When Shao awoke, he was being moved, and his eyes were pointed down at the ground. Someone was carrying him on their shoulders. Shao had to resist his initial fight or flight response when he noticed that whoever was carrying him was wearing the colors of the Gao Clan. As memory returned to his half-conscious brain, he realized that the man carrying him must have been Gao Long, and he was quietly thankful that he managed to get past Wei Fenhua. Either that or Elder Minghao threw him back to the other side of the gate.
“Hey, Gao Long. Did we make it?” Shao said, but his voice came out as a coarse whisper.
“He’s awake,” Xiahou Ren’s voice came from outside of Shao’s vision.
“Yes, we made it,” Gao Long confirmed.
“How long was I out?” Shao asked as Gao Long leaned Shao against a nearby tree.
“About ten minutes.” A voice that Shao did not recognize spoke. He swiveled his neck to find the source of the voice and saw an outer disciple in his mid-twenties standing nearby.
The duration of his bouts of unconsciousness were getting shorter, so that was a bonus. The exhaustion suffusing his body was so powerful that he could barely move, however, so he would have preferred to have spent a little longer asleep.
“Hello, I’m Yang Shao,” he introduced himself to the outer disciple. He would have stood and bowed, but that much exertion was beyond him at the moment.
“I know who you are,” the outer disciple said with a smile. “I was at the gate when you introduced yourself. I’m Liu Xiao Dan, and it’s my job to show you around the temple.”
The outer disciple seemed enthusiastic, at least. That was a distinct improvement over the wrathful inner disciple and the outer disciple Shao had spoken with earlier in the day.
With great effort, Shao raised his head and scanned the area surrounding him. He was sitting against a tree next to a long path that connected the Southern Gate with a collection of small buildings arranged like a village. The temple walls seemed miniscule in the distance, and the damaged Great Torii Gate was barely a blip on the horizon. Shao groaned at the memory. The last thing he did was put a hole in that gate. He was surprised that Elder Minghao didn’t kill him in his sleep.
“What happened while I was unconscious?” Shao asked.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
In his typical casual tone, Xiahou Ren explained. “Elder Minghao lectured us for breaking the Great Torii Gate, Gao Long used that opportunity to slip past Wei Fenhua, Elder Minghao said our entry into the Sect was ‘inauspicious,’ and Liu Dan was assigned to bring us to the lesser treasure room.”
“That felt pretty auspicious to me,” Shao muttered as he managed to lift one hand with great effort. “Why didn’t he just kill us?”
“Elder Minghao would never…” Liu Dan began to say.
“Any observer could tell that he was the one really at fault for the damage to the Great Torii Gate,” Xiahou Ren interjected, completely ignoring Liu Dan’s platitudes. The outer disciple assigned to them only carried one red band on his sword. After the fight with Wei Fenhua, Lianqi seemed a lot less threatening to the three men. “It would be improper for him to punish others for his own mistake.”
To his immense displeasure, Shao suddenly realized that he had crossed an important threshold. He now had enemies in all three of Haishan’s major clans. The Gao Sun family, the Shen Zaifu family, and now the Wei Huang family all stood as obstacles on Shao’s road to ascension. Shao wondered if he would have to wipe those families out before he reached the fullness of his potential as described by Pluto.
“Don’t speak of the elders in such a way,” Liu Dan whispered in a low voice. “If someone overhears you, bad things can happen.”
“Good point,” Xiahou Ren said with a laugh. “Let’s get going. I want to pick out my treasure soon.”
Shao sent the message for his legs to stand, but nothing happened. He felt like his whole body had fallen asleep at the same time. In a tired voice, he muttered, “I might need a few minutes.”
As Shao spent the next ten minutes slowly waking up his body, Gao Long and Xiahou Ren stood off to the side. They stood awkwardly for a while before Ren cleared his throat awkwardly and broke the silence.
“Sorry about what happened back there. I couldn’t think of a way that all three of us could get through the gate, so I went with the next best thing.”
“I will let the issue drop,” Gao Long said quietly. “Vengeance has been my clan’s most deleterious vice for thousands of years. Our brief alliance can survive this, but don’t think you will have another chance to hoodwink me, son of the Xiahou Clan.” The epithet added at the end of Gao Long’s statement dripped with significance that was lost on Shao.
“And I hope to meet your many concubines, son of the Gao Clan,” Xiahou Ren retorted.
Gao Long chuckled darkly. “A fair barb. You have mentioned another of my clan’s vices. We should end the conversation here before one of us loses face.”
“Right,” Xiahou Ren said, clearing his throat. To Shao, he seemed strangely unaware of cultivator social customs for someone who was raised in a major clan. Even Shao could tell that Ren came uncomfortably close to insulting Gao Long’s clan, though Ren seemed to only notice when Gao Long pointed it out.
Slowly, Shao rose to his feet, and the group soon continued their walk down the dirt road. On their path, they passed countless small structures that served as the living quarters of outer disciples, a few larger buildings that served as training dojos, and several dozen small ponds and streams. As they walked, a massive structure that looked like a single massive temple rose in the distance.
After walking for more than thirty minutes, they reached one large building that was larger than the others. As they approached, Liu Dan gestured to it and said, “Welcome to the Armory.”