Chief Li stood within his office, hands clasped behind his back. He had a solemn appearance but contradictorily seemed laid back at the same time, the corner of his mouth tugging perpetually upwards.

He watched the specks of white fluttering down from the sky, slowly collecting and gathering on the ground to form snow. Reaching out to open the window, he scooped a small clump of cold snow in one hand, unknown thoughts running through his head as he stared at it in silence.

The quietness was broken by the sound of steady but heavy footfalls in the corridor which grew ever louder by the second. Soon, there came a knocking at the door.

“Come in.” Chief Li called.

Wan Qiushou opened the door and closed it behind him carefully, making sure not to slam it shut. He walked over, stopping just a few metres behind chief Li, cupping his hands respectfully.

As they stood there, the silence returned. For chief Li, it was comforting but for Wan Qiushou, it was chilling. Eventually, chief Li spoke.

“It’s been ten years.”

“Mn.”

Chief Li turned to look at Wan Qiushou, a slight smile on his face.

“Do you remember the promise I made to you back then?” He asked.

“Yes. I could not forget about it if I tried.”

“Good.”

Chief Li resumed looking at the snow in his hand, watching as it slowly melted bit by bit, eventually forming a small puddle within the crevices and folds of his skin. He continued looking at it for several minutes, ignoring Wan Qiushou- almost as if he’d forgotten about his presence. After a few more moments, he poured the water into the potted plant that sat by the windowsill. Drying his hands by wiping them on his sleeves, he smiled contently.

“How has your body tempering gone?”

“I have just broken through from the Hardening realm to Pure Fusion.” Qiushou replied, a sense of accomplishment tinting his otherwise bland voice.

“Very good.” As chief Li complimented him, he retrieved a strange looking object from thin air, handing it over to Qiushou. “This is a ten thousand year old earthen ginseng. The next time you prepare a herbal bath, make sure to cut a quarter of this and dissolve it in with the beast blood I gave you last time.”

“Aye.” Wan Qiushou replied, bowing as he received the ginseng. He reached behind him, pulling out a small bag and carefully storing the ginseng away.

“Each time you progress to a new minor realm within Pure Fusion, prepare the same medicinal bath using a quarter of that ginseng and the beast blood.”

Wan Qiushou nodded, indicating that he understood. Once again, the room returned to silence, the only sound being that of falling snowflakes hitting the window.

As time passed, Qiushou began to grow restless, a hesitant expression on his face. He wanted to speak but feared the potential repercussions of speaking out of line. Even though chief Li had never punished him in the ten years he’d spent under the former’s care, even having been treated better than an only child of a poor family, his instincts always told him that chief Li wasn’t someone to be trifled with.

It was likely that part of this came from Wan Qiushou’s special talent. Since young, he had had the strange ability to tell truths from lies. Even as a baby, incapable of speech, he’d been able to sense people’s intentions towards him- whether they wished to help him or harm him.

Out of all the people he’d ever met, only chief Li seemed immune to this talent. And while the talent was able to differentiate fact from fiction, the truth was, this was very limited in scope. Only things that the speaker believed were true would be detected to be true, so if somebody spread misinformation while thinking that it was true, then Wan Qiushou would be none the wiser. Additionally, if somebody told a white lie, he wouldn’t be able to be certain either, though he would be able to sense ill intent regardless.

But not only was he unable to tell whether chief Li spoke the truth or lied, Qiushou was also unable to discern the older man’s intentions. What served to protect the introverted Wan Qiushou was useless against chief Li, hence the sense of powerlessness that he felt whenever in the latter’s presence.

Although, with chief Li’s cultivation, it didn’t matter whether he lied or not. With the biggest fists in the room belonging to him, he could say whatever he wanted and nobody else would dare bat an eye.

So while Wan Qiushou respected chief Li and even felt indebted to him for rescuing his life, he was also deeply afraid of him.

Suddenly, chief Li turned around again, looking Wan Qiushou directly in the eyes.

“You seem to have something to say. Speak, no need to be so shy about it.” He said encouragingly.

Wan Qiushou averted his gaze, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. Under the continued urging of chief Li however, he gave in quickly.

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“I was wondering… what the point in me training martial arts and undergoing body tempering is, when in the end, I cannot come close to defeating even a Foundation Building cultivator in combat.” Glancing up, he saw that chief Li was still smiling kindly. Building up his courage, he continued. “I feel that having spent the last ten years on martial pursuits, only to have little to no results to show for it, has been a waste of time. Why couldn’t I have directly started cultivating instead?”

Chief Li nodded understandingly. Tapping his left hand with his right index finger, he smiled somewhat playfully.

“Why don’t you take a guess?”

Wan Qiushou frowned subconsciously. He felt like his genuine emotions weren’t being received by the other party who had responded too lightly, as if he wasn’t being taken seriously. But he had to play the game anyway, so he answered the question obediently.

“To train discipline and build character?”

Chief Li shook his head.

“Good guess. Unfortunately not, however.” Seeing Qiushou’s unhappy look, chief Li stopped beating around the bush. “To inherit my cultivation technique, it is necessary for you to finish your martial training. It’s that simple.”

Wan Qiushou frowned harder. The response chief Li gave was vague and unclear- he might as well have said nothing.

“Is having finished martial cultivation the necessary prerequisite to starting immortal cultivation, or is that a limit you have arbitrarily set for me? Sister Shui and Sihai Wuxian were able to begin immortal cultivation without having ever completed martial cultivation, why must I?” He complained in an uncharacteristically snappy manner.

Chief Li shook his head slowly, shifting his gaze to look at the snow-covered courtyard.

“For you to cultivate my technique, you will have to finish martial cultivation.”

“…Alright.” Qiushou replied, cupping his hands again. After a second of hesitation, he turned to leave the office. “If there’s nothing else, then please excuse me.”

Chief Li waved his hand, gesturing for Qiushou to stay, stopping the latter in his tracks.

“How is Sihai Wuxian? I haven’t heard from him for a few months.” He asked casually.

“He retreated into closed door cultivation a month ago.” Qiushou replied.

“Oh? Breaking through to Qi Condensing so quickly? He’s quite talented, just as I expected.” Chief Li remarked, smiling ambiguously.

Wan Qiushou said nothing, blinking silently. Chief Li continued speaking.

“And how about his behaviour? He hasn’t secretly tried to sneak out or attempted to contact anyone else, has he?”

“No, not that I am aware of. He spends almost all of his free time cultivating in his room. The only times he comes out are when we spar or when we’re deployed.” Qiushou stated.

Chief Li nodded, clasping his hands behind his back. After a moment, he seemed to recall something.

“Right, you were all sent to investigate that case of chain murders two months ago, correct?”

“Yes… it was you who deployed us.”

“Oh, did I?”

“If not you, who else?”

“That makes sense. Anyway, did anything suspicious occur that night?”

“Did you read the report sister Shui sent you?”

“…Ahem, give me a quick recap. My memory’s become poorer as of late.”

Wan Qiushou quickly recounted the events of that night, mostly paraphrasing Shui Qianyue’s report, adding his own thoughts and opinions here and there. At the end, he noticed that chief Li’s usual faint smile had vanished, replaced by a neutral yet partially cold look instead.

“Sihai Wuxian was ambushed by suspected members of the Twilight Order?”

“Correct.”

“Did he sustain any injuries afterwards?”

“Yes, a long gash on the left thigh.”

Chief Li pondered to himself for a few moments.

“After he comes out of seclusion, monitor him closely. If anything suspicious happens, report to me immediately.” He said solemnly.

Wan Qiushou’s brows furrowed in disagreement. “With all due respect chief, Wuxian hasn’t demonstrated anything that deserves this kind of treatment from us.”

“He lied about having amnesia.”

“There are many scenarios where lying about memory loss does not mean that the person in question is plotting the downfall of our city.” Qiushou defended.

“But what if he was planning on aiding our enemies?”

“He’s clearly shown that his only interest is cultivation. From what I have seen, he lacks neither cultivation manuals nor resources. Even his weapon looks like it’s of high quality craftsmanship. Of the two times he’s gotten into an altercation, both times have been with our enemies. That suggests that it’s highly likely he’s opposed to them.”

“What if he’s opposed to both us and them?”

Wan Qiushou crossed his arms. “Then that would be due to our cold treatment of him. How can you expect someone to trust you if you do not extend your trust out to them first?”

Chief Li shook his head in response, sighing quietly.

“Because there is a lot at stake. I- we, cannot afford to trust the wrong person. Besides, there are no coincidences under the machinations of Heaven’s will. How is it possible that somebody with as many resources and as much wealth as that Sihai Wuxian appears at our doorstep right when our city is at its weakest, with evildoers from across the entire region attempting to break in and overthrow us?”

“Then why don’t you let him leave the city? If he goes for good, wouldn’t that be one box to be crossed off?” Wan Qiushou suggested.

“I gave him the choice to leave and he decided to stay.”

“You convinced him to stay. You made it seem like the moment he left the city, he’d be jumped and murdered on the spot.” Qiushou accused.

“Something like that happened anyway, didn’t it?” Chief Li asked with a wry smile.

“There are many conjectures we could make. Regardless, if he’s that big of a target for our enemies, doesn’t that just show that at the very least, it’s unlikely for him to help them over us?”

Chief Li didn’t respond, staring out of the window at the falling snow once again. Qiushou craned his head to look, wondering what exactly was so interesting.

“The others were all ‘abducted’ by the Jade Garden and taken to act as bodyguards for important disciples in the war. Right now, not only the Nightwatch, but the Jade Garden itself is very understaffed and under-protected at the moment. We cannot afford to make any slips, else we might find ourselves in mortal peril at the very next moment.” He said, hands clasped together.

Wan Qiushou had a baffled expression on his face.

“The Jade Garden sent that many of their own people too?” He asked in surprise.

“Why else would they begin taking our cadres too? Well, though they’re understaffed, they should be able to protect their sect well enough for their forces to return back in case of emergency. As for this city on the other hand…”

“All the more reason to endear Sihai Wuxian to us. With how few people we have at our disposal now, a soon to be Qi Condenser like him would be invaluable.” Qiushou argued, returning to the main point.

Chief Li nodded in approval.

“You’re right. But that doesn’t mean we can’t monitor him at the same time. Reward him if he does well and pay him to the standard of a gold badge Nightwatcher but punish him appropriately if he does end up consorting with the enemy.”

Qiushou was speechless.

“That’s… the same treatment all of us receive anyway.”

“Well, you know. Just watch him a bit closer than the silver and bronze badges. It’s not that big of a risk if the lower ranks are compromised, but someone with Sihai Wuxian’s combat power could do a lot of damage if left unchecked.”