24 Completely Losing I (1/2)
The orange robed youth that had planned to trick Shin Sumi was left speechless.
”Did this red robed trash just disappear like that? How does she have the ability to go even faster than me?!”
Hon Zi had been in the sect for quite some time, about two years now, having entered when he was fourteen, but that was the first time he had seen something like that.
He was about to open his passageways, putting him directly in the right track for breaking through to the Liquid Realm. Although he couldn't be compared to the likes of other orange robed disciples like Xiao Yue or even Chu Erlong, how could he be left in the dirt by a red robed piece of trash?!
Not wanting to lose face in front of the group of older red robed disciples that still looked at him, he spoke loudly before leaping towards the jungle.
”Go ahead Junior Sister!! I will cover you from behind!”
Thankfully for him, from where the group was standing, next to the stone building that made the side of the gates, they weren't able to see more than the first jump of Shin Sumi.
He was leaping through the outskirt of the woods, meters with each step. No matter where he looked at though, no trace of the young girl could be seen.
A few dozen meters behind him, Liu Qing had arrived. She too had been looking at the focused Shin Sumi moments before.
But when even an orange talented disciple like Hong Zi had lost her track, the weak Liu Qing had no chance of finding Shin Sumi.
Hong Zi saw Liu Qing, pondering for a moment why the girl had followed them. He didn't go near her though, he even waited for her to leave. First of all because he couldn't go back now, as the group of red robed disciples were still in the vicinity of the gates.
Secondly because his shame of having lost Shin Sumi had cut all the lust that usually filled his body.
Thirdly because just like many disciples, he was terribly scared of Chu Erlong and knew that Liu Qing was her close follower.
Unaware that two people were trying to track her, Shin Sumi was advancing swiftly through the forest.
She still hadn't reached the limit for red robed disciples and thus still dared to not be too careful.
Thinking about it, Shin Sumi realized how much she had been relying on the nut since her arrival in the sect. For every step of the way, the nut had always warned her about potential danger, to the point where Shin Sumi knew perfectly what every kind of bite meant.
”That is my problem for now. I have to get experience for myself! Or else the sword may never recognize me.”
Without even knowing when, she had become completely certain that it was what she needed to do in order to get the sword to cut.
Thinking back to her interaction with the mysterious 'Elder Xi', it all made sense.
She kept jumping for half an hour, advancing rapidly through the dense woods. She only stopped when she was certain she had reached at least the orange border.
Now she had to be more careful. From experience she knew that soon she would enter the zone of the training grounds that made up the swamp.
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After opening her passageways and with her body that had been unknowingly refined through the use of countless high grade spirit stones, Shin Sumi was only moderately out of breath after almost an hour of leaping around.
For the first time she was testing her limits and she felt proud about it.
She was smiling to herself, her mind swirling with thoughts and possibilities when a loud noise erupted in the distance.
It sounded like an explosion, followed by shouts.
”Disciples!”
Although Shin Sumi was confident enough to go against the first part of the jungle, she didn't know how she would compare to other disciples.
The sad reality of the training grounds was that although they were part of the sect, they didn't qualify as sect grounds. Hence the high rate of mugging and sometimes even killing that occurred when disciples fought each other.
Shin Sumi wanted to get away quickly in order to not be discovered. She even thought about popping a Confusion Pill il her mouth, taking the appearance of Yan Yan.
Nobody disliked Yan Yan, compared to a nameless disciple like herself. Yan Yan had a better chance of getting out of an altercation freely.
She didn't take out a pill though. She was running low on her stock as the disciple that usually sold them ran out recently. She had even wondered why that could have been.
The image of 'Elder Xi' coupled with Lan Hui telling her that no such Elder existed in the sect quickly formed in her head before she dissipated the thought quickly.
”Maybe somebody was impersonating an Elder by using a Confusion Pill. But now is not the time to think about it. I have to leave quickly!”
She ran in what she believed to be the opposite direction of the loud bang and the shouts. Her rush and her theory about the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword both altering her mind, she didn't even pay attention to the nut's warnings.
The dense forest was tricky and the sound had bounced off the trees in many directions before getting to her ears. She was going directly towards the true origin of the noise.
A blast of light inundated her as she stumbled onto a clearing, right after a wall of leaves.
In front of her stood three disciples, holding another one that seemed to be in bad shape. Further away, a dried up corpse was peeking out of the surface of the swamp.
A tree trunk fallen to the side was still burning from small white flames producing a strangely intense heat.
Shin Sumi stumbled upon the scene just as the fallen disciple was rendered unconscious by a vicious kick.
Silence.
The three disciples that were in their twenties turned to look at Shin Sumi simultaneously.
In the short lapse of time that the four conscious people looked at each other, Shin Sumi recognized the insignia on the left chest of the three people.
”The Affairs Pavilion insignia” she thought. ”Lan Hui has the same. They must be working for Elder Zhu.”
She didn't have time to think further about what had turned the clearing into a battle scene as one of the three guys acted.
He was the oldest of the bunch and clearly the leader. Waving his arm dramatically at her, he shouted ”CATCH HER!”
Shin Sumi should have leapt backwards and ran to safety, but the strangeness of the scene and her confusion allowed the two other disciples to quickly surround her, cutting off the possibility of retreat.
”Sister, you shouldn't have been here to day. It has nothing to do with you but you've seen too much” said the leader.
”Yeah, the boss doesn't want any witnesses” said another, behind Shin Sumi to the left.
”We don't want Elder Zhu to be mad, trust me it's not a good sight!” completed the third one, at Shin Sumi's right hand side.
”Chao Ru, you dumb piece of sh*t !!!” erupted the leader. ”Why don't you say everything while you're at it?! Just say what we came here to do!”
Chao Ru, oblivious to the tone of his furious leader, started: ”We are disposing of the co-”
”CHAO RUUUUU!!!” The leader was enraged. ”That was a figure of speech!! If you and I weren't blood brothers, I would ...”
Shin Sumi couldn't believe her ears. How thick were these guys?! She wanted to point out how she had already figured who they were working for earlier. Really, they shouldn't wear the insignia that clearly stated ”we are directly under the command of Elder Zhu of the Affairs Pavilion”.
Of course the thought didn't get through her lips. Although the guys were arguing and Chao Ru was sure to get a good beating after that, they were still closing in on her.
The three guys were older than Shin Sumi, with frames like a bear's. They were still Honorary Disciples at their age but they clearly had experience to compensate for their lack of talent.
Elder Zhu wouldn't have chosen them for this kind of job if he didn't trust their results.
Shin Sumi's heart was beating fast. So fast that the 'boom boom' reverberated in her ears so loudly that it seemed to eclipse everything.
She was trapped, unable to escape, unable to think.
Out of sheer instinct, her hand flashed across her bag of holding. The dull light disappearing, the now familiar shape of the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword became visible in her hand.
Its weight was uncomfortable, putting Shin Sumi off-balance.
All three of her opponents looked at the sword with a surprised expression that quickly went away. They all thought ”what is that piece of junk” and regained their seriousness.
It wasn't the time to talk anymore, they had to silence Shin Sumi quickly, just like they had the other guy now burnt and unconscious. If they delayed too much, they were taking the risk of having even more disciples stumbling onto the scene.