Banishment

As soon as Mrs. Ping returned at their house, most of the men that cheered happily earlier were now snoring loudly at their table, drunk and tired from all the fun. Most of the women and children went home already, her children were no where to be seen, as well as her husband, "they must be on their rooms now" she thought for herself.

A man peeked from their gates and slowly knocked, as she turned around she eventually recognized the man, it was the messenger of the YanlinZhen Sect. the man bowed and she just stared back at him her face with a frown. The messenger eventually went close to her and smiled warily while giving her another letter from their sect.

"Mrs. Ping, a message from our Sect Leader" he explained, she scowled back and took the letter from him and waved her hand motioning him to leave, the messenger bowed apologetically and smiled, "Sect leader Zhen instructed me to stay until I get a response" he explained once more, her brows twitched and she left to tell her husband about the pesky sect leader again.

Mr. Ping was in their room, there were books and scriptures sprawled all over their bed and the floor and he was sitting on their bed reading a book. Mrs. Ping was shocked at seeing her husband suddenly find interest in reading, however the letter was important, she knocked softly at the door and went inside.

"My husband, the messenger of the YanlinZhen Sect is here once again with a letter from Sect Leader Zhen" she spoke, Mr. Ping quickly looked at her and her hands which held the letter, he stood up and as she gave him the letter his face was showing both worry and annoyance.

Mrs. Ping stood there waiting for her husband to open the letter and read out the content as he usually does, but this time, Mr. Ping didn't open it yet, he looked at the letter and at her, he then smiled and spoke "My wife, it is best if you do not hear the content of this letter" Mrs. Ping was shocked and at the same time curiosity filled her head. However, she cannot say no to his orders, she bowed and went outside, as she closed the door she placed her left ear against the door in hopes that he will read it aloud at some point.

Silence filled the room, it seems like Mr. Ping is reading it silently, Mrs. Ping frowned, she was very curious on why she shouldn't hear its contents. She was about to leave defeated that she wasn't able to hear it, she planned to just asked him afterwards and sighed. However, she was stopped by her husbands voice clearly showing disapproval and disbelief.

"Banishment?! what nonesense! who does he think he is?!" he shouted. Upon hearing those words Mrs. Ping couldn't help but barge into the room with face full of worry "What banishment?" she asked, Mr. Ping was clearly shocked at her sudden appearance but he shrugged it off and sighed.

"Sect Leader Zhen told us that if we dont confess to our misdeeds then the whole YanlinZhen sect will banish our sect and will not accept trades and visitors from our sect anymore, and thats not all, he also said that the other sects, The GuanzhanNie Sect, The RuohanJing sect, and the LansungWang sect will also hear about this and probably banish us too"

As Mr. Ping explained it to her, she trembled, this Sect Leader Zhen is really getting them on theur throats and even managed to threaten her whole beloved LingweiPing Sect, how could he?! Mr. Ping saw her reaction and patted her shoulders

"Do not worry, YanlinZhen Sect is only small, they're smaller than our sect. If we act swiftly and silently then we can eradicated this problem as well, just like how we usurped the Ling's throne" he spoke to her assuringly, her face displayed horror and disbelief more after hearing his words.

"Are you implying that we will kill the whole YanlinZhen Sect?! why not just their leader?! why not just Sect leader Zhen and his men?!" her voice was almost shouting, Mr. Ping shook his head and looked at her with eyes burning with malicious anger.

"Can't you see? we had eradicated Lianming however it was too late, Sect Leader Zhen took the bastard child's side, he might even know about all our secrets now. What good will it do if we only kill him?"

Mrs. Ping couldn't believe what her husband was talking about, his words were painted with extreme bloodlust and will of revenge, it was even greater than the bloodlust he had when he murdered Lianming's family in front of Lianming's very own eyes. It was menacing and terrifying.

"Ling Yuonji made a mistake of treating me as a slave, and his wife and family suffered for it, now Sect leader Zhen made a mistake on prying onto our history and forgiveness is only acceptable if his whole clan and sect perishes along with him because of this mistake!"

Mrs. Ping was silent, her hands hidden behind her back, trembling with fear, she smiled weakly at him as he looked at her and nodded along his words. This is not her husband, this is not what she wanted, yes she wanted to eradicate the Ling family but she never wished for a war in between the LingweiPing sect and LanyinZhen sect.

"Wh-what will I tell the messenger outside?" she asked, Mr. Ping turned to her and smiled "tell him, we will repent on our sins, and if possible we will do so infront of all our sect" she nodded along and quickly went outside to tell the messenger his exact same words, as the messenger left, a gust of cold chilly night wind brushed off her face, she was sweating, nervous of the events that will unfold soon. Why did the heavens give them such a huge hurdle, weren't they the ones who brought light to this city and its people? why does it seem like divine punishment is upon them?