"Brother Lin Cheng, please do not let it reach the ears of Sect leader Xu, I promise not to go out at night again."
Lin Cheng watched as the delicate beauty bowed to her waist, pleading with her fellow disciple not to inform their sect leader of her impropriety, knowing the punishment for break a sect rule was to knee in the ancestral hall for five days straight with no food or water served during those time.
"You promise not to walk alone from now on?"
"Yes Brother Lin Cheng, I give you my solemn word that I would not go out at night anymore, as long as you don"t tell sect leader of my indiscretion."
"Alright! Junior sister Xu Hui you can raise your head up, let me walk you back."
"Okay Brother Lin Cheng."
The two cultivators from the BaoXu sect begun heading back in the direction of the lodging reserved for female cultivators, when Lin Cheng saw they had gotten close to the place, he stopped to bid his fellow disciple farewell.
"This is where I leave you, since I can"t go any further. I"ll watch from here to see that you have safely gone inside."
"Thank you Brother Lin Cheng, I bid you farewell!"
"I bid you the same Junior sister disciple."
Lin Cheng and Xu Hui gave each other a salute, before parting ways, while the senior disciple watched as his junior sister disciple waved for one last time, before heading to the purple wooden lodging. The male cultivators were strictly prohibited from venturing towards where the female cultivators resided, this was to maintain the dignity and morality of the sect.
The image from the last time he saw her alive sent the cultivator into a sea of sorrow. He had only gone out for several days on a mission at dawn to a neighboring sect the ZaoQiang sect and returned late at night on the day she died. All the senior disciples including him were called as witness to her death, as everyone stood in a circle with their sect leader standing at the center where the body of his junior sister disciple was found.
"Sect leader! We need to find out how junior sister disciple Xu died! If not her spirit would know no peace!"
"Yes! We need to find her killer!"
"What are you saying?! That one of the disciples from BaoXu sect killed my second cousin! If word got out that there disciples from the BaoXu sect are now killing one another! How would I ever raise my head up high among other sect leaders! BaoXu sect has fallen in pugilistic rank! Rather than exposing what happened this night! We need to get back to in rank as number 2 even if we can"t be number 1!"
The sect leader of the BaoXu sect never alluded to his relations.h.i.+p with junior disciple Xu Hui, everyone knew they were related since they bore the same family name, because no one in the sect shared the "Xu" family name except those two, it was forbidden to speak about it since, the sect leader never had a child of his own.
"Forgive us Sect leader Xu! We only want retribution for our junior sister disciple, if she died unjustly."
Sect leader Xu gave a cold look at each of the senior disciples gathered, he specially asked that none of the female senior disciples be called to witness the death of their fellow disciple.
"Sect leader Xu, I know moving up in ranks is very important in order to remain command the respect of other sects, isn"t it wrong to leave her death unresolved. How can any of us find peace in our heart knowing that we turned a blind eye in uncovering junior sister disciple Xu Hui"s death?! Wouldn"t the heavens rain down punishment for allowing such an evil act to be swept away?"
Lin Cheng had been quiet all this time, when other disciples spoke in discontent of what the sect leader was doing regarding the death of one of his disciples. Deep within him, Lin Cheng wondered what could have led to her death, he remembered that she promised not to step out at night after he caught her walking very late at night alone.
"Did she break her word?! Or did someone from the sect lure her out to her death?!" That"s right! Feng Yueming! He must know something about junior sister disciple!"
The moment Lin Cheng thought about the other disciple, he turned to face him, "Feng Yueming, you and junior sister disciple Xu have a good relations.h.i.+p with each other, do you know of her tendencies to go out at night?"
Feng Yueming looked at Lin Cheng as he tried not to let his eyes waver from those of the other disciple, it was true he knew of Xu Hui"s nightly walks, but if he said anything regarding that, not only would the others look at him with suspicion, but he would also be punished for breaking the sect rule and possibly ostracized by his fellow disciples until his name was clear of any suspicion.
"Brother Lin Cheng, I do not know what you speak of, Sister Xu was a maiden that conducted herself in a manner befitting a disciple from the BaoXu sect. Please do not stain her honor by saying she steals out of her room at night!"
Feng Yueming spoke with so much vigor while standing up to the disciple that he was being questioned about. When the other disciples heard Lin Cheng question him, their eyes suddenly narrowed in wariness, but after they heard the way Feng Yueming spoke about Xu Hui that was when the wariness in their eyes was replaced with one of a.s.surance.
Lin Cheng for some reason could not bring himself to trust what the other disciple said, probably because his cultivation base and knowledge was higher than those of Feng Yueming, but regardless of the reason, his eyes faltered with deceit. He knew when the other disciples were taken in by his words, but Lin Cheng refused to believe a word that came out of Feng Yueming"s mouth.