“Three crates with spirit stones of grade two and three, an equivalent value of seven thousand five hundred tier one spirit stones. Several copies of restricted cultivation manuscripts. Half a dozen protective artifacts. And on top of all that, an entire barrel of spirit wine?

Mei Feng, you have been expelled from your role of head instructor on suspicion of corruption and embezzlement and now we find you trying to leave sect grounds with a cart of all of those things, conveniently hidden below a blanket. I don’t even know what to say.”

Qingge gave the old cultivator a piercing glare.

“Excuse me, I don’t understand. I am merely conducting regular trade on behalf of the Outer Relations Hall.”

“Why is it then that neither the hall nor the sect could give us any records of ever possessing these goods or of tasking you to conduct trade in their name? And how is it that you planned to trade manuscripts restricted to the sect that aren’t to be brought outside without explicit permission?”

“This is all a big misunderstanding, see…”

“Enough. I have neither the authority nor the intention to pass judgement of either kind on you. I am simply a manager and thus tasked to document cases of suspected illegal activities like this. Your case will be handed to a formal investigative unit who will be tasked with dealing with you according to the evidence their work will produce.”

“No, no, no, it’s not that serious, don’t you think? I'll admit that I was maybe a little sloppy with the registration process, but it’s all in good faith. I would have taken all proper steps afterwards; you have to believe me! Listen, how about I compensate you for your efforts and we forget the whole thing?”

Qingge nodded.

“I understand. Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to add attempted bribery to your charges.”

“Wait, what? Oh, you little bit…”

Mei Feng surged forward, raising his fist in an attempt at attacking Qingge, but was stopped dead in his track by one of the guards ramming a knee into his stomach. For a moment, he just remained in his pose, hand still raised as if stopped in time. Then he collapsed to the floor. All of those things happened before Qingge even had the chance to react.

While she flinched at the attack, she quickly recovered. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened and she was already somewhat used to it. As the highest-ranking administrator of the hall below the elder, she was constantly accompanied by several personal guards, one of them a combat focused cultivator in the low stages of the Dao Attuning Realm, whenever she was dealing with business like this.

She hated to be babysat like this, but she had to admit that her personal strength as a cultivator of the Core formation stage did necessitate something like this, as she was constantly dealing with much older and more advanced cultivators, often very angry ones at that. The tasks she dealt with tended to do that.

“That’s it. Please bring Senior Feng here to the punitive unit and report his attack and attempted bribery. I will send them a full report of the incident and the secured goods later today.”

“Will be done.”

Qingge wiped away the sweat that had accumulated on her forehead. This was the third case she had had to deal with just today and it was only noon. The sect had recently seen a surge in criminal activity, especially smuggling cases like this one. Between directly involved sect members like Mei Feng, merchants, servants and traveling cultivators, the amount of illegal goods being discovered had more than doubled compared to just two months ago. This coincided with a rapid rise of banditry in the sect-controlled territory.

There was so much to do that, despite the efficiency gain that the restructuring had brought, they were stretched so thin that they had to pause their investigation into the corruption cases within the sect. Qingge had a hunch that this fact might be at least tangentially related, but since she didn’t have any evidence and their ongoing efforts to find the source of the problem had not yet yielded any results, she was powerless to do anything about it.

“Ugh, my head hurts. Why can’t all just it be a little easier?”

“Everything alright, Miss Qingge?”

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“Don’t worry, Senior Yang. I’m good. Just a little exhausted, that’s all.”

“I’m sure we’ll be done for the day soon.”

Qingge straightened her back and gave her guard a smile.

“I hope you’re right.”

…

Things were really not going as they should have been.

Right now, Mei Feng was supposed to be well on his way to the city of Moonlake, a cart full of valuables in tow. If everything had just worked out, he could have made it big. He might have even been able to push through the entire remainder of the Soul Realization Realm just from the profits of this deal alone.

Instead, he was sitting in a holding cell, waiting for a punishment. Even worse, any attempt at bribing himself out of the situation had failed. Not even the guards had been willing to cooperate, even though Mei Feng had been willing to pay them out of his own pockets.

If only that damned Liu Wei hadn’t meddled, he could have continued comfortably living with what he made from the Training Hall and none of this would have happened. Why did he even care? It wasn’t like Mei Feng had taken any of his stuff. What difference did a few spirit stones even make to the sect? Nobody had even noticed before the meddling bastard had arrived.

But no, that stuff was ‘allocated to the outer disciples’, well so what? Mei Feng was a full member of the sect and had been one for over a hundred years now. How were some brats more important than him? If the sect refused to give him the resources that he needed to push through the Soul Realization Stage, what was he supposed to do? Die?

The door to his cell swung open, interrupting his bitter thoughts. With a grim expression, he looked at the people entering his cell only for that grim expression to quickly turn into one of shock, once he realized whose presence, he was now in.

“This lowly sinner greets the honorable and renowned elder!”

What in heaven’s name was Elder Shi doing here? His plan of arguing himself out and simply refusing to admit anything was out of the window before he had even started.

“Sect member Mei Feng, can I take that statement as an admission of guilt?”

“Your brilliant mind would never betray you on things like this just as I would never dare to try and lie to someone of your status. I admit everything.”

There was only one way to go when talking to the top brass of the sect: flattery. Anything else was just asking be killed.

“Alright, alright, let’s get to the point. Where were you supposed to bring these goods?”

“What? I… I…”

Like I would tell you that!

“I don’t know, Honorable Elder!”

“Don’t play games with me.”

“I truly don’t know. I was approached by a shadowy figure just yesterday evening. They threatened me and told me that I was to bring this cart out of the sect and into the forest below. They said that they would kill me, if I refused or if I checked the contents of the cart! I, the sinful coward that I am, didn’t dare to refuse.”

Mei Feng was proud of his performance. A cultivator admitting their own cowardness would never be questioned. Sure, it would be looked down upon as shameful conduct, unworthy of his position, but what did he care about the opinion of others?

“Guards, please leave this room until I call you back. Close the door behind you.”

Huh?

Before Mei Feng had time to even process what was happening, he was alone in the room with the elder.

“Sect Member Mei Feng, I will now tell you something, so listen well. Commit every word to memory and do not utter a single one before I ask you to. I don’t know you, but I certainly know those just like you. You feel like you are not treated well enough by the sect and perhaps you are right. This sect doesn’t treat its members equally, not even remotely so.”

Lan Shi’s face remained entirely unmoved throughout her speech.

“But you, you do not deserve my sympathy for that. Your solution to feeling like you don’t have enough is to take. Not from those who rightfully owe you, but from those from whom you can easily get it – from those below you.”

Suddenly, the stone floor below Mei Feng’s feet began to move, pillars of rock shooting up before twisting and wrapping around his legs like chains, locking him in place.

“I can tell you, why you act like this. It is because your issue lies not with the system of injustice itself but rather with the fact that it is not you who benefits from it. You look at those standing at the top not with rightful anger, but with envy. You envy them for being able to oppress, for being able to take what they want.”

Further pillars shot up, wrapping around his wrists and pulling his arms above his head, forcefully stretching him to his full length. The grip only continued to tighten further and further as this was going on and Mei Feng could feel his bones creak under the pressure.

“You lie, you bribe, you betray, because that is what you deem the easiest way for you and you think it all justified because you weren’t given what others were, even as you continue to hurt those who were given even less.”

A crushing pressure exploded outward from the elder and every blood vessel in Mei Feng’s body seemed to freeze solid. His thoughts had long been reduced to nothing but a fearful whimper and his eyes were unable to turn away from the woman’s emotionless face.

“Don’t think you can deceive me; don’t think I can’t see through every one of your pitiful lies. And don’t make me repeat myself again, because then you would truly learn what it means to regret something. Where were you headed?”

The pressure lifted just enough so Mei Feng could speak, though it took great effort to do so.

“M-Moonlake C-City. The p-port district. D-don’t know m-m-more.”

For a long moment, Lan Shi just stared at him. Then, the pressure lifted and the stone shackling him receded into the floor. No longer being held up, Mei Feng fell to his knees and stared to the floor, his eyes unfocussed.

“Guards!”

Once the guards had arrived, she gave them orders, Mei Feng not able to understand any of them, and left the room without sparing him another glance.