Large Sect Problems

Breakfast was a harmonious affair as Qiu Jingyi performed one of her rare feats in the kitchen and personally cooked for Chen Wentian. She was smiling a lot more than yesterday, much to his amusement. He did think sometimes that his luck was a little bit on the good side.

Chen Wentian had a few sect meetings today while Qiu Jingyi had her own duties as a noble lady so the couple went their separate ways for the day. He had a week off from his job supervising beast hunts and the days where he wasn't involved in front-line combat were spent dealing with the bureaucracy of a massive sect. There were evaluations of his subordinates as well as reports for his superiors.

Within the Lion Lord's faction, there were thousands of official members that were separated into the following hierarchy. At the top was He Zicheng as the Spirit King. There were three Spirit Lord Realm immortals that were his direct subordinates who also managed their own disciples in branch sects. They included He Xinghan, Ji Tiangu, and another immortal he had never met before.

The lord and immortals had a limited number of trusted aides that held the title of executive elder. There was a total of ten executive elders that ruled a cohort of over a hundred elders. Some elders had few subordinates such as himself, while others had many. Together, they managed around fifty thousand Spirit Initiate Realm cultivators. For sect members below the Spirit Initiate Realm, they were countless like grains of rice.

As a hunting elder, He Xingping's job was pretty dangerous and he usually used mercenaries and free-lance cultivators for his missions. The casualty rate was high and the job was messy but it was necessary to keep rare cultivation resources flowing into the sect.

He had a few subordinates who would go hunt only if there were some princes or princesses of the sect that wanted to experience a real hunt. This actually made his men even less trustworthy than mercenaries. Mercenaries did their jobs as long as there was money, they had a code. His men were experts at brown nosing their occasional but influential clients and actually did not put his position in their eyes.

Chen Wentian felt a huge headache as he imagined what his own sect would be like if it expanded on a scale like the Beast God Sanctum. Would there be so much bureaucracy and dead weight being carried around as well? Perhaps Zhou Ziyun would have ways to handle it?

He mused as he headed off to his first meeting of the day at the sect headquarters. He rode his horse, cutting a wide path through the busy streets. His pale-yellow uniform held the crest of elder which every resident of the city recognized. While his men might not respect him, to the common people he was an inviolable noble.

He eventually arrived at the mountain peak which held the three headquarters for each faction. The two castles for the Eagle and Lion factions were busy and bustling like always but it was a shocking and disturbing sight to see the Snake Castle completely empty and deserted. It was like no one ever lived there. He guessed that anything that could be robbed had been robbed and anyone that resisted had been killed. A brotherhood of over five hundred years was shattered, just like that.

"Halt!" The powerful guards at the Lion Castle stopped him.

"I have a meeting with my executive elder." Chen Wentian said as he presented his badge.

"Elder He Xingping, welcome to headquarters! Please enter!"

Chen Wentian was led inside the sprawling complex that covered a third of the mountaintop. His eyes caught every detail and every turn within the winding and maze-like corridors as he followed the guard to the office of Executive Elder Ji Yeming. All the executive elders were relatives of the immortals of the sect, otherwise there was no way for them to get promoted to this position.

The guard knocked on the door.

"Enter." A clear voice sounded.

The guard escorted Chen Wentian into the office and left afterwards. Chen Wentian did his due diligence and bowed.

"You may rise, please sit."

Chen Wentian sat down and looked at Ji Yeming, who was quite youthful. He looked no older than his early thirties yet he was already at the peak of the Spirit Initiate Realm. His robes were a deeper and richer shade of yellow and held gold outlines, signifying his status. He did not disappoint as the most talented son Ji Tiangu had produced within that generation.

Ji Yeming studied the report Chen Wentian presented briefly before setting it aside. They then discussed various aspects of beast material harvesting and beast populations that had migrated from the wilderness into human provinces. He Xingping's years of knowledge and experience was put to good use as they discussed a wide range of topics. If Chen Wentian had merely taken He Xingping's outer appearance, he would have been exposed as a spy many times over.

The meeting wrapped up after over an hour.

"Good job, Xingping. I'm satisfied with your work."

"Thank you, Executive Elder!" Chen Wentian said.

"Was there anything else you need to discuss?"

"Ah yes! One last thing," Chen Wentian played one of his cards he had prepared, "I know there's been a reward by the husbandry executive elder for any information leading to a large capture. I encountered such a target during my last mission."

"Oh? Are you sure its reliable?" Ji Yeming asked.

"Absolutely!" Chen Wentian nodded his head.

Ji Yeming used his spiritual energy to form a temporary seal and placed it on Chen Wentian's sect badge before waving him off. "Go tell him yourself."

Chen Wentian stood and bowed, "Thank you!"

He left the office and consulted a map before heading off in the direction of the husbandry department. This executive elder dealt with rearing beasts that would be harvested for resources. It was the opposite of hunting which involved wild beasts.

Chen Wentian, through his immortal sense, had found a large pack of over several thousand Crescent Moon Deer within one of the provinces. They were at the high Mind Focusing Realm and it was exactly what the husbandry department wanted. The department could capture the whole herd and rear then to produce deer year after year.

As he traveled through the castle, he was stopped occasionally by guards but his seal allowed him passage. Security was always tight within the castle but it was even more strict after the destruction of the Snake Lord and his faction. Even elders were not permitted free movement anymore with only executive elders and above given that privilege.

Chen Wentian completed his roundabout trip to headquarters and left soon after dropping off his information. If it panned out, he would be rewarded with a thousand gold and there was also a bonus for his executive elder as well.

What nobody realized that Chen Wentian used this opportunity to perfectly lay down his spying network. The excuse to visit two executive elders allowed him to traverse a large portion of the castle, laying down a large number of shadow anchors through his shadow skill. In combination with his soul art, it allowed him to place passive eyes and ears within the shadows that were undetectable to anyone unless they had a stronger soul strength than him. He was confident there was no such person within the entirety of Beast God Sanctum.

The drawback to this technique was that he needed to be in close proximity to place them. If he were to brute force his way into the castle in his shadow soul form, he would long have been detected by any stray immortal. But with He Xingping... he had a free pass into the castle. This was the most important reason why it had to be He Xingping.

A happy Chen Wentian had a lazy smile on his face as he rode away from the mountain peak. The second step of infiltration was also a success!

His thoughts drifted to his lovely wife and he decided to visit the shops in his spare time to buy her a gift.