"Pa!"
A flare went up from the group of disciples that were fighting while fleeing.
"Damn!"
"Shit! The whole thing is a mess!"
"This is troublesome."
The men of the chasing group started cursing, some of them having nervous expressions.
All the fighting stopped and not long after a second flare went up in the distance.
Three more people arrived at the scene from behind the chasing group. There were two sect elders from Yin Yang Unity Palace in the front and one middle aged man in black clothes somewhat resembling the clothes of the group in black.
The sect elders arrived at the side of the group that was the fleeing side, turned around and stopped, while the middle aged man joined the group of chasers.
"What's going on here?" he asked them with a frown.
"We must be too close to the Yin Yang Unity Palace, they have launched a signal flare, my apologies elder Zhan, we have failed to stop them." One of them said while lowering his head.
"Tch… it's going to be a bit troublesome. But no worries, although we cannot afford an all out war with them it's not like they cannot be provoked a bit, don't be too nervous, neither side will want to make it bigger. Just act like I tell you to and I won't make you take responsibility for the trouble you all caused. Really, youngsters these days with your impulses… speaking about impulses, where is the one who caused all of this mess, Disciple Zhao?" The middle aged man called elder Zhan narrowed his eyes.
"We split up to chase as they scattered while fleeing, as you can see everyone stopped fighting when the flare went up, and should be regrouping with us soon. Elder Zhan, what about you, you had to fight them both…" the young man asked, a bit concerned.
"Hmph… them? Those clowns may be good in the bedroom but they're trash at fighting, although I wonder if their bedroom reputation is a ruse considering that pathetic stamina." He scoffed as he looked at the two elders of the Yin Yang Unity Palace who were struggling to catch their breaths, and holding a significant wound each with a hand.
The group with elder Zhan sneered when they heard his remarks.
While they were talking, on the other side the elders were vigilantly observing the opposite group.
From different directions scattered disciples from both groups started gathering from all around and flocked to their own group.
About five minutes later a small squad of sect protectors arrived first and after learning the situation, burned a communication talisman and joined the group from their sect.
Both parties seemed to be waiting for something, and about 15 minutes later a group of people arrived from the sect. There were five elders as well as a dozen sect protectors.
A handsome middle aged man in sect elder robes who was leading the group of newcomers came out to the front a few steps and elder Zhan came out of his group a few steps as well.
"My name is Bao Dirong, may I know if the Tyrant Blade Sect has any explanation for your actions today?" He spoke with a seemingly polite tone but not covering up displeasure in his voice after looking at the state the two elders and disciples were in.
"Greetings Senior Bao, this junior is called Zhan Danfeng. What may the senior mean by explanation? It was our good fortune to meet the renowned Yin Yang Unity Palace members at a nearby town of Lonely Feather, and then decided to exchange pointers, so we came here where we would not inconvenience any citizens. Sword is blind, life and death are up to fate, injuries and deaths during competitions between disciples are common throughout the world. After seeing the juniors' vigor I got influenced and asked for pointers from the two esteemed elders." Elder Zhan said with a seemingly respectful attitude and a polite smile as if there was nothing out of the ordinary with today's events.
"Bullshit, that Prime Disciple tried to hit on Senior Apprentice Sister Hua and got rejected, so they followed us out of the town and retaliated!" A female disciple was indignant after hearing this elder Zhan's 'explanation'.
"That's right! He may be a Prime Disciple of your sect, but it does not give him the right to do whatever he wants!" A male disciple also said with anger.
Elder Bao and the ones behind him also furrowed their brows at the blatant brushing off the situation despite being the aggressors. But he still raised his hand to quiet down the disciples since making this situation any bigger than it already is was not favorable not only to the Tyrant Blade Sect, but their Yin Yang Unity Palace as well.
If a real conflict were to occur, the Tyrant Blade Sect will win, they just don't want to pay the heavy price and be devoured by other sects after. Moreover, the connections Yin Yang Unity Palace built with various influences in the region are only there to be a deterrent against external pressure, they will not help them in conflicts they start on their own.
"So be it, we would like to request that you leave the sect territory now that your exchange of pointers have ended." Bao Dirong said, as he really couldn't do much about them even if the casualties were much worse. His only concern was that the precious Prime Disciple, Hua Ziyan was not here right now.
"Certainly, we will leave immediately after all of our disciples return." Zhan Danfeng said with a smile that looked a bit mocking.
After some time, Hua Ziyan appeared from the side and went to join the group from the sect, instantly relieving the elders who saw her.
Zhan Danfeng, however, narrowed his eyes at her as he thought that when the disciple from his sect told him that they split up Zhao Wuji, the main cause for all of this situation, would surely pursue her, his main target. He was not worried about Zhao Wuji as he was stronger than her by a large margin.
But the fact that she appeared, and with no noticeable damage on her body, or even what he mostly expected, a humiliated and disgraced expression on her face as he guessed the reason only the two of them were missing was because Zhao Wuji caught her and was enjoying his time.
"Fairy Hua, have you perhaps seen my Tyrant Blade Sect's Prime Disciple on your way here?" He couldn't help asking her.
Hua Ziyan looked at him and told him
"I have indeed seen him some time ago, but I lost sight of him around the time the flare went up, I assumed he was already moving towards regrouping, so I went as well" with a straight face.
Zhan Danfeng furrowed his brows and took out his elder badge, which he then used to call out to Zhao Wuji and tell him to return.
Both groups were now wearing bamboo hats and cloaks as they were waiting in the rain but even after half an hour there was no sight of the last missing member. After that they decided to conduct a search.
—
Wu Long returned to the sect pondering about his next moves. While he was in the wild, he dumped whatever was useless of Zhao Wuji's possessions and stored whatever herbs and things he collected that he deemed potentially may become useful to him in the future.
In the end, ever since he consumed the Yin attribute flower and Blue Tongue Purple Lizard's Neidan he did not find anything useful on his way again, so he did not really accomplish the goal he went out for. This was just life, he couldn't expect to be so lucky to find exactly what he needed just because he went looking for it, unless he specifically went to a location he knew was guaranteed to have it. Though, he was not so disappointed as he got a somewhat satisfactory harvest nonetheless, and he already had a new idea. He just had to find an opportunity to implement it.
As he went on the mountain trail leading to the gates he noticed the slightly heightened alertness and more sect protectors on patrol, which became even more apparent after passing through the gates. He was questioned at the entrance but only slightly as no one suspected him, and it wasn't like he was the only disciple returning to the sect as many people who were on medicine collection missions not that far from the sect were returning because of the rain.
Wu Long first went to the Collection Hall to submit the mission items, as well as any extra herbs and materials he found purely for points. There he received a scroll detailing what he submitted.
He then went to the Armoury Hall to return the equipment. And as apart from the newly acquired spatial ring most of the things on him except clothes were borrowed he essentially looked to be without possessions again.
When he entered the Mission Hall, he went to the mission completion desks so he didn't even meet the retainer who registered him, although it wasn't like Wu Long was avoiding him.
As he got points for everything submitted to the Collection Hall, both for the mission and all the extra items, he got plenty of points to spare, but nowhere near enough for a Scarlet Fire Ginseng so he went to the Treasury Hall and purchased a decent sword that he could use so that he didn't have to exert too much unnecessary effort. He also bought his personal jade knife, small jade shovel, a water bag and a small sack of fasting pills, plain cloak without any insignias and a simple bamboo hat so that he would not be bothered with such things in the future.
For the next two weeks nothing of note happened as he trained his body with the sword in the early mornings in the training courts. This was not really necessary as he already tempered his body to a strong level and such sword exercises would not be any more useful to his physique, but he had another goal in mind.
He spent the rest of the time in Library Hall, where he read about history, geography, powerful influences in the region and some other common knowledge. He also listened in on some conversations disciples had between each other if the topic interested in.
From what he overheard, he learned the basic gist of the aftermath as the search lasted for about an hour after they started looking for Zhao Wuji, until they discovered a bloodied spot where Zhao Wuji's weapon was lying around. Which led them through a trail to a den of demonic beasts which left practically nothing of his corpse, only some rags that used to be part of his clothes.
This was not done by Wu Long as he didn't care about erasing evidence, he was not the least bit concerned with the consequences. But when he was leaving, he did notice demonic beast presences that were not far starting to move closer so he more or less guessed the outcome.
At that point, Yin Yang Unity Palace only left a few elders and protectors and retired to the sect, as the Tyrant Blade Sect 'asked for permission' to conduct an investigation.
After a day the investigation ended as they couldn't figure anything out even as the rain had stopped, and they left . After a few days they sent an envoy to settle the matter, who only stayed in the sect for a few hours of negotiation after which the matter was considered concluded. Though there inevitably now was enmity between the two sects, there was little chance of actual conflict.
The bigger problem actually was that the person who died was not only a Prime Disciple of the Tyrant Blade Sect, but also a member of a powerful family. However his family only sent an envoy who stayed for a couple of days and left, it was later announced to the disciples that they had reached an agreement and this matter was finished.
One peculiar and funny news he heard was that the prime disciple of Yin Yang Union Palace, Hua Ziyan, who usually could not be seen and only revealed herself on formal occasions, was seen strolling through the sect's common zones almost every day of the past two weeks.
One morning, Wu Long was practicing the sword, when he heard the soft sound of steps closing in. He smiled as he finally reached his goal in doing this.