Awakening of the Ancient: Rise of the Fallen 141 Chapter 138: Unable to answer

He has been Cultivating for a long time. He was tired as well as sleepy. He soon fell asleep.

****

Inside the core sect, the commotion was still going on. Except for the high ranking Elders, everyone's places were being searched from top to bottom. 

Everyone was being looked through the eyes of suspicion. 

Everyone's rooms were searched, and only one courtyard was left.

This Courtyard belonged to Situ Mu, who was the Personal Disciple of the Core Sect Supreme Elder.

He and Battle Fairy Mia were both the top Core Disciples. They were both considered to be the candidates for becoming the next Sect Master. 

Even though they were both at the top, people thought that Mia had the higher. Chance of becoming the Sect Master as she was the only person after the Sect Master in the sect who had grade 9 talent.

Situ Mu, on the other hand, had a grade 8 talent.

Battle Fairy Mia reached the courtyard of Situ Mu with Punishment Elder and a few other disciples of Punishment Hall.

Mia knocked on the door.

The servant of Situ Mu opened the door, but without replying anything, Mia moved him to the side and entered the courtyard.

"Wait, where are you going?! Stop!" The Servant called out loud.

Situ Mu was in his bedroom cultivating when he heard the commotion. He stopped his Cultivation and stood up.

Situ Mu stepped out of his courtyard and watched Battle Fairy Mia and the others inside his place. His servant was trying to stop them.

"Mia! Is this how you behave in the sect? It's my courtyard, not a public garden, that you can enter anytime! Elder, how can you allow her to behave so atrociously in the Sect?" Situ Mu said.

"Situ Mu, The matter is somewhat serious. Mia has lost the concentration crystal that was given to her by the sect master. We're trying to find it. It's not just your place; we're searching every courtyard," The Punishment Elder said.

"Is that how things work here now? A person loses something, and the punishment hall searches everyone's Courtyard like criminals? What if I say that my paintbrush is stolen? I doubt that she stole it. Would you let me search her courtyard as well? What if every Core Disciple comes to you with a lost complaint? Will you search for everyone's Courtyard every day? Is this the duty of the punishment hall?" Situ Mu said to the Punishment Elder as if he was mocking his logic.

"This..."

The Punishment Elder was stunned and didn't know how to respond. He could also see that he wasn't entirely right in doing that either, and his action today might cause a wave of uncertainty and anger in the disciples.

"Stop talking. After I search your place, you can search my place for your brush or anything that you want. It doesn't matter how many people search my house. The only thing that matters to me is finding that crystal. I would find it even if I have to go to the depths of this sect," Mia replied to Situ Mu.

She started searching the whole place. In fact, she searched this place even more carefully as Situ Mu was the person she was most suspicious of.

"Very well. Search it. Don't worry; I would definitely show you how it feels. Coincidentally something is stolen from my courtyard every day. Stay prepared to open the doors daily to have your house ransacked," Situ Mu told her. He walked towards a chair that was lying on the hall and sat on it.

He watched his house being ransacked without taking his eyes off. His heart was raging in a fury. He was feeling insulted.

"You left that corner. Search carefully. You might miss whatever you're looking for," he commented as if he was telling Mia to search carefully.

The search continued for half an hour. Every corner of the house was scoured, but the crystal wasn't found. Situ Mu even allowed himself to be checked to clear any lingering suspicion.

Even after all that, they didn't find the Concentration Crystal.

Battle Fairy Mia was the one who was most disappointed because of this.

"Satisfied? Huh, Punishment Elder, I just noticed that my paints are stolen. I need your guys to search through the whole Sect," Situ Mu said to the Punishment Elder. 

"Situ Mu, Calm down. It's nothing personal. Everyone's house was searched, not just your own. Just think of it as an unfortunate situation," the Punishment Elder said.

"I don't care why you did it. I want the same rights as her. A Punishment Elder shouldn't show his partiality. If that's the case that the whole Punishment Hall is compromised and can't work efficiently," Situ Mu said, stunning the Punishment Elder.

"Leave if you didn't find anything. Continue the search of every courtyard for her. I'll be coming to the Punishment Hall when everything's over. We will see if you're partial or not," he added as he walked back to his room. He didn't forget to glance back at Battle Fairy Mia before he entered his room.

'Looks like we are going to have a problem soon. If I search for him, it would just increase the instability and lack of trust in the punishment hall, and if I don't do it, he will call me partial and complain to Supreme Elder,' the Punishment Elder looked towards the door of Situ Mu and sighed.

They left his courtyard.

"With that courtyard, we have now checked every place other than the courtyards of the Elders and the Sect Master. I won't go to check there and make things worse. Could it be that you kept it somewhere and forgot?" The Punishment Elder asked Battle Fairy Mia.

"I don't think any elder will do it.  It should be the job of a disciple. Also, I clearly remember where I had kept it. I even searched my whole place. Someone definitely took it," Mia replied.

"But we checked every disciple, and we still couldn't find it. Maybe whoever stole it buried it somewhere or threw it away. It seems impossible to find it if we still haven't found it. I'm sorry, but I can't help you with this one," the Punishment Elder sighed as he left, leaving a bewildered Mia behind.

Mia looked towards the sky as she shook her head.

"Whoever you are, when I find you, you would know what the faith of thieves is," she muttered.

She left that place and walked back to her courtyard with disappointment clearly written on her face.

*****

The Sect Master of the Mighty Demon Sect was sitting in his room, cultivating.

He had no idea about anything that had just happened in the sect as no one disturbed him when he was cultivating unless there was a grave matter that needed him.

He finished cultivating and stood up as he left his room and stepped out to the hall.

"Did something happen when I was in my closed-door cultivation?" the Sect Master asked his servant, who was standing in the hall. He was assigned to find out all the information about the sect when the sect master was cultivating so that he could inform him after the sect master woke up from his cultivation.

"Yes, Master, a big commotion occurred today that shadows everything else that happened in the last few days," the Servant said.

"What happened?" the Sect Master asked with curiosity on his face.

"From what I heard, someone stole the Concentration Crystal that you gifted to young miss Mia. She took the help of the Punishment Hall to search everyone's courtyard. Although the crystal wasn't found, it did create the unrest in the core sect. The disciples are angry at the Punishment Hall," the Servant replied.

"Is that so? I wouldn't blame them. When someone is blamed when they are innocent, it's reasonable to be angry about it," the Sect Master sighed as he shook his head.

"It was a rare crystal, but Mia shouldn't be affected much because of it. The only thing that it did was increase her focus on cultivation," he added.

"What else happened in the sect?" The Sect Master asked.

"The boy named Xu Ming got the 1st rank. He entered the core sect and bathed in the cleansing pond for seven days," The Servant replied.

"Oh, I was waiting for that. So far, he hasn't disappointed. I can't wait to see his performance in the Core Trials. His growth has been even faster than Mia. From what I can see, he's a grade 9 talent like Mia as well. Everything will be clear after he becomes a core disciple," the Sect Master muttered.

"Anything else happened?" He asked.

"There are a few more things that happened. Situ Mu achieved a breakthrough in his cultivation," the servant replied.

Chapter end