Going Dark

By the time Jack finished doing Tan Boli's family's camouflage and stored their things in his Star Bag, night fully fell over the Endless Cycle Sect. The glow from the continuous attacks hitting the Sect-protecting formation's barrier gave them enough light to see without a problem.

Jack looked up at the barrier, did some guesstimating, and instructed his men to eat something and get some rest. He stuffed a piece of dried meat into his mouth and left the Gravedigger courtyard through the back door.

He ran through the deserted alleys of Tranquil Lake Town for a few minutes, before he reached the patched up back door of the Golden Dragon Store.

After a few knocks, old Long's oldest assistant cracked the door open. When he saw Jack's painted face and short hair he slammed the door shut and started screaming "Enemy Akak!" over and over again.

Jack heard doors slamming from the inside as the other people scurried about. He sighed, cycled a bit of spirit energy through his right leg, and slammed it against the rickety door.

Inside, the three assistants stood ready while holding wooden clubs. They stood frozen for a second after the door banged down on the floor, and just as Jack started saying "Relax, it's…", the large one charged at him while swinging his club.

Jack's brows furrowed as he ducked the swing and punched the large man in the balls. He considered tripping his already weak leg, but he decided against damaging anything important.

As the big man's roar of defiance turned into a squeal of agony, the other two took a step back while they knees shook in horror.

Jack's angry face studied them for a second before he asked "We done?"

The younger assistant kept glancing over his shoulder at the door behind him, but the older one got a confused look in his eye as he stared at Jack's face.

Just as the younger one took a step towards the escape door, the older one shouted "Wejt, itf not an enemy akak, itf the brat."

The younger assistant stopped and stared at Jack's face for a few seconds before realization dawned in his dim eyes. Jack gave him a smile and said "Take care of that idiot." while pointing at the squirming large man. He looked at the older helper and asked "Where is he?"

A minute later, the older assistant led Jack to a secret room that had its passage hidden behind a shelf in the room behind the store proper.

The hidden room's shelves and tables bent a little from the various survival supplies stacked on them. In the corner of that room, under a rug, the toothless assistant opened a secret trap door that led to a small hole in the ground in which old Long crouched.

When the trap door opened, old Long looked up at the two of them while blinking, a second later his eyes focused on Jack in shock, then the shock turned into confusion, and then in surprise.

With an "Oh…" old Long stood up and climbed out of his hole.

He turned towards his oldest assistant and slapped him across the face while snarling "I thought I taught you how to use your eyes, moron!" He turned back towards Jack and asked in a calm voice "When do we leave?"

Jack's brows rose in pleasant surprise as he asked in return "You changed your mind? How come?"

Old Long sighed, and for the first time showed a bit of his age as his shoulders slumped, while he said "Things do not feel right. I fear that the Sect might truly fall in this battle, and I do not want to fall with it."

Jack nodded his head solemnly and asked "I assume that you're ready to go?"

Old Long looked around the secret room and said "We are. Just need to transport all of this to where you need it." He looked over Jack's shoulder and asked "Did you bring your men with you?"

Jack shook his head as he started to stuff the supplies from a nearby table into his Star Bag while he answered "Nah, I'm enough on my own."

Old Long looked down at the Star Bag with a hint of greed in his eyes, but then he sighed and turned towards his oldest assistant and ordered "Go and tell those two idiots to get their things and wait in the back room."

When the toothless assistant left, old Long turned to Jack and asked "Can you do this?"

Jack didn't stop stuffing things in his bag as he said "No idea, there's a decent risk that we might all die."

Old Long's brows furrowed as he studied Jack's painted profile for a few seconds before he nodded his head and said "Good, if you tried to assure me of your success I would have taken my chances with the Sect."

An hour later, Jack led old Long and his assistants through the spirit energy illuminated alleys back to the Gravedigger courtyard. Once there, Jack made them all put on the camouflaging uniforms and painted their faces. Old Long protested a bit out of habit, but then allowed Jack to paint his face in the end.

Jack looked around the courtyard as the eager and frightened faces engaged in hushed conversations.

With a smile on his lips, he jumped up on a table and stared up at the fluctuating Sect-protecting barrier. A few seconds later a hush fell on the courtyard, and Jack started to speak while still staring at the barrier "Some of us might die tonight and in the days ahead. We might all die, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't do this. Freedom is one of the few things in life worth dying for." He looked down at the solemn eyes of his men and added "It's also worth killing for."

When a few of his friends gave him a confident grin he continued as he pointed up at the sky "The Slaughtering Sword School will break through that thing in the next few hours." Jack didn't care that the strangers to this group frowned at the unfamiliar word, his men nodded their heads and only that mattered.

He clenched his hand into a fist and brought it down to his side while pumping spirit energy into his arm. In the next second, he gave an explosive exhale and punched the shimmering fist at the air.

As a weak gust of wind rustled the mostly short hair of his audience, he said "Time to go dark, men."

Almost as one, they all started performing the Oxen Rush Punch at the air. Jack nodded his head and jumped down to the ground. He looked at a corner where four confused figures stared at his unit and walked over to them.

A minute later, an angry looking old Long glared at Jack as he said "We will not, without our spirit energy any low-grade disciple from our or the other side could kill us all."

He didn't mention any of the Elder class of combatants because both of them knew that they had bigger problems than to deal with than, what would look to them, a group of ants trying to escape a disaster zone.

Jack looked into the old man's defiant eyes for a second, before he looked over his shoulder at the courtyard and called out "Men, what do we do if enemies discover us?"

Almost as one, his entire unit started absorbing spirit energy through their skin.

Jack nodded his head and turned back to the wide-eyed old Long and his assistants.

"H-h-how are they doing that?" he asked as he stepped back. His fear-filled eyes locked on to Jack as he hissed "What are you?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders as he said "Just a man that discovered a new cultivation technique. If we survive this I might teach it to you too." His face and voice turned serious as he looked at old Long and his assistants "Now, use the Oxen Rush Punch to empty your dantians, or we will leave you behind."

While old Long considered his order, Jack thought about the best way to plant a metal ball between his eyes before he could hurt any of his men.

In the end, he didn't have to resort to drastic measures, as old Long must have seen something that frightened him in Jack's eyes as he said "Alright, we will do it." He hesitated for a second, before adding "If you let me die, I will turn into a spirit and haunt your nightmares."

Jack almost burst out laughing as he thought 'I'm sure that the rest of them will welcome you with open arms.' On the outside, his face remained serious as he nodded his head and said "You have my word."

Ten minutes later, almost everyone in the group had pale faces from the exhaustion of their spirit energy. Jack's men still had some of their previous fighting spirit because they trained for this, but old Long and his assistants looked like a stiff wind could tip them over.

Tan Boli and his family looked at all of this with a hint of fear, awe, and concern, but they didn't dare complain and just listened to any order that Jack gave.

From the entire group, Jack looked the least affected. He lay down on a dissection table with hands behind his head and watched the fireworks display in the night sky.

After a couple of tense hours, Jack sat up on the table in one quick motion as he stared at a spot above the Vast Sky Mountain. There, among other ripples of damage, a small tear appeared in the Sect-protecting formation's barrier.

Jack stood up on the table and shouted "Get up, everyone up! It's go time!"

The entire courtyard fell into a clamor of noise as people staggered up to their feet in half-panic and half-anticipation. Even old Long dragged his tired bones up from the ground in a couple of seconds.

Jack gave them all a smile and said "Let's go!"

They left the Gravedigger courtyard through the back door for the last time and used the deserted alleys to reach the edge of town that led to the forested valley between the Undying Flame and Blooming Life mountains.

There, they clumped behind the last few houses of the Tranquil Lake Town and waited.

Ten minutes later, an all-encompassing *CRACK* sounded out from the barrier as a wound longer than a hundred meters ripped apart the barrier above the Vast Sky Mountain.

Almost immediately, the Sect-protecting formation's barrier started falling apart from the other attacks that focused on the wound.

Jack stared with everyone else at the Vast Sky Mountain's sky, up on the Northern end of the Sect, in a mix of wonder and trepidation.

A minute later he tore his eyes away from the spectacle and yelled over the booming noise "Move out!"