Chương 44: Commotion in the Outer Hall

A few days later, An finally emerged from the Beast Lands and returned to the Sect's eastern gates, the same ones he had left through. On the very first day after abandoning the cavern, he had found a habitat of Eared Crocodiles and caught several young specimens, no larger than an average dog. Placing them in an ordinary thick sack and slinging it over his shoulder, he had carried them through the forest the entire time. During this time, he simply stuck to his routine: cultivating and training his Qi.

He had waited several days deep in the Outer Ring of the Beast Lands, deciding it was a good idea. Coming out to the gates and passing through them, he threw a glance at the spot where the boy had been lying, killed by the cultivators who had taken his sister. He saw that traces of dried blood were still visible on the ground and on the cobblestones. Turning toward a small tent surrounded by wooden barrels, he noticed several people nearby holding cups.

Their flushed faces and boisterous laughter made it obvious they were drinking alcohol. An walked straight to the tent.

"Do you sell it in barrels, or only in bottles?" Approaching a wobbly table, he asked the woman with two gray buns on her head.

"We don't pour it into palms..." Seeing the disheveled young man before her, the old woman took him for one of the local street kids who hung around the eastern gates in droves, especially since An wasn't wearing an outer robe, only a shirt and pants, which, although ' clean' replacements he had changed into after leaving the cave, bore no distinguishing marks indicating the Sect. Seeing no reaction to her mockery, she snorted and gestured behind herself with her hand.

"A barrel is ten silver coins. A bottle is ten bronze."

"A barrel." An took a spirit stone from his pouch and placed it on the table right in front of the old woman, who immediately jumped up and bowed, hitting her forehead slightly against the edge of the table.

"Please forgive my old empty head! I didn't recognize you as a Young Master!" The old woman immediately understood that before her was a disciple of the Sect under which they lived. After all, no wandering cultivator would ever in their life pay a whole spirit stone for a barrel of bitter horse piss; even a whole lake of that foul swill wasn't worth that much. The people nearby drinking from cups immediately fell silent and moved away, leaving the old woman to her fate.

Enveloping a single barrel in his Qi, An swept it into his storage pouch and turned to walk toward the Sect, specifically toward Hope Peak. The old woman, hearing the young man leave, immediately collapsed into her chair and took a deep breath, not forgetting to grab the spirit stone and hide it under her clothes while no one was watching. Arriving without incident at the Outer Platform, An headed straight for the Outer Hall. Entering, he walked toward the mission board.

Standing next to it, he found his sheet and pulled it down with his Qi. Taking it in his hand, he looked around and saw that all the reception windows were full, huge lines everywhere. Without thinking long, he realized that today was most likely the day of the monthly distribution, explaining why a huge number of disciples had gathered in the hall. Looking to see which lines were shorter than the rest, he picked one and joined it.

The disciples standing ahead of him, seeing his appearance and the slightly squirming sack on his back, tried to move slightly away from him, leaving a large gap between them. Seeing this, An paid it no mind. Even though he had changed into fresh clothes, stains from his previous alchemy experiments were still visible on his body.

Moreover, he had washed the dried blood off several times with his Qi, but because the pill residue wasn't just dirt, being concentrated particles saturated with energy from spirit plants, it didn't wash away so easily. Even after almost a week, a faint but distinct aroma of pills still emanated from him. Standing in line, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a group of four people entering the main gates of the hall: two guys and two girls. Watching them, he understood that they were local ' grabbers'.

That was the name outer disciples had given to such people. The reason for this name was their forcible taking of mission rewards. They would seek out outer disciples, usually solo ones, who had come to the Outer Hall to turn in a mission. If they saw you before you turned it in, they would force you to become part of their ' friendly group'.

For example, in the case of a mission like An's, where you had to bring something to complete the task, the grabbers would simply take you under their arms and, after receiving the reward together with you, and once outside, they would simply strip you of everything down to the last speck of dust. If the mission involved gathering information, they would, on top of everything else, force you to tell them everything, to eliminate any problems when receiving the rewards.

Some of the grabbers were so brazen that they would simply force you to transfer contribution points to them. But over time, due to some changes in the Sect's regulations that were pushed through with difficulty, such cases of extorting contribution points had been reduced to nearly zero.' You've got to be kidding me...' An realized that they had set their sights on him and his huge squirming sack on his back.

Seeing them walking toward him, An noted with frustration, unable to understand why they had singled him out specifically, when there were enough solo disciples around with similar sacks." Eh, junior brother! How's your back, isn't your sack too heavy..." As soon as the four reached him, everyone around stepped aside and averted their gazes, as if nothing was happening. But deep down, some who had also come to turn in their missions, seeing that they had been passed over, exhaled in relief.

"Senior Brother Du, don't scare our junior brother! Look at him, he's all grimy and clearly very tired... Junior brother, would you like your big sister to help you with that heavy thing?" One of the grabber girls covered her mouth with one hand and tried to flirt with her eyes. An looked around at all four of them, at how they had surrounded him and trapped him, not giving even the slightest chance to escape. All four were at the early stage of the fifth layer.

But because An hadn't stopped his Qi Silence, the group couldn't tell what cultivation their latest victim had, assuming he was clearly below the third layer, judging only by his appearance and apparent age. Seeing their new victim standing there examining them with a strange expression, the leader of the grabber group, Brother Du, stepped closer to An and put his arm over his shoulder.

"Junior brother, what do you say about some help from your seniors? As you can see, we're very strong, it's no trouble for us." Brother Du released his Qi outward, showing off his cultivation at the fifth layer, while simultaneously squeezing An's shoulder slightly.

"Senior Brother Du, enough with the pleasantries! Hey you, grimy one! The sack and the mission sheet with the seal!" The third grabber, a girl with bulging muscles on her arms, stomped the floor and threw a threatening glare at An.' It's better to just give it to them... Besides, I don't really need the reward for this mission. I have enough spirit stones to buy anything I might need.'

Examining all four around him, and the other disciples who had moved as far away as possible and were pretending not to see or hear anything, An suddenly looked toward the reception windows, where behind some of the tables sat elders with cultivation clearly above Qi Condensation, also pretending nothing was happening.

"Fine." An muttered and let the sack drop to the ground, handing the sheet to the muscular girl. She immediately snatched the sheet and smiled triumphantly, handing it to the other flirty girl. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The fourth member of the group, not wasting any time, grabbed the sack. Feeling something squirm inside, he poked it a few times, then hoisted the sack onto his back.

"You're a good junior brother! A good one... Now let's go to the front of the line. We're all friends here, and when you're seen with us, they'll let us through. Let's go!" Just as Brother Du released his shoulder, the muscular girl shouted again.

"Senior Brother Du, what about his spatial pouch?" She looked first at Brother Du, who suddenly slapped his forehead, and then at An.

"Hand over your pouch, it'll be safer with us." Hearing this, An shook his head and wrinkled his nose slightly. Giving up the mission and its reward was one thing. But parting with his personal pouch, stuffed with hundreds of peak-quality pills, hundreds of bundles of spirit plants, his cheap but personal books, and a massive pile of spirit stones, was out of the question. He refused to hand over what he had created with his own hands.

"What are you shaking your head for, you runt? My junior sister is right, your goods will be safer with us." Brother Du again wrapped his arm around him, but the moment he squeezed his shoulder, he froze. He suddenly felt a chill throughout his body.

"No. Take the mission and its reward. But I won't give up the pouch. That's enough." An turned to face Brother Du and stared into his eyes.

"What? Did you hear that, brothers and sister?! What our new junior brother is saying! You think we're robbing you here? How dare you even think such a thing!" The muscular girl's eyes lit up, and undisguised killing intent flashed in them. She raised her hand behind her head.

"If your parents didn't teach you manners, let your senior sister teach you!" Just as Brother Du was about to stop his junior sister, he heard a quiet whisper near his ear.

"I really am tired..." An whispered, lowering his gaze to his feet. He activated his Qi to its fullest and enveloped all four of them in it. With one hand, he grabbed Brother Du's arm, and with a swift, brutal motion, dislocated it from the shoulder joint, shattering the bone in several places. With his other hand, he grabbed the muscular girl by the throat, lifted her off the ground, and began to squeeze."

Aaaaah~" Falling to the ground, Brother Du saw his mangled arm and, feeling terrible pain, began screaming at the top of his lungs. The girl, caught in his grip, couldn't do anything, couldn't even activate her energy to resist in any way. The Qi emanating from An completely suppressed her. She was suffocating, and her vision began to darken. The other two from their group, crushed by the pressure emanating from An, fell to the ground and couldn't do anything.

With attempt to resist this heavy Qi, blood began to flow abundantly from all their orifices. The nearby disciples, hearing the screams and feeling the air suddenly grow heavy, were stunned and quickly backed away from the epicenter.

"W-what's happening?"

"Those are the grabbers! Finally, someone taught them a lesson!"

"Grabbers or not, how dare he start a fight in the Outer Hall?"

"Let's go! Let's go!" The surrounding disciples began to whisper among themselves, each holding a different opinion. But all agreed on one thing: it was better to stay far away from this. Many of the older outer disciples, feeling the density of Qi emanating from An, mistakenly assumed he was clearly above the sixth layer. This was because only a small percentage of outer disciples reached the sixth layer, and even fewer reached the seventh.

This was due to one of the Sect's rules: upon reaching the seventh layer, a disciple may take a mission upon completion of which they will be promoted to inner disciple. But the condition ' may take'actually meant' will take', since all disciples upon reaching the seventh layer tried to complete this mission as quickly as possible to gain access to greater resources and knowledge, and most importantly, to the status of inner disciple.

"What's going on here! Who dares!" Immediately, disciples in red robes with the emblems of the Hall of Justice came running from all sides. Some of them were at the sixth layer of Qi Condensation, but as they approached An, the color drained from their faces the moment they felt the pressure emanating from him.

"STOP!" At the gates leading out of the Outer Hall, a girl appeared in red robes with golden patterns. Her beige hair was blowing in the drafts entering from outside. Her blue eyes searched for the cause of the commotion.

As soon as she entered the hall, she saw what was happening: a disciple with tears in his eyes was pinned to the ground with a broken arm, bones sticking out in several places, a guy and a girl lay pinned next to him with blood flowing from all their orifices, and a muscular girl was suspended above the ground, held by a disciple with empty, emotionless eyes. Frowning, without wasting a second, she drew her sword, enveloped it in Qi, and threw it toward the disciple." Hmm?"

The eyes of the girl in the red robes opened wide in surprise when she saw her sword intercepted by a bare hand and crushed to pieces with a single squeeze." Ghh~ aagh~" Receiving the backlash, she fell to one knee and spat out a large amount of blood. Everyone and everything around immediately fell silent. Even the elders in the Outer Hall turned their attention to what was happening with interest, well aware of who this girl was.' Damn it...'

Seeing the shattered blade in his hand and the girl vomiting blood, An deactivated his Qi, dropped the muscular girl, and stepped slightly to the side, showing that he was not resisting. But his gesture, when he had caught the sword and easily broken it, left all the Hall of Justice officers surrounding him puzzled. No one was ready to step forward.' I caught the sword on instinct...' An, fully focused on the grabbers, hadn't even noticed the officers gathering around him.

When the sword came flying toward him, he had caught it on pure instinct, immediately neutralizing both the sword and its owner, sending the backlash straight back to her.

"W-what... what is going on here!!" Coming to her senses, the girl finally managed to stand up and, gathering her strength, composing herself to act as if her humiliating failure had never happened.' You again...' Finally seeing the girl's face, An frowned, and a chill ran through his eyes.

"Reporting! Warden Ru Meng! This disciple has violated Sect rules and attacked his brothers and sisters of the Sect! Everything was..." A chubby man in red robes ran up to her, with heavy breathing, and began to report, describing everything as it had happened from the very beginning. But the only thing he omitted, because he hadn't heard it, was the cause of the conflict. He could only describe how the boy had been the first to attack them without any reason.

After listening to the chubby man, Ru Meng turned and looked at the disciples lying on the floor and at An standing next to them with his strange gaze. Looking at him, she felt discomfort and, deep inside, something close to fear. Staring into his face, beneath the drops of blood from Brother Du, the soot stains and pill residue, she managed to recognize him.

"It's you..." Ru Meng muttered, looking at him. The next moment, she frowned and made a serious face. Straightening up, she took several steps toward An. The Hall of Justice officers began to close in, approaching him alongside Ru Meng, their leader.

"They're grabbers. I came to turn in my mission, and they... they went too far with their greed." Looking her in the eyes, An spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"For violation of rules 1, 3, and 18, the outer disciple is subject to forced isolation for a term to be determined by the Hall of Justice! Disciple, for resisting arrest, your term may be increased, or you may receive more severe punishment!" Completely ignoring his words, Ru Meng slowly began to approach him." Heh... What? No pouch of spirit stones to grease your palms this time?" With understanding on his face, An smirked, saying this directly to her face.

Ru Meng stopped in place, trying to hide the rage and contempt appearing on her face.

"How dare you!! Slandering our Warden Ru Meng!! You filthy bandit!!"

"Who even let this vagrant into our Sect??"

"Defending himself against grabbers?! Ha! Who's going to believe that! What would a grabber even want from someone like you! With a brand on your neck!"

"How could you be defending yourself?! If you wiped the floor with four of them?! Hmm?! Who are you lying to here?!"

"Seize him! Grab him!" The officers standing around him, hearing him throw that remark about a bribe toward Ru Meng, their leader, began to boil over on the spot. All their previous fear vanished, realizing that there were more than twenty of them, and only one of him.

Listening to all of this, An felt disappointment, but at the same time, he felt a strange calm inside himself, a full acceptance, as he looked at everyone around him: at the officers spitting their rage, at the grabbers lying next to him, at the elders watching the show, at the ordinary outer disciples. Raising his head upward, he exhaled and smiled slightly.

Suddenly, he felt something inside him snap, something that had once been important to him, something very close and dear, and at the same time, very distant and unfamiliar. He felt his cells beginning to stir, preparing to continue their evolution, their growth, only waiting for something, some signal, which even An himself did not understand.