"Well, wasn’t that refreshing..."

Jian Cheng’s mood has improved no end. Fatty’s fighting performance has been particularly pleasing. He unleashed the demonic beast within... Finally... In the end... Jian Cheng simply stood to one side as the enraged ape pummelled the two hapless sidekicks into submission... And then some.

Admittedly he did hack at Liu Tong every now and then, just to keep him honest... And in constant pain of course...

Finally the three fools fled. Now, no doubt they are holed up somewhere - most probably a cave - licking their wounds. Or each other... Licking won't heal broken bones however, and there is no medicine for regret, so they’ll think twice before crossing The Thundering Tortoise Sect ever again!

Even if they don’t wise up, he’ll happily accommodate them anytime... For as long as they had teeth to give...

Jian Cheng toys with his tooth booty for a few breaths of time then pockets the jagged molar in his spatial belt. Nine more, and he’ll have his necklace!

Fingers crossed Yama is still asleep, or the little runt may eat it. The damned rat’s tiny teeth are razor-sharp. Despite Liu Tong’s tooth having a large size advantage, it is no match for them...

The little brat has taken to eating any items that take his fancy inside the ring. Nibble, nibble... Nothing can stop him. Jian Cheng lost a whole spirit stone that way... His heart bleeds all over again at the double whammy of not only incurring costs, but losing benefits!

He checks the surrounding clearing, a final time to see if he has forgotten anything. That pleasant little distraction has put them a bit behind schedule, so they really need to get moving now.

After all, they have a whole Thundering Tortoise Sect to establish. A sect within a sect... It will be like when a wasp injects its eggs into a caterpillar’s body, so its babies can consume it's flesh from the inside out... Truly ruthless... He-he...

Though, isn’t that what Yama is doing to him at this very moment? Hmm... Whatever, it remains a fantastic analogy nonetheless... A fantastic plan too, accumulating a large amount of benefits with the costs all borne by those Foggy Head morons! Hah!

“C’mon Fatty, let’s go over the next stage of our plan again.”

It has become painfully obvious today, that every tiny step needs to be spelled out in tortuous detail.... The pair of them are yet to satisfactorily complete a single stage without a hiccup...

Vaguely slapping his hands around the waist, Jian Cheng pulls a vellum scroll out of the belt - Yes, he's written the plan down. A great memory can't beat even a rotten pen. His actions are a bit clunky, but cunningly make it look like the paper came from the robe pocket on his hip.

He hasn't been doing it too long but he'll get there. Practice makes perfect after all.

However, his plan is already perfect, foolproof even, which basically means simple and to the point. Even better, the foundation for the plan is a series of rock-solid incontrovertible facts! .... Plus, one slightly dodgy definition.

1) They are messengers - newly minted with shiny new badges to prove it.

2) They have actual messages - real messages for a real elder, Elder Wei.

3) Elder Wei resides deep within the inner court, therefore according to sect regulations they are allowed in too - albeit temporarily...

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4) Define “temporarily”? Tricky to do, as it is such a vague term... Jian Cheng defines it as - or will if challenged - ‘until they can complete their sect assigned task’. Even if caught, they also have the very reasonable excuse of it being their first ever message delivery...

5) Elder Wei is, through no fault of theirs, in deep seclusion... Which could last for weeks, or on some occasions, months.

6) It is common knowledge that messengers got paid per message delivered. A pittance that forces them to scurry hither and thither like headless chickens just to earn a crust.

Thus, generally no-one bothers with them or hampers them. Also, no-one would ever suspect that they would stop in one spot and not get paid. Even Fatty hadn’t, and he’d been told the plan beforehand. In fact, he still struggles to fully comprehend the basic concept...

7) Most messengers are morons, of some form or other - or they would have made a better career choice. Therefore they could never come up with such an elaborate and masterful plan. Hence there is no precedent for it.

Jian Cheng is so very confident - and behind schedule - that he strides up to the guarded gate accompanying along with Fatty. Initially they were going to approach individually, as per the Message Dispatch Centre plan, to avoid raising unnecessary suspicions.

Fatty was to have gone first. On the pretext that he is the more familiar face, having been here for two years already. In reality the ruse is so Jian Cheng avoids any potential beating from irate guards that see through their plan. Besides a beating would be much needed exercise for him...

All his precautions turn out to be utterly unnecessary, as sect security is so pathetically lax. Sect bureaucracy being what it is, the guards don't even bat an eyelid at the fact that two messengers have arrived at the exact same time. Even when they are carrying messages for the exact same elder...

Everyone knows messengers get paid per message, so it even makes a certain sect sense that they would get one message each. Thereby spreading the benefits instead of favouring one with a double payday. Pies like that don’t fall from the Misty Cloud sky...

One snarky comment that Fatty “could do with the exercise” later - so rude! - and they were through.

On the other side of the arched gate threshold, albeit around the corner in the shade of a stonewall, the two boys finally exhale in relief and begin breathing again. And what a treat it is...

Ooh, that qi is delicious... An insufferable smirk unfurls on Jian Cheng’s already smug face. Ha-ha, his plan is indeed idiot-proof!

Hang on where is that damn Fatty? He spins around searching frantically...

... There he is... Or there he goes.... Disappearing into the distance at a surprising rate of knots...

Damn, Jian Cheng has forgotten it's already dinner time... He curses. This is exactly why you stick to a schedule!

He grits his teeth and gripping Elder Wei’s message slip in his fist, sets off at a speedy jog... Just another harried messenger going about his business...

Fatty is clearly headed for the commissary, the dining hall of his dreams... Jian Cheng isn’t even surprised that he somehow knows exactly where it is... Instincts? Sense of smell? Or has he pored over a sect map sometime in the past? Probably soaked it in drool...

Fatty’s flushed cherubic face remains glazed with demented fervour even as friend closes in to cut him off... In the end, Jian Cheng has to tug back on the hem of his fluttering robe, to stop him running and really drawing attention to them both.

“Slow down,” he begs. He's long since given up on fully stopping him...

Getting between Fatty and food is stupid... Getting between Fatty and free food is suicidal...

Getting between his friend and delicious chef-cooked dishes of free food with cultivation benefits, he might as well give himself an uppercut, just to get it out of the way and over with.

“Whoah there, hold your horses a minute big fella!” Jian Cheng tries desperately to rein in the one man stampede... He’s actually spied something interesting off to the side... Intriguing even...

“Free food!” Fatty, it seems is not in a negotiating mood.

“Wait one moment, first do you recognise that little girl over there?”

“Free food?”

“Of course we’ll get lots of free food, piles of the stuff, as soon as you answer my question.”

“That one’s name is Xiao Ma, now free food!” Fatty takes off up the cobbled path again, leaving Jian Chen flailing in his wake.

Xiao Ma? That name sounds familiar somehow, where does he know her from?