In the courtyard, Li Shen and the others were gathered around a table inside the restricted area of the building.
Li Wen was cross-legged in meditation nearby, even though as a non-disciple he wasn’t allowed in the academy. Li Shen had sneaked him in using the teleportation circle.
Taking out the parchment he got from Huifen, Li Shen place it on the table.
Jun was the first to snatch it up.
He unfurled it and looked over the information.
Immediately, a murderous light flickered in his eyes.
Jun was the youngest of the group, and at times it would show, with the others calling him out on it, but mostly Mu Fan.
However, they all knew he had another side to him. An unhinge side that only showed itself in circumstances where people like those of the Demonic Cult were involved.
Li Shen had been trying to curb that part of him, but it was to no avail.
Fei Yin quickly took the parchment out of Jun’s hand before he could clench his fists and destroy it.
After reading it his reaction wasn’t as intense as Jun's, but his expression still became solemn.
He then passed it to Yang Su, and soon everyone took turns reading the information on the parchment, the only other person having a similar murderous intent arising was Fang Chen.
Fei Yin, Yang Su, and Lihua held frowns.
Li Shen received the parchment back and he look down at the information once more.
Name: Unknown
Sex: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Identity: A Chosen from the Poison Demonic Cult in the Top Five Rankings.
Cultivation: Last seen at the Mid Foundation Realm
The information went on to state the various places he appeared on the Maple Continent. But Li Shen only focused on the information at Identity.
“There’s only one person of the Poison Demonic Cult who’s above me in the Chosens Rankings. That’s the Poison Sect’s genius the Poison Progenitor.”
With a solemn expression, Fei Yin said.
“It’s said that no one in the Poison Demonic Sect is able to master the usage of as many poisons as they have. Given that the Poison Demonic Sect is one of the big three sects in the Demonic Cult Faction, I have a hard time fathoming the scope of such a possibility.”
“That’s just the rumors spread to inflate his reputation.”
Mu Fan said with a huff.
“Isn’t there older disciples in the sect? What about the elders or even the Patriarch? Are you telling me they’ve mastered more poisons than them? Not much is known about him but he or she is in our generation, what else could that be other than rumors?”
Fang Chen butted in and said.
“A poison cultivator mastering numerous poisons isn’t just determined by the time spent learning them.”
Mu Fan hearing that turned to him and asked.
“Are you really going to believe they’re that talented? Aren’t you supposed to hate the Demonic Cult the most?”
Fang Chen simply responded.
“I hate them from the core of my being, but one thing I will never do is underestimate them. Rumors are sometimes not far from the truth.”
“So what? Whoever he or she is, they’re dead.”
Jun was seething resentment as he said that.
But Li Shen suddenly spoke up.
“Fang Chen’s right.”
He leaned back in his chair as he spoke.
“I would never suspect the village we targeted was where he was. However…”
“There weren’t any signs of poisons being used in the village.”
Lihua finished Li Shen’s sentence.
The boys hearing this were taken aback.
“So it wasn’t him?”
Yang Su asked what they were all thinking.
“Despite the fact that there were no signs of poison begin used in the village, the scorpion was his calling card he would leave for people to see. But whether it was done by another Demonic Cult group to make it look like him shouldn’t be ruled out as a possibility.”
Hearing this no one was surprised.
The Demonic Cult wasn’t cohesive in the least sense of the word, and internal struggle was a constant thing occurring.
‘This isn’t like I thought it would be.’
Li Shen wasn’t sure how to proceed now.
The Faction was nowhere near perfect or large enough to start a conflict with a Top Chosen from the Poison Demonic Sect.
There was even a possibility that this might not be related to the Poison Demonic Sect.
If they let the crucifixion of their faction members in the Beggar’s Association get to them and they started targeting the Poison Demonic Sect, that might just be dancing to whoever it was that set this up tune.
Li Shen closed his eyes to better get a hold of his thoughts. He always did this when an important decision was to be made in the faction, he wanted to take everything into account about the situation first.
Yang Su, Jun, and everyone else knew this and remained silent.
After a moment, Li Shen slowly opened his eyes and let out a sigh.
Looking around at everyone, his eyes flickered as he observe the current state their heart was in. He shook his head when he saw Jun boiling with anger.
After he open his mouth and made a difficult but wise decision.
“We’ll let this go.”
“What?! But Master our-”
Jun's chair screeched as he shot up from his seat, but his words suddenly got stuck in his throat when he saw Li Shen’s face turned dark.
“Sit down.”
Jun felt his burning anger dissipate when Li Shen’s cold voice wash over him.
A sinking feeling appeared in his heart as this was the first time Li Shen had spoken to him or any of them like this.
The atmosphere in the room became clumpy, and not just Jun, everyone was feeling a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs when they saw Li Shen’s reaction.
Jun sat back down.
“I’m sorry Master.”
Like a misbehaving child that was reprimanded by his father, Jun softly whispered out with a lowered head.
Looking at Jun, Li Shen’s cold expression slowly disappeared.
Letting out a puff of air from his mouth, his back almost merged with his chair.
“I understand your emotions but as we are now we can’t pursue such an enemy. It’s disheartening that our members were killed, but many more will be if we target someone like that from the Poison Demonic Sect. There’s also the possibility of another group framing this to look like the Poison Progenitor.”
Li Shen shook his head before he continue.
“Too many things are just wrong for me to ignore it and put more members in harm's way.”
Pushing back his chair Li Shen stood up while turning to Lihua.
“We’re going back to raiding low-level bases.”
The boys' expressions change upon hearing that, and they wanted to object but Li Shen held up his hand to stop them.
“We already have a perfect system to handle those bases and we’ve made enough contributions to the academy to qualify for at least twenty percent of the resources during the Faction Leader Meeting. As of now, you should all be focusing on your martial arts as I asked.”
Li Shen then looked at Jun.
“Jun, the Disciple Selection Ceremony is coming up. I want you to work with Lihua to scout the new Outer Disciples.”
Jun raised his head and nodded at that, but he soon went back to lower his head.
Clapping his hands Li Shen said.
“Alright, you can all leave. But Yang Su, stay for a moment.”
Yang Su who was getting ready to leave paused.
After the others left with only Li Wen still meditating nearby, Li Shen asked.
“Did you make a decision? Your heart is unstable.”
Yang Su nodded.
“I made the decision to cultivate wholeheartedly.”
“What about Ling Xia?”
Yang Su shook his head, and then a hesitant expression appeared on his face before he told him what happened as well as Ling Xia's identity.
Li Shen hearing everything patted Yang Su on his shoulder before he said in an understanding tone.
“Women! You just can’t understand them. If that’s the case then it’s her loss, my disciple is better and more talented than any some Crown Prince!”
Li Shen then began patting Yang Su’s head like he was petting a hurt puppy.
Yang Su felt a bit awkward since over the years he had grown a bit, and for certain reasons, Li Shen was keeping his height low only increasing it bit by bit to make it seem like he was growing slowly.
He had to bend his head a bit to have Li Shen pat it, something he had gotten used to.
Though for some reason it worked, something about his pat seemed to have the miraculous ability to cheer him up.
Seeing the chaos in Yang Su’s heart easing, Li Shen smiled.
His head pats were top tier.
“I won’t keep you any longer, you can go, and also look after Jun for me. Make sure he doesn’t do anything rash.”
Yang Su nodded before he turned to leave, though the small amount of relief he saw in Li Shen eye’s when he told him his decision to continue cultivating was getting.
‘Maybe I saw wrong?’
Li Shen said he could make his own choices but maybe he still had hopes of Yang Su giving up on Ling Xia to cultivate.
However, before that could seep into his heart it was quickly discarded as he left the room. Li Shen missing it.
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