31 Shattered Meadows

"Ugh... where am I?" Rudra woke up feeling sore all over his body.

His eyes fell on his Master Ren who was rowing the boat.

He realized that currently, he was on a boat lying down on a wooden plank.

"Looks like you woke up." Old Man Ren smiled at him gently.

"Argh..." Rudra felt his neck hurt when he turned his head.

"Where are we, Master?" Rudra questioned Master Ren.

"We are on our way to Shattered Meadows."

"What happened why can't I remember anything" Rudra felt his head hurt trying to remember.

"I can only guess what had happened, you did something that made Sect Head mad."

"I was ordered by her to take you with me to the Shattered Meadow Beach."

"It looks like your request angered the Sect Head."

"She has ordered us to produce considerable results within a year."

"If we fail we will be thrown in the Ocean Burial Prison."

"What?" Rudra freaked out.

"Did you pick up the resources required for building the branch? Where are the disciples that were supposed to follow us?" Rudra hurriedly asked Ren.

"We were not given any supplies or any disciples either." Ren continued.

"How did this happen wasn't I suppose to get ample supplies and few disciples in Qi condensation stage who were willing to learn my farming techniques."

"Did your head get damaged too?" Ren looked at him with concern.

"I was told it was going to be only two of us who would be going to Shattered Meadow Beach."

"How did I get hurt?"

"You slipped and fell that is what I was told."

"Slip and fell, why do I feel like I was mugged instead" Rudra sat on the planks of the boat trying to remember what had transpired that had made the perfectly good negotiation go south so fast.

[Why don't you come in here for a discussion] Yali's voice sounded inside his head.

Rudra quickly entered his Spiritual Expanse hoping to find the answer to the questions that boggled him.

"HA HA HA kid, I never knew you were so brave HA HA HA." Yali's laughter filled his ear.

"So are you going to tell me what happened"

"Yes, HAHA AH you were so brave confessing your eternal love for that human female HA HA AH."

"Too bad she didn't like your oath of being 'forever together' and 'eternal love' HA HA HA"

"Rishi do you want to add something to that."

"Its all your fault, Huuu" Rishi's calmly replied as if he had already given up.

Rudra was shaken by the chill attitude of Rishi, 'I guess he is still an old man mentally.'

Rudra returned from his Spiritual Expanse now having a general idea of what had transpired.

He, in the moment of heat, had seized back the control of the body from Rishi to throw some cheesy love confessions towards The Sect Head of Spirit Ocean Sect.

"That explains the pain of the body, even a slap from her would kill me."

"What was I thinking, How did I become so impulsive."

"Looks like we have reached our destination." Ren looked at the horizon.

Rudra turned his head to look at a shoreline filled with odd irregular rock fragments as big as hills scattered across the beach and in the following green plains that stretched to the horizon.

"Why do the rocks look so unnatural?" Rudra asked looking at the giant rock formations on the stretch of grassy plains.

"The rocks are the reason this place is called Shattered Meadow."

Soon they reached the shore of the beach and alighted the boat to walk towards one of the rocks.

Rudra caressed the surface of a rock, feeling its cold surface.

He looked at the reach of the plain filled with large rocks that looked out of place,

this was where they had to build a branch Sect.

"I will make this place a beauty," Rudra vowed, looking back at the Ocean.