Chapter 162: The Traitor (Patreon)

Liu Wei watched the Burning Thorns Sect’s elders begin to filter out of the council chamber one by one. A palpable mix of disappointment and confusion hung over them; most were clearly unhappy with what their head elder had done, but didn’t feel comfortable speaking up against him.

Their feelings were quite understandable, considering that they had just watched Tang Luli execute what they had likely perceived as their sect’s best chance to finally put an end to their plight, but Liu Wei didn’t share them. In fact, this ordeal had gone quite exactly as he had imagined it and the demonic cultivator hadn’t needed to speak a single word to confirm the suspicions he’d held.

Which meant that it was not time to start politicking for real.

“Elder Shen, would you walk with me for a while?”, he asked as he rose from his chair, loudly enough that the several elders still present could easily hear him.

“I… Of course, honored Elder Wei.”

Lixian Shen seemed somewhat taken aback by his request, but quickly recomposed herself and carefully stood up. Liu Wei felt similar confusion radiate from the other elders – so far, during his stay here, he had not spent much time talking to any of them outside of the feast they had held at his arrival.

Liu Wei didn’t deign to clear up their confusion. Instead, he simply walked Lixian Shen out of the chamber.

“Please take your time. You should not strain your body after what just happened and I am not in a hurry.”

They walked in silence for a while, leaving the sect’s central palace and stepping into the warm morning sun. When they were out of earshot and a sweep of Liu Wei’s soul sense had confirmed that there was no one listening in on them, he began to speak again.

“About what happened just now…”

“I sincerely apologize for my outburst!”

She abruptly stopped to bow in apology.

“I did not mean to stir up trouble. It’s just… I thought that if… if we had just managed to properly question–”

“It’s impossible.”, Liu Wei interrupted her.

“Excuse me, honored Elder?”

“It is impossible to successfully interrogate a demonic cultivator.”, Liu Wei stated as he gestured her to continue walking.

“I take it your sect has not dealt with demonic cults before this, at least not in any of your lifetimes?”

“No, we haven’t. There was one that cropped up about a century ago, but the Roaring Thunder Sect wished to claim that achievement for themselves.”, Lixian Shen responded, still unsure where he was going with this.

Liu Wei nodded. That was just as he had thought.

“As you may be aware, demonic cultivation was assigned that label because it heavily impacts the practitioner’s body and mind. The most visible from the outside is certainly the emotional apathy that the cults replace with cruelty. But that is merely a late-stage effect. The first thing demonic cultivators experience is a steep decline in their bodies’ ability to physically feel.

“Now, neither of those are desired effects, of course – in fact, they are considered the central downside to demonic cultivation by anyone but the cults themselves – but they do have some ‘positive’ aspects to them. Mainly, the inability to physically feel naturally includes pain. This means that demonic cultivators are functionally immune to the torture Elder Luli tried to threaten this one with. And their lack of emotion ensures that they don’t experience any fear either.

“Finally, while it is true that most of them hold little loyalty to their fellow cult members, they have a sheer endless supply of something else that will keep them from ever talking under interrogation: Spite. The cults carry a deep disdain for soul cultivators and our societal order as a whole, stemming both from their history and from the fact that they mostly form from people who, in one way or another, were rejects of said society.”

Liu Wei stopped in his tracks and turned to Lixian Shen to finish his point.

“Combined, these factors mean that it is impossible to successfully interrogate a demonic cultivator. You cannot pressure them, you cannot threaten them, you cannot force them to talk and the only thing you will ever hear if you try to approach them in a civil way is insults. You can bargain with them, but you will never get any information out of them if they know you are their enemy.”

Liu Wei was speaking from experience. It was something he, like many cultivators dealing with demonic cults for the first time, had learned after trying it several times.

“I… I see. But then why…”

“Why did I suggest it in the first place?”

Liu Wei stroked his beard.

“Well, you have been apologizing for a lot of things, but I think it’s time I did so – for withholding this information from you.”

He inclined his head.

“You see… I specifically depended on you all not knowing this when suggesting the interrogation. Let’s revisit the suspicion I voiced to you: That someone from inside the sect must have helped the intruders make their way through the formations undetected.”

A somewhat sly smile played around Liu Wei’s lips; contrary to the ones he had been displaying to the sect elders all along, this one was genuine.

“Now, suppose there is someone in league with the cult. That someone would have to be in a position to tamper with the sect’s defensive formations without oversight. In other words: That someone would have to be an elder.”

Lixian Shen quietly nodded. She had clearly reached that conclusion herself already.

“Put yourself into the shoes of someone who just let a group of demonic cultivators into the sect to let them assassinate a fellow elder. It’s always worked before, so you return to your residence confident that you will hear the news of the elder’s death sometime next morning.

Instead, in the middle of the night, you are informed of a failed attack on said elder. Four of the attackers have been killed, one survived and is going to be questioned. Not knowing that said questioning has no chance of succeeding, what do you feel?”

“Fear.”, Lixian Shen responded, not missing a beat. “Fear of being exposed.” Then, suddenly, her eyes widened.

“I suppose you know where I’m going with this now.”, Liu Wei commented. “The interrogation puts strong pressure onto the collaborator. Not only does it put their allies at risk, were the captive to reveal their location, it also threatens their own life and wellbeing. They need to ensure that it doesn’t proceed as planned. The most surefire way to accomplish that it to lead the interrogation themselves…”

“…and kill the captive as soon as the opportunity presents itself.”, Lixian Shen finished the sentence, her expression calm but deeply disturbed.

“A burst of anger. Not a good showing for a cultivator of his rank and age, but who could blame him when he and his sect were being so recklessly insulted. Unfortunately for our young and upcoming actor, I’ve been playing the game of politics quite a bit longer than him or any of you, and have become quite good at reading emotions, so it’s not too difficult for me to distinguish genuine from pretended anger.”

“Elder Luli… are you certain?”

Liu Wei nodded. Truthfully, he had suspected the head elder for quite a while now.

“Recall, if you would, what Elder Luli asked me to do about the cult after attempting to bribe me with treasures from your sect’s treasury.”

Lixian Shen nodded weakly. Elder Luli had asked him to not involve himself with the cult and leave everything to him. Liu Wei had already been puzzled by that request back then, though he had suspected that the man may simply be trying to use the accomplishment of defeating the cult to his own political advantage.

In the time since, however, what Liu Wei had learned about the Burning Thorns Sect’s current state of affairs had revealed that Tang Luli really didn’t need any additional political leverage like that. He’d already secured an iron grip over the elder’s council and thoroughly isolated Lixian Shen, his only remaining potential rival. Which also led Liu Wei to his next point of suspicion.

“Think about your sect’s state before the assassinations began and compare it to the current one. Then tell me who has benefited the most out of everyone.”

She nodded once more.

“Elder Luli.”

Slowly, her expression turned from disturbance to anger.

“Treacherous serpent…”

“Your anger is warranted, Elder Shen, but keep calm for now.”

“Yes, honored Elder… If I may ask though: Why did you reveal this only to me, and not to the council as a whole? Surely, with your word…”

“…they would have believed me? Yes, probably. And even if they had doubts, would they have dared voice them against me? Unlikely. So yes, I could have detained Elder Luli right then and there.”

Liu Wei sighed.

“Well, since I’ve already gone this far, I might as well let you in on the full picture. You see, I suspect that your head elder, and by extension perhaps this cult as well, is involved in more than just the assassinations of your elders. But to explain that I will need to start with the situation at my own sect and the true reason I have even made my way here.”