Chapter 164: Forcing a Hand (Patreon)

“I merely wished to inform the council that I have reached the bottleneck of understanding and will be attempting breakthrough to the Dao Contemplation Realm shortly.”

Lixian Shen’s words were met with total silence as the hall’s collective breath caught in surprise.

Liu Wei smiled internally. The whole song and dance about the resources the sect owed Lixian Shen had mostly been improvisation on his part, simply making use of Tang Luli’s own overeager attempt at shutting her down. This was what they had been planning from the start.

“I- imposs… did- did you really… but… you couldn’t…”

“I could and I did, Elder Luli.”

The smile on Lixian Shen’s face remained serene as she answered the head elder’s stammered half-sentences. The man’s bald head began to grow red as he visibly struggled to search for the words to answer. Before he could find them, another elder spoke up.

“Elder Shen, let me express my sincerest congratulations.”

He seemed a lot more composed than Tang Luli, though the shock was still clearly visible on his face.

“If I may ask though… if memory serves, you reported to us not long ago that you were still a long way from reaching that point. So how exactly…?”

A hint of doubt accompanied the question, as if he was carefully probing whether Lixian Shen’s statement was true.

“Oh, I understand your surprise. My progress was – well…”

She turned to Liu Wei and the eyes of everyone in the hall followed. He calmly stroked his beard for a moment before speaking up.

“As I’ve told you all, I came here because I saw the troubles of a fellow sect and could not ignore them. Head Elder Luli requested that I let your sect deal with the demonic cult itself, so I decided to help out… in another way.”

His reasoning behind it was, of course, only a half-truth, but over the course of the last month Liu Wei had indeed helped Lixian Shen improve at an almost unimaginable rate.

He’d had her consume pretty much all the resources the Burning Thorns Sect had gifted him – the suggestion to return them had been a bluff – and put up a top-class Fire Qi-gathering formation that had been in use day and night. The only times she had taken a break from cultivation was during the few instances where they had let themselves be seen together to help spread the rumors.

All that, of course, still wouldn’t have fully explained her progress. What had truly pushed her to the point of breakthrough was that he had let her sit in on his own cultivation, letting her hear the song of his zither. Unlike Elder Shen, to whom he had to specifically adapt his song because he followed an entirely different Dao, she had been able to benefit from the melodies brought forth by his own cultivation.

This method wasn’t without drawbacks: Because the zither wasn’t tuned to her own cultivation and the whole thing had been done in such a rush, her understanding of the Dao had been built up with somewhat flimsily collected ideas. It wasn’t anywhere near as much of an unfixable mess as Elder Shen’s cultivation had been prior to Liu Wei’s help, but she would have to address on her path through the next realm or two, which would cost her a significant part of the time she had skipped over.

Liu Wei could have done better, had he played the zither specifically focusing on her cultivation and given her more time, but while he sympathized with her and had grown quite certain that she wasn’t a bad person, their alliance was still one born of shared interest and she was still the elder to a foreign sect, not his disciple – the boon she had received was enough as it was.

“With a Dao Contemplation cultivator among your ranks once more, I am certain your sect will be in a much better place to face the demonic cult and all its other struggles.

“Seeing your reaction however…”, Liu Wei paused for a moment and let some grimness flow into his expression. “I can’t seem to shake the feeling that you don’t hold much gratitude for what I’ve done.”

Tang Luli finally broke out from his shock and cleared his throat.

“No, no, revered Elder, you misunderstand me. I was merely staggered in surprise at this… stellar news we just been told! How could I ever be prepared, when I hadn’t believed such a feat to even be possible? We naturally are all deeply grateful for your boundless generosity and in awe at your abilities!”

The head elder forced a smile, even though the color of his head was rapidly approaching that of a ripe tomato and he couldn’t even begin to hide the mix of panic and anger in his expression. Liu Wei’s sympathy for him was severely dampened by the fact that this was a man that had conspired with a demonic cult to get rid of his rivals and seize power.

“I am glad to hear that. I was afraid that some of you may disagree with the fact that my choice fell on Elder Shen.”

“Of. Course. Not.”, Tang Luli pressed out from between his teeth. “None of us would be so foolish as to question your deep wisdom, honored Elder Wei. If you believe that Elder Shen was the right choice, that alone is enough to prove that she is. I, for one, will be glad to follow her as our new matriarch!”

“That is reassuring to hear, Elder Luli.”, Lixian Shen said, her fingers tracing the upper edge of her mask and pushing back her hair as she spoke. “I will naturally depend on your support as the oldest and most experienced elder of our sect.”

“I will be glad to help. If I may ask…; when do you plan on… making your breakthrough attempt?”

That was the question they had been waiting for. They’d been pushing Tang Luli ever closer into the corner, now it was time to present him with his exit.

“Hmm… It will be some time yet.”

She turned to Elder Wei again, gesturing for him to explain.

“As you know, the breakthrough into the Dao Contemplation Realm is not an easy step. If failed, it takes quite some time to recover before one can try again and if one is not careful, they may even incur permanent damage to their cultivation.”

“That is why Elder Wei has generously agreed to directly assist my breakthrough.”

“Yes, I have. I’m a man who sees the things he has started through to their conclusion, after all. However, to ensure Elder Shen can perform a smooth breakthrough without complications, I want to procure some materials that I don’t with me. I will have to travel to a couple of allied sects nearby, which will take some time. I should be back in about a week or two, which is when we will perform the breakthrough.”

Liu Wei could practically see Tang Luli’s eyes light up at that explanation, even though he was naturally trying to hide it.

It was actually not uncommon for cultivators at the peak of Dao Attunement to hide the fact that they were about to break through. After all, openly announcing it was almost akin to an invitation for all their enemies and rivals to take advantage the time that remained until they would, comparably, become untouchable.

For breakthroughs within the Dao Contemplation Realm, this was not as pervasive, but the same principle still tended to apply. Most of the time, it was simply more advantageous to surprise one’s fellow cultivators with a breakthrough than let them prepare for it beforehand.

“I see, I see. Then we have some time to prepare for the… celebration. After all, we need to make sure to properly honor Elder Shen’s achievement!”

Tang Luli’s head had lost most of its unflattering coloration and his voice was steady again. It was clear that he believed he had found an out to his troubles. It wasn’t hard to imagine what that out would look like – after all, he had already assisted one of the cult’s assassination attempts on Lixian Shen.

With Liu Wei gone from the sect, finishing what he had started was naturally the best way to proceed. While the cult may have already had the previous assassination planned, however, he would need to call on them himself this time, since they had no way of knowing that he would be gone from the sect.

It was a simple trap, really, one that Liu Wei knew would not have any chance of working against most of his sect’s elders. Even someone as arrogant as Elder Bai would grow suspicious rather quickly – at least Liu Wei liked to believe so, though, after what had happened during the war, he could not be certain.

The Burning Thorns Sect’s head elder, however, had already shown himself to be susceptible to such schemes. His only alternative option was giving up leadership of the sect and Liu Wei was quite certain that a man who would conspire with a demonic cult to attain that leadership would do no such thing.

“It is good to hear your enthusiasm regarding this matter, Elder Luli. To not make the wait any longer than needed, I will depart tomorrow, right at the break of dawn.”

“Truly considerate of you, Honored Elder Wei. We shall be there to see you off.”

“No need.” Liu Wei smiled. “After all, it shall not be long until we meet again!”