A month had passed, and Wen Zixin had gotten into a routine. Wake up, open the store, sell herbs or make medicine, and head to dinner at the “Herb Garden”. At night he would keep his door open to the store and thanks to his Skills scare off any would-be burglar. Every couple of days he would be sent out for herbs instead of opening the store and twice a week he would drop off his laundry before picking it up after dinner the next day. He was now sitting in the “Herb Garden”, the talk around the city was about the end of the tournament. This was the day of the finals, and the Elder from the Five Mountain Sword Sect still hadn’t chosen a disciple. People were wondering if he would go somewhere else to look or just return to the sect without one. As Wen Zixin was eating it was getting harder and harder to hear the conversations around him because of an increasingly loud din coming from the street. When nobody could continue their conversation because of the noise Madam Chen’s brother, whose name Wen Zixin had learned was Chen Shuchang, decided to head to the door, most likely to see what was going on. Though before he could reach it someone burst in from the other side. It was a young man with disheveled clothes and blood running down the side of his face. There was a moment when what little was still going on in the inn stopped before all eyes were on him. Shuchang was the first to shake off the moment and hurried over to the injured young man.
“What happened to you? What’s going on?”
Shuchang asked while trying to see how bad the head wound was. The young man looked at Shuchang with fear and panic written all over his face and replied.
“The Cao clan has gone crazy. The Elder from the Five Mountain Sword Sect chose one of them to take as his disciple. After accepting the Elder as his master, the Cao Scion asked for the Elder’s backing in suppressing the Bai Clan. The Elder agreed and before anyone could say anything all the other Cao cultivators attacked every other cultivator, while the leader of the Cao Clan group announced a reward to any mortal who would fight on behalf of their clan. Now a bunch of people are running around destroying property and killing anyone who fights back.”
Just as he finished speaking the inn’s door was knocked in and fell on the floor as a flood of people charged in. The first through the door tackled the young man and started beating his head in. The next few ran at Shuchang, but it seemed he had some experience with fighting, as he charged them before they got to him. That was when Wen Zixin noticed the rest of the mob was charging the patrons, including himself. SHIT!SHIT!SHIT!SHIT! Quickly before they reached him Wen Zixin brought up the Mortal Skills Menu looking for something to keep him alive.
Leaf On the Wind:
You are the leaf on the wind. You are untouched by the whirlwind and all that is in it.
While there was other more aggressive Skills Wen Zixin wasn’t looking to kill, he just didn’t want to get hit. Again, he felt the tingle of a skill affecting his body and he had a set of forms for the Skill entered his mind. When the mob got to him his body started to move. His Hunter’s Instincts Skill allowed him to track everything going on around him and Leaf On the Wind Skill moved him around avoiding punches, kicks, and random items flying his way. This continued on for what felt like hours. Dodging one thing after another, until suddenly no one was fighting. Looking around, Wen Zixin found several of the patrons standing out of breath with most of the people laying out on the floor being the invasive mob. Of note was Madam Chen and Chen Shuchang. Chen Shuchang was walking around and checking the patrons that weren’t standing to see if they were alive or not. Madam Chen was guarding the door to the back with a frying pan in each hand and the bodies surrounding her had very noticeable dents in them with a dark puddle forming under them. OHGOD!OHGOD!OHGOD!OHGOD! Wen Zixin quickly looked away to keep his dinner in and hurried out of the inn. On the street he noticed it was filled with people laid out everywhere and the various stores had different degrees of vandalism. He started heading towards Chen’s at a jog but halfway there he ended up stumbling into an alley after passing by an overturned and destroyed food cart with a small unmoving hand under it. JESUSFUCKINGCHRIST! When he got back to Cheng’s he saw that the store had made it intact, minus the upper half of the door for some reason. Hanging out a little way from the door Wen Zixin called out.
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“Shopkeeper Cheng are you alright?”
“Mr. Wen is that you?”
Wen Zixin heard some shuffling inside the store and saw Cheng peer out from the missing top of the door. When he saw Wen Zixin standing outside, Cheng shuffled a couple of stools out from behind the door and hurried Wen Zixin inside before securing the door again.
“Mr. Wen what’s going on? I saw a mob going down the street attacking everyone and breaking into the stores. So, I boarded up the store and when some tried to break in, I threw some very unpleasant powders to hold them off.”
Wen Zixin relayed to Cheng what he had heard at the inn, the following fight, and how the street looked when he ran back to the store. Cheng stood there for a moment with a frown deep in concentration. After a minute he seemed to come to a decision and nodded to himself.
“Mr. Wen we should stay inside and not go outside for a couple of days. By then the Bai and Cao Clans will have sorted out this dispute.”
DISPUTE!ITSAFUCKINGCOUP!
“Until then we’ll take turns watching the door to make sure no one steals anything. I’m going to bed I’ll come and take over for you when I wake up.”
After saying that Cheng left Wen Zixin to keep an eye on the half-door and headed into the back. The next couple of days were tense, unpleasant, and boring. Wen Zixin and Cheng took turns guarding the door while the other one slept and took care of other necessities. Cheng didn’t keep any food at home so all they could do to fill their bellies was drink from the well. Despite all the worry nothing actually happened and everyone else on the street stayed off the street itself. Wen Zixin woke on the third day to the sound of people in the street. When he hurried into the store Cheng was talking with someone at the door who, after saying something, quickly left. Cheng seemed to breathe a sigh of relief before turning to Wen Zixin.
“Mr. Wen it appears that the troubles have passed. We’ll open up the store today. Mind the store while I go put in an order for a new door.”
Without even waiting for Wen Zixin to acknowledge what he said Cheng started unbolting the door before disappearing. With nothing else to do, Wen Zixin put out the open sign and waited for Cheng to get back. Despite the news that everything was over being spread no customers showed up that day. When Cheng showed back up around dinner time, he handed Wen Zixin his pay for that couple of days. After he got the money, he left for the “Herb Garden” Inn for his first meal in three days. As he walked down the street, he saw most of the damage had been cleaned up and some people were starting to return to normal life. The Inn was apparently back to normal with no signs of any of the troubles except for spots of wood that might be slightly darker than normal. As he ate his dinner, he took his time to make sure he didn’t get sick after going without food for an extended period and to also concentrate on the few conversations around him. The Cao Clan had taken the city and from the way some of their lower-level members bragged in public it was the general consensus that they had planned to do this from the start. Getting the backing from the Elder from the Five Mountain Sword Sect just helped them be more open with their takeover. After dinner Wen Zixin headed back to Cheng’s, where he saw a couple of men installing a new door. Once inside he saw Cheng watching the men. When Cheng saw Wen Zixin come in, Cheng waited until Wen Zixin got to the counter before addressing him.
“Mr. Wen, after the door is replaced go ahead and close the store. With the change of ownership of the city things will be tense for a while. There are going to be guards regularly patrolling for now, so until they stop showing themselves if you think someone supports the Bai Clan kick them out, refuse to sell to them, and call the guards over if they cause trouble.”
Cheng started to head into the back he stopped just before he disappeared and talked over his shoulder addressed Wen Zixin one more time.
“It would be better if you firmly stated your support for the Cao Clan and condemn the Bai Clan whenever the topic comes up. Mortals like us cannot stand against cultivators.”
After saying that Cheng went up the stairs and Wen Zixin stayed in the store until the door was installed and then closed the store.