After Wu Li passed the sect's promotion examination, promoting his status from that of an outer disciple to that of an inner disciple, he stepped through what the Illuminated Sword Sect called a "transportation gate" for the very first time.
Every transportation pendant was linked to a transportation gate, which was simply where the pendant took whoever possessed it to. It was how the sect brought their disciples in and out of their main school.
Wu Li remembered how amazed he had been when he stepped out of a gate for the first time. It was an experience that he, as a mortal or even as an outer sect disciple, would never have had the opportunity to experience in his lifetime. He remembered how he closed his eyes, triggered the pendant, and then suddenly found himself in the elaborately gilded Hall of Transportation, with its imposingly large walls of marble and pillars of jade and gold. He had to pinch himself a few times to make sure that he wasn't dreaming of finally being within the main school of the infamous Illuminated Sword Sect as he stepped out onto the marble floor.
Three years later, here he was, stepping through one for the second time, flanked by his two closest friends.
The first time, the hall was completely empty save for three servants who greeted him. They led him to his room before showing him around the main school and assuring that he knew his way around. After that, he never saw those servants again.
This time, the hall was far from empty. On the contrary, it was jam packed.
There were so many people that the seemingly infinitely large Hall of Transportation seemed not big enough to fit so many people. They were all young adult cultivators, possessing nothing but their white and blue robes, the small packs they brought with them, and the swords at their hips. They were all bantering amongst themselves, laughs filling the usually empty hall.
"Huh, funny that it has been only three years since I last stepped through a gate," Zhou Baoxian says, looking around the hall. "Felt more like three months."
"Yeah, time does fly when you're fighting for your life every other day," Wu Li says with a sigh. He takes a look around. "There are a lot more people than I thought. It looks like everyone in the camp chose to use that pendant."
Zhou Baoxian chuckles. "Heh, poor general. It's probably emptier than a ghost town over there."
Xue Hua doesn't respond. She simply looks towards the crowd.
It wasn't until then that several people in the front finally noticed the three. They were quick to get down onto one knee, clasping their hands and bowing their heads.
"Greetings, squadron leaders!" they exclaimed.
That caused the people around them to notice the squadron leaders standing outside the gate. And then so did the people around them, and then the people around them as well. Soon, the presence of the squadron leaders was something that everyone was aware of.
Like a wave, they all clasped their hands, bowed their heads, and got onto one knee. The once bustling hall was filled with the repeated uttering of one line, loud as divine thunder.
"Greetings, squadron leaders!"
Wu Li, Zhou Baoxian, and Xue Hua were struck with awe for a moment. They weren't new to this kind of attention from their individual squadrons, but seeing all three squadrons together greeting their three leaders was something entirely different. Seeing this amount of bowed heads and bent knees was something that none of the squadron leaders thought they would ever see in their lives.
The three squadron leaders stepped away from the gate, walking down the hall as the large crowd of former soldiers parted, revealing an entirely open path for them towards the large double doors leading out of the hall. They approached the door, but just as Zhou Baoxian was about to push them open, the doors swung open on their own.
Standing behind the large double doors were three men. They were average in appearance and dressed in the sect's servants' uniform, which were robes woven with colors of light and dark brown.
"Greetings, squadron leaders," they said in perfect tandem with each other. "Greetings, soldiers of the unit of the ravine. The servants of the Illuminated Sword Sect humbly welcome you back."
The three of them clasped their hands and bowed to them.
"Our elders have prepared a banquet to celebrate your return to the sect," the servant in the front said as he regarded the squadron leaders. He and the other servants step aside to allow them passage through the double doors. "They humbly request that you take some of your time to join us for food and festivities."
Wu Li, Zhou Baoxian, and Xue Hua all stared at the servants, as did everyone else behind them.
They all knew that this wasn't exactly a request. On a surface level, this might've seemed like a genuine welcome for the returning soldiers, giving the homesick cultivators a welcome back celebration, but there were very few among their numbers who suspected that this was truly the elders' intention.
It is way too easy to see what the elders are planning, Wu Li thinks to himself. He closes his eyes for a moment before reopening them and staring at the servants in front of him. And they must obviously know that we know so. This is obviously…a test of the strength of our compliance!
Inviting soldiers back into the sect on this magnitude is something that has never happened before in the history of the sect, so the elders are testing how hard we will be to push around, Xue Hua thinks to herself as she too turns to the present servants. Especially considering that since it is them who invited us back, them kicking us out if we get too rowdy will cause them to lose face. They're using this as a preliminary test to evaluate how they will manage us.
The servants standing before the soldiers suddenly felt chills run down their spines as every man and woman in the Hall of Transportation locked their eyes onto them. To them, the feeling was something akin to being looked down upon by a powerful immortal, a force that could wipe them out with naught more than a mere thought and leave not even dust behind.
Finally, the tension was broken when Zhou Baoxian smiled.
"Definitely a most tempting offer," he says. It was almost unsettling how casual he sounded in contrast to the tense atmosphere in the room. "And as much as I'd love to go, we're not all just three people however, so there is no use in inviting just the three of us."
He then turns around to all the cultivators in the Hall.
"What do you all say?" he asks, as if simply asking for an opinion from a friend. "I'm sure our new rooms are at least a hundred times nicer than the crap we had back at camp, but it can't hurt to give our…benevolent elders some of our time, can it?"
The servants were left a bit shocked.
The first thing that had shocked them was the fact that the squadron leader hadn't immediately accepted.
Everybody in the Illuminated Sword Sect feared the elders for their ruthlessness, and for good reason. They were arguably the most powerful cultivators in all the righteous lands, second only to the holy emperor and his left and right hands and their pockets were endlessly deep. They had access to a seemingly bottomless reserve of money, artifacts, and resources for cultivation. But coming with their power and resources were personalities that were unyielding, harsh, and unforgiving. There were countless tales of how the elders have sent disciples they didn't like to their deaths. And that wasn't even including the disciples they executed. Publicly. Thus, disciples were deathly afraid of even so much as inconveniencing them.
They had no tolerance for anybody who didn't bend to their will. A will that governed the strongest sect of the four righteous sects. Even in small matters such as these, they usually didn't tolerate rejection.
It was because of this that the servants were shocked to hear that the squadron leaders hadn't immediately accepted the elders' request. After all, they weren't exactly new disciples. They all knew of how unreasonable the elders could get.
On top of that, the squadron leader had sounded obviously sarcastic when he said that. He had just indirectly slandered the most important people in the whole sect.
Regardless, the servant had no doubt that the request would be nevertheless accepted.
It's only a matter of time, the servant in front thought. Nobody has ever declined the will of the elders before.
Silence permeated around the Hall as the people within finally took their eyes off of the servants. They all stared at each other. The silence around them remained, as if they were communicating simply through their gazes. It took them no more than several breaths of time, however, before they all seemed to instantaneously come to an agreement as they all simultaneously turned towards their squadron leaders.
What the servant had thought soon before was not necessarily incorrect. He wasn't wrong to guess that the former soldiers would so readily accept the invitation the elders had sent out for them.
What he was wrong to assume is that these cultivators were simply returning disciples. That was because they weren't simply returning disciples.
They were veterans. Tempered by experiencing the horrors and cruelty of war.
And yet, this wasn't even what had surprised the servants.
Never before have they seen so many people acting in such sync with each other.
What sync, thought one servant.
So this is the unit of the ravine, thought another.
Zhou Baoxian looked at all of them, his eyes roaming the Hall for a moment, before he finally turned back to the servants, that casual grin still splayed across his face.
"Well, it seems that we've come to a decision," he says.
"Ah, is that so?" the servant asked. "Excellent. Please, follow us humble servants as we lead you all to the banquet ha-"
"Oh, I'm sorry, but you must be mistaken," Zhou Baoxian says, holding up a hand as he stops the servant.
"Would you please tell the elders that we will be rejecting their generous offer?" Wu Li asks as a smile also creeps up to his lips.
All three of the servants just stared at him, dumbstruck.
"Um, this humble servant apologizes," the one in the front says. "But are you sure that you wish to-"
"It appears that he hasn't quite heard us correctly," Wu Li says, cutting him off. He turns to the crowds of cultivators behind him. "Men! Do we wish to accept the elders' invitation?!"
Their voices rang, loud as heavenly thunder. Loud enough to shake the ground underneath them and to be heard from every domain of the sky.
A resounding NO! that could shake the heavens.
As the servants looked at them in shock, Wu Li turned back to them with a smile on his face.
"You have your answer," Xue Hua says, somewhat harshly as she folds her arms across her chest. "You may now inform the elders of our decision. Cease wasting our time any longer. We still have to settle in."
The servants just stared at them, shock more evident on their faces than it ever had been that day, before scrambling to get out of their way as the former soldiers left for their new rooms.
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Meanwhile, somewhere far, far away from the Hall of Transportation, a single man sat by himself in a large chamber, its doors shut tight and its windows closed.
He carried the appearance of an old man, his hair having long since become bleach white and his beard almost as long as his whole body. He was wearing flowing, golden yellow robes, its fabric seeming to shine even within the darkness of the empty chamber.
In front of him was a large mirror. Shown on the face of that mirror was the Hall of Transportation and the thousands of cultivators standing within it.
He watched as the servants who came to greet them told them of the Illuminated Sword Sect's elders' invitation. Then he watched as their answer resounded throughout the sect.
As they declined the invitation of the elders.
"Aiyahhh, kids nowadays," he muttered to himself as he stroked his beard. "They just can not help themselves from making so much noise."
Despite the words, a smile creeped up to his lips.
"The scent of change has become so much more potent today."