Never in his wildest imaginations did the teacher expect James to suddenly attack. The strike was too fast and unexpected. Further, he was already very close to James, so he didn't get a chance to defend.
The slap sent him staggering backwards, and he almost tripped over his robes. His face stung, and he felt like a rock smashed into his cheek. His other cheek smashed into the wall, and he saw stars.
A glaring red handprint was clearly visible on his face.
The class was frozen in shock. All the students stared at Harry with their mouths wide open.
In the back of his mind, a voice reminded him the punishment was 50 lashes. But Harry couldn't care less. Once the teacher brought up his father, all thoughts of consequences and punishments left his mind. All he wanted was to give this teacher a beating.
"Ahhhhhh! James hit the teacher!" people started screaming.
"He's gone mad!"
"Call the Elders!" some disciples fled the classroom, screaming and shouting for help.
Harry just stared at the chaos unfolding. Did these people all grow up in a nursery? Did they never see a fight in their life?
"James! You!" the teacher roared. He was so angry he couldn't even finish his sentence. All he could do was point at James with one hand, and clutch his cheek with the other. His face felt like it was on fire.
Part of it was due to the pain. But the other part was due to the shame. How was he supposed to live this down? For the rest of his life, he'd be known as the teacher who got slapped in the face by an Outer Disciple.
"James, don't you know the punishment for this? You'll be whipped 50 times for assault!"
"50 lashes? Then I may as well attack you again. Come, why don't you teach me about teamwork?"
He rolled up his sleeves, and walked towards the red-faced teacher.
"Y-y-you! What do you think – "
Smack!
"Show me your teamwork! Smack! Show me your coordination! Smack! Come on, why aren't you fighting with your team right now? Smack! Fuck you, how dare you talk about my father? Slap! Slap! Slap!"
Under the unceasing blows raining down at him, the teacher was forced to back up step by step, futilely trying to defend himself. After all, the teacher was a scholar, not a fighter. He didn't have much talent nor interest in cultivation, and his fighting experience was nonexistent. Though he spoke at length about the theory of fighting, he was a hypocrite who never practiced it.
But now, he was paying the price for that. He tried to push James away, but it felt like he was pushing against a rock. As he was smacked again and again, his head became swollen. Both cheeks were covered in red, puffy handprints.
The students were completely petrified. James didn't just slap the teacher once – he actually continued attacking!
Some of them looked like they wanted to jump in and stop James, but then they remembered what happened to Maynard, and they backed down. Luckily, someone else arrived.
"What's going on in – STOP!" the last word was yelled so loudly that it jolted Harry out of his angered state. He felt the air around him solidify, and his arm was frozen in place, just inches away from the teacher's face.
He turned his head, and saw an Elder standing by the classroom entrance. Even from that far distance, he was able to freeze Harry's movements. He was powerless to resist.
"Elder Emery!" the teacher cried, as if he saw his savior. "This Outer Disciple is out of control! He attacked me for no reason, completely disregarding the sect's rules!"
In a flash, the Elder was by Harry's side, and glared down at him.
"You, who are – wait, are you James?" the Elder suddenly asked, startled.
"Yes," Harry lied.
News about the top Outer Disciple had long spread through the sect. The top Outer Disciple was always someone at the peak of the Body Tempering Realm, just a step away from the Qi Absorption Realm. But this time, it was actually a Spiritless cultivator at the 7th level of the Body Tempering, yet, he somehow was stronger than everyone else by a large margin. Everyone also heard about how he injured Maynard Hatton so badly he had to be sent back to the Ivory Fist Clan for treatment.
His name was James, and his description was along the lines of 'chubby cheeks and burnt robes.' Once this Elder took a good look at Harry, he immediately recognized him.
'It seems the rumors about his guts are true,' the Elder thought. Though he would never admit it, he was secretly impressed. Back when he was an Outer Disciple many decades ago, he'd never have the guts to attack a teacher.
"Elder Emery, you must uphold justice!" the teacher pleaded. With his deformed face and red cheeks, he looked less like a teacher and more like a disobedient child slapped by his parents.
"James, you know the punishment for assaulting a teacher is 50 lashes?"
In any other sect, James would be immediately expelled, if not crippled first, as a warning to others. But this was the Swan Sea Sect, which employed a system of rigid and well-defined punishments. The rulebook and the punishments within were a tradition of sorts, and couldn't be changed.
"58, actually. I missed the morning class, and was late to the afternoon one."
The Elder opened his mouth, but couldn't find the words to say. In the entire history of the Swan Sea Sect, there had never been an Outer Disciple who caused so much trouble on his first day.
"It's good you haven't forgotten," the teacher sneered. When the thought of getting to whip James crossed his mind, it was like all the pain vanished. "I'll make you regret – "
"Shut the fuck up," Harry would have slapped the teacher again, if it weren't for the Elder keeping him frozen.
"Enough!" the Elder interjected. "James, follow me to the whipping post."
It sounded like a request, but it was an order. Completely powerless to resist, Harry was marched out of the classroom, through the Swan Sea Sect, and finally, in front of a small yet imposing building named the Law Enforcement Hall. In front of the hall were two huge planks of wood, nailed to form the shape of a crucifix.
The wood of the post, along with the dirt underneath, were dyed red, no doubt due to centuries of blood spilt here.
The teacher obviously followed Harry to administer the punishment, and the other Outer Disciples followed behind the teacher to witness the spectacle. Such a large crowd of people attracted lots of attention, and it wasn't long before hundreds more people joined the commotion. Harry was marched over to the cross, and the Elder began tying his arms and legs to the whipping post.
As Harry looked around, he was reminded of the hangman outside Grunnings, and that night he nearly died. The scene he was currently seeing was disturbingly familiar, like a morbid sense of déjà vu.
His hands were tied to the horizontal beam, while his ankles were tied to the bottom of the post. His robes were yanked off, revealing his bare chest. He was suspended there, half-naked, strapped to the cross for the whole crowd to see.
The teacher from before walked up, holding a two-meter-long whip in his hand. His face was twisted with both anger and glee, which would have looked sinister, if it weren't for the handprints still visible on his cheeks.
"James, today I'll teach you a lesson for daring to disrespect me!"
Immediately after, the whip whistled through the air, and smashed against his face. The impact sent his head wobbling back and forth, and he heard his ears ringing. Yet… he felt absolutely no pain at all.
"Is that all you have?" Harry taunted the teacher.
The teacher just held the whip dumbly in his hand. He stared at Harry like he was staring at a ghost.
"You – you aren't injured?"
"Are you qualified to injure me?" Harry sneered back.
"I don't believe this!" the teacher roared. He flicked the whip again, which lanced through the air and smashed into Harry's face… which was still uninjured.
Earlier, he was slapped in the face in front of nearly 700 people. Even worse, he was slapped by a student, someone of the younger generation. He felt like he lost all his authority as a teacher. The shame and rage he was feeling could only be erased if he punished James and gave him far more gruesome injuries. Yet, no matter what he did, he couldn't leave even a mark.
He whipped Harry's face, then moved onto the chest, then the arms, legs, even a few whips on the groin, but Harry felt nothing. After 20 whips, he stopped and stared at Harry.
He felt like he exhausted his own arm more than he hurt James. In fact, he felt like he was dreaming. How could this boy's body be so abnormal? Even if it was one of the Elders being whipped, they would surely develop some injuries!
Some people were even giving him strange looks, as if he were too weak to injure an Outer Disciple. Under those belittling gazes, the teacher just wanted to shrivel up.
"H-he's obviously wearing some sort of armor!" he babbled. "Elder Emery, you need to inspect him and ensure the punishment is carried out!"
This time, it was Elder Emery's turn to stare at the teacher strangely. Armor? Can't you see that besides a pair of pants, the boy was naked?
But he couldn't help but wonder how James wasn't injured, and simply had to ask.
"I was born like this," Harry lied, saying what the Exalted Cat ordered him to say. "My body is just naturally tough. Anyways, I'm very busy. Hurry up so I can go."
Being dismissed like that filled the teacher with enormous shame. Mercilessly, he continued whipping Harry with a crazed and desperate look in his eyes.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! The whip lashed Harry again and again and again. Yet, it failed to cause any injury.
Though he wasn't hurt, Harry was still furious on the inside. He knew he violated the sect rules, but it didn't lessen any of the anger he felt. How could a man endure being whipped and humiliated? Right now, he wanted to rip off the ropes binding his wrists, and rush towards the teacher and give him another round of slaps.
But suddenly, the Exalted Cat's words flashed through his mind.
'They have a peculiar set of rules, but they are well-suited for you. I hope you make good use of them.'
In that moment, Harry had an epiphany. If the victim wasn't too strong, like this teacher, then they couldn't injure him. Therefore, he could break the rules as much as he liked, as long he could handle the punishment! He temporarily forgot about the man whipping him, and marveled at the cat's foresight. It was almost like it knew exactly what would happen.
Harry almost broke into a smile as he realized the opportunities that opened to him.
50, 51, 52, … it didn't take much longer until Harry was whipped 58 times, after which the Elder had to restrain the teacher from attacking again.
"James has already been whipped 58 times," he said sternly. "According to the sect rules, both the punishment and this matter are over."
"But, but, James is uninjured!" the teacher protested, unwilling to give up.
"If you whip James again, then I will have to punish you for assault," the Elder warned. He had no desire to whip this teacher, but it was one of the core sect rules.
Once Elder Emery said that, the teacher froze, and put the whip down. Though there was reluctance and anger in his expression, he had to stop.
Harry was untied from the whipping post, and he put his clothes back on. As he did, everyone stared at him with awe and fright – they couldn't understand what they just witnessed. The only change to his body was that his skin was red, from where the whip struck him. But it was clear the punishment didn't injure him at all. When others were whipped, their skin and flesh were torn apart, and they were immobilized for weeks or months. Sometimes the punishment had to be stopped, because the victim would die if he were whipped again. In extreme cases, the victim's meridians could even be crippled, and they lost their cultivation. But James… was his body made of rocks and metal?
Ignoring all the curious gazes, Harry walked away, but as he passed by the teacher, he turned to face him.
"I won't be going to your classes anymore. And if you dare punish me, I'll give you another beating."
With the punishment behind him, and all future classes avoided, Harry decided to head over to the Missions Hall. It was a short walk from the whipping post, and it didn't take much time for him to arrive.
When he stepped inside, one of the many workers of the sect, who were easily distinguishable due to their white robes, walked over and greeted him.
"Welcome to the Missions Hall. You must be James. Let me know if you have any questions, and I'll do my best to answer them."
"You know me?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Haha, you must be joking," the man laughed nervously. "I think everybody knows you."
'That's probably true,' Harry realized. It was hard for him to adapt to his newfound fame.
"Can you tell me how things work here? What sort of tasks are there?"
"Of course. Over there is the Outer Disciple Task Board, where tasks are posted, along with their rewards. For Outer Disciples, there's always a standard list of tasks available for you to do. For most of them, you'll just be helping around the sect, and they don't require a particular cultivation level or anything. You can get a job taking care of plants for the Alchemy Hall, or forging items for the Blacksmith Hall, or patrolling, or dozens of others. There are always plenty of those tasks available for Outer Disciples to do, to give everyone an opportunity to earn merit points."
"Besides the standard set of jobs, sometimes Inner Disciples will post tasks on the Outer Task Board, or occasionally, even the Elders will post one. Those are special tasks that can involve almost anything, but they come by less frequently."
"And what about the rewards? Are they all in merit points?"
"Well, the standard missions are always rewarded with merit points. As for the nonstandard tasks, the rewards vary widely. It's whatever the task creator is willing to pay, though it's usually merit points or Qi Crystals. But actually, just yesterday, one of the Elders put up a task with a huge reward, but no one is brave enough to do it."
"Oh? What's the task for?" Harry asked curiously. The promise of a huge reward was tempting.
"The Swan Sea is currently facing a huge Beast Surge. They happen every few decades, but this one is much larger than previous ones. A week ago, thousands of aquatic Magic Beasts emerged from the Swan Sea, and started attacking our sect and the surrounding villages. Right now, the majority of Elders and Inner Disciples have gone to drive them back into the ocean. That's why there are so few of them around right now."
"As for the Beast Surge, this time, even the weakest beasts are at the high-level Ordinary Grade, while the majority are at the Earth Grade. It's no place for an Outer Disciple. But for some reason, the new task is precisely that. The task is to kill the invading Magic Beasts, and bring back Beast Cores as proof. In exchange, there are great rewards."
A Beast Surge? Of aquatic Magic Beasts? Harry frowned. He remembered what a Beast Surge was, but what sort of aquatic Magic Beasts were there? Was the Swan Sea Sect being invaded by schools of fish?
"What sort of beasts are there?"
"I haven't seen them, but I've heard stories of crocodiles, giant crabs, grindylows, and even seahorses. We hear reports of injured Inner Disciples every single day."
Crocodiles, crabs, grindylows… and seahorses? In his mind, Harry pictured those cute little animals. Surely seahorses weren't that dangerous, were they?
"Ok, thanks for the information. I'll go check the task board out."
The worker walked over to help some other disciples, and Harry headed over to the Outer Disciple Task Board. It was a large bulletin board, with over a hundred pieces of paper stuck onto it. Each had the description of a task, along with the reward.
Since today's class was basically cancelled, plenty of Outer Disciples were gathered around the Outer Disciple Task Board. Once they saw Harry, they all nervously looked away. They all witnessed him violently beat a teacher, and practically get off scot-free. Then after he was whipped, James actually threatened the teacher, who couldn't even retaliate.
Even though it just happened, the story already circulated around the sect. Even the Inner Disciples and Elders, who normally didn't bother with the Outer Disciples, heard of his reputation.
Everyone already knew this year's batch of Outer Disciples included an unhinged madman. He resorted to violence for the slightest offense, and attacked without thinking.
As he walked towards the Task Board, the rest of the disciples just stepped aside. No one wanted to be associated with him. They were scared of the Ivory Fist Clan going after them, they were scared of displeasing their teacher, who had sworn to get revenge, but most of all, they were scared of James himself. If they accidentally angered him, who knew what he'd do?
But Harry ignored the wide range of looks he was getting from his fellow disciples, because his gaze was fixed on the Outer Disciple Task Board.
Pinned right at the top of the board…
Task: Go to the Beast Surge battlefield. Retrieve the Beast Core of a peak Ordinary Grade Magic Beast.
Exchange:
- 1 Beast Core for 1 Purple Qi Fruit, 25 fruits in total.
- 10 Beast Cores for the Beast Flame of an Earth Grade Scarlet Flame Wolf.
- 10 Beast Cores for other Earth Grade Beast Flames. No limit.
