Over the following years, I considered accepting a few personal disciples, but I never did.
I liked the idea of taking a talentless youth, teaching them everything I knew, and watching what they beca, but being stuck in an endless ti loop, this felt hollow. When I died, they would disappear, and all the effort I put into teaching them would vanish. While I had a desire to form this kind of connection, until I was able to bring people back in ti with , either through the use of my storage space or through so other ans, it would have to remain a dream for the future.
Instead, I spent my ti mastering everything the sect could teach about Rank 3 alchemy and pushing my cultivation base to Peak Grandmaster. With my limited affinities, neither task was simple.
One thing that kept alchemy interesting was that there were always new techniques to explore. While the improvents to the quality of my pills were marginal, only an extra one or two points to efficacy, those small improvents represented an extre level of refinent in my use of various techniques and ability to control my qi. My ability to squeeze an extra point or two of efficacy out of a pill that was already highly optimized ant that I would have a huge advantage when I began learning Rank 4 alchemy.
The difficulties I faced with cultivation, however, were aningless challenges with little reward. While gathering qi for regular use beca easier and faster with more practice and a higher cultivation base, gathering enough energy for a breakthrough beca needlessly difficult after stagnation began setting in when I turned 60.
Thankfully, Elder Tian had fulfilled our agreent and provided with five Fire Dragon’s Tongue Fruits. Using them as the main ingredient, I was able to concoct five Rank 3 Fire Affinity Boosting Pills. The effect of those pills didn’t last long, so I could only use them at a critical mont during each breakthrough, but they provided just enough of a boost to allow to continue advancing.
At 80 years old, I was a Martial Grandmaster 9, and my cultivation base began to calcify. After that, advancent beca nearly impossible. It was only after consuming a copious amount of pills and more than a decade of hard work that I was finally able to lumber my way to Martial Grandmaster Peak.
At age 92, I had accomplished nearly everything I wanted out of this life. I was ready for what ca next.
After advancing to Peak Grandmaster, I only had one month or so before the deadly attack on the Su Clan, so I began using my agreent with the Tigers as a pretext to get into contact with more people from that faction.
When I had learned that TianLei was a Tiger, I started to think that the attack on the Su Clan might be so kind of coordinated effort involving the entire faction. So, as the date of the attack approached, I had regular conversations with the faction’s mbers to try and tease out any information I knew about the faction’s plans for the near future.
I heard a lot from them about how the Su Clan had been oppressing the other nobles in the Wastes, and since it was generally assud that I was a discarded mber of the clan, they felt free to share their grievances with . Everyone was willing to tell just how much they hated the Su Clan, but at no point did anybody even hint at an imminent plan to take revenge.
I continued probing for additional information for several weeks with no luck, but only a few days before I expected the attack to take place, Elder Tian ca to see .
After a series of pleasantries, he got to his reason for visiting .
“Deacon Su, you’ve been in the sect now for nearly 80 years. Do you rember much about your life before coming here?”
Knowing that he was about to launch a full-scale attack against the Su Clan, my mind raced to try and figure out how I should handle this conversation.
“A little… Why do you ask?”
He steepled his hands and looked at with a sharp, appraising glare.
“Were you a mber of the Su Clan?”
I couldn’t help but swallow involuntarily.
“No, elder, not exactly. My father was, but he was expelled from the clan when he was young. He died when I was only eight. Before that… he did tell a little about them. But I don’t rember much. Only that he had a deep grudge against them.”
After speaking, I realized how suspicious my answers sounded. I could only rely on the fact that he shouldn’t know that I knew about his attack to keep safe. Without that knowledge, he shouldn’t have any reason to suspect of anything.
TianLei’s eyes narrowed as he looked at . “And what are your thoughts about the Su Clan?”
“I don’t have much knowledge of them, elder. But based on what other disciples have told , they seem extrely tyrannical.”
He nodded slowly. “Yes. They have been suppressing anyone who might challenge their rule for far too long, but that should end soon.”
He seed to hesitate about whether or not to say more, but in the end, he must have decided against it.
“Thank you for your ti, deacon. We’ll talk more in the future.”
I wasn’t sure if he had been deciding to eliminate or if he had been deciding whether he should recruit . In the end, it didn’t really matter. I had no desire to be a part of his plot. I already knew what was going to happen, and now I had a pretty good understanding of why. The only things left to find out were how the attack would take place and what the aftermath would be.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
In these circumstances, the best thing to do was watch from the sidelines.
The next week was quiet. I expected the lead-up to the attack would see a lot of activity within and around the sect, but to my surprise, everything seed completely normal.
It wasn’t until the morning of the eighth day after my discussion with TianLei that a servant disciple ca to my house and inford that I was required to attend a eting in the Grand Hall, the building where I received my promotion to deacon.
That morning, the mountain was unusually subdued. There were no disciples out and about studying or worrying about concocting their next pill. It seed that either everyone had already been inford of what happened at the Su Clan, or they could simply sense the tense atmosphere. While I had yet to hear any news about the attack, I didn’t doubt that others would be able to get insider information from their factions.
As I walked up the mountain to the Grand Hall, a long line of deacons and elders followed alongside . This was the first ti I fully realized just how many of us there were. In just the small section of the trail that I could see, there were dozens of Grandmasters trudging up the mountain.
At the hall, we did not go into the side door that I had used previously. Everyone went in through the main entrance.
Inside, there was a sunken amphitheater with rows of seats in a horseshoe shape. The elders were seated in the lowest level, inner sect deacons were seated in the middle levels, and outer sect deacons were seated in the top levels. Every seat was positioned so that it faced a dais in the middle of the room that held three ornate chairs, the middle of which was sitting atop a pedestal.
After the elders and deacons were all seated, three n walked out from a screen behind the dais and sat upon the chairs. The left chair was taken by Deputy Sect Master Tan, the head of the Alchemy Peak. I didn’t recognize the other two, but it was easy enough to guess that the man on the right was the Deputy Sect Master in charge of the Martial Peak. The man in the middle had to be the Master of the Twin Mountains Sect.
After they were seated, Sect Master Tan cleared his throat to get our attention.
“As you may have heard, the Su Clan has been attacked. What we know so far points to this being an internal coup. However, witness reports indicated that four outsiders participated in this attack.”
At these words, everyone beca serious. No one seed surprised, but everyone understood the gravity of this situation.
The head of the Martial Peak continued where Sect Master Tan left off.
“All Su Clan buildings in Dragon Gate City have been obliterated. Both their palace compound and their training complex have been demolished. From what we can tell, everyone inside these buildings at the ti of the attack has perished. All that remains are open fields of scorched and blackened earth."
Then, the Sect Master spoke. “This is the gravest possible violation of the accords which govern the Wastes. The Flowing Mountain Sect, the Verdant Forest Sect, and the Rising Sun Empire will all be sending forces to investigate and punish the perpetrators. The Blue Wind Pavilion, as arbiter of the accords, will have direct authority over all parties involved in this investigation. Investigators will enter our sect. Do nothing to impede them and keep all disciples on a short leash while they are here. We cannot give anyone grounds for accusing our sect of taking part in this attack.”
Murmurs of discontent sounded out when the idea of outsiders having free rein to investigate the sect was ntioned.
Emboldened by the people around him, one of the outer sect deacons stood up and pounded a fist on the table in front of him.
“We cannot allow this! We can handle our own investigations. Send the outsiders away.”
This outburst caused the Sect Master’s eyes to widen in anger. His face turned red, and he began shouting at the fool who contradicted him.
“Quiet! If anyone tries to block the investigation in any way, they will be put to death imdiately. This is not a joke. The very existence of this sect and the lives of everyone here are at stake. If anything goes wrong, no one will be able to escape execution.”
As fear began to fill the room, Sect Master Tan spoke up again.
“We have already t with the leaders of each of our sect’s factions, and we are confident that none of them were involved in this attack. While we have not spoken to all of the independent elders, we have no reason to suspect any of them were involved either. Our sect had no connection to this tragedy, so there is no reason for us to worry. Just cooperate with the investigators and provide them with any assistance they require.”
Finally, the Sect Master gave one last command.
“Until this situation has been resolved, we must seal the mountain. No one is allowed in or out without the express permission of the Sect Masters, and any such traffic will be recorded and reported to the investigation team. Dismissed.”
Over the next few days, a semblance of normalcy returned to the sect, but it was shattered when the investigators arrived. Four dozen Peak Grandmasters sward the sect in search of any information related to the attack.
I did my best to keep a low profile. I had most of the information they wanted, and if I were interrogated, I wasn’t sure that I would be able to hide it. Simply telling them everything I knew could have led to interesting results, but I wanted to see what happened without my intervention. So, I did my best to avoid being questioned.
The focus of the investigation was on people with powerful fire abilities. The Su Clan had been turned into a smoldering wreck, and that ant that a fire cultivator or soone with a potent fire blessing was involved.
Typically, the sect wouldn’t ask any questions about a person’s blessings and affinities. They didn’t care about such things. The thods used for selecting and promoting disciples were purely sink or swim. One only needed to be good at either alchemy or fighting to beco a mber of the sect.
However, during this investigation, everyone was required to report both their blessing and their fire affinity. Not only that, but their blessings also had to be demonstrated to the investigators.
I told them that my blessing had given a fire seed. At this point, it was public enough knowledge, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hide it from the investigators. However, while having a fire seed might make a target of greed, I wasn’t worried about it implicating in the attack. The Cold Mountain Fire couldn’t cause the kind of destruction that was reported. It wouldn’t scorch the earth, so it wouldn’t make a suspect.
The only danger I might face would be if soone accused of being involved in the attack in an attempt to steal my seed. If that happened, I would need to pop a poison pill to escape.
I was questioned a couple of tis, but they only asked rudintary questions. I was in the sect during the attack, and that was easy enough to verify. If they believed that I was connected with any of their suspects, there was no sign of it during this questioning.
Since I was keeping my distance, I didn’t know what the investigators found or didn’t find, but after a week of searching, they left.
Everyone was shaken by the experience. It showed us exactly what our place was in the world. If outsiders decided we needed to be searched, we would be searched, and there wasn’t a thing we could do to stop them. No one liked this fact, but the worst thing was that there was nothing we could do to change it.
Thankfully, as the days passed, things slowly returned to an illusion of normalcy.
Reviews
All reviews (0)