The two of them didn’t stay to chat. Ao Jing had been given a task by the Sect Master and he knew how dire the situation in the border region was so he naturally wouldn’t dare to tarry.

He brought Mei Chao Bing over to the building where the disciples were working and then cupped his fists in front of the door again. “This is the place. Sect Master Zhang is inside. I am only supposed to bring you over so if there is nothing else, I will get back to my other tasks.”

Mei Chao Bing nodded but finally couldn’t help but call out to him when Ao Jing had turned around. “Junior martial brother Ao!”

Ao Jing turned back and raised his brows. “What’s the matter? Anything else you need help with?”

Mei Chao Bing hesitated for a moment and then furrowed his brows. “No, just … how are you doing? I mean, the sect likely didn’t just let you off.”

Ao Jing smiled faintly. “You could say they let me off lightly. My privileges as a direct and even as an inner sect disciple were revoked. I’m also on guard duty for the foreseeable future and if I go on missions, no merits will be registered. As for anything else, I guess that’s still up in the air. I … truth be told, I kind of hope they will add something. It just doesn’t seem right that I get off that easily.”

Mei Chao Bing gave a hum. Actually, this wasn’t a light punishment in a cultivation sect. The privileges of his status being revoked meant that he wouldn’t receive any resources for his cultivation. If merits weren’t registered, he couldn’t even earn them. On top of that, with regular guard duty, his free time had dwindled considerably so basic meditation and practice would be reduced a lot.

All of that together put him at a serious disadvantage and might actually halt his cultivation until this punishment was over. For a disciple of a cultivation sect, this was only one step above abolishing his cultivation base.

But then, his behavior and that of the others had cost lives. So this was indeed not too harsh. Banishing him from the sect wouldn’t have been wrong either. The only reason the Sect Master and Elders had decided against this was probably that he had barely made it back alive and used the opportunity to confess to everything they had done without leaving anything out.

That final decision spoke to him having grown from this ordeal and getting back onto the right path. Basically, they were showing him that they hadn’t completely lost hope in him and were allowing him to prove that hope either right or wrong. They hadn’t given up on him yet. Now, everything relied on his own decisions.

Ao Jing motioned back at the building. “You should go in. The others need you.”

Mei Chao Bing gave him a complicated look but finally nodded and walked inside. Yes, there was no time for this, no matter what his feelings on this were. Anyway, if they managed to make it back to the sect after the final fight with the other side, he could talk to him again. Actually, he was curious to see how Ao Jing would turn out in the future.

For the time being, he pushed the thought away and went to where Sect Master Zhang was standing at the head of the hall, looking serious. “Sect Master.”

Zhang Guan Yu glanced at him with his brows furrowed in worry. “Found something?”

Mei Chao Bing sighed. “Maybe. Actually, do you know anything about how the sect was founded?”

Zhang Guan Yu blinked his eyes, not sure where that had come from. “I do. Why do you ask though? Does it have anything to do with this?”

Mei Chao Bing hesitated, unsure how to explain his conjectures.

Zhang Guan Yu finally shook his head before he could say anything. “Never mind that. If it’s important, I can tell you whatever I know. Actually, you are in luck. I didn’t take many things seriously in my life but I did like reading through those old materials my Master kept back in the day. Some of those were of the time the sect was founded as well.”

Mei Chao Bing stared at him in a daze. He knew that Sect Master Zhang had a serious side to him but the jovial behavior he usually showed was just so much more … defining that he seldom thought of it. He surely wouldn’t have thought of him as somebody interested in history. That seemed like something he’d discount as being boring.

He pulled himself together after the first shook and then inclined his head. “Whatever you know might be helpful so yes, please do tell me.”

“Well, where do I start?” He rubbed the top of his head, almost messing up his hair. “I guess you’re aware that there are several continents, right? Legend has it that one of them got destroyed and only faint traces were found of what had once existed there. Then, similar traces appeared on our continent as well. To guard against the same destruction, four cultivators banded together and founded the four great righteous sects. Together, they swore to protect this continent against the evil that threatened it.”

Mei Chao Bing furrowed his brows. “I saw in the archives that there was some kind of disaster involved?”

Zhang Guan Yu raised his brows. “Well, the disaster would have been the destruction of our continent, I’d assume. It was what they wanted to prevent.”

“And the sects …” Mei Chao Bing furrowed his brows, still not sure what to make of this. “What exactly was their role? And the four cultivators, was there anything special about them? In fact, do you know what originally caused the other continent to be destroyed?”

Zhang Guan Yu’s expression turned thoughtful. “There are only stories by this point and I can’t tell how much of it is real but supposedly, it was a person. Although some sources describe that one as more than a person whatever that is supposed to mean.”