Chapter 139: Conspiracy.

Chapter 139: Conspiracy.Lee went back to his cell, but Elder Luo along with Junior Elder Shen moved to his office. At the same time, Elder Wang appeared at his door and the four sat down for a lengthier discussion.

"What do you think?" Elder Luo asked Shen Rouya.

"He’s a little punk, but you judged him correctly." She said.

"I’m not talking about that." Elder Luo said, "I mean – what do we do with Zhao Qingxue. Oh, right, Elder Wang. You need to be caught up to the latest."

"It’s fine." Wang Zhen said, "I watched most of it. Give me the pictures where the kid drew the guy from the Azuremist sect. After we’re done here, I’ll go and speak with their sect master. We need to weed out the bastards before they bring more trouble to both sects.

"Your Divine Eyes technique scare me." Elder Luo said, shaking his head, "Sometimes I feel like you’re a better candidate to lead the Hall of Justice than I am."

"That’s only one skill, don’t sweat it." Elder Wang said, though he couldn’t hide the pride in his voice, "The only thing I regret is to teach it to LunLun ... sigh ... but there are so few cultivators who had ignited spatial sparks ... anyway, back to the business."

"Right. I believe Zhao Qingxue is long gone." Luo Yanlong said, "Probably on the way to Blackwater or something. If we find her, of course, we’ll either capture or eliminate her, but it’s a secondary objective."

"Everyone knows she’s one of Elder Leng’s people." Shen Rouya said, "While not all Mission Hall’s employees are in on her schemes, she certainly is."

"Right, but Leng Yushu is only a tool here, a powerful one, but still a tool. We need to find who is pulling strings behind her. And why." Elder Luo said.

"The why part is easy." Elder Wang said, "Someone wants to become the sect master."



"But just because they get rid of Thorne Evergale, someone can’t become a sect master. And it’s too early to even talk about it, because the current one is still alive thanks to Elder Jiu. She and her Healing Hall are going all out!" Shen Rouya said, "And even if you have to choose the new sect master, there are nine elders who’ll vote."

"I can’t see anyone could think that someone besides you, Elder Wang, has a chance." Elder Luo said, "Apart from the fact that you’re the strongest, you have my support. The Healing Hall and the Hall of Knowledge will also stand behind you. Xiao Baijin is your old friend, thus you have the support of the Refining Hall, and I’m pretty sure the Elixir Hall will also be on your side."

"You’re saying the right things, except from the wrong perspective." Shen Rouya said, but then realized she was out of line and slightly blushed, "My apologies ..."

Seeing Elder Luo waving her off, she continued, "You just eliminated suspects who are not behind the assassination attempt. That leaves us with three, right?"

"Mhm ... Mission Hall, Hall of Provisions and Sect Affairs Hall ..." Elder Wang said, tugging at the short white hairs of his beard.

"Ninety nine percent ... no, I’ll bet hundred, that the Mission Hall is in. But we have nothing against the others." Elder Luo said.

"Elder Leng is close friends with Elder Yin of the Hall of Provisions." Shen Rouya said, "Surely they’re in cahoots."

"I’ve known them for a long time." Elder Wang said, shaking his head, "Neither has the ambition to become a sect master."

"Maybe they have changed? People do change, right?" Shen Rouya asked.

"Sigh ... as our previous sect master used to say – you can’t attach new legs to an old butt!" Elder Luo said, "There’s a third party. The question is – who? I really don’t want it to be elder Su. With her countless contacts within and outside the sect ..."

"... she’s a scary adversary if not fought in an open battle." Elder Wang finished his thought, "I might even prefer an enemy from the outside."

"Even if it is so, it’s three elders against six!" Shen Rouya pointed out the math problem.

"Then why do you think the sect master was poisoned?" Elder Luo said. Similar to Elder Wang, he disliked the scheming ones the most, "We need to warn our allies! And we need their help!"



The discussion went on for a long time. In the end, when the sun set, elder Wang took Lee’s drawings and vanished. Both Shen Rouya and elder Luo felt slightly jealous of him being capable of opening rifts to anywhere he wanted, but they had their own strengths. And, more importantly, duties to attend to.

***

Under the disguise of the night, Shen Rouya brought Lee to the library. His first thought was that the interrogation was about to be continued, but, as it turns out, this place was about to become his new prison.

With words make sure he doesn’t take a step out of here! Shen Rouya left.

The two people she spoke to didn’t like the attitude, but it looked like they knew She Rouya well enough and weren’t offended. One of them was the junior elder Lee met a couple months ago, and the other was a man, judging by the looks – probably in his late forties.

"I’m Junior Elder Meng, this is Junior Elder Chen." The man introduced them both, and said, "Follow me!"

Lee was already confused, but his confusion grew when they continued to climb stairs for a long, long while. He had no clue how high they got, but when they entered a room, at most two hundred square feet, he was more bored from climbing than tired.

"You’ll live here." Junior Elder Meng said, "Until further notice, you’re not allowed to leave."

Lee glanced around the simple room. It had a bed, chair and a desk. And a window. It couldn’t get more simple than that.

Remembering that no too long ago he was ready to spend few months in prison, he realized that the current option was not too bad.

But it did seem funny, though. He asked, "So I’m locked up in a tower? Like a princess?"

"Why would a princess be locked up in a tower?" Apparently the guy hadn’t read any fairy tales, even though he worked in a library. Or more likely scenario – had no sense of humor.

Lee could only helplessly shrug, and say, "I don’t know? To not be allowed to hook up with stablehands?"

"Don’t be such a smartass!" Junior Elder Meng said, "Otherwise Junior Elder Shen will prolong your sentence."



Lee wanted to retort, but swallowed the words. Everything about the current situation was confusing, but he was baffled why they both had to climbed up with him. It wasn’t that they had a fetish for stairs or something?

Turns out, the two junior elders lived on the same floor, at least that was what Lee guessed during the following days. And during those days he prayed that Junior Elder Shen would prolong his sentence, maybe even lock him up here for the rest of his life.

He felt like a fat kid that were allowed to live in a bakery that baked only cakes.

Lee didn’t meet Junior Elder Meng anymore, but on the second morning Junior Elder Chen brought him a pile of papers, half old and yellowed, and half – white and new, and writing utensils.

She put everything on Lee’s desk, and said, "Copy these!"

While those were the most basic combat techniques, Lee was starved for any knowledge concerning cultivation. And few days later she began to bring him basic cultivation techniques for copying as well.

Lee had no clue that the initial pile was meant to be copied in ten, maybe twelve days, but he did it in one, and even had time left to go through them another time. Obviously he was forgetting most things right away, but if one has to write something interesting, even if it’s only copying, they would inevitably learn a lot.

Yes, Lee’s physical development slightly suffered, with him doing only basic exercises a couple of times a day. But the gains far outweighed that.

The only thing he hoped for was for this Shangri-La to go on for as long as possible. He postponed all planning, revenge and dreams of becoming an elemental lord, and fully focused on absorbing as much information as he could.

Obviously no one showed him advanced or secret techniques, but for now he didn’t even need those. What he needed were basics, and he was getting endless flow of wisdom form previous generations in forms of techniques and methods.

Spending his days copying technique after technique Lee began to realize how deep and endless the cultivation world actually was and his initial idea of becoming a superhuman by absorbing a beast’s spark now seemed laughable.

No wonder no one took elemental warriors seriously. The people who grew up learning these teachings were bound to become true masters of the world.