Vincent was summoned in the Lotus Pavilion, right before the sun reached up the horizon.
The sky was casted with the hue of orange, gradually turning into dark blue as it moved further away.
A young man stood before in Vincent, wagged his willow twig pointing towards the vampire and stated, "Were you behind the destruction of Lotus Pavilion?"
Vincent leaned his body towards the right and looked at the broken plank being rearranged by the disciples.
"I have minimal contribution for its damage." He stood upright and replied honestly. "It was Ming Bo's body who crashed against the beams not me.
The man took a deep breath before he started calmly, "Decades ago, Tie Xin, the first and the last disciple from our sect to ascend heaven, returned to earth few years later and visited our sect."
Vincent took a glance at the man as he paused and gave exactly what he wanted, a nod of approval.
Content with his reaction, the man continued, "During that time, our sect was financially poor and had hideous structure. Feeling sad for the clan he grew up, Tie Xin summoned his friend, Yi Shen to build the sect you are seeing now. Yi Shen said it was a gift from him for training Tie Xin and in exchange, asked us to preserve his artistry for eternity."
"And Ming Bo was destroyed the very sacred pavilion built by Yi Shen?" Vincent dramatically expressed his thought with a hint of raised brow and dramatically changing his tone. "He needs to be punished for his unheroic act, so, how many I help you, Mr...?
The man didn't reply to his question and turned his stick towards Jing Luan who stood silently behind Vincent the entire time.
"You claim to be his master, aren't you?"
"I am,"
"How are you planning to compensate for his act?"
"Mark his punishment with 50 whips and I am willing to pay for the reconstruction."
"Do you ever have money?"
"No,"
"How are you going to pay? Perform rituals? Loan? Or steal perhaps?"
"Me and my disciple will resolve the issue raised by Yun family."
"You what!?" The man eyes drastically enlarged as he digested Jing Luan's reply.
****
Vincent was forced to kneel in the middle of repenting platform, while the nameless man from earlier stood behind him with his willow twig.
The boy whom Jing Luan sent yesterday stood at the corner with an rusty orange fabric manual in his hands , facing towards the crowd gathered around the arena.
Vincent turned his eyes towards Jing Luan who sternly kept looking ahead with no expression, with hands folded above her chest.
After he was done looking around at everyone, he casted his eyes downward.
Jing Luan sealed his lips in fear of him spitting nonsense and the nameless willow man tied his legs together.
He thought of this 50 whips about to land on his back.
Everything happening in here was not under his control, neither was it before but, at least he had will to express his thoughts.
Felix was better than Jing Luan, but this place is better than the dungeon under the mountain caves. If he had to choose, he would choose to come here nonetheless.
If he wants to be free, shouldn't he break the Golden Bond, if that was what making his body compelled by Jing Luan.
Jing Luan said she him to visit library if he immediately wanted to learn what is it; he definitely find out. Once freed, no one can control him again.
While Vincent was busy exploring conspiracies, his ears picked the voice of the teen calling out his name.
He concentrated on the boys speech as he got distracted from his deep thought analysis.
"Goodmorning, one and all, my honorable Great Masters, respected seniors and beloved juniors. We gathered on the Repentation Podium to witness the culprit with multiple crimes committed within the sacred land on Tenfold Azure Sect being punished by Martial Master, Zu Long.
"The offenses he perpetrated follows by his illegal infiltration through magic, attacking Jing Luan Shizun during training and attacking disciples when they tried to rescue..."
The announcement, more like a boring speech went on for more than 15 minutes, bragging his deed like an unforgivable sins.
He turned his head towards Jing Luan, who evidently avoided his gaze. So this was why she sealed his mouth.
Vincent took a deep breath and almost choked as he listened to the last.
"...hence to compensate this offenses, Wenzhi shall be strike for 120 sect rule he had broken, and as the master of Wenzhi, Jing Luan need to pay..." The teen boy's voice dragged as he blinked before completing the sentence with hesitation, "500 golden teils fine for encouragement offense and additional 700 golden teils for the contribution to the destruction of property."
And with the end of the boys speech, a large bell hung beside was rang by another student and the punishment started.
Zu Long raised his Willow wand above his head, surging the wand with destructive qi.
"Master Zu Long," Shenshi who was quite the whole time, spoke.
"The punishment didn't mention or allow you to use any destructive qi, I hope you remember." She smiled coldly and said a single word, "Right?"
Zu Long stopped the flow of the destructive qi and with anger, striked Vincent's back.
The sound of the willow wand meeting the back of his skin resonated every corner of the jungle near them.
Even Vincent was shocked with the sound thundered near his eyes but what shocked him more was that he felt no pain.
Just a sensation of something touching his skin but pain was foreign.
He immediately turned his act towards Jing Luan before the second strike landed on his back.
The vampire was taken aback when Jing Luan was looking at him, piercing his soul with her gaze, as if she was waiting for him to look at her for a long time.
His felt his lips unzip and her mouting the word 'act' at him.
Vincent blinked his eyes before he started dramatically groaning in pain and whimpering as he laid flat on the ground.