Awakening the Divine Spark

"Master, there’s something ..." Chi Yanzhen charged in Junior Elder Shen Rouya’s office, but was met with hers and Elder Wang’s annoyed looks.

There wasn’t anything kinky going on, although Chi Yanzhen wouldn’t blame anyone, even Elder Wang, if they fell for his master. He himself had to practice for months to not stare at her impressive nature’s gifts all the time.

And it was hard, especially since his and Li Hanchen’s discussions after they joined the sect mostly were about her and the size of her breasts.

"Yanzhen! When will you learn to knock?" Clearly it was not the first time her disciple stormed in like that, but it pissed her off nevertheless.

"I’m sorry ... should I come later?" Chi Yanzhen awkwardly apologized.

"Just speak." Elder Wang said, waving him off.

Contrary to Shen Rouya, he was mostly amused. Long ago he was as clueless and passionate as most of the disciples, and it was nice to see incredible cultivators growing up generation after generation. Both Shen Rouya’s personal disciples, Chi Yanzhen and Li Hanchen, had lively personalities that didn’t allow the junior elder to relax a single day.

He, on the other hand, after a long time, last night made an exception and accepted a personal disciple who was not young or particularly talented at all. The guy named Edward was over thirty years old and arrived to the Nethermoon sect barely year and a half ago.

It was already rare for a person to ignite their spark so late, but it was even rarer for it to be a mutated one.

But then there was the strangest part – elder Wang had never met anyone with lightning mutation and there were barely any records in the sect of such phenomenon.

He was currently discussing with Junior Elder Shen the best path to guide Edward on, when Chi Yanzhen stormed in.

"It’s Lee, Elder Wang!" Chi Yanzhen said, "The guy is ... I don’t even know how to say it ..."

"What did he do this time?" Junior Elder Shen asked.

It was written all over her face how irritated she was, but not because of the sudden intrusion. From the day the sect master lie in coma, she felt that there were too many things in the sect that were getting out of hand.

"Nothing yet ... but he wants to steal the register!" Chi Yanzhen said.

"Sigh ... once a thief, always a thief ..." Elder Wang shook his head.

He remembered the kid because of his drawings that allowed to catch Zhao Qingxue, the junior elder from the Mission Hall.

After she disappeared from the Nethermoon sect, they copied and spread the book Lee drew. In one day she became a criminal known to the world as Widow of thousand faces, and with the impressive bounty she possessed, there was nowhere for her to hide.

Obviously they never disclosed the information of her being a traitor, but turned her into a wanted murderer. It was a cheap, but simple move that allowed to get her. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

Unfortunately, the kid who had made a substantial contribution to capture her, turned out to be a criminal himself.

"No, it’s not like that." Chi Yanzhen said, confusing both elders, "He came to ask for a permission to do it!"

Elder Wang and Junior Elder Shen looked at each other in confusion, then back at Chi Yanzhen. He, of course, knew how they felt because few moments ago he had the same reaction.

"We’re going to need more than that ..." Elder Wang said, leaning back in his chair.

Shen Rouya furrowed her brows and also focused her attention on Chi Yanzhen, who said, "Where do I start ... It was the day before yesterday he came to me. Everyone just arrived from the survival training."

Chi Yanzhen paused, organizing his thoughts, and then said, "Initially he asked how the contribution points were distributed in the sect. I thought he was worried about potential mix-ups because the rewards for thousands of outer disciples had to be processed ... but he kept asking these specific things ..."

"I like the guy, you know?" Chi Yanzhen continued, awkwardly scratching the back of his head, "But it was obvious he was up to no good. I asked why was he bothering himself with this, since obviously he was swimming in contribution points after working for the Hall of Knowledge for a year ..."

"... he seemed confused at first, but then changed the subject ..."Chi Yanzhen paused, looked at the elders, and said, "Yesterday Hanchen and I followed him in secret. He spent the whole day tailing Junior Elder Cai Wenrou as she went around the sect, collecting the contribution points from the different halls ... and ... you won’t believe it ..."

Chi Yanzhen paused again, and his expression was a mix of anxiousness, anger and discomfort.

After gathering his thoughts, he continued, "It’s hard to believe, but she never noticed him! And this you’ll find it even more unbelievable – even though we’re middle stage elemental masters, I and Hanchen had a really hard time to stay hidden ... in fact, the more I think about it, the more I’m inclined he came this morning to me because he noticed us ..."

"So you confronted him?" Junior Elder Shen asked.

"That’s the thing!" The more Chi Yanzhen spoke, the more worked up he got, "We thought we should, but the guy came to us on his own accord and, more importantly, he openly said he wanted to steal the register."

"Interesting." Elder Wang said, plucking his short white beard, "Did he say why?"

"Mhm." Yanzhen nodded, "He claimed that obviously the junior elder who was trying to set him and Xiao Lian up wasn’t working on her own. The elder of the Mission Hall was surely behind her and he wanted to make things difficult for them."

"Has he even met Elder Leng?" Shen Rouya asked.

"Of course, not." Chi Yanzhen said, "But ..."

"Actually this might not be a bad idea." Elder Wang interrupted him.

He was kind of talking to himself while plucking his short beard, "We already know that the Mission Hall and the Hall of provisions is behind the sect master’s poisoning, and judging by what the Sect Affairs Hall is doing, they are in it as well. We stopped their momentum by organizing the six months long survival training, but I’m sure they are preparing their next move."

"So you think that it would be beneficial to do something to damage their reputation ..." Junior Elder Shen guessed.

"Every little thing helps." Elder Wang nodded, "Elder Jiu assured that the Healing Hall is close to finding a cure for the sect master’s condition, but we need a bit more time. If we could divert everyone’s attention at Mission Hall’s failure ... interesting. Did your young friend say what he intends to do with the register after stealing it?"

The last part was directed at Chi Yanzhen, who helplessly spread his hands, and said, "He wanted to throw it in the river."

"That’s not acceptable." Elder Wang said, shaking his head, "It’s too hard to craft a new one and Elder Xiao is already too busy. No, let’s make it more interesting. Did Lee tell you how he intends to do it, and when?"

"That’s the thing!" Chi Yanzhen said, "That’s why I was in a hurry. Elder Leng will return tomorrow morning and Lee wants to do it today. More importantly, he asked if I could help a bit."

"Hahaha! So that’s why he came to you!" Junior Elder Shen laughed, "After realizing he couldn’t do it by himself, the little bastard had to turn to someone. Elder Wang, you were right – once a thief, always a thief."

Suddenly the tension was gone along with the mystery. There was nothing complicated about Lee’s intentions and it didn’t matter whether they were based on greed or revenge. But that didn’t mean that he couldn’t be used.

"Tell him to go through with it." Elder Wang said, "But there are a couple things he has to know. If he messes up, the Hall of Justice will dispose of him before he can tell his side of the story. More importantly, your involvement can’t raise any suspicions."

"But elder, if he gets caught, it’ll implicate the Hall of Ascension!" Chi Yanzhen argued.

"There are thousands of outer disciples in the sect and someone tries to steal something every day. He’s a puny outer disciple and in the grand scheme of things his existence doesn’t matter." Elder Wang said, "But! Don’t forget, this is a kid who broke in LunLun’s vault! Obviously any of us could do it, but he’s a kid!"

"You have a point, elder." Shen Rouya agreed, "But after this is over, I’d like to lock him up in the library again. Knowing that a thief is running around my back yard makes me feel uncomfortable."