Discipline and Lessons

"Regardless—" Ye Xian's voice cut in abruptly, as if accidentally interrupting Duan Mu, speaking directly to Ji Jue. "—striking without authorization and causing such a massive disturbance... to maintain the Association's standing, as your teacher, I cannot let this pass without taking action. "Don't count on participating in any other work. Starting today, you're assigned to the Recycling and Disposal Department." Under the shocked gazes of the crowd, Ye Xian said resolutely, "Unless you process four batches, don't bother coming back." The atmosphere in the room grew heavy once more, and someone audibly swallowed hard. The looks directed at Ye Xian shifted from horror to bafflement and shock. The other victims, who had still intended to keep groaning and wailing, fell completely silent upon hearing this, not daring to utter a peep. Only Ji Jue looked utterly bewildered. "What's the Recycling Department?" "The blockade of Quancheng is a matter of grave importance. Over the years, artisans from the Security Bureau and the Association have collaborated to manufacture a batch of isolation facilities to supply the ongoing consumption. "Once used, to prevent these alchemical creations that have absorbed corruptive pollution from circulating outside and causing contamination or destruction, they must be gathered together and disassembled by artisans. "The Recycling Department is where this work takes place." Professor Ye cast a cool glance at Ji Jue. "Do you understand now?" Working for extended periods in a place teeming with corruptive pollution was, for a Celestial Chosen, no different from an ordinary person spending every day in the high-radiation environment near a nuclear reactor. It was practically throwing one's life away! Furthermore, though they were named isolation facilities, the way those alchemical creations isolated anything was by absorbing the corruptive pollution that leaked out from Quancheng into themselves. To ensure they could function stably over long periods, artisans had poured their hearts and blood into crafting them with top-tier materials. Precisely because of that, the pollution contained within them was likely far more horrifying than the environment of Quancheng itself! No matter how thorough one's protection was or whether one possessed the Dissociation Art, actually processing four batches would cost at least half a lifetime's vitality. If something went wrong and one suffered corruption, one might well head straight to the ICU. Such a ruthless and brutal punishment sent a chill running through everyone present, not just Master Duan, who had just stepped forward to play peacemaker. *This is your personal student, damn it! It's not like you just picked him up off the street... If he were really some throwaway apprentice, why keep him at your side? And how could he have carved through over a dozen people like slicing vegetables?* *Why is she punishing him like an archenemy?* After nearly twenty years, everyone had assumed she had mellowed out. Who could have guessed that this madwoman was truly ruthless—ruthless to others, ruthless to herself, and even more fucking ruthless to her own student! Yet upon hearing this and realizing the consequences, Ji Jue didn't offer a single word of protest. He merely nodded and said impassively, "Understood." He seemed completely unshaken. Unfortunately, his slightly twitching face and trembling voice 'betrayed' him, making many who had initially demanded severe punishment feel a twinge of sympathy. Ye Xian gave them no chance to chime in, simply turning around. "Well, everyone, are my discipline and handling to your satisfaction?" Master Duan hesitated several times, wanting to speak, before finally shaking his head. "Actually, there really is no need to be this severe..." "Then what should I do? Scold him with a few words, raise the paddle high and let it down gently? I'm not capable of doing such things." Ye Xian scoffed. "If other apprentices can do it, my apprentice can do it just the same. No need for you to poke your noses into my business to show off your benevolence. "Now, Ji Jue has received his punishment!" With her hands clasped behind her back, she glanced at the awkward-looking artisans and said coldly, "What comes next is up to you all!" What came next? Take it lying down? Keep dreaming! Ji Jue—the one who 'could not bear the humiliation and was forced to fight back'—was practically being sentenced to death row by his own teacher! What about you bullies? Punish yourselves with three drinks? Forget how onlookers would view it later; Master Duan, who had been urged to step forward as peacemaker, would be the first not to let them off! Yet they couldn't kill them, nor did they want to beat them too severely. What to do? At this moment, as everyone's gazes shifted and crossed, they all ultimately settled at once on the middle-aged artisan who had been loudly denouncing Ji Jue in righteous fury just moments ago, and the female apprentice feigning death in his arms with her eyes closed. *You set the great precedent; you go first!* The artisan's face twitched. Several times he tried to speak, but under the weight of those piercing stares, he finally lowered his head powerlessly. Looking down at his terrified apprentice, he gritted his teeth and forced out: "Instigating provocation, slandering a master, and causing such a major scandal... Starting today—" Just as he was about to continue, a voice came from nearby. Ji Jue. As if merely remarking in passing, he said to his teacher, "Teacher, that bracelet of hers looks pretty nice." Ye Xian glanced at him, seemingly catching on, and nodded with feigned regret. "Yes, quite nice." In that instant, the artisan's eyes lit up as inspiration struck. He dumped the student from his arms straight onto the floor and, ignoring her struggles, yanked the bracelet right off her wrist. Bending low, he scurried over, ignoring the astonished looks of the onlookers, and forced a smile. "A humble token of goodwill, nothing grand—please accept it as compensation for the offense Mr. Ji suffered..." "Huh?" Ji Jue stared with wide eyes in shock. "Is that really appropriate?" "Of course, of course! Nothing could be more appropriate!" The artisan endured the heartache of parting with it, his smile twisting as he forcibly shoved the bracelet into Ji Jue's pocket. Yet Ji Jue sighed, waving his hand in polite refusal. "Aiya, that's not what I meant." "I know, I know, it's just a small token!" "Oh—whoa—ah—" Ji Jue tried helplessly to decline, but in the end, compelled by the artisan's vehement insistence, he was 'forced' to accept the blessed creation as an apology. He could only let out a soft sigh: "Well, all right then. I really feel bad taking this." Seeing that Ji Jue was willing to be lenient, the artisan didn't even have time to mourn his loss. Grabbing his apprentice by the hair, he bolted straight for the infirmary; if he didn't leave now, he feared he might beat her to death on the way. What followed proceeded naturally. Ji Jue said, "That ring looks pretty decent too." "Indeed," Ye Xian nodded. ... "The gloves are mediocre, but since there's a pair, they'll do." "Then they'll do. The earrings are fine, though add in a material of equal grade and that should about cover it." ... "This one feels a bit lacking." "Then—" "Wait!" A grimacing artisan gritted his teeth and helplessly yanked the bangle off his wrist, offering it with both hands. Ye Xian paid him no heed, acting as if she couldn't see him. Not until he turned and held it out toward Ji Jue did Ji Jue reluctantly open his second pocket, sighing and motioning for him to stuff it in. *Mind you, I didn't ask for this!* And so, witnessed by multiple masters, a brutal execution turned into an officially sanctioned shakedown. The blind fools had been beaten senseless, only to weepingly strip off their valuables to pay ransom, groaning weakly on stretchers like they were on their last legs... To make matters worse, Ye Xian had a venomously sharp eye. Ordinary trinkets couldn't fool her in the slightest; her demands landed with surgical precision right at the absolute ceiling of what the artisans could bear. Stick your neck out and take one blow; pull your neck back and you'd take multiple blows. In the end, it turned into the awkward spectacle of the victims scrambling over each other to pay their ransoms. Only Zhou Chong stood off to the side, his complexion turning greener by the second. When his turn arrived, he simply gave a cold sneer. He had no intention of bowing his head. With a flick of his cane, he tapped Zhou Cheng's shattered jaw on the floor. "This blind trash offended Professor Ye's distinguished disciple, yet Worthy Nephew Ji graciously spared his life. No need to show me any face—just beat him to death and be done with it!" "All right." Ji Jue nodded without a second thought and drew his pistol. Without the slightest hesitation, he pulled the trigger! He didn't even leave room for bargaining. When Zhou Chong remembered that the chamber was still loaded with that corrupted bullet he had seen with his own eyes, he couldn't keep his composure any longer. His face drained of color. He reflexively reached out. "Wait!" In his shock, he didn't even hold back, forcibly warping space and freezing the air around Zhou Cheng. Yet to his dismay... nothing happened. The trigger clicked, but there was no gunshot. No bullet flew out. "Huh? Strange... what happened?" Ji Jue looked puzzled. He brought the gun close to inspect it, clicked the trigger several times, and finally had an epiphany. "Oops, looks like the primer got damp." As he spoke, he ejected the chambered corrupted bullet. Zhou Chong finally let out a sigh of relief. Not even caring about losing face or being played for a fool, he was just about to speak when an unheralded boom rang out. *Bang!* Muzzle flash flared. On the floor, Zhou Cheng, who had been playing dead, let out a piercing shriek as he clutched one of his legs, wailing in agony. Ji Jue stood dumbfounded, staring down at the gun in his hand. His finger clearly wasn't on the trigger. "Ah, it went off!" he cried out in shock, smacking the gun angrily. "Why does this piece of junk have a delay? It's trying to get me killed!" Beside them, Zhou Chong was trapped between fury and helplessness, his expression gradually resembling that of a dead horse. He glared fixedly at Ji Jue for a long while before letting out a quiet sigh. "What a fine disciple." "Thank you for the compliment." Ji Jue didn't shrink back at all, merely nodding. "I'll keep doing my best." Zhou Chong said nothing more. Gesturing toward his grandson on the floor, who was half-dead with agony, he signaled the others to haul him up and turned to leave with his entourage. Ji Jue watched them leave and couldn't help remarking, "Masters sure are something. Not even a token gesture." Beside him, Ye Xian flicked her wrist, tossing the Heart-Poison Arrow Zhou Chong had left behind into Ji Jue's arms, telling him to put it away. From this day forth, this item belonged to Ji Jue. With that, she gave a slight nod to the remaining artisans and turned to leave. Ji Jue trailed behind her all the way back to her quarters. Once the door was shut, seeing Professor Ye lift her teacup with an impassive expression, he let out an awkward smile, suddenly feeling nervous. "Will stirring up all that trouble affect your work here?" "It will, but it works out. It saves me the trouble of saying harsh words to them." Ye Xian dismissed it casually. "If I really wanted to avoid trouble, I wouldn't have brought you along. A trifle like this is well within what I can handle." *Even this counts as a trifle?* In broad daylight, Ji Jue felt that if he'd put in just a bit more effort, it would have been enough to bathe the Taiyi Association in blood, yet in his teacher's eyes, this wasn't even a big deal? Then what qualified as a big deal? Killing a master? Ji Jue didn't understand, but he was profoundly shaken. Even while profoundly shaken, he didn't forget protocol. He obediently set the two large sacks he was hauling onto the table, picked out a few pieces of defensive equipment he could currently use, and offered the rest as a contribution. He couldn't use so many anyway. Then Ye Xian flung the sacks back at him. "Dispose of them yourself. Do you think my place is a dump?" Ye Xian nonchalantly set down her teacup and suddenly asked, "What did you learn from today?" "Uh..." Ji Jue was caught flat-footed. After pondering for a good while, he ventured tentatively, "Always seize the initiative? Never tolerate provocation? Or... convince people with reason?" It couldn't possibly be beating up everyone on sight and thrashing them until they kowtowed, could it? Ye Xian looked at him as though looking at an idiot. "If reason worked, what would we need alchemy for?" She said, "Don't hold too many illusions. The Association is the most pragmatic place of all—even more pragmatic than the Wild Gathering. It's just that everyone puts on a civilized facade until they end up believing it themselves." Survival of the fittest and the law of the jungle were the creed of the White Stag, but the capable rising to the top and the accomplished leading the way were equally the principles of the Embers. It was just that one manifested through raw power, while the other focused more on knowledge and talent. At their core, there was no difference. If you were capable, you were formidable; if you weren't, kneel down and shut up. It was that simple. All these years, Ye Xian had run rampant without restraint, giving a headache to anyone who crossed her path. Wasn't it simply because she was stronger than everyone else, and even more Ember-like than all of them? Over all these years, in the perception of the Association's upper echelons, if anyone was most likely to become the next grandmaster of this era, Ye Xian would unquestionably top the list—hardly anyone could even contest her for the number one spot. "The only thing you should learn is not to become like them. No matter how much the weak howl, they are still clowns. Only when you are strong enough that no one dares criticize you do you earn the right to walk your own path." Ye Xian paused, giving a self-deprecating laugh. "I didn't learn that truth until I was twenty-five. You're better off than I was." Ji Jue wanted to say something, but she waved him down. Whether she couldn't be bothered to hear false modesty and flattery, or simply didn't care if he wanted to object, remained unclear. "Enough. Scram and get to work!" Having been his teacher for this long, if she still hadn't noticed that the growth of Ji Jue's abilities relied on dismantling gear, Ye Xian could have plucked out her own eyeballs and stepped on them for fun. There were many things she simply couldn't be bothered to vocalize. He beat the people, collected the money, and smoothly got this rat dropped right into the rice jar for a deluxe all-you-can-eat buffet. At this thought, Ye Xian's knuckles suddenly hardened. *How did this brat end up taking every single advantage?* *And he ran off so fast!* *Should I call him back and give him a thrashing?* *** At the outpost, inside the quiet administrative building, top floor. In the Haizhou Warden's office, the secretary bent down, retrieved the document the old man had accidentally dropped on the floor, placed it back on the desk, then pulled out a handkerchief to carefully wipe the drool from the corner of his mouth. "There seemed to be the sound of tremors just now," he sighed softly. "Could something have happened?" "Nothing... much..." Leaning back in his lounger, Lord Tao slurred, "All... small matters..." Yet for some reason, the corners of his mouth seemed to curl slightly upward. As if in amusement.