When dawn arrived everyone gathered in the room where they ate dinner the night before. They quickly finished the simple breakfast that was served and exited outside the building.
After some talk and stretching, the seniors and Lang Juan were seen coming closer. After the greetings, the group resumed their journey.
Exiting the inn and walking for several miles, the surroundings changed. The earthen road merged into a big tract paved with cobblestone and in place of the forests from before, plains without end extended on both sides of the road.
The previous day they had only seen one small merchant company consisting of a dozen people and two carts, but today they were constantly seeing long caravans, groups, and even lone travelers.
Wu Guang occupied all his time by teaching the common language to Duqi and the other male Clansmen. Surprisingly Lang Juan started to help Wu Guang after observing him for a bit.
The journey was peaceful except for a minor accident with a group of mercenaries or bandits that were scaring the passerby and shaking money as a passage.
When the group passed near them, the likely bandits seemingly not recognizing the clothes of the disciples or Zhen Mang closed their path while barking
"Stop! There are fourteen people, so 14 silver coins. Or you can leave that nice-looking lady with us for some time before continuing"
The 8 men were holding axes and spears while dressed in dirty robes. One of them had a clan-style hide armor, most probably stolen from one of the merchants that traded with the Wildlands.
They saw that no one in the group carried weapons, and this was true. The young Clansmen had no weapons, while the seniors and inner disciples preferred to carry them inside their Holding Pouches. Wu Guang was the only one armed physically as he had kept the hunting knives after asking Elder Chen for permission but they were strapped to his ankles and not in the open.
Zhen Mang and Lang Zheng almost fell down on the spot laughing while Elder Chen had almost tangible pity drawn all over his face. Moments after, before the unlucky bandits even reacted, they were covered with three Soul stage auras, while the Cui brothers and Xiao Feng had taken out their weapons and circled around them.
"We failed to recognize Mt. Tai, please have mercy!!" The one dressed in hide armor shouted in panic. Judging from such reaction he was the only one in the group that was a cultivator and so could at least speak after being hit with the aura. Regretfully for them, there was no mercy. Zhen Mang jumped forward and broke his body in two parts with a simple qi reinforced punch, the rest were cut down quickly by the inner disciples.
Seeing that the assembly pair went pale, he motioned to Wu Guang to translate and said
"Every time the sect closes its doors some groups of bandits from the fringes or other regions come to the main tract hoping to get rich. The punishment for this is a prison, but they had unsheathed their weapons so, the only possible conclusion is death"
With a quick motion of his sleeve, he summoned a qi current and all the corpses were thrown out the road. It was done with such control that after falling, the corpses formed a small and neat pile. Then he proceeded to take out a small iron sect emblem that had the 'Punisment' character engraved on it. And using qi placed this emblem on the pile.
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Although the corpses were moved, all of the weapons that they carried, as well the leader's Holding pouch remained on the ground. Again using qi, Zhen Mang levitated them and stored them inside his Holding pouch. Seeing the strange expression on some of the junior's faces, he simply said
"To the victor the spoils"
"While what he said is true, Head Enforcer Zhen is a surprisingly honorable person. As the weapons used by them are of bad quality, they will be used for training in the sect or gifted to the villages militias that we help. While the contents of the holding pouch are indeed the property of the person who hunted the bandits, if there is anything with owner marks, he will leave them at the nearest city gate for claiming" Ji Yong quietly explained to Wu Guang.
Without any other incidents, the group arrived at Blue Tree City right after sundown.
The city was about the same size as Boulder Hill City, but the simple stone wall was only about ten feet tall, and the wide gates were open wide. They passed without any issues and quickly reached the central plaza. The city had cobblestone paved streets and most of the buildings were built as courtyards. Everything seemed to be built of different types of wood and except the blue tiles covering every roof, all buildings were built without a system, being of various types and colors.
They entered an enormous and richly decorated courtyard. And after crossing this courtyard filled with fountains and several fruit trees, they arrived at the main building, which turned out to be an Inn. There was also a restaurant located on the same grounds and a bit before reaching the inn itself, the group turned and entered it. Inside they sat down at a table that could easily accommodate thirty people after being indicated to do so.
As everyone sat down, Elder Chen spoke
"Zhen Mang and I will go to the sect later today. The Cui Brothers and Ji Yong will follow us. Xiao Feng, your mission is to lead the people from the Clans to the sect on the day of the tests, will you stay in the inn?"
"If Palace Master permits it, I would like to visit my family and stay with them" Then after a brief pause, Xiao Feng added
"Also, if its permitted I would like to invite Wu Guang to stay with me as well"
"I will permit it" Elder Chen then turned towards Lang Zheng and continued
"Lang Zheng, you will temporarily join as a Guest Elder in the Sect as we spoke, I already confirmed the fact with the acting Headmaster. Will you accompany us to the sect today, or arrive with the youngsters in seven days?"
"The latter" Lang Zheng said in a raspy, half growling voice. These were the first words that Wu Guang had heard from him for all the two days of travel.
"I see. Well, youngsters, you can order whatever you want. Head Enforcer said he will treat you today" Saying this, Elder Chen turned towards Wu Guang and motioned for him to follow, before proceeding towards the entrance door.