Following their tough, but successful guarding of the carriage caravan, Lin Songmei and Yan Mingqing opened up their apartment to host a ‘team-bonding session’ following their dinner. The truth of the matter was they wanted an excuse to hang out as friends, but if they reported it as a team-bonding session they would get some free money from their own respective sects.

With their stomachs full, the four original party members and their new, hopefully not temporary teammate committed for a night of fun. Deciding on a mix between truth or dare and full-hearted roleplaying for their tabletop bricklaying game, the five cultivators did their best to forget their stresses and live for a night of full-bodied laughing and fun.

However, unaware of the raucous game night happening in an apartment across the city, was Liu Xueli, resting on a roof with her feet kicked up as she watched pure-white, snow koi float around in the air above her.

Still wearing her signature tank top, baggy pants, and combat boots, Xueli sighed as her terminal began buzzing once more. Cursing the bureaucrats out under her breath, Xueli eyebrows raised reading ‘Tu Weiping’ on her terminal’s screen. “What a pleasant surprise...”

Snapping another koi fish into existence to float around in the sky near her, Xueli sank a little further into her resting position. “What’s up Weiping? I almost cussed you out since I thought it was the bureaucrats calling again about some inane discussion they were having.”

“... What?” Tu Weiping asked, clear confusion ringing out from his voice. “Anyway, I’m calling to do our regular check in. Obviously, you can’t do it in person, so I’m calling.”

“Ohh, I remember that,” Xueli laughed, slapping her thigh. “Man, you’re such a good sect leader, I could never!”

“Yeah, I know.” Tu Weiping’s dry voice agreed, “The martial pavilion is run literally by your underlings...”

Hearing Tu Weiping sigh over the call, all Xueli could do was laugh. “Well, I do have some interesting thoughts I feel like you might want to hear! C’mon, Mr. Tu, you can’t deny I’m good at my job now!”

“Just get on with it,” Tu Weiping sighed, his stress—and regret—only building as Xueli’s smug voice was transmitted over the call. “I remember you updated me on Lin Songmei’s eyes, keep investigating that, eye powers are rare and might give some insight into her heritage.”

“Yes, yes, you don’t need to tell me to take care of my disciples, if there’s one thing I’m good at it’s babying those two girls,” Xueli pledged with her hand over her heart, “I do want to tell you though about my little conflict...”

“Conflict? You? Conflicted?” Tu Weiping’s doubtful voice teased over the call. “Anyway, continue.”

“Yeah, shut up, I don’t want to hear it,” Xueli retorted, drawing the small swarm of koi she had made a little closer to herself. “I don’t want to miss too many sect duties, but I’m also realizing I think I’ll have to spend a little more time in the city than you expected. I’m starting to figure out there’s gotta be some dumbass either in the bureaucrat circle or the underworld circle. If not both.”

“Hmm... which type of dumbass are we talking about here?” Tu Weiping asked, a solemn tone now blanketing his thoughts.

“The colluding with demons kind,” Xueli sighed, kneading her eyebrows. “There’s someone, if not a lot of people in the city who need an ego check. They forget they’re all peons who barely opened their meridians. Give my two disciples a year or a year and a half and they’ll be able to dog walk everyone in the city.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“That’s not what I want to hear though,” Tu Weiping murmured, a sigh similar to Xueli’s getting transmitted over the call. “Have they forgotten about the wars just a couple decades back?”

“I mean probably, the bureaucrats have the memory of dog-poo sitting under the summer sun, and the leaders of the underworld change every few years.” Xueli laughed, a sarcastic tone seeping into her words. “I’ve been doing my own investigation and it seems like there’s a lot of corruption.”

“What’s your plan then? I could send some people over if you want to take your place? Hold a more formal investigation?” Tu Weiping pondered out loud, proposing a few ideas. “You’re making zero cultivation progress sitting around in Westriver and its unique Qi after all.”

Snorting, choking, then coughing to catch her breath, Xueli reassured Tu Weiping. “A couple more months or a couple more years here won’t make a difference. I know you’re much older than me, but I’m also at the point where realm progress is measured in decades rather than years.”

“Well, to be fair, I’m at the point where it's centuries...” Tu Weiping confessed, a bashful cough coming through the call as Xueli began a sarcastic tirade.

“Ohh... I’m Tu Weiping! I’m so good at cultivating! Wah wah, shut up!” Xueli retorted as a few laughs slipped through her angry mask.

Coughing, Tu Weiping murmured “What happened to my kind junior sister...” before changing the topic. “So you’ll stay over there. Are you planning on just razing the city to the ground? Is there anything I can help with?”

“I’m not planning on razing the city to the ground, no no,” Xueli reassured, waving her hand while playing with a koi. “If anything, I'd do the whole plateau.”

Ignoring Tu Weiping choking on his drink, Xueli shrugged. “I guess two things. First, tell the esteemed spiritual beasts to be more cautious with what resources they’re sending. For now, they should keep up the image so the dirty pig bureaucrats have no idea what’s going on, but keep the esteemed spiritual beasts on standby to just pull all the supplies. The second... put me in contact with any other elders in the area. What about last year’s Starlight Lake direct disciples? Or the year before that? A couple of them should probably still be in Westriver, right?”

“That’s... a little hard to do.” Tu Weiping admitted with a residual cough. “I can try though. Talking to the spiritual beasts should be the easy one in all honesty, it seems they’ve sensed how the winds are shifting and have decided to become more active again.”

“Alright, that’s good to know. We also have the two Kunpengs in the sect right now too, so we can use them to get in contact with the spiritual beasts if need be as well.” Xueli added, gazing out into the bustling nightlife in the center of the Central District.

“Nahh, don’t worry about them, the sect has enough power these days. The problem with the second thing is... two-fold I’d say.” Tu Weiping murmured with a groan. “As you know, some years are a little thinner than others. You haven’t been a master for too long, but I used to be a master for some disciples and just... Some years are really bad. The year you chose is turning out to be generationally loaded, talent and potential-wise, but the year before? Don’t even mention them...”

“Soo...?” Xueli murmured, trailing off while beckoning for Tu Weiping to continue.

“It means we had one direct disciple last year, and they’re not at Westriver because we don’t trust them that much. The year before was better, not amazing like this year, but something. They’ve all finished opening their meridians and have left Westriver,” Tu Weiping explained, the pain clear in his voice.

“Wow... wait, there’s no way last year was that bad,” Xueli retorted, snapping another koi into existence.

“Yes it was. Their only notable prospect was Zhao, first child of the phoenix clan. She fell ill with a yin disease and was set back a year though. She’s doing fine now, but she’s technically in the year with your two disciples now, so she’s just compounding the disparity. She’s even in Westriver right now, if I’m not mistaken.” Tu Weiping added before deciding to get back on track. “Anyway, I can get you in contact with the elders of other direct disciples if you’d like. I believe many of the elders from the Pavilion of Radiant Shadows are around.”

“Ohhh, you’re so knowledgeable, Weiping!” Xueli laughed, the amazement clear in her voice. “How do you know all this? Sounds good! I’d love to make fun of Xiao Feng some more!”

“... Sure. I’ll... get right on that,” Tu Weiping mumbled, “When did you start liking bullying anyway...”