Taoyi’s Residence.

  Taoyi bowed deeply to his guest as an apology. He returned to his seat, legs crossed, unable to wipe away the smile on his face. Another little rat crawled to him and offered him a fortune he didn’t understand. One core is plenty to brag about; months of mission… he was curious to see what the boy might have.

  “Has something good happened?” The Fourth Elder asked.

  Taoyi lifted the teapot; he was going to pour while he answered, but a servant just passed by. The old man across from him shut down every time a woman was in sight. Everyone who had been around long enough knew of the Elder Mo’s nature. He was more of a lecher than rumor said.

  He had to wait until she left the room to have a modicum of attention. “Yes. It might be excellent. But not important, if anything, just a little funny—a disciple obsessed with the family members of your potential purchase.”

  Elder Mo raised an eyebrow, “Oh, this won’t cause problems.” He spun a finger around the rim of his cup.

  “Not truly, the girl was easier to control with her family around, but that is no longer a concern. Now with how she is now.” Taoyi let a laugh escape him, pure confidence that led him to wrap his fingers around a pastry.

  Fresh tea and food were brought into the room. It was a different servant each time, people who could neither see nor hear, their senses locked away. They were nothing more than puppets now. Able to find their way only because they were called and directed. A few kept their will and soul. They had to learn to walk the rope a different way. The constant threat of pain while learning every bump on the floor usually made them give in, turn into puppets on their own.

  “This spell. It is truly extraordinary, devious. Seeing them only serves to make me curious how you came by it?” Elder Mo spoke, his hand wrapping the ankle of the servant who stood at the table longer than the others.

  The one they were to make a deal for.

  “That can’t be the only reason, some trinkets from a disciple?” Elder Mo continued casting a suspicious eye at Taoyi, his finger drawing blood from the thin ankle of the girl pouring tea.

  Tea kept pouring. She didn’t react to the pain of the fingernail in the flesh, or the warm blood that ran down her leg. If her face flinched for an instant, no one could tell—not with that blindfold and muzzle.

  Taoyi put on an awkward face. Mentally, he skipped right over the questions about the spells’ origins; it was a point of pride, not his creation, but he perfected it to what it was now. Yet it was a question of prodding, a test perhaps.

  Elder Mo knew its source, the same place all the corruption ran through this Sect. Mo must have known. He was always at his side after all, the First Elder—now how the first got it, that was a question, not one Taoyi would ask. He liked his limbs attached to his torso.

  Taoyi went right on, defaulting to the boy he had just spoken to. “I tried to convince him otherwise. It can be troublesome to do small business when big deals are being made. But I have no problem taking what he brings.”

  He stopped himself from saying too much. This business involves the Fourth Elder, who was right in front of him after all.

  “The boy, he seems to have a heart demon that I can solve; he is willing to suffer for it…” Taoyi finished with that, clearing his throat.

  Elder Mo looked him in the eye. He could tell the man, old in age, but in appearance, other than the crow-like face with a colossal nose, he didn’t have many wrinkles. His graying hair was the only sign of cultivation faltering. Age can do amazing things to a prideful man.

  “What else?” Elder Mo asked an expected question. It was no longer the time for games in their transactions.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Taoyi laughed, having to force it up. He really didn’t want to say anymore, but that beak of a nose was pointed at him like a sword. “Well… That disciple knows the girls exist, and said he would outbid you for her… A foolish thing to say, of course. And I—I would never renege on our business. He doesn’t even know the true nature of our deal.”

  Elder Mo raised a hand. The simple gesture cut off the space around them; the wind from the windows and the calls of birds could no longer reach them.

  Recently, Taoyi experienced sweating for the first time in a generation. Ever since then, it has been more often by the week. He felt compelled to continue under the empty stare.

  This time, the laugh he started with was awkward: “He plans to deliver a few things of value until he convinces me, he won’t convince me, of course.”

  He paused, his eyes sinking. “I hope Elder doesn’t think of me as greedy, but…”

  Elder Mo cut him off, joining in the laughter, “Hoho, Greedy, no, I wouldn’t call you greedy, a fool maybe…” His laugh stopped suddenly. “If our transaction gets completed, would you need the kind of trinkets and coins that could be delivered by some waste disciple?”

  A silence hung in the air for a second. “Perhaps there is something more?”

  Taoyi felt pressure fall on him; both had been cultivating for a long time. Taoyi, perhaps a hundred years less. He wasn’t sure how old this Mo was, but his Cultivation far exceeded Taoyi’s own since the day he appeared. The man showed up as the First Elder’s dog, joined the Sect, and made his way to the top as Taoyi sat in the same seat, his Cultivation moving at a snail’s pace, but now, he had struck deals and deals.

  Now he just had to keep them. Everyone would benefit, but most of all, he would.

  In that soundless space, with just the two of them, Taoyi felt like there were chains on his heart and lungs, the words nearly forced out of him.

  “Aha. The Elder is wise and observant. This boy, this disciple, has some connection with the Fifth Elder, so I asked him to deliver a message. A request for territory, a place for extra housing, easy to request since the number of servants shrinks and grows, and no one keeps track of which it is.” Taoyi paused for a breath, knowing he would have to spill more since he didn’t start with full transparency, not that he should have to; he was a cultivator as well.

  “It’s not for servants, not really, but a route that I can use to allow people… sneak around the mountain. People who can help with that kind of business.” Taoyi said, pointing at the servant girl. To the room behind her, where he kept the rest locked away like her.

  It dawned on him what he was giving away. Just the thought of it was making sweat gather on his neck; he could feel droplets rolling underneath his robe.

  Elder Mo pulled his hand from the girl and leaned forward. “You plan to let ruffians sneak into our sect?” His voice sounded sore, but his tone would quickly shift, as long as the honey in the pot was swift enough.

  “No, no—Not just ruffians, they have to do with the sensitive parts of our deal. You could say they carry goods up and down the mountain. If too many female disciples go missing, people would notice so…”

  Elder Mo’s eyes seemed to sink further behind his nose. “So you mean there is a bandit problem near the mountain?”

  Silence lingered over them for a second, cut off from the world, the only sounds were breathing and the occasional pour of tea. Finally, the Elder Mo continued, “A bandit problem no one knows of, one that hasn’t reached the ears of the mission hall and has freedom to move around the mountain. They will be gathering girls from the villages around the mountain, not just our disciples? Huh?”

  It took Taoyi a minute, but he understood what Elder Mo was getting to. And for a reason he understood too well, Taoyi knew this meeting was taking far too long, and would take a little while longer, and at the end of it, he would have less and more than he bargained for.

  He was already buried up to his chest. All he had now keeping him above the ground was his tongue, and the deals he could make here and there, it would be enough until he had the power himself to rule over this place.

  “Haha! The Fourth Elder, Elder Mo. You are exactly right, they are quite a quick and docile bunch for crude bandits. But they can be like lizards, hard to catch, once you have a hold, they shed their tail, and you have to start all over again. A good tool for such a job.” Taoyi kept up that laugh, suppressing the awkward twinge.

  Elder Mo joined in the laugh. “Haha—right, good thinking all around, but dangerous. You said it would benefit our business, didn’t you? Next time we have a chat like this, we will have to figure out how.”

  “Yes… I suppose we will, but we should be back to our topic at hand…” Taoyi pointed at the servant girl.

  “Mhm. Don’t worry, I won’t stray far from the topic…” Elder Mo shook his cup; it was empty again, and it was Taoyi’s job to keep his guest’s cup full.