Terminology:
Zongzhu – sect leader. (Title)
Yaru almost stumbled as his body burned. It was all in his mind, a delayed reaction to the infusion of foreign Qi, or maybe it was a shock to his body to have any Qi. There was no more trace of either boy's Qi circulating in his body. Gone. Transformed to his own unique Qi signature. He felt unbalanced. Like his body was attempting to change to fit the new changes inside.
He leaned on the nearest wall and let his eyes close. The wall felt solid against his skin and cold enough to break through the haze surrounding his mind. Panic slightly subsided. Yaru filled his lungs with the sweet night air and tried to let go of the sights haunting him.
A shuddering breath turned into soft sobs before they were halted in Yaru's throat. The tears burned in his eyes, yet he refused to let them out, for he had no right to grieve for his friend, not after using him.
Bile rose from inside as the image sneaked inside Yaru's mind through the cracks – God, he could still feel the flavor of the Qi as it gushed from his friend's body, never to return. Drunk on power and fear, Yaru's vengeful nature reared his ugly head when Sha Roma, that cruel motherfucker asked for his help. So, he lied, and he took Sha Roma's hard work and shit on his hope before leaving him there to rot.
He wasn't proud of himself, but what was there to be proud of in the first place? He's that kind of person because of people like Sha Roma, and he'll take his revenge where he can. So what if he hated himself for being scum? As if that had ever helped him before. Didn't he also kill Koryn? Only people like him would take away their best friend's last chance of living - surviving.
Koryn's injury was harsh, but Yaru had been hurt plenty in his
life. It would have been a gamble, but there was that one healer that he could turn to. With his help, Yaru would have been enough to stop the bleeding and
nurse Koryn back to full health.
'Or, as he said, Koryn would have died anyway, and all of us would have died with him.'
No one would have willingly treated Koryn. Maybe. Maybe not. Anyone practicing cultivation could sense the lingering Qi inside the wound, the Temple Master's Qi. For most, that would be enough to turn down Koryn and Yaru before turning them over to be killed.
'I should have tried anyways. I feel sick...' Yaru blocked his mouth with a hand, 'I ended his life just because he asked me too?! No, it was because I was afraid, and this was the easy way out.'
Yaru looked at his hands with disgust. How is he any better than the Temple Master? Someone like him that agreed to kill-
'I don't want to be that person anymore. I won't. Never again.' Yaru opened his eyes and struggled to stand straight.
Yaru knew that if such a situation happened again, he wouldn't be enough to protect anyone, but at the very least, Yaru refused to take a friend's life. 'Once is more than enough.'
Yaru moved on, marching forwards, towards- he doesn't even know, doesn't matter. He just had to move. There was still work to do and things that he had to think about.
The Temple Master only went after the seven graduating cultivators since they're the only ones capable of leaving, but that does not mean those who choose to stay are spared. It would be easy to kill a few to set an example so that none would try to sneak out.
That would be the intelligent thing to do for someone heinous enough to use a technique like the [Kiss]. Yaru knew he would since that would serve another purpose as well – he could weed out those who have the stomach to remain inside the main temple, as opposed to those he'll send to farm and handle tasks such as construction, logistics, and weaving.
The temple would not be able to function without all of those.
It was odd that none attempted to send Yaru to work at such jobs instead of continuing his failing cultivation attempts, but Yaru was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Speaking of... Yaru wasn't as weak as before, nothing impressive for his age group, but a massive leap from where he'd been before. Enough of a leap to turn heads.
People would notice, which could hinder Yaru more than it could help. Ignoring him would be ideal but unrealistic. Most likely, his presence would attract bullies and entitled snobs that look for an easy punching bag.
The adults encourage such behavior to teach kids about hierarchy and make sure none of them slack off. The weak get bullied. That's how it is. Everyone trains hard to raise their place in the hierarchy-
Thinking about it, the temple tenders will expect Yaru to be attending the morning training session.
'Training to make us stronger so that we graduate. Wow, doesn't that mean they're training us to die?'
The temple tenders had to know. They are the ones that stayed after hearing the Temple Master's story. They believed him when he said a demon was hiding inside the temple.
Those seven disciples trained so hard for days. They practiced after the sun went down. They trained while they were in their rooms instead of resting. They worked themselves to the ground.
Those hardworking guys were tossed aside like yesterday's leftovers.
Yaru will have to be careful. He can't skip because he has never missed a class before, and the last thing Yaru wants to do is to alert someone that he knew about the Temple Master's killings.
He's going to the training, and from there, he'll go to the library. He was going to read about those runes he saw.
Xx I'M A LINE BREAKER! xX
The Temple Master exited the bathroom and went to his study, where his trusted friend waited.
Vulpes is a head shorter than the Temple Master, with a head full of short white hair and silver eyes. "How many of them?"
"All of them," the Temple Master answered honestly. The man sat down at his chair with a heavy sigh, "not even one of them chose to believe me."
"That's unfortunate," Vulpes fell silent, but he didn't seem all that heartbroken about the ordeal.
"You didn't come to talk about this. Spit it out now. What is it?"
"Well, of course," he agreed, "We have bigger issues than seven dead wannabes. I'll worry about them after we solve the bigger, more pressing problems," Vuples crossed his arms, "Li-Zongzhu, I need to know what we're going to do about the food problem. There isn't enough farmland to grow crops and unless you're prepared to eat demonic beasts, forget about meat!"
That was bad, "how long do we have?" The Temple Master questioned.
"Not enough time to do anything, Li-Zongzhu. Four months, give or take a few weeks – certainly not enough time to do something about the demon," Vuples looked rattled. The knowledge of it bothered him.
"Tell me, why is this the first time I heard of this?"
Vuples rolls his eyes. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. The temple was not built to house so many people."
The Temple Master frowned. "What about the gardens?"
They have foreseen this situation and started preparing for it long ago.
"It's a start, but at this rate, that soon would run out as well," the Temple Master agreed silently with his friend's words. But-
"You're talking about another harvesting – you know how I loathe it. It's not the righteous way-" a snort cut the Temple Mater off.
"So is the [Kiss], but you know that sometimes bad things should be done for the betterment of the whole. Li-Zongzhu, you must. Get rid of the useless weaklings. They're unlikely to improve or be of help against the demon. They're using our precious resources and giving us nothing in return."
The Temple Master slowly nodded, tiredly.
"Kill anyone that hadn't shown progress," the white-haired man pressed.
"Give them one more month to prove their worth," the Temple Master countered, closing his eyes, "and then, do it."
Comments (2)
See all