The shadow of Shen Yuan's plan loomed large over the sect. The elders who had once spoken of uniting to eliminate him now eyed one another with suspicion, their alliance in tatters.
Shen Yuan, seated cross-legged in his dimly lit abode, let a low chuckle escape his lips. His trap had worked like a charm. "Trust is such a fragile thing," he murmured to himself, his eyes gleaming with malice. "Now let's see how they dance when their strings are pulled."
Over the next few days, Shen Yuan executed his next step meticulously. Through his mastery of shadow manipulation, he slipped into the spaces of the sect's many hallways, his form invisible to the naked eye. From the ceiling of the elders' hall, he listened intently as they whispered their grievances and plotted in secret.
His divine sense stretched to its limits, carefully weaving around the spiritual awareness of the Heaven Path elders. Each moment spent lurking in the dark revealed fragmented pieces of their brewing schemes, the growing distrust among them becoming a feast for his manipulative mind.
The first target of Shen Yuan's silent observation was Elder Wu, a long bearded man known for his fiery temper and pride. Shen Yuan discovered that Elder Wu was gathering a select group of loyal disciples, instilling in them a sense of urgency. He preached about the dangers of letting Shen Yuan grow unchecked, even fabricating false visions of Shen Yuan betraying the sect in the future.
Elder Wu's plan, however, was overly aggressive and lacked subtlety. He intended to storm Shen Yuan's abode under the pretext of a 'sect investigation,' hoping to overwhelm him with sheer force. Shen Yuan noted the elder's hastiness, filing it away as a weakness he could exploit later.
Shen Yuan then disappeared and reappeared again outside of another elder's hall. It was Elder Mo who wished for Shen Yuan to be gone the most.
Elder Mo, in contrast, was a schemer who favoured manipulation over brute strength. Shen Yuan spied on the elder while he meditated in his private chamber, muttering to himself about crafting the perfect trap. Elder Mo had begun subtly spreading rumours among the sect's lower disciples, painting Shen Yuan as a dangerous force that might bring calamity to them all.
Elder Mo's goal was to incite panic and use the chaos to justify gathering an alliance of elders under his control. However, Shen Yuan smirked in the shadows as he realized that Elder Mo underestimated his peers' pride, none of them would willingly take orders from another elder, no matter the circumstances. Unless those leading elders are above you in cultivation!
Shen Yuan disappeared once again and appeared before a not so expensive looking hall. It was Elder Zhu's hall, the most experienced elder in the heaven path realm, with the cultivation of a ninth heaven stage, heaven path realm.
Elder Zhu took a different approach. Shen Yuan observed the elder speaking to the sect's treasury keeper, arranging for the withdrawal of rare spiritual treasures and elixirs. Zhu's plan was to bribe influential disciples to act as spies, keeping tabs on Shen Yuan's every movement.
This plan was subtle but inherently flawed. Zhu's reluctance to act directly left too many moving parts, and Shen Yuan saw an opportunity to sow mistrust among the spies and sabotage Zhu's efforts from within.
As Shen Yuan pieced together the fractured plans of each elder, a devilish grin spread across his face. The beauty of their disarray lay in its simplicity, none of the elders trusted each other enough to form a cohesive plan, and their individual ambitions blinded them to the greater picture. Shen Yuan whispered to himself, "The more you squabble, the more you sink into the web of the spider."
He began crafting subtle provocations to ensure their plans would collide.
After few hours, Shen Yuan decided it was time to fan the flames. Over the next few nights, he carefully planted evidence to escalate the elders' mistrust of one another.
In Elder Wu's hall.
Shen Yuan quietly released a rumour through a trusted pawn, a young, ambitious disciple in Wu's inner circle, that Elder Zhu intended to 'expose' Wu's plans to the Clan master. Shen Yuan's carefully crafted whisper reached Elder Wu's ears like a poison, inflaming his temper. Elder Wu began preparing to confront Elder Zhu directly, unknowingly walking into Shen Yuan's setup.
In Elder Mo's hall.
Shen Yuan fabricated a message supposedly from Elder Wu, sent to Elder Mo's closest confidant, accusing Mo of plotting to usurp Wu's position in the sect. The message subtly hinted that Wu might strike first. Elder Mo, ever the paranoid schemer, immediately redirected his energy to safeguarding his position instead of pursuing Shen Yuan.
In a secluded spot in the disciple's dwelling area.
Shen Yuan approached one of the disciples bribed by Elder Zhu under the guise of offering 'protection' from Zhu's manipulations. With careful words, Shen Yuan convinced the disciple that Zhu's promises were empty and that serving Shen Yuan might bring far greater rewards. The disciple, now uncertain, began feeding Elder Zhu conflicting information, further derailing the elder's plans.
Each act was executed with surgical precision, ensuring the elders were left chasing ghosts and phantoms while their suspicions grew.
Within days, the sect was abuzz with rumours. Disciples whispered of secret meetings, stolen treasures, and mounting tensions among the elders.
Shen Yuan, watching from the shadows, allowed himself a moment of satisfaction. "They're so busy fighting phantoms, they won't even see the blade coming."
By the end of the week, the elders' fractured schemes began colliding in spectacular fashion. Shen Yuan observed the fallout with quiet amusement as Elder Wu publicly accused Elder Zhu of betrayal during a routine council meeting, resulting in heated arguments that drew the attention of other Heaven Path elders.
While, Elder Xun, in his paranoia, called for an emergency assembly of his supporters, inadvertently exposing his plans to those he sought to manipulate.
As for Elder Zhu, his spies started to scatter, some disappearing entirely, leaving Zhu scrambling to piece together reliable information.
Even among the chaos the clan leader's dwelling was in its usual peace state. Not minding the growing disturbance outside.
Gui Zuwang observed all of this from his dwelling. He chuckled, raising a cup of wine to his lips.
"How delightful. The young wolf is learning to play among the jackals," Gui Zuwang mused. "Let's see how far he can climb before the weight of the heavens bear down on him."