One of Wang Bao's servers was massaging his shoulders, the other was nowhere to be seen. There was one more guy practicing his martial arts to the side.
"Welcome, Zhang Wuji. Want some tea? Yingyue right?, serve him some tea, he looks pale."
"Meanwhile A'Zhu, tell him what you saw." He signaled the lone guy practicing his martial arts with his eyes.
A'Zhu was a buff guy with a stoic face and a healthy tan. He was the strongest of Wang Bao's followers. "He tried to foil young master's fun." He said and went back to training.
"Forget it. I shouldn't have asked you. Wang Chu, you tell him."
"A'Zhu followed you when you warned the girl."
"Man, it's at times like these that I miss A'Man, you people have no skill in story telling." Wang Bao sighed and continued "Zhang Wuji, I can't believe you thought you could go behind my back and I wouldn't know. Did you really think I needed your help to get this task done? That would be foolish! Although you did go against me so I guess you have a little problem here." He pointed at his head.
"Now for the punishment." He tapped his chin and put a thoughtful expression, "I can't think of any now. Moreover I'm curious as to what your plan ahead was, were you going to beg me for forgiveness, were you going to run, fight, have someone to back you, maybe complain to the Punishment Hall, I really want to know. If your actions ahead satisfy me, you will be pardoned, I am not heartless."
"So go, run around, entertain me. You dared to oppose me, you must be very confident in whatever it is that is supporting you. I gave you a week, now I'll give you a month. Call on your support, I want to see what could save you from the Wangs." Wang Bao laughed triumphantly and sent Zhang Wuji away.
He registered none of it. His mind was still stuck at the scene he saw the moment he stepped into the courtyard.
Jiang Yingyue was serving tea as Wang Bao sat casually. She was not wearing her outer disciple robes. She was wearing the same white robes she wore the first time he saw her. She didn't look up, didn't disturb the merrily swinging wisp of hair in front of her eyes. The whole picture looked just right, natural.
Wang Chu showed him out.
He walked. He didn't know where he was going, or maybe he had nowhere to go. He just kept walking.
....
"Brother Zhang!" He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. Lin Yingjie was standing in front of him blocking the moonlight.
"We've been searching for you for two days! What are you doing here? You know how worried we all were about you? Wang Bao's lackeys were going around saying you betrayed him and warning others to stay away from you." Seeing him finally react, Lin Yingjie started speaking.
Zhang Wuji looked back down and held his knees tighter.
"Sigh, don't worry. We took care of it." Seeing him like this Lin Yingjie softened his tone. "He or his gang won't bother you again. Let's go, junior sister Li is worried sick. Senior brother Shan somehow managed to hold her back else she was going to march straight to Wang Bao's." He gave him a pat on his back and started walking.
"You should see senior brother Shan's face, she scratched the hell out of him. He was almost brought to tears when she warned him not to get rid of the scars till you were found. We have a bet on what he would do when he sees you. Pan Mo bet he would be overjoyed. Idiot! He will definitely beat the crap out of you. Senior brother Shan is too into his looks for a guy. Don't tell him I said this.." He turned around to see Zhang Wuji on the same spot.
"What's wrong, brother Zhang?"
Silence.
"You don't believe me? I'm not kidding, man, how weak do you think my network is? Is that why you didn't seek my help? You know when you first got in trouble with Wang Bao, the news reached me within hours. My cultivation may not be something to brag about but I am quite proud of what I achieved in the sect." He started walking back.
"I thought you wanted to solve this by yourself and didn't interfere. I said the same to Pan Mo when he found out. Who knew things would deteriorate to this point. But I can understand, I wouldn't be able to do that either. You did good."
Lin Yingjie waited for some kind of a reply. Not getting any, he continued.
"Alright. I can't take all the credit. Well, I can't take any credit. Senior brother Shan went straight to Wang Bao's brother and solved the issue. I didn't just sit on my ass and do nothing. I talked to Zheng Xie and got you a better mentor. This one's great at teaching. If you were to learn from him you'll definitely become an alchemist. Once that happens, no one would dare mess with you."
Seeing him remain quiet still, Lin Yingjie sighed, "Brother Zhang, when in trouble, ask for help. Simple. The answer to your call whether positive or negative, will always be useful to you. You may have thought me to be weak, but what about Li Xiaomei? I don't know whether it was pride or concern that stopped you from seeking help, but it only made everyone unhappy.
"Don't try to solve everything by yourself, that's just stupid. So is moping around after one failure. Moreover you beat that Qiang guy Wang Bao is similarly in seventh level. You could beat him too. You lost not to him but to his backing. And of course you should! Who asked you to leave yours behind? Look how he backed off now, it isn't a lose, it's a draw."
Lin Yingjie said his piece and waited.
"Yingjie," After a while Zhang Wuji called.
"Hm?"
"Why..?" He breathed.
"What?" Lin Yingjie couldn't hear and leaned closer.
"Why.. is this happening?"
"Sometimes shit happens. Everyone slips no matter how disciplined they are. What has happened has happened, forget about it. Try and be more careful starting now." He sat beside Zhang Wuji and pat his shoulder.
"Not that.."
"Then what?"
"Why, why did she.. why did they agree to exchange their bodies for pills."
Lin Yingjie looked ahead and said "Because they understand what is more important."
"But.."
" Brother Zhang always remember, cultivation is the most important. I don't know where you are getting all these noble thoughts but let me tell you, nobles have it easy. Resources are delivered to their doorsteps. So they create all this stupid stuff about chastity and everything to add some spice to their lives. Most of these things they create are pure poison, this chastity thing is one of them.
"You give any value to these poisonous creations and they will corrupt you. The reason you feel this way is because you feel the women lost something important to them, but the truth is they got back what is truly important in exchange for something immaterial, illusory. And it's just groping."
"But they are forced to-"
"It is true that they were forced to do something they didn't want to. But that happens on a daily basis to most. These past few months, did you really want to be a lackey, did you really want to beat people up and take what is rightfully theirs from them? I don't think you did, but you had to. You did so because you knew what was important. You did all that just so you could peacefully cultivate. Then you foolishly allow something illusory to mess it up."
"I..."
"Sigh, brother Zhang, to be honest your views are actually more of an insult than what was done to them."
Zhang Wuji looked down and remained silent.
"Listen carefully brother Zhang. My grandfather always says, 'A life in line with one's heart is a good life, but a heart in line with one's life is a good heart'.
"The heart is the center of one's life. One must always follow one's heart cause it is the thing that gives value to all. If the heart is not interested, then even immortality will lose all it's value. The only problem is, it is stupid. So you have to teach it what is important and what is not. And be patient with it, cause it is very stupid and takes a long time to learn."
He got up and dusted his clothes. "Think about it. I'll tell junior sister Li and the others that you are fine."
"I must say, you picked a good spot to mope around in. Goodnight." He looked around and said before leaving.
Zhang Wuji looked around. He was in a grass clearing. In front of him was a pond, reflecting the moon. The cool breeze was revitalizing but gentle enough to not disturb the tranquility of the pond. The result was a moon within his reach.
'I did not pick this spot, she did.' He remembered the first time he saw Jiang Yingyue. Unknowingly he ended up where she was standing that day.
'Sigh brother Lin, it just won't listen.'
....
"Junior brother Lin." He heard a shout from afar and looked. He saw three figures in the distance, one was rapidly closing in.
It was Li Xiaomei. She showed no sign of slowing. Zhang Wuji stood up intending to get out of the way but it was too late. He was tackled to the ground. "Ah!" 'That's two ribs cracked.'
"I thought that Wang fellow killed you, cut you into pieces and fed you to dogs!"
'Really?, was the dogs part necessary?'
"Did I hurt you?" She seemed to have registered his scream just now.
The other two caught up, it was Lin Yingjie and Zhai Qingshuang.
"Brother Zhang, junior sister Li wanted to meet you. I couldn't stop her." Lin Yingjie said nervously while looking at Zhai Qingshuang.
"No, it's ok." He felt the tear stains on his robes and smiled.