Cultivating Civilization - Chapter 63

Jack heard a couple of people shift their feet at the sudden execution. ‘I’m sorry, my friends, I tried to keep this side of me hidden from you as long as I could.’ a thought flashed in Jack’s brain as a small piece of him broke. He had a silent moment of mourning for it, but he couldn’t turn around and tell them why he did it in front of the prisoner right now, so he had to continue with his act.

Zahng Dong’s eyes kept flicking between Jack, his weapon, and the body of Pan Yingnu for a few seconds as panic built up in them.

Jack pasted on a sympathetic look on his face as he sad “I didn’t want to do that. Pan Yingnu made his own decision and had to die with the consequences, I respect that.” His face became serious as he pointed the cylinder at Zahng Dong’s face and said “Should I just end it here since you look like you’d rather die than talk too?”

Zahng Dong started to shake his head, wriggle his body, and let out moans of total denial. He stopped caring about the dignity of a Slaughtering Sword School disciple and did everything in his power to stay alive.

Jack gave an internal sigh of relief as he moved the cylinder away from Zahng Dong’s face while a small frown formed on his forehead. He studied Zahng Dong for a few seconds, before glancing at the pale Ma Ruiman and saying “Ruiman, take his gag off.”

Ma Ruiman shook a little, as if Jack’s voice broke some kind of spell that held him, and asked “Can you warn me to get out of the splatter area if this one tries something? I still have bits of the other one on my legs.”

Not a muscle twitched on Jack’s face at Ma Ruiman’s attempt at a joke; he could see the uncomfortable way Ma Ruiman held himself.

‘He thinks that he’s an accessory to murder. None of them had problems with killing the Slaughtering Sword School disciples during our escape, but not a lot of soldiers can stand by while people who can’t defend themselves get executed. Good.’ Jack thought as he watched the first few stiff movements of Ma Ruiman turn nimble once more while he removed the gag from Zahng Dong’s mouth.

As soon as he removed the gag, Ma Ruiman jumped away and walked to stand back behind Jack.

Zahng Dong worked his stiff jaw a little, glanced at Jack’s weapon, took a few short breaths, and finally asked “What do you want to know?”

Jack focused his eyes on Zahng Dong so he could see any unconscious twitch and movement before he said “Tell me how many people you have in Cloverleaf and their cultivation grades.”

Zahng Dong thought about lying, Jack could see it in the slight twitch of his eyes, but then he saw the corpse of his disciple brother from the corner of his eye and told the truth “Three more disciples from the School stayed back in our residence here. Our Senior Brother is in the sixth grade, while the rest of us are in the fifth grade.”

Jack gave a slow nod of his head as he did some quick calculations ‘I can’t go for backup. If we take too long here they might get suspicious, not to mention what would happen if their disciple brothers don’t show up at all until morning.’

Zahng Dong started to show signs of panic as he saw the contemplative look on Jack’s face so he added “I swear, the Elders sent only our group here to claim and pacify the area. The inner and core disciples are chasing after the remnants of the Endless Cycle Sect’s disciples.”

Jack refocused his eyes on Zahng Dong as he asked “How many squads like yours did they send out and how close are they?”

Zahng Dong didn’t even think before he answered “I don’t know how many, enough to claim the land that the Endless Cycle Sect used to rule over. Nor do I know where they are now; we only received a simple map to show us where to go. Almost all of the higher-ups are busy with dividing the plunder or chasing after the escapees. I only know that they sent a squad to every town, and a number of squads joined up to take over the cities.”

Jack frowned in displeasure at the answer and took aim at one of Zahng Dong’s knees as he said “You expect me to believe that you never had contact with any of the other teams? Tell me everything or lose a knee.”

Zahng Dong tried to cringe away from the cylinder as he claimed “I did not lie, I swear. We traveled with a squad for a few days, but their map took them in the direction of the setting moon.”

Jack paused, and moved the cylinder back to its ready state as he thought ‘They went south? That rules out one side of the world, have to get that barkeep to help us out before we go.’

Jack gave Zahng Dong an encouraging smile as he said “You’re doing great, just a couple more question and I’ll set you free.” Once he saw the spark of hope light up in Zahng Dong’s eyes he asked “How often do you have to report back to the Slaughtering Sword School and for how long will the higher-ups keep chasing the Endless Cycle Sect’s remnants?”

Zahng Dong’s eyes shone with delight as he thought that he knew the answer to both of those questions “The Elders told us to stay at our post for a hundred days. After that, we can go back to the School on our own.” He saw the question in Jack’s eyes so he added “That was forty-three days ago. I assume that the rest of the pursuers have similar orders.”

Jack thought about this answer for a couple seconds and nodded his head in agreement with Zahng Dong’s conclusion. He pasted a reassuring smile on his face as he stored his cylinder back into the Star Bag and squatted next to Zahng Dong.

“You have kept to your part of the deal, and so shall I.” Jack said as he took out his personal Spirit Capturing knife.

Happiness radiated out of Zahng Dong’s eyes for a second, before it turned to confusion, and then into betrayal, as he stared at the bloody knife in Jack’s hand. He tried to speak, but his sliced open throat prevented him from producing much more than gurgling sounds.

Jack and his men stood in silence for a long minute before Zahng Dong breathed his last breath.

Kuang Bindun broke the silence as he voiced everyone’s thoughts “I understand that they’re our enemies and that they would kill us all if they had the chance, but what purpose did your charade serve here?”

Jack turned to his friend and explained “Pan Yingnu would have never told us what we wanted to know, he was too rash and emotional for that. Zahng Dong, on the other hand, seemed like a more pragmatic kind of guy. Even so, he would have never betrayed the Slaughtering Sword School while his junior disciple sat there and looked at him.”

He stopped talking to look into everyone’s solemn eyes before continuing “Sometimes we have to do things that we think are distasteful because they bring results. I did not like what I did, but I will not lie to you and say that I wouldn’t do it again as many times as necessary if it helps us out. In specific situations the ends can justify the means; you just have to allow your conscience to keep you balanced enough to know when they don’t.”

After a few seconds of silence, Jack could see understanding in the eyes of his men, none of them liked it, but they understood.

Only old Long didn’t seem to mind Jack’s actions like everyone else did, he had a different question on his mind “Why didn’t you ask him about what happened in the battle after we left?”

Jack and his friends gave old Long strange looks that made him feel uncomfortable. They stared at him for a couple of seconds before Jack turned towards Bai Maolong and instructed “Maolong, tell him why.”

Bai Maolong gave old Long a lopsided grin as he said “What do we care who did what in a battle between two of our enemies? They’re both the same in our eyes. We can’t do much to challenge their strength for now, so why should we care about the results?”

Old Long’s eyes widened as he looked at the ridiculing face of Bai Maolong before he shook his head and grumbled “Idealistic idiots.”, but he didn’t continue his berating.

When Jack felt satisfied that no one had anything else to say, he turned to old Long and pointed at the two corpses on the ground as he ordered “Put those two into the Star Bag.”

Old Long looked at Jack like he had just gone crazy as he asked “Why would I do that?”

Jack gave him a dark smirk as he answered “We never studied a grade five cultivator before. It should clear some things up.” He glanced at Zahng Dong’s body as he added “Why else would I wait for him to bleed out instead of just blowing his head away?”

Old Long felt a shiver run down his spine as he saw Jack in a new, more frightening, light for the first time. He felt even weirder when the rest of the squad didn’t seem surprised by Jack’s declaration. Without another complaint, he enveloped the two corpses with his spirit energy and stored them in the Star Bag.

After they cleaned up the one-way street of corpses, Jack led his men back to the tavern.

No guards greeted them at the front door when they got there.

Jack’s brows furrowed as he glanced at old Long and asked “Anything?”

Old Long concentrated for a second, before answering “No one that I can sense.”

Jack didn’t relax and sent his friends a hand signal to spread around. They scattered to possible ambush spots and guarded the approaches to the tavern as Jack and old Long neared the door.

No one answered the door after a couple of rounds of knocking. Jack raised a hand to knock again when old Long placed a hand on his shoulder and informed him “I can hear breathing from inside, four people.”

Jack lowered his hand and declared “Either open this door, or I will kick it in.”

A few seconds later he heard the sound of wood grinding on wood, and then steps moving fast towards the door.

The skinny barkeep stood on the other side of the door. As soon as he saw Jack and old Long, he bowed down and said “My deepest apologies, Immortals. I decided to close my humble tavern once you so kindly gave me earnings that towered over those of ten days. For you, we are always open.”

Jack chuckled at the shameless bartender’s words as he thought ‘He hid away from the possible trouble that might come his way from our conflict with the Slaughtering Sword School’s disciples.’

He and old Long entered the tavern, while the barkeep closed the door and ran back behind his bar. The two guards and the fake drunk sat at a table in the corner and kept their eyes averted from the newcomers.

“What can this humble servant do for you, Immortals?” the barkeep asked as he poured them each a cup of the same wine they drank before.

Jack didn’t follow old Long’s example in downing the drink. Instead, he reached into his Star Bag and took out the map of the area that he got from Mai Yining and asked the barkeep “Do you know how to read a map?”

The barkeep gave a quick nod as he answered “I do have some skill in this area.”

Jack smiled at him as he pushed the map in front of him and said “Good, I need you to fill as much of this map as you can with the names of the places and their size. I will reward you even more than before if you do it to my satisfaction.” He stopped as he saw a glint of greed in the barkeep’s eyes and added “If you falsify any information I will come back and hang you by your tongue. Understood?”

The barkeep swallowed his greed back as his face turned serious and he bowed while saying “I understand, Immortal. I will not fail you.”

Jack nodded his head, emptied his cup, and said “Good. We still have some business to take care of, shouldn’t take more than the time to eat a meal. Have it finished by then.”

With that, he and old Long stood up and left the tavern while the barkeep yelled after them “As you command, Immortal.”

When old Long and Jack exited the tavern the rest of their squad came up to them and Bai Maolong reported “We had no trouble out here.” His eyes got the crazy gleam they always got before battle as he asked “Time to pay the Slaughtering Sword School a visit?”

Jack could only shake his head in bemusement as he confirmed “Indeed, let’s go knock on their door.”