The servant boy, trembling in fright from what he had just witnessed, nodded vigorously in compliance.

Now, he was extremely eager to cooperate. He did not want the same thing to happen to him.

“How about this one?” Kaitou Daiki nodded towards the shivering disciple adjacent to the now-crippled spy.

This second disciple was taller and appeared to be a decade older than Migawari Puchi. Despite his age, his eyes had welled up with tears, threatening to fall any moment.

Migawari Puchi shook his head.

“Cripple him.”

“No. Wait! Wait, please! Disciple admits his mistakes,” he pleaded with his tears streaming down his face as he was lifted to the air, “Disciple has erred. Disciple asks for forgiv—“

His body shuddered violently against the vice elder’s palm. He fainted with blood dripping out of his mouth.

“I’ve done nothing wrong! Tell me! What was my crime? I demand to kn—AAAH”

SLICK

Without warning, the vice elder that had crippled the first two disciples sliced off the third disciple’s tongue. Blood flowed from his lips as he shut his mouth in an attempt to keep anymore blood from gushing out.

“How brazen! Lying and giving orders to the venerable elders. You are not owed an explanation nor are you qualified for one,” the enraged vice elder defended the majesty of the elders.

Migawari Puchi felt faint from the sight of the bloody tongue on the grass. He hurriedly shook his head, hoping to further himself from the horrific scene.

“Reporting to elder, this servant does not recognize him.”

Kaitou Daiki nodded knowingly. “Cripple him.”

He was already certain these disciples would have nothing to do with Migawari Puchi.

It was normal procedure to periodically wipe out the accumulated spies in a sect, and because they had surprised the entire sect with an unplanned item search, these rats would be uncovered whether the elders wanted to find them or not.

Unfortunately, the First Elder wanted to abuse his authority in front of the other elders to find the snake who gathered many of the sect’s tribulation keystones, so he had to, at the least, use the servant boy to look for the dangerous infiltrators even thought it was mostly an act.

Moreover, going through the process of crippling each spy in front of Migawari Puchi, the servant boy would become so frightened for his well-being that he would be open and forthright with the answers he wanted, withholding nothing.

So while all this was likely an exercise in futility regarding the Rusty Robber or Migawari Puchi’s boss, the procedure itself was necessary.

The other disciples in the background spoke in hushed whispers.

Many were confused while the older and more knowledgeable disciples who understood what was happening would quietly explain the situation to their younger siblings.

Hanabi, Shizuka and Yoshie were amongst those unsettled by the repeated scene of the disciples being crippled one after the other.

“Z-z-zuki, why are they doing that? Wh-what d-did those disciples do?” The young brunette clung to the side of her more reliable half, seeking shelter from the scary events.

Shizuka hesitated to respond.

Having been together with Yoshie since birth, their experiences were shared.

Whatever Shizuka knew, her younger sister would not be clueless about, and if her younger sister was ignorant about something, then she was not much better off.

Shaking her head to indicate to Yoshie that she did not know, Shizuka glanced at Hanabi and Kenja, hoping they could elucidate the situation.

Although Hanabi was not as frightened as the twins, she was also uncertain why they were suddenly crippling those disciples.

Kenja whispered to them, “Those disciples are spies sent by other powers to infiltrate our sect. They would send news of any important events and secrets to them in return for benefits. They were probably rounded up after their belongings were searched, so there was no hiding their motives.”

While Snail was troublesome, he was quite handy in illuminating many troublesome and hard-to-understand aspects of the culture amongst cultivators.

His younger sisters did not have their own annoying encyclopedia stuck to their face, so he decided to explain the situation to them.

The three girls listened intently to his words, quickly learning what was going on.

Aoi Rin, the five Tributaries and three elders standing nearby glanced at Kenja in shock.

The elders understood what was going on from experience while their disciples were taught of such things previously.

But without any hints from anyone, one would only see the First Elder crippling random weak disciples without reason after Migawari Puchi exonerated them of any relation to the Rusty Robber. Yet, Kenja had discerned the truth of the matter in an instant and concisely explained it to his younger sisters.

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Was this still a young and inexperienced Qi Flourishing disciple?

As a result, the onlookers became more curious regarding Kenja’s origins.

Kenja was unaware that his careless explanation caught the others by surprise, but he could hear Snail snicker in secret.

He enjoyed messing with those elders and their disciples.

Meanwhile, Kaitou Daiki and Migawari Puchi had arrived in front of the final restrained disciple, a Foundation Establishment woman wearing inner sect robes.

Compared to the other female disciples Kenja had met, her looks were so-so with several freckles dotting her cheeks and heavy make-up surrounding her tear-filled eyes.

On top of one’s strength and lifespan, one’s appearance noticeably improved as their bodies advanced towards higher cultivation realms, so Kenja figured that this woman was likely born with a poor foundation that improved to a passable level after reaching Foundation Establishment.

Men sought strength while women sought beauty.

Many girls chose to cultivate to become more beautiful for longer periods of time. While not all girls were shallow to the extent that they cultivated primarily for aesthetics, it would be difficult to find a girl who disliked the added benefit of such an arrangement.

As an example, Fifth Elder Kazane had a youthful and beautiful appearance even though her age surpassed a mortal woman’s prime by several decades.

Migawari Puchi was terrified at this time.

He had not heard Kenja’s explanation on what was going on, so, in his eyes, every time he denied any connection with a disciple, the First Elder would cripple their cultivation.

With just a few words from him, twelve outer sect disciples lost their cultivations and were lying unconscious on the grass.

Migawari Puchi was only a servant!

Disregarding the rental store he managed this week, exchanging pleasantries with a single outer sect disciple would normally be a rare and awesome event for him.

If he interacted with an inner sect disciple, that would become a legendary tale he could brag to the other servants about.

And now, Migawari Puchi controlled the fate of this delicate inner sect disciple.

If he had not already emptied his bladder, he would have ruined his pants a second time.

Although he pitied the disciple, he silently shook his head to Kaitou Daiki’s question.

Before he could order the vice elder to cripple her, the woman screamed out with desperation, “I have reported these things to Fifth Elder! I have done nothing wrong!”

Kaitou Daiki narrowed his eyes at the girl, withholding his order.

A meticulously, calligraphed letter and a metallic, silver seal lay on the ground in front of her.

The First Elder recognized the seal and knew the contents of the letter.

Both came from an inner sect disciple belonging to the unorthodox Playful Harmony Sect located at the base of a mountain northeast of the Freezing Desert.

This sect diverged from the usual path of cultivation.

Its disciples would gather a following of the opposite sex through soft and hard methods in order to cultivate with them. The leading beneficiary would use his followers’ bodies to rapidly advance his own cultivation. The followers would also reap some light benefits from the process.

The primary issue was that the followers’ bodies would become increasingly addicted to their leader’s body in a way that it eroded their own individuality and independence.

They would begin to cater to their leader’s every whim and desire to the extent that they would toss away their own integrity and sacrifice their life at his expense.

Once they had gone mad with love and affection, the leading man or woman could easily absorb their follower’s entire cultivation to benefit their own, wholly crippling them in the process.

The sect was composed primarily of men, but there were also women present that controlled their own harems of men.

They would often seduce wandering cultivators and other sect’s disciples into joining the sect under false pretenses.

This girl had received a love letter from such a disciple she had likely met when she was exploring outside.

He proclaimed his eternal and undying love for her as well as promised countless benefits to abandon her sect and join his. Even the seal he had given her should allow her to enter the inner sanctums of his sect so that they could quickly meet up.

She was not a spy, but once she betrayed this sect for another, she would be considered a traitor.

This was even worse than being a spy.

The most pitiful part of all this was that the man who sent this letter was most likely planning to add her to his harem for his future cultivation.

If she were to accept this offer, this girl would likely follow the man until he has sapped her clean of her cultivation.

How sad…

Kaitou Daiki was certain this disciple had not reported this matter to anyone. She was only grasping at straws by claiming to have informed the Fifth Elder who was currently absent.

“Keep her tied up. We will confirm matters with the Fifth Elder once she returns.”

Although he knew she was lying, Kaitou Daiki acted in this manner because the Fifth Elder’s name was invoked.

If he labeled the girl as a liar based off his guess and continued to mete out punishment, this matter could reach his Fifth Sister’s ears and aggravate their relationship.

Kaitou Daiki would not risk upsetting Elder Kazane over such a trifling matter.

The girl breathed a sigh of relief at having escaped certain doom for the moment.

As for Migawari Puchi, he was ecstatic that there were no more disciples lined up for him to destroy, but before he could relax, a hand gripped his shoulder.

“Little Puchi, I’m disappointed. It’s like you don’t want us to find the thief. Are you shielding him?” Kaitou Daiki continued to scare him with a veiled threat.

Migawari Puchi instantly kowtowed to the floor, quivering in fear.

“Venerable First Elder, Honorable First Elder, O’ Glorious First Elder, have mercy on me! I swear on my mother and father I’m not shielding anyone. Three days ago, a man wearing outer sect robes bought everything in my shop and then hired me to resell everything along with a lot of additional things he had brought. All he wanted in exchange was to borrow the customer’s keystone for a few days! Even I thought this was strange, but—” he paused as he pulled out a keystone and threw it on the the ground, “Here! He paid me five thousand credits in advance for five days of work, but I don’t want them anymore. If I had known, I would never have agreed to work for him in the first place!”

A gasp for air followed his confession as he had said everything in a single breath.

A satisfied smirk secreted Kaito Daiki’s face, but his tone remained stern, “You did all this without verifying his identity? As long as someone gives you enough benefits, you will do as they say?”

“O’ merciful First Elder, it’s a misunderstanding! I would never have worked with him if I didn’t believe he was a member of the sect. The man said his name was Kitamura Bolo, and I checked. He is definitely listed as a disciple here!”

Snail patted Kenja’s ear with his eye as he gloated, “See that, disciple? Your little helper has no sense of loyalty. It’s because you lack the natural-born charisma of a true leader. That’s why he gave you up! You don’t have to worry though. In the future, just watch me closely, and you’ll learn how to gain the presence of a true ruler!”

Sakura softly vibrated by Kenja’s side.

“I am too charismatic! You’re just jealous of me! Disciple, you should be wary of this petty woman and her lies.”

Kenja was unfazed by Migawari Puchi’s betrayal and Snail’s mockery as he never expected the random servant he hired to risk his life on their limited interactions and five-thousand sect credits.

Otherwise, he would have had no need to use a false identity.