49 Neutral Enemy

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*…

The Gravediggers rolled off of their tables and took cover near the closest wall.

Jack ran with the rest of them on instinct, while he quickly scanned the situation with his eyes. His men had panicked looks on their faces, but none of them ignored their training as they all took cover. 'A few imbued stones do wonders for situational awareness.' Jack thought as he stopped running towards the wall closest to him.

The entire unit focused their gazes on him, while he looked up at the sky. There, numerous different kinds of sigil-etched weapons and spells struck the Sect-protecting formation from all sides.

"Endless Cycle Sect, hear me! I am Sect Master Endless Cycle." the charming voice from yesterday boomed. Its hypnotic power resonated in every word as the Sect Master continued "Our enemies think themselves strong, but they will break like waves break on a mountain! On this day, next year, no one will remember the name of the Slaughtering Sword School!"

He paused for dramatic effect, and Jack even heard some distant cheers. After waiting for a few seconds he added in a more normal tone "All disciples are ordered to the peak of their respective Mountains for further orders. Any cultivator found in the streets and paths outside of the Mountains that is not under the direct order of an Elder will be considered a traitor and executed." He took another pause, and after a few seconds yelled "To war!"

Jack heard more shouts this time, and a few seconds later everyone in the courtyard could hear the sounds of panicked running on the outside streets and alleys.

The tension in the air made Jack's men nervous, but they only shifted their weight from one foot to another when they saw his calm demeanor.

He turned in a circle to study them all for a few seconds before shouting "Nothing changes, we stick to the plan." He pointed a finger at the sky and added with a smirk "Consider that motivational music." The men rewarded him few nervous chuckles and went to get ready for the new day

Jack signaled Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui to follow him to his office.

In there he took out two of the copied maps and handed them over to them to study. While they did, he took out all the supplies for tonight's mission from his Star Bag and stacked them on one side of the room.

Kuang Bindun looked up from his map and asked "Tanda, why not save them for later?"

Jack turned around and looked at his two closest friends.

Kuang Bindun still had a confused look in his eyes, but Shi Furui seemed to grasp his intentions.

After a moment of hesitation, Shi Furui opened his mouth and said "He's doing it in the case that he doesn't come back from whatever he's about to do."

Jack gave his observant friend a slight nod and a smile as he said "Right, I'm going to do something stupid. If I don't make it, it falls to you two to keep the men alive." He went over to the ceremonial uniforms, took out the large bag of spirit stones that he hid there, and placed it on the office table.

They didn't ask where he got them, nor did Jack think to explain. He just took out a few more bags filled with coins and spirit stones from his Star Bag.

When he finished, Shi Furui glanced at the Star Bag but didn't ask why Jack didn't leave it as well.

Kuang Bindun stared at the pile of money for a second, before he stood up and asked "Why do you have to do this? We have everything that we need already." He pointed in the direction of the courtyard and continued "What about those people out there? What about the plan? What about…"

Shi Furui stood up and put a hand on Kuang Bindun's shoulder to stop him, but he didn't reprimand him. He had the same questions flying around in his eyes.

Jack felt touched by their care, but could only put on a serious face and say "Plans change. I'm doing this for our future." He turned and went to the door. Before opening it he looked over his shoulder and added "If I'm not back by dusk, go on without me." With that, he left the silent office and headed for the main street.

Amongst the few scurrying people on the street, he walked like he had no worries in the world. A few minutes later he reached Tan Boli's workshop and took the one finished cylinder and a bag of a hundred metal balls. He had to reassure the frightened family that they would take them away for a dozen minutes, so he had to jog to his destination.

When he ran out onto the deserted street near his destination, he saw Li Manning walking at a fast pace towards him. They noticed each other at the same time and met up at the library's doors.

"Disciple Brother Song, what are you doing here?" Li Manning asked as he glanced at the metal rod in Jack's right hand with narrowed eyes.

Jack gasped for air a few times, before crying out with a tinge of panic in his voice "Disciple Brother Li, have you seen Disciple Sister Mai?"

Li Manning's face turned serious as he said "I have not. What happened?"

Jack let out a sigh of relief as he said "Nothing it seems." He chuckled as he continued "She snuck out to visit me yesterday, so I worried that she might do something stupid again." Jack pointed at the Star Bag on his waist and said "Elder Yu sent me to get the documents from the office, so I thought that I'd check on her just in case.

He nodded towards Li Manning's waist and added "I see that you're on a similar mission for the Vast Sky Elders."

Li Manning relaxed his tensed stance as he breathed out "Yes, they sent me to get the records from the top floor while they prepare our defenses."

Jack's brows rose as he said "That serious, huh?" He looked over his shoulder for a second, before looking at Li Manning and asking "Need some help?"

With a shake of his head, Li Manning refused and turned towards the door with the Endless Cycle Sect crest to open the library.

"You better go back to the Eternal Rest Mountain, Disciple Brother Song. The entire Tranquil Lake Town might erupt into chaos any moment now." Li Manning said as he took out the library key, imbued it, and touched the center of the Sect's crest.

The hand with the key froze half-way to his robe. A second later Li Manning declared "A traitor then, Song Ta…" before he finished his sentence three blades of air started forming above his head.

With a soft *thump* Li Manning's brain splattered over the Endless Cycle Sect's crest.

Jack lowered the Deep Water Iron cylinder and whispered "No, not a traitor, just a neutral enemy."

He looked up and down the street to make sure that no one saw him, stored the metal cylinder, and dragged Li Manning's body into the library's garden.

Jack snatched the Star Bag from Li Manning's waist and searched his body for the keys to the other doors of the library. When he ended his search, he stashed Li Manning's body in one of the private rooms, while he opened the path to the top floor and went up it.

On the top floor, Jack looked around the large room for a second, before he started to stuff all of the scrolls from the shelves into the Star Bag that Li Manning brought.

It had the same amount of space as his own, so he concluded that someone had to produce them in mass. While he stole the library's scrolls he wondered who had the ability to make such wonderful things.

A couple of hours later, Jack left the library without anyone noticing him. In his robes, he hid the light blue Star Bag that had the entire contents of the top floor of the library in it, along with a few random shelves worth of scrolls from the ground floor.

Jack took the empty alleys to return to the Gravedigger courtyard through the door in the back.

When his people saw him they just treated it as normal, only Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui looked like a weight dropped from their shoulders as they greeted him with enthusiasm.

Jack walked into his office and stored all of their supplies and money back to his Star Bag. When he finished, he took out a Spirit Capturing knife from the bag and looked at his reflection.

After thinking for a few seconds, he took out his personal knife from his robes and started to cut his shoulder-long hair.

Half an hour later, he looked into the reflection and felt satisfied with the short military-style haircut that he gave himself.

When he returned to the courtyard everyone stared at him. Some in amusement, some in confusion, and some in horror.

Kuang Bindun spoke up first as he asked "Tanda, why did you cut your hair?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders as he answered "Helps with aerodynamics and fighting." He hesitated for a second before adding "It also feels and looks better."

While most people still puzzled over the strange English word that Jack threw out in his answer, Bai Maolong ran out in front of Jack and said "Cut my hair too if it helps with fighting."

Before Jack could even respond, others started calling out that they wanted their hair cut too. In the end, only Yin Ping refused to cut off his long locks.

It took Jack almost until dusk to cut everyone's hair. When he finished he turned serious and announced "Time to prepare, men." With that, he started to pull out uniforms made out of numerous green and brown patches of cloth.

During the last year, they would take a piece of clothing from every servant that came in with a green or a brown uniform and sew them together to imitate camouflaging clothing.

After everyone had their new uniform on, Jack took out some brown, green, and black paint and painted their faces to match with their clothing.

When Tan Boli and his family knocked on the back door of the Gravedigger courtyard, they almost ran away when they saw Jack's men.

He could only laugh and order them to do it too.