Fu Zhou's fist slammed into Fen Chun's broken arm with a loud crack. The youth gasped, stumbled back, and fell on his butt, moving his arms to support himself.
Both arms, even the one that was supposed to be broken. Pieces of the cast were falling from it.
"Liar." Fu Zhou sniffed. "You don't have the courage to break your own arm, Fen Chun."
Fen Kuang stared at her with shock and outrage. I was shocked, too, but reacted first.
"The cast on Fen Chun's arm hid a healthy limb! Senior Brother Fen, you can see now that Brother Fen Chun was slandering me. And worse than that, he abused your trust for his own means! Even if he's your cousin, you can't just let that be, right? A pathetic person who acts this way can't represent your honorable family, Senior Brother Fen!"
I spoke loudly and with conviction. Even if I didn't have my dreams, this life already taught me that people listened not to a person who was right, but to a person who spoke the loudest and first!
Initiative, volume, clarity of speech and handsomeness were the things that won debates. Actual reasoning was a good thing to have, but not vital.
Remembering that his arm was supposed to be broken now, Fen Chun clutched it to his chest and scrunched his face, as if trying to cry.
"Aaaagh, it hurts, it hurts! Senior Brother Fen, don't listen to him, it hurts! Not only that bastard Ru Yujin broke my arm, his little bitch Fu Zhou hit it again!"
Another piece of the cast broke off and fell to the ground. Fen Kuang kicked it at Fen Chun's face and scoffed.
"Junior Brother Ru Zhou is right. You are pathetic! I helped you at every turn, and you still couldn't win against him without relying on me! No, you can't win even when relying on me! If you had the courage to actually break your own arm, I wouldn't have cared if Ru Yujin's words were true. But you don't have even that!"
He picked Fen Chun by the collar of his robe. The thin gray fabric of clothes for outer disciples began tearing, but held for now.
"I'm bringing you to Master Lin. He will learn everything… Everything!"
Fen Kuang didn't spare me or Fu Zhou a glance afterward. Ignoring Fen Chun's pleas and appeals to familial feelings, Fen Kuang carried him away.
Fu Zhou clapped her hands.
"Master Lin will punish him. You will be safe from him now, Big Brother Yujin."
I suppressed a shudder at the thought of Lin Tan's punishments and looked down at the girl. She was as serious as a brick wall.
"What would've you done if Fen Chun's arm was actually broken?"
She shrugged.
"Then at least I'd hurt him for what he did to you. And we would probably share a punishment."
I put a hand to my forehead. The absolutely serious, calm tone Fu Zhou spoke with… I thought she was just a scared mouse, but was there actually a monster hiding in these still waters?
***
Next day, instead of having a lecture, we watched the whipping of Fen Chun.
The boy was tied to a pole in the middle of the disciplinary hall, watched by all other outer disciples, most inner disciples of Lin Tan, and many servants and soldiers. The hall was so crowded that you could walk on people's heads.
I still could see everything, because for "our education", all the outer disciples stood in the front row.
Fen Chun was quietly sobbing, but he must've shouted too much earlier, because now there was a cloth gag in his mouth. Next to him was the executioner with a whip in his hand. Lin Tan stood nearby, smiling.
"Fen Chun. His transgression was an attack on a fellow disciple and outrageous slander toward him. Both these crimes were brought to my attention and confirmed by my personal disciple Fen Kuang. Fen Kuang, approach."
Fen Kuang walked out of the crowd and bowed to his teacher.
"I'm here, Master."
"I know that disciple Fen is your relative. And I know that you have been making allowances for him because of it. This is perfectly natural—the blood ties are stronger than iron. However, this isn't how disciples of the Lin clan must act. Fen Kuang, I want you to be the master of today's punishment. Fen Chun deserves twenty strikes of the whip. He would die from twenty of your best strikes, of course, so hit only as hard as a mortal would."
I sucked in a sharp breath. Twenty strikes? By whip, not by a lash, which was much gentler?
Fen Chun would survive—he was a cultivator—but he would be heavily injured. After this, there will be no way he will reach the Qi Foundation stage until the end of the month!
Lin Tan was as good as executing him and telling Fen Kuang to bring the sword down on his neck.
"Master…" Fen Kuang looked with wide eyes between Fen Chun and Lin Tan. Then his face hardened. "I will do as you said, Master Lin. Give me the whip."
The first strike of the whip split Fen Chun's robe and left a bleeding line on his back. The youth screamed in his gag and teared up, showing no dignity. I sympathized, despite all he did against me.
By the fifth strike, the entirety of Fen Chun's back was red with blood. Lin Tan met my eyes, and his smile widened.
I looked away, clenching my fists at my side. That man… Him, and the entire clan, and the entire sect that enabled him! They made me sick to the core.
By the fifteenth strike, Fen Chun long stopped screaming. A splatter of blood landed on my chest. I winced.
After the twentieth strike, Lin Tan addressed Fen Kuang again.
"Good job, Disciple. Remember that this boy hadn't been your family since you joined the Lin clan. The clan is your family now, and your teacher is above your father. Now, servants, bring Fen Chun to a doctor. The rest of the outer disciples have an evening of free time."
"No lectures. Good." Fu Zhou looked up at me, smiling. "Let's meditate together, Big Brother?"
Oh, in the secret name of the Divine Purple Dragon, what this place had turned her into?