Immortal Cliff

“It wasn’t me!”

Staring into the face of the Hall of Law’s master, whose anger had turned his visage a dark, liverish hue, the young man’s eyes were wide with indignation. His fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned pale, his nails driven into his palms, but he felt no pain at all. His fair and delicate face flushed red with humiliation.

“Hmph! Caught stealing while on guard duty, and still you refuse to kneel!” The cold, furious reproach from the gray-robed elder sent a chill through those present, their hearts beating faster with apprehension.

The youth stubbornly lifted his head, refusing to bend his knees, his posture rigid as stone.

“Insolent brat! Someone, administer the punishment!”

As the elder’s command rang out, one of the four burly men standing behind the youth stepped forward. He had a bushy beard and moved swiftly, snapping his steel-whip with a crack that filled the air with a burst of sparks.

The crowd shuddered. That was a steel-link whip—its slender rings forged of fine steel could shatter stone, let alone human flesh. The boy would surely bleed within five steps; many of the girls turned away, unable to bear the sight.

The elder’s eyes gleamed with malice. His grim expression was that of a man risen from a heap of corpses. He seized the boy by the throat, his rage at its zenith.

“This is your final chance. Speak! Where is the Azure Lotus?”

The clever ones among the crowd understood without words: if the stolen Azure Lotus wasn’t found, the Hall of Law’s master himself would not escape p