Chapter 36: Face Off at the Rock Garden

Zen walked through the suburbs with the man from the Red Dragon Sect keeping an eye on hi,. On either side of the, were large estates, cut off from the rest of the world by high walls. They stopped before the house that Ma Xinqi was based, according to Yang Tai’s intel.

“You sure this is the house?” the man asked.

Zen nodded.

“Good, because if you’re wrong, you’re the one who is going to pay.”

“Pay?” Zen looked at him in confusion. “Pay for what?”

“This,” the man smirked before he threw a fire ball at the giant gate of the estate. The gates were blown open, allowing the man and Zen to walk through their burning metal.

-

Inside the estate, all personnel suddenly stiffened along with Ma Xinqi. They all made their way to the front, where they had a view of the two men coming their way.

“He found me?” Ma Xinqi said. “How’s that possible?”

Jun Nee joined them at the front, wanting to see what the commotion was about. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the very familiar looking pair walking towards the estate.

“Hey,” Ye Wuwen said, “That kid with the Red Dragon donkey, he was the one who we fought for Jun Nee.”

Ma Xinqi’s head whipped toward the little girl. “You know him?”

She grew frightened at his angry expression, shaking her head no.

“Lies!” Ye Wuwen slapped her to the ground. He crouched over her, sneering at her tearful eyes. “Its too coincidental that the boy who wanted you comes knocking on our door with the man whose hunting Master Ma Xinqi.” He raised his hand above her. “I ought to…”

“Wait,” Li Xueyun grabbed his hand.

Ye Wuwen looked up at her, “If you’re going to tell me not kill her because she’s a Black Butterfly…”

“If Jun Nee is a traitor, then she may be more useful alive than dead.” Li Xueyun said.

“Listen to her,” Ma Xinqi said. “Everyone else, secure the house! I’ll go and meet our guests.”

Ma Xinqi walked on the lawn, towards the two trespassers. He stopped some distance away from them and they did the same.

“May I ask who you trespassers are? Or shall I call the city guards first?” Ma Xinqi said.

“Go ahead, call the city guard.” The man said. “I’m sure they’d like to know about your illegal spirit coin operation here.”

Ma Xinqi smirked, “So you know about me?”

The man tilted his head, “So, you’re Ma Xinqi. By order of the Red Dragon Sect, under the directive of the Overlord himself, you are under arrest fro the illegal and counterfeit creation of spirit coins.” The man produced a document with the Overlord’s seal on the front. The document was an arrest warrant.

“Oh, that piece of paper means nothing to me.” Ma Xinqi said. “If you want to take me in, you’re going to have to do it by force.” Ma Xinqi summoned a sword from a storage stone.

“To think a commoner can be so disobedient,” the man from the Red Dragon Sect said before he dashed forward. There was a shockwave that floored Zen when the men clashed. He could hardly see the battle for the bright explosions that came off from the two fighting cultivators.

Zen could hardly believe it when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. He jumped only to find Jiahai crouching next to him.

‘Jiahai, you were able to follow me!”

“Yes, thanks to Yang Tai.” He helped Zen from the grassy floor.

“We need to get Jun Nee while they’re both distracted,” Zen said before taking off, being followed by Jiahai.

“I expected more security,” Jiahai said as he ran beside Zen.

“Me too,” Zen said. “But I’m not complaining. Let’s go around the back.”

They found a back entrance. Jiahai went to open the door but was immediately knocked away by a force from the door when he tried to turn the doorknob.

“Jiahai!” Zen knelt to his friend who was on the floor. “Are you okay?”

“That hurt,” Jiahai said, breathessly, his face growing red in pain. He sat up, with some assistance from Zen. “They have a block on the door. How are we to find your friend if we can’t even enter.”

Zen looked at the door before his hand shot into his pocket. He produced the necklace he had taken from Jun Nee. He marched toward the door.

“Zen, wait…” Jiahai warned but was ignored as Zen came closer to the door.

Zen hesitated with his hand centimetres away from the doorknob, remembering how painful the block felt. He took a breath and turned the handle. The door swung open and he looked back at Jiahai, lifting the necklace for him to see. “I have the key.”

“That would’ve been nice to know earlier,” Jiahai said as he walked in through with Zen.

They walked deeper into the house, past cushy couches and fine artwork. They neared a plush of pillows with Li Xueyun lying on them in leisure. She giggling when she saw the two boys.

“Oh look, its lover-boy, come to save his princess.”

“Where is she?” Zen said.

“Tut tut, don’t take that tone with me, boy.” she said, rising to her feet. She began approaching them.

Zen and Jiahai became aware of more women coming to surround them, forming a circle with them in the centre. They stood back to back, their fists raised.

“I warn you,” Zen said, “We are not above hitting girls.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Li Xueyun said, raising her hand and extending her already long painted nails with her qi, “You boys won’t be able to land a single blow on us ladies.”

“Then maybe what is needed is a man’s touch.” Zen and Jiahai looked toward the door where the voice came from, Yang Tai had just entered, quickly flanked by his friends.

“Yang Tai!” Zen said.

“You didn’t think we’d let you have all the fun, did you?” Yang Tai said.

The women broke their formation to face the older boys.

“I didn’t know there’d be such pretty girls here,” one of Tai’s friend, the one Zen and Jiahai had first met, said. “Ladies, instead of fighting, let us do what comes naturally to men and women, huh?”

“Hmpf, men are such scum.” Li Xueyun turned her nose up in disgust.

“You better get going,” Yang Tai said to Zen and Jiahai. “We’ve got this.”

They made to go deeper into the house but were stopped by one of the girls.

“Don’t,” Li Xueyun ordered the girl in their way. “Jun Nee is in the backyard at the stone garden. Just continue down the hallway and take two lefts.”

Zen tilted her head in confusion, ‘Why would you help us?”

She smiled, “I’m not helping you. If anything, I’m leading you to your deaths. She is guarded by Ye Wuwen and he is not happy at her betrayal. There’s no way you snot nosed brats will stand a chance against him.”

Zen clenched his teeth determinedly before running int the house, followed by a worried Jiahai.

-

“Zen,” Jiahai whispered as he and Zen ran to their destination, “Is what that lady said true? Do we stand no chance against this Ye Wuwen guy?”

“It’s a lie. He may be stronger but he’s weaker than her and we’re two, while he’s only one.”

“How strong is he?”

“He is a Novice cultivator.”

Jiahai gulped. He had only recently reached the third rank of Intermediary in his cultivation, so he doubted his ability to take on a cultivator at the level of Novice, which was the level immediately above Intermediary.

They walked out into the back garden, where they found a patch of sand with three black boulders on it. Atop one of the stones was Jun Nee, tied by a rope. Ye Wuwen smirked at the two boys.

“Ah, here comes the fodder.” He said standing to face them. “So boys, are you ready to die?”