Chapter 348 328. Banishment

As Chen Ren was busy with the reorganisation of his sect and planning to take it to the next grade in the empire’s sect hierarchy, Li Xuan was climbing the steps up to the Soaring Sword Sect with a heavy heart.

He didn’t even use his flying sword, considering he wanted to take his time.

Afterall, there were just too many things running through his mind. He had stayed with his parents for only three days, and although those days had been happy, they had passed far too quickly.

He had spent a lot of time with his father, who had been extremely curious about what had happened in the pagoda.

But now, it was time for Li Xuan to face his reality.

Because of his father, he had already learned that the Soaring Sword Sect was looking for him. That meant some members of the pagoda group had returned and told the elders about what he had done.

Which meant he was going to face punishment as soon as he reached the top.

What kind of punishment it would be was anyone’s guess.

It could be expulsion from the sect. It could be a thousand lashes. It could even be something as cruel as having his dantian broken.

The last one was unlikely, simply because he was the son of a city lord. That still meant something inside a sect, even if it would not protect him from every punishment.

In the end, betraying one’s sect was treason. And that was something no sect would forgive easily.

Li Xuan had done it, no matter what the circumstances had been. Of course, he would defend himself. He had more than a few ways to do so. But his words might still fall on deaf ears, because the accusations against him would be severe.

Too severe for the elders to simply ignore.

But Li Xuan could not run away from any of it. No matter how hard it became, and no matter what waited for him at the end of these steps, he had to keep moving forward.

When he finally reached the gates of the Soaring Sword Sect, the gazes that fell on him made his chest tighten. The disciples guarding the entrance looked at him as if he was something filthy that had crawled back after embarrassing the sect. Li Xuan immediately understood that they knew about what had happened in the pagoda too.

One of the guards stepped forward and blocked his path. “Elder Xiaosheng wishes to see you,” he said, his voice cold enough for the other guards to hear. “Go to his chamber for your punishment.”

Li Xuan nodded without arguing. There was no point in defending himself at the gates, especially not in front of people who had already decided what he was. So he lowered his gaze slightly and began walking toward his master’s chamber.

The deeper he went into the sect, the worse it became. People stopped what they were doing just to look at him. A few outer elders even came out of their rooms, their faces calm but their eyes sharp with judgement. Li Xuan was used to being watched. He had lived his whole life under the gazes of others, first as the son of a city lord and then as a disciple of the Soaring Sword Sect.

But he was not used to being looked at like this.

It felt as if everyone was staring at a chicken being led to the chopping block. Some disciples chuckled as he passed. Others whispered loudly enough for him to hear, wondering whether they should take his artifacts once he was banished, or whether they should swarm him the moment he no longer had the sect’s protection.

They were doing it deliberately. They wanted him to hear every word. They wanted him to understand what kind of fate they thought was waiting for him, and they wanted him to fear it before it even arrived.

Li Xuan wanted to lash out at them. His fingers twitched more than once, and his qi stirred in his dantian, but he forced it down and kept walking. If he reacted now, he would only give them more reason to condemn him. So he swallowed the anger and continued forward, step after step, until a figure suddenly strode straight toward him and forced him to stop.

It was his master, Elder Xiaosheng.

Li Xuan had not spoken to him properly in a long time. Honestly, they did not have much of a relationship anymore. Xiaosheng had been the one who pushed him to remain in the sect instead of going to the pagoda, and Li Xuan had gone anyway.

Now, his master stood directly in front of him.

More and more cultivators gathered around him.

Li Xuan felt sick in his stomach after seeing it. The crowd was growing quickly, and every new person who arrived made the air around him feel heavier. Still, he did not let that show on his face. He simply bowed the way a disciple should and kept his voice steady.

“Your disciple has returned from the Pagoda of Eternity, Master.”

His master scoffed. “I can see that.”

Li Xuan remained bowed.

“You still had the face to come back here after betraying the sect that helped you grow,” Xiaosheng said, his voice loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. “Do not call me your master from now on! I do not teach fools who only know how to bite the hand that feeds them.”

Li Xuan’s jaw tightened, but he forced himself to stay calm. “I only followed the creed of our sect. If there is a trial, I am sure I can prove my innocence.”

“Innocence?” Xiaosheng scoffed again. “Children have innocence. You are not a child anymore. You are no better than a demonic cultivator who changed sides for an outsider and let his fellow disciples die.” His eyes sharpened. “Will you take responsibility for their deaths?”

Li Xuan paused at that.

For a moment, he thought about the people who had died in the pagoda. Then he thought about what had actually happened, and his hands slowly clenched inside his sleeves.

He had not been involved in anyone’s death.

A cultivator’s life was full of danger. That was something every disciple learned from the moment they stepped onto this path. If those disciples had gone back on their words and chosen to betray Chen Ren and the others, then what followed was the consequence of their own decisions.

Li Xuan truly believed that.

In the end, they had entered the Pagoda of Eternity knowing it was dangerous. Every person who stepped inside that place had done so with the understanding that they might die there. Even Li Xuan had thought he would die several times. If that had happened, he would have accepted it in his final moments.

Even his father, through his grief, would have understood that much.

So when Li Xuan spoke again, his voice was low but steady.

“They are responsible for their own deaths,” he said. “I followed the creed of the sect. It says one should not betray their own allies, and I did exactly that.”

Xiaosheng’s expression darkened. “Your allies are your sect members.” His master stared down at him with disgust. “You truly are someone who cannot be corrected no matter what.”

The very next second, a large amount of oppressive qi erupted from Xiaosheng’s body and slammed into Li Xuan like a mountain. His knees buckled almost at once, and the stone beneath his feet cracked faintly under the pressure. Li Xuan struggled to stay upright, refusing to fall in front of all these people, refusing to let them see him pushed into the dirt so easily.

He did not want mud on his dignity.

But another part of him knew that resisting too much would only give his master another weapon to use against him. If he fought back here, they would call it rebellion. If he pushed his qi against an elder, they would say he had attacked his own master.

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So Li Xuan lowered himself to the ground.

Even then, he kept his eyes on Xiaosheng. His body trembled under the pressure, and his teeth clenched so hard his jaw hurt, but he forced the words out.

“I demand a trial.”

Xiaosheng scoffed. “Someone like you should not get to demand anything, much less a trial.”

“It is my right as a disciple,” Li Xuan said through gritted teeth.

The pressure increased.

Li Xuan’s arms shook as he was forced lower, his palms pressing against the ground while his back bent under the weight of Xiaosheng’s qi. Around him, more whispers began spreading through the crowd. There was mocking laughter too, low and pleased, as if everyone had been waiting to see him like this.

He could already tell this event would become gossip for a long time.

Li Xuan hated every part of it.

But he also knew he needed to keep fighting back. If he stayed silent now, he might be crippled without ever getting a chance to prove his innocence. So despite the pain pressing down on every part of his body, he forced himself to speak again.

“The sect rules dictate that I receive a trial no matter what.”

Xiaosheng looked down at him coldly. “I decide that as your master, even if I hate that title right now. Traitors do not deserve trials.” His qi grew heavier. “They deserve a crippling.”

Li Xuan’s heart fell when he heard that, and the fear he had been trying to keep buried finally pushed into his voice.

“You cannot cripple me.”

Xiaosheng smirked. “Oh, I know I cannot.”

Li Xuan stared at him, unable to understand what he meant.

“I will lose favour with your father if I do that,” Xiaosheng continued. “But I can still break apart some of your meridians and pull them out with my blade. You will be able to cultivate again one day, but your talent will never return to what it was. That will be the cost of betraying our sect.”

Li Xuan felt cold all over.

If he could look around, he was sure he would see smiles on the faces of the disciples watching him. People loved seeing someone fall from the heavens, and that was exactly what they thought was happening to him. He had been talented, well-born, and protected by his position for most of his life. Now, in their eyes, he was finally being dragged down where they could laugh at him.

The pain of having his meridians pulled out would be terrible, but Li Xuan knew the true horror would come after.

If his meridians were damaged like that, he would lose most of his cultivation. He would not be able to do anything for at least a decade. Even if he recovered after that, he would no longer be the same. His talent would become less than mediocre, and everything he had worked for would be taken away in front of this crowd.

For the first time, Li Xuan truly wondered if he should use everything he had and try to run.

Before he could make that decision, footsteps echoed ahead of him.

A familiar voice followed. “Oh? What is going on here?” Li Xuan’s breath caught. It was Vice Sect Leader Yan Xiu.

Hope rose in his heart at once.

Xiaosheng turned his head, his expression darkening. “I am punishing a traitor. Can you not see that, Yan Xiu?”

“Yes. I can see it,” Yan Xiu replied calmly. “But I do not think this is the right way to handle these things. You are making a scene here. It is not befitting of our sect.”

“Let me decide that,” Xiaosheng said coldly. “He is my disciple.”

Vice Sect Leader Yan Xiu clicked his tongue. “No, he is not.”

Li Xuan froze. For a moment, he wondered what those words meant. Around him, he heard a few people suck in sharp breaths, as if they had understood something before he did.

Xiaosheng ignored the reaction of the crowd and stared at Yan Xiu.

“What do you mean?”

Yan Xiu looked at Xiaosheng and spoke simply. “The matter of Li Xuan has already been discussed by me and the sect leader.”

The whispers around them quietened a little.

“What he did certainly deserves a trial,” Yan Xiu continued. “But for a matter of this importance, the sect leader needs to be present. You know very well that the Pagoda of Eternity has become a topic even the emperor has heard about. Because of that, he has to be involved in such a trial.”

Xiaosheng’s face remained cold.

Yan Xiu did not seem bothered by it. “But we have already heard most of the actual information. We know what Li Xuan did.”

Xiaosheng huffed. “What he has done demands at least a crippling. I am already letting him go easily.” His eyes narrowed. “And you still have not explained what you meant when you said I am not his master anymore.”

Vice Sect Leader Yan Xiu answered immediately. “What I meant is simple. The sect leader has already decided on Li Xuan's punishment.”

More whispers spread through the crowd at once. At the same time, the pressure pressing down on Li Xuan loosened.

Li Xuan drew in a strained breath and pushed himself up a bit. When he did, he saw Vice Sect Leader Yan Xiu looking at him with a faint smile.

“As for the punishment,” Yan Xiu said, his voice clear enough for everyone to hear, “Li Xuan is banished from the sect. From this moment onward, his position as your disciple is also gone.”

Li Xuan’s mind went blank for a moment.

Yan Xiu continued before anyone could interrupt him. “He is ordered to leave behind everything the sect has given him and get out of here. He should also understand that he is only receiving such a light punishment because his family has always supported the Soaring Sword Sect. But from today onward, he is not to show his face around here again without facing repercussions.”

For a while, Li Xuan could not properly understand the words themselves.

He had known something like this might happen. Expulsion had always been one of the possible outcomes. But hearing it said so directly by the vice sect leader still struck him harder than he expected.

He had been banished. Just like that, the place he had spent so much time in was no longer his sect.

Before Li Xuan or anyone else could say anything, Vice Sect Leader Yan Xiu stared straight at him.

The next second, a voice echoed inside Li Xuan’s head.

“Get out of here and seek Chen Ren. I will explain everything soon.”

***

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