Seeing Justice Done

When Wu Ling and Su Xiang arrived at a branch of the Loose Cultivator's Association, they had expected that there might be as many as a few dozen cultivators engaged in some business. Whether they were taking odd jobs posted to the Association, bartering or selling the spoils of their missions or browsing the Association's impressive collection of cultivation techniques for low-level cultivators, there was always a reason for some number of people to have gathered at any one of the Association's twelve branches in the Outer City.

What they didn't expect to see was a veritable horde of burly men, some beaten and bruised, others looking like their souls had been carved out with a dull spoon and many of them standing in a very long line to apply for the status of a loose cultivator.

"What is all this?" Su Xiang asked, clutching Yue to her chest as though to shield the fluffy Guardian Beast from the towering men. "I've seen this kind of thing when sects have recruitment days but I've never seen this for loose cultivators. Who are these men?"

"Oh, so you're not here to join the third-rank sects that are fishing in troubled waters?" The person who spoke was an older cultivator, a middle-stage Brawler like Su Xiang but from the look of his weathered face and graying hair, he was a Brawler who had been stuck at his current cultivation level for decades longer than she had been alive. "Something shook the Red Tiger's Den and the Elders of their disciplinary hall exiled over a hundred disciples for using their cultivation to bully women."

"The Red Tiger's Den?" Wu Ling said, taking a look around the crowded room for a moment before he spotted a few familiar figures. "Sister Xiang, look," he said, gesturing to the sorry-looking figures of San, Er, and Wan as they shuffled forward in line to register as loose cultivators.

"Huh, it looks like someone finally got caught," Su Xiang said with a vindicated smile. She didn't believe for a moment that the men who had surrounded her and Wu Ling to bully them into going out for drinks were doing so for the first time. Who knows how many times they'd pressured women into entertaining them or even taken advantage of women who drank too much when they did? Seeing them like this, losing the protection of their sect, left a warm feeling in her heart. 

"Oh, if you have proof that any of these men are guilty of what they're accused of, there are some people who might pay you well for that," the older brawler said, pointing at several well-dressed cultivators in the robes of a number of different sects. "Some of the disciples from the Red Tiger's Den are still protesting their innocence. There are other sects that are eager to snap up any talented disciples that may have been unduly caught in the purge. Those recruiters aren't looking too deeply into matters but they're all willing to pay for information if it helps them avoid bringing home the disciples who provoked this purge."

"We don't have any real proof," Wu Ling said quickly, wanting to avoid trouble with the powerful brawlers that had harassed them earlier. While they had lost the backing of their sect, those men still possessed superior strength and cultivation. Wu Ling didn't want to make matters worse just to keep them out of some other third-rank sect. Since he and Su Xiang had escaped, he saw no reason to carry a grudge and further escalate matters with the men. "Come on Sister Xiang, let's go. I can come back to register on a different day," he said.

"You're right," Su Xiang said, suppressing her instincts to go tell the recruiters about her experience with the six men from the Red Tiger Den. While she still had the protection of the Shining Blade Hall which would be even more effective at keeping the recently exiled cultivators at bay than it had been while they were still sect members in good standing, Wu Ling had no such protection. If he provoked things further, it could create trouble for him and his mother that they couldn't bear. 

"Let's go to the place I told you about," Su Xiang said with a smile. "It's not far from here and while we might not say anything to the recruiters about those brutes, we can at least drink to the fact that justice has been done," she said brightly. 

Meanwhile, among the recent exiles, a very different conversation was taking place as one of the smaller men accompanying San and Er pleaded with his seniors. 

"Are you sure you won't consider the offer?" Wan pleaded, looking at each of the larger men earnestly. Of the six of them who had harassed Wu Ling and Su Xiang that day, three had chosen to follow Wan in seizing the opportunity he'd found. Only San and Er, the most powerful members of the group, seemed to have no interest. 

"I know you have your hearts set on finding another sect," Wan said, wringing his hands as San glared at him. "But the Yao Family isn't a bad family in the outer wards. They use a cultivation manual suited to their Surging River Grizzley bloodline and it's just as fierce as our Furious Tiger Claws Canon. If we serve their family well, they will even help us transition to their manuals so we can continue to advance!" 

"The Yao family won't treat us like a sect will," Er said, glowering at the shorter man. "They only want to use us to track down their missing Young Miss. Once someone finds her, just watch how fast they decide you're no longer needed."

"Besides, they won't give her to you, even if you find her," San snorted. "They want her back because she's promised to a young master of some Inner City clan. In a sect, you can be a disciple and a brother. In the Yao family, you'll just be a stray cat." 

"It's fine if you take the offer, Junior Brother Wan," Er said, offering his younger former sect brother a small amount of kindness. "Brother San and I already have the second-stage section of our manuals. One of the elders slipped them to us on our way out. We think the sect is just waiting for this to blow over. In a few years, when no one cares, if we've managed to advance, we'll be welcomed back with open arms."

"You go work for the Yao family," San agreed gruffly. "Brother Er and I will go our own way, even if we have to spend some time in the wilderness of the mountains. When the time comes, we'll find our way back together again." 

"Okay brothers," Wan said, turning to leave the association's office. "If you ever change your mind and need a place, I won't ever forget my good Senior Brothers. I'm sure the Yao family will want your strength, especially if you become Soldiers before the sect is willing to take us back. Good luck brothers," he finished, ducking out into the crowded streets to make his way to the powerful Yao family.