How he had hidden his real cultivation level was superfluous at the moment, what wasn't was the coiling flame whips he was sporting in each hand. The weapons had very little real substance, the flame's a construct of Qi and martial technique. The handles were solid, having weight and substance, so if I wanted to neutralize the whips, I would need to disarm him. Attempting to slice or extinguish the thong, separating it from the handle would have little effect.
I wasn't certain what the reach was for his weapon, but I thought it best to stay as far away as possible. Swapping out my Tessen for the Bow, I summoned an arrow fused with lightning Qi, releasing [Water Pierce], I aimed at one of his arms, hoping that the lightning effect would stun that appendage long enough for him to drop the handle.
I should have known it wouldn't be that easy. I watched in consternation as he flicked his wrist and intercepted the arrow, dashing it to the ground, Qi energy spent, the attack a waste of energy. But it did allow me to understand how fast he was, and how adroitly he handled his weapon of choice.
I could have spent a few moments peppering him with shot after shot, but he was too fast, too skilled with his martial abilities to ever break past the shield those quick flicks of wrists and stinging barbs of fire could produce.
I was going to have to use an area ability, attacking him from all directions, or using lightning strikes, a tribulation of forces that required him to defend himself from bolt after bolt. I had used wind earlier to use the debris, grit, and earth to obscure vision when I was attacking, this time I would use fire's natural enemy.
Water.
Channeling my Qi with my water element and adding movement with air, I began to collect the moisture in the air. It took an amazing amount of energy, and if I hadn't decided to cultivate [Transcend the Heavenly Footpath], I doubt my core would be robust enough to accomplish what I was attempting.
Exchanging the Bow for my Tessen again, I began fluttering them, gently at first as I condensed the water in the air, then more furiously. The fans moving so quickly that the after image made it appear; they weren't moving at all. The process might have been easier to accomplish if I had allowed the air that I was generating to flow as I gathered the water, but I wasn't.
Instead, I was creating a localized weather pattern; the air creating a dome of high pressure that was centered on the ravine. Holding the air in place, forming water to coalesce into clouds, I continued increasing the amount of rain each cloud held until finally; I released them in a torrential downpour that turned the dry ravine into a channel that collected the water that I had stolen from the surrounding area.
The downfall continued, and as the water flooded the area, rapids and torrents of water began running downstream. All of this was done in less than a moment, as the cultivator, wary of what I was attempting stayed back and gave me the time I needed to complete my impromptu storm.
Once the rain was unleashed, and the ground was saturated, I marshaled the meridian channels I had tamed to control lightning and released a cascading storm that was unable to be dodged. My lightning arrow could be dodged or destroyed, but the power of nature itself, not so easily done.
Water wasn't the best conductor of electricity, at least purified water, but with the impurities from the ground mixed in, there was no way to dodge the effect. The cultivator never had the opportunity to make another attack before he was blasted off of his feet, his weapons dropped, and his ability to flee or fight eliminated.
"What is going on," Matriarch Helena demanded as she saw me entering the courtyard with a man strapped to my back. The cultivator had survived, and I was quick to take his spatial ring. The cloth that I had used to bind wounds, instead were purposed to tie arms and legs. I went so far as to wrapping his hands so that he could make finger gestures. I did not want to have him trying to cast Dharmic spells if he woke while I was lugging him back to the homestead, especially since I was going to have to carry him.
"I tracked the men responsible for setting fire to your fields. One was killed by an Eoraptor, the beast they lured to your flock. There was no Velociraptor, but they had been a brooding pair. I killed both so you should have no further issues with raids on livestock.
"They had holed up in a well-disguised ravine, and when I came upon them, they were arguing about the fire. It hadn't been planned, more response to my presence. One of them had panicked when they had been informed of my arrival and that Flowing Water Sect was investigating the raids.
"I believe he panicked. But what is interesting to me, is that he was informed of my presence. Someone from the farm has been feeding them information. They knew my name and Sect, and the only way they could have that information is if someone had shared it with them," I explained as I glanced around those gathered to try to gauge a response, some gleam of guilt that might be displayed when I tossed that bit of information out.
"The one I'm carrying is a cultivator, but he should have most of the information. There were only three, and I doubt they were part of a bandit group. I've fed him a restoration pill and cleaned and bound his wounds, but that is the extent of my healing abilities. I'm not certain if he will die or not, he has a fire attack, so I was not gentle with him when he attempted to attack when I was looting.
"Perhaps you have a more capable healer, someone that can keep him alive. But if you don't have an array or some way to bind his cultivation until you are able to interrogate him, you might be better off allowing him to die," I wanted answers, more to satisfy my own curiosity than anything else, but these people had no cultivator powerful enough to deal with this guy. And I wouldn't be staying around to protect them.
I could have informed her privately, but I had my own idea for flushing the person involved out into the open. "Matriarch, I have sent a missive to my Elder, I'm not sure how he will react, but I doubt it unlikely that he will ignore betrayal."
"I think your best hope for gathering all the loose threads of this enterprise would most likely come from this cultivator. He certainly knows which one of your people working these farms was complicit in supplying him information.
"He may even know why," I finished. "I can stay only stay for a few days, at least until Elder Shadow replies to my missive, so that gives you some time to make a decision.
The crowd began whispering, eyes looking at each other furtively, the trust that the community was founded on would take a severe hit from today's news. Matriarch Helena would need to be swift and decisive if she wanted to save her community. Otherwise old grievances would erupt as neighbor accused neighbor, grudges exploding into open hostility.
The crowd went silent at my words; the voices raised to sling accusations and finger point quieted as the import of my words resonated. The arrival of a Sect Elder was a sobering prospect. Any subterfuge would be ferreted out, but it was likely the Elder would impose stiff financial penalties, they rarely made the effort to involve themselves in these types of matter, but when they did all parties usually suffered.
Helena instructed the community midwife and healer to do her best to stabilize the seriously injured man. A couple quickly untied him and formed a temporary stretcher that allowed him to be transported to a small but functional building that had been built to house the ill, injured, and women in labor.
The healer was meticulous about cleanliness and care, and the compact building was well cared for and maintained. It didn't have the white sterility of Healers Hall at the sect, but it wasn't meant to. The rooms had been established to provide comfort and warmth, a place to heal in serenity instead of sterility.
"Matriarch," I said gaining her attention once the severely wounded man was safely ensconced in their version of Healing hall, "I have also been tasked by the Sect with gaining as many spirit plants as I can while I am fulfilling this mission.
"Since there is nothing to be done until my Master replies to my missive, I will spend the rest of the day in the mountains. The snow line looks like it might contain the right confluence of elements to support ice lotus.
"We haven't done an exhaustive search of the mountains," Matriarch Helena admitted, "but Thomas can give you some basic knowledge of what we have found and where."
Most people would not make that offer, to share the knowledge of what might be profitable and rare discoveries could deprive the community of potential resources. I wasn't sure if she offered the knowledge in gratitude for my actions today, or fear of the reputation of a Sect Elder. Perhaps she was currying favor with my Master before he arrives.
Thomas was not happy with her decision. He tried to mask his anger and succeeded well enough that I may have been the only one to notice. If it weren't for my Qi perception, I wouldn't have. But I could detect his increased breathing and elevated heart rate. He was furious at Matriarch Helena but masked that fury well.
I wondered if this was how Elder Shadow could detect truth from a lie. Not so much a Qi ability as awareness and an increase in his perception that allowed him to notice and understand the small body signals that every individual gave off.
"We haven't spent any time searching the northern ridge," he began explaining, his voice patient and any unwillingness to impart what small knowledge he might have well hidden, "the cliffs in that location are littered with loose rocks and rock slides are too frequent for us to risk. The cliff walls seemed mostly composed of slate, with some quartz sprinkled about.
"The east is a waste of your time," he said stressing the word waste, "we gather from that area frequently because that ridge has the easiest access. The south and west both have Lingzhi mushrooms sprinkled among the conifers, we have found the occasional ginseng, basil, and an interesting tea that has vague notes of mint when boiled."
There was nothing obvious, his words seemed helpful and informative, but there was something. Some signal he was giving off when he was speaking of the eastern ridge that suggested he was hiding something. There was something on that mountain that he didn't want me to know about or find, and I had a feeling something that Matriarch Helena had never been informed about.
I would head north, leading any who would follow me on a merry chase, but my real destination was that eastern mountain. I had a feeling that today's events had begun from whatever he was hiding on that eastern slope. The raids, the young master, the fired fields were all connected to what my gut was telling me he was protecting on that mountain ridge.
And if not, I had other plans. I would hide near the Healer's hut to monitor the wounded cultivator tonight. I had a feeling the person that had been feeding him information would make a move and try to silence the man before anyone from the Sect could arrive. A Master I had lied about contacting. But I planned to send both Elder Shadow and Elder Tye a missive detailing and explaining my thinking about today's happenings.
I doubted either would bother to make the trip to this remote farming community, but no one here would know that.