~~~

It takes Liu Jin a moment to react to the announcement.

“Visitors?”

One of the servants nods. “Yes, Little Lord. There are visitors from the Lun Clan at the gates. The Lun Clan’s leader, Lun Shu, has come to pay his respects to Branch Master Xiao Ding due to the Young Master’s passing.”

Of course he is.

Liu Jin grinds his teeth. Beside him, Xiao Heng looks somewhat nervous. Liu Jin wishes he could just order the servants to tell this Lun Shu to go away. However, if his memory does not fail him, the Lun Clan is one of the major powers in New Moon Town. It would be disrespectful for a servant to send him away.

Then there is the matter of the uncertain status of the wedding. Since the groom is dead, the Hu Clan could easily back out of the arrangement and go back to favoring the Lun Clan. In a way, it is telling that the Lun Clan has come to pay their respects before the Hu Clan.

Liu Jin takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of his nose. Like it or not, he cannot afford to alienate either of the two clans.

Even if he really does not need this right now.

Liu Jin does not want to think about these small, petty things, yet he must. Neither Xiao Nan nor Xiao Ding is here. Xiao Heng is the young master, and Liu Jin is the guest from the main branch. They must act as such right now.

“How many Elders are still here?” Liu Jin asks the servants. He imagines quite a few left with Xiao Ding to hunt down the bandits.

“Three, my lord,” one replies. “Elder Chang is currently in the middle of closed doors training. Elder Biming and Elder Peng should be asleep.”

Three. It is not much, but it would have to be enough for this.

“Go get them,” Liu Jin tells three of the servants. “Tell them what is going on and let them know they are to meet us at the gate.”

“M-my lord?” A servant stutters. He is clearly not enthused by the idea. None of them are. It is probably the reason why the servants sought him and Xiao Heng first. No one wanted to be the person who interrupted an Elder. Liu Jin’s eyes narrow.

“Go.” One short, clipped word sends the servants running.

“Boss,” Xiao Heng speaks up. “What shall we do? Are we to wait for the Elders?”

Liu Jin shakes his head. “No. Letting our visitors wait too long could be seen as a sign of weakness.”

And weak is the last thing the Xiao Sect can look like right now. Annoying as it may be, Liu Jin cannot afford to make the local branch look bad.

“We will go and greet this Lun Shu,” Liu Jin tells Xiao Heng. Predictably, Xiao Heng pales.

“We? Me as well? Boss, I-I have never been part of this type of things and-”

“Your father is gone. Your brother is dead.” Liu Jin’s words mercilessly silence any objections. “Right now, you are the Young Master of our Xiao Sect’s New Moon Town Branch. I wish it didn’t have to be like this, but I need you to stand with me. Will you do so?”

The words are as much for himself as they are for Xiao Heng. Truth be told, Liu Jin would like nothing more than to ignore this situation and return to his bed. However, that is a luxury beyond his reach. Xiao Heng seems to understand this as well for his face hardens with resolve.

“I will go where Boss goes.”

“Good.”

Liu Jin takes a deep breath. To the remaining servants, he says, “Have the cooks prepare something. Wake up the strongest disciples we have.”

The servants bow and hurry to follow his orders. Liu Jin starts making his way towards the main courtyard with Xiao Heng following after him.

They have guests to greet.

~~~

By the time Liu Jin reaches the gates, he hears far more voices than he expected. All of them are coming from outside.

“Lord!” One of the guards calls him. “Finally, you are here!”

“What is going on?” Liu Jin looks at the still closed gates and listens to all the voices coming from the other side. “Why are there so many people gathered outside?”

“My lord, this one does not know. At first, it was only Clan Leader Lun Shu and a small delegation, but then more and more people started to show up. What shall we do?”

Part of Liu Jin appreciates the irony of a grown man asking a ten-year-old that question. The other part laments the events that put him in this situation. Liu Jin sighs and starts moving toward the gate. He climbs up the ladder and steps up to the top of the gate with the other guards. Like always, Xiao Heng is right behind him.

When Liu Jin reaches the top, he sees them. There are about three dozen people outside.

“What is the meaning of this?” He asks loudly, causing the people below to look up. “Why have so many visitors come before our Xiao Sect at this hour?”

A man steps to the front of the crowd. He is tall and broad-shouldered. He looks closer to fifty than forty but could easily be over a hundred. With cultivators, it is always hard to tell.

“We have come here to show our solidarity with Branch Master Xiao Ding whose son was slain by cowardly dogs! I am Lun Shu of the Lun Clan. Who is it that I speak to?”

Liu Jin raises an eyebrow.

So this is Lun Shu.

Liu Jin’s first impression of the man is that of unfortunate competence. The child clenches his right hand under his sleeve and takes a deep breath before speaking.

“I am Liu Jin, a disciple of the Xiao Sect’s main branch, here to witness the wedding of Branch Master Xiao Ding’s son.”

The moment he mentions the main branch, murmurs and whispers rise from the crowd below. They look at him with different eyes now. Liu Jin grabs the momentum and presses on.

“It gladdens me to see so many people wish to express their solidarity with Branch Master Xiao Ding for it shows he is respected and loved by all who live in New Moon Town. However, I regret to inform you he is indisposed right now. As I am sure you can understand, he is not in any mood to receive visitors.”

The moment he finishes saying those words, a thought occurs to him. Liu Jin’s eyes narrow.

Just now, he said Xiao Ding is indisposed to avoid mentioning he has left New Moon Town. However, would that information be a secret to these people? If the news of Xiao Dong’s death has already traveled all over town, then shouldn’t these people know about the hunting party?

The guards at the town gates should have seen Xiao Ding leaving with all the others. It is not as if they went out in disguise.

Surely, the leader of one of the two major clans in New Moon Town should know that much?

“As such,” Liu Jin continues after only a small pause. “I must ask all of you to return to your homes.”

Is it not what Liu Jin planned on saying, but if he is right, he cannot afford to trust these people.

“What’s this?” Lun Shu says. “Would the Xiao Sect really turn away well-meaning visitors from the Lun Clan? Is the main branch truly so rude?”

“The Xiao Sect is not obligated to humor the whims of those that show at its doorstep. The Lun Clan presumes much if they think they can come here in numbers like this and expect to be treated as guests.”

Liu Jin does his best to channel as much of Xiao Fang as he can. Judging by the angry glares the crowd shoots at him, it is fair to say he succeeded. Yes, they all look fairly angry at him.

Except for one person.

Except for Lun Shu.

Lun Shu just looks at him with all too sharp eyes. Something flashes in them, and in that moment, Liu Jin knows exactly what is going to happen. His eyes widen before turning to Xiao Heng, a word of warning in his lips.

He never gets to utter it.

In the blink of an eye, Lun Shu is right next to Liu Jin. The child recognizes it as a movement technique of sorts. However, he is nowhere near fast enough to do anything about it. Liu Jin can only watch as Lun Shu grabs Xiao Heng by the throat, then grabs him as well.

By the time the guards cry out in surprise, Lun Shu has used his movement technique once more and is already running away from the branch sect’s compound. Liu Jin’s vision blurs from the speed Lun Shu is moving at. He tries to shake off his captor’s grip.

A solid blow to the head robs him of consciousness.

~~~

Liu Jin wakes up in the middle of a clearing. The moon still shines in the sky, and there are Steel-Skinned Trees all around. He cannot be too far from New Moon Town. To his side, he can see Xiao Heng. The teenager is being held down by someone who looks like a much younger Lun Shu.

As for Liu Jin, no one is holding him down. He is not even tied up.

The reason why becomes apparent to Liu Jin right away.

“I see you have woken up.”

Lun Shu sits before him.

He sits with his arms and legs crossed. Not a trace of hostility leaks from the man. And why should it? Much like the Fifth Commander of the Black Bear Bandits, the man in front of Liu Jin is in the Nascent Realm. However, comparing Lun Shu to the Fifth Commander would be an insult to Lun Shu. The Fifth Commander was someone who was still in the early stages of the Nascent Realm.

That is not the case for Lun Shu.

Lun Shu is someone whose distance to the Spirit Realm can be said to be just one step. No. Even less than that. Just a half-step.

Only a half-step to the Spirit Realm.

Liu Jin could not do anything against the Fifth Commander. It is unthinkable for someone like him to do anything against Lun Shu. He cannot run, and he cannot fight. Lun Shu must be thinking something like that. He does not know of Nine-Headed Snake God’s poison.

Liu Jin could take the pendant off, but…

He glances at Xiao Heng who is being held down.

No. Taking the pendant off is not an option with Xiao Heng around. The only thing Liu Jin can do right now is buy time until the Elders find them.

It is a good thing for Liu Jin that he knows exactly what he wants to talk about right now.

“Why?” The word leaves his mouth instantly. “Why are you doing this?”

It is not that Liu Jin cannot guess the man’s motives. He knows enough about New Moon Town’s situation. However…

“Do you really think you can win against the Xiao Sect?”

Try as he might, Liu Jin cannot see Lun Shun’s actions as anything other than monumentally stupid. Kidnapping Xiao Heng in broad view of everyone? The Lun Clan members he brought with him are likely already taken care of, and the Elders should be tracking them down as he speaks. As strong as Lun Shu is by the standards of New Moon Town, he cannot hope to defeat the Branch Sect’s Elders.

The only thing Lun Shu’s actions have accomplished is bringing down the wrath of the Xiao Sect on his clan. However, Lun Shu does not seem bothered by this. In fact, the man smiles with serenity that is entirely unsuitable for this situation.

“I imagine that to the eyes of the ignorant, my actions must indeed look foolish.”

“My apologies. I am afraid these dull eyes of mine can only see a desperate man taking advantage of a bandit attack to strike at an enemy he cannot hope to defeat.”

That was too much.

Liu Jin knows he has said too much just now. The situation has caused his tongue to loosen up far more than is healthy. A less patient man would have killed him on the spot. Lun Shu does not. Though Liu Jin can sense hostility rising from the Lun Clan member holding Xiao Heng down, Lun Shu just keeps smiling.

“That would be your first misconception, child of the Main Branch,” Lun Shu says. “I did not take advantage of the actions of the Black Bear Group. My brother and I arranged for that attack to happen.”

What?

“What?”

Lun Shu’s smile widens, enjoying Liu Jin’s shock. “You are surprised, I see. Well, we still have some time to kill. There is no harm in telling you the full story.”

Liu Jin narrows his eyes.

There is no harm in telling him. In other words, Lun Shu is that confident in his victory. However, what did he mean when he said they still had some time left? Is he waiting for something to happen?

“My elder brother was supposed to inherit the Lun Clan. However, he was too wild and reckless for my father’s tastes. In time, he cast him out of New Moon Town.” For the first time, Lun Shu’s smile dims a little.

“I loved my father very much, but that was one decision I never agreed with. When my father died, my brother, having heard of his passing, came to pay his respects in secret. After decades apart, we were reunited. We talked all night about what had become of our lives since he left New Moon Town.”

“Your brother had already formed the Black Bear Bandits by then.”

“I see the Main Branch is not lacking in brains,” Lun Shu says. “Yes, my brother had gathered quite a following, and in it, we saw an opportunity. Using the Black Bear Bandits, we could strike at the Hu Clan and steal from them whenever we wanted.”

“But the bandits didn’t just attack the Hu Clan.” Even though he is the one who points it out, Liu Jin already knows why that is. However, that’s not important. He needs to prolong the conversation for as long as possible.

“Well, it would have been too easy to guess our connection to the bandits if they attacked every shipment that left the city except ours, wouldn't it? I tell my brother which targets are safe to strike. That way it looks like the Lun Clan has suffered as much as anyone even though we are the least affected by the Black Bear Bandits. Using that strategy, we should have been able to slowly erode the Hu Clan’s power.” A frown forms on Lun Shu’s face. “But then you came to our New Moon Town.”

“And after being driven into a corner by the Xiao Sect, you decided to strike at its heir to stop the wedding,” Liu Jin finishes the story for him. He crosses his arms.

“However, that does not make any sense.”

“Oh?” Lun Shu strokes his chin. “Enlighten me, child of the main branch.”

“No matter how I look at it, your plan could have fallen apart at any moment. If Xiao Dong had taken more guards with him, the bandits could not have killed him. If Xiao Dong had decided to forgo tradition, the bandits would have never even gotten the chance. That you managed to kill him is nothing but luck. The same goes for this night. If it had been an Elder instead of this Liu Jin who greeted you, we would not be here right now. If one of the Elders had been nearby, he would have stopped you before you reached this place. No matter how I look at it, our positions right now are nothing but luck.”

That is all there is to it. Lun Shu’s plan is not one that should have worked. That he has gotten this far is nothing dumb luck.

Just a bad joke.

“And what’s wrong with that?”

Liu Jin blinks as Lun Shu rises to his feet.

“To cultivate is to go against Heaven’s will, so there is no telling what will happen. Surely, you have heard that phrase before.”

Liu Jin has. It is one of those phrases people repeat so often it loses all meaning.

“A man who is considered trash finds an otherworldly item that helps him gain great power. The disciple of a lowly Sect has an unexpected encounter with a master who bestows him with a Heaven-defying cultivating technique. A child challenged by someone much stronger than him somehow overcomes the difference in a single night. Stories like that are told all over the continent. There is not a single person who hasn’t heard a tale like that.”

Certainly, there are stories like that but…

“Have you never found it odd? In their time of greatest need, those people are not saved by their actions but by their luck. However, it makes perfect sense. To cultivate is to go against the Will of Heaven. It is impossible to prevail by our actions alone. The only way to prevail is by Heaven-defying luck.”

Liu Jin looks up in shock.

Is Lun Shu really saying what he thinks he is saying?

“No matter how much I trained before the wedding, I could not be stronger than the Xiao Sect. No matter how much I plotted, I could not hope to overcome the Xiao Sect. Not by my own merits, at least. That is the conclusion I came to. Thus, the only thing left to do was this.”

He is. He really is.

This man is crazy.

“The only thing I could do was pit my luck against the Xiao Sect’s. Even if I am inferior to the Xiao Sect in everything else, my luck is what prevailed today! My plan could have gone wrong countless times, but it did not. Now, victory is within my grasp. Look!”

Lun Shu steps out of the way, and it is only then that Liu Jin can see the sight his large body has been blocking.

It is a tree, one that looks nothing like the Steel-Skinned Trees that dominate the forest. It is thin and frail-looking. Its leaves are of a sickly yellow color. The trunk looks like it has been split down the middle in the past, leading it to grow in different directions. The fruits that grow from the left side of the tree are red while the ones that grow from the right side are blue.

“Behold our greatest treasure and the instrument of my victory. Behold, the Tree of Deceitful Whispers!”

~~~