Chapter 96: More for the Order ( 1 )
After a few hours had passed, the meeting of the Raja's Sect top disciples and elders had finally started. Like during that one meeting where it was decided to slaughter the starlight sect and reveal the existence of the void, there were entirely too many people inside the meeting room.
As always, Giran was sitting at the very end of the table while only the highest ranked elders and disciples sat around him. Everyone else was just standing around the room and weirdly enough Judem was standing right behind Giran, something that seemed to anger Shina for reasons nobody knew of.
"Very well, we should be able to commence now. As you all know, I have called for this meeting since our little Dragon's bane has come back, and with a member of the Jin family as that." Giran said, pointing at the two with his hand. Jin Daiyuu looked a bit off, but it was simply because Jin Wang had been staring at her for ten minutes now. She had never cared about her family so she wasn't all that interested in talking to him, but it wasn't the case for him apparently. He had even tried to snatch her away and talk to her privately when Shina had brought the group to him.
Thankfully Hircen had seen that coming and kept trying to distract Jin Wang. The long haired man had something important to tell her, that much was easy to see, but she wasn't exactly in the mood for that. Even now, she just wanted to sleep on a nice and comfortable bed.
"So...Hircen, mind explaining how the hell you came here ? Also if you have any informations on the other members of the sect who are out in the open, we will gladly take them. It is becoming harder and harder to receive their letters with the Snow Peacock sect checking every single goddamn snake they find. " Giran said. It made everyone snicker a bit when Peng Fu winced and caressed the snake he had coiling around his neck. He had to work a lot more to tame snakes ever since the siege started.
"Well, we successfully reached the mountain with the help of that guy. He is a member of the starlight sect and he doesn't exactly likes said sect. Some coins and extra convincing sufficed." Hircen said as the disciple stepped forward.
Giran took a good look at him before questioning him.
"I was under the impression that Zhi Cao was a very charismatic leader, someone who would never abandon his disciples and who would never be abandoned by his disciples...So why did you do that exactly ?" The patriarch asked the disciple who took out the scroll Zhi Cao had given to Hircen.
"A charismatic leader yes, but a tyrannical one too. Let's just say I am not exactly a big fan of getting hit all the damn time and getting yelled at for every mistake I make however small they are. I joined that sect for the advantages it could give me due to it's reputation, I didn't join it to go through a suicidal training. I am not asking to join your sect by the way, I simply want to stay here for the time being. Once the siege is over, you'll just have to mess me up a bit and I'll act like I had been captured by you guys. Since you are about to slaughter that damn sect, it will be easy to fool the others with that excuse." The disciple said as everyone in the room froze.
They immediately looked at Hircen before remembering that he had just came back, which meant it couldn't have been him who told the disciple. Said disciple suddenly smiled wickedly and threw the scroll at Giran.
"The Starlight Sect is pretty good at getting whatever informations it want. They know about the assault, but they won't know I just gave you their future plans. This scroll contains various informations on the sect. With this, you'll know how many they are, when the guards patrol and where they patrol...Hell it even describes how they plan to stop your assault. They simply plan to swap position with another sect and surround the whole camp, waiting for you guys to come in and slaughter you." He said.
Giran opened the scroll, looked through it for a few seconds and sighed. He then saw everyone looking at him worrily, but he simply held out a hand.
"He is telling the truth. The starlight sect specializes in that sort of stuff. If we hadn't know, we would have been unable to tell they were waiting for us, we wouldn't have noticed them at all...And we would have been slaughtered like pigs. Can't think of why Zhi Cao would go with such a risky plan though....Then again the other sects never really liked him and with how hot headed he is, he might have been pissed off at them for some reasons and devised a plan to not only destroy us but also have us destroy a sect he dislikes. " Giran explained as everyone breathed sighs of relief.
"Well then i am all for allowing this disciple to remain with us. The Raja Sect has always shown it's gratitude to it's allies." Wei Feng said. The disciple of the starlight sect smiled as the disciples talked with each other and discussed the possibility of letting the disciple stay with them. Meanwhile a silent conversation was going on between Wei Feng and Giran.
"Very well, that is settled. You'll be allowed to stay with us until the end of the siege. Of course you'll have to work like all the other disciples and you'll be watched by a few inner disciples just in case. Now Hircen, any news to report ?"
At this, Hircen stood up and started his report. He didn't know what they had already been told, so he would just sum up the important events.
"The Zhao Tribes should currently be marching towards us. Since they randomly stop to attack everyone who isn't technically with the sect alliance, they won't reach us until at least a few weeks. The Peizhi Kingdom is currently in complete chaos, I don't know why but the situation is crazy there and a few knights we met in a village not far away from here told us something really interesting...None of the knight orders are going to intervene. And it's the same for every situation. After the annihilation of the gorudenryuu knight order and the disappearence of Huang Lei, the knights orders have been quiet. Apparently they aren't scared or anything, in fact those knights told us they had been called like all of their other colleagues to help with a matter of utmost importance....The knights are currently dealing with a threat far greater than the Zhao Tribes." Hircen said. Immediately after, the entire room erupted.
"What the hell ?!"
"How is that even possible ?!"
"A threat greater than the Zhao Tribes ?!
"Silence !" Judem suddenly yelled while punching the table. The loud sound calmed down everyone in an instant and his glare served as a reminder that contrarily to Giran, he wouldn't have any problem literally killing them just because they were annoying him.
"Well, that is some bad news...But it's not anything that concerns us. A threat greater than the Zhao Tribe will most likely get the attention of everyone who isn't already focused on the current war, so when the war ends we will be left alone even more than per usual. Now hircen, do you have anything or we can go eat ? Because I dunno about you guys, but my stomach is currently screaming." Giran said, earning himself some laughs from the more relaxed members of the sect.
"Yes, in fact I do have more news. I have news about a certain group....Jian, Zhao Shu and Uma."
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(With Jian and Shu)
"Huh, where are you going ?" Shu asked from his comfortable position on the couch, or rather in the couch. Jian turned around to face him and striked a pose.
"Don't focus on that, tell me...How do I look ?" Jian asked before he spun around. Shu was too focused on sweatdropping to actually tell Jian anything. The kid just literally got out of his room earlier than he ever did, he went out to buy stuff and then came back with a mountain of bags. And then he suddenly showed up with a different outfit, ready to leave.
He was now wearing a tight black leather outfit with an open collar and his usual creepy cloak. It looked good, but it was entirely too black except for the red streaks on the pants and the shirt. It looked somber as hell, but Shu had to admit it also looked comfortable. It was tight, that much was true, but it still looked like something he would wear himself.
"It looks good I guess. Though I don't really think it protects much, I don't sense a lot of qi coming out of it."
"Well yeah, we don't have a ton of money and the prizes we stole had everything but armors. In fact it only had one accessory and it's useless to me for now. It would fit you though, since it boosts the mastery of martial arts. I don't know any for now, but you do. Anyway I also got you some clothes, in fact I clothes for anyone. Because we sure as hell ain't gonna look like dumbasses. My order will be full of powerful AND cool looking people." Jian said with childish mirth. It was a bit unusual for him to be like that, but maybe he had a good night sleep or something like that. Shu knew the kid hadn't slept all that much in the last days.
"Yeah well maybe I'll wear them, or maybe not. I don't care, just get your ass out of here." Shu said before slumping back on the couch.
Jian laughed and threw a small collar at Shu.
"It's the accessory I was talking about. You can take a good look at it and try it if you want. I'm gonna leave for a few hours and then when I come back, we should train using the weapons that were supposed to be the prizes. I love my halberd, but we gotta be versatile. Cultivators are often versatile." Jian said before leaving in a hurry. Just before he could reach the door, Shu called out to him.
"What are you gonna do exactly ?"
"I'm going out to recruit someone. You remember that kid with whom I fought during the tournament, Vehr ? Well I want him in. I'll also pay a visit to that noble I helped for the tournament. He and his family can be useful."
As Jian left, Shu snorted and whispered to himself.
"That dumbass. He only just remembered about the kid. What a bad memory, I might as well start reminding him of things if it continues like that...Ahhh, as if I'm a damn babysitter !"