Chapter 23: Visit
Elehago was casually meditating when his jade heated up. A message. As he opened it, a sudden spiritual pressure engulfed him.
-'Hello junior, I am bored. Wait for me, I am coming over.'
There was no mistake. This mind power, this decontracted demeanour, they could only belong to the patriarch. The perspective of his coming made him sweat a bit. But truth be told, he was bored as well, and would gladly welcome some company.
True to his word, the great warrior landed on the roof not long after that. His presence was more compact than overbearing. Still, even though their cultivation level were not too far apart, the gap in strength was tremendous.
Elehago immediately stood up and paid his respects.
-'Patriarch, welcome. I am honoured by your presence.'
-'Thanks. So. How has it been recently?'
-'If I may ask, did you not consult my report?'
-'I have been doing this too much recently. And I needed a walk anyway.'
I worked for nothing, the senior disciple thought.
-'... They are doing well. Novice Moss has been lightly injured but he seems to have finished healing by now.'
-'Yes, I overheard that he had had a little explanation with three of the wolfs. What is your feeling about him? It will stay between us.'
-'He is talented, that is for sure. But no matter how you put it, he is old as well. His energy is rather scarce and depletes fast. As for his mind-set... He is tough, but not in a thuggish way. That fight with the wolfs was a close call, yet he remained calm all along. Perhaps too much. Some would call that recklessness.'
-'Mm...' The warrior nodded. 'Oh. Is that the puppet you use to play with them?'
He pointed a wooden puppet standing not far from the doors of the common parts. It was of coarse manufacture, halfway between a tree and a dummy. Still, it had articulations, even fingers. The feet were not as detailed and only separated into three sections.
-'Yes. They haven't seen trough that trick yet. I improvised it when I received your instructions.'
The patriarch laughed.
-'You really don't take any risk. But I like the idea. Truly inspiring. Could you make me three? I will pay for them.'
-'Patriarch, with your background, I am sure you can find better craftsmen.'
-'I will use them as disposable. Your model is perfect, just add some weapon on them. Say, a staff, a club and a pair of tonfas.'
-'Fine. I will take care of it tonight.'
-'No rush. For now, the wolves are still enough.'
They both stopped talking. Moss and Lauren were opening the doors. Of course, they had both kept their ears open while talking and knew that the disciples wanted to challenge Elehago again.
-'Oho.'
The latter bowed to the wooden puppet and exchanged a few words with it. For an external observer, they looked quite stupid, one-sidedly talking to a dummy. However, under Elehago's illusion, they saw him instead. He could naturally make his image talk and synchronize it with the dummy movements. At his moment, the patriarch regretted his lack of proficiency with mind deception skills. He could well defend against them, but not create them. Otherwise, he would have taken control to play with the disciples.
The dance started and the puppet began throwing rocks at its opponents. That old novice was skilled indeed. It was the patriarch's first time seeing him in action personally. Floating step. A very basic technique derived from energy redirection skills. Quite well executed. His junior here was also good at taunting them. By placing his puppet in their range, he taunted them effectively.
-'You look like you have done this all of your life.' He praised.
Elehago did know if this was a compliment or a slander. His senior soon cleared that doubt.
-'You must make people around you mad all the time.'
This bastard. Elehago had no wish to die, but he still had some self-respect. There were limits to how much one could step on his feet.
-'And you sure like to talk a lot, Elder.'
The patriarch smiled. It looked like he had successfully managed to provoke his junior. He considered Elehago as a good candidate for his succession in the long run. Or to his successor if his rule ended sooner than expected. On top of that, the coming conflict with the silver mount sect required him to check on his men and shake them a bit. This junior had been too idle with his task. That needed to be remedied.
-'Do I? Are you fists itching? What about a little spar?'
That took Elehago by surprise.
-'What? Here and now?'
He could not be serious.
-'Yes.'
The junior suddenly understood that his situation with the patriarch was not much different than that of the novices with him. However, if he was given the opportunity to smack that geezer's face, he would not decline.
-'I will not use my weapon.' The warrior said. He made his sleeves snap and invited him to come while his ji rested on his shoulder.
Moss was trying hard. His hands were bleeding again from deflecting all the projectiles that had been thrown at him. Next to him, Lauren was hanging on pretty well. She was quicker and their senior had praised her spiritual attacks several times already. They were currently trying to pincer him. The commoner had reserved his best speed burst for this moment. Suddenly, the senior's movements became jerky. Now was the chance. Moss jumped as high as he could and used the impact of his landing to swoop on him at full speed. His hand connected, but it connected with wood. Elehago had transformed into a dummy. What? Some loud noises came from the top of the sect quarters as well. The sound of wood breaking apart.
-'What the...'
The high building was pulverised in a loud crash, like hit by a cannonball, an impact so strong that the floor shook. Moss and Lauren alternatively looked at each other, at the puppet and at dust cloud that spread upon the construction wrecks, in total confusion.
-'Hahahaha!'
A man they had never seen before laughed from the top of the common building. He had a sort of lance on his shoulder.
-'Not bad, junior. I overdid it, I fear, but this is because you managed to surprise me! I will leave now, take care and train well.'
They could not see him, but Elehago was buried deep within the ruins of the tower. He cursed and spat some blood. Now he had to get out of there and thus began digging. His body was strong. However, that blow had been something. The left side of his torso was already entirely blue.
-'Just you wait, old bastard. One day I will beat you.'
Then he wondered what he would say to the novices after getting out and cursed again.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone