Yù Quán and Rèn Chāngmíng were walking out of the town hall. It was a beautiful dragonwood pagoda with some parts painted or adorned with a shade of pink reminiscent of cherry blossoms. Yù Quán felt like he had seen a lot of pagodas, but when he compared it to the countless regular buildings lining the town streets, he didn’t feel pagodas were so typical anymore. Pagodas seemed to be a sign of status in this world. He was sure there would be many more in cities.
After three days of law enforcement, the mayor had determined that Yù Quán had contributed enough to be promoted. A promotion for him wasn’t simply a higher position, it would leave his representative position open. Basically, the Yellow Qilin Academy was creating a wing within the town government, and every promotion would allow them to grow their support. Yù Quán didn’t know what Yàn Lìqín’s plan was once they got such power in a small town government, but it was Yù Quán’s job to follow it.
It was also their decision who they recruited into these positions, and since all Yàn Lìqín wanted was another one of the disciples of the Yellow Qilin Academy, Yù Quán chose Rèn Chāngmíng. This wasn’t just because he felt he could trust him the most. This would allow Rèn Chāngmíng to carry out law enforcement duties on his own, which meant he could train and cultivate. Plus, having another member of the cult in a position of power will help him as well. All around, Rèn Chāngmíng seemed like the best choice. Later on, he would see if he could get Su Chunhua in. He would have to convince Yàn Lìqín that she would be a better choice over Liàng Píng and Yin Mengxia, which shouldn’t be too hard if she could show extensive knowledge of the underworld and how it’s helpful to missions.
Yù Quán was now the Senior Representative of Law Enforcement, followed by Rèn Chāngmíng as the Representative. They would continue on, but they felt that they should consult with Su Chunhua first; they hadn’t seen her in a while, and she might know the next steps in establishing the cult. If she didn’t, Yù Quán had some things he wanted her to complete. But Yù Quán didn’t know where to find her. They hadn’t come up with any way of contacting each other. Yù Quán thought he could put a piece of information in the mind palace, but it didn’t seem possible, at least not efficiently anyway. In the end, Yù Quán left Rèn Chāngmíng to work in law enforcement while he searched around for Su Chunhua.
…
Su Chunhua was doing a stalking mission for the Supreme Wolf Sect. She didn’t take any immoral missions anymore, but the best way to get info on the underworld was to work in it. Right now, they were paying her to tail someone from the Flying Cloud Sect. She felt like if she did this well, she would get a little bit of information on both sects. Over the past few days, she had been doing missions like crazy. She even started doing them for the other sects, only having to cover her face and wear clothing that hid her apparent features. As long as the work got done and it didn’t implicate their sect, they didn’t care who did it. If a spy was sent, they could always just say it was a test to find spies and deny any fault.
The target had left Su Chunhua’s line of sight momentarily because he turned a corner onto another street. Just as Su Chunhua turned the street, she saw him walk up to a restaurant and into the alley next to it. She followed up behind him, stopping right at the edge of the building next to it. She waited a moment before peaking around the corner, catching the man walking into the restaurant through the back door. Su Chunhua quickly turned back and started heading for the meetup location to pass on any info and evidence she collected. Little did they know, she had all that info saved in the cult’s mind palace that could be used against them in the future.
…
Su Chunhua walked out of the alleyway where she met the inner disciple of the Supreme Wolf Sect, then walked through several alleys, just in case she was followed. Then she took off the mask and disguise and stuffed them into a bag on her back. She then walked out of the alley from a different opening.
“Hmm… Should I take another mission? There’s still time in the day,” she said to herself.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Su Chunhua continued walking, turning onto the main street. She saw the familiar buildings and stalls that littered the place. As she walked through, she noticed a face she recognized.
“...Yu… Quan?”
Yù Quán turned around, his mouth stuffed with slices of cooked fish on little wooden sticks.
“Oh! Hey, Su Chunhua!” he said with his mouth full.
“What are you doing here?”
Yù Quán took a second to take a couple of sticks out of his mouth and finish chewing what he had bitten off.
“I got promoted to Senior Representative, so I made Rèn Chāngmíng the Representative so he could do missions by himself and came to find you.”
Su Chunhua’s eyes slightly widened. Had they really dispatched enough people to be promoted already? Although she didn’t think they would need to take any big operations down, even severely underestimating how much they would need to accomplish is a lot to be achieved in a few days.
“...You guys are monsters…”
Yù Quán just smirked and ate another fish sliver. They walked and talked for a while. Yù Quán asked if she had any plans going forward. Su Chunhua said she planned a few moves for good information, but other than that, she had been waiting to talk with him.
“Okay! I think we should start recruiting,” Yù Quán said confidently.
“Oh? Why so soon?”
Yù Quán points to three storefronts. “This one, this one, and that one. All businesses that were used to hide shady activity. If we move in and continue their businesses, we could start gathering funds for the cult.”
Su Chunhua had initially followed Yù Quán’s finger with his gaze, then looked back to him when he explained his thinking.
“I see… and we would need more people because we’re all too busy to sit and run a business. Okay! I’ll put a pause on gathering information to start recruiting.”
Yù Quán smiled. “How do you plan on doing that?”
Su Chunhua kept walking, leaving Yù Quán behind where he stood. “That’s for me to worry about. But, if you really want to know, if you find some overly zealous folk and show them a little miracle, it’ll go a long way,” she said over her shoulder while waving bye to Yù Quán. “Once we have people and resources, we can get a little more creative to get the less gullible.”
Yù Quán smiled and shook his head. Su Chunhua wasn’t the smartest or strongest, but she was a schemer. He wasn’t worried about her scheming against him; that was something he could handle, thanks to the mind palace. But, he wondered if he was wronging the world by taking such a scheming woman and giving her so much knowledge. Hell, he would even get her cultivating if he could find a way. Then he would really be making a monster. Yù Quán sucked his teeth at the thought, then turned and started heading back in the direction of the Yellow Qilin Academy. Hopefully, he could catch Rèn Chāngmíng and help him catch criminals and run raids to free up more businesses for them to take over.
…
Yù Quán
Realm: Body Tempering Realm
Stage: 1st Level Skin Tempering
Main Cultivation Art: [Stolen-eyed Mùmùlián Body](Level 3)
Strength: 850 Catties
Qi: 2220/2220 wisps
Mùmùlián Core: 22/100
Strange Fire: (Level 2)Murderous Flame(x1)
Techniques:
[Mùmùlián Eye Stealing](Level 3)
[Mùmùlián Eye Refining](Level 3)
[Murder Mantra](Level 1)
[Yellow Qilin Dance](Level 1)
Attributes:
[Strange Fire: Murderous Flame]
[Star Gazing Eyes](Level 1)
[Top-Quality Maned Hog Ferocity Eyes](Level 1)
[Low-Quality Winged Watcher Awareness Eyes](Level 1)
[Low-Quality False Dragon Pride Eyes](Level 1)
[Low-Quality Death-Dealing Dama Killing Eyes](Level 1)(x2)