"Ma Jie, did you see what saw?" A boy around eleven years old said to another as he climbed the trunk of a tree to sit on it's branch.
"Chen Bo, what did you see?" Ma Jie asked already seated on the tree branch.
"Old Fu follows Pang Ling into the washing room. Do you think, …do you think they are picking soap?." Chen Bo asked, snickering a little as he found the term funny.
"Ah, keep your voice down. What if somebody hears and tells Sir Pang?." Ma Jie quickly covered Chen Bo's mouth, he glanced around nervously. After confirming that nobody was around, he relaxed a little as he said. "Well I heard that it is because Sir Pang and the Mu clan are in a serious quarrel that some of the Mu clan disciples have gone missing, so they might want to assassinate Pang Ling to get back at him. That is why Old Fu has to protect him even when he takes his bath" Ma Jie said, keeping his voice as low as possible to prevent others from hearing.
Neither of them realized that at the bottom of the tree a boy around their age was listening in on their conversation. He could not talk with them because they were scared of him, so he could only listen. He could not make sense of some of the things they were saying, so he decided to ask someone.
Entering his father's office, his father was busy writing something. But he still raised his head to acknowledge him before going back to what he was doing.
The boy took a seat on the only other chair in the well furnished office that has shelves filled with books on both sides.
"Pang Ling, I'm a little busy. Come back later or tell Old Fu to get you what you want." Pang De said without raising his head.
"Okay Father," Pang Ling said moving towards the exit ,"I was just about to ask what it means to pick soap. I will go and ask Old Fu" Pang Ling added innocently.
Pang De being momentarily stunned, putting his quill down for a second, he asked "where did this come from?" His tone eerily calm, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes which Pang Ling blissfully ignored or just didn't notice.
Pang Ling, surprised that his father finally wants to talk to him, quickly told him everything, and who he heard it from. As he said all these things he didn't expect his Father to fly into rage. He has never seen his Father this angry, he was threatening to send Chen Bo and Ma Jie families out of the clan. Due to Pang Ling's consistent begging, he finally yielded. But not without punishment, he gave Chen Bo five hundred paddle strikes. Ma Jie, two hundred for not reporting him immediately, thereby acting as an accomplice.
In his feat of rage, Pang De might have made matters worse. Because when word of the punishment went around, the previously baseless rumor suddenly gained a footing. People started talking.
" There has to be some truth in what they said right?"
"If it was not true, they would have just ignored it."
" Do you think they really….?"
When word circled back to Pang De, he was extremely furious. The entire point of trying to stop the rumors from spreading uncontrollably, so the Mu clan doesn't catch wind of it. But it seems that not only do they know, they already control the narrative. This has given them a more advantageous position in this war that is no longer physical but political.
Now, when Pang Ling walks around, he gets strange looks from people and some even avoids him. He knows it was caused by what he talked about with his father the other day but he doesn't know why. With a troubled heart, he decided to ask the only person that was still talking to him asides his father, who has been in a bad mood lately.
He told Old fu what he wanted to know that his father said for him to meet him if he needed anything. Old Fu understanding that the young master will not let it go, obliged. Upon hearing the meaning of what has been on his mind and caused him a lot of troubles, Pang Ling face concorted into something ugly. It was like his little mind was about to break. He started murmuring and whispering to himself.
"I would never!"
"Where did they get that idea from"
"It doesn't even make any sense"
"I would never"
.....
"I would never!" Pang Ling thought as he ran towards the man that just touched his reverse scale, nobody has said anything remotely close to this issue in more than a decade and now this man wants to stir up another rumor. Did he want the strange looks, avoidance, whispering to each other when he passes to return. No, he never let that happen again.
Release his aura at the late stage of spirit realm, he put everything into that one punch –hoping to kill him with one strike.
"Wow!, Young master Ling has broken through to the late stage of the spirit realm." One of the boys behind did not miss this opportunity for flattery.
"Already?, didn't he just breakthrough about six months ago." The second quickly followed.
The ladies were also showering him with compliments and praises, but he heard none of it, he's entire focus was to kill the fat ass in front of him.
Exerting his full might, the punch was carried a terrifying power, strong enough to kill Beginner realm and injure some Intermediate realm cultivator by the raw force that covered a twenty centimeter radius of the punch alone.
As the punch descended, a hand moved. No one even saw it move to smack Pang Ling. Receiving the casual backhanded slap on the chest, it did not seems to carry any force.
There was no shattering explosion or loud bang, it was just a simple motion.
But the result was devastating, Pang Ling got blasted back, crashing into his friends as he vomits mouths full of blood. It was obvious he was heavily injured and his life was hanging by a thread.
"Young master Ling!" The boys shouted as they tried to wake him up.
Suddenly an Old man arrived in a blur, rushed to the boy. He slipped a pill into his mouth, forcing him to swallow. The fat man had noticed Old man around, but he didn't care who he was or what he wanted once he sensed his cultivation realm –which was at the initial stage of grandmaster.
"Old Fu, will he be ok?" One of the boys asked, already crying. He was scared for himself and his family if something happened to the young master of the Pang family.
"He will be fine, as long as you take him to the Pang Family house now." Old Fu said as the boy on the ground already regained some color after taking the pill.
"What about you" They asked, thinking it would be faster if Old Fu took him.
His eyes burned with killing intent as he stared at the fat man. "I will take care of this trash and join you shortly. Go!" He responded
Without wasting any time, they stood up and carried, the ladies included. They knew if anything should happen to him, their lives would be over.
Before Old Fu could unleash his fury, a man came over from the back room of the inn. He looked sophisticated in his scholar hanfu, carrying a certain refined but commanding air around him. A badge on his chest gleamed, identifying him as the manager. He released his early stage grandmaster aura stopping Old Fu in his tracks but the pot bellied man didn't even blink.
"Sorry, no fighting in the premises of the inn. If you want to fight, take it outside." The manager said.
"What do you mean no fighting in the inn, I was just attacked in the premises of your inn as a paying customer. I could have lost my life!" The fat man seized the moment.
The manager's gaze didn't waver "I'm highly doubt that. But, Mei Yun, please upgrade our guest to a better suite as a compensation." he disappeared into the backroom.
Grinding his teeth, Old Fu forced himself to withdraw. He lifted Pang Ling into his own arms and carried him personally toward the Pang estate, leaving one boy behind to keep watch.
——
A few hours later.
Cling
The bell of the inn door rang as the entrance door of the inn opened. The people in Azure guards' uniform, a man and a woman, walked in.
"We are looking for a fat man with a cat" the woman inquired "could you please point us in the right direction?."