“The Li Family isn’t that politically active, as far as I know, but they are certainly a powerhouse within this city regardless. Their focus on martial strength makes them an important part of the city’s army. They also have quite a few members currently part of our sect if I remember correctly.”
“Wait, is this the same Li Family that senior Guowei Li from the Eastern Criminal Department is from?”
“Oh yes, you two know each other. Their current patriarch, Niung Li, is his older brother. He is an upright person and demands the same from his family, which is why I have chosen them as your contact in the first place. I’m certain they’ll be happy to help you stamp out a criminal organization.”
The group was currently making its way through the busy streets of Moonlake City’s busy streets, crowds splitting to let them pass unimpeded. It was late morning and they had left the palace after sharing a breakfast with the prince. They were all on foot, since they had left the carriage and horses behind for now to avoid drawing attention as much as possible. Not that this was working out particularly well, as the hundreds upon hundreds of curious glances following them attested to.
“Here we are. This is the Li Family’s residence.”
Qingge stopped in her tracks. The estate that their guide was gesturing towards was… unassuming. She had expected another pompous mansion like the prince’s palace or the other estates of powerful family’s they had passed on their way here. This one, while undoubtedly very large, was much more subtle by comparison. In its elegance and beauty, it resembled the architecture of the sect’s resident zones more than the overly decorated homes of the city’s wealthy.
Elder Wei took the lead, approaching the guard standing beside the gate: “Greetings, young man. We would like to speak to the patriarch of the Li Family, if possible.”
“Of course, honored cultivator. Please follow me.”
The visibly nervous guard led them through a small garden and into what seemed to be the main house, telling the first other person they met to immediately inform the patriarch of their visit. Once inside, they were brought into a brightly lit room that was largely empty safe for the round table with simple chairs in the center and a few decorative vases and paintings off to the side.
After being asked to sit down, they didn’t have to wait long for the family patriarch to show up. As he entered the room, Qingge just barely managed to stop herself from audibly gasping. She knew that appearance didn’t mean much in the world of cultivation and she was herself currently traveling with someone who had lived for over four centuries but still, she had never met anybody who looked this old.
The man’s sunken face bore scars and marks of battles long past, his skin seemed brittle, like it could crumble away at the slightest touch and the cane he was leaning on seemed like the only reason he didn’t just fall down and disappear into nothingness right then and there. The sole remaining sign of life was the fierce glimmer in his wise eyes.
Qingge hadn’t had the chance to think about it, but she supposed the man’s appearance only made sense. Those who cultivated outside of the sects almost exclusively followed the path of body cultivation, simply because it was so much more accessible. This man was probably the same, considering his brother had been sent to the sect. With Guowei Li nearing two hundred years of age and this man being his older brother, it was a testament to his talent and the family’s methods that he was still alive at all.
“Honorable Elder Wei, it fills this old man with great joy that you would come to visit him and his family! I deeply apologize, but my physical condition prevents me from bowing to you in proper form.”
The man’s voice was raspy and slow, but despite that it still seemed to carry an intangible weight, like the wisdom and conviction of ages was contained within it.
“Don’t worry, I take no offense. It’s more than enough that you have come to meet us on such short notice. Please sit down with us.”
“Thank you for your grace, elder.”
After sitting down, the old man took a long look around, studying the faces of all who were present.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. If I may introduce myself, I am Niung Li, patriarch of this humble family you have come to visit.”
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A moment of silence followed before Qingge realized that, as the official leader of their party, it was her turn to speak next.
“The pleasure is ours, Niung Li. I am Qingge, general manager of the Enforcement Hall. I have the fortune of being acquainted to you brother, Guowei Li.”
The patriarch’s ancient face lit up with new life at the mention of his brother.
“I am honored to meet you, miss Qingge. If you would be so kind to do me a favor, I would like to ask you to send my regards to my brother the next time you see him.”
“I will gladly do so once I return to the sect.”
Once the others had all introduced themselves, Elder Wei took the floor again.
“Now that pleasantries are out of the way, I would like to cut to the chase. Qingge and her party have come to this city for a specific purpose. My own reason for coming is separate from that but I have decided to lend them a helping hand where I can.”
He continued by quickly summarizing the events that had led up to the expedition and its purpose to Niung Li.
“We have come here because we would like to ask for your help in this matter. Should the organization catch wind of the fact that they are here to investigate them, they will undoubtedly retreat from the city as quickly as possible. To prevent this, I would like to ask you to help us fabricate alternate identities for the members of the party that allow them to conduct their investigation while drawing less attention to themselves.”
The old man took a moment to think before answering.
“I am deeply honored by your trust in our family, Elder Wei. While deception is neither our strong-suit nor my preferred way of action, I understand that not every problem can be solved by charging it with a sword and a battle-cry. I will gladly offer you all the assistance me or my family can provide.”
“Thank you very much for your generosity. I will be sure to compensate your family for any potential costs of losses it may incur due to this. Qingge, as the leader of the investigation and expert on the matter, I believe you should be the one to discuss the specifics of this arrangement.”
Turning to Niung Li, he added: “We should probably involve the rest of your family’s leadership as well, shouldn’t we?”
“I’ll have them recalled from their duties immediately.”
“No need for that, we can wait till the evening. Whatever we end up deciding, I doubt we will put it into practice before tomorrow anyways.”
“In that case, can I offer you a place to stay for the mean time?”
“We would greatly appreciate that.”
…
Elder Wei’s assessment turned out to be more than right, as Qingge and the others spent the next several days staying with the Li Family, discussing the specifics of the operation. It turned out that disappearing and returning wit nobody noticing was quite the difficult task when the eyes of an entire city rested upon you. Between working out a time frame, informing themselves about relevant information and carefully constructing their fake identities, there were lots of things to keep in mind.
In the meantime, Qingge acquainted herself with the family members her age and even started sparring with some of them in between meetings. To both her and their surprise, she was thoroughly beaten in most of these spars. Soul cultivators were, after all, wholly dependent on their soul granting them the ability to strengthen themselves with Qi and later on interact with the Daos. Qingge, not having manifested her soul yet, was little more than a worse version of a body cultivator for now and it would still take her quite a number of years to change that.
At least that was what she told herself in order to distract from the fact that she had really been slacking in her combat training ever since she had started working at the Enforcement Hall.
When everything was planned and ready, the group made a second visit to the palace, this time led by Qingge. There, they announced that they had found a track and would now head out of the city to hunt for the demonic cult. They didn’t touch on why Elder Wei wasn’t with them anymore but the rumors he had started to spread were undoubtedly already making their rounds through the cities upper class so the conclusions people would draw were easy to calculate.
Following this little public stunt, the party took its horses and the carriage and left Moonlake City. To the public eye, they wouldn’t return.
After traveling for the better part of a day, they met up with several members of the Li Family, who had had an easy time slipping out of the city unnoticed due to their position in the army, to enact the next part of their plan. Near a small village, an old and previously abandoned building had been refurbished. Here, they would stay for the next few days and afterwards leave their carriage, horses, clothes and other identifying belongings.
New clothing, weapons and even new horses and a carriage were already stored here, all generously supplied by the Li Family. In addition to these, they would change their hairstyles and be given makeup typical for young mortal nobles. They would adopt new names to fit and during their time here, learn mannerisms that would fit their new identities.
To top it all off, Elder Wei had supplied each of them with different pieces of subtly enchanted jewelry that would hide their cultivation from the soul-sense of outside observers, making them appear like ordinary mortals, just in case they were probed by someone with a soul sense. In the sect, they would be caught by the very first detection formation they passed, not to mention that the elders would naturally be able to see past this enchantment, but in a city like this, it would more than suffice.
Like this, not even the prince would think to associate them with the cultivators he had met just days earlier, should they come face to face. A lot of planning had gone into these obfuscations so they weren’t about to lose them to some bad coincidence.
All of these things in place and accompanied by members of the Li Family that would pose as a guard sent to meet them as guests, they set out for their unofficial return to Moonlake City.