"Insubordinate fly!" Vladimir roared. "Break your arms and legs! Destroy your cultivation! Beg forgiveness! Do this, and I might not mention it to my Senior Collector!"
I folded my arms across my chest.
It wasn't the first time I'd had this discussion. Others had tried to convince me I was wrong. But on this, I would not bend. For to do so would be to go against my dao.
Strength was all.
"You are not qualified to make demands of me," I said.
"The Emperor will hear of this," the man hissed. "And he will send the military to deal with you and your puny sect!"
"You merely reinforce my point," I said, scratching my armpit. "If the Emperor were mighty, he would not need an army to do his work for him. He would come here and make me kneel. But he cannot. So, he sends his dogs to bark at me instead."
"Great Elder Wey," Mez winced. "I think we should not be so harsh! The Emperor uses the Offerings to improve roads and infrastructure, too…"
"Exactly!" Vladimir sneered.
I raised an eyebrow. "So, if we want a road built between here and the Fire Plum sect, he would build it for us?"
"Well, ah, no," Mez said slowly. "We would, err, of course…"
"And if we need a new sewage system? Or our farmers wished to expand? Would the Emperor pay for this?"
"Maybe this is something to discuss later?"
"And if there's a beast in the nearby mountains, the Emperor would pay cultivators to deal with it?"
"Those are all local issues!" Vladimir snapped impatiently. "Not worthy of the Emperor's time! You know nothing about these things, disciple. You are but a frog in a well."
"It is you who are the frog," I said. "If you truly believe such nonsense."
"I will not tolerate this treason any longer," Vladimir proclaimed. "It is my responsibility to enforce the Emperor's will and to maintain stability. I will not allow you to speak such trash about the Emperor, disciple. I will personally see you suffer for your insolence. Solen Ji, break his legs."
The guard turned on me, a nasty glint in his eyes. He seemed comfortable with the proposal, which made me think they'd done this before.
Many times.
"Yes, sir!"
"Pathetic," I sighed. "You are so weak, you need others to do your work. What cowardice is this? You simply show the truth of my words by revealing the rot beneath your pretty words."
"I refuse to dirty my fingers with your blood," Vladimir scowled. "You are not worthy to witness my martial skill."
Solen cycled the chi around his fist.
He hadn't even bothered to reinforce his body, as he expected no resistance.
"Fool," I muttered.
The man's cruel grin spread wider as he suddenly flashed across the room. His fist pulled back as he aimed to smash my head into tiny pieces. The speed at which he darted towards me was formidable.
I could feel the killing intent like a wave cresting behind him.
So I turned my head.
And let him feel mine.
His eyes widened as he slammed to the ground at my feet. Sprawling on his face as my killing intent crushed his own, leaving no trace it had ever existed. The air temperature dropped to a point that he exhaled mist.
Such was the cold promise of death I had delivered.
"Mercy," he mewed. "Please don't kill me! I was only doing what I had been ordered to do."
"No excuse," I said. "If a cultivator chooses to act like a dog, he must expect to be treated like one."
And lifted my foot to bring it stamping down on his head. His skull was reduced to paste under my heel.
Silence split the room as I lifted my foot and gave it a shake to clean the mush off. It didn't all come off, so I started wiping my foot on the corpse's robe.
Vladimir took a hurried step backwards, angling for the throne. I think his intention was to hide behind it. "You dare!"
"I do."
"Mez Kyoma!" His squawk was loud in my ears. "If you want to survive, execute your disciple! In the name of the Emperor!"
Mez gave me a panicked look.
I took a step towards Vladimir, who squealed like a pig and dashed behind the throne. "Stay away from me, monster! Take one more step, and there's no going back! My father is an important person in the Emperor's court! He will crush you like an insect!"
I glanced at Mez. "Is this dog alone? Did he come with others?"
"He's part of a delegation," Mez sighed. "But he prefers to see my father alone so he can collect his bribe."
"Bribe?"
"We have been paying him to reduce the amount we pass to the Emperor as our Offering," Mez said without even an ounce of shame. "It's normal, Great Elder."
"None of my concern," I admitted. "I will consider that to be sect business. I am just a disciple."
"Kill him!" Vladimir shrieked, shrilly enough to make Mez flinch. "Kill him or I'll tell the Emperor your family attempted to bribe me!"
"Attempted?"
"I am an honourable man," Vladimir retorted. "I have never accepted a bribe, and you can't prove I did!"
Mez pressed his fingers to his temples.
"Great Elder," he said. "This is troublesome."
"Let me resolve it, Elder Brother," I said.
"You have an idea?"
"Of course," I said. "It's very simple, which is why it will work. I kill him."
"You can't kill me! My father-"
He never saw my hand.
He didn't even see me move.
When I slapped him, I'm sure his soul saw every star in the universe before his head popped and his corpse sailed through the air to slam into the wall behind the throne. It crashed to the ground with a wet thud.
"Guards!" Mez cried, causing the front doors to slam open and two guards come rushing inside with their sabres drawn.
They saw the corpses.
Saw me.
Began to tremble.
"Please have someone come to clean up the mess," Mez said calmly. "And ensure the delegation is not yet made aware of Vladimir's death. I will inform them shortly."
"Yes, sir," the guards said as one, clearly relieved by something.
Maybe they were happy to see the troublesome tax collector had been dealt with.
"My father's going to kill me," Mez muttered.
"There's no trouble," I said. "Vladimir made it clear he was corrupt. I would think the rest of his delegation is corrupt, too. We need only bribe them, too. I'm sure they'll let it be known Vladimir died some other way."
"There's one small problem with that, Great Elder," he moaned. "You destroyed our Treasure Hall, remember?"
I stroked my beard. "I did?"
"When you first arrived. Your fight with the Arms Master. The crater you created with your skill? That was on top of the Treasure Hall. Many great treasures were destroyed. Your power was so great, it even vaporised most of our gold in an instant! We don't have enough to pay our Offering, let alone bribe any more officials."
"Hmm." I said, nodding along. "That is troublesome."
He chewed on his fingernail.
Spat out a bit of nail.
Sighed.
"Maybe we should kill them all and pretend they got lost in the forest?"
"Or we could pay the bribe," I said.
"But didn't I just say we can't?"
"We can have the Fire Plum sect pay it."
"What?" He gave me a look which might be best described as flabbergasted. "Why would they do that?"
"They are subordinate to the Black Feathered Goose sect now," I told him. "It's why I came here. Their Treasure Hall is intact. I'm sure they will be grateful for the chance to support us."
"And if they're not?"
"I'm sure they will." I shrugged. "If they won't, then I can go see them again to clear up any misunderstanding."
"I can't believe old man Fing would want to be our subordinate, though." He frowned. Then his eyes widened. "Did you kill him?"
"Not on purpose," I said. "I was defending myself."
"You killed him and then they surrendered? And agreed to be subordinate to us?" He leapt from the throne and grabbed my robe, his eyes frantic but slowly filling with hope. "Truly, Great Elder? You did this thing?"
I shuffled uncomfortably on my feet, but he wasn't going to let go.
"I did."
"I can't believe it!" He reeled backwards, choking on a mad laugh. "The Fire Plum sect subordinate to us! Ha! Great Elder Wei, I swear my family owes you much today. No, forget that. I owe you much! My father's going to slap himself for this. He might even be proud of me. He's never been proud of me before. My brother's always been the favourite. Elder Brother, anything you need! Anything at all! From this day forth, please come to me!"
He then threw himself on the ground at my feet and bowed with his head touching the floor.
"Elder Brother," I hissed, looking over my shoulder. "Quickly. Stand up. You should not bow to a disciple!"
"I don't care!" He cried, his cheeks wet with joyful tears. "I would wash your feet in front of the whole sect if you asked!"
"There's no need," I grumbled. "Let's just speak to the officials and send them on to the Fire Plum sect. Everything is easy to resolve. You don't need to consider this debt between us. It was no effort."
"You are too humble, Great Elder," he said, smiling broadly. "But I, Mez Kyoma, swear to you I will never forget what you have done for my family this day."
"It's fine," I said, waving my hand and plodding away. "I need to return to my wife before she gets angry at me."
"Return quickly. Great Elder!" He called happily. "Junior Sister looks to be scary when she is mad!"