Book 3: Chapter 15: Chaos and Order |
Jun watched as Wu Xui banged on the door like it owed her money.
She could hear scrambling from within as people hurried to the entrance from wherever they were finding their way. A click sounded and Wu Xui stopped knocking and stepped back to stand beside her. Quietly watching as they heard at least five locks click open before it finally cracked ever so slightly. A man stood to the side where only the side of his face could be seen.
He looked for a second then opened the courtyard's gateway. Then he stepped out and looked left and right. “Come in.”
Jun gave Wu Xui a look. The older lady shrugged her shoulders and followed the man. They snaked into the building and pushed for the main building where the majority of the Qi signatures they found were currently located. The strongest of them was currently at the head while everyone was along the walls, seated and watching two figures in the center of the hall.
They were likely sparring, but had stopped when Wu Xui threatened to tear down their gateway.
Jun shook her head and ran after the two of them. Stopping only when they entered the dojo’s main compound. She stared at dozens of students sitting along walls, two lines deep. A small elevated area held who she suspected was the Patriarch or master of this compound with white hair, but a strong figure that did not look broken with age. Five elders sat around him in varying conditions of erosion.
Every single person wore white robes with the symbol of a claw upon it.
The two figures in the middle got up and ran to their spots on opposite sides of the lines.
Jun cleared her throat and ran to where Wu Xui had taken a seat before the patriarch. Saying nothing as she watched what appeared to have been a conversation that already started before she entered. Wu Xui already had the look of utter boredom imprinted on her face.
“Respect is earned and not given, senior. Prove your worth and you shall have what you demand in honor.”
The Patriarch nodded his head. “So this was never a kindly visit.”
Wu Xui shook her head.
“You barge in here and ask us to fight against you? To test our mettle? Since when do the sects and clans send out elders to fight? Leave that for our juniors.”
Wu Xui laughed. “Me? Fight you?”
Jun kept quiet as the conversation continued to go back and forth between the two of them. Everyone ignored her presence entirely. She could have gotten up and walked right out and no one would have said a word. Treating Wu Xui as the elder she looked like and Jun the servant who knew nothing, said nothing, and did nothing except what her mistress demanded of her.
Is this how the servants of my clan felt? I don’t like this feeling at all.
“You think you are better than us?” The Patriarch was already red faced. “Superior than we are just because you come from outside of the city–”
“No. You misunderstand.”
“Then explain yourself! What do you mean by your provocative words!?”
Wu Xui shakes her head. “You all are as blind as bats. How does the mouse not notice the dragon that enters its den? How do you not see it–”
All of the elders and Patriarch give her different forms of confused expressions.
Wu Xui nods her head toward Jun.
“I am nothing but an outer court disciple of my master. A swan before the mighty dragon that sits beside me!”
Jun closed her eyes and did her best to prevent the heat that rose up her cheeks. She’d never had anyone speak about her or to her like that before. It made her face want to melt out of embarrassment and reminded her of the ridiculous things she had said to Shao Yating during the heat of the moment. Much of which she would never repeat when her head was level.
“You can’t be serious…” The Patriarch’s eyes were wide and locked onto Jun. “You are as strong as I but only an outer court disciple? Who is she?”
It made sense.
Wu Xui was likely one of the strongest people within the city. Especially with Ancestor’s boost to her and Zhong Da when they found them nearly dead. Likely stronger than Shao Yating when she fought him. But she had defeated him a long time ago. Grown much stronger since then too. Jun was no longer the same girl that doubted herself. If anything she didn’t quite understand how strong she was anymore because she never had the opportunity of releasing her cultivation and preparing for a fight.
“My role here is to serve my master’s inner court disciple,” Wu Xui smiled something smug and full of arrogance. “His progeny. The wielder of the Grass Blade. Slayer of a thousand enemies. Defeater of Shao Yating. Hu Jun.”
Jun opened her eyes as she felt the Weapon Spirit’s persona’s imprint affect her once more.
Her chin tilted up. She struggled to stop the growing sneer, but could not help it from growing at being looked down on. Her master would not be pleased with her actions today, but it was important to create her own story. Give credence to her own myths and legends.
For the first time since fighting Shao Yating, Jun let her developed Liquid Core Realm leak ever so slightly.
Pressure descended upon the entire dojo.
Wood cracked.
Glass shattered, the weakest amongst the denizens of this dojo fell face first. Knocked unconscious. The rest fell forward and were hard pressed to raise their heads off the ground much less look at her figure and utter words of any kind.
Even Wu Xui gave her a surprised look–
And then it vanished like it had never existed. Something her Ancestor had drilled into them day and night. Driving it through their thick skulls to never show their strength to anyone in full. Even now she only showed a good portion rather than the full pressure of her advanced bloodline, mutation, Dao, Spiritual Roots, and cultivation. It was meant to be shown in rare moments only.
She could see why, but not because of the reason she knew her Ancestor meant.
This moment was a form of power. The power of first impressions–
“Stop!” a guard shouted from the outside of the dojo.
Speaking to a shadow that jumped over the courtyard walls. A dozen cultivators that had not been knocked out sprinted from the room to encounter the figure that trespassed on their grounds, blades at the ready.
Jun frowned and looked outside. She could feel nothing and had only caught the glimpse of a shadow briefly.
Screams and shouts filled the courtyard until one of the Dojo’s protectors crashed through the wooden doorway and slammed onto the other side.
He looked up in terror, alive but beaten. “M-Monster! She’s a monster!”
Qi leaked into the dojo that made everyone’s blood drain from their faces. Jun’s was superior to them all. A being beyond their understanding and grander than what they could accomplish in a lifetime. The epitome of what an immortal would feel like if they had descended upon this plane of existence.
This one was death.
Terror incarnate.
There was no surviving it when faced with its miasma.
Jun frowned as she felt everyone including the elders and patriarch jump to their feet.
Even Wu Xui stood up, her Qi rumbling to life within her hands. “A worthy foe? Who dares threaten our–”
Jun pulled at the hems of Wu Xui’s robe to catch her attention. Shaking her head and motioning her to sit down because she recognized who it was. “Shui,” Jun said. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Stop scaring everyone.” She could sense the edges of Shui’s Qi signature, but it was different. Much more developed and more powerful. Those ethereal manuals they had been given had done wonders to their strength and weight of their Qi.
Hu Shui jumps into the room and her presence vanishes like it did not exist anymore. She turned from Death Incarnate and into a little bubbly girl with a bright smile.“Jun! I have a question!”
“Go ahead. What’s bothering you so much that you would terrify everyone here.” Jun smiled. The little girl was chaos given form. Quite the opposite of her own order.
“How much does Ancestor’s average Qi Stone cost in gold?”
“I-I’m not sure.” Jun blinked and turned toward Wu Xui. “Do you know, Sister Xui?”
Wu Xui frowned at Shui. She dropped to the ground and sat where Jun had motioned, expression unreadable.
Jun cleared her throat.
Wu Xui snapped out of whatever she had been thinking. “His average Qi Stone is worth five hundred thousand gold coins each. Though my estimates might be an order of magnitude wrong.”
The dojo master dropped unconscious. The highest he had ever heard about was one thousand gold coins and that had caused the Merchant Emperor of this city himself to come down and claim it as property of his pavilion. If anyone wanted it to find him and discuss it with blood and Qi they could storm the palace and make an enemy of his entire army of cultivators and loyalists.
“Thanks!” She ran up to them, hugging Wu Xui first and then Jun.
And then vanished as though she had not beaten down a dozen of the dojo’s strongest guards and members. Without her hammer too.
Jun turned around as the old man was slowly waking up.
His eyes flashed and he jumped up with more vitality than someone in his position. He ran before her and slammed his head on the ground. “Lady Hu Jun! Take me as your disciple!”
Wait what?!