"Now, Little Puchi, a few days ago, someone had made you run a little business different from the usual one your vice elder assigned to you. That person might be linked to the recent crimes that occurred at the sect bazaar."
Migawari Puchi gulped nervously when he heard this. He felt that the kind and generous elder brother, Kitamaru Bolo, bore a strong resemblance to the wanted poster of the Rusty Robber, but he wanted to believe that that was just his paranoia.
For one, there were plenty of male disciples with similar facial features and hair styles. Moreover, the poster depicted Kenja with a sly and villainous expression while the elder brother he met appeared amiable and gentle.
And two, the advantages he and the other customers received were much greater than any profit he could extract from the tribulation stones in the allotted rental period. It was practically a charity that benefited the entire weaker half of the sect.
How could such a magnanimous person have anything to do with the Rusty Robber?
"I want you to look at these elder brothers of yours, and tell me if any of them seem familiar to you. Once we've found them, we'll be one step closer to finding all the rats hiding in our sect."
Kaitou Daiki spoke in a cheerful tone, but the faces of the kneeling disciples were stricken with terror. Some hugged themselves tightly to appear smaller and more insignificant.
Migawari Puchi wore a look of shame on his face. He did not reply to the First Elder.
The First Elder did not rush or intimidate the servant boy like before. He coaxed him calmly, "What's wrong?"
His gaze tilted downwards in shame, shaking his head with reluctance to answer.
Kaitou Daiki instantly figured out the problem.
The boy realized he had urinated on himself earlier and was currently walking around with a wet stain and a bad smell. Walking in front of thousands of his fellow brethren and alongside his elders, it would be strange if he was not shamed into silence.
Drops of water condensed around his pants until his lower half was submerged in water. Dragging all the filth out, the water swirled above them before evaporating into steam.
His pants were cleaned and dried as new.
"There. Better now?" He patted Migawari Puchi's back reassuringly while hiding his annoyance.
He did this because his brothers that had followed behind him were still eyeing him in a judging manner. He also wanted to improve his image as an elder in front of the other disciples after his earlier performance.
And everyone was truly impressed.
For an elder, especially the infamously detached First Elder, to personally extract the urine off a servant boy's pants. At least for the other four elders, they could no longer find fault with him even though they all knew it was an act.
The Second Elder nodded in an approving manner while the Third, Fourth and Sixth Elders silently rolled their eyes in resignation. Since he was this intent on finding the disciple who was too ambitious for his own good, they would no longer get in his way.
Plus, the sect crisis was not fake, so their time was not technically being wasted.
Migawari Puchi teared up at the gentle compassion he received from the First Elder, completely forgetting he was the original cause of his humiliation.
He decided to cooperate wholeheartedly with the First Elder. After all, he was just a servant boy. Migawari Puchi had no real reason to cover for Kitamura Bolo, and if he was actually a criminal, then he would be doing a good deed by assisting the First Elder.
"This servant has troubled First Elder. Um, I don't recognize any of these seniors…"
"Don't be so hasty. Let's take a close look at each one." He pushed him to the front of the first tied-up disciple.
"How about this one?"
A brunette Qi Flourishing disciple not much older than him looked at Migawari Puchi fearfully.
The servant boy shook his head.
Kaitou Daiki looked to one of the nearby vice elders. "Cripple him."
The vice elder approached him and pulled the lad up by the collar.
The outer sect disciple's eyes filled with tears as he cried for mercy, shaking his head forcefully, begging the vice elder to stop.
A palm landed softly on the disciple's stomach, but his body shuddered violently. Blood dripped out of his mouth as he fell to the ground.
In a single instant, his dantian was attacked by an overpowering qi and completely shattered. Within a few seconds his entire lifetime's worth of cultivation dissipated completely as he lay there unconscious.
Unless a divine miracle appeared before him, he would forever be an ordinary man till the day he died.
Kenja was stunned by the sight.
All these disciples had no association with him as the Rusty Robber nor as Puchi's secret elder brother, so why were they rounded up like this?
"Are you blind, disciple? They're obviously spies!"
Snail seemed to sense whenever Kenja experienced a conundrum and would jump at the chance to strut his knowledge.
"Those items in front of them are unique to different sects and clans. Many of them can send a signal to a location, and the ones that can't have a tiny long-distance transmission candle to do the job. Those candles are very expensive items that are difficult to make and even more difficult to find. I should know! I only have about two hundred of them. There's no way they could afford those small pieces nor would those sects give them an entire stick."
Kenja was still confused about some things. "What would they spy here for? And why would they carry all those incriminating things on them?"
Snail snorted in his ear, "You're really dumb sometimes, aren'tchya, disciple? This is a common thing in all sects and clans. Take a good look at those guys. Aside from that girl, they're a bunch of good-for-nothings thrown away by their own sects. Promise benefits if they could provide any juicy info related to this sect, they're given a way to communicate to their old sect, and the other items serve as their identification. Otherwise, these sad sacks would have trouble proving themselves because no one would remember such low-level losers. Since those items are their lifelines, the safest place to keep them is by their side even if it could be lead to their execution in the future."
Kenja frowned.
Examining those thirteen outer sect disciples on the ground, he could feel that eleven of them were at the Qi Flourishing stage while the remaining two were only slightly stronger, most likely the beginning of the Foundation Establishment stage. But most of them exceeded the age of thirty with the two strongest ones already showcasing a full head of grey hair.
Objectively, they truly were good-for-nothings in the world of cultivation, and this fact made Kenja pity them even though they were spies. In a way, they were only doing what they could to further their paths at the risk of their own lives.
Was he not doing the same thing?
Kenja shook his head in denial.
At the least, his heart was still with the Flowing River Sect, and he did not have any intentions of betrayal. So while they shared some similarities in deceit and empathized with their experience in cultivation, Kenja had not violated his own principles.
His conscience was clear!
Kenja felt a firmness in his heart, and the guilt he had been carrying became lighter.
Kaitou Daiki did not stop smiling as he looked at Migawari Puchi.
"Next one."