Cloudy Undercurrents

"So, you were beaten like a dog by that fool?"

Li Daoming's cold gaze fell upon Meng Guo, who was kneeling submissively in one of the Li family's audience rooms.

The expansive room was empty except for the two of them, causing an eerie echo to reverberate whenever they spoke.

"Y-yes, young master. He was much stronger than I anticipated," Meng Guo answered, not daring to look up at him.

"I told you that he was not to be underestimated, did I not?"

"Yes, yes! I swear, I didn't let my guard down!"

That was a complete lie, and they both knew it, but Li Daoming didn't press the issue any further, simply letting out a disapproving 'hmph'. Even he couldn't believe how strong Ryker was while only being in the Qi Gathering realm.

"You're dismissed. Don't bother ever contacting the Li family, again," he said, resting his head on his fist and looking away as if he was bored of their current conversation.

"Yes, of course, young master."

Meng Guo bowed deeply and left the audience room, taking a deep breath before blowing it out through his nostrils. The easy part was done with; now to see if he would live through the day.

He went to find one of the house servants and asked them to take him to the office of one of the more powerful members of the Li family: Li Huizhong, second elder of the Li family and Li Daoming's third uncle.

An attendant stopped them once they got there, an imperious look on his face.

"Halt. What business do you have, here?" the attendant said, frowning upon seeing them. The house servant bowed and took her leave, leaving Meng Guo to state his business.

"I've come to seek an audience with the second elder," he said, simply, "I have information that might be of concern, to him."

"The second elder is a busy person, he cannot meet just anyone on such short notice--"

"The information is concerning a traitor in the Li family."

The attendant opened his eyes wide in shock, then quickly nodded, turning to enter the office.

"Wait here," he said, closing the sliding door behind him.

A few moments later, he opened the door again, motioning for Meng Guo to enter. Meng Guo did so, taking another deep breath to steady himself.

The office of the second elder was a small, tidy space filled with stacks of scrolls and bottles of ink, as he handled most of the day to day paperwork and expenses. Meng Guo walked up to the desk near the back of the room, as the attendant bowed and left.

Li Huizhong was seated at the desk, working on some form of paperwork or another as his bodyguard stood behind him. His sharp eye brows and well trimmed beard gave him the look of a dignified man, though the gray hairs starting to crop up on his head showed his age.

"Greetings, Second Elder," Meng Guo started, getting to one knee and giving a salute, "My name is Meng Guo, and I have important information that I must convey to you."

"Mm."

Li Huizhong nodded, stamping his seal on the scroll before filing it away, looking up at Meng Guo in interest.

"And you say this concerns a traitor in our family?" he asked, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.

"Yes, an expert I met while out on a job forced me into bringing you this information." Meng Guo answered, not looking up from his bow.

"Come closer and tell me. The walls may have ears."

Meng Guo hesitated for a moment before doing as he asked, getting up to walk behind the desk and whispering the message into Li Huizhong's ear.

"...Is this information true?" Li Huizhong asked, after a moment of silence.

"I cannot say, my lord. The expert simply told me to deliver this information to you, and placed a qi seal that would kill me if I didn't comply," Meng Guo said with a bow.

"Mm."

Another few moments of tense silence passed, before Li Huizhong nodded and dismissed Meng Guo with a wave of his hand.

"You may go."

Meng Guo let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, bowing again with a respectful salute.

"Yes, this lowly one shall take his leave!"

He hurriedly left the second elder's office, swiftly moving past the attendant and breathing in the sweet air once he made it outside. It looked like his luck hadn't run out, just yet.

At that moment, a warm sensation ran over Meng Guo's chest, and he pulled back his robe slightly to see the qi seal over his heart slowly fading away. He sighed in relief, walking quickly to leave the Li family's residence.

"Today was really too much," the old man muttered to himself. It felt like the day's events took ten years off of his already dwindling life.

"Perhaps I'll just live out the rest of my days, in peace..."

--

Back in the office, however, Li Huizhong was currently looking out his window, watching Meng Guo leave with a spring in his step.

"Are you sure we should let him leave with this information, Second Elder?" his bodyguard asked, ready to make a move to silence Meng Guo as soon as it was ordered.

"As a wandering cultivator, he should be smart enough not to tell anybody else," Li Huizhong answered, "And even if he did, no one would believe him."

He turned away from the window, getting back to his desk and starting to work, once more.

"I also don't think the traitor would have been alerted to this, since Meng Guo has no relation to us" he continued.

"Just put a tail on him and report any suspicious individuals he meets. I'd like to see who this mysterious expert is, myself."

His bodyguard gave a sharp salute, leaving to carry out Li Huizhong's orders.

Li Huizhong simply continued working, but his mind was now thoroughly occupied by the implications of the information he'd received.

The traitor of the Li family was the patriarch himself, Li Deming.

Such an accusation would usually be subject to wild disbelief and a quick execution for slander... but Li Huizhong knew this statement to be true.

One of his spies had intercepted a message from the estate to an unknown party that was using the Li family's encryption, itself.

They had probably been careless, thinking no one would bother to monitor communications originating from the family.

But Li Huizhong had already begun to suspect something was amiss by that time, posting spies within the retinues of all the important figures of the family.

What he didn't expect to find was this message from the patriarch, detailing the full transfer of all authority over the Li family to the unknown party, in exchange for a previously agreed upon payment.

He and the other elders would have never agreed to this, of course... which is why Li Huizhong suspected they might be taken care of, soon.

"But to think that the one he'd sell us out to is the Great Void Sect..."

Meng Guo had brought another important piece of information, namely the identity of that mysterious party they were being sold out to: the Great Void Sect.

If this were true, then things were even more dire than he feared. The Great Void Sect was one of the larger sects within the Zhou Empire, having a few Nascent Soul experts, as well as their sect leader who was in the peak of Nascent Soul realm.

If that were all, Li Huizhong wouldn't be too worried. After all, he was in the mid-stage Nascent Soul realm, himself, and their grand elder was a peak Nascent Soul cultivator, as well.

But the open secret was that this sect was only a branch entity to one of the grand sects in the eastern regions past the Red Viper Mountains.

Although those sects wouldn't dare to act openly in front of the Zhou royal family, they could easily send a few strong experts to influence events from the shadows.

This, combined with whatever plans Li Deming had in place could serve to render whatever resistance they might put up useless. It was no wonder the patriarch was so confident.

'It looks like we'll need to move our own plans forward.'

Li Huizhong made a mental note of everything that needed to be done. Although they couldn't confirm the Great Void Sect was involved, yet, it would be wiser to go forward assuming this to be the case, lacking any evidence otherwise.

But, thinking on that, he wondered who the 'mysterious expert' was that could know all this. Perhaps things were now moving in an entirely unforeseen direction...

--

Meanwhile, at the Long family estate...

"Captain! You can't die on me now!!!"

Wang Yuhan was crying over a paralyzed Cheng Hui, who was currently lying in an infirmary bed. He had a look on his face like he wanted to say 'I'm not dying, yet!'.

Unfortunately, the pain from Ryker's 'mana workout' was still making it hard for him to move any part of his body, including his mouth.

"Seems like you really put the captain out of commission," Long Meiling, who was standing by the doorway along with Ryker, observed.

"Sorry, I didn't think it would be that bad..." Ryker said with a remorseful face. He really *had* only infused a tiny bit of mana.

"Still, I was quite surprised to see you carry the captain here on your back. I didn't think there would be any danger on your trip."

"Haha..."

Ryker just laughed awkwardly, unable to say anything in response. He was still unsure as to how best to get closer to Long Meiling, but he hoped they would start to naturally get close over time.

Hopefully she didn't think too poorly of him for inadvertently injuring the captain...

"Well, no matter. The trip was supposed to take a few days, anyways," Long Meiling said, turning to head back to her courtyard and motioning for Ryker to follow.

"More importantly, you said this was part of a body refining technique?"

"Uh, well, I don't know what 'body refining' is, but it does help strengthen your muscles," Ryker answered, walking alongside her.

"Good."

She stopped and faced him, putting a hand on her hip.

"Teach it to me," she said, overbearingly.