Chapter 145: The Incident (Patreon)

The sky shone in a deep red as the sun approached the horizon. Liu Wei marveled at the exceptionally beautiful dawn before him as he made his way up the last meters of the mountain to the Patriarch’s Palace. It almost looked like blood…

It was the morning of the day exactly one week before the sect assembly and a council meeting would be held here today.

Liu Wei approached the palace’s gate where a host of servants was ready to take him inside. Waiting alongside them was his assistant Chao, who’d made his way here on his own earlier. He took a last look at the glowing horizon before following them inside.

Besides finalizing the planning of the sect assembly, Liu Wei had no major points on his agenda today. It wasn’t so much that the Reform Faction had no goals it currently wanted to pursue, more that now was not the best time to aggressively do so.

They’d already done a lot when they had introduced the sect assembly and taken over the admittance exam; frankly, it was surprising that the Pillar Families had not yet attempted any proper retaliation for that. With the breakthrough of Hao Peng, they were now outnumbered eight to five in the council, so there was little hope they’d get anything else passed before Ma Rong returned from isolation.

Most of the elders had already arrived and Liu Wei took his time to greet them all before taking a seat between Lan Shi and Guang Lai. The remaining elders arrived shortly after and a moment later, Patriarch Zhao entered the room, the elders rising to greet him.

“It pleases me to see that, besides Elder Ma Rong who, as we know, is still in isolated cultivation, you have all made it here today once more. As patriarch of the Lunar Peaks Sect, I declare that this council meeting has officially begun.”

Long Zhao lowered himself into his chair in his characteristically dignified manner and the elders followed suit.

“As the first point of today’s agenda, I should extend a special greeting to the newest elder in our midst: Elder Peng, it is reassuring to once more have the venerable Peng Family represented on this council.”

Hao Peng rose from his seat once more and bowed in an acute, deliberate motion.

“My gratitude, honored Patriarch!”

Liu Wei eyed the new elder. He’d already gained an idea of who he was during the admittance exam, but it would nonetheless be interesting to see how he conducted himself at his first council meeting.

“With that out of the way, there is one more matter I want to address as a first point of order. It has now been over five years since the war against the Roaring Thunder Sect and with Elder Peng’s breakthrough we can truly say that we have recovered from it. I believe it is time to start looking outward again.

“The Roaring Thunder Sect’s former territory is still in turmoil, but we do not know how long that will remain the case. It may last for another decade or two, but it could also cool down much sooner. I believe it would be prudent for us to start keeping a closer eye on the situation ahead of time, so that when the time comes, we are prepared to make our move.”

“A wise notion, honored Patriarch. What do you propose to be done about this?”, Meixiu Xia asked.

“I’d like our sect to start improving our information network in the region, especially along the coast. I think it would be best if the Information Gathering Hall and the Outer Relations Hall cooperate in this matter.”

Yue Zhong and Ning Bai affirmed. This was a good opportunity for them to build up influence in the region and if the sect ever followed up on these plans and truly did move into the territory, they would stand to gain much after this arrangement.

“Marvelous! It is inspiring to see our elders offer their strength to aid the sect so readily!”, Meixiu Xia interjected.

“If I may say so, the Xia Family is quite well connected with our subordinate minor sects bordering that territory, so if you would have some use of those connections, I’d gladly offer my meager assistance as well.”

This was quite the blatant way for her to insert herself into something she had nothing to do with, and most elders would have been slapped down for it. Meixiu Xia, of course, was nothing like most other elders. Her influence among the pillar families remained second only to Patriarch Zhao’s.

Ning Bai in particular did a poor job of hiding his annoyance at her meddling, but there was little he could do to stop it.

“Thank you, Elder Xia. I’m sure Elder Zhong and Ning Bai will appreciate your assistance. The sect will naturally compensate all of you for your efforts.”

“Your graciousness knows no bounds, Patriarch!”

“It is only expected. You three shall talk through the details later and present me with the details of your plan once you are done. I’d now like to open up this discussion. Anyone that has a matter they’d like to address may speak up.”

Zheng Rong was the first to take word.

“It has recently been brought to my attention that villagers from Stonefang, a remote village in our territory, have discovered a hidden valley containing valuable spirit herbs. I would like to acquire growth and harvest rights over that valley for the Rong Family.”

The rights over any and all cultivation resources in their territory fell to the Lunar Peaks Sect directly – indeed, that was the most significant right that the sect held its territory. If they were somewhat close to the sect proper, their extraction would usually be handled by the Resource Collection Hall with the proceeds, except for the Hall’s share, going directly to the sect.

For more distant deposits like this one, it was standard practice to hand them over to one of the pillar families for a fixed fee. They would then either handle the extraction themselves or, more often, hand the rights to a minor sect, usually the closest, in turn. Under this arrangement, it were usually the pillar families that ultimately profited the most from a resource.

This system was one of the central sources of the Pillar Families’ wealth and it was high on the list of things Liu Wei would have liked to address. After all, the Pillar Families provided absolutely no actual benefit to the sect under this arrangement and were still raking in massive gains. They would, of course, fight tooth and nail before ever giving it up.

“I see. Are any of the other families interested in these rights?”

“The Peng Family is currently out of capacities.”

“The Zhong Family is not interested in that region.”

“Neither is the Bai Family.”

“The Healing Hall could always use more herbs for our healers, but there is another concern regarding a found resource I’d like to address later. As long as the Rong Family is willing to step back in that case, I am willing to do the same here.”

“The Liang Family is interested in these rights, since we are currently in the process of fostering quite a lot of new talent. Those worries could be alleviated, of course, if the Rong Family would be willing to renegotiate our agreement over the delivering of Qi Refinement Pills.”

“That is acceptable. The Rong Family will not interfere with Xia Family’s interests later on and the Liang Family may send an envoy regarding the agreement. I personally believe it is already quite generous, but since this is also for the good of the sect, I’m willing to talk it over.”

“Then I have no more complaints.”

“Very well.”, Patriarch Zhao spoke up again. “The Zhao Family is not interested in these rights either. Say, Elder Rong, has an evaluation of the value of those spirit herbs already been conducted?”

“No, patriarch. But…”

“In that case, the sect shall conduct such an evaluation. Once we have made an estimate of the value, the Rong Family shall have the right of first refusal regarding the valley. Is that acceptable?”

“Of course, Patriarch! I thank you for your grace.”

Zheng Rong had likely hoped to be able to gain these rights for cheap, but Patriarch Zhao wasn’t one to miss something like that – at least not for the Rong Family.

“Let’s move on to the next matter then.”

This time, Ning Bai moved to speak.

“As the honored Patriarch has remarked earlier, it has already been over five years since the war against the Roaring Thunder Sect. I’d like to call back the inciting event, the grand tournament hosted by the Serene Plains Sect and the Parting Clouds Sect.

“While it ended in tragedy due to Xing Zhou’s actions, I believe we can all agree that it would have been a great success otherwise. Recently however, I couldn’t help but think that we haven’t put in much effort to support the younger generation ever since then.”

“I take issue with that statement.”, Liu Wei interjected sharply.

“I wouldn’t dare to direct this statement at you, Elder Wei. Indeed, we can all plainly see how much the Training Hall has prospered under your stewardship. We can rest assured, knowing that the outer disciples are well taken care of. The same goes for the inner disciples, of course.

“What I mean is more so the action that the sect itself could be taking for the benefit of our disciples. Something not just to educate, but to inspire them to put in their all.”

“Would you have us hold another tournament?”, Sun Liang asked.

“Of course not. It is much too soon for something like that after the way the last one ended. We do not want to insult the other great sects, after all. I’m thinking of something more modest, for the internal fostering our youth.”

“Enlighten us.”, Patriarch Zhao bade him.

“I’d like to promote a program in which we promote the top talent of the younger generation to serve as role models for their peers. Have them take over some responsibility for the sect and reward them accordingly. That way, we could promote…”

Ning Bai continued to pitch his new idea, though Liu Wei was personally not that interested. This was not the kind of program he wanted for the disciples, and it was quite plainly obvious that he was primarily proposing this as a way of restoring the Bai Family’s prestige, given that he’d already made private efforts to promote Qiao Bai, the genius girl from his family.

The elders heard Ning Bai out, but ultimately deferred decision over his idea to a later date at Meixiu Xia’s direction. The fact they would do this to the head of a pillar family was telling as to how far his influence had degraded after the war.

Afterwards, more matters were addressed, all of little interest to Liu Wei. When it came to low-level sect activity and resource allocation, the pillar families were still mostly negotiating among themselves.

About an hour into the meeting – Meixiu Xia was just in the process of introducing a point about some unpaid debts of subordinate sects to the Healing Hall – someone knocked at the door. For a moment, the room fell into silence. Then, Patriarch Zhou called out.

“Enter.”

The door opened and an old man with robes belonging to the Zhou Family entered hesitantly.

“What has you disturb our council?”

The Patriarch’s voice wasn’t threatening but certainly stern. The old man threw himself to the ground in an apologetic gesture.

“A million apologies, revered Patriarch! Honored Elders! I would never dare to disturb a council meeting normally, but… a senior member of the Xia Family has just arrived and demanded to see the elders. I informed him of the council meeting, but he insisted that the matter needs to be brought forth right this instance.”

Patriarch Zhao nodded.

“I shall not fault you, then, though perhaps him. Do you have his name?”

“Hengting Xia, revered Patriarch.”

“You may send him in.”

The old man rose to his feet, bowed deeply again and hurried out of the room. Patriarch Zhao shot a questioning glance at Meixiu Xia.

“Hengting is indeed a senior member of our family. He works in the administration of the Healing Hall, and I know him to be a competent and reliable worker. I don’t know what he could possibly want to report though.”

She sighed.

“I just hope he isn’t wasting all of your time for something unimportant. I’d hate to have to reevaluate my impression of him.”

It was quite like her to praise someone almost in the same breath as called that praise into question. Before Liu Wei could ruminate on this longer, a tall man in the Xia Family’s robes stepped into the room.

He was chubby, had short, brown hair and a friendly face filled with laugh lines. In contrast, his expression was a mix of exhaustion, severity and distress that didn’t bode well for what he had to say. He bowed deeply before he began to speak.

“Revered Patriarch! Lady Xia! Honored Elders! I apologize for interrupting the council meeting and accept any punishment you see fit for my insubordination, but I bring most urgent news and couldn’t wait until the evening. It pains me to say, but there has been a terrible incident at the Healing Hall.

“Earlier this morning one of our best healers, Senior Member Yifei Xia, has been found murdered!”