The fat village elder was so happy he almost skipped along like a little schoolgirl as he showed Ming Yue and Yao Yao the way to his house.
Ming Yue tugged at Yao Yao's sleeve again. "Why are they all behaving so strangely?"
"Because we're disciples of the Righteous Sword Sect. Not to mention these poor villagers, even if we met the Emperor he would show us some respect." Yao Yao explained.
Ming Yue gulped.
She had trouble believing it as she'd never seen herself as such a respectable person. After all, in her previous life she was just an unnoticable school girl in a small anonymous town in some random corner of the world. She didn't yet know or understand the importance and respect the Righteous Sword Sect held in this world. While she had learned a little about their many great feats during the few history lessons she had gone to, such as saving villages and towns from floods and earthquakes or the many famous battles they had with the demonic sects that threatened the world, she hadn't really thought about it too deeply.
The fat village elder stopped outside the gate of his courtyard and said, "Respected immortals we're here. Please."
Ming Yue and Yao Yao jumped off the panda and entered the courtyard and was soon followed by the panda and several villagers.
The fat village elder's face dropped and turned from shades of green to blue when he saw the panda following them and then sit down on his flowerbed and start eating the rare flowers he had been carefully cultivated for several years. However, despite this he didn't dare say anything and could just silently swallow his bereavement.
Ming Yue and Yao Yao was shown inside the house by the fat village elder and then they sat down in the head chairs.
The young skinny boy ran up and began serving tea and when the fat village elder saw this his face reddened. "W-what are you doing!?" He shouted.
"S-serving tea?" The skinny boy said.
"Idiot!" The fat village elder shouted and kicked the boy's behind. "How dare you serve our ordinary tea to the great immortals! Run to my room and get my Da Pong Pao Tea!"
"Y-yes, Village Elder!" The skinny boy stuttered and ran out of the room.
The fat village elder bowed toward Ming Yue and Yao Yao and said, "Sorry for the trouble, Great Immortals. Please wait a moment and you'll be served our fine tea." Then he took a seat before he continued. "This lowly one heard you're visiting our poor village because of our mission posting? Is this so?"
"Right. Can you tell us about it?" Yao Yao asked.
The fat village elder began to tear up as he wiped a few non-existant tears from the corner of his eyes, it was obvious as day he was faking it. Then he sighed heavily before explaining, "A few weeks ago some unconscionable evil man defiled one of our village's daughters. She barely had a single breath on her when we found her. Fortunately though our village doctor managed to keep her alive. However, she's still recuperating in her family's home. Unfortunately, the girl doesn't remember who the man was and we're helpless as to find out who he is. We could only turn to your Righteous Sword Sect in the hope that you might have a method of finding him and bringing him to justice."
"Bastard!"
Yao Yao slammed her fist onto the table and with a loud bang it exploded into splinters that flew all across the room.
"Aiyoo! Aiyoo!" The fat village elder cried out watching his precious table being destroyed. As if it weren't enough a giant panda was currently sitting in his garden eating up all his precious flowers.
Ming Yue's face paled as she uncouciously clenched her hand into a fist. She felt really upset and a bit frightened as she heard the fat village elder explain what had happened. "How could such a bad man exist? Don't they worry about what their mothers will think of them?"
Yao Yao stood up and kneaded her knuckles. "Come on, let's go!"
Ming Yue nodded and the two of them exited the fat village elder's house.
Outside they saw the crowd of villagers had gathered around the elephant-sized panda who was sitting on its large round bottom eating the fat village elder's flowers. Some of the more braver children was quietly sneaking up to it only to run away when the panda moved a bit, only to repeat this process again and again.
Yao Yao suddenly stopped.
Ming Yue who was walking behind her almost crashed into her, "What is it?"
Yao Yao frowned and then said, "How are we supposed to find the bastard? The victim didn't see his face and there were no witnesses."
"Ah..." Ming Yue was stumped. Yao Yao left so confidently she thought for sure the girl had some way of finding the bad man. But now...
The two girls stood there looking at the crowd and children playing as they were thinking.
Ming Yue hit the palm of her hand. "I know!" She exclaimed and ran back into the village elder's house and soon came back. "Tadaa!" She said and waved a piece of torn cloth as if it was a trophy.
Yao Yao looked at her confusedly then said, "What's that?"
"He he." Ming Yue laughed smugly at her amazing intelligence. "This is a piece of cloth the girl managed to tear off from the bad man!"
Yao Yao looked blankly at the piece of cloth. "How does that help?"
Ming Yue playfully moved her eyebrows, "Follow me!" She ran over to the panda and put the piece of cloth in front of its nose. "Mr. Panda, can you find the owner of this piece of cloth?"
When Yao Yao saw what Ming Yue was doing a cold bead of sweat formed on the side of her cheek and she wanted to slap her own forehead. If the sect elders knew Ming Yue was treating the sect's guardian spirit beast as a dog, what would they think?
The panda made a low growl that caused the air to ripple.
Ming Yue laughed happily before she jumped up on the panda's back. "Come on, let's go!" She waved at Yao Yao.
Yao Yao didn't know what to think but still climbed up and took a seat.
The panda slowly stood up and began walking out of the village elder's courtyard and continued on until they had left the village and entered the forest.
Just as they had left the courtyard, the fat village elder exited his house. He didn't realize they were leaving so suddenly. Then came the skinny boy running with a pot of freshly brewn tea. The fat village elder's face dropped once again. His most expensive and precious tea which he'd only brew a small cup of every year had been wasted.
About an hour later they arrived at a small clearing where a man was sitting on a log in front of a campfire, eating a grilled rabbit.
The panda suddenly stopped and growled again.
"That must be him!" Ming Yue whispered as she suddenly felt her heartbeat speed up. She was a little afraid of the man and she didn't know what they were supposed to do. Of course she wanted to beat the man up into a pulp, but she'd never been in a fight before.
Yao Yao's countenance darkened and her eyes narrowed when she saw the man because he wasn't an ordinary man but a cultivator and he also happened to belong to their sect. His name was Lang He and was known in the sect for his sleezy attitude towards the girls. However, he had never stepped over the line. Normally, even a bad character was enough to get your cultivation stripped and be kicked out of the sect, but this Lang He was the nephew of one of the elders and therfore many of his faults were overlooked.
Yao Yao put a reassuring hand on Ming Yue's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. "Stay here. I'll take care of him!"
Ming Yue nodded. "Be careful."
Yao Yao's feet landed on the ground, then she began rolling up her sleeves, showing off her impressive forearms, as she moved toward him.
"Y-Yao Yao? W-what are you doing here?" Lang He asked while stuttering. He also knew about her fearful rumor as a bringer of catastrophes and therfore held a decent amount of fear for her.
Yao Yao cracked her knuckles as she stopped and looked down at the useless scum of a man with a look of despise she wouldn't even show a worm.
"Y-Yao Yao?" Lang He nervously stood up and took a step back.
Yao Yao didn't say anything as the area around them suddenly seemed to darken. Then she suddenly flashed, leaving only a smear of colors, as she flew toward him and threw a punch.
Boom!
The ground and the trees around them shook and leaves began to rain down from the sky.
Lang He's body flew like a comet, breaking several smaller trees on its way until it crashed into a larger tree. The larger tree made a cracking sound and more leaves began falling to the ground. Lang He's body seemed to wedge itself into the tree's trunk for a moment before it fell down and landed on the ground. He coughed up a mouthful of blood before he passed out.
"I-Is it over?" Ming Yue asked as she peeked between her fingers. She had covered her eyes when she saw Yao Yao threw her punch.
"Over." Yao Yao calmly stated as she clapped her hands together.
Ming Yue jumped off the panda and ran to Yao Yao's side. "What do we do now?"
Yao Yao seemed to be thinking for a moment. "Let's tie him up to the tree and report back to the sect and they'll send someone to come and pick him up."
"What will happen to him?" She asked, not out of concern, she was just hoping he'd get a severe punishment.
"He will be stripped of his cultivation and thrown into the sect dungeons and never see the light of day ever again." Yao Yao stated calmly.