章 24: Completely Losing It
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.
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.
One of the three, the one who didn't seem to share familiar bonds with the others, took out a few paper talismans from his bag of holding.
The leader of the group took out a short dagger that looked about a thousand times sharper than Shin Sumi's Gold Tyrant Flying Sword.
The last one simply rolled his shoulder muscles. He was the youngest of the three but the bulkiest, and gave the impression that he could crush Shin Sumi's skull with just one hand.
In a split second, they all attacked. It showed that they had been working together for quite a long time, their coordination being on point. Thankfully Shin Sumi had good reflexes and evaded the first salvo.
She jumped sideways towards the guy with the paper talismans. Her first instinct had been to get away from the sharp dagger and the bulging muscles.
Whiiiiish.
A paper talisman flew in a straight line past her shoulder. Pure luck was the reason why their trajectories hadn't intersected.
It was the first time Shin Sumi had witnessed let alone heard about the use of paper talismans in a fight. The only example she had was Jun Qian the yellow robed disciple and his speed talisman. Other than that she had no idea what they could be used for.
The talisman flew fast and reached a nearby tree. A deafening explosion of white flames occured. Anyone who had blinked would have missed the impact.
Shin Sumi didn't allow herself to be startled as she wasn't out of danger at all, and refused to think about what might have occured, had she not evaded the talisman.
The tree fell on to its side, water from the swamp splashing and half extinguishing the white flames.
The heart in Shin Sumi's chest was beating furiously fast. She was on the verge of losing it and relied only on instinct. She wanted to cry, to apologize, to run away, to abandon the Immortal world.
She never asked for all that! She had gone to the training grounds simply for that, training. A life or death situation was too much for her to handle.
For half an incense stick worth of time she continuously evaded the attacks of her three opponent. The boys were getting more furious by the second but she kept evading them.
Shin Sumi discovered at the same time as them how her body was unpredictably powerful and nimble. The second her feet were on the ground she was ready to leap again, evading another salvo.
But she knew she couldn't keep on doing that forever, besides every time she would try to get away from them, a paper talisman would fly out of nowhere and prevent her from leaving the area.
Shin Sumi had no idea what to do. She couldn't think straight and the only thing that went through her mind was "I am going to die here."
And then she snapped.
The change was so sudden that even she didn't realize it. At some point she simply stopped evading. Luckily the boys slowed down their attacks. When the prey had given up, what use would it be to keep on attacking?
After all she was cornered, surrounded, and even though she was fast, the three boys still believed she wasn't strong.
The fight was decided.
The first to get Shin Sumi into his reach was the youngest, Chao Ru. Mustering all his strength into one punch, he swiftly got closer to her.
As the first was about to reach her face, Shin Sumi lifted the Gold Tyran Flying Sword in front of her.
The impact made Shin Sumi jump backwards, but even more so it made Chao Ru's hand vibrate with a deep pain.
"AAAAAaaaaaah" cried the boy loudly. He held his right hand in his left. At least two of his fingers must have been broken by the impact.
The sword may have been only a dull piece of metal, but it was still stronger than any bone a Honorary Disciple had in their body.
Shin Sumi tumbled on her back. Either she didn't realize what she had done to Chao Ru, or due to the state she was in she didn't pay it any attention, but she immediately got up.
She had been projected towards the guy wielding the paper talismans.
Without a second of hesitation, Shin Sumi lifted the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword above her head and slammed it down on the poor disciple's.
All of this takes some time to describe, but since the moment Chao Ru attacked her, not one second had passed and the paper talisman disciple was floored, his ears buzzing and his consciousness on the verge of dissipating.
Shin Sumi battered him a few more times until her instinct reacted to a movement behind her.
She was like a lost animal, hungry and hurt. Instinct and survival were the only things that mattered.
Wielding the broken sword once again, she faced the third attacker.
"I'm gonna skin you alive you b*tch" said Chao Long. In his hands, the dagger turned and turned again, a proof of his dexterity.
But Shin Sumi was in no condition to analyse the movement of the blade to know from which angle he would attack. She was brandishing the bronze colored sword and swatting at the air in front of her.
It looked a bit ridiculous, this weak looking girl with a big piece of junk metal turning incoherently. The effect was working though. Due to her large movements with the heavy blade, Chao Long had no way to get close.
"WAAAAH!"
A sudden cry from deep inside Shin Sumi's throat swelled up as she jumped into offensive. It was so surprising that Chao Long couldn't even react to it.
Bonk!
His fall was maybe the most pitiful of the three. The middle of his forehead caved in as Shin Sumi bludgeonned him.
As if she wasn't aware of what she was doing, she kept hitting and crying until his head turned into a bloody pulp. Her terrified expression never left her face, distorting her mouth and eyes.
Only when all movement had stopped did she turn to the other two disciples.
The passed out paper talisman guy was jolted awake by the breaking of his leg under the massive sword, only to lose consciousness once again. He was on the verge of death when the crazed Shin Sumi turned to the third guy, Chao Ru.
Chao Ru was the first to suffer in the three-on-one fight, but also the one to suffer the less.
His hand had swelled up considerably and it would surely take weeks if not months to heal, even with Elder Zhu's medicinal assistance.
But of course that was only if he could escape his current predicament. Tears were falling down his cheeks, snot dripping from his nose and a foul smell seemed to come from under him as he tried to crawl away unnoticed.
Shin Sumi hit him square on the back of the head, her berserk attitude still not dissipating. She too was crying, although she didn't really know why. She didn't really know anything.
She was panting, one knee on the ground, propped up on the heavy sword when she regained a bit of clarity in her mind.
"What was going on?" she asked herself.
She felt incomparably exhausted, mentally and physically. Her hands were covered in blood and her arm muscles were sore.
She cried some more for an unknown period of time, curled into a ball without daring to look around her even once.
When she finally moved, it was to crawl towards the water of the swamp to wash away the blood on her hands. She still was in a state of big shock and couldn't believe what she had done.
It was only when one was at their lowest that they could find the strength to rebel like she did.
She had come out unscathed at the end, but with the price of two human lives, maybe three.
She eventually found the strength to turn around after a long time, only to vomit all the content of her stomach in the bloody mud of the swamp the next instant.
She wanted to leave, to get far away, to find the comfort of her small courtyard but her legs would not listen to her.
The little nut was releasing healing waves in the swamp water around her but with no effect. What she felt was not physical pain.
For a second she thought about Xiao Yue's words. Experience.
A dry and nervous laugh found its way through Shin Sumi's throat as she realized what experience she just acquired.
It was only a while after that a vibration in her bag of holding suddenly jolted her awake.
She took out the piece of jade with the word 'green' inscribed on it and poured some divine sense into it.
"Disciple Shin Sumi, you are requested by Elder Zhu for a private audience. Please come to the Affairs Pavilion before the end of the day."
クリエイターの想い 
d3trois
d3trois I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I hope you enjoy reading it!
See you next week!
週次パワーステータス
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