The Jester of Apocalypse

Marven walked into the courtyard only to be faced with a black-robed duo. These were likely elders of the Onyx Scorpion sect or, as he assumed, an elder and the sect master. He didn’t recognize them by looks, but he recognized the spirit of the elderly one.

He assumed it was the sect master because this man was on the third step of the golden path. Such a level of cultivation was exceptional, even among rather prominent sects. And he was betting that Neave’s crap from earlier today was why they were here.

Marven hid his cultivation from these folk. Gabrias still had the cloaking treasure Marven had granted him. Still, Marven chose to make Gabrias stay behind. Even though they couldn’t tell he was on the bronze path, it was impossible to hide that he was clearly a damn coward.

Marven walked out, the sun bouncing off his shiny bald head. He bowed politely and greeted the newcomers. At this point, Marven remembered their sect didn’t yet have a name.

“Greetings, leaders of the Onyx Scorpion sect. I am the elder of…” Marven racked his brain to come up with a name, “... the Falken sect. May I inquire as to why you grace us with your presence today?”

The man on the third step of the golden path looked pissed, but Marven kept his composure quite well. At least in a direct fight, this man was not a threat to Marven.

“I’ve heard that a young master from this…” He looked over the shoddy ‘courtyard’ and their tiny little building scornfully, “... Sect… Had won a duel against my daughter. I wish to meet him personally and thank him for his guidance.” Every word he spoke dripped with venom.

At this exceptionally inopportune moment, Neave showed up out of nowhere.

The elder jabbed the man in the back a few times, and he turned, only to be greeted by Neave’s theatrics. Neave held himself high and straight with a relaxed, distant expression.

His demeanor was as if he was dismissing them as less than worms. The sect master waited patiently for him to introduce himself or greet them, but Neave merely cocked his head and asked.

“What do you want?”

“What do I…? Oh, dear elder of the Falken sect, please, do you not teach any manners to your disciples whatsoever?”

Marven looked uncomfortable as he could smell Neave was up to no good.

“Are you here to challenge me to a duel or whatever?”

The two men stared at him incredulously. The sheer arrogance of this young man was truly out of this world.

“Be careful with your words, young master. One may mistake them for a provocation.”

“That’s exactly what it is, old fart, so which of you two will fight me? Both at the same time?”

Marven spoke up.

“I apologize, esteemed leaders. We seem to have been lax with our discipline. Our young master here is quite talented, which may have inspired undue confidence. I apologize on his behalf.”

“Suck my ass, baldy. They are here to intimidate us! I say we protect the honor of our glorious sect and show them what true warriors look like!”

Neave was trying his hardest to embody what he imagined to be the picturesque brave young master. One who wouldn’t tolerate an insult even if it came from the gods themselves.

This image was heavily skewed by the young masters from fiction he had read. In reality, any teenager that dared act like this was a fool with a limited life span.

“Elder! Will you not restrain this rabid brat!? If you allow this to continue, I will be morally obligated to protect the honor of your sect by punishing the brat in your stead!”

Although the sect master of the Onyx Scorpion sect looked outraged, he was thrilled. Seeing this ‘sect’ in person dispelled the doubts that this was a ploy by a higher power. If he had to speculate, he would say these were probably exiles from a prominent sect, ones that were exiled for their horrendous behavior. Even better was that he was fully justified in punishing them for their insolence.

He was unsure how this brat had executed a true strike, but it wasn’t unheard of that someone could accidentally trigger one, even at the bronze path. It was highly unusual, but all the circumstantial evidence indicated it was a freakish coincidence.

Marven wanted to stop Neave from going further but feared the consequences of forcing him to stop. The last thing he wanted was for Neave to perceive him as an enemy. He feared that, with his mental state, there would be no way to undo that mistake.

But there was just no good way to approach this scenario. Should he just let Neave fight them? That was a terrible outcome. He didn’t know whether it was worse if he lost or won. It would be disastrous to get implicated in a sect war the moment they established a foothold here.

While Marven was confident they would win by the mere virtue of him being on the platinum path, the Onyx Scorpion sect was likely to be suborned to a more prominent sect, and if they came after them as well, things could take a nosedive off a cliff in days.

Regardless of how they coped with the conflict, he was confident it wouldn’t be good for Neave’s mental state. While his mind spun, searching for a solution, the leaders of the neighboring sect continued.

“I suppose you will not be restraining such behavior after all… Shame. I hereby declare your sect guilty of contempt toward us!”

And now it was too late. The sect master slowly stepped toward Marven while the elder rushed toward Neave.

Marven resorted to revealing his cultivation, even though he didn’t want to do that. Instantly, their ‘guests’ body language changed, and it was apparent that they realized they had made a tremendous mistake.

The sect master of the onyx sect paused and was about to warn the elder to stop. When he turned around, however, he witnessed the young master of this neighboring sect snap his elder's neck like a twig.

Neave stared curiously at the Onyx Scorpion sect master.

“Hmmm? What happened to your punishment? Oh, I see. You are only willing to have a child killed when you deem there would be no consequences!”

The sect master breathed heavily. He dropped to his knees and bowed to Marven.

“Please, dear elder, I was rash. I had no clue about your status! Spare me my life! Our sect is suborned to the Deagon sect. If you take my life, you will be struck down immediately!”

“Now, now, dear sect master, isn’t this curious? How does one beg and threaten in the same breath?”

“Young master, stop.” Marven spoke, and Neave slowed down, “There is no reason to go after this man. I believe he had learned his lesson. Don’t you agree?” He was trying to make it seem like his request was pragmatic. He didn’t believe Neave would respond well to being told this man ‘didn’t deserve to die,’ but if he played up to the practical benefits of sparing this man’s life, perhaps he could get him to listen.

“This beast uses his chains to strangle those too helpless to resist. His response to a rude child was murder. Is such a person truly capable of learning their lesson? Should such behavior ever be tolerated, dear elder?”

Marven disliked Neave’s tone. He didn’t like where this situation was going. As he ran through his options, he only landed on one. Marven used his spirit to seal off the surrounding area so that nobody could accidentally eavesdrop on what was about to happen.

“You!? You are serious! I can not believe you would dare to commit such a horrendous act!” The sect master desperately searched for options, but nothing came to mind. As his anger and despair overflowed, he chose to go down fighting rather than cowering like a dog.

There was no point in rushing the elder, someone on the platinum path would annihilate him in moments, so he ran to the young master instead.

The sect master raised his sword, and a massive scorpion mirage appeared behind him. As he was about to strike Neave down, Neave disappeared.

Neave struck the sect master with a life-force-imbued punch to his back. He could feel the man’s spine resist, as he probably had a spirit power that boosted his defense. It was useless, however.

Punch after punch pummeled the man into mince as he screamed and desperately resisted. At some point, a golden shield appeared before Neave that managed to block a punch. Neave simply used a movement technique to move through the barrier.

Neave’s fingers morphed into sharp claws and sank into the man’s chest. Neave clenched his fist and tore his heart out.

Marven watched the whole thing go down with terror. How had Neave gotten so much power so quickly? He was ready to help, but the man was already dead on the ground before Marven could even sense a threat to Neave’s life.

Marven desperately wanted to believe that he had made the right choice. Although what Neave had done was a great offense to their sect, they still accepted the challenge, and he had won without permanently injuring or killing their disciple.

As far as Marven, the cultivator, was concerned, death was appropriate for these fools. But Marven, the father, felt despair. Neave had chosen to take their lives without any hesitation. How much work was there to help him heal from his trauma?

Was it even possible for him to ever be mentally well again?

He wasn’t sure. But he felt a profound responsibility to at least try to save him.

Neave liberated the two men of their possessions and burned their corpses with fire breath. Marven tried to sound casual as he warned Neave of the potential danger of doing this.

Neave understood that shit was about to go down but didn’t care much. While there was no evidence, there was little doubt that they would eventually be suspected. By the time their deed had been discovered, there would be nothing anybody could do about it.

Marven and Neave discussed what to do with the spoils of war, but Marven insisted Neave should take the rings. There was a lot of money in them and an absolute ton of supplies.

His spirit oath with Ilkivir prevented Marven from granting cultivation treasures to Neave, but this didn’t bar him from refusing to take them from Neave. 

Neave gladly pocketed the rings and decided it was time to go shopping.

***

Neave strolled around the streets and looked for different types of shops. He was immensely disappointed. All of the shops around here were vastly inferior. After asking around a bit, he was told that if he wanted to find a high-end shop, he would have to go to one of the prominent merchant groups.

After asking around some more, he learned that big merchant groups were very exclusive with who they did business.

Their crappy new sect was far from qualified. There was one exception to this, however. Neave made his way to a large tower. It looked unbelievably ostentatious, and the higher it went, the more threatening the tower's outer walls looked.

Neave used his spirit senses to find an empty house. He used a movement technique and appeared within someone’s vacant home. He used his shapeshifting ability to transform into a large, morbidly obese man with a lazy eye and a thick beard. He pulled some robes from the dimension ring, but even the largest ones still couldn’t fully cover him.

Perfect.

Out on the streets of Keyishin, a tall, fat man appeared. He wore black robes stretched so thin they would likely break if they weren’t made of such durable material. His saggy tits flopped around unabated, and his massive stomach was barely restrained by the tight leggings reaching his navel.

And this large man walked to the outer capital tower of the Crystal Palace merchant group.