The Heavenly Wandering Sword
Chapter 25
Li Jian walked outside, fuming slightly from what he saw as a clear example of another Sect’s inherent greed rising up to muddle the name of a normally honourable sect. He saw Ling Feng who walked up to him excitedly and bowed. “Brother Li, I hope that we will see you in the competition.” Li Jian simply just laughed harshly. “Brother Ling, I am no longer a member of this sect. I have been expelled because you and your friends had to tell the Elders of what happened that day. In repaying my kindness at saving your life, you have forced me to lift the slight veil of my low key life and exposed it to the Elders.” He shook his head, knowing that a younger cultivator such as Ling Feng would have no understanding of what it truly means to have power and the responsibilities that came with it.
Leaving Ling Feng looking stunned behind, he undid the Spiritblade Sect token and left it on the ground in front of the Inner Sect Hall and promptly left. Ling Feng ran into the Inner Sect Hall only to see the Sect Master with a dark look on his face while the Elders all were stunned. He was even more stunned to see the Medicine Hall Elder Lian Zhi on the ground coughing up blood. “Honoured Elders, Brother Li just told me he was no longer part of this Sect. What has transpired? This disciple apologizes for any wrong he has done.” He bowed deeply as he said those words, his heart in turmoil. He had hoped that Li Jian would be a way for the Sect to rise again, for such a powerful master to be counted amongst its ranks. The Sect Master stood up and sighed while the Hidden Elder shook his head. “Ling Feng, I hope you take this as a lesson for yourself. There are somethings that should remain unsaid sometimes. Elder Fang, I will have to trouble you to look into the Golden Temple Sect to see what has happened.”
A few days later, Elder Fang arrived back at the Hall of the Elders, his face pale. Sect Master Tang greeted him and was surprised by the expression on his face. “Elder Fang, have you taken ill?” The Hidden Elder shook his head. “Sect Master, I have brought news back about the Golden Temple Sect. Please, gather all the Elders. Everyone needs to hear this.”
After a few moments, the rest of the Elders had gathered in the hall while Elder Fang slumped down into his chair. “Please Elder Fang, tell us what has happened.” Elder Fang sighed and drank down a cup of tea first before relaying his findings. “It appears that the Golden Temple Sect had sent an expedition of one hundred disciples, the Sect Master as well as the four main Elders of the Golden Temple Sect. After a few weeks of nothing being heard from the expedition, the two remaining Elders of the Golden Temple Sect sent people into the Beast Glades to find out what had transpired. What they found was that the corpses of everyone they had sent left impaled on a black crystal that they were unable to cut or damage. They also found no trace of the King Snake magical beast that was the familiar of one of the Elders.” The Sect Master was stunned when he heard this. “The Golden Temple Sect had their strongest half of their Sect killed in Beast Mountain. I remember a few weeks back that Li Jian turned in a King level beast core to complete the job that we had posted.”
Hearing this, the Elders all paled. In particular, the Medicine Hall Elder Lian Zhi who had been the one actively provoking Li Jian that day. Sect Master Tang just slumped back in his chair. “Let this be a lesson for all of us. There are some people in this world that we should be wary of, and then there are those that we should never provoke.”
For Li Jian, the next few days after leaving the Sect were quiet and rather restful. Jing Hong still had not come out of her secluded cultivation. The Phoenix Sword Arts were not simple to understand, they required an unnatural focus in order to learn. Instead, he spent the next few days resting leisurely and tending to the spiritual plants in his garden. He would infuse his Dao force into the earth that housed their roots, providing them with far more spiritual energy than they would have normally received. In truth, he was unsure of what to do with all these spiritual herbs; he only chose them because he enjoyed the way their blossoms looked. He sat there, sighing with the pleasure brought on by a feeling of weightlessness that only came with unrestricted leisure when Ling Xin came over to him and bowed. “Brother Li, you asked me to fetch you when it is noon.” Li Jian nodded and stood up, dusting off some of the dust from his pants. “Sister Ling, I think I desire a stroll through to visit the association.” He said with an unmeasured seriousness on his face. Ling Xin nodded solemnly and followed him out of the manor house.
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After a bit of walking, they arrived on what was commonly called Traveler Road. It was a very wide road with plenty of foot traffic as well as a multitude of carriages that traveled through. For Li Jian however, this was the road that he spent the most amount of time on.
“Hot meat buns, come get it while it’s still hot!”
“Freshly hand pulled noodles, pick your own broth!”
“Freshly roasted fish! Caught from the lake this morning!”
This was a place where Li Jian truly felt like a deity. As he walked into sight of the pancake vendor, the old man bowed towards him. “Lord Li, I hope you had a restful sleep last night.” Li Jian smiled widely. “Master Gao, I went to sleep last night dreaming of the next time I might be so honoured to taste your peerless creations. I would very much enjoy a green onion pancake with egg and salted chicken added.” Gao Feng bowed and quickly got to work. Li Jian always enjoyed watching the process of such a thing being created. First the wet batter mixture was poured thinly onto a hot griddle. Green onions that were already chopped up were expertly tossed on evenly. The egg was then cracked onto it along with some salted raw chicken. The old man then flipped it by tossing the griddle itself directly, the egg and the chicken cooking quickly on the oiled hot griddle. Then with a spatula, he flipped it again and smeared a generous lining of salted bean sauce in the middle and rolled it up quickly before wrapping it in a sleeve made up of bamboo leaves and handed it to Li Jian.
Placing down a few silvers and biting into the pancake roll, Li Jian couldn’t help but smile. “Lord Li, you always pay too much. The pancake is only one silver, no need for so many.” Li Jian shook his head. “Master Gao, the one silver is for the pancake but the other four are my respect towards the many years Master Gao has spent perfecting his techniques.” This was one of the reasons why Li Jian was so popular amongst the street vendors. In many ways, he treated the way they produced quick street food the same way many cultivators viewed the Heavenly grade martial arts. “Sister Ling, please do not be polite.” He said, with his mouth full of pancake and egg.
Ling Xin nodded and looked over the street, using her finely tuned assassins senses to look over each item that had been cooked and prepared already before making a beeline towards the pastry stand. “Sister Yao.” She bowed politely towards the older woman who was putting out a tray of various flakey crusted pastries. “Junior Sister Ling is too polite, please let this old woman know what you would like today.” Ling Xin carefully examined each of the pastries that had been made. “Sister Yao, one of the red bean pastries and one of the ginger and pork pastries.” The pastry baker Yao Mei quickly plucked them out with a bamboo tong and wrapped them in waxed papers before handing them to her. Ling Xin accepted them with her head bowed, the way many an ancient knight had accepted their knighthood. Placing down a few silvers to pay for them, she made her way quickly back to Li Jian. Ling Xin had already devoured the pancake and was rubbing his hands absentmindedly.
As usual, Kon Wang had been slowly and steadily yelling “Master, Meat Bun” over and over again. Li Jian obliged, walking up to the steaming cart of the bun master Lei Wu Ying with his head bowed and hands outstretched. “Master Lei, I humbly request your instruction.” Lei Wu Ying, an older balding man waved his hands at Li Jian. “Lord Li please you embarrass me with your politeness. Four meat buns, freshly made.” The four meat buns were wrapped up in waxed paper and handed over to Li Jian who then quickly placed a gold piece in front of the man. “Master Lei, I hope this humble offering will be found acceptable.” Before the man had a chance to protest, Li Jian had already rushed off, his eyes on the noodle cart.
“Make way, make way for the tax collector.” Two members of the city guards called out as a man in the uniform of the Governor’s staff followed behind them, looking around Traveler street with disdain. Beside the city guard was also a mule that carried two lockboxes for the taxes. “The damn tax collector, not only does he demand the taxes but he always demands a tribute.” Li Jian overheard the owner of the noodle cart say. “Master Liao Ping, please explain to me what you just said.” The noodle stand owner sighed. “The tax collector Hu Bao, he comes to collect taxes for the Governor once a week but he never collects just the tax. We don’t mind paying the tax, we know the roads need to be maintained and the city guards need to be paid. But the damn Hu Bao always demands red envelopes, or else he will shut us down.”
Li Jian frowned at this. “Have you tried reporting this to the city guards?” Liao Ping shook his head. “You see the two city guards with him? They collect a part of the red envelope bribes as well.” No matter where he went, corruption and greed would always raise their ugly heads.
“Get your taxes ready, the tax collector will go cart to cart.” Being closest to the road itself, the first place the city guard and the tax collector went to was the noodle stand. Liao Ping came out with the 20 silvers that was the tax, which the city guard took and placed inside the lockbox, before noting down on his list. Then the tax collector stepped in as well. “Ah Brother Liao, I hope business has been good.” The tax collector rubbed his hands together, an expression on his face of both curiosity as well as expectation. Liao Ping reached for a small red envelope, of course the sound of coins clinking together can be heard as he picked it up.
Li Jian however put a hand up and stopped the noodle stand owner from handing over the bribe. “Tax collector, extorting the citizens. That cannot be a good way to represent the Governor.” Hu Bao looked at Li Jian with clear disdain. “Commoners and peasants should know their place.” Liao Ping paled a bit. “Lord Li, please, no need to be involved. The tax collector is a powerful man with a lot of influence with the Governor.” Li Jian however refused to relent. “Whether it is one silver or one thousand silver, not a single coin will grace the tax collectors’ own purse. Coercion of citizens is not tolerated here. Dear tax collector, please leave and do not come back to this place with your evil influences.”