Chapter 67

  Internal Rot (II)

  About ten days after he left, Long Tao returned.

  It was actually a bit faster than I thought. Originally, I anticipated that he'd be gone at least a month, and yet, my eyes weren't lying. There he was, seeming rather exhausted and climbing up the remaining part of the mountain.

  He only said one word to me, "Inside.", and did so before I could question anything. Shrugging my shoulders, I spun around and followed him and then watched as he guzzled--no, that's not the right word. Inhaled, yes.

  I watched as he inhaled two buckets of water like he was a rooted plant getting the first rainfall after a month's drought.

  "You... okay?" I asked, wondering just what kind of hell he stumbled into to become like this.

  "I ran without sleep for three days," ah. So, there was some demon chasing him?

  "Why?" I was courteous enough, still, to ask rather than just assume.

  "Because I learned something I thought you needed to know."

  "..." Wow, what a twist. Wait--I can't buy into it! This is the guy who sold me out in a heartbeat when he beat that kid black and blue! "... what?" I asked cautiously.

  "On my way out," he said. "I had a group follow me. And follow me they did all the way to the Desolate Cliffs, where they tried ambushing me."

  "Poor guys..."

  "What?"

  "Khm, I mean, poor you. That must have been really scary..."

  "Yes, it was all kinds of terrifying," he rolled his eyes, taking another sip of water. "But save the sympathy for some other time. The reason I ran all the way back is because of something I learned from them."

  "What did you learn?"

  "They weren't the only ones."

  "..." I frowned immediately, picking up on the issue--it simply meant that they weren't the only group stalking the Spirit Sword Sect and following the disciples who leave.

  It'd be one thing if I learned this info from anyone else, as I'd consider it somewhat inconsequential at the moment. While, yes, it was worrying to have fire ants at your doorstep, the Sect had already sent out a writ forbidding disciples from leaving.

  ... but what of those who left before the declaration?

  "What do they do to them? Did you learn?" I ask quickly.

  And thus began the tale of the Fire Sun Sect Master that I wish I could promptly erase from my mind... but I can't. It's seared in there, almost like that time I was supposed to recite a poem in front of the class and all the parents but then got up on the stage, saw the crowd, froze, forgot all the text, and promptly ran off the stage in tears.

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  "... any, any chance that he was lying?"

  "None."

  "..." I sucked in a cold breath, feeling the blood in my veins freeze. While I already knew that there was something truly wrong with the Fire Sun Sect's main mantra, I honestly thought that Elder Zhang was the worst-case scenario—someone explosively prone to violence who has trouble controlling his emotions.

  But, as it goes, the worst of humanity... is always merely a child of something even worse still.

  "And he didn't know how many others there were?"

  "No."

  "Haah," I sighed, feeling blood rush into the space between my brows. As I massaged the bridge of my nose, a thousand thoughts swirled.

  There were enemies everywhere--embedded deep into the sect and right at our doorstep, and God knows how many kids they've already captured for that depraved lunatic. It'd be one thing if I didn't know anything, but now that I do...

  I stealthily glanced at the dirt-smeared face of a fourteen-year-old boy that wasn't quite fourteen. He came back as soon as he learned the information and did so without stopping.

  Perhaps, of all the things that I've learned since coming to this world, this... is the most shocking. Was he truly 'apathetic,' as the system claimed? A monster of his rank, likely thousands upon thousands of years old, I severely doubt he gives more than two shits about this place.

  In the history that he's making, this little corner will become a footnote; he will remember two things of it in the future. And yet, he prioritized coming back and telling me this instead of improving his strength.

  He cared.

  Whether he cared for the sect or perhaps me, or maybe something else entirely that was outside of my scope of understanding, it didn't matter, frankly. All that mattered is that I know now I can count on him.

  "I took a stroll today," I said. "And may have discovered more spies embedded in the sect. By the way, thanks to you, Elder Zhang lost his mind and was probably killed, though info was never shared with the rest of the sect. Instead, Spirit Sage immediately sent the Declaration of War."

  "Oh. I missed out on some fun."

  "Before the war starts," I said. "We need to... clean this place up."

  "We?"

  "Hmm," I smiled. "Fine. You go and tell Elder Qin everything you told me, and then they can do the clean-up."

  "Oooh, yes, we do need to clean the place up." I silently rolled my eyes as my fingers started rapping against the table.

  "If we suppose that Elder Zhang was the deepest embedded one," I said. "It stands to reason to start scrutinizing those around him. But--"

  "--the Sect is probably already doing that."

  "Precisely. However, they don't know what we do about the Fire Sun Sect's cultivation method."

  "That its practitioners are prone to violence? All cultivators are prone to violence," Long Tao shrugged.

  "Yes, but there are differences," I quickly added. "Calculated versus instinctual violence."

  "... what do you mean?"

  "Our sect has the Records Hall," I said. "Where we store information on all the past incidents. I'll head over there tomorrow and start perusing all violent accidents from the past fifty-ish years."

  "There will be tens of thousands of them."

  "Possibly, yes. But, in the sea of unrelated things, I may be able to spot a few ones that stink of the fire."

  "..."

  "As for you," I continued. "I need you to figure out if there are still channels of communication between the spies and the Fire Sun Sect. Just because the sect has forbidden the disciples from leaving doesn't mean they don't have any other methods of leaking information. I'll give you the names of the people I suspect are spies, and you'll use that fancy cloaking art of yours to stalk them for a few days and figure out if there's anything suspicious."

  "..." That was my first time even subtly ordering that he do something. Well, it wasn't so much ordering, but it was borderline... which was already scary enough. I took a gamble, and seeing him sigh in resignation, it seems to have paid off. "Master."

  "Hm?"

  "While your trying all these things is noble," he said, standing up slowly. "Allow me to offer you a warning: any sect that can have its Elder ranks infiltrated is not meant for this world much longer. Once the heart of the domain grows corrupt and vile, it infects all other parts in equal measure; while you may intercept the fallout this time, it would simply be like bandaging the wound without actually cleaning it. You're not healing it; you're just hiding it before it overwhelms you."

  ... Is he saying what I think he's saying? As though reading my mind, he confirmed my suspicions immediately.

  "Spirit Sword Sect won't last," he said. "And you will have to make a choice soon; will you stand by its side as it burns to ashes and join it... or will you leave it to its inevitable fate and venture out into the vast world where you belong?"