"That's enough. Cease this immediately."
An authoritative voice rings throughout the corridor, attracting the attention of Baoxian, Zhiyong, and the young master.
Standing far down the corridor behind Zhiyong was a tall, young, very handsome man, looking no older than a man in his early thirties. He was dressed in the Illuminated Sword Sect's uniform, though his sleeves and collar were bordered with golden fabric. He had eyes that were green as jade and crow black hair that flowed behind him like a waterfall, a handsome appearance befitting someone more than mortal. At his hip was a sheathed sword, the hilt white and gilded with golden metal.
The young master's eyes widened a bit at the sight of him. An expression of relief appears on his face. Fang Zhiyong's eyes also widened, though not as much in relief as in surprise.
He's in the Aura Formation Stage…
Zhou Baoxian's smile falls as the young master's widened to an almost manic level, whipping his head around to the senior.
"Senior disciple Hu!" he shouts with glee. "Please help me, senior disciple Hu! These fellow disciples are bullying me!"
"Shut up!" Fang Zhiyong shouts back. "You're the one who-!"
"Quiet," the senior says, his voice sharp as a blade. Immediately, both Fang Zhiyong and the young master were reduced to silence. "I will be the judge of that. Especially considering your reputation, junior disciple Ren Jiang."
The young master's expression deflated a bit, though it still remained hopeful.
"As for you," senior Hu says as he turns to Fang Zhiyong. "Put your sword down. Do you think that you can now go around pointing that at whoever you wish just because you have a veteran's status now? The Hall of Punishment will be hearing about this."
Zhiyong's eyes widened.
"Now hold on a second!" he protested. His eyes burned with rage at the implied accusation. "The young master-!"
"Zhiyong," Zhou Baoxian calls, promptly cutting him off. "Don't argue. Lower your blade."
Fang Zhiyong turned to look at Baoxian, his eyes wide with surprise. He opened his mouth to protest, but no words came out at the serious look on the former squadron leader's face.
Reluctantly, he removed his blade from the young master's neck, lowering it to his side. The young master felt the blade at his neck move away, the cold, sharp edge no longer pressed against his neck. At the same time, Baoxian releases Ren's blade from his barrier.
The young master's eyes widened when feeling returned to his blade arm.
"Now, junior disciple Ren Jiang, come with me," senior disciple Hu says. "The Hall of Pu-"
The young master, his eyes red and bloodshot, whipped around to face Fang Zhiyong.
There was a burst of wind, then a sharp whoosh.
In an instant, the young master was in action, wind backing his blade as he swung it right at Fang Zhiyong's neck.
Baoxian's eyes widened. His hand immediately went to the hilt of his blade, but he knew there was no way he could possibly move fast enough to save Zhiyong from a close range attack from a user of the Codex of the Windtamer.
But then just as the blade was about to cleave through his neck…
A glint sparked from the senior's jade green eyes as he stared right at the young master.
A massive amount of killing intent suddenly slammed right into him with the force of a war chariot. Immediately, his swing was stopped in its tracks as his whole body froze, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging slightly open.
By the time Zhiyong's eyes had even widened, the sharp edge of the blade just barely touched his neck, just hard enough to barely break the skin and cause a slight amount of blood to trickle onto it.
Baoxian's eyes were wide, one foot slightly in front of the other. His hand was frozen at the hilt of his sword.
The interaction was very quick. So quick that by the time it had ended, Baoxian's hand hadn't even reached his blade.
The senior disciple just sighed.
"I figured you'd pull something like that," he says with a tired voice. He sighs. "Rich brats, they're all the same. They really just don't know when to stop themselves."
He walks up to the frozen master, pushing his blade arm down and pushing him over. Even as he fell to the ground, his eyes remained wide and unblinkingly open, his mouth staying gaping with a bit of drool dribbling down the side.
"Now, you two," he says, turning his gaze to Zhou Baoxian and Fang Zhiyong.
Zhiyong felt a shiver run down his spine at the sight of the senior's shockingly green eyes. His grip tightens around the sword still in his hand. Baoxian's face was unreadable, his usual enigmatic smile replaced by a passive expression.
"This is your first infraction since a long absence, so both of you are excused for this incident," senior Hu says. "However, should this happen again, you will be punished accordingly. Both of you."
"Senior disciple, I still don't understand how we are guilty at all for this!" Fang Zhiyong exclaims. "The young master was the one who attacked first! We fought back in self defense!"
"From my experience, self defense doesn't usually end with a blade at somebody's neck," senior Hu says. "Not very victim-like behavior as far as I know. But no matter how much I believe you, I still have to punish you for the fight. More specifically, you…"
He points at Fang Zhiyong.
"...for knocking out two fellow disciples."
Zhiyong opened his mouth to protest again.
"Quiet, Zhiyong," Zhou Baoxian says before he could get a word out.
The former squadron leader assistant turned to him, his mouth still open to say something, but he eventually closed it, no longer deciding to speak.
"We are sincerely sorry for this incident, senior disciple," Baoxian says with a respectful bow. "We promise that something like this won't happen again."
Senior disciple Hu just hums at Baoxian's response. He then turns to the unconscious cultivators before lifting the young master from the ground, easily hoisting him over one shoulder. Then with one hand, he grabs the other two's wrists before dragging them on the ground with him.
The two veterans just stared at him as he walked further down the corridor.
"Did you not come to the battlefield from the main school?" Baoxian asks.
"Ah, no," Zhiyong says. "I don't think I ever told you. I was sent to our army encampment straight from the outer sect school right after I passed the examination to become an inner disciple."
"Guessed as much," Baoxian says. "I thought it was strange why you thought the situation playing out like this was unusual. But that's a topic for another day. Come, help me pick up our books. It pains me to see them strewn all over the floor like that."
Zhiyong's eyes widened as he followed Baoxian's gaze, seeing all the books on the floor. He had almost completely forgotten about them during their scuffle with the young master and his two sidekicks.
"Right. Yes."
|-|-|-|-|
It takes senior disciple Hu no longer than how long it took for an incense stick to burn to reach the Hall of Punishment.
Hu Liang, an Illuminated Sword Sect senior disciple at the Aura Manifestation stage and a member of the feared Hall of Punishment, the branch of the sect in charge of reprimanding any rule breakers.
"Ren Jiang of the Ren family, Yun Yi of the Yun family, and Leng Xia of the Leng family," he says, laying the three unconscious bodies in his possession onto the center of a lone, glowing, purple array drawn onto the marble floor of a lone chamber. "All three are guilty of attacking fellow disciples unprovoked. Please dish out their punishment accordingly."
The array on the ground began to glow even brighter, almost blindingly bright, before the three cultivators' bodies began to glow. Soon, they disappeared, where the Hall of Punishment's divine spirit would indiscriminately punish them according to the sect's standards, its sentience not recognizing family name.
He quietly walks out of the chamber, stepping back into the corridor in front of the double doors he had stepped in through not a couple minutes earlier. Just as he began his way back to his dwelling, he felt a small qi fluctuation from within his robe. He reaches into it, pulling out a jade pendant with a red tassel tied to the top of it.
Etched onto its surface, in glowing characters, was a message.
As per order of our esteemed elder Starry Sky, senior disciple Hu Liang, practitioner of the Codex of the Fatal Gaze, shall escort the veterans of the unit of the ravine to the chamber of esteemed sect elder Starry Sky at this time the next day. There will be no opportunity for rejection.
Hu Liang stared at the pendant, a dull look on his face.
"Is it already that time?" he mutters to himself. "Not even a day has passed yet."
He sighs again.
"But why does it have to be me?"