“I am greatly humbled and infinitely honored by the esteemed presence of the glorious Elder Liu Wei!”

Lacking any better options, all Bingwen Luó could do was stammer out praises in an obvious attempt at covering up his misbehavior. The elder’s expression remained elusive, but at least he hadn’t yet pointed Bingwen’s insult out, though he had undoubtedly noticed it.

“Allow me to introduce my followers. This is Junior Member Qingge, general manager of the Enforcement Hall. Over there is Senior Member Yang, her personal bodyguard. This is…”

General manager. His guess about her being from one of the pillar families seemed to be wrong but the revelation about a senior member being assigned as her bodyguard made her seem even more important. Bingwen Luó cursed his lack of recent knowledge about the sect’s internal business. In any way, she was most definitely not someone to be trifled with.

“… I have come here because we have gotten reports of activities of a cult of demonic cultivators in the area and upon arriving, I saw fit to first inform prince governor Bingwen Luó about our intentions.”

“I am eternally grateful for your consideration, admired Elder Wei. Say, now that you are here, would you do me the honor and join me for dinner? It would bring me great pleasure to be able to provide the best this city has to offer to esteemed guests such as you after such a long journey.”

“We will happily accept your offer.”

“That sounds like the finest music to my humble ears! Please, let me guide the way!”

Finally having an excuse to leave his seated position, Bingwen Luó basically jumped out of his throne and before his guests, deeply bowing over and over the entire way to to the dining hall. The elder seemed willing to overlook his blunder and so Bingwen Luó would make sure that his behavior was spotless from now on.

…

Qingge had never eaten this good. While cultivators certainly didn’t live in bad conditions, they also didn’t drown themselves in luxury and extravagance, at least not in the Lunar Peaks Sect. Too much luxury was frowned upon as waste, not just of one’s resources but more importantly of one’s time. Those were things for mortals to lose themselves in while cultivators followed higher pursuits.

On occasions like this though… well, the more hypocritical would say that not enjoying this feast to its fullest would be an insult to the host’s hospitality. Qingge didn’t need such fancy bullshit though; she cared little for what was appropriate for a cultivator and what not. And so, she could freely enjoy the miracle that was an experienced cook’s artwork.

Not totally freely though, because for all that she enjoyed the food, she didn’t allow herself to forget why she was here. As such, she remained reserved in her demeanor and her true attention was fully with the conversations she held with the cities various officials.

“I am sure they are in capable hands then. Alas, I know the pain of having to manage the security of larger areas and no matter how skilled the leader, the individual underling’s shortcomings are ultimately bound to lead to inevitable mistakes which in turn lead to greater problems, aren’t they? Especially in a city of this size, I imagine. I truly don’t envy your position, commander.”

“You are truly absolutely right miss Qingge! Just the other day and entire wagon of silver was stolen right before it arrived at the palace. I couldn’t have done anything differently, I tell you. The guards I had assigned simply didn’t pay attention. Probably tired and hungover from a night in one of the taverns in the port district, these incompetent fools. But the prince blamed me, can you imagine that? Me, even though I couldn’t have done anything differently!”

“Now that doesn’t seem fair at all. Listen, I’ll try to put in a good word for you when I speak to him.”

“You would do that for me? I can’t thank you enough.”

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing. Say, you mentioned the port district just now, isn’t that a nightmare to manage? I imagine it’s an absolute hotspot for crime.”

“You can say that again! You won’t believe this, but just two weeks ago…”

The time Qingge had spent sitting in council meetings and listening to the elders of the sect try to outdo each other in wit and speechcraft had undeniably paid off as Qingge found herself easily leading the conversations towards topics of interest to her mission without ever revealing her hand. What would surely still be a lackluster performance amongst the politically active cultivators of her sect was more than enough in this court. The officials were wholly unprepared for tactics like this and the fact that Qingge’s body did much better resisting the alcohol than theirs did the rest.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

While she naturally couldn’t get the truly important details out of them without asking directly, she was already gathering many clues and ends which she could follow in the coming days. Beyond that, understanding the general political and societal situation of the city would definitely be helpful as well. Besides all of that, Qingge felt very wrong acting like this, but what could she do?

At some point in the evening, Elder Wei said something to the prince that Qingge couldn’t hear upon which the two of them stood up and left. Shortly after, the minister of finance excused himself as well, citing an apparent illness and feeling unwell. This wasn’t optimal as Qingge had yet to talk to either of them and would have liked to take the chance. She couldn’t do anything about it though and whatever Elder Wei wanted to privately tell the prince was probably even connected to their plan, so she returned her attention to those she was already talking to.

…

“I apologize for the inconvenience, prince, but I wanted to talk to you under four eyes. You see, a man of your experience has surely already recognized that an elder like me wouldn’t normally move out of the sect to handle mere rumors of a demonic cult. You see, while that information isn’t false, it is also not the entire truth. I wanted to inform you of my true purpose for coming here.”

Bingwen Luó was making attempting not to reveal too much of his emotions but was very obviously flattered to be receiving this kind of special treatment from an elder of the sect. Lifting the ‘prince’ on a pedestal was an easy way to make sure he didn’t start questioning what he was told.

It was a strategy often deployed by the politically savvy, simply because it tended to work very well. Arrogance and pride were potent toxins to the human mind after all. Even the title of ‘prince’ was used by the sect primarily for this reason. It was based on ancient times when these lands were still controlled by a central kingdom and the cities were governed by actual princes. Nowadays it mostly meant not having to deal with overly ambitious governors too much, though at this point the tradition of the title itself was reason enough not to change it. Not that Liu Wei was especially fond of this love for outdated traditions…

“You surely understand that what I am about to tell you is not meant for other’s ears, don’t you?”

“Of course, elder. I would never betray your trust. Should we…” The man looked around nervously. “Should we move to a more secure place?”

“Don’t worry. I have made sure nobody is listening in on us.”

An outright lie. They were in fact very much being listened in on, which was half of the reason Liu Wei was having this conversation in the first place. Just around the next corner, a man was pressing himself to the wall, attempting to not make a noise, ignorant of the fact that the range of Liu Wei’s soul sense made his efforts completely irrelevant.

Unbeknownst to either the prince or the listener, Liu Wei would now be feeding them the very distractions that they were hoping to avoid.

“You see, our sect has spent a considerable amount of time tracking the tomb of an ancient and powerful cultivator who was active in this region. Besides several of his valuable possessions, the tomb is also thought to contain an inheritance left behind by him in the form of a technique or something similar. I don’t need to mention that something like that is highly valuable to my sect, do I?”

He could practically feel the wonder, excitement and greed rising in both of his listeners.

“And something like that is hidden in the city?”

“I have to disappoint you, prince, but that is not what we think. Not to mention that a structure like that would undoubtedly have been found during this city’s many restructurings and expansions. What I hope to find here are additional context clues and possible locations from the various historical archives and academies.”

This lie itself was carefully designed to suit his purposes. For starters, it was very much based in truth, because the particular tomb Liu Wei was talking about did actually exist. The thing was, he had actually already found it and claimed everything inside several decades ago.

His story also explained what he would be doing in the city’s archives and academies, places he very much planned to visit. His own goals there didn’t need to be kept secret, but in this particular case, the truth was actually not very believable from an outside perspective which might throw up unwanted paranoia.

To top it all off, these stories reaching the right ears might lead the crime ring Qingge was pursuing to try for this inheritance themselves, possibly exposing weaknesses in their secrecy. After all, they had clearly demonstrated an interest in cultivation related goods through their smuggling.

“I understand. Can I assist you with this in any way?”

“Don’t worry about that, I’m fine on my own.”

That was the truth, he certainly didn’t need the assistance of a misinformed governor.

“I understand. Thanks for informing me of this.”

“It is nothing. Come, let us walk a little more before we return to the others.”

Liu Wei led the way, deliberately walking in the direction of the eavesdropper. He walked slowly, giving the man enough time to prepare himself to not look suspicious, but not enough to simply disappear down the hallway. He wanted to know his identity, since that might help to make Qingge’s job a little easier.

Once they turned the corner, the met the now seemingly unassumingly strolling figure.

“Minister of Finance, what are you doing here?”

“My prince, I hope I didn’t disturb your conversation. I was simply returning to my quarters as I am still feeling unwell.”

“It is okay, we were just having a little chat, right prince?”

“Very much so. Don’t let us stop you, and go rest. I hope you’ll feel better soon, the court has need of your expertise.”

“Thank you, prince. With your good wishes, I’ll surely recover quickly.”

With that, the man continued on his path and Liu Wei had accomplished everything he had set out to do this evening. A slight smirk etching itself on his face, he went to return to the feast alongside the prince.