Daoist Heiyu lounged on the elevated silk cushions, popping spirit fruit after spirit fruit into his mouth while watching the servants of the Sun Family scurry about below him. The sweet juice trickled down his chin, yet he made no move to wipe it away, allowing it to stain his pure white robes.

  Let them clean it up; it’s what servants were for, after all.

  “More wine, Venerable One?” A young servant girl approached him with a jade pitcher.

  “Ah, yes, yes,” he replied, using his best wise-elder voice. It was the one that fooled countless sects over the centuries. “But remember these words, young one. Wine is like cultivation; one must savour each drop with mindfulness, lest the spirit itself becomes clouded.”

  His words had the reaction he expected - the girl’s eyes widened at his precious “wisdom”.

  Daoist Heiyu suppressed a snicker. These mortals were all the same; so desperate for profound insights that they’d find deep meaning in absolute nonsense. He could probably tell them that picking their nose was a secret cultivation technique, and they’d do it religiously, expecting a cultivation breakthrough that would never arrive.

  As the young girl poured the wine for him, he reflected on how absurdly easy it had been to reach this elevated position.

  A week ago, Daoist Heiyu had been laying low in some backwater village, trying to avoid his old “associates” from the Blood Moon Sect. It was then that the Sun Family’s representatives had arrived, practically begging for a powerful cultivator like himself to help them deal with their Wei Family problem.

  It had been almost insulting how simple it was to solve their problems.

  Those Elemental Realm cultivators the Wei Family had hired might as well have been mortals compared to him. It only took one blast of Stellar Realm qi to turn them to ash and send the exact message the Sun Family wanted - cross us, and you’ll all disappear.

  As for what followed next, well Daoist Heiyu was treated like an immortal who had descended from the heavens. They rewarded him with the finest foods, the most expensive wins, and best of all – the most beautiful women.

  All for killing a few insects who weren’t even worth the effort of drawing his sword, least of all the many treasures he had been able to ‘loan’ from his former sect.

  Daoist Heiyu reached for yet another spirit fruit as his mind wandered to the day, he’d first discovered just how profitable playing the “righteous elder” could really be.

  After a particular messy situation involving the Sect Master’s daughter and the sect’s treasures, Daoist Heiyu had no choice but to flee to some mortal village. The idea had struck him when he had overhead some forgettable villagers excitedly talking about some famous low ranked righteous cultivator who was expected to visit.

  Unfortunately for the righteous cultivator, he had met a premature ending, and then with a quick change of clothes, some rehearsed platitudes about karma and virtue, Daoist Heiyu was suddenly being welcomed as the honoured guest.

  The plot had worked so well that he had decided to make it his primary scheme.

  After all, why rob people directly when you could get them to give you everything willingly?

  “Venerable One?” a soft voice interrupted his thoughts. “Father asked if you’d be interested in joining us for the evening meal?”

  Daoist Heiyu turned to find Sun Meiyu, the beautiful eldest daughter of the Sun Family patriarch, standing by the door.

  “Ah, young mistress!” he stood up, adopting his kindly elder persona.” Of course, I wouldn’t dare to miss it. As the ancient ones would say: ‘A meal shared is a blessing doubled.’”

  The saying had been made up right there on the spot, Daoist Heiyu had neither lived long enough to witness the ancient ones himself, nor had he been interested in studying the lives of those who were long dead, but despite this, he noticed Sun Meiyu’s eyes light up.

  By the heavens, these fools really were too easy to manipulate.

  “Venerable One is truly the most wise,” she bowed. “Would you share more of your insights during the meal? Your words about the relationship between morning dew and cultivation enlightened us all yesterday.”

  Daoist Heiyu chuckled inwardly, remembering the complete nonsense he’d spouted about morning dew, how the drops contain the essence of heavenly wisdom. He’d been heavily drunk at the time and mostly talking about how wet grass was.

  “Of course, dear. Though remember, true wisdom is like…” he paused, pretending to consider deeply while actually just buying himself some time to think of something that sounded cryptic, “like a butterfly that lands only when we stop chasing it.”

  ***

  During the meal, Daoist Heiyu played his part expertly, whether that be by stroking his long beard thoughtfully before speaking, nodding sagely at the simplest statements, or occasionally closing his eyes as if he was deep in meditation.

  “You seem,” he gestured with his chopsticks when asked about breakthroughs, “when refining qi, you must treat your dantian like a simmering cauldron. First, gather the spiritual essence and let it bubble vigorously, just as you would bring a broth to a roiling boil. Then, when the qi begins to froth and surge, you must immediately reduce the spiritual pressure to its lowest point, letting the essence settle into a gentle simmer for precisely the time it takes an incense stick to burn.”

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  “Amazing!” Sun Meiyu’s younger brother exclaimed. “This sounds exactly like what I need for a breakthrough.”

  “If he actually tries that, his qi channels will literally explode,” Heiyu thought to himself, hiding the smirk behind his wine cup. “I’m literally just telling them how to make soup stock: bring to boil, then simmer. The sudden pressure change in his dantian will shatter his meridans.”

  A familiar dark pleasant sensation ran through his spine as Daoist Heiyu imagined corrupting the cultivation bases of those around him.

  This was his true path: the Dao of Corruption which he’d stumbled upon centuries ago.

  Every cultivator that he led astray, every foundation he poisoned, every dream of immortality he twisted into a nightmare, they all fed to his own power. The destruction of the inner worlds of others literally expanded his own.

  He could still remember the day he discovered this path as though it was yesterday. He had been masquerading as a righteous scholar, deliberately teaching flawed techniques to a young man from a minor sect, obviously planning to rob him and his clan when their guard was down.

  But as the boy’s meridians began to twist and their qi turned volatile, Daoist Heiyu had felt it. His own cultivation surged forward, encouraging his inner world to expand as he absorbed the remnants of the shattered spiritual essence left behind by qi deviation.

  The suffering of others doesn’t just please him; it empowers him.

  Since then, he had taken the time to refine this approach into a proper art form.

  The look of betrayal in their eyes when they finally realised that their ‘master’ had led them down a path of destruction?

  The moment when hope turned to despair?

  It was times like this that were feasts for his cultivation, far more satisfying and filling than any spirit herb or pill.

  But there was something about the current situation with the Sun Family that nagged at his instincts.

  They claimed to be mere merchants who had struck it rich in the Southern Provinces before having moved to Myriad City five years ago. A common enough tale, after all, this city did attract ambitious traders like honey drew flies, but Daoist Heiyu hadn’t survived centuries of cultivation politics by taking things at face value.

  No.

  Their movements were too practiced, their servants too well trained.

  The guards showed signs of martial sect training, their formations were simply too clean.

  And then there were the warding formations he’d glimpsed around their compound. They were subtle, carefully hidden beneath the typical protection arrays one would expect from a merchant family, but they were unmistakable to someone of his experience.

  No, these people were not simple merchants.

  Yet the real question wasn’t who they truly are, but what they were hiding. And perhaps more importantly, was there some ancient monster sleeping in their basement who might be disrupt his plans?

  Daoist Heiyu had seen it happen before.

  Powerful cultivation clans going undercover as merchants for a generation or two when politics got too hot, buying themselves some time to recover before re-emerging stronger than ever and striking back at their enemies.

  The last thing Daoist Heiyu needed was to start looting the place only to wake up some hibernating Life Realm grandfather who ended up turning him into paste.

  So instead of directly acting, he had decided to watch and wait, teaching the juniors of the Sun Family progressively more harmful cultivation techniques, not just out of spite, but to probe their reactions.

  A true cultivation family would easily spot the flaws in his teachings and call him out on it, but the Sun Family did no such thing.

  Either their continued enthusiasm meant that they were genuine merchants playing at cultivation, or they were very, very good at maintain their cover…

  “More wine, Venerable One,” Sun Meiyu offered him another cup of wine.

  “Remember, young one,” Daoist Heiyu smiled benevolently, “the path to immortaltity requires patience above all else.”

  The irony of his words made him want to laugh. He would be patient indeed, patient enough to ensure he wasn’t walking into some well-laid trap. And if these mortals really were just merchants who’d luckily stumbled upon some cultivation resources? Well, then he would take great pleasure in stripping them of everything the heavens had blessed them with, before destroying their cultivation foundations entirely.

  After the meal, one of the guests of the Sun Family, Lin Yue shyly approached him.

  “Venerable One,” she said. “There’s a beautiful lake just beyond the compound. They say the moonlight there has special properties helpful for cultivation. Would…would you consider viewing it with me? Perhaps you could explain its significance?”

  Daoist Heiyu stroked his beard thoughtfully, hiding his smirk.

  Another fool eager to destroy themselves with his teachings, it would be amusing to corrupt her cultivation along with the rest of the Sun Family.

  “Ah, the moon’s wisdom does indeed shine brightest when properly appreciated,” he replied solemnly. “Your spiritual sensitivity in noticing this shows promise. Perhaps…” he paused for effect, watching her eyes widen as she leaned in eagerly, “perhaps, you are worthy of receiving some special instruction.”

  “Truly?” the young woman’s face lit up with joy, “I…I would be honored to learn from the Venerable One! I’ve studied all the basic arts, but I know I have so much more to learn.”

  “Yes, yes,” Daoist Heiyu nodded as they made their way towards the lake. “I sense great potential in you. The kind that, if properly guided, could reach heights few mortals dare to dream of.”

  Of course, his words were all lies.

  The techniques he planned to teach her, not only would they ensure she never advanced beyond the Qi Condensation Realm, but they would turn her into a fine piece of equipment worthy of serving him as a cultivation furnace.

  When the lake came into view, Liu Yue walked slightly ahead, earnestly pointing out the spiritual formations she had noticed in the area.

  “Do you see how the moonlight reflects?” she asked, “I’ve always felt there was something special about it, but I never new how to properly understand it.”

  It was an interesting subject, one that Daoist Heiyu himself had no understanding of.

  But before he could come up with some deeply convoluted reply full of nonsensical philosophical musings, he noticed something odd.

  There was someone else there – a hooded figure standing at the lake’s edge.

  The figure was perfectly still, like a statue carved from shadow.

  But what set off warning bells in Daoist Heiyu’s mind was that he couldn’t sense any qi at all from it, not even the basic life force all humans had.

  That wasn’t normal.

  That wasn’t possible.

  Every single instinct that had been honed over a millennia of cultivation screamed at him to retreat.

  But his lust and arrogance drowned out those warnings.

  What did it even matter?

  He was a Stellar Realm cultivator in a city where Elemental Realm cultivators were treated as gods; nothing in this backwater city could possibly harm him.

  “You there!” Daoist Heiyu called out, a trace of his impressive Stellar Realm aura leaked into his voice. “This area is now reserved for…private meditation. Leave. Now!”

  The words reverberated through the night, yet not only did the figure not move, but didn’t even acknowledge his presence.

  The lack of a response pricked at Daoist Heiyu’s ego.

  How dare this nobody ignore him?

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