บท 23: The Trial – Part 3
Lan Wei opened his eyes groggily. He blinked furiously at the bright sunlight, head pounding in his ears. He looked around, and found himself on a circular platform. A crowd had surrounded him, but no one had come to help. Light whispers circulated around.
"Isn't that… Lan Wei?"
"Did he get better or something?"
"Hah! I bet he was faking it the whole time."
Lan Wei's hand went to his sheath. Instead, he grasped nothing, which gave him a shock.
He did hold onto the sword in the end, didn't he?
His sword lay beside him, glittering underneath the sun with a green tint. He sheathed his sword and stood up.
He heard footsteps behind him, and turned his head to see Cloud Leader Hua with a stern look on her face. She carried a massive spear, inlaid with gold tassels and green jade.
Lan Wei bowed briefly in respect.
"Cloud Leader Hua," he said with apprehension in his heart.
Did they find out about the red masked man?
Cloud Leader Hua looked him in the eye and said, "Come with me."
Lan Wei followed Cloud Leader Hua from the circular platform, away from the crowds who moved aside to let them pass. Most of them looked at him with pity and confusion, but there were those who looked at him with disgust.
Well, that was certainly the effects of Lan Fei's hard work. He really did have to congratulate Lan Fei on how precise he could control the opinion of the general public. Then again, the general public were sheep, following the masses without knowing the whole story, hating whoever was pointing a finger at someone without proof. Lies are much more easily swallowed than truths,
and one lie can topple the work of a hundred truths.
After all, they want drama – as long as it isn't about them – and drama about those who they fantasize being, was the most vicious and delicious. For what commoner wouldn't want to be a
noble, dressed in silks and attending sumptuous feasts?
People were simple, no matter which time period they were from.
Cloud Leader Hua led Lan Wei around the pagoda, right to the back where a couple of other trial takers were. There was a small door on the side of the pagoda. Lan Wei watched as the
door opened and another trial taker came out, heavily wounded.
Now that he looked at it…
All those who came out of the door were injured, with haunted eyes and trembling fingers. There weren't a lot either, but the trial hadn't ended yet.
So someone like him who ended up mysteriously at the front of the pagoda, with no wounds to be seen, was a strange sight.
Cloud Leader Hua brought him to a restaurant, and into a private room where the other two leaders were.
Sword Leader Cheng faced him. Lan Wei couldn't tell if he was staring or not because of that white fox mask. For all he knew, Sword Leader Cheng could be fast asleep – hey, that is actually a good reason to get a mask!
Lan Wei made up his mind to pick up a mask sooner or later. Maybe he could buy one before he entered Jiang Academy.
"Is he the one?" Sword Leader Cheng asked.
Lan Wei hoped that he wasn't a teacher. His voice was so monotonous… he'd fall asleep after 20 minutes.
"Well. He's the first one I've found." Cloud Leader Hua replied tersely.
Flower Leader Yun studied Lan Wei with a thoughtful look on his face, his chin cradled on his hand.
"We can't trust the pagoda." He stated thoughtfully.
Cloud Leader Hua bit her lips.
"What else can we do?" She asked.
"Hold a tournament amongst the survivors." Sword Leader Cheng interjected, standing up straight. "We have too many of them anyways."
The other two nodded briefly.
Lan Wei stood there awkwardly. Did the red masked guy know that this was going to happen?
More importantly, what were the three leaders going to do with him?
Cloud Leader Hua turned her attention on him.
"Show us your sword," she said.
Lan Wei drew out his sword, the light bathing everyone in the room with a green tint.
Flower Leader Yun stood up abruptly upon seeing the sword, and rushed towards Lan Wei. Lan Wei took a step back, but stopped himself upon sensing no bloodthirst from Flower Leader Yun. Besides, if they really wanted to kill him, he would be dead already.
Flower Leader Yun studied the sword carefully with a look of despair on his face. Lan Wei caught the sight of a singular tear falling from his peach blossom eyes, before Flower Leader Hua quickly made his way back to his seat.
Lan Wei wondered what connection the sword had with Wen Ning, his Teacher, and the cherub faced Flower Leader Yun. They looked nothing like either, so it wasn't that they were family.
"Where did you get this sword?" Flower Leader Yun spat out after a while.
Lan Wei stiffened.
He still didn't know the connection between his Teacher and Flower Leader Yun. If this connection was Flower Leader Hua looking for vengeance, then that means that he would've betrayed his own Teacher.
Wen Ning had done so much for him.
"It was given to me by a mysterious expert," Lan Wei replied calmly.
"Do you know where they are now?"
"No."
Flower Leader Yun sighed deeply and left the room through a side entrance, his movements stiff and unnatural.
Cloud Leader Hua followed after him, and quickly dismissed Lan Wei by using some sort of force to push him outside the room.
Lan Wei shrugged and went back to where the other trial takers were.
The other trial takers either ignored him completely or openly gave him dirty looks.
"Even for a trial like this, there are those who bribe their way through," one of them spat out.
Seeing Lan Wei appear from the side of the pagoda and with absolutely no injuries, the first thought most of the survivors had was that he bribed his way through. To them, that was the most likely answer.
Lan Wei ignored them. Either way, they'd find out his true strength through the tournament.
Suddenly, Lan Wei noticed a familiar figure coming out of the pagoda doors.
Lan Guang Ning strode effortlessly through the doors, not a single wound to be seen. The nearby survivors looked at him in shock. He smirked and sat calmly by himself, a picturesque scene of a heavenly scholar, just like his father.
Thankfully for Lan Wei, Lan Guang Ning hadn't seen him. The time wasn't right for him to make his appearance.
Lan Wei sensed Lan Guang Ning's cultivation carefully. He was at the 1st level of red, the same as himself!
It would be a challenge then, to beat him. Rather, he didn't want to beat him, but he wanted to completely crush him.
What he lacks in strength, he'll make up for with knowledge and cunning.
The trial was to end at noon the next day. If someone hadn't gotten through the trial by that time, then they would be kicked out of the pagoda.
Lan Wei set out for the nearest restaurant, to buy some food for his poor big sister, who was constantly being neglected by the author even though this novel is a female protagonist!
Jia Xinyue: I'm quietly building an army of screens to fight against the author
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