by Mike Han
So Jun, have you decided which of these you would pick?” He eyed me curiously to see which of the three items I would choose.
It wasn’t even a contest. The moment Leader Zhi Meng picked up the sword, it had already drawn my eyes to it. Its elegant form and soft white glow spoke to me as though to earnestly ask me to pick it up for my own. My hands were half way reaching for it when Zhi Meng spoke about the troubles that his predecessor had. With a shudder, I withdrew my hands and decided, “Leader Zhi Meng, I would choose the Silk Armor.”
An astonished look, “That’s surprising. Of course that’s your right, but can I ask why you made this decision.”
“To be honest, I was tempted to pick the sword. To have such a legendary weapon would have been awesome. But the warning you gave made me realize that at this point of time, I would hardly be a good custodian for the sword. If people, like Wu or Killian, were to challenge me, I would not have been as lucky today. So my decision for the armor.”
Nodding his head as in agreement with my argument, he smiled, “Not only humble but also self-aware of your limitation and capability. But don’t sell yourself short on your abilities.” Picking up the armor, he handed over to me, “Here. The armor is yours by rights of your win.” Instead of walking me out, he looked around, found what he needed and turned back to me, “This is instead my gift to you. Thanks for taking revenge for Zhi Yu.” He said with a wink. He had placed the sword inside a leather casing, thereby hiding it from view, and handed over to me. I was stunned for words and could only mutter my thanks. “You are right to be cautious. Don’t open the casing for others to see, and only to those you trust.” He then guided me out of the vault.
As we were approaching the entrance, the crowd started to surge forward, everyone eager to see what precious treasure that I had chosen for my prize. With a stupid grin on my face, I lifted up the armor for everyone to see, then slowly walked back to my sect, where everyone was waiting for me.
“What’s that armor you picked?” Yu’Er asked me the moment I was in earshot.
“Well, it’s an Iron Silk armor.” I replied.
Whistles of appreciation sound around me, some coming from the other sect disciples who managed to catch my conversation with Yu’Er.
Raised eyebrows in surprise, Deacon Lee said, “That’s a precious gift from Flying Dagger. There are only a couple of these left and to allow you to choose this as a prize, showed that Flying Dagger acknowledged your skills in the win.”
By now we had reached our place of lodging and only the Balance Sect people were around me.
“What’s that casing you have there?” Yu’Er prompted. It was lucky that everyone was so distracted with the armor, that they had overlooked me carrying the casing from the vault.
But I had decided that I would only show Yu’Er once I had the opportunity to do it when we were alone and so replied evasively, “Oh. This is a personal gift from Flying Dagger Leader. Nothing special to it.”
Though she eyed me suspiciously, she did not push the issue. After offering me congratulations again, everyone had then left for their own rooms.
Chapter Seventeen
A knock on my door awoke me from my slumber. When I opened the door, Yu’Er was standing outside waiting for me.
“Hey sleepyhead. We’ll be setting off tomorrow. Let’s go to the town for the last time.”
Pretending to give a large yawn, I whined pathetically, “But I am so sleepy.” Seeing Yu’Er eyes opened in mocked anger, I gave a quick grin, “I am just joking. Let’s go. Oh, before we do that, I want to show you something. Come in.” I quickly gestured to Yu’Er into my room.
Once we were alone in the room, I brought out the leather casing.
“Isn’t that the personal gift that leader Zhi Meng gave you?” Yu’Er asked in puzzlement.
“Yeah but I thought about it and figured that it would suit you better. Anyway I have the Iron Silk armor.” Saying that I removed the casing and showed her Moon Glow.
Her eyes mesmerized by the soft glow, she reached for the sword and asked, “What is this? You said her name is Moon Glow?”
“Yup. This sword is called Moon Glow. Leader Zhi Meng mentioned that it was a legendary sword and one of his predecessor had won fame with it. However many people had challenged him for the sword, so you might want to be careful carrying it around. But with your skill, I think you should have no problem handling any challenger.” I replied her with a wink.
It was obvious that she was not listening much to my gibbering. Clutching the sword to her chest, she looked back at me, “You are really giving Moon Glow to me?”
“Yeah. It does suits you better.” I said.
Hearing my reply, she gave me a big smile, and as sudden, she turned around and ran off.
“Hey Yu’Er, I thought you wanted to go to town?” I called out after her.
“Sure. But I want to try out Moon Glow first. You go and ask for permission from my grandfather and I see you at the entrance.” Her reply fading off as she ran off.
Trust a girl to play with her new toys while making the guy worked. Giving a rueful sigh, I turned and walked towards the direction where the private rooms that Grandmaster and Elder was given.
I was near the private rooms when I saw one of our own disciples carrying a tray with teapot and cups approaching Grandmaster’s room as well, but the funny thing was that I did not recognize who this disciple was. When the disciple was at the door, he gave a knock and I could hear him speaking, “Grandmaster, this is Cai. I brought some tea for you and Elder.”
Oh, so this disciple was Cai. The one that had accompanied Yu’Er in her mission but ran off when they were ambushed. That’s strange as I did not remember he was back in the sect when we returned. Come to think of it, I didn’t notice him in the entourage that follow Grandmaster to Flying Dagger Sect. Could it be that he had joined us after we arrived? After all, it was a pretty hectic schedule for me during the Challenge and I could have missed out on him joining us.
“Cai? You are here? Come on in.” Grandmaster Tao called out from the room.
Deciding to wait till Cai delivered the tea, I stepped back into the shadows of the passageway. After a moment, Cai came out of the room with an empty tray, giving a bow, he closed the door. However, instead of leaving immediately, he stood at the doorway and peep in through the gap for a while. Then he quickly turned and left through a side passage.
Aroused with curiosity by his behavior, I followed quietly behind him. Seeing he turned around a bend, I slowly made my way and glanced around corner. There a short distance in a small garden, he was standing, tapping his thigh in impatience. A short moment later, a man dressed in black approached him and they spoke quietly for a moment, before they started heading back. I quickly back off the passage way and hide under the shadow of a nearby tree at the side. In their haste, they walked past where I was hiding, and after giving them a slight lead, I followed after.
To my surprise they went back to Grandmaster’s room but this time, Cai, after a moment of peeking, entered the room with the black dressed man without announcing their presence, and closed the door thereafter. Filled with alarm, I hastily approached the door and crouched outside, and imitated Cai, peeping into the room.
To my shock, Grandmaster and Elder Hao was sprawled at the table in the room. I could just barely make out Cai’s conversation.
“See! I told you that they had taken the tea. They are now unconscious. I did my part of the bargain. After you disposed of them, you must support me to be the Deacon.” Cai whined.
“Harrumph. We will fulfil our part of the bargain. After all, you have a good deal. We could have killed you after we captured you but since you are so willing to help us to destroy Balance Sect from within, we will help you to become a Deacon. But we have to destroy the other Deacons as well or the plan will be naught.” A shocking revelation that the voice belonged to none other than Shi Ting, the young master from Imperial School.
“
Alright. But Yu’Er is mine. I always wanted her and if she becomes my wife, it will solidify my position as a Grandmaster in future. That will be beneficial to Imperial School, right?” Cai argued.
“We can negotiate further on that at a later time. Now let’s carry them away.” Shi Ting pointed at Grandmaster and Elder.
Enraged at their conversation, I forced open the door, shouting, “Cai! You traitor!”
Startled at my presence, Cai and Shi Ting took a step back from Grandmaster and Elder. Quickly seizing the opportunity, I drew my sword and leaped forward. My sword edge first went striking for Shi Ting’s eyes, which cause him so much fear, he leaped backwards till his back was against the wall. With him out of the way, I spun around and went for Cai, my blade stopping an inch from his throat. His face white with fear, he hold up both hands saying, “It was them! They forced me to drug the tea.”
While I was distracted by Cai, Shi Ting suddenly rushed out of the room. Tempted to go after him but unwilling to leave a snake like Cai around while the Grandmaster and Elder were helpless, I hardened my heart and my blade swiped across his throat. Knowing that if I was to leave him behind, it was likely that he would cause harm to both Grandmaster and Elder in order to leave no witness behind. Even if I was to tie him up, without anyone to guard him, I would not dare to chance fate. Just as Cai lie down dying in his blood, Deacon Lee entered the room, startled to see me with my sword drawn, Cai’s blood flowing down the blade.
“Look after Grandmaster and Elder.” I told him while I quickly stepped out and chased after Shi Ting.
I could just barely catch glimpses of Shi Ting’s back as he sped down the villa towards the pier, but I was able to corner him just as he was near the pier.
“Halt, Shi Ting. You have nowhere else to run to. Give up and surrender yourself.” I demanded of him.
To my surprise, he was neither upset nor scared at this point. “Surrender? My dear Jun, you might want to see where you are right now. It is you that should consider surrendering.” He smirked at me.
Suddenly men poured out of the ship that was anchored off the pier. It was then that I realized that the reason why Shi Ting was racing towards the pier was because the Imperial School had been packing up to leave the next day and most of their disciples were already on board the ship. It was then that an imposing figure stepped out from the ship. It was Shi Liang, the master for Imperial School.
“I was wondering which rat was making such racket. So it was the rat from Balance Sect.” He mocked.
“I should have known that it couldn’t be as simple as only the young master being involved.” I retorted.
“Be careful of what you say, little rat. I had taken off the tongue of men who had insulted me for much less.” He warned. From a distance, a large crowd can be heard coming down from Swallow Villa.
“Jun, what happen? Why did I hear that you killed Cai and both Grandmaster and Elder are both unconscious?” Yu’Er voice could be heard carrying over from the crowd.
Yu’Er and Deacon Lee had both arrived at the head of the crowd that had arrived.
“Oh, so young Jun here is a traitor.” Shi Liang said in a mocking tone.
Stunned beyond words, I stammered, “Me a traitor? No, it was…” Before I could complete my sentence, Shi Liang interrupted.
“No need to explain. Let me help to take out the traitor from Balance Sect.”
Shi Liang was fast beyond words. In a flash he was beside me before I could react. Taking a back step, I swiped upwards at him with my sword but before my swing was halfway up, he had caught my hand and arrested the movement. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t break his grip.
My left hand quickly flicked towards his face. But with an exasperated smack, he pushed my hand away.
“Master Shi Liang, please let Jun go. We will bring him back to question him for ourselves. This is Balance Sect internal matter.” Deacon Lee shouted, stepping forwards to intercept. But a trio of Imperial School disciples moved forward and block his path.
Yu’Er sprung forward suddenly, trying to free me from Shi Liang’s grasp. But Shi Ting quickly stepped in front of her with both hands raised at the side.
Stepping in close, Shi Liang whispered to me, “I had enough of your meddling. First the issue at Canyon Town, then at the Swordsman Challenge. Now I was so close to getting rid of your Grandmaster and Elder, if you have no interfered.”
“I knew you must have been involved one way or another. Why are you so against our sect?” I grated out angrily.
“Me? It’s nothing personal, but for Imperial School to be the top sect, we have to destroy Monastery and Balance Sect. And now thanks to you, people will think that you are a traitor. And what better way to ruin a sect’s reputation than having a brother’s killer.” He laughed silently. “I would love to carry on the conversation with you but I think it’s time for you to leave.”
Fast as lightning, his left palm filled with his internal strength, hit me in quick succession squarely on my chest. I could feel my ribs cracked as blood poured out from my mouth and with a final strike to my chest, I was send flying across the ground into the river.
“Jun! No!” Yu’Er voice could be heard across the ground as she rushed to me. Her tearstained face was the last sight before I fell into the river and darkness filled my view.
Logging off …
Error…
Error…
Unable to remove player…
Jun, Please do not feel alarmed. Our technician is working at the moment to help you to have a successful log-out, please be patient while we resolved the issue. Please have a good rest before we wake you up from the game. Thank you for participating in the Alpha Testing for Middle Kingdom virtual world.
Epilogue
It was a madhouse in the laboratory. Everyone was still running around and working through the data or puzzling the machineries in the laboratory; trying to figure out the working of the technology.
“What’s the status of the subjects?” Damien shouted out to the operators and technicians puzzling out behind the monitors.
“Only one green light. The rest have all stopped responding.” A reply shouted out.
Damn the professor and his paranoia. Damien thought darkly. It had been days in the laboratory and he could barely remember the last time he stepped out of it. Without the professor’s formula, they had no way of retrieving the subjects at the agreed date. The professor was so afraid of people getting a hold of his breakthrough that he had insisted on working on sending the subjects himself. Only allowing the teams to come in and use the machines when everything was set up and ready.
“Keep working on that telemetry data we are receiving. We getting a fix on it? Let’s try to get our last subject back safely.” He said encouragingly to the rest of the team.
