Chapter 67 – Internal Rot (II)

Chapter 67

Internal Rot (II)

About ten days after he left, Long Tao returned.

It was actually a bit faster than I thought. Originally, I anticipated that he’d be gone at least a month, and yet, my eyes weren’t lying. There he was, seeming rather exhausted and climbing up the remaining part of the mountain.

He only said one word to me, “Inside.”, and did so before I could question anything. Shrugging my shoulders, I spun around and followed him and then watched as he guzzled–no, that’s not the right word. Inhaled, yes.

I watched as he inhaled two buckets of water like he was a rooted plant getting the first rainfall after a month’s drought.

“You… okay?” I asked, wondering just what kind of hell he stumbled into to become like this.

“I ran without sleep for three days,” ah. So, there was some demon chasing him?

“Why?” I was courteous enough, still, to ask rather than just assume.

“Because I learned something I thought you needed to know.”

“…” Wow, what a twist. Wait–I can’t buy into it! This is the guy who sold me out in a heartbeat when he beat that kid black and blue! “… what?” I asked cautiously.

“On my way out,” he said. “I had a group follow me. And follow me they did all the way to the Desolate Cliffs, where they tried ambushing me.”

“Poor guys…”

“What?”

“Khm, I mean, poor you. That must have been really scary…”

“Yes, it was all kinds of terrifying,” he rolled his eyes, taking another sip of water. “But save the sympathy for some other time. The reason I ran all the way back is because of something I learned from them.”

“What did you learn?”

“They weren’t the only ones.”

“…” I frowned immediately, picking up on the issue–it simply meant that they weren’t the only group stalking the Spirit Sword Sect and following the disciples who leave.

It’d be one thing if I learned this info from anyone else, as I’d consider it somewhat inconsequential at the moment. While, yes, it was worrying to have fire ants at your doorstep, the Sect had already sent out a writ forbidding disciples from leaving.

… but what of those who left before the declaration?

“What do they do to them? Did you learn?” I ask quickly.

And thus began the tale of the Fire Sun Sect Master that I wish I could promptly erase from my mind… but I can’t. It’s seared in there, almost like that time I was supposed to recite a poem in front of the class and all the parents but then got up on the stage, saw the crowd, froze, forgot all the text, and promptly ran off the stage in tears.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“… any, any chance that he was lying?”

“None.”

“…” I sucked in a cold breath, feeling the blood in my veins freeze. While I already knew that there was something truly wrong with the Fire Sun Sect’s main mantra, I honestly thought that Elder Zhang was the worst-case scenario—someone explosively prone to violence who has trouble controlling his emotions.

But, as it goes, the worst of humanity… is always merely a child of something even worse still.

“And he didn’t know how many others there were?”