Chapter 4: Stick-old-man

Plummy Fang was already imagining his unfortunate destiny as he closed his eyes, waiting for the pain.

Stick-old-man moved his gaze to the now standing Ling Zhou, only to see that the latter had already taken another pill out of his bottle and was about to eat it.

Stick-old-man moved his arm and pointed his finger, making the pill on Ling Zhou's hand disappear, along with the whole bottle filled with pills.

"M-MY PILLS, WHAT HAPPENED!?"

Ling Zhou's eyes were wide open as he turned to look in the direction of the old man.

"SO IT WAS YOU STICK-OLD-MAN" He shouted as his hands started shaking.

"Oh no, what did he do!" The crowd was now scared. Everyone knew Stick-old-man didn't like his nickname; the proof was the countless disciples who suffered the might of the stick because the old man heard them. Now that someone used the nickname in front of his face it would be much worse.

The old man didn't speak; he only used his stick to hit Plummy Fang's head, making him unconscious, putting him under one of his arms as if he wasn't lifting more than 150 kilograms.

In a split of a second, he jumped and reached Ling Zhou, hitting again with his stick and repeating the process. Then he jumped and reached where the Pickle Lord was, having to hit twice to break his Pickle Armor and then get him to sleep, grabbing him along Plummy Fang, below his right armpit.

The last one was Yi Ren, who had already prepared himself and put his eye protectors back on his face. In the end, he still had the same fate as the others and got caught by Stick-old-man, who carried them all away like planks, two on each side below his armpits.

Before leaving, he spoke for the first time, saying:

"You all wait here for the other elders and explain to them what happened."

After that, he vanished, leaving Ming Daiyu (Yi Ren's crush), Feng Mai (the thin girl with the ponytail), Bai Shang (the senior from the inner sect that came to watch) and the gossiper who brought him.

The ones sitting stood up, so they were all standing, having mixed feelings and complicated expressions on their faces.

"Sigh… This might be the last time. Brother Bai, let's go."

"Won't we listen to Stick-old-man? He told us to wait."

"No, believe me; it won't end well if we do that. Let's stay a couple weeks in secluded cultivation, it's much safer."

"I will listen to you Brother Tian."

The two boys hurriedly left, leaving only Ming Daiyu and Feng Mai at the scene.

"See Senior Sister Ming? We are in trouble now! Who knows what will happen to those weird guys and they also implicated us!"

"Sigh… I didn't know this would happen Sister Feng, how would I know they like getting into trouble? Anyways, let's wait and see what happens."

…

Plummy Fang woke up inside a dark room. He felt pain in his head as he tried to get himself up. He looked around and saw a pair of bright lime eyes staring at the void. It was Yi Ren, who was sitting nearby and had been awake for some time.

"Brother Yi, where are we?" Plummy Fang asked in confusion.

"We're inside the sect's dungeons." Yi Ren answered calmly. It wasn't his first time here, so he clearly remembered this kind of room.

"Do you know where Wang Fan is?"

"He must be with Ling Zhou in another room. They don't like to put many people together for some reason."

"So what are we going to-"

"HAHAHAHahahahaha" A sudden laughter ran through the darkness from afar, interrupting Fang Chang's words. "I STILL REMEMBER HOW TO MAKE THEM! IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MANY YOU TAKE FROM ME!"

"There, it must be Junior Brother Ling. They must be near us, maybe in another room."

"He has to be in another room because he's not here, Brother Fang."

"Well yeah, but… Yeah. He should be with Brother Wang."

"…"

"What do you think they'll do with us?"

"If it's like last time, you're better off without knowing."

"Wha- That time when you two disappeared for two whole weeks? You never told me anything about it."

"You heard him at the competition; Brother Wang still has nightmares to this day. We didn't have a very good time, you see…"

"Is it true that they thought you were spies sent by evil sects?"

"That was what they thought at first, Brother Fang. But that belief didn't last a day. The rest of the time we spent here was because they wanted our weap-"

"What is it this time, Yi Ren, why were you sent here again?"

Before both of the boys could keep making assumptions about their present conditions, an acute voice resounded through the room, as if it was coming from both inside and outside.

"We greet the Sect Leader" Plummy Fang greeted as Yi Ren kept silent for a couple of seconds.

The owner of the voice showed himself as he somehow turned on the lights.

Plummy Fang and Yi Ren were almost at a corner, and an eight-year-old looking child stood across them, almost in the middle of the room. He was bald and had a displeased expression on his face. His gray eyes looked ahead of him in a way that would make anyone uncomfortable. He was small, but had quite a presence.

The room was a spacious dirty brown cube with stains all over it and was completely empty. There was no such thing as a door that could be seen, probably to discourage anyone inside from trying to escape.

It was difficult to know if the room was originally built brown or if it had gotten like that over time because of the lack of maintenance.

"Congratulations on your breakthrough, Sect Leader." Yi Ren congratulated calmly on the side as he focused his gaze on the lines of his own hand.

"We're also curious about it, Sect Leader. We didn't do anything that bad this time…" Fang Chang worriedly inquired.

"That is only half-true. Little Ling got hurt because of your competition, even if it wasn't entirely your fault, if news got out, the sect could be in trouble. You don't know, but his uncle is a pretty influential figure…"

"Little Ling… Ling Zhou? He didn't get hurt. I think he's healthier than before."

"Shhh, Brother Yi. I understand, Sect Leader, we will be more cautious next time, we will even look after Ling Zhou while we're at it, there is no need to make this bigger than it is." Plummy Fang intervened, trying to end the matter without many consequences. The Sect Leader, however, had a different idea.

"There won't be a next time. If it wasn't for Stick-… I mean, Elder Li, all of you would've gotten expelled from the sect. Luckily for you, we will only forbid that little contest of yours, I hope you stay out of trouble and continue cultivating, this is the last time… You will also be physically punished per Elder Li's request."

"W-wait Sect Leader!"

"Don't waste your talent, goodbye"

Before Plummy Fang could continue pleading, the child in the middle of the room suddenly disappeared, leaving only the two boys at the corner.

"What? He only said like three sentences and left!"

"That's the Sect Leader for you. Although he was older when I last saw him… Will we also look like little kids when we break through the Second Realm?"

"Obviously no, Brother Yi, that only happens when you enter the Third and Fourth Realm because of the extra lifespan. We're far from it as of now."

"You would look funny as a little kid, Brother Fang."

"…"

Fang Chang didn't answer Yi Ren's comment, so they both kept silent as the room was again covered in darkness.

The silence didn't last long; an old voice echoed in their ears: "I hope you're ready for the stick!"

…

Inside another dark room, Ling Zhou was running in circles and Wang Fan was standing in a corner.

Pak! Pak! Pak!

"Ah! Stop! It hurts! Ahhh!"

Pak! Pak! Pak!

"Wait! Don't hit me there! Ah!"

Weird screams and noises were coming from every direction, but sounded as if they were far away, like some sort of illusion.

"Come and get me! Leave my friends alone, you have no balls to come and face the great Ling Zhou, you Stick-old-man!"

Ling Zhou shouted as he ran. He seemed to have unlimited energy; he wasn't going to stop soon.

"Don't worry, Brother Ling. This is a light punishment. Plummy Fang is only screaming because he isn't used to it."

Ling Zhou stopped running for a moment, before retorting.

"Those poopy oldies don't know who they're messing with! I'm going to make that Stick-old-man be called Stickless-old-man after this!"

"…"

"I'll make more pills with many effects! I'll force them to eat them as I laugh in front of their faces! Only then will they know who they offended! The greatest pill-"

"Wait Ling Zhou, do you hear that?"

"Oh, I hear! But they don't hear me! But that'll change-"

"It's silent… That can only mean one thing…"

"Yes…"

An aged voice echoed inside their heads.

"It 's your turn."