Chapter 66: The Price of Weakness
Guan Li uncovered a section of floor in his room and, with qi-reinforced fingers, pried up one of the heavy stones. Paike watched over his shoulder as he fished out a pair of leather pouches.
He looked away as his friend dug through the pouches, but the clack of stone shifting told him what was in there just fine.
"I'm not missing anything either," Guan Li announced a moment later. "You are on to something, I think."
Paike nodded; their house just being destroyed could have been collateral damage from some fight, but many things didn't fit with that idea, not just the missing staff. The other disciples' reaction told him there might have been a warning not to interfere.
If they had wanted to disguise the recovery of the staff, then they would have taken other things as well. Then it would have seemed as if they had just gotten robbed while they were out. Maybe they had, but just nothing valuable enough that he had thought to look for it. Paike found that unlikely.
"I just need to remember who actually originally had the staff. I can't remember if I ever learned the family's name." Paike said.
Honestly, he didn't really care about the staff. He was starting to come around to Li Feng's point of view. He had so many cultivation things to focus on, he didn't have time to really get beyond competent with the staff. With all his disadvantages, he couldn't afford any distractions from his progress. Maybe one day he would need to learn one of the four noble weapons, but he would figure that out if he ever made it that far.
However, he couldn't just let this go. It felt stupid, but no matter how many duels he won or powerful cultivators he defeated in battle, if he ignored this slight, he would paint a target on his back. He would be thought of as weak. As someone who you could steal from with no consequences.
He had also been sure that he needn't worry about someone coming for that staff, which was why he hadn't bothered to ransom it back to the original owner as one could. It wasn't supposed to be worth that much for a weapon. Though he supposed it was valuable if sold, but nothing compared to something like Li Feng's sword.