Chương 38: 24.1. An invitation you can't refuse

Mei Hua entered the elders hall, gently gliding across the stone tiles between rows of seats. Raised platforms and massive stone columns surrounded the tiled path, letting all present look down at the arriving core disciple. Not all of them were filled. Only a small portion of the peak masters and elders were here. The Overseers and Deacons who oversaw the sect administration were all absent.

"Mei Hua greets the sect master." Mei Hua bowed, cupping a fist. Nothing appeared out of place. From the tone of voice, the way the hair was tied or the subtle intricacies of the bow.

"Your findings?" Wu Jie, the sect master asked gently, blowing on some tea.

"Yes! The Ruby Demonic Cult's new base is east of the Verdant mountains, northeast of Soft Meadows at the western edge of the Dark Fang mountain range." Mei Hua described the location.

"The red skulled elder ran there?"

"Not just him, I also discovered other Golden Core elders and several Nascent Soul presences."

"I see. You may leave then. Good work on tracking them down." Wu Jie dismissed them.

"Yes! Sect Master!" Mei Hua bowed again before quickly leaving. For a while, the hall was silent.

"Hahh…" One of the elders, the old woman with her hair tied up, sighed deeply.

"To think we would lose one of our most talented alchemists just like that."

"And to wear her skin so… Deftly…" Another elder added.

"I couldn't even sense any malice from her." Wu Jie let them grieve for a few minutes. He hadn't known core disciple Mei Hua that well, but he could see the fist of other elders shaking imperceptibly, their smiles strained as they held back from annihilating the imposter who wore her skin. He could only imagine the fate that befel the original.

"Does anyone else think it's strange to lure us into a trap like this?" Without Wu Jie pointing it out, another of the elders spoke out.

"My thoughts exactly." Wu Jie agreed, taking a sip of his tea. He stared into the cup briefly as the room settled into silence once more.

"Could they want us to figure out it's a trap?"

"But why would they do that?"

"It could be a trap within a trap?"

"That's ridiculous. A bunch of stragglers without a single Essence Unity realm cultivator. They're probably making us wary by making it seem like a trap."

"Should we capture the imposter and scry her soul?"

"They may be monkeys but they're not fools. They wouldn't have informed this imposter of anything important. Perhaps even told them lies about the plan to confuse us."

"So we should just let that imposter wearing my disciple's skin go!?" The old woman smashed a fist against her stone chair, making the hall shake and plunging it into silence once more.

"... For the greater good we should use the imposter to mislead our enemy…" Someone spoke up softly. Wu Jie raised a hand before the old woman could retort.

"Calm down." He said, "since we agree that our enemies aren't complete fools, we must remain cautious. Mei Hua's sacrifice will not be forgotten and the imposter wearing her skin will receive punishment in due time." He assured both sides, settling the tension in the hall. Once again, silence pervaded the hall, before it was broken by yet another suggestion.

"Could it be a distraction fro some larger scheme?"

"Distraction or not. Three of us at the Essence Unity realm should just go and stamp out these remnants and be done with it." The hall fell into discourse. A clammer of shouts and opinions. Wu Jie took a sip of his tea. He didn't know what the Ruby Demonic sect was planning. Or at least the remnants of it. Surely they didn't sacrifice hundreds of Meridian Opening and Open Palace realm members just to lure out one core disciple and then sacrifice a Golden Core member just to try baiting them into an obvious trap.

There had to be more. Was it a distraction? Wu jie looked at his now empty teacup as if it could produce the answers. He sighed, looking away. If nothing else, the Ruby Demonic Sect new how to keep them wary. After seeing someone sail across the aisle and crash into a bookshelf, Faust had leaned back and avoided a cloaked figure's hand as it emitted gentle white light while silently cutting through the air. Faust stepped towards where the cloaked figure would land before they even hit the ground.

They tried to turn and strike with their hand but Faust grabbed their elbow before they completed the move, then kicked the back of their knee as they tried to rise from their landing.

"Arghh!" The figure tried to resist but Faust could only consider them second rate Open Palace paired with their body tempering only at the second realm. They couldn't match him in raw physical strength. He grabbed the figure's head roughly and thrust it forward, leaning down and smashing it against the archives floor. There was a loud Split! But only some minor cracks appeared on the floor. Even as Faust pulled the figures head back up, it was only a little bloody with a broken nose." Cough! Cough!"

The person who had been thrown across the isles coughed and sputtered, blood covering his plain yellow robes before opening his eyes and looking up.

"D— Fellow Daoist! Their a demonic cultivator!" They shouted, clutching the wound at their chest as they struggled to push a set of broken glasses to their eyes.

"He's lying!" The black cloaked figure growled, struggling against Faust's grip.

"I'll be the judge of that. Don't resist." Faust decided, before forcing a probe of True Qi into the black cloaked figure. There was a moment of resistance, but surprisingly, the black cloaked figure let their Qi pass a moment later, reaching the dan-tian and brushing the edges.

"... Not a demonic cultivator." Faust concluded.

"But still the more suspicious individual given the circumstances." He turned with the black cloaked figure in hand.

"I'll take him to the brocade guards outside."

"Wait!" The yellow robed cultivator called out and Faust turned back to them. They pulled out a black and gold token with two golden dragons.

"Fellow daoist! I'm with his highness the second prince! Please allow me to handle them. Understand it's a matter of royal regard!"

"..." Faust inspected the token and then ripped the figures hood and mask off. A woman with dark hair was revealed, their expression twisted in displeasure and unwillingness. They struggled even harder and tried pulling a sword out of a spatial device. Faust smashed them back into the floor. He wouldn't do the same if they were really a demonic cultivator, who were known to be able to twist bones and joints to strike at unnatural angles.

The yellow robed cultivator claiming to be of the second prince's faction put his token away, before retrieving some pills and popping them into his mouth. Faust idly thought of the 2nd prince and 4th princesses' carriages when he had been briefly cornered at the Han estate. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. He had also heard there was a royal power struggle. He wondered what the chances were that the cloaked woman he was holding down was of the fourth princesses faction.

Getting involved… How do I get out of this? He thought to himself. Then, he sighed. His hand slipped a bit off the woman's head, giving her more freedom to manoeuvre. The woman immediately took the opening and rolled desperately, throwing their hand glowing with faint white mist up at Faust's face. He leaned back again, looking up more so the strike just missed while letting go of the woman's arm. He leapt back a few steps.

"Sh#t!" The yellow robed cultivator desperately got to his feet even without fully digesting the pill they had taken.

"Apologies fellow daoist. I'm not proficient in restraint." Faust apologised as the cloaked woman immediately ignored him and went for the yellow robed man. The man tried to block, but he only managed one parry before the woman's hands found their mark, ripping through flesh and piercing his body again. Faust watched for a moment. If the woman was smart, she would realise he let her go purposely, letting him off the hook for having witnessed or interfered in their fight.

There were only a few options for a non-demonic cultivator to be attacking one of the 2nd prince's men. He silently disappeared behind a bookshelf into a thin aisle, before dashing away with the Clear Mirror Step technique. He navigated the tight turns and quarters of the Grand Archive, keeping careful track of his direction before slowing down. He neatened his robes, then slowly walked forward into the wider isles, where light spilled in from chandeliers.

Soon, he came out into the large hall filled with desks and other sitting spaces. It was still packed with people, from frail scholars to warriors with sabers strapped to their backs, so large that their robes were close to bursting against their muscles. After looking left and right to ensure none was paying specific attention to him, Faust calmly walked back out the archive, signing out with the Imperial scholar at one of the entrances before passing the brocade guard.

He held a hand to block the light briefly as the sun flooded his vision. He could feel his eyes twitching and straining as they rushed to adapt from the dim, soft lights sparsely scattered across a majority of the grand archive. It took a few minutes of blinking and looking down before Faust finally saw the world come into clear view. He noted the familiar path and wide nature strip surrounding the archive as he made his way down the stone steps leading up to the grand archive.

He passed across the bridge in the nature strip, keeping his eyes from drifting over and getting distracted by the natural formations below. He left the Grand Archive before pulling out his flying sword and alighting atop it, shooting off towards the spiritual marker left on his rented home. After a few moments of flying it soon came into view. Weathered wooden doors with chipped red paint in a small wooden gate house. A next to useless misty formation hid the courtyard and buildings from above.

Faust landed in front of a few passersby since his rented property was on the corner of a moderately busy intersection. None of the mortals even spared him a glance. Truly worthy of being the Imperial Capital. He touched the array on the door— then was immediately bombarded by several notifications about messages delivered to him. Faust separated his hand from the door, blinking a few times. Had he come to the wrong house? He hadn't been in the capital that long right?

Slowly, Faust put his hand back on the door, pushing it open. Inside, he pulled out the letterbox and saw it with several packages, letters and an entire wooden box. Faust picked them all up with Qi, before walking to the estates main building. Dust already covered the room once more and he used Qi manipulation to gather it all up into a ball that he burned and flicked out of the window. Settling down on the main room's table, Faust placed down all the letters and parcels.

He started with the letters, picking one from the pile and letting a wisp of white Qi shoot from his fingers and neatly cut open the letter. The contents, flowing but clearly rushed characters read: 'Senior brother Faust. I thought I saw you at the Han estate. Did you ignore your dear junior sister? Oh how curious I am that you made it inside Central Zentrum. Regards, Rozaline Roze from Azure Water Province Clear Mirror Sect.'

"..." Faust carefully folded the letter and shoved it back inside, using another bit of Qi to melt the wax once more and seal it once again and putting int o a discard pile to the left of the table.

"Better pretend I didn't see her." He opened the next letter. This one contains blocky, straight line characters written perfectly straight as if measured with a ruler.

"Sir Faust. It disappoints me that you gave my estate a fake identity. However, after your description on why those from 'humble backgrounds' tend to avoid those in power, I have chosen to forgive you and convinced my bodyguard of the same. Our last conversation proved truly insightful. I hope we can meet once more. Perhaps on the 16th? Kind regards, Han Ci of Capital province Central Zentrum.

"..." Faust looked outside through the still open door. He looked into the sky and let his pupils glow briefly as he used a technique to ascertain the current date. It was the 23rd.

"..." He looked back down at the letter. …Perhaps on the 16th… He stared at that sentence. …16th… The letter stared back at him. Quietly, and with careful movements, Faust put the letter back, resealing it immaculately and even making a pretty good replica of the original Qi that had been in the seal that he shoved back inside, placing it on the left pile with Rozaline's letter.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't see that." He spoke calmly to himself even as his foot tapped incessantly against the floor. He took up one of the packages, tearing it open. There was a letter inside, alongside a…. Ticket? Faust turned the black and gold ticket over.

"VVIP++ Ticket for Rising Dragons and Phoenixes Tournament Seat." Faust felt his eye start twitching as he tore the letter open and almost did a double take at the handwriting. He could barely parse the messy and jittery Imperial script; there was one point where it changed style entirely to a neat, flowy and poetic style as someone else clearly helped write some of the words. Squinting as he held the letter right in front of his face, Faust ignored the first few words that were completely illegible.

"... I hope this letter finds you well." Is what he assumed the first line was.

"Princess… Must be someone… Zentrum… Invites you… Tournament… Miu from Green Terrace province Violet Tree Village." Faust put the letter and ticket on the left pile and rubbed his eyes.

"Nope… No…" He sighed, rubbing his whole face with his hands before cupping it, looking up to the ceiling. After a few moments, he sighed, forcing himself to look back down at the unopened pile. He picked up the box next, ignoring the conspicuous black and gold silk package that screamed for attention. The box had a letter and a book. He opened the letter. He paused. The script was legible— but it looked like chickenscratch.

"Found this. Don't know what it says. Long Tao." Faust let out a small sigh of relief, picking up the book, Devouring Heaven Art, and skimming through it. It was some kind of technique which hadn't been translated into layman's form. That was, had its mathematics, variables, notes, terminology and assumptions all cleaned up and turned into symbolism that was easy to follow and visualise for the average person. He put the letter back into the box with the book and slid it to the right of the table.

His gaze fell on the final package. A black silk one with golden embroidery.

"..." He stood up, throwing the box from Long Tao and its contents into his spatial bag, turning to leave. The bedding he had left here flew from the other room and joined the box in his bag.

"Nope. I think I'm good." He began walking to the estates entrance. It was time to make a quick exit from the capital. He'de had enough excitement on this trip. He could just go to another province with an archive. A bigger archive wasn't always better, surely. He opened the estate door. A young maid with flawless skin, a pretty face, generous curves and a tight frilly black and white uniform bowed slightly, with her hands neatly crossed in front of her.

"I have been sent from the palace to ensure you received her highness, the fourth princess's letter, sir Faust." She spoke.

"..." Crack. The door groaned and snapped under Faust's hands. He took a deep, deep breath, exhaling heavily.

"May I ask. If I have something urgent to attend to outside the capital—""You will be hunted down and dragged in front of her highness for punishment."

"... Naturally…" Faust briefly wondered if he could silence this maid. She was at the peak of the Open palace realm and despite being clearly first rate, he could probably take with surprise and poisons… Maybe… He looked her over again. Even as she bowed subserviently he could sense it. She wasn't a third or second rate cultivator. If she practiced body tempering as well, Faust wouldn't dare consider a fight. Faust squeezed his eyes shut, holding back tears.

"Yes. I received it."

"I understand." The maid finally stood straight, then summoned a small flying boat that expanded from her sleeve, elegantly climbing its steps before the boat rose into the sky and shot towards the palace. Faust watched her go, then sighed, turning back around and closing the door. He threw the bedding back over the still broken bed frame, then forced himself to sit back in the main room's chair. He glanced at the pile of letters he didn't want to see, then at the black and gold letter at the center of the table.

He groaned, holding his face in his hands before reaching out for the letter and breaking the seal. Flowy, elegant and poetic script filled the letter. Faust narrowed his eyes before fetching the letter from Miu from his discard pile. The bits where someone else had assisted her in writing her letter. Faust really hoped the princess hadn't penned these herself.

"Sir Faust from Azure Water Province Clear Mirror Sect. I have to thank you for assisting in educating Miu, whom I treat as a younger sibling. I have also had the opportunity to hear of you from Han Ci and Rozaline. In light of their recommendation, I cordially invite you to a small gathering of talented young prodigies I will be hosting. The invitation will have further details. My regards. Long Shuyue from Central Zentrum."

"Haahhh…" Faust sighed, melting onto the desk with his hands in his arms. This really… Wasn't an invitation he could refuse.