Jian wanted the living jade. He also wanted whatever else he could squeeze out of Meirong. She wasn't asking for a small favor, so he wouldn't be asking for a small payment. By the same token, he wasn't going to take on some kind of suicide job just because of the prize dangling in front of him.

"What sort of investigation?" he asked.

"The bloody mists of the Verdant Doom," Meirong began, "have been creeping further into the Empire than they should."

Jian frowned. The bloody mists were the Verdant Doom's equivalent of the demonic miasma that plagued the Devil's Teeth. Cultivators who were careless or overly bold in the jungle could quickly be overcome by the mists. Its victims would be sent on murderous rampages against friend and foe alike until they died, leaving their body to serve as fertilizer for the jungle's growth.

"It could be a coincidence," Meirong continued, "or it could be that somebody in the City Lord's mansion is doing something they shouldn't."

"You expect to get to the bottom of this?" Jian asked. It seemed like an awfully large task for someone younger than him to take on. Perhaps that was simply a sign of the value the sect placed on Meirong's future.

"The city lord is powerful, but he can't just ignore the Heavenly Sword Sect," Meirong said. "If I insisted on scouring this place from top to bottom, I could."

"And how do you expect me to investigate?" Jian asked. Whatever respect and courtesy Meirong could call on by cloaking herself in the colors of the Heavenly Sword Sect, it wouldn't extend to her hired hands. Especially somebody like him, who was well known to be at odds with the sect itself.

"Surely you can think of something," Meirong said.

Jian was tempted to dismiss her claim out of hand, but something made him pause. Pride, probably. He stood silently for a long moment, thinking over just how he might go about poking around the city lord's compound.

The problem was that he couldn't imagine how he could insist on being treated with any respect. Setting aside his own identity, he was young and his cultivation was nothing special. He could try to go the other direction and conduct an investigation by passing beneath notice, finding work as a servant in the city lord's compound or some such. 

That path came with its own difficulties, though. There were more than enough people looking around for work to fill any open positions with applicants to spare. The city lord had his pick of potential servants. Sure, Jian could ask Meirong to jump him to the head of the line, but that would hardly be in keeping with the plan of staying beneath notice.

Meirong herself would be able to investigate both because her personal cultivation commanded respect and because she spoke for the Heavenly Sword Sect. It was unfortunate that she didn't have the aptitude to do the work herself. Well, perhaps it was fortunate in that it had opened up this opportunity for him. If she simply pushed him directly into the city lord's manor as her deputy then he would be treated with suspicion while also carrying only a fraction of her authority. Besides, ideally nobody would be alerted to the fact that he was investigating their actions at all until Jian had found out what he wanted to know.

So he needed some way to poke around the city lord's manor without raising suspicion. And to do it in a way that the city lord himself wouldn't see fit to try to stop him. Jian glanced down at his hands, remembering their wrinkled appearance under his disguise. He was already trying to stay out of the way of any who might wish him ill by changing his appearance. Perhaps adopting an entirely new persona would allow him to kill two birds with one stone.

"There may be a way," he said.

"Oh?" Meirong asked.

"I'll have to resume my disguise," he said.

Meirong wrinkled her nose. "If you must."

"I do, after all, need an excuse to be housed in the city lord's compound," Jian said. While it wouldn't be practical for him to wield the power of authority to try and force anybody to hand over their secrets, he thought it was fairly possible that he could establish himself in the city lord's compound and keep his eyes and ears open for suspicious behavior.

Meirong just looked at him, waiting for an explanation.

"Your expedition is a great undertaking," Jian said. "It's the kind of thing that should be memorialized with a great sculpture, don't you think?"

Artists were well respected within the Empire. In addition, nobody could objectively test an artist's capability the way that they could detect cultivation levels. If he were introduced by Meirong as a great master, that would be enough to convince the people of Baolei Town that he was indeed a great master. Even if some people had their doubts, they wouldn't want the trouble that would come from publicly questioning the Heavenly Sword Sect's taste in art.

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Meirong's eyes lit up as she saw what he was planning. "The rumors have stretched from the capital all the way to here about the old master who grandfather was hosting last month."

Jian smiled. He hadn't considered it at the time, but his previous efforts to remain anonymous could now serve to buttress the story that he wanted to tell. The whole key to his plan was a compelling story that would persuade the people of Baolei Town to treat him with respect.

The fact that he had little understanding of art would be an obstacle, but not an insurmountable one. It wasn't like he would have to take requests. If anything, he could buttress his image as an unapproachable genius by rebuffing any offers of payment. And Meirong wouldn't be complaining just because she didn't receive a statue, as long as he dug up the information she needed.

"Although," Meirong said, "depending on how things go, you would have to play the part of the old master for a long time."

Jian drew himself up to his full height. He crossed his arms over his chest and did his best to recall how Elder Zhen had reacted when a new merchant had tried to overcharge him for spirit grains. He set his face in an arrogant cast and let out a single cold snort.

Meirong applauded. "Excellent."

"He still doesn't quite look the part," Jingfei said, gesturing at the ratty old robe Jian was wearing.

Jian nodded. It was a fair point. He felt a brief pang of regret over leaving grandfather Wang's gifted clothing back in the capital. Truth be told, though, for a disguise that needed to stand up to extended scrutiny, relying on the old man's cast offs might not have worked anyway. Jian needed a wardrobe appropriate for a well respected master artist, not the wardrobe of a prominent family patriarch.

"I can take him shopping," Jinghua said.

Meirong gave her a sharp look. The two stared each other down for a moment, though Jian couldn't follow the source of the disagreement. Finally Meirong sighed, letting her friend have her way. "Very well."

"I need to know exactly what I'm trying to find," Jian said. "Keeping an eye out for suspicious behavior can only take me so far."

Meirong cocked her head, considering. "Honestly, the trouble could take many forms. Most of them would need a large area and some special purpose formations."

She turned and rummaged through a pile of objects stacked behind her couch. Jian watched as she tossed a series of fancy trinkets to the side, before emerging with a scroll clutched triumphantly in her right hand. Her friends looked at her with concern as she handed the scroll over to Jian.

Jian accepted it and took a quick look at it. The outside was labeled as property of the Heavenly Sword Sect. It further instructed the holder to return the scroll to the sect on pain of death. Death was also promised  if the scroll was returned and found to have been opened. He gave Meirong a curious look.

"It's probably better if you don't let anybody else know you have that," she said. "It will tell you what to look for."

Jian nodded, pocketing the scroll. It seemed Meirong was willing to extend him at least a little bit of trust. While he might be killed for having the scroll, the punishment for a disciple who let the scroll fall into the wrong hands was no doubt similarly severe.

"Who's the most likely suspect?" he asked.

"If I knew that, why would I be asking you to do the job for me?" Meirong asked, before she shrugged. "I suppose the city lord is in the best position to do something like this."

Jian held back a sigh. It did stand to reason that she wouldn't be offering him such a reward if she had any hope of pulling off the task on her own. He still hated the idea of going in blind.

"Although," Jinghua said, "if it were the city lord, I'd think the blood mists would have advanced much further by now."

Jian now found himself holding back a sigh of relief. At least one of the disciples in the tent had a brain in her head.

"Who do you think it is?" Jian asked.

"The head of the Huang family is the second most powerful man in the city," Jinghua said. "If the city lord were to be removed for incompetence, he'd most likely get the position."

Jian nodded. It was hard to imagine why anybody would willingly consort with the power behind the blood mists, but ambition had made men contemplate even more terrible deeds.

"I don't like that merchant Chen," Jingfei said. "When we first arrived, he leered at me throughout the welcoming banquet."

Jian nodded and made a mental note to do Chen a bad turn if he could manage it. He didn't think that lechery quite rose to the level of criminality that he was looking for, but it was always nice to have a warning of somebody's bad moral character.

"All right!" Meirong said. "Head off with Jinghua on your shopping trip, then. We don't have much time to waste."

"I'll need you to pass a message to Shan," Jian said, before clearing his throat. "There also still remains the matter of my compensation."

"Oh?" Meirong asked. "The jade is not enough? I have plenty of spirit stones on hand, if you insist."

Jian shook his head. "I want the jade now. If I succeed, I want you to return with me to the capital to speak with your grandfather."

There was little enough risk for her in giving him the jade in advance. There wouldn't be much he could do to stop her from taking it back if she felt he didn't hold up his end of the bargain.

"How bold," Meirong said. "You can have the jade when you return from your shopping trip."

She rubbed her chin in thought for a moment, studying him carefully. "As for grandfather, I suppose it wouldn't be too much trouble."

"We have a deal, then," Jian said.

While part of him wanted to squeeze out every last spirit stone he could, it was more important to maintain some level of good will between himself and Meirong. If he could secure the living jade he needed to advance to the next level and a reprieve from the danger hanging over him, ensuring that he would live long enough to take advantage of the jade, well, he'd have the whole rest of his life to make money.