CHAPTER 2298: SPYING INTERESTS

"...And there we go," Rui muttered as he signed off on the final page of a large set of registration forms. "Finally, I guess that makes it official?"

The Minister of Corporate Affairs smiled at him, nodding as he pulled out a certificate and placed it in front of Rui. "Congratulations, you have now created your own sect. I think I speak on behalf of the entire Kandrian Empire that this is an event to be celebrated."

Rui's eyes fell on the official government-issued license placed before him.

[Water Sect]Owned by .

It was the document that was necessary to begin all other ventures formally. Only now could he set into motion all the plans that he had had in mind. With this, the Water Sect actually existed, even if only on paper.

"I look forward to creating a sect that is celebrated by the entire nation," Rui replied. "I suppose with this, my sect can no longer be hidden from the rest of the world."

A complicated expression appeared on the minister's face. "...I'm afraid that is the case. We have tried our best to increase our information security. But it is impossible to hide everything at all levels, I'm afraid, especially for something as mundane as a newly non- profit Martial organization."

Rui nodded. "I understand. I'm prepared for the consequences."

He knew that there was no way that his Martial Sect would go unignored. The political sphere

of East Panama was already of the outlook that his Martial Art was connected to the

breakthroughs.

Thus, any sect that promoted his Martial Path was undoubtedly bound to be of extreme interest to them.

Even if they were cognizant enough to know that the sect would not be selling the secrets of the breakthroughs, they would still be deeply interested in infiltrating the sect to get their hands on anything that might lead them to the secret of the breakthrough.

And their hopes were not necessarily misplaced.

Rui had no idea what kind of advancements that his newly-created Water Sect would end up giving birth to. It was entirely possible that the sect would foster a hypnotic-oriented Path of Adaptive Evolution that could recreate Rui's ability to trigger breakthroughs through the same or even a different principle of breakthroughs.

If that were the case, then he would lose his oligopoly in the newly created industry of triggered breakthroughs.

Of course, he didn't give a damn about that.

He was not a Martial businessman or anything of the sort.

On top of that, it would take some pressure off of him.

"Regardless, it doesn't change what I do; anybody is welcome to join my sect as long as they are willing to dedicate themselves to Adaptive Evolution."

It was not pragmatic to prevent a single spy from entering the sect, so he needed to ensure that the consequences of this happening were insignificant. In other words, he needed to do his best when he did want to leave the sect.

"Regardless, thank you for your cooperation, Minister Claussen. I don't think this would have been able to progress as fast as it has without your help," Rui stood up, smiling as he shook hands with the man.

"Not at all. I am honored to be of service. You are one of the protectors of Kandria. As a civil servant, I do not dare do anything less than my best to aid you in your ventures," the man graciously insisted.

Even before Rui could fully leave the ministry, word of his sect had already begun spreading through the Kandrian Empire. All it took was one person to catch a glimpse of Rui speaking with the minister after the latter personally took the time to prepare and streamline the process of creating a non-profit Martial organization.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was happening.

By the end of the day, news had spread to several circles in the Martial Community and the political sphere in the Kandrian Empire.

"The Void Prince has created a sect."

A piece of intel that drew undivided attention from all sectors of the nation. Ordinarily, A Master creating a sect was hardly newsworthy for the upper echelons of the nation. Many obscure sects centered around some obscure field existed. Most of them were not noteworthy at the highest levels of the nation.

Their impact was insignificant.

Yet, the same was most certainly not true for the Void Prince.

This was despite the fact that his Martial Art had been among the most obscure before the voidlet techniques were introduced many years ago.

Not a single person dared to underestimate the significance of this new sect.

Even before the fact that he was responsible for the breakthroughs was disseminated through the Martial and political worlds, a sect dedicated to his Martial Path would have drawn a lot of

interest.

Now that they knew that fact, however, it had evolved from what would have been a deep interest to almost obsession.

There wasn't a single person among them who wasn't interested in gaining their hands on the secrets of the breakthrough!

Instantly, many factions, interest groups, and power blocs began looking into the prospects of recruiting Apprentices with the intention of training them to be spies so that they could enter the Water Sect and try to crack the secret of the breakthroughs.

Of course, to ensure that the spy successfully got into the sect, they would need to find one with a Martial Art that was strongly linked to Adaptive Evolution so that the spy could be more involved with the sect than others.

Thankfully, there had been a flood of new Apprentices thanks to the Void Prince himself, giving them plenty of young and vulnerable potential spies to choose from.

It didn't matter if they got caught; there was no real way to tie it back to the people who put the spies to work, thanks to the covert and discreet methods that they were accustomed to

using.

Regardless, none of them intended to give it a shot, even if the chances of gathering any clues to breakthrough methods were slim.