Puchi Confesses

The servant boy, trembling in fright from what just happened, nodded in agreement. Now, he was extremely eager to cooperate. He definitely did not want the same thing to happen to him.

"How about this one?"

The second disciple was taller and appeared to be a decade older than Migawari Puchi. Despite his age, his eyes had welled up with tears, threatening to fall any moment.

Migawari Puchi shook his head.

"Cripple him."

"No. Wait! Wait, please! Disciple admits his mistakes," he pleaded with his tears streaming down his face as he was lifted to the air, "Disciple has erred. Disciple asks for forgiv—"

His body shuddered violently against the vice elder's palm. He fainted with blood dripping out of his mouth.

"I've done nothing wrong! Tell me! What was my crime? I demand to kn—AAAH"

SLICK

Without warning, the vice elder that had crippled the two disciples sliced off the third disciple's tongue. Blood flowed from his lips as he shut his mouth in an attempt to keep anymore blood from gushing out.

"How brazen! Lying and giving orders to the venerable elders. You are not owed an explanation nor are you qualified for one," the enraged vice elder defended the majesty of the elders.

Migawari Puchi felt faint from the sight of the bloody tongue on the grass. He hurriedly shook his head, hoping to further himself from the horrific scene.

"Reporting to elder, this servant does not recognize him."

Kaitou Daiki nodded knowingly. "Cripple him." He was certain these disciples would have nothing to do with Migawari Puchi.

It was normal procedure to periodically wipe out the accumulated spies in a sect, and because they had surprised the entire sect with an unplanned item search, these rats would be uncovered whether the elders wanted to find them or not.

Unfortunately, the First Elder wanted to abuse his authority in front of the other elders to find the snake who gathered the disciples tribulation keystones, so he had to at least act as if he was using the servant boy to look for the dangerous infiltrators even thought it was all an act.

Moreover, going through the process of crippling each spy in front of Migawari Puchi, the servant boy would be so frightened for his well-being that he would definitely be open and forthright with the answers he wanted afterwards, holding nothing back.

So while all this was an exercise in futility, the procedure itself was necessary.

The other disciples in the background spoke in hushed whispers. Many were confused while the older and more knowledgeable disciples who understood what was happening would quietly explain the situation to their younger siblings.

Hanabi, Shizuka and Yoshie were amongst those unsettled by the repeated scene of one disciple being crippled after the other.

"Sh-sh-shizuka, why are they doing that? Wh-what d-did those disciples do?" The young brunette clung to the side of her more reliable half, seeking shelter from the scary events.

Shizuka hesitated to respond.

Having been together with Yoshie since birth, their experiences were shared. Whatever she knew, her younger sister would not be clueless about, and if her younger sister was ignorant about something, then she was not much better off.

Shaking her head to indicate to Yoshie that she did not know, Shizuka glanced at Hanabi and Kenja, hoping they could explain the situation.

Although Hanabi was not as frightened as the twins, she was also uncertain why they were suddenly crippling those disciples.

Kenja whispered to them, "Those disciples are spies sent by other powers to infiltrate our sect. They would send news of any important events and secrets to them in return for benefits. They were probably rounded up after their belongings were searched, so there is no denying their motives."

The three girls listened intently to his words, quickly learning what was going on.

Aoi Rin, the five Tributaries and three elders standing nearby glanced at Kenja in shock.

The elders understood what was going on just from their experience while their disciples were taught of such things previously.

But without any hints from anyone, one would only see the First Elder crippling random weak disciples without reason after Migawari Puchi exonerated them of any relation to the Rusty Robber. Yet, Kenja had discerned the truth of the matter in an instant and concisely explained it to his younger sisters.

Was this still a young and inexperienced Qi Flourishing disciple?

Kenja was unaware that his careless explanation caught the others by surprise, but he could hear Snail snicker as he enjoyed messing with those elders and their disciples.

Meanwhile, Kaitou Daiki and Migawari Puchi had arrived in front of the final restrained disciple, a Foundation Establishment woman wearing inner sect robes. Her looks were so-so with a couple of freckles dotting her cheeks and heavy make-up surrounding her tear-filled eyes.

On top of one's strength and lifespan, one's appearance noticeably improved as their bodies advanced towards higher cultivation realms, so Kenja deduced that this woman must have been born with a poor appearance that improved to a passable level after reaching Foundation Establishment.

Men sought strength while women sought beauty.

Girls often chose to cultivate to become more beautiful for longer periods of time. As an example, Fifth Elder Kazane had a youthful and beautiful appearance even though her age surpassed a mortal woman's prime by several decades.

Migawari Puchi was terrified at this time.

He had not heard Kenja's explanation on what was going on, so in his eyes, every time he denied any connection between each disciple to the Rusty Robber, the First Elder would cripple their cultivation.

With just a few words from him, twelve outer sect disciples lost their cultivations, fainted on the ground.

Migawari Puchi was only a servant! Disregarding the rental store he ran this week, exchanging pleasantries with a single outer sect disciple would normally be a rare and awesome event for him and interacting with an inner sect disciple would be legendary tale he could brag to the other servants about.

And now, Migawari Puchi controlled the fate of this delicate inner sect disciple.

If he had not already emptied his bladder, he would have ruined his pants a second time.

Although he pitied the disciple, he silently shook his head to Kaitou Daiki's question.

Before he could order the vice elder to cripple her, the woman interrupted with desperation, "I have reported these things to Fifth Elder! I have done nothing wrong!"

Kaitou Daiki narrowed his eyes at the girl, withholding his order.

A meticulously, calligraphed letter and a metallic, silver seal lay on the ground in front of her.

The First Elder recognized the seal and knew the contents of the letter. Both came from an inner sect disciple belonging to the unorthodox Playful Harmony Sect located at the base of a mountain northeast of the Freezing Desert.

This sect diverged from the usual path of cultivation. Its disciples would gather a following of the opposite sex through soft and hard methods in order to cultivate with them. The leading beneficiary would use his followers' bodies to rapidly advance his own cultivation. The followers would also reap some light benefits from the process.

The primary issue was that the followers' bodies would become increasingly addicted to their leader's body in a way that it eroded their own individuality and independence. They would begin to cater to their leader's every whim and desire to the extent that they would toss away their own integrity and sacrifice their life at his expense.

Once they went mad with love and affection, the leading man or woman could easily absorb their follower's entire cultivation to benefit their own, wholly crippling them in the process.

The sect was composed primarily of men, but there were also women present that controlled their own harems of men.

They would often seduce wandering cultivators and other sect's disciples into joining the sect under false pretenses.

This girl had received a love letter from such a disciple, proclaiming his eternal and undying love for her as well promising countless benefits for abandoning her sect to join him. Even the seal he had given her would allow her to enter the inner sanctums of his sect so that they could quickly meet up.

She was not a spy, but once she betrayed this sect for another, she would be considered a traitor. This was even worse than being a spy.

The most pitiful part of all this was that the man who sent this letter was most likely planning to add her to his harem for his future cultivation.

Kaitou Daiki was certain this disciple had not reported this matter to anyone. She was only grasping at straws by claiming to have informed the Fifth Elder who was currently absent.

"Keep her tied up. We will confirm matters with the Fifth Elder once she returns."

Although he knew she was lying, Kaitou Daiki acted in this manner because the Fifth Elder's name was invoked. If he labeled her as a liar under just a guess and continued to mete out punishment, this matter could aggravate his relationship with Elder Kazane.

Kaitou Daiki would not risk upsetting Elder Kazane over such a trifling matter.

The girl breathed a sigh of relief at having escaped certain doom for the moment.

As for Migawari Puchi, he was ecstatic that there were no more disciples lined up for him to destroy, but before he could relax, a hand gripped his shoulder.

"Little Puchi, I'm disappointed. It's like you don't want us to find the thief. Are you shielding him?" Kaitou Daiki continued to scare him with a veiled threat.

Migawari Puchi instantly kowtowed to the floor, quivering in fear.

"Venerable First Elder, Honorable First Elder, O' Glorious First Elder, have mercy on me! I swear on my mother and father I'm not shielding anyone. Three days ago, a man wearing outer sect robes bought everything in my shop and then hired me to resell everything along with a lot of other things he had brought. All he wanted in exchange was to borrow the customer's keystone for a few days! Even I thought this was strange, but—" he paused as he pulled out a keystone and threw it on the the ground, "Here! He paid me five thousand credits in advance for five days of work, but I don't want them anymore. If I had known, I would never have agreed to work for him in the first place!"

A gasp for air followed his confession as he had said everything in a single breath.

A satisfied smirk secreted Kaito Daiki's face, but his tone remained stern. "You did all this without verifying his identity? As long as someone gives you enough benefits, you will do as they say?"

"O' merciful First Elder, it's a misunderstanding! I would never do such a thing. The man said his name was Kitamura Bolo, and I checked. He is definitely listed as a disciple here!"

Snail tapped Kenja's ear with his eye. "Look, look, disciple! Your little helper has no sense of loyalty. It's because you lack the natural-born charisma of a true leader that he gave you up! You don't have to worry though. In the future, just watch me closely, and you'll learn how to gain the presence of a true ruler!"