Chapter 165: The Demons' Den (Patreon)

After he had left the sect, Liu Wei didn’t need to wait long for Tang Luli to move. Late in the very first night after his departure – he’d spent the day patrolling the sect’s perimeter – his soul sense picked up on a singular presence moving out of the sect. It appeared that the somewhat uncertain timeframe he had given for his absence from the sect had had its intended effect in pushing Elder Luli to move quickly.

It was a dark night, the moon hidden behind low-hanging clouds, and the air carried the scent of approaching rain. The path the head elder had chosen was not the one coming from the sect’s main entry, but a smaller, much less traveled one. He had thrown on a simple, gray traveling cloak and was holding a horse by the reins, leading it down the twisting trail through the forest.

Liu Wei let the two pass by him before beginning to follow them at a respectable distance, making sure to stay well out of the radius of Tang Luli’s soul sense, even though he had also taken steps to hide his presence. He wasn’t a stealth specialist and didn’t want to take any chances on being discovered – otherwise, a whole month’s effort could turn out to be for naught.

Once he had made his way out of the forest, Tang Luli mounted his horse and made his way westward, away from the sect. Liu Wei waited at the edge of the forest until they were almost at the edge of his soul sense, before taking off into the air. He soared upward until he was high enough that his form, cloaked in dark grey robes, would be difficult to spot against the cloud-hung sky even if one knew what they were looking for. Like that, he continued trailing his target.

After about two hours of riding, a town came into view in the distance. Liu Wei had never been here before, but he was reasonably certain that this had to be the town of Sootwater.

Sootwater was a small, yet economically significant town in the Burning Thorns Sect’s territory. The smelteries it was home to were responsible for processing much of the ore mined in the Roaring Thunder Sect’s former territory and besides that specially produced by the sects themselves for their own need, the town’s iron and steel were renowned as being among the highest quality in the peninsula.

Based on this trade, Liu Wei had always imagined the town to be quite wealthy by mortal standards, which was why he was surprised at its dilapidated walls as they approached. From what he could see in the dark, they looked like they hadn’t seen any repairs in many decades – one part not far from the gate they were headed toward was collapsed to half its original height – and his soul sense could not make out any defensive formations on them.

A singular guard was posted before the closed gate, accompanied only by the meek glow of a lonesome lantern. Leaned against the wall, the man jolted out of his sleep at Tang Luli’s approach. The latter dismounted, held up a token that, Liu Wei suspected, likely identified him as a member of the Burning Thorns Sect, and was quickly let inside.

On the inside, the town was even less sightly than the walls had suggested from the outside. The most harrowing displays of poverty he’d seen before had been in the lesser districts of Moonlake City, but this was incomparably worse. Narrow dirt roads were flanked by shacks that looked like they ought to have collapsed years ago, interspersed with ruins of those that had, and seemingly everything was covered by a thin layer of soot from the smelteries, which stuck out as larger structures between the makeshift homes.

Towards the city center, Liu Wei could see a secondary wall, this one fully intact. Behind it, large manors and clean, well-lit roads contrasted the outer city’s poverty. It was a stark reminder that the injustice of the world did not end inside the sects, where he was trying to fight it.

Liu Wei touched down in an alleyway parallel to the one that Tang Luli was walking. At first, he had guessed that they were headed to the town center, but just before reaching the gate through the secondary wall, the head elder turned a corner and walked around it instead. A while later, he stopped at the first larger structure Liu Wei had seen in the outer city that wasn’t a smeltery: A large inn that was brightly lit and seemed lively even at these hours.

The building, a large, multi-story pagoda, seemed straightly out of place, surrounded by the small, run-down buildings. Tang Luli, after tying his horse to a pole next to a trough of water, headed inside with the confidence of someone who was not here for the first time. As he did so, Liu Wei suddenly noticed something impeding his soul sense, as he tracked the head elder’s movements inside.

Upon closer examination, the effect came from a subtle, but quite advanced formation that surrounded the entire inn. Its quality was way above anything even the wealthiest mortal noble families or, for that matter, a demonic cult, should be able to produce, and while it wasn’t enough to block Liu Wei’s soul sense entirely, he could only tell which presence was that of Tang Luli anymore because he had been tracking him the entire time.

Liu Wei took a moment to consider the situation. This formation posed some serious problems to his investigation. Most critically, he could not discern the cultivation level of any of those inside the inn, nor its exact layout. This demonic cult had already managed to ambush and kill one fellow cultivator of the Dao Contemplation Realm, so it was not to be underestimated. Liu Wei could not discount the possibility that this entire situation was the setup to a trap that he would be walking right into, if he followed Tang Luli inside.

That being said, such a situation was unlikely. Besides seeing clearly through his plans, Tang Luli would have to be an almost impossibly good actor to pull of something like that without Liu Wei noticing it along the way.

Besides, while Zhang Sha may have been in the Realm of Dao Contemplation, that was about where their similarities ended. He’d been in the second stage, while Liu Wei was in the eighth – the difference in power between those stages was like heaven and earth. And by the time he had been ambushed, he was said to have been severely wounded from the conflicts with other regional sects he had fought.

Still, no reason to get careless. Liu Wei’s spatial ring flashed as he quickly exchanged the dark robes he had donned or his full set of armor and threw a wide, gray cloak that was enchanted to keep any noises from leaking out, over it. Pulling the hood deep over his face and taking out an old cane to lean on, he subtly adjusted his posture to a more hunched one and headed towards the inn.

Tang Luli, judging by his presence, had already made his way to the third floor when Liu Wei entered front door. The room was noisy and busy, though only about half of the tables were occupied. The clientele seemed rough and rundown, many of them likely workers from the towns smelteries. Some of them were here in groups, joking and laughing as they drank, others sat alone, clearly having had many a cup too many in futile attempts to drown out their sorrows.

Liu Wei made his way through their rows and to the counter unimpeded, his simple disguise and mannerisms succeeding in keeping away any attention.

“What brings you here, old man?”, the innkeeper, a slim but tall man with a crooked grin perpetually etched into his face, asked him.

“I’d like something to drink.”, Liu Wei answered, making sure to make his voice sound rough and tired. “Preferably something strong.”

The slim man eyed him up and down. Liu Wei did the same, using his soul sense revealing that this man was an advanced demonic cultivator. He was in the right place for sure.

“Sure… If you can pay, that is.”

Liu Wei pulled out a small pouch he had prepared and, with a shaky hand, brought forth a silver tael and put it down on the counter. The innkeeper’s eyes slightly widened and he hesitated for a second before snatching it up and inspecting it.

“Great. You can get something strong for that to be sure.”

He put the silver away and made to turn around, but Liu Wei raised a hand to stop him.

“One more thing, young man.”

“What is it?”

“I’m old and tired and I have a hard time dealing with all this noise. Is there someplace a little more quiet in here?”

He wanted to get as close to Tang Luli as he could without causing a stir.

“The second floor,”, the innkeeper answered “is for our more exclusive guests. I can put you there, so long as you don’t disturb them.”

His grin widened.

“For another tael of silver, that is.”

Liu Wei internally smiled.

“And the third floor, young man?”

The innkeeper shook his head.

“Only with an invitation. Which I would be very surprised if you had one.”

“I see.”

Liu Wei pulled out another silver tael and handed it over.

“The second floor will do then.”

“You’ve got deep pockets, old man. I like that. Head up the stairs in the back and take a table, preferably in some corner. I’ll bring you your drink in a moment.”

Liu Wei did as he said and headed to the second floor. A broad-shouldered guard was blocking the way further up, regarding him with a grim look when he noticed him. Liu Wei pretended to shy away and picked a table at the edge of the room from where he let his gaze wander over the attendees. They were better dressed than those downstairs, some of them even seemed to have wealthy or noble backgrounds.

And almost every last one of them was a demonic cultivator.