Chapter 53: The trial

While Cao Yun was training, word of his joining the Heavenly Swallow Faction spread to all the faction leaders. When the instructor had used his jade pendant, it was in fact a small array formation inside the jade. This array formation was able to send your thoughts to a specific person within another array formation in the disciplinary pavilion. This was the most efficient way to transmit messages in the sect. It only worked within a certain radius and the person receiving the message had to stay inside the receiving array formation.

The disciplinary pavilion also managed much of the administration of the Wubei Sect. When the disciple sitting in the array formation received the message, he asked for confirmation and then an elder in the Spirit Warrior realm sent a telepathic thought to the instructor. Only a Spirit Warrior was able to send his thoughts without an array, and only within a certain distance.

As a matter of fact, a huge array formation was circling the Wubei Sect so that all the elders could send their thoughts on a slightly larger distance.

Of course, many disciples of different factions were working in the disciplinary pavilion. They had all sworn to uphold the rules of the sect, but as this information was public, there was no problem with sending it to their faction leader.

In the Red Cliff Faction, Chan Weifeng was precisely learning the news from Jiang Yifan.

"What should we do about this?"

"Nothing. The Heavenly Swallow Faction is desperate because they lost too many members and next year will be their end. They probably gave a very nice offer to Chen Guo. But he will soon realize that earning points with such a small faction is difficult and the inconveniences far outweigh the advantages. When he does, it won't be too late for him to join us. We could even offer him to pay off his membership as a sign of goodwill.

For the time being don't make trouble for him but keep on applying the current pressure. All the ways for him to get points should be blocked without a direct intervention from us. We must hide the stick in the shadows and then show the carrot in the light."

Of course, no faction imagined the conditions Cao Yun had agreed upon. After all, even the disciplinary pavilion did not either. The written agreement had been signed in secret and it would not be divulged before it took effect. Zhi Yin was right, believing there was a chance to recruit Cao Yun, all the factions decided not to suppress him openly.

-

When he concluded his training, his Horn Star was more vibrant than ever. And a very small dot could be seen nearby, where the second star should appear according to the star charts of the 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' manual.

Life became quiet for the next week. Cao Yun was creating a new routine. In the morning, he was working on his alchemy to achieve the goals set by Instructor Meng Jia, by controlling his flame and preparing the Terrified Fox Root. Then he would go train his martial arts, either in the formations when he could or in the martial art pavilion otherwise.

Given his points he only had two hours in the Warrior Dream array formation so he decided to wait three days before going again. He also used other formations, such as the Ten Thousand Soldiers array formation. Obviously, this array formation created up to ten thousand soldiers to attack you. Each level would add one soldier, they were all at the 3rd-grade Mortal stage. One by one, they were really easy to beat for Cao Yun, but when ten of them attacked together, he had to use his martial arts.

The soldiers were more and more well coordinated. Thankfully, they couldn't use battle formations, but they were still hard to beat in groups. With the fatigue piling on, Cao Yun was able to go up to 27 soldiers before being eliminated, just as his time was up.

Later, in the afternoon, he focused on his cultivation and on his mind cultivation. He was afraid of falling behind a little in his Qi cultivation. And he also tried to concentrate on the Horn Star and the second star still in formation. After his time in the array formations, his stalemate was gone and he felt again as though he was making some progress.

Finally, he played with Mei Ying, teaching her all kinds of moves with his spear.

He also got to see Ren Chao going on a date with Wang Mei. Amused, he teased him a little, maybe more than a little.

-

Among the goals set by Instructor Meng, he had achieved all of them. When he prepared the Terrified Fox Root, the crystal showed no sign at all. It meant that less than 5% of its medicinal essence was lost in the water, maybe even less. With his mastery of the sword and the spear, he didn't take long to master the knife as well. His flame control getting better, the preparation techniques requiring fire became easier as well.

In a week he had made huge strides toward the alchemy mastery. It still wasn't his main goal, but he had to admit that he really was into it now.

He even wrote a letter to Feng Yingyue where he talked about all the things he got excited about and all the things he wanted confirmation on. In his excitement, he also had long conversations with Mei Hua when he brought the little Mei Ying back after their training/playing sessions. Both of them were very immersed in their alchemy talk and often spoke longer than they should.

-

This first week was very nice. It ended like the previous one with Chief Instructor Peng.

There was nothing new in the training, apart from the fact that the instructors were hitting harder.

"Now that you suffered through one training, we can up the intensity. Your bodies should not get too used with your training or you won't get too many benefits. Remember it for your cultivation as well! Treat every session as if it were a fight. You cannot do it mechanically. You must listen to all the little changes within and use them to progress. Otherwise you'll just be wasting your time."

This really resonated with Cao Yun. Chief Instructor Peng was right. Each of his session should feel different than the others. He should always gain a little something. If he just circulated his Qi in the pathway of the 'Cultivation of Wrath' mindlessly, he wouldn't get much result.

From this day on, he really took great care to be fully alert to everything going on in his body when he cultivated. With Yi and Zhi, coordinated by Shen, it really wasn't difficult at all. He already was alert enough before, but now he focused on anything, even how his skin reacted to the flow of Qi deep beneath it.

-

As the week concluded, something big happened.

An instructor came to Cao Yun's door and demanded to see him.

"Junior Chen?"

"Yes, Instructor. What's going on?"

"You don't get to ask any question. As per the rules of the sect, you are to follow me to the disciplinary pavilion immediately."

Indeed, Cao Yun had read all the rules and the disciplinary pavilion could summon anyone at anytime. Even the elders had to answer without question.

"Fine, Instructor."

Cao Yun asked Huang Cixi to take care of the room while he was gone. He could not think of anything that would require the disciplinary pavilion. Until now, he had adhered to all the rules.

Wait! It was forbidden to lie about your identity! Did they find out?! After all, the elders are all Spirit Warriors, it's likely that at least one of them saw through his lie!

The more he walked, the more anxious he got. If the sect knew he was lying, he could get expelled and his identity would be revealed. In which case, the murderers of his family would maybe track him down and kill him. He could do nothing against a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior. Worse, someone might suspect him of having betrayed his own kin. After all, he was the only survivor and he was hidden all this time.

They finally arrived in front of the disciplinary pavilion. The building was an austere pagoda. All around this pagoda were wooden billboards with the sect rules engraved on it. And beneath the pagoda was the sect's prison.

It was an underground prison which could hold even Spirit Warriors thanks to some array formations that could cut off your spiritual senses and block your Qi. These array formations had been created by some of the greatest array formation masters and were regularly maintained even though there was currently no such prisoner.

The instructor turned back toward Cao Yun. "Remember! From now on, everything you say must be the truth. Do not attempt to hide any detail. Tell everything as you know it and truthfully."

The anxious Cao Yun followed behind and walked into the pagoda. He was taken in a large room. The light made it hard to discern them, but there were three elders on a platform in front of him. Their faces were impossible to make out.

On one side he recognized Mei Hua, Mei Ying and Xiao Xuefeng. On the other side was Luduo Bu and an unknown woman.

All of a sudden, everything became clear to him. This was the trial of Luduo Bu. According to the rules, the witnesses would not be warned in any way before being brought in the courtroom. A huge relief spread through his body, but he also remembered what Luduo Bu had done. Back then, he didn't know Mei Ying personally and he was already furious. Now he got to play with the little girl and saw her full of life and always smiling when he taught her the way of the spear. When he saw his face again, he really wanted to bash it in.

A voice coming from the three figures jolted him back to reality.

"Are you Chen Guo?"

His heart almost stopped in his chest. He had completely forgotten. This was the moment he dreaded most. This simple question meant a huge lie for him. Spirit Warriors could discern a lie more easily so he quickly circulated his Yi and Zhi balanced by his Shen. "Yes, Elders."

Xiao Xuefeng hid it very well but she was shocked for an instant.

She was the most perceptive Spirit Warrior in the kingdom. She knew that Cao Yun was lying. And yet, she saw no trace of deception at all. With her spiritual senses, she could see the flow of Qi of someone and easily determine whether they were truthful or not most of the time. However, Cao Yun controlled his mind so well that he let no sign escape.

Even with their spiritual senses, Spirit Warriors could not see through every lie. They could if they invaded the person's mind, but there was always a risk to damage it. And even so, some techniques allowed one to hide things deep within their mind or soul, preventing a normal Spirit Warrior to perceive it at all.

In truth, Xiao Xuefeng was ready to inform the three elders in the courtroom that Cao Yun was using an alias in the sect. It wasn't a rare thing, Huang Cixi was doing the same with the authorization of the Wubei Sect. She had seen through him a long time ago and didn't want that to prevent this trial. But she also didn't want to put Cao Yun in any danger by revealing his secret either. She had many guesses as to what had happened to him but Cao Yun was definitely not a demonic cultivator in disguise.

But at this moment, all the elders, her included, believed he was saying the truth. However, it wasn't necessarily a good thing. She was very confident in her ability, but if a junior was able to hide so well from her, others could do the same. Just now, she realized that she had been too arrogant. In the near future, she would have to be even more careful, demonic cultivators were known to be crafty and Cao Yun just showed her the limitation of her spiritual senses.

"Why did you attack Luduo Bu?"

"Elder, I did not. We sparred together."

"Didn't you almost rip off his arm?"

"No, Elder. I stopped my strike just before it got dangerous for him, as per the rules of the sect. I would not try to harm a fellow disciple."

"Did you interrupt the sparring between Luduo Bu and Mei Ying?"

"No, Elder. The sparring was already over when I got there."

"Weren't they still fighting?"

"No, Elder, Mei Ying was lying on the floor unable to move."

From the corner of his eyes, Cao Yun was seeing Mei Ying with her head low and small tears on her cheeks. While hearing him, she was reliving this day, all because of this bastard. If the rules of the sect did not forbid it, Cao Yun would be ripping his limbs by now. As these thoughts came to his mind, the Drop of Wrath got excited but the Shen calmed it easily, despite being incomplete.

Cao Yun realized that this Shen was very powerful. It was harder to master, but its effects were prodigious.

"But, wasn't Luduo Bu still fighting?"

"No, Elder. He was kicking her in the stomach. This was not a fight."

"How could you be sure that this wasn't part of their sparring?"

"Elder, according to the rules of the Wubei Sect, no sparring can result in permanent harm or death by the willful actions of one of the fighters. Accidents can happen but fighters must never try to actively maim or kill. Mei Ying could not move at all, she is only a 1st-grade Mortal, a servant, the fight was lost and kicking her in such a way was a willful attempt to harm her permanently. I thus concluded that this wasn't a sparring session but a beating."

"Weren't the other disciples within the martial art pavilion not interfering with the sparring session?"

"Elder, I'm sorry, this was not a sparring session." Cao Yun corrected the question immediately.

"No matter what it was, weren't the other disciples not interfering?"

"This is wrong, Elder. One of the women told him to 'stop' when I got there."

"But did none of them act in any way?"

"No, Elder, I acted before they did." Knowing how the law worked, Cao Yun was very careful with his wording. After his first lie, he knew he could get away with it, but he decided to stay absolutely truthful. He just turned his sentences the right way.

"Didn't Luduo Bu tell you that you were interrupting his 'fight'?"

"Yes, Elder. He referred to this beating as a 'fight'."

"Didn't he say that he was going back to 'spar' with her if you gave up?"

"Yes, Elder. He referred to a future hypothetical sparring."

Frustration was starting to be heard in the elder's voice.

"Didn't your servant tell you that this was going according to the rules?"

"Yes, Elder. She was mistaken about the rules."

"Didn't you answer her that you didn't care if he had the right to spar with her?"

"No, Elder, I never referred to what was going on as 'sparring'. I specifically told Luduo Bu that this was a 'beating' and he did not correct me."

"But didn't you answer your servant that you didn't care if he had the right to beat her?"

"Yes, Elder, I didn't care because no disciple has the right to beat up anyone. My servant was mistaken on this point of the rules."

The elders present were clearly trying to make Cao Yun look bad and prove that Luduo Bu was within his right. Xiao Xuefeng was deeply annoyed but Cao Yun's answers were perfect. He prevented the elders from ever making him refer to the beating as a sparring session and even made them refer to it as a beating themselves. The last elder almost asked him if Luduo Bu had the right to beat someone up.