Chapter 630: Two Opposing Forces
‘What in the fuck is that?’
From what Jinju Yang could see from a distance, a total of eight Zhen clansmen, including the Martial Elder Zhen Fei, were staring at what appeared to be a weird color lump on the ceiling.
But what he could sense was…nothing, which was a new sensation to him.
Thankfully though, he was about to ask some people who probably had a better idea than he did.
Maybe.
“And you’re sure that isn’t just a giant spider egg or something?”
“Positive, Martial Elder,” Zhen Wang answered.
“Actually, this is an incredibly familiar scenario and I have a very good idea as to-”
“Hello there, Zhen Clansmen!,” Jinju Yang interrupted as he walked over to the group, “what’s gotten everyone’s attention this fine morn-”
*WHAM!*
“BY THE SCALES!”
“Oh godsdammit.”
The moment Jinju Yang tried to walk over to where the Martial Elder and his entourage were standing, a strange looking object about the size of a cow fell from the ceiling and on a table that was immediately below it.
Surprisingly, the large object did not break the table it fell on, but had shattered into pieces instead.
Once the initial shock of the sudden fall and subsequent explosion of debris had died down though, the people present started to realize what had actually fallen.
Or to be more accurate, they had come to learn that the weird lump on the ceiling was actually a chunk of ice that had people trapped inside of it. People that both the Imperial Prince and the Zhen Clan recognized almost immediately.
“Ow…”
“My head…”
“Why are my ears ringing…”
“Okay, I see where this is going…,”Zhen Wang groaned as he rubbed his temples, having recognized the situation. It should be noted, that this was a groan of experience.
“Hold up isn’t that Zhen Du?,” one of the Zhen clan members asked his friend, “how did he end up on the ceiling?”
“Better question, how the fuck did we not sense that it was him or these other guys? A mortal presence is fairly easy to pick up if the target in question is as unconscious as these three were.”
“Wait, aren’t those two Imperial attendants?”
“How the fuck did this happen…,”Jinju Yang muttered in disbelief.
Last night, after failing to pick a fight with Zhen Shi, Jinju Yang had tasked two of his attendants to go and mess with the branch clan.
He didn’t exactly care on how they went about doing so, all he wanted was for them to do something that would either cause Zhen Shi and his children to either be embarrassed on a societal level or perhaps horribly injure one of the scions so that the rest would be discouraged from participating in this Zhen Clan competition.
Jinju Yang had expected to hear news on whether or not his servants succeeded by the time the second half of the tournament had begun, or in the evening after the competition at the latest.
To find that not only had his servants failed at their task, but had also been rendered as the means to what was increasingly reading off as more and more of a prank, was infuriating to say the least.
“Why those little-huh?”
Jinju Yang was all set to go on an angry tirade at this point, until he noticed something strange on the person of one of his attendants, a note.
None of the Zhen clansmen present seemed to have notice this note though. Instead, they were more focused on making sure Zhen Du and the imperial attendants got medical treatment. Although, from what he could hear, this particular chain of events had happened before.
“What are you guys standing around for? Go and take these three to the clinical office, now!”
“At once, Martial Elder!”
With the order given, six of the seven people accompanying the Martial Elder proceeded to pick up the barely conscious trio of injured warriors and took them to the clan’s clinic as quickly as possible.
The only one to remain behind was Zhen Wang, who had this strange look on his face.
“Martial Elder. Pardon my rudeness, but did you by any chance-”
“No, Zhen Wang. I did not send Zhen Du to go and do anything last night. I was busy addressing an…internal matter. That said, perhaps we should direct our attention to the other party involved in this incident.”
“Ah…right.”
The two Zhen clansmen looked over at the twenty-fourth imperial prince, hoping the man could provide an answer as to why his own subordinates were stuck on the ceiling as well.
Instead, they saw him reading over a note with a stumped expression on his face. The moment Zhen Wang saw this expression, he understood exactly what had happened to lead to this moment.
“Your highness, what is that note in your hands?,” Zhen Fei asked the prince.
“Huh? Oh…here…”
Jinju Yang maintained that weird look on his face as he handed over the note that had caused this look to happen in the first place.
The moment Zhen Fei received the note and had a chance to look it over himself, he also developed a weird look on his face.
_____________________________________________
Contents of the note:
The next time you send people to try and spy on my darling student or his family again, I will send them back in bodybags.
One for each limb.
Love,
Passing Nightmare
P.S.
If these people were sent because of a certain elopement, please get over it, it has been four decades by now.
XO.
_____________________________________________
“Is…is this what happened when-”
“More or less…although, there were significantly more tattoos involved…”
“So you weren’t exaggerating about…”
“No, I was not.”
“Wow.”
The funny thing though, they weren’t the only ones reading a note similar to this one at this time, albeit, the ones reading it happen to be members of…let’s say an opposing party…
_____________________________________________
[Oh yeah, sure. Fucking send me by my lonesome to go and ditch three people in the middle of some weird slum district that we could barely find the first place,] Razorstella grumbled.
[!!!]
[!!!]
[Okay, fine. Send me and two zakos to try and dump three assholes in the middle of a slum that is somehow worst than the one we’re staying at. Seriously, how does a city this big have this many pockets of poverty and sadness?]
[??]
[??]
[Alright, I need to ask the director to assign you two to be my direct subordinates, running on vibes alone is not helpful!]
_____________________________________________
Despite Willow Scale City being a large, prosperous city that was under the direct protection of one of the most powerful families in the kingdom, there were still multiple pockets of people that society failed to help.
These people would gather in the slum areas that were out of the way of the main commerce and residential areas that most of the other citizenry would live in.
Needless to say, these slum areas were the perfect hiding spots for the black markets, criminals and everything in between.
Or in this particular case, it was the perfect hiding spot for enemies of the Zhen Clan and the empire at large to hide out and plan out nefarious activities…
~~~
“It’s been a whole night, shouldn’t they have been back by now at least?”
“I don’t know, maybe they got injured on their way there and had to hide out. Or worst, killed.”
“No way, those three are our stealthiest and swiftest fighters. Ain’t no way they’re going to get caught out by some branch clan exiles.”
“Whatever man.”
In front of an abandoned residential building, deep in one of the many slums of Willow Scale, a pair of young men dressed in rags were sitting upon the building’s stoop and having a discussion to pass the time.
Now, passing by such a scene, nobody would expect anything more or suspect anything about this duo.
Just a pair of beggars simply sitting someplace to rest and talk to get their minds off their stomachs, nothing more.
However, if one were to take a closer look, they’d notice some things were…off about these ragged men.
They didn’t look as emaciated as other beggars, their auras weren’t as thin as other beggars and less noticiably, their teeth didn’t look as messed up as other beggars.
And if one just so happened to look pass their rags, one would notice the glint of hardened steel and blackened leather underneath.
If it wasn’t made abundantly clear, these two were guardsmen for some clandestine organization that operated in this particular slum.
As to which organization it was…let’s just say it was one that had a particularly nasty grudge with the Zhen Clan as a whole.
If it helps, these two were named Gao Hua and Gao Feng.
“Seriously though, shouldn’t we have at least been notified by whether or not those three are-”
*WHAM!*
“HOLY-!”
“WHAT THE FUCK?!”
Just as the two guardsmen were about to discuss about their missing cohorts further, the aforementioned trio of missing people literally fell from the sky and landed right in front of them in a pile.
The two of them assumed the worst when they saw the trio…until they managed to hear a ragged breath.
Gao Hua and Gao Feng looked at each other for a moment before figuring out their next plan of action.
“We gotta tell the boss.”
“Agreed.”
