried to hide it, he had seemed surprised when Cai let him in, as if he was expecting to be kicked out.

Cai looked towards the guard.

Be wary of those that defend you.

Was this a trap? Was this instigated by his grandfather to make Cai feel indebted to his guards? The new courtyard, the capable servants, the better treatment? Was his grandfather merely using him as some tool?

"Well, are you going to tell me or will you just be staring off into the distance like one of those sightless rats?"

Cai looked at him suspiciously.

"What do you know of the Hollowed Echo Sect?"

Xi Fou looked a little surprised at the reaction before sternly readjusting his robes.

"Nothing everyone else doesn’t. Why? Was it one of their blind bastards that taught you something?"

"One of them tried to kill me," Cai answered.

"Hah! And they failed! Truly a lowly sect if they couldn’t kill someone as weak as you! Or maybe they thought a first rank would be enough to overpower you and you somehow managed to escape? Huh, cousin?"

Xi Fou was trying to get information in the most idiotic and clumsy way possible. Cai was sure the boy thought of himself as a genius for creating all these half-hearted insults to throw his way.

"The man that almost killed me was of the fourth rank," Cai stated.

Xi Fou's face went from laughter to shock in an instant.

"The fourth rank? Absurd! There is no way that-"

"Guard, remove him."

The third rank nodded as he looped an arm around the young master’s arm and pulled.

"Get your filthy clanless hands off of me! My father will have your bloodline for this! To dare to insult one of my- Cai tell him to let go of me! I swear you will regret this Cai Xiun!"

Xi Fou didn’t rebel, but he continued cursing at Cai as he was taken.

"You lame bastard boy with your fish-stained blood daring to move against me! Whatever you’ve gained in that desert will be taken away eventually and you have no family! Wait for me then you mutt mixed bast-"

There was the sound of a body being thrown and Xi Fou’s cries were replaced with a distant thump.

Cai closed his eyes, running through what had just happened. Why would Xi Fou act like this around the Sect Patriarch’s guards? Everyone knew they were beholden to no one but the Patriarch himself. Who had sent him here? It might have been out of his own volition but… maybe there was more to it?

Cai sighed. These bastards wanted nothing more than to take and take and take. He thought about the Honored Master and the things that he had said. But more than the master, he found himself thinking about the mortal old man who had stood against him in that village. The old farmer that called the Honored Master his friend.

‘Don’t make it sound like an insult. No job more noble in my eyes. I keep people fed and alive while you swing your swords and spit blood at each other.’

Then Cai thought of his own ‘family’ and the way they had treated him. He thought about his grandfather, the Patriarch who had clung desperately to his daughter to try and get a grandson out of her that he could prop up as his heir. The cousins who had beaten him repeatedly out of spite. The mother who had left him to this fate and the father he had never met.

All of them had been selfish, taking and taking and taking, and when Cai thought about this a deep disgust roiled inside of him.