A Snail's Wisdom

Vice Elder Shirou poured water around the trunk of a tall tree located outside the sect walls. Every few minutes, he would stop to look up at the top of the tree with a look of longing and regret.

A chubby man with several chins and the robes of a vice elder approached him from the sect"s gates. He was the vice elder that had searched for Kenja"s doppleganger in order to retrieve his sh.e.l.l earring.

His face wore a frown with knitted eyebrows. "Senior Brother Shirou…"

Vice Elder Shirou turned around to face his junior brother, one black eyebrow arched up at him. "Did you find the thief?"

"No, senior brother. All the disciples and visitors that had fit his description had an alibi. They also allowed us search through their belongings," the man said with a pained expression on his face.

With an incognito infiltrator infringing on the sect"s peace and sowing a sense of insecurity, people"s privacies and privileges became pointless.

The disciples that were potential suspects had volunteered to show their belongings in order to eliminate suspicion and a.s.sist the search. Understanding that the sect"s security was at stake, the visitors and merchants also allowed their belongings to be searched. Since they were checked before entering and leaving the sect, an extra search made little difference to them.

Vice Elder Shirou did not answer back, furrowing his brows as he thought about what to do. If they could not find the thief, he would have to inform the elders.

Only the elders had the power to gather everyone in the sect to one place; they would find the perpetrator, but their methods were a little drastic, and other disciples could be punished for their negligence in allowing someone to sneak into the sect. Vice Elder Shirou would seek them out only as a last resort.

After a long pause, he turned back to the tree and took out several low-tier spirit stones before levitating them near the trunk. The spirit stones" vibrant color greyed at a visible rate as the tree absorbed the Qi from them. After a few more breaths, the originally vigorous color of the stones had become a lifeless grey before crumbling into dust onto the ground.

Caring for the sanguine spirit tree was one of the numerous responsibilities that fell on the vice elder"s shoulders. Along with a daily dosage of water from the sect"s river, it required frequent nourishment from spirit stones to grow more fruit.

The reason no plants or trees could be planted near it was because of the tree"s voracious appet.i.te. It absorbed all the loose energy near its trunk and roots as if it were the last thing to eat on the planet, leaving nothing for any other plants to feed on.

"Have you checked the servants?"

The chubby vice elder was taken aback by the suggestion. "The servants? The vagrant"s cultivation was too high to be a servant, so I hadn"t bothered investigating them."

Kenja"s cultivation was at the high-level Qi Flourishing stage while most servants couldn"t ascend past the Body Tempering stage. It was unlikely for a servant who had reached the Qi Flourishing stage to remain unpromoted before cultivating past the low-level domain.

Vice Elder Shirou looked up the tree one more time, letting out a defeated sigh before turning back to his junior brother.

"He might not be a servant, but he could be hiding out in their quarters. Look there and make sure to account for each of them. Even if he is disguised, he cannot make himself disappear."

If the thief was hiding within a group, then he would be discovered the moment they verified each individual ident.i.ty. This was especially true since a high-level Qi Flourishing servant would stand out like the hump on a camel.

The chubby vice elder nodded his head at the instruction, causing his several chins to wiggle up and down on top of one another.

Vice Elder Shirou walked alongside his junior brother back into the gates of the sect. After they walked past the gate"s entrance, he spoke up once again.

"Worst-case scenario, if you do not find him amongst the servants, I will inform the elders, and they will gather everyone in the sect so that we can personally account for each of their keystones. Since he isn"t part of the sect, we will easily find him."

Aside from the Treasury"s storage bags and the governing bodies of the sect, every person had only one keystone allotted to them. Either the thief carried a marked keystone that did not belong to him, or he was missing one. Regardless of the thief"s actions, the instant everyone was gathered in one place, he could no longer escape.

The chubby vice elder nodded his head again harder than before, causing his chins to jiggle twice as fast. "Senior brother is truly the senior brother."

Vice Elder Shirou"s face remained unmoved at the compliment.

…

The second floor that housed Puchi"s shop was completely packed with servants and disciples to the extent that some had to stand on the stairs. Only a single day had pa.s.sed since he had opened this shop on his Senior Brother Kitamura"s behalf, but it seemed the entire sect had learned of it already.

"Move, it"s my turn!"

"Get out of the way! I was here first!"

"I hope they don"t run out of Calming Meditation Pills…"

Every person in this boisterous crowd had come to rent out their keystones in exchange for the merchandise sold at the shop. Handing over their stone for ten days gave them one hundred credits to purchase the store"s items, two to three times more than what they would accrue by holding onto the stone.

The outer-sect disciple closest to the canteen"s counter pa.s.sed over a sheet of paper and his keystone to the registrar. "Here you go, Senior Brother Puchi."

Puchi was elated to hear more and more people address him with senior brother as time pa.s.sed. Running the store had placed him in a position of power and respect that even those above him in status would treat him as a senior.

He placed the keystone in his bag and looked at the paper. He recorded the man"s surname and purchase details in a notebook in front of him before pa.s.sing the paper back to the disciple.

"Get this brave brother two Body Crippling Pills and one flying sword," Puchi yelled over his shoulder to a servant standing behind him. Due to the large volume of customers, he had recruited extra help for running the store.

Body Crippling Pills were pills beneficial to those cultivating the Body Tempering stage.

Its name described its effects; they would fracture the consumer"s bones and tear the muscles. Since the objective during that phase is to strengthen one"s body and acclimate oneself to Qi, self-injury made it easier to temper the body as it healed while simultaneously increasing the body"s sensitivity to Qi.

The servant shuffled around the shelves to retrieve the pills and a flying sword.

"Senior brother, have you heard about the Rusty Robber?" asked the disciple who was waiting for his pills.

"Rusty Robber?" Puchi asked as he received another paper and keystone from the next person in line. He placed the keystone in the bag and handed the paper back after writing in his notebook once more.

"Yes. Supposedly, he stole from half of the shops at the marketplace, and the vice elders still haven"t found him."

Puchi stopped processing the orders and faced the gossip. "How do you steal from half the shops and not get caught?"

The marketplace was enormous and held several dozen different shops. It was inconceiveable that one person could successfully lift items from half of those shops without getting caught. Could it be the reincarnation of the Unseen Shen?

Several millennia ago, valuable and historical items had disappeared from the vaults of each of the seven Great Clans and all four Ancient Sects. They hadn"t realized anything was taken until the last victim"s Thousand-Year-Old Lilypad disappeared from their Lake of Tranquility one night with no eyewitnesses.

At that time, the clans and sects found out that they had lost most of the precious treasures that they had hidden and guarded for centuries. The only thing connecting all the incidents, besides the fact that no one had caught a single glance of the perpetrator, was a mere golden coin left at the crime scenes. On the coin, a clear message was engraved:

G.o.d will reward your kindness.

The disciple continued with his story, "That"s not all! He also pickpocketed Senior Sora and his juniors!"

Puchi widened his eyes in amazement. "From Senior Sora Yu as well?"

"Even the Tributaries are mere targets to him?"

The next person in line frowned as he waited for Puchi to turn his attention to him. Impressed by the thief"s prowess, Puchi pondered the news for a moment longer before asking another question.

"Why do they call him the Rusty Robber?"

The disciple displayed a look of surprise, finally remembering the important detail he had left out. "Besides having long, black hair and wearing only one earring, the man carried a rusted sword on his back. So everyone began calling him the Rusty Robber."

Puchi froze wide-eyed.

Long, black hair.

One earring.

Rusty sword on the back.

Why does this sound familiar…?

…

…

"They"re looking for Senior Brother Kitamura!" Puchi surmised, panicking at what to do with the information.

The mob of people waiting in line grew impatient. This Senior Brother Puchi continued to stand there without moving.

"What should I do? Do I turn senior brother in?" Puchi continued to wrestle over the matter in his head when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see his worker with the pills and sword in hand.

"Very good. Give them to brother so that he can be on his way," he instructed, motioning to the man who told him about the thief.

"I"ll do as senior brother instructed me to and exchange these items for the keystones. I"ll inform him once he"s returned. Even if he is the Rusty Robber, senior brother is a kind man. I will stand by him," Puchi decided, affirming his loyalty.

His senior brother was awarding him with a thousand credits a day and selling his pills and items at a loss to his other brothers and sisters. He was truly a benevolent man worth shielding from punishment.

"Okay, who"s next?" he shouted out to the mob of people who responded by shaking their papers up in the air.

…

Kenja stared at the pool of water as he fiddled with his pendant in his hands. He had just finished depositing the last hundred keystones he carried into another Immortal cave"s pool of water, and he was waiting a few minutes to observe any changes in the water or room.

After two incense sticks of time, the water"s vivid blue color became murky and dark, and the air in the cave became calm and gloomy. With so many keystones working in conjunction, the concentration of Yin around them rose in a short amount of time.

Snail leapt off of Kenja and landed next to the pool before pulling out a teapot. He filled it with the somber pool water.

Kenja gave him a puzzled look to which Snail responded, "What? It"s not everyday that I can get some Yin-Infused Tea. Want some?"

Kenja shook his head and placed his pendant back into his pocket. "We"re leaving. Let"s go."

"Go? There"s no reason to go get more stones! You"ve already split up several thousand of them. By tomorrow, there won"t be a single essence of Yang anywhere in the sect. Getting more stones would be pointless," Snail explained to Kenja, surprised with his declaration of departure.

They had finished placing a large number of stones in dozens of caves spread around the sect. Even with many of the disciples no longer cultivating inside the cave, the stones will absorb most of the sect"s Yang by tomorrow. Extra keystones won"t add much to that number.

Kenja smirked at Snail. "We"re not going to get more stones."

Snail arched one tentacle downwards and the other stood up straight, both eyes looking at Kenja with confusion. "Then where do you want to go?"

"Aren"t you the "All-Knowing Snail-sensei"? You still haven"t figured out what I"m doing?" Kenja teased Snail.

Snail raised both tentacles straight up and closed his eyes. "HMPH! I don"t care anymore." He was tired of being treated like a child despite his old age and vast knowledge, but Kenja did not seem to think along the same wavelength as most people. Snail had come to terms with that, but he was unwilling to give Kenja the satisfaction of mocking him.

Kenja chuckled at Snail"s reaction to his words. "Don"t be like that. Actually, I plan on telling you because I will need "Snail-sama"s" a.s.sistance for the next part of the plan," he fed Snail"s ego.

Snail peeked through one eye and looked at Kenja. "Ahem—I suppose I can help out since disciple has asked me himself. What kind of teacher would I be if I refused your cry for help? Now…tell me your intentions."

"I"ll tell you on the way, so let"s go."

"Wait!" Snail stopped him from turning to the door. "I have a gift for you."

A thin, silver ribbon appeared in front of Kenja"s face. He held it in his hand, examining it thoroughly. Smooth and silky, it exuded an aura of regality and smelled of fresh coconuts.

"A hair ribbon?"

Snail nodded his eyeb.a.l.l.s. "Ahem—since you are…well…being you right now. I thought that, perhaps, you"d like to tie your hair up."

Kenja looked at the ribbon and smiled. "I think I"ll give it a try. Thank you, Snail." Kenja was about to tie his hair up when Snail stopped him again.

"Allow me. If I let you do it, we"d be here all day." Kenja felt his hair moving from behind him as it curled up into a samurai knot. The ribbon flew from his hand and wrapped itself around the clump of hair, producing a well-groomed hairdo. Two large mirrors materialized in front and behind Kenja, allowing him to see how it looked.

Kenja"s eyes glimmered at the sight.

Only the wealthy and affluent men would grow their hair out before tying them up into a knot. It was an expensive and time-consuming process to manage long hair, and if they had to perform frequent manual labor, the long hair would interfere with their work. It wasn"t something that peasants could waste time and money on.

Although it was just a hairstyle, to Kenja, it meant something more than that. He twisted his body to look at his hair from several angles. He struck several poses, including one with his right arm held in front of him as if he was holding a shield and his nose tilted to the sky like some sort of king or n.o.bleman.

After several poses, he stood upright and twisted his head to face Snail. He was touched by the heartfelt gesture, and the words escaped his mouth, "Thank you, Snail."

"Ahehehem—anytime, disciple!" Snail shifted his eyes away, pushing his guilt down his throat. Then he jumped onto Sakura"s hilt who was still attached to Kenja from the back.

Kenja was surprised by his action once more. "Why are you sitting there?" Snail and Sakura were not on friendly terms, so this behavior was unusual to Kenja.

"I just thought it was about time this wh.o.r.e—AHEM—I mean…this…sword and I worked past our differences."

Sakura vibrated in protest, trying to shake Snail off.

"Hush you! I "found" a big, unused whetstone. If you say nothing, I"ll give it to you," Snail whispered to her.

Sakura"s vibrating slowed as if she still wanted to reject Snail, but she decided it was pointless to continue since she couldn"t communicate with Kenja clearly.

"Good girl!" Snail commended Sakura before yelling out to Kenja who was walking through the cave exit. "So, where are we going?"

As the cave door was closing, the sword and snail behind Kenja vanished from sight, showing only Kenja"s back.

"We"re going to get more Yang…"