As the soft and clear vast infinite blue hovered high above them, with dashes of white in its making, Ju Feng emerged into a radiant glow of the day, shading his eyes from its sheer brightness. Since he was already disoriented from the use of the portal, he stood still in order for his body to adjust to its new environment. Once his body got aligned with his surroundings, he let out a soft gasp. The smell of fresh air invaded his nostrils making him displayed a genuine smile.
He looked at the green trees standing proudly tall and spotted some juicy red fruits hanging high above on the trees. He looked around in complete amazement.
The flowers were radiant and beautiful swaying with the wind. Oh the wind. The nice breeze on his face which combined with the wonderful smell of roses made him laughed softly. Hearing the faint sound of chirping above, he raised his head and saw birds soaring across the glorious sky. At the same time, the solar shone gently on him, filling his body with warmth. He continued to laugh softly as he became immersed in the beauty of the scenery.
Lost in the reverie of the place, Ju Feng nearly collided with the three Savants of the Flying Stars sect, the enlightened ones. They were the sect safe keepers, roaming the internal premises of the school as they constantly checked for the safety of the sect and security discrepancies.
"You! Stop right there!"
Realizing they were talking to him, Ju Feng sensed some troubles coming his way. He quickly glanced at the place where the door should be, but found no traces of it there. Then, he knew he was in bigger troubles than he initially thought.
"Senior Qiyuan!"
He immediately screamed aloud the name in his own mind, but received no response. He wasn't expecting a word from the gatekeeper who had already told him he was on his own outside the door, but had called him by instinct anyway. Who else did he have to call? Not that he wanted to call the gatekeeper too, it was just that he was caught completely by surprise. Still holding it together, he looked at the angry savants pleadingly.
"Why are you sneaking around in a restricted area?"
"Why are you not in your school attire, disciple?"
"Are you one of the outer disciples?"
The three savants asked simultaneously in a blunt way.
"Oh, I see. You are trying to hide from participating in the competitions?"
"Or, do you think these spirit fruits will help you? Foolish thinking."
Restricted area? Disciple? From their questions, Ju Feng came to a realization of the place. A sect! He was in a sect! It was a delicate situation, requiring him to be extremely careful in all ways.
"Please, forgive me seniors. I didn't mean to enter the place intentionally. It was an accident."
Ju Feng pleaded with them.
"An accident? Yea, right. The rules of our sect are very clear and easy to understand for people like you. Sneaking around in the restricted area, trying to steal some Ten Cloud spirit fruits or trying to dodge an upcoming events, are all against the rules."
"The punishment is as stipulated. Fifty bamboo trees, arranged in the rolls of ten each."
"And one week in the solitary confinement, where you'll be in isolated solitude. You'll have ample time to think about your actions and seek forgiveness."
They led him to the outer hall of the sect which surprised him with its sheer size. It was pretty massive. The hall also has many sect stewards who were busy preparing and arranging the outer disciples. From there words, Ju Feng learned about a competition that would be starting that same morning. The competition the savants thought he was running away from was starting soon? Now, he understood.
The savants handed him over to one of the sect stewards, the learned ones. Some of them were graduates of the sect while some were inducted into the sect based on their quality strength and skills. They were the future elders of the sect.
"Find him a robe, then take him to the bamboo forest. Make sure he cut fifty bamboo stems. We'll be checking later."
The steward acknowledged the Savants and waited for them to depart before turning to Ju Feng. He stared at Ju Feng with eyes being accord a serial trouble maker. He had been having a relatively hard day already, now he had to stay in the bamboo forest supervising an idiot trouble maker.
"Follow me. And, for heavens tears, no talking or making of any stupid sounds."
Jufeng really wanted to ask some questions but he had just been told to maintain his peace, so he cautiously sighed and followed him.
The place they came to wasn't just a bamboo forest but a bamboo planet. Covering hundreds of acres of land, the bamboo forest was densely populated with big bamboo trees. It spreaded in all directions like an ocean of bamboo trees, it really deserved to be a world on its own.
They navigated the forest for a time before they came to an area where there was a recent bamboo cutting activity. They surely had a pattern of cutting the bamboo trees.
"We are here now. You can start cutting from the right side. if you finish on time maybe you can still participate in the competition and I can get to watch. So please, hurry up."
There was no other option for him than to cut the bamboo trees. The steward was at the early stage of the bronze core. Hence, he didn't fancied his chances of escaping. So he wouldn't risk it. Particularly when he wasn't sure if the portal door would open for him even if he managed to reach it before being turned to ashes by a angry savant or steward. Any other way, it would only bring more punishment, more dire punishments.
He took his mind of it and concentrated on the task at hand. The bamboo trees. He looked at the bamboo trees I shock as their sizes dawned on him. How in heaven's tears, would they call those things bamboo trees? There was no way they could be smple or ordinary bamboo trees. The were extremely thick and strong like an ancient oaken timber. Those were no bamboo trees, they should be called oak trees. For a Juchi or a Lianchi cultivator, it would have been seriouschallenging. But he was a Ningchi cultivator. He should be able to breeze through the bamboo with ease despite all those obstacles.
Or so he thought.
It would be the first time he would actually use his Chi energy to accomplish a task. Hence, he pumped enough Chi into his body. With complete focus, he raised the axe and it fell on the bamboo tree with a clean swing. But to his surprise, the moment the axe touched the bamboo tree, it sent back a reflective shock that spread through his body making him sprawled on the floor.
After recovering back from the little shock, he carefully and thoughtfully looked at the bamboo trees. These were serious foes that deserved proper attention. He started to analyse what could be wrong in his mind without allowing the steward to know that he had no idea of everything going on.
Did he tried to cut a bit too high? It must be, he would try to cut low next.
He swung the axe low hoping it would be fine the next time around but, he received the same shock that made him staggered a few steps back.