Unseen Cultivator

Grand Elder Iay's eyes possessed four concentric shades of white, colorless but distinctive. Cold as glacial ice and hot as furious flame, their mirrored surface revealed nothing even as their unblinking state penetrated everything. Completely overwhelming, they struck down all opposition, all resistance, and all will.

Forced to stand before those eyes, Qing Liao felt utterly alone, lost in a universe of absolute cold broken apart only by points of terrible, immolating heat. He could not resist the probing influence they unleashed, and though all his reflexes and his own qi fought back instinctively against the white surge that crushed down upon him, that blinding blankness triumphed all too swiftly.

"Did you kill Dai Shui?" Five words only, spoken with a voice as soft as falling snow. They scraped him absolutely bare, cracked down through all barriers to lay open his soul. He felt qi ripped free from his body in convulsions of desperate, futile resistance. Strength fled his limbs and he collapsed to the floor, tongue lolling ragged and limp between his cheeks.

He could not withstand this interrogation. It took every scrap of pride and effort he could summon from the depths of his mind and dantian to simply stay conscious. Before that storm he was a broken reed.

No shame attached itself to this submission. It was not a trap. There was no deception. Iay simply overwhelmed. The infinite power of the dao directed to shatter his resistance by main force. Basic, clean, and inevitable. To resist as long as he could, that was respectable. No one else could have done more than that.

It felt like an eternity, but that white light inquisition endured no longer than the time it took the grand elder to speak that single five-word phrase. When it was done, Iay rose in from her knees in silence and walked out of the small storage room in the Textiles Pavilion that had been repurposed for interrogations without a word. As she did not shackle him and drag him to the Starwall at once, Liao assumed he had been cleared of suspicion.

"I do not like her," Sayaana hissed along the edges of his skull. "Too pure, too serene. Enlightenment shouldn't be so, so...straightforward."

Silently, Liao found himself in agreement. Arguments against the efficacy of Iay's path were doomed to failure, her cultivation was clear for all to see, but he knew he could never walk such an austere road. He doubted most could. Even among the Twelve Sisters the eldest seemed to occupy exalted, and therefore isolated, status.

Grand Elder Itinay arrived shortly after her eldest sister had departed. She waited long enough that Liao was able to regain sufficient control over his muscles to occupy a seated position with the help of a nearby wall. Somehow, she seemed far less intimidating than her white-haired sister. He reckoned that was a danger, a devastating risk of a low-ranking initiate growing all-too-familiar with the existence of immortals.

"I am sorry," this opening apology from Itinay left Liao slack-jawed. "It was not right to subject you to such scrutiny, but with Sayaana's soul tied to your qi and your previous experiences with Uzay and the Demon Horde there were doubts as to the ability of anyone else to fully pierce your will without triggering backlash. Iay acted herself because certainty was necessary."

"That's a miserable way to complement someone," Sayaana noted, once again speaking from inside Liao's skull. "But take it anyway."

He did. Knowing the sect had needed to use the strongest method it possessed to interrogate him was of great value to his sense of pride and self-worth, though he could not possibly have articulated why that was so. For the moment, trying to restore feeling to his legs, he took solace primarily in knowing it was over.

It helped, a little, to know that nearly seven hundred other cultivators had been subject to similar scrutiny. He had not been singled out as a matter of suspicion, merely of strength. The grand elders, in questioning every possible prospect, had wielded the impartiality of thoroughness.

Liao liked that. It was harsh, but fair. Somehow, he thought that the proper way for immortals to act.

"You did not kill Dai Shui or the other women," Itinay noted with enforced calm. "But this creates a problem. All others in the initiate realms have been questioned. You, having been furthest away from the Starwall, were the last." Liao had been in the western mountains hunting deer in his ongoing effort to provide Su Yi the perfect spear sheath. In truth, simple geography made his ability to commit the crime impossible, but the grand elders trusted qi over cartography.

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If all had been questioned and no guilty party found, that meant the true killer was not a member of the sect. No disciple or elder was considered a suspect. They would have sensed Dai Shui's lover's arrival through their qi senses and easily evaded discovery. Nor would any have left such obvious qi residues behind attached to the remains. Liao's mind, unable to move his body, found its way to the conclusion that followed this truth all too easily.

Though it was greatly unsettling, enough to make him glad that in that moment he could do little more than shiver weakly, it could not be denied. "Then a mortal must have done this, using a stolen artifact."

"Very close," this was almost a compliment from Itinay, a rarity indeed from the frigid immortal. "Not stolen, there are protections against such actions, but scavenged. The dagger in question is one of a pair, the Candle Cutters, crafted four centuries ago. One was destroyed in the most recent demon incursion, when cultivator who wielded them, Zhou Cai, was killed by the blast of one of the Fuming Shade's strikes." Itinay's cold blue face briefly transfixed with rage, but regained proper composure immediately following this brief indulgence. "It was thought that the second blade was also destroyed, but it seems it must have been blasted over the Starwall and landed somewhere near the city. The murderer appears to have found it during the post-battle clean up. Such things have happened before."

A simple scenario, but convincing. Though Liao had no doubt the sect would reward any mortal for returning such a found weapon, he was not so far removed from mortality as to forget how terrifying cultivators could be. The impulse to hide such a find would be strong. Once hidden, he supposed it could fuel a madman's urge to kill.

Somewhat, he was glad to know it was not a member of the sect who had turned to murder. Such foul deeds were a part of mortal society, even his small village witnessed such untoward acts, if only very rarely. One who killed again and again, as opposed to overcome some singular overwhelming passion such as spousal jealousy, that made no sense to Liao's mind, but he supposed madness took on many forms.

"Normally," the grand elder continued, not waiting on an initiate's musings. "The sect would not concern itself with a mortal killer. Such events are tragic, but high levels of interference in ordinary society are counterproductive."

She paused briefly here, perhaps expecting the younger cultivator to contest that statement. Liao did not.

Visits to his parents every year made this clear. Just being in his home village for a full day strained the fabric of life there. Every meal threatened to become a feast; every walk a parade. Living among them, acting as a magistrate or governor, these things would tear his hometown apart. Just as the Celestial Mother could not directly exert her strength in the world without breaking it, the same was true of a cultivator entering the lives of ordinary people.

With an unreadable expression in response to his silence, Itinay advanced her declaration. "However, in this case, because a weapon appropriated from the sect has been used to facilitate the murders," By law, no mortal could own any item with a reservoir of qi embedded within it. "There is cause for limited intervention. The council has decided to place that task upon you, Initiate Qing Liao."

"Me?" Liao stared at the grand elder's blue face in shock. He could hardly think of anyone less suited to such a task.

At the same time, Sayaana interjected, overriding his confusion. "Clever, drafting me like that. Fine, let's hunt a killer. I've no issue eliminating the rabid."

Liao could understand the benefits of that approach. Sayaana, with the capabilities of an immortal, however restricted by her current state of existence, had skills and insights no other mere initiate possessed. Despite that, he also recognized that this was not sufficient reason. Struggling for the answer, he met the blue-white eyes of Itinay directly. "Apologies grand elder," he did his best to cover panic with proper courtesy. "But why would the council choose me for this task? I know nothing of the city." He knew there were members of the sect who regularly worked with mortals, mostly in the Farming Pavilion. Surely they were far better suited to such a task that he was.

"You were far from the city when Dai Shui was killed." Itinay explained. She remained tightly controlled, her whole body held in tension. "That means little to those able to utilize the Stellar Flash Steps, but mortals are trusting of such things as distance. The city's administrators, the governor and magistrates, they believe you could not possibly have done this. That has value greater than you know."

A logical statement, though it did little to convince Liao. Still, musing on it, he supposed that, by his own admission, the grand elders would have a better understanding of such matters. Allaying suspicion by sending out an investigator who generated none surely did much to soothe rising anger.

"You have other talents that are useful in tracking," Itinay continued. With a sharp grimace she added. "And by assigning you we send two instead of one. Consider this task a useful chance to broaden your experience. Retrieve the blade, find the killer, and solve this problem." She stared down at him, eyes narrow and sharp. "I have acquired considerable latitude for you in this matter, in order that you should have a chance to prove your ability in independent missions. This is a chance to prove yourself. Do not waste it."

Liao shivered despite trying his utmost to avoid such tells. "Yes, grand elder." Of course there was a second motive. Arranging to use someone's death as a test sat ill with him and churned his stomach, but it was typical of Itinay's methods. Dislike it though he might, the solution was a simple one. Find the killer and bring an end to the problem. Proving himself was secondary, something that would follow simply from doing the job at hand. An easy thing to decide, a much more difficult one to accomplish. He had not exaggerated in saying he knew nothing of the city, and had no idea how to even begin. Seeking a hint, for he knew Itinay would hold back something, always, he dared to asked the blue ice woman a question of his own. "Is there any point where you would suggest I should begin?"

He expected a dismissal, but instead received a swift and sure summary. "Eight victims, all serving women of the sect," Itinay declared coldly. "Those families have their own whisper networks. I suggest you open one to your ears."

An ominous suggestion, but lacking any ideas of his own, Liao could do nothing but nod in agreement. Though he lacked confidence, there was no escaping an assignment from the elder council. As usual, success was the only path to meet the sect's expectations.