Calling roll

"Senior Brother, you haven't heard-it's all over the city now!"

Zhang Wan, the most timid of the junior sisters, had just returned from outside, looking rather pleased with herself.

"Everyone in the city is saying Si Chen is an evil cultivator, that he drains children's life force to cultivate! Let's see how he keeps throwing his weight around now!"

She pictured Si Chen as a rat scurrying across the street, with everyone crying out to beat him, and felt she had finally vented her pent-up resentment.

But then she grew puzzled. "But... why hasn't anyone gone to arrest him, or kill him?"

Beside her, a square-faced disciple-the one who had clamored the loudest before-snorted. "Every extra day a scourge like him lives is a sin! Once Elder Lü comes out of seclusion, his time will be up!"

Zhao Qinghe sat on a stone stool, wiping his sword without joining in. His thoughts were unsettled.

Getting no response, Zhang Wan turned to Zhao Qinghe. "Eldest Senior Brother?"

Zhao Qinghe sighed and set down his sword. "It's not that easy. This city is full of clever people. Who would make a mortal enemy over a few baseless rumors?"

"Besides... back in the woods, we really were the ones who attacked first."

His gaze involuntarily drifted toward the tightly shut door of the room at the very back of the courtyard.

After returning from the auction that day, Elder Lü had ordered them to spread the rumors, his face livid. Then he had immediately entered seclusion with that outrageously expensive crimson sun fruit, saying he needed to break through his bottleneck as soon as possible.

For that fruit, the elder had drained the better part of his savings and suffered a vicious humiliation before the entire city...

This enmity ran far too deep.

He could more or less guess the elder's intentions: to have someone else eliminate Si Chen, or at least provide a righteous pretext of "slaying an evil fiend" when he emerged from seclusion and dealt with Si Chen himself.

But spreading gossip and slander behind someone's back like this... was it really right? For the first time, Zhao Qinghe felt uncertain about himself, and even his sect.

Silence fell over the courtyard.

The square-faced disciple looked unconvinced, but offered no further argument.

Zhang Wan only half understood. She merely felt that her eldest senior brother no longer seemed as... resolute as before.

Meanwhile, Si Chen had become something of a "minor celebrity" in Ancient Gaze City.

As he walked down the street, he could always feel gazes coming at him from every direction.

He continued at his own pace, until someone noticed that the direction he was heading seemed rather odd.

"Hey, is he... heading toward the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect's residence?"

"No way! He's going to pick a fight with the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect? Alone? Has he gone mad?"

"Come on, let's follow him and take a look!"

This kid had just offended Lü Yan, yet instead of hurrying to flee for his life, he was going straight to their door?

Was he going to demand an accounting? A Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, calling a Core Formation Realm cultivator to account?

One man against an entire sect's outpost in Ancient Gaze City?

All the spectators grew excited at once. This was no ordinary spectacle!

Some gloated, some felt pity, and even more were simply curious. The crowd grew like a rolling snowball, trailing far behind Si Chen as he headed toward the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect's residence.

The news traveled like the wind, faster than Si Chen's footsteps, sweeping into the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect's residence ahead of him.

"Eldest Senior Brother! Something's wrong!" A disciple rushed inside in a panic.

"Th-that Si Chen... he's coming this way! There are lots of people following him to watch!"

"What?!" Zhao Qinghe sprang to his feet, almost convinced he had misheard.

Who was coming?

How dare he?

The other disciples in the courtyard froze as well, disbelief written all over their faces.

The square-faced disciple, so arrogant just moments ago, was no different. But he glanced toward the room where Lü Yan was in seclusion and regained a little confidence. The elder was right inside. Surely this kid wouldn't actually dare attack their doorstep?

The courtyard instantly descended into the chaos of a battlefield. Some instinctively reached for their weapons, while others stared nervously toward the gate.

Zhang Wan was so frightened that she hid behind Zhao Qinghe, her voice trembling with tears. "Eldest Senior Brother, what do we do...?"

Zhao Qinghe's heart pounded, and a chill shot from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

He had never imagined that Si Chen would not only refuse to flee, but come straight to their door instead! It made no sense at all!

Zhao Qinghe took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He was the eldest senior brother. He absolutely could not lose his composure now.

Whatever happened, he could not let anyone think the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect feared a lone Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator.

"What's there to panic about!" he barked. "Steady yourselves! Come outside with me and take a look! Remember, no one attacks without my order!"

The disciples barely managed to calm themselves and followed Zhao Qinghe toward the courtyard gate. Their steps were unsteady, and each looked more ashen than the last.

Just as Zhao Qinghe's hand was about to touch the gate's bolt-

"Knock, knock, knock."

Three knocks, neither soft nor loud, rang clearly through the courtyard and reached the ears of every spectator outside who was straining to listen.

Everyone froze.

So... so polite? Wasn't he here to cause trouble?

The spectators outside exchanged glances as well.

Did... did this look like someone coming to fight?

The square-faced disciple's eyes lit up, and he instantly grew smug again.

"Eldest Senior Brother, look! What did I tell you? He's definitely scared!"

"He knows the elder is in seclusion, and with all the rumors swirling outside, he's come to beg for mercy! Maybe he's planning to offer up treasures and ask us to spare his life!"

His words eased the tense atmosphere in the courtyard. Several disciples exchanged glances, finding his reasoning quite convincing.

Right. Why else would he come alone? To throw his life away?

Zhao Qinghe dared not think that way. From their previous encounters, he knew that boy could not be judged by common sense.

Still, a flicker of hope inevitably stirred deep within him... What if?

He steadied himself, motioned for the others to step back, then went forward and slowly drew back the bolt.

The heavy wooden gate opened with a creak.

Outside, Si Chen stood quietly, still dressed in blue.

He carried no weapon, and there was not a trace of murderous intent on his face. He truly looked as though he had come for a visit.

Si Chen said nothing. His gaze merely swept slowly across the face of each Flowing Cloud Sword Sect disciple.

The square-faced disciple felt his skin crawl under that gaze and shouted, fierce on the outside but cowardly within, "What are you looking at?! Scared now? I'm telling you, it's too late! Once Elder Lü comes out of seclusion, your time will be up!"

When Si Chen still said nothing, he grew bolder, his voice rising. "Hey! Brat! I'm talking to you..."

Si Chen ignored him completely. His gaze kept moving until he had looked over everyone in the courtyard. Only then did he ask a question that left them all baffled.

"Everyone's here, right?"

Zhao Qinghe froze, unable to understand what he meant. Everyone else was equally bewildered.

Si Chen patiently explained.

"I came to kill you."

"...?!"

Everyone, inside and outside the gate, went rigid.

Only then did they realize that just now... he had been counting heads!

He wasn't afraid, nor had he come to beg for mercy. He was checking... whether any fish might slip through the net?!

Zhao Qinghe's mind went blank. "You... have you gone mad?!"

He could not begin to understand what the boy before him was thinking. "Do you have any idea where you are?! Elder Lü is in seclusion right inside!"

Si Chen remained unmoved and merely nodded. "I know. Once he comes out, I'll kill him too."

Buzz-

This time, not only the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect disciples but even the crowd outside erupted like a boiling pot! Mad! This man was absolutely mad!