Pathway

The free sky blazes blue. Ju Feng who was already disoriented from the use of the portal, had to cover his eyes for the sun light was too bright. Once he got adjusted, he let out a soft gasp as he smelled the fresh air around him and let out a genuine smile. He looked at the green trees standing proudly, strongly, free and healthy. He could spot some juicy red fruits hanging above on the trees.

He looked around in amazement. The flowers were radiant and beautiful, swaying with the wind. Oh the wind, that nice breeze against his face with the wonderful smell of roses met his nose. He heard the faint sound of chirping above and saw birds soar across the sky. The warm gentle sun shone on him, filling his body with warmth but he took no notion of it for the beauty was to great.

Lost in the sad enjoyment of the scenery, he nearly collided with the three sect Savants, the enlightened ones. They were the school safe-keepers, roaming the internal premises of the school, constantly checking for the safety of the sect and security discrepancies.

"You! Stop right there."

Realizing they were addressing him, he quickly glanced at where he came from but there was no door there. Then, he knew he was in some sort of troubles and his mind rang. "Why, Senior Hypatios?"

"Why are you sneaking around in a restricted area?"

"And, why are you not in your school attire?"

"You're one of the outer disciples, aren't you? Oh, I see. Are you trying to hide from participating in the competition?"

"Or, do you think these Ten Cloud spirit fruits will help you? Foolish boy you are."

The savants asked simultaneously while holding Ju Feng on a spot with their will. Ju Feng looked around and sighed inside. Even without them holding in place, he wouldn't run anywhere. Where would he run to anyway? Even the portal door had disappeared.

"Please forgive me seniors, I didn't mean to enter this place intentionally. It was by accident."

Ju Feng pleaded with them. How could he have entered a place like this on his own? Only if they knew how he got here, maybe they would have pitied him.

"Accident? Accident your head. As it is with the rules of the Flying Stars sect, sneaking around in the restricted area, trying to steal some Ten Cloud spirit fruits, trying to dodge the upcoming competition."

"You'll be cutting fifty bamboo trees that must be arranged in rolls of ten each."

"One week of solitary solitude, to think of your actions and ask for forgiveness."

"And, one week of sweeping the school premises. Now follow us."

They led him to the outer hall of the sect which was pretty big with many sect stewards busy preparing and arranging the outer disciples for the competition that would be starting on the same morning and handed him over to one of the sect stewards. The learned ones. Some of them were graduates of the sect while some were inducted into the sect based on their quality strength and skills.

"Find him a robe, then take him to the bamboo forest and make sure he cut fifty bamboo stems. We will be checking later."

The steward acknowledged the Savants and waited for them to depart before turning to Ju Feng. He looked him with eyes being given to a serial trouble maker. He had been having a relatively hard day already, now he had to stay in the bamboo forest supervising an idiot trouble maker.

"Follow me. And, for heavens tears, no talking and no stupid sound making."

Ju Feng really wanted to ask some questions but he had just been told to maintain his peace, so he cautiously sighed and followed him. The steward kept to himself on their journey to The bamboo forest, giving Ju Feng no chance of knowing the things he wanted to find out.

The place they came to wasn't just a bamboo forest but a bamboo planet. Covering hundreds of acres of land, the bamboo forest was densely populated with big bamboo trees. It spread in all directions like an ocean of bamboo trees, it really deserved to be a world on its own.

They navigated the forest for a time before they came to an area where there was a recent bamboo cutting activity. They surely had a pattern of cutting the bamboo trees.

"We're here now, you can start cutting from the right side. If you finish on time maybe you can participate in the competition and I can get to watch. So please, hurry up."

There was no other option for him than to cut the bamboo trees. The steward was at the early stage of evanesce core, hence, he didn't fancied his chances of escaping, so he wouldn't risk it. Particularly when he wasn't sure if the door would open for him even if he managed to reach it. It would only bring more punishments anyways, more dire punishments.

He took his mind of it and concentrated on the task at hand. The bamboo trees. He looked at the bamboo trees again. How in heaven's tears, would they call these things bamboo trees?

The bamboo trees were no simple or ordinary bamboo trees, they were extremely thick and strong like timber. These were no bamboo trees, these should be called oak trees. For a Juchi or a Lianchi cultivator, it would have been seriously challenging. But, he was a Zhuji cultivator of the early stage, he should be able to breeze through the bamboo with ease despite all these obstacles.

Or so he thought.

It would be the first time he would actually use his Chi energy to accomplish a task, thus, he pumped enough Chi into his body. With complete focus, he raised the axe and it fell on the bamboo tree with a clean swing. But to his surprise, the moment the axe touched the bamboo tree, it sent back a reflective shock that spread through his body making him sprawled on the floor.