Jin’s eyes glittered, immensely pleased with what Longwei had offered. To have a Jianghu spy offer himself and his Clan’s teaching up… that could only benefit him. Specifically, it’d benefit his spies… who he admitted were somewhat lacking.

His spy network did a great job in the Mainland Eastern countries, but struggled horribly in Jianghu. Among regular humans, or even weak cultivators, his people could be either human or animal. When his birds and smaller rodents were in their animal form, they could easily eavesdrop on conversations without getting caught. As humans, they could blend in and ask questions.

But not in Jianghu.

Those damn Islands to the far East were a constant thorn in his side!

Jianghu Islands were stuffed full of Sects, Clans, and Associations that specialized in martial arts and cultivating. There were cultivators who were said to be over a thousand years old yet didn’t look a day over twenty! They fooled everyone with their looks but were impossible to fool, ah!

One look at his people in animal form and they knew they weren’t normal. Many cultivators actually tried to capture and chop them up for ingredients to make pills and potions! Because of this, a squirrel and a weasel had disappeared, never to be heard from again.

In human shape, things were somewhat easier. They could pass themselves off as high level cultivators to novices and intermediate martial artists. But the experts? There was no fooling them. They took one look at his spies and knew, instantly, that they were the so-called powerful ‘Spirit’ Beasts. Jin had never used such a term, but that’s what Jianghu culture called them, and they were prized as status symbols once enslaved.

Enslave HIS people?! Ha! Was his reputation as ‘The Cultivation Killer’ not enough for them? If only they hadn’t figured out he was trapped on the mountains, they’d never touch a single hair on even the smallest of his people’s heads! The whole situation was just infuriating!

Jin and Ye obviously had a lot of trouble because of this issue. They needed information on some very dangerous Jianghu Associations and paying others to get that information only got them so far. No one wanted to get too involved with any factions that had a ‘Patron’ Devil on their side. Even within the Evil Factions of Jianghu, ‘Devil run’ organizations inspired an awed fear and respect. They were almost untouchable.

The only reason he knew even that about them was because the Lotus Valley Sect he took in had told him everything they knew about Jianghu. But being a Righteous Sect, obviously their knowledge of Evil Associations was limited to ‘how to kill on sight’. And that was only useful if you could actually catch any of them— Evil Factions were extremely difficult to pin down!

Argh, he knew he was to blame! He had no idea how to hide his own Spirit, much less how to teach someone else to do it. If his wife hadn’t been so gullible when they first met, and a novice in Blue Flower Mountain Arts to boot, she’d never had been fooled into thinking he was human. She would have immediately seen through his human disguise and known he was the Fairy Emperor. His Spirit was so very obviously NOT human, anyone with the proper training could tell right away, ah!

If only his Sister was around. When it came to being sneaky and hiding, she was an expert. How many people had she peeped on to write all those diaries now stored away in the Traveller’s Cave? She could erase her presence so thoroughly, even Masters within the Blue Flower Sect wouldn’t know she was spying on them. Rather than a Mountain Spirit, her true title should have been ‘All Time World Class Peeper’.

..ah, but what a useless train of thought that was. If she was here, then Mei Hua wouldn’t be, and needing spies wouldn’t even be a problem.

Ye was the next best thing to his Sister for spying on others, but Jin discovered he did everything on instinct. It was all about intuition and ‘does this feel like a good time to be naughty?’. Once again, that fairy was all kinds of useless except for being troublesome…

The point being: the whole problem had vexed him severely! How could he get his vengeance against that damn Devil and his Association that dared to harm his precious wife if he couldn’t even find them?! Years of searching had proved fruitless!

In the end, Shan Hui had grown impatient and declared he’d go to Jianghu and find the Devil’s Association himself. Well, that had its own set of problems. Shan Hui had a terrible time trying to cross over the ocean to get to those Islands. He suffered from something like severe sea-sickness and lost almost all his power from just standing on a boat. Last time Jin had seen him, Shan Hui had ripped his own heart out of his chest in hopes of retaining the strength needed to get across the sea.

That had been some years ago. Shan Hui apparently succeeded in crossing over but not in completing his mission. Otherwise, he wouldn’t still be over there. If Ye’s earlier guess was correct, Shan Hui was likely causing all kinds of problems for those Jianghu b*****rds in the meantime.

Even with Shan Hui there… they still really did need a capable spy network in that place. Now he had a Jianghu spy, from an Evil Clan no less, promising everything he wanted and more.

This Longwei fellow could teach his beasts what he could not. What’s more, the information he knew was definitely more than whatever the Lotus Valley Sect had originally shared. Righteous Sects were strict in keeping to their moral code which he approved of, but at the same time it meant there were quite a few things they didn’t know.

As to whether Longwei was ‘the best’ as he claimed… One thing the Lotus Valley Sect insisted on teaching Jin was how to ‘read’ a person’s cultivation. Longwei’s cultivation was somewhere in that murky place between Intermediate and Master. This meant that even though he looked young, he was likely over 500 years old. So not only did he have his Clan’s teaching, he had raw experience as a spy as well.

And he’d give all that information and training to Jin and his people, for the price of keeping his family safe.

Hehehehe.

Easy, so easy! He was gaining something for almost nothing!

What was the Snake Clan to him? Think they can just walk onto his mountain, into his territory, and cause trouble? He didn’t gain a reputation in Jianghu by being kind and loving to enemies. If those evil little ants were stupid enough to start crawling all over him, he’d oblige and squish them to smithereens. Maybe deposit their corpses back on the ant colony, just to send a message to their little bug brains.

His face twitched from his efforts not to smile with evil glee. Clearing his throat, he managed to say seriously, “I will accept your service in exchange for keeping you and your family safe.”

Longwei’s stiff form loosened in relief at his acceptance.

“Lord Jin!” Lotus Valley Sect Leader immediately objected, even going so far as to drop his ‘Emperor’ title.

“What?”

“Sire, you can’t possibly think accepting someone from an Evil Clan is a good idea! The same values that allow him to betray his Clan, will most definitely allow him to betray you as well!”

“Is that what you’re worried about?” He turned to Longwei, who’d tensed once again, “Jianghu Spy, this Emperor isn’t some mortal you can deceive. If you lie, I’ll know. Where ever you go, whatever you do on these mountains, I’ll also know. You, your wife, your future descendants, they’re in this Emperor’s hands. Don’t think of betraying me as you betrayed your Clan this day.”

Longwei got on his hands and knees, kowtowing in mid-air with a deadly serious face.

“I, Longwei, vow to never betray your Imperial Highness or Queen Consort. Even unto torture and death I will never betray. If even the chance of betrayal surfaces, I will kill myself first.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Everyone in the Lotus Valley Sect scoffed, not at all convinced by such a vow. If an Evil Clansman could be trusted to keep their vows, then why call them Evil? Tsk!

Jin ignored their condemning expressions and continued, dropping any semblance of being polite, “A vow to me is no small thing, mortal. Remember that all other services rendered to me will count for nothing if you won’t remain loyal as you vowed this day. You are in my palm, and if you remain there, you’ll have nothing to fear from me or anyone else, not even that Snake Clan of yours.”

“As your Imperial Majesty decrees, I will obey!” Longwei kowtowed deeply again.

Jin turned to the Sect Leader. “With this, it should be fine.”

“How is this fine! Emperor, he can not be trusted. The Evil Clans—”

“Bah, more like YOU can’t trust him. Don’t push your distrust onto me. Can you look into the hearts of men? Can you see the evil and the good? Watch as a soul blackens with corruption or fights to redeem itself? No. But I can. And I’m telling you, the good in this man will hold him to his word. If you can’t trust him, trust me.”

The Wulin Sect Leader’s face twisted in his fury. Younger Sect Members who were used to always seeing him composed, took a full step back in surprise.

“When you allowed us on your mountain, you said the Jianghu Evil factions were your enemies! You said that the Lotus Valley Sect and the Mountain Lord would crush such factions together, as partners.”

“And?”

“He is one of them!”

Jin’s forehead crinkled. En, he remembered saying that.

“He’s left his Clan though. He is no longer one of them.”

“Hah! That just makes him a Heretical Cultivator without a Sect or Clan! You think leaving changes anything? He will continue as he was taught! Ask him how his people cultivate, ask him!”

Longwei’s face went black, furious at the Sect Leader’s implication, “I’ve never killed a human to cultivate.”

“But other living breathing things, that’s fine?” The Sect Leader flushed with anger. “Just because you never did it, doesn’t mean anything. It’s well known that the Snake Clan will kill their own children to further their cultivation. That’s the kind of people who raised you! Crooked path at the start, crooked for life!”

Mei Hua cast Longwei a horrified glance. “Your clan kills their own children?”

He ground his teeth, furious at the Sect Leader for bringing that up.

“There have been… instances…”

“Oh my god!” Mei Hua hugged the fox kit close as if to comfort herself from the shock.

“Lady Consort, it’s not a common practice, I swear to you! The Snake Clan may be called ‘evil’ but they aren’t stupid. Even they frown upon such cultivation methods. Human sacrifice gives short term cultivation boosts and powers, yes, but the long term consequences are deadly. The only factions that can use such methods successfully have a Patron Devil to guide them. And whatever can be said of the Snake Clan,” Longwei glared at the Wulin Master below, “They do not, nor have they ever, had a Patron Devil over them.”

“See!” The Sect Leader pointed at Longwei accusingly. “No remorse at all! It’s just excuses about why they don’t do it ‘very often’, as if that makes it any better!”

Guilei had been listening quietly for some time now, her rage building. When the Sect Leader took her husband’s explanation as an ‘excuse’, that was the last straw for her.

She jumped down from mid-air and hit him in the gut. She hadn’t been training all those years for nothing! Unless a person cultivated a high defense, it’d be difficult not to feel pain from one of her hits.

Sure enough, he immediately doubled over. Guilei used this moment of vulnerability to clasp both hands together and smash the top of his head, causing him to collapse completely.

“Sect Master!” Several members rushed forward to circle their Leader and push the crazed woman away. “Warrior, back away, back away! He’s already unconscious!”

“You leave my husband alone! He can’t help who birthed him, he can’t help who raised him!” Guilei was so furious she couldn’t hear what anyone around her was saying and kept kicking the collapsed man. Tears started to stream down her angry face. “People can change, he changed! He even changed how he cultivated to show me he was serious! It gave him withdrawal symptoms for weeks! It was horrible! Yet you dare act so high and mighty and judge him! You ignorant, grey haired, flaccid, peabraine--”

Longwei calculatively waited just long enough for Guilei to get one more good kick in before deciding it was time to stop her. After all, it wouldn’t be good if she seriously hurt the local Sect Leader.

“Guilei!” Longwei grabbed his wife’s arms and pulled her away. Unlike with the Sect members, she willingly let him pull her away. “You’ve done enough. Calm down.”

“No, no, I won’t calm down! Let me hit him again! Who does he think he is to talk to you like that? Is that sh** faced coward higher than the Emperor? What right does he have to accuse you like that? He doesn’t have the—sob—right!”

Before she’d finished she’d started to weep heavily. Longwei wrapped his arms around her comfortingly, patting her armored back. He was immensely pleased she’d stood up for him and wanted to praise her for it, but he knew it wasn’t a good idea to say such things with the victim nearby. So he could only comfort her and try not to look happy.

Shuya, still above the crowd, covered her heart.

“Aw… isn’t it adorable? I’m telling you, those two are made for each other. It’s the kind of thing people make legends out of…” She glanced at Jin, lips curled slightly. “Isn’t it interesting how the Righteous Sect claims the moral high ground but can’t forgive, can’t show mercy, and doesn’t believe in the human capacity to repent?”

Mei Hua smoothed the back of the fox she was carrying, shaking her head in disapproval of the Righteous Sect below her. She had no idea who they were, but her first impression of them was going poorly.

“When Guilei said he changed his cultivation and got withdrawals… what did that mean?”

“Oh that,” Shuya waved a hand slightly while explaining. “Evil Factions do a lot of naughty things to get powerful. Often, those things bring different levels of addiction along with them. Remember, there’s no such thing as a shortcut to cultivating or ‘easy’ power boost without a downside somewhere. Addiction is the most common side effect. He’s been cultivating the wrong way for a long time, the addiction was likely quite high. So when he changed how he cultivated…”

“I see… so not only is he fighting how he was raised, but how he cultivated too…” She gave a slow nod of understanding. “Doesn’t that mean he’s really amazing? It takes a very strong person to deny how they are raised, to choose the right path even if it means suffering for it. Yes, that’s very admirable. And of course Jin’s never been wrong about a person’s character. So if Jin says he’ll keep his promise, he definitely will. That guy… hmm… what’s that guy’s name? The one who just got his lights knocked out.”

She looked at Jin, who looked back at her and shrugged.

“You don’t know?”

“I never remember…”

“..Jin..”

He scratched his cheek.

“There’s so many people now… how am I to remember them all..?”

Shuya rolled her eyes. “His name is Guanyu, Sect Leader and Master of the Lotus Valley Sect, Righteous Faction. Usually he’s very well behaved, upright, and logical. But as you can see, he’s deeply prejudiced against anyone from the Jianghu Evil Factions.”

“I suppose since they’re called ‘Evil’, he’s not wrong to dislike them, huh?”

“Perhaps. But not all who are born or raised in such factions want to stay there.” Shuya’s eyes glittered faintly. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could somehow remove those who wish to leave, bring them here, and then use their knowledge to fight Evil Factions?”

“It would but is that even possible?”

Shuya hummed slightly in response saying, “I wonder…” then turned to Jin, “So how are you going to get those two to get along?”

Jin thought for a moment as he watched Guanyu stagger back up.

“By force.”

“….eh???”

Even as Shuya responded in surprise, Jin jumped down from the gate roof, landing in the middle of the Sect members. While Guanyu was tall, Jin was still quite a bit taller. Grabbing the Sect Leader by the back of his uniform, Jin lifted him up with ease.

The Sect Leader looked rather like a downtrodden cat being held by the scruff of its neck.

“Guanyu.”

Even though he was still in severe pain and startled at being lifted so roughly, his eyes widened and he whispered, “…you remembered my name…”

Jin ignored him, “I did agree that we’d slaughter the Jianghu’s Evil infestation together. But you remember the other agreement we made?”

Guanyu was too busy being overwhelmed by the fact that finally, finally, the Emperor had remembered his name to give a proper response.

“Since you seem to have forgotten, let me remind you.” Jin looked like he was scolding a child, “I am the Master of these Mountains. You stay here because of my good graces, and I could force you to leave if you got into my bad graces. Which is what your behavior is doing.”

“E-Emperor—!” Not just Guanyu, but the other members present called out to him, faces paled with fear. Their Sect had survived this long because Jin had taken them in, if he kicked them out…

“Oh, shut up!” They immediately silenced. “If you’re willing to call me ‘Emperor’ then do me the favor of obeying me like one. This isn’t Jianghu, where the Sect is the final law. I am the law! You all agreed to my authority. I get to choose who stays and who leaves. If I say Longwei is no longer part of his Evil Clan, then he’s not one of them. If I say he stays, then he stays, whether you like it or not. You will either learn to get along or you will avoid each other. Those are your only options. Have I made myself clear?”

There was a long pause from Guanyu. He was clearly not happy, but also unable to refute anything. Jin frowned at his continued resistance and gave him a rough shake.

“Did. I. Make. Myself. Clear?”

Dignity completely gone and head pounding from the powerful hit from earlier, Guanyu finally—begrudgingly, gave in.

“..yes, Emperor Huang. The entire Sect agreed that your word was law. This… this Master agreed as well. We will obey.”

With that, Jin dropped him. The Sect Leader somehow managed to save a little face by landing properly on two feet.

“Guanyu.”

“Yes, Emperor Huang.”

“The tolerance I’ve shown you today, there will not be a second time.”

Sect Leader Guanyu bowed deeply, a mixture of shame, frustration and pain from the earlier blow almost causing him to wince. "...your Imperial Majesty is truly merciful."