Pff!
In an elegant and tasteful pavilion on a mountain peak, Hu Mei’er stumbled her way over to the stone table where she splattered, bathed in crimson.
Her delicate complexion had now taken a sickly turn.
Whoosh~
An azure person flashed over, the second senior brother.
Liu Xu gasped at her wounds, “Junior sister Mei’er, what the hell happened? Did Kui Lang and Yue Ling attack you while you dealt with that punk?”
“They didn’t have to. It’s all that rotten punk’s fault. He played us!” Hu Mei’er shook her head, lamenting, “This must be my most unlucky year. I just ran into a monster, a beast this close to tearing me apart!”
Liu Xu asked, “Junior sister, what are you saying? I don’t understand anything.”
“Ha-ha-ha, you’re not the only one. He’s supposed to be some weak lamb, yet underneath it all, he’s a monster ready to pounce. I would’ve never risked today if I knew him for what he was.” Hu Mei’er sighed with a pained face.
Having complained enough, she detailed her ‘battle’ to Liu Xu.
Liu Xu was dumbstruck, “That brat is stronger than you? How?”
“Why else do you think he had me immobilized in one move? I couldn’t resist at all!” Hu Mei’er sighed.
Liu Xu paced around the pavilion, his face heavy, “With a power like Zhuo Fan, this changes things. Sect Leader brought him in for a reason after all. But why dump him in the Labor Office? What is Sect Leader up to?”
“Second senior brother, don’t be rash.”
Hu Mei’er cut in his train of thoughts, “We can’t beat that guy, so don’t taunt him. We’re already on his bad side from today, but let’s not do something we’ll regret.”
“So? This is the Demon Scheming Sect, no matter how great he is, he still needs a stable footing to stand tall. What slips my understanding is the Sect Leader’s design revolving around him. Will it affect the elite selection? “
Liu Xu’s eyes glinted, “This is no longer something as simple as a disciple affair. I’ll take it up with the master and hear his opinion.”
Hu Mei’er cried, “Venerable Shi?”
“Yes.” Liu Xu nodded, “Let him probe Zhuo Fan’s importance to Sect Leader and we’ll just ask him or an elite senior brother to deal with the brat depending on how much Sect Leader values him. If the Sect Leader has his eyes set on him, we’ll block the Labor Office and he won’t get any merit to leave this place. With no excuse to base his rise on, he’ll be stuck there forever!”
Hu Mei’er nodded, and her charming smile was back, yet was soon replaced with a frown, “But with his strength, he simply has to challenge an inner disciple before the elders and Venerables and he’s out. Moreover, our competition is in three months. He is our biggest threat!”
“Ha-ha-ha, that’s even easier. If we meet him, we’d just forfeit.” Liu Xu said.
Hu Mei’er was still puzzled.
Liu Xu beamed, “Junior sister, everyone that ends up in the Labor Office is either a criminal or a reject. The first type will either die of old age stuck in there for the rest of their lives or gain enough merit to recover their status. Exactly how Kui Lang and Yue Ling created the Asura Circle.
“Laborers are the lowest rung, no matter how hard they work, how strong they get, they’ll never become disciples again, only elders or Venerables to safeguard the precious inner disciples. Zhuo Fan is a laborer but not a criminal, that means he’s lower than a bug. So no matter how much he proves his strength, he’ll be a Venerable or elder at most. Unless…”
“What?” Hu Mei’er asked eagerly.
Liu Xu shook his head, “Junior sister Mei’er, it doesn’t matter. It’s just impossible. Unless he flips the world on its back and has the whole sect acknowledge him. That’s the only way to become an elite.”
“They say the High Venerable came from the Labor Office as well, with unstoppable power, the highest in the sect. But even so, he’s still just a Venerable falling short of becoming the Sect Leader. It is a rule unchanged for eternity.”
Hu Mei’er nodded, “That means Zhuo Fan and us will never cross paths.”
“That’s how it should be, but I worry that the Sect Leader has brought him here not to deal with disciples but those old guys.” Liu Xu’s eyes glinted, “If their situation does not settle, our structure will change.”
Hu Mei’er nodded after a pause.
Meanwhile, back among the tombstones, where the yin was thickest, a guy and a girl popped out of nowhere.
Achoo~!
Yue’er sneezed from the biting wind, hugging herself from the cold.
The creepiness of this place had her feeling threatened.
The sneeze was the most obvious sign. Even at her 6th layer of Profound Heaven cultivation, some cold wind actually managed to pierce her body.
Zhuo Fan had an ineffable smile, “From now on, you will be under my guidance. You are to follow my words to the letter, no matter if the path is rugged, torturing or deadly. You ‘will’ obey. And get it out of your head that someone’s going to save you. I’ve set up a barrier those two will never find. Got it?”
“Yes!” Yue’er nooded with a steeled face, disregarding her gruesome fate.
Zhuo Fan beamed, “No questions? How strong you’ll get or your survival rate…”
“None.” Yue’er said, “Knowing that you can restore my meridians to keep me cultivating is enough. Nothing else matters.”
Zhuo Fan smiled, “Great!”
He made a gesture and pointed, “Place of yin, gates of heaven; howls of wraiths, gather within me; biting winds lash my body; rip the sky, destroy this world!”
Hum~
The air shimmered under Yue’er’s incredulous look and a two meters tall door appeared.
It opened with a creak to reveal nothing but a black abyss and howling winds like banshee’s screams. Yue’er stood frozen before the eerie door and ice formed on her hand, robbing her of feeling from it.
“W-wha-” Yue’er lost her composure, now panicking.
Zhuo Fan smiled, “This is the 7th grade array I’ve set up, Black Wind Array. I’ve gathered all the biting winds, strongest here in the cemetery’s center. Entering this place will have one’s bones and tendons snap like twigs, their soul pulverized. A feeble mind would end up soulless just looking at the door.”
“But not you, because you have a death wish!”
Yue’er turned her shocked face at him. [How does he know my thoughts?]
Zhuo Fan continued, “From the moment I laid my eyes on you, I knew your character, ruthless to the extreme and even more so to yourself. I thought you were just putting up a tough front, but after all that’s happened to you, I knew it all came from your steeled will. It’s because of you that your sister ended up in the Labor Office and made you feel like a burden. You worked hard to live up to her expectations while also hellbent on succeeding or die trying. So that maybe, dying will free her of this burden.”
“That’s why not fully healing didn’t come as such a disappointment to you, because you’re a lost cause, hopeless. Right?” Zhuo Fan’s eyes pierced her.
Yue’er stared right back, though her eyes were in shock. [He saw through me. Not even my sister knows me so well.]
“Now, this temper is quite good, perfect to train this top profound ranked martial art, Black Wind Blade!” Zhuo Fan’s trademark evil smile was back in business, his hand revealed a jade slip, “This art is trained with the biting winds here, far stronger than your Demon Devouring Sabre. And since your meridians are shot to begin with, this yin seeping into you is a blessing in disguise and you don’t need my help. Follow this art and these winds will be your deadliest weapon!”
Yue’er took the jade slip, about to read it, when Zhuo Fan threw her inside the door, “No time, just get to it!”
“Ah!”
The devil’s hand pushed a wailing Yue’er into hell.
Zhuo Fan stayed behind with a wide smirk.
The crucial point of the Black Wind Blade was to stay calm in the face of certain death. Or the second one panicked, the yin would devour him.
Zhuo Fan planned for Yue’er to learn this art, the minute he saw her. All his actions lead to this point, even forgoing healing her. He wasn’t that petty, just cruel.
Or no matter how much she agreed, her sister would never let her…
