Chapter 124 - Fear the Heavens

[Table of Contents]

The young jailer sent a group of eager volunteers into the dojo. They were accompanied by another group of madlanders.

Soon, the stash was brought out, and the crimes were uncovered.

This dojo was a vigilante ring, a group of avengers who had been behind the murders of dozens of innocent mortal families throughout Dim Gold City over the past three years. From an old couple of orchard workers in Upper Town West to a murder of newlyweds three weeks ago, each unfair death committed against madlanders was tallied with a stone in their dojo.

And they paid it back with ten times the vengeance.

“Did you know about this?” Yung asked the Free Sparrow Gang executive. No answer came back.

“How terrifying.”

“See, told ya! Madlanders ain’t just poor puppies getting kicked. They have claws and fangs, and when no one’s watching, they bite harder than fiends!”

“Watch your mouth!”

Both Dim Gold City natives and the madlanders were rife with emotion. The tension threatened to burst.

But it didn’t.

For there was an azure wind swirling in the heavens.

What would Yung choose? Would he side with the slums no matter what? Or would he keep his word of justice?

“Oppression did not grant them the right to kill,” Yung said with a stern face. “Did the old couple from the orchard oppress them? Did the newlyweds hold knives to their throats?”

“Traitor!” the madlander woman, mother of one of the teens, cried. “Youjin dog! You should know how we’re treated. So why—”

“Enough!” A loud voice echoed like the break of a mountain.

It was Ziyou Maque.

The crowd parted, and he strode in with Ziyou Ling and other gang executives.

“Leader! Please, this Youjin dog wants to take away my son. It was just one mistake. I know he was just confused and—”

“One doesn’t kill innocents in confusion. Not with such detailed plans,” Yung said, still going through the scrolls full of plots unearthed from the dojo.

“You!” The woman screamed.

“Wrap them up, then throw them on the carts,” Yung said, and the crowd of city folk cheered while a sombre mood fell upon the madlanders.

“What are you planning, lad?” Ziyou Maque asked Yung with a tired face. “Why you gotta make this noise when the world’s gone to hell?”

Today had been a strange day. The heavens had literally upended a hidden nest of cultists in his backyard, and about twelve other direct cultivators in his gang were now crippled.

Not to mention this whole dojo getting blasted by lightning.

In total, the madlander slums lost about a hundred cultivators today.

“I almost got assassinated today,” Yung said. “I would have died if not for the lightning tribulations.”

“…Do you know who’s behind it?” Ziyou Maque asked.

“I do. It’s a good chance to make sure nothing like that ever happens again,” Yung said. He didn’t explain further.

They stared at each other, one sitting on the cart's box, the other standing at full height with a mean glare.

Ziyou Maque sighed. “Did the tribulation happen to save you from the assassin, or did the assassinations cause the tribulation to happen?”

“The tribulations caused the assassination to happen, technically.” Yung sighed. If not for the Enclave, perhaps the cat would have struck when least expected. He was confident he could still detect the Scarlet Thread of Intention, but perhaps surviving that attempt would be harder.

“Do you know what these lightning tribulations even are?” Ziyou Maque asked.

“A Sanctified Enclave just formed,” Yung said.

<Graceful Wind: M’lady killed an Evil Wraith.>

“Nyanya killed an Evil Wraith. This is her reward,” Yung said.

“So it really is a Sanctified Enclave,” Maque said with a grimace. “Do you know the laws?”

Yung shook his head. “I can’t say.”

Ziyou Maque sighed.

“The ones who fell all have skeletons hidden in their closets,” Yung said. He turned to the crowd. “It doesn’t matter if the sinner is a madlander, a native ren, or a visiting yao. Justice applies to all equally, and today, the heavens granted us their wrath.” He pointed at the cart loaded with burnt mummies, each barely alive, each the cause of innumerable tragedies. “These are but a fraction of sinners from Dim Gold City, merely those who were punished in White Town. I don’t doubt that by the time I leave the Madlander Slums, perhaps two or three more carts will be full.”

Yung stopped. He took in the apprehension from the slum residents and the confused glee from the city folk.

“After this, we go north! To the Lower Town. To Upper Town West. And finally, to the Dim Gold Citadel!” Yung declared, and the crowd fell silent.

“Justice applies to all equally. The Su Fox Clan will guarantee it. I will guarantee it. So if you want to see sinners punished and the laws upheld, follow me. Spread the word. Today, it isn’t madlander versus native ren. It isn’t the weak versus the strong. But it’s good versus evil. And good will prevail!”

Yung ended his declaration with a grand sweep of his hand. For a second, the azure wind blocked all other sound but his voice. In the next moment, the crowd burst out in cheers.

Madlander, native ren, old and young.

Ziyou Maque rubbed his temples. “Tricky brat. The only thing you cause is a headache.”

The teens’ mother was still crying for her own version of justice in the background, surrounded by many other madlanders. A few of them howled with her. But others had more complicated outlooks.

They weren’t stupid, nor were they delusional.

What the group from this dojo had done was evil, taking their anger out on innocent townsfolk.

There was no justice in protecting them.

Ziyou Maque sighed. “Give us those bandages. This one will personally see to it. And we’ll get another cart.”

Yung nodded. “We’ll talk about the Enclave and all the changes to come soon.”

“When?”

“Nanya will be back soon,” Yung said with a look that brooked no further questions.

“I’ll join ye,” Ziyou Maque said.

One by one, the madlander sinners were brought and piled on the carts.

First, those from the dojo. Then, burnt but living husks from other places in the slums. Finally, another thirty-odd cultists centered around a respectable executive of the Free Sparrow Gang, one who was at the peak of the 12th stage Blood Refining.

“It’s the vixen, isn’t it? What diabolical bullshit is she up to now?” Ziyou Ling said. Some of the teen vigilante murderers were her friends. They even played football together.

And before that, they roamed the slums, a little army of troublemakers.

Ling did not feel good about this. She knew in her gut that the vixen was up to no good.

“Now, what in the mad heavens would make you think she’s up to bad things?” Yung grinned.

“It’s her we’re talking about. She did all that crap in the caves to prove a point; she can do this crap outside of it to prove a lesser one.” Ling looked at Yung, then kicked a pebble. “Master sent a transmission to me. She wants me to join her. But I’ll walk with you. It’s not fair if I don’t see you slap the Youjin clan’s face too.”

“Feel free,” Yung shrugged.

“…I know I shouldn’t ask… but is Youjin Chao safe?”

“Why do you ask?”

“What if he gets hit by a bolt?”

“The kid’s safe,” Su Haochen said with a yawn. He fed the mule fiend, Lord Thunderboom the Magnificent, a vial of sparkly liquid. The fiend burped fire, no farts. Its muscles bulged, and Yung swore he could see Chaos qi churning in his Link Sight.

“Heh. Thunderboom!” the tod laughed.

The fiend would have no trouble pulling the carts.

Ziyou Ling clicked her tongue. “Crazy foxes.” She turned to Yung, her hair ruffled by the wind as it blew dried grass across the slum streets. “It’s good he’s safe. When will you let him go?”

“Wow. You were head over heels for him, and then how quickly that love turned into hate. But was that an act? Don’t tell me you still want to take his scraps?” Yung said, amazed.

“I never hated him, okay? Not like that,” Ling said defensively. “It’s just that… he’s not a bad guy. He’s just too tunnel-visioned on his…” Ling shook her head. Her hair was let loose today, with black and silver strands glittering in the light of the sun and stars.

She still wore her traditional madlander garb, though. It was strange; she was part of a sect now. But Yung saw no motifs of the Dawn Dragon Throne.

“Master has been preoccupied with Chiri, that Fiery Wine Lemur,” Ling explained. “She doesn’t have time to teach us much. Says we should be glad to have free time now ‘cause we won’t have much later. I know that’s an excuse. She hasn’t even granted us sect robes. She just wants to play with the lemur. I’m pretty sure she’s projecting something there. Worse yet, she’s weirdly interested in Chao now. Look, she also wants to know his whereabouts to calm Chiri down. It’s been a pain trying to make the lemur lass eat and drink, but Chiri won’t calm down without Chao, and the angrier Chiri gets, the angrier Master gets, and she keeps saying dangerous stuff. It’s all a fucking mess!”

“Not my fault.” Yung rolled his eyes.

“No one said it was! J-Just let Chao out until Chiri calms down, and then lock him up or whatever.”

“You really want him locked up?”

“I think Master looks at Chiri weird. Chiri officially belongs to Chao. It wouldn’t matter if the foxes weren’t involved, but they are, so Master can’t force her ways. She wants to… persuade Chao.”

“Persuade how?” Yung gulped.

“…that’s what I don’t like.” Ling squinted painfully. “She’s been looking into Essence qi and Extreme Yang Physiques recently. Chao awakened his in the caves, right? Triple Dantian.”

[Damn. Is this gonna turn into a soap opera?] Yung was amazed at Chao’s protagonist aura, then at the Flareful Empress’s shameless gall.

The second cart was packed. The third and fourth too.

Lord Thunderboom the Magnificent growled, and the strange caravan made its way north, with an inflated crowd of thousands.

This many people could have led to a stampede, but the azure wind was there, as were the shadows and the madlander cultivators. The other fox, a tod in black like Haochen, commanded magical arts at Yung’s disposal too.

“Hear ye, hear ye!” a young man shouted. It was none other than the jailer!

Gone was his trepidation and fear of the heavens.

With some encouragement from Yung and heavenly guarantees in the form of overwhelming power shown by Su Haochen (he had scattered the clouds after shooting a giant shadow fox snake thing at the sky), the jailer had zero qualms now.

His face was flushed, his messy hair fluttering in the wind as he walked in front of the carts holding a flag with the Fortune Fox Motif.

He screamed at the top of his lungs, “The heavens know the deeds of man! The heavens have seen the Youjin Clan and the Free Sparrow Gang, under the gracious leadership of the mighty Su Foxes, grant mortal men mercy. Grant food, shelter, medicine, and protection!” the young jailer said, spittle flying.

The mule now pulled eight carts, and they slowly made their way through the lower towns, nearing the edge of Upper Town West.

Trailing them was a long line. Folks from White Town and the madlander slums.

Slowly, townsfolk from the lower townhouses peeked out.

They gasped as Yung tossed members of the Thrice Scaled Serpent gang, a local overlord and owner of casinos, onto the cart like sacks of vegetables.

“But behold!” the young jailer said. “Even with the grand mercy shown, there lie evildoers in the city who continue to take advantage of the common folk, of the little folk! But the heavens see all. First, it looked at our city, for we did good. But after it saw us, it saw the evil lurking below.”

The young jailer had a way with words. His speech was melodious, his eyes bloodshot, and his veins bulging. His words did not grate on the ear.

He was the centre of attention!

Everyone waited with bated breath for what he had to say. Never in his life had he been face to face with such glory! His life was complete.

No! It was just the beginning! Something stirred in his heart.

Look, the fair lasses saw nothing but him.

Look, the elders nodded at his revelations.

Look! Even the Youjin Clan and the Free Sparrow Gang cultivators dared not interrupt his truths.

The young jailer’s blood boiled hotter. He was at the peak of the dao. His qi reached the heavens, then down below. From the flag, qi also entered his body.

Behind him, Yung was amazed. “Is that worship?”

Su Haochen nodded. “It’s usually rare for this to happen without an altar. But I guess the flag with the totem works too, with this much emotion directed at it. Albeit slowly. He’s awakening his Heart Palace Dantian.”

In front of them, the young jailer yelled, “The heavens saw evil! The heavens punished evil! Fellow man and ren, no need to fear. For we are not to suffer. It is the evildoers who waste their talent of cultivation by making us suffer that need to cower! All hail the mighty Su Clan, all hail the heavens!”

As he finished his sermon, his body lit up with qi. Yung felt a strange connection forming between him, Silky, and the young jailer.

It gave him… ideas.

The crowd also saw the amazing spectacle. They heard the words. They believed in them.

“All hail the mighty Su Clan!” they cheered.

““All hail the heavens!”” they demanded!