Kenja’s current state of calmness and tranquility helped him understand what had occurred.

This man had the full intention of blaming them once their master returned, and he would not give them any opportunity for redemption.

Before, Hikaru committed an act of flagrancy and dirtied the elder’s floor, but now, the elder’s meeting was held up so that the First Elder could clean up their mess. That was just one way he could spin the story.

This fellow truly was sinister.

He was adding to Hikaru’s sins.

Even though everyone understood his intentions, no one could deny these were the events that occurred.

Fifth Elder Kazane Kazue, one of six impartial elders, must judge her disciples, appropriately and accordingly, with the reported events, and not with the intentions and feelings involved.

Kenja had decided against acting out again, but his mood grew turbulent, resulting in Aoi Rin tightening her embrace on him to combat his changing temper.

“Calm!” Aoi Rin coldly reminded Hikaru again, slightly surprised her younger sister could still be riled under her influence.

She would never have guessed that a talking snail had already enchanted her younger sister, interfering with her own efforts.

After Aoi Rin released Hikaru, she made her two younger sisters stand behind her in silence.

Gao Diao coughed aloud, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“Getting back on track, che, I think I know what First Brother is getting at. If they could disappear items in such a stealthy manner, why was there a need to purchase so many of the che-aper goods being sold in the other stores?”

Refusing to be shown up, Ariyoshi Miji chimed in, “Right, right. Brother Shirou said that the vendors were all watching the little bugger, wishing he would visit their tables.”

“Mm, a necessary diversion.” Kondo nodded along with them.

“That’s only half of it,” Kaitou Daiki snorted in disappointment. He had already put the Hirai Hikaru incident out of his mind.

“You said they spent several million credits. Where did they get so many credits?” Inazuma asked with genuine interest.

Kaitou Daiki smirked in approval, “Second Brother noticed the key point. How did they collect so many credits without our notice?” The glint in his eyes and the tips of his upturned mouth looked like a wicked teenager ecstatic from catching someone else trying to be naughty on his turf.

The other elders’ expressions darkened simultaneously.

“Che, infiltrators? How long have they been planning for this?”

“Ugh, when and how did they get in? Which group of bastards have the gall?”

“What is their goal?”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

A single person was incapable of covertly amassing such a large number of sect credits nor was a lone thief important enough to cause an emergency and summoning of all the elders.

But if it was a targeted action by a specific sect or group, things would become much more serious.

And if it were, indeed, an organization of equal or greater standing than the Flowing River Sect, the random goods they obtained lawfully or unlawfully at the public bazaar would be insignificant to them.

Something else had to be afoot.

They had finally realized the severity of their situation.

If only they knew that the perpetrator was a little snail with sticky fingers acting alone out of sheer recklessness.

No secret conspiracy was at work.

Sending his mind into a communication jade, Vice Elder Shirou reported to the elders, “They’re finished gathering outside the Spout.”

The Spout was what they called the sect’s central pillar where the caves of the elders and higher-level sect members resided.

Kaitou Daiki nodded.

“Now that we’re all on the same page, we will flush out each rat and exterminate them cleanly. Let’s go.”

The four elders nodded in agreement, and even Inazuma showed a rare moment of solemnity.

Cold sweat ran down Kenja’s back.

Snail’s shoplifting spree had sent the sect into a paranoid manhunt for them.

The elders filed out of the room, followed by Vice Elder Shirou, the five Tributaries, Aoi Rin, Kenja and Hanabi with Aracha trailing behind them after quickly storing away the teacups.

“Just relax, disciple. No one’s going to figure out it was us.”

Kenja’s eye twitched in annoyance. “It was you! Not us.”

Sakura rattled in agreement with Kenja.

“Stop worrying so much, little disciple. Everything’s fine. Short of them frisking everyone within the sect, there is nothing to worry about.”

Exiting the First Elder’s cave, they were greeted with a sea of people surrounding the Spout.

Kenja had mistakenly believed a majority of the sect disciples were spectating the elders’ match earlier, but now, he could see that that was just a small fraction of the entire sect.

There were thousands of disciples gathered in front of each of the Spout’s six faces.

A vice elder approached their group and bowed.

“Reporting to the elders, everyone has been gathered aside from the fifty-seven disciples in authorized isolated seclusion and one disciple that works at the Treasury. Forty-nine of those fifty-seven have been confirmed present within their caves.”

Cultivators often entered seclusion to prepare for a breakthrough to the next milestone in their cultivation or to seek enlightenment. If they planned for a longer seclusion than normal, the disciple would inform the sect ahead of time for cautionary purposes.

Once in seclusion, a disciple, with the sect’s support, would take multiple measures to ensure they would not be interrupted nor distracted as they could be undergoing a life-or-death struggle at any time which would require their full attention.

If all went as planned, the individual would successfully advance. Any unfortunate incident could lead to the crippling of the cultivator or even death.

So forty-nine of the confirmed disciples were able to send a message detailing their present well-being, while the remaining eight were unheard from, either because they were at a critical point in their cultivation or because they had perished after failing…or because they were never in seclusion to begin with.

“And what of the one disciple?” Kaitou Daiki asked about the singular disciple from the Treasury.

The vice-elder appeared troubled with the question. “Uh, reporting to First Elder, he claims to be doing something important on your behalf, but all he seemed to be doing was watching one of the outer sect caves…”

Kaitou Daiki’s brows furrowed in confusion before shaking his head to himself.

“Order him back. We’re in a state of emergency, so he can finish whatever he was doing afterwards.”

He had not given anyone special instructions, so he assumed the disciple was either making up a story to avoid coming here, or he was in the middle of some errand related to the treasury.

Regardless of which, it would not look appropriate to others if he exempted his workers from the current situation.

Appearing impartial was more important for someone in power than truly being impartial.

Two more vice elders walked up to them and reported, “The vice elders have done as you commanded and finished interrogating one another. There were no surprises.”

All of the vice elders were confirmed clean and loyal to the sect.

“We await the elders’ orders.”

Kaitou Daiki nodded in approval.

“Frisk ‘em. Don’t miss a single person.”