Spy Within [Cosplay Cultivator Chap 80]
Spy Within [Cosplay Cultivator Chap 80]
The sects could not directly strike at each other, but there were many ways they sought to undermine each other secretly.
Of course, one cannot act without information.
And information required espionage.
While merchants were a very rich source of information, they were not privy to the innermost workings of the sects.
For that, dedicated spies were necessary - either that, or pay off someone within the sect for information. Some members willingly gave false information in exchange for money at the behest of the sect themselves, while others were plants, leaking out true information only to mix in snippets of falsehoods that could paint a picture that was completely opposite to the truth. Though of course, there were those who were simply traitors.
Such espionage and counter-espionage between the sects had gone on since the beginning of the Raswatian Empire.
Information, whether it was about future plans, or certain members, or resources, was always in high demand.
And Tang Ze, after his accomplishments, found himself near the top of every other sect's list of individuals to investigate further. However, who were the kinds of people closest to Tang Ze? His squad members - and Tang Ze's own shadow would betray him before any of them did.
That was why Ming Yue had been approached by so many people to try to dig up dirt on him. She was an Initiate of the Rising Phoenix sect in the same division as Tang Ze, and was more than willing to give out some information about Tang Ze in exchange for some benefits.
As it was, she did not have a high opinion of Tang Ze after what he had done to Tang Ru - of course, now, he was considered a star after his accomplishments during the Novice Tournament, but there were still many on the women's side who despised Tang Ze.
Still, few of them would betray him to another sect, not even Tang Ru would do so - but Ming Yue would, for the right price that is.
After all, she consoled herself, he was a boorish brute wasn't he?
Her plan to get more information on him was simple. Rumors were that he gained power through the weird costumes he wore, and she wanted to investigate them further. It was likely that his costumes were magical artifacts of some sort, or he had access to some kind of special thread.
She crossed over to the men's side of the division during the daytime visiting hours, saying that she had a book she wanted to check out which was only available on that side.
Finding a good opportunity, she snuck over to the living quarters and found where Tang Ze lived. One of her friends had been able to get that information for her, and she slid into the common area that Tang Ze's squad shared.
Inside, she found some of the costumes that Tang Ze had, and she tiptoed towards them to see if she could find out anything from them. There was no Qi that was detectable running through them, so many people thought that there was some other trick to them.
She picked one of them up, but it didn't feel all that different and she still couldn't feel any Qi running through it. Rubbing her hands over it, and finding no real answer, she even resorted to smelling it to see if he had sprayed it with some kind of mixture, to not find out anything that way either.
It was then that one of the doors to the bedrooms opened up, and she turned around to see Tang Ze of all people staring at her.
What was he doing here!?
She had purposefully chosen this time to visit as she knew that the place would be empty - his squad would either be busy with sect duties, or eating breakfast at this time. Even if there was someone inside, she would simply make an excuse that she had the wrong room and try again some other day. Upon seeing no one in the room though, she was greatly joyful at the thought that she succeeded on her first attempt.
What she hadn't counted on were two things.
One was that Tang Ze's squad was excused from regular duties.
And two, just how much Tang Ze liked sleeping in. It was the equivalent of being around ten in the morning there, and what kind of layabout slept in till then?
Tang Ze, that's who.
She had not honed her skills enough to feel his Qi at the short distance they were separated by, and now that she could, it didn't do her any good.
Naturally, Tang Ze reacted.
"INTRUDER!" he screamed at the top of his lungs before lunging for her.
Ten minutes later, his other squad members had walked in, to see that Tang Ze was just finishing tying Ming Yue up.
Zhang Long sighed. "Tang Ze, we know that you've been having trouble getting a girlfriend, but that doesn't mean you can kidnap women like this…"
Yin Tiang and Chen Yu also sighed. "He kept complaining about not running into any arrogant young masters, so we once jokingly said that he should 'Become the arrogant young master he wants to see in the world'... though we didn't think he would take that advice seriously."
"That's not at all what's going on here!"
An hour later, a prefect was staring at Tang Ze and the rest of his squad with a bewildered expression
"So you're telling me... that you found this woman had snuck into your common area, and she was sniffing your clothes?" the prefect asked.
Tang Ze nodded. "I didn't know there were these kinds of perverts in this sect, you know."
"This is ah..." the prefect drifted off. It was the first time he had to register a complaint about a woman sniffing men's clothing though... there was a first for everything?
And Tang Ze's story was quite ironclad. Ming Yue knew it was better to be thought of as a deviant than a traitor to the sect, and she nodded along with Tang Ze's story. "Well then..."
Afterwards, although Ming Yue was not branded a traitor, she did have to deal with random people sometimes throwing their unwashed laundry at her and yelling out 'Sniff this!' while cackling.
Needless to say, she reaped no benefits from her actions.
Speaking of benefits however, Tang Ze soon got the reward of his accomplishments delivered to him. As squad leader, Zhang Long brought in the basket into the common living area.
Before they dug in though to examine what it was that Tang Ze had been given, Tang Ze wanted to ask Zhang Long how Jin Zhen had liked the snow leopard pelt.
"Well, there's good news and bad news on that front," Zhang Long said. "The good news is she liked it. The bad news... she wants to make food for us again as thanks."
Immediately, Chen Yu and Yin Tiang gave Tang Ze death stares.
"Tang Ze, you know how some crimes can't be forgiven by even heaven, right?"
"Tang Ze, you escaped the suffering we had to endure last time, this round though - if we can't escape, we are definitely dragging you down with us!"
"Relax guys," Zhang Long said. "There's still a lot of time before she'd get time for that, and we can always make an excuse this time if it happens. Let's focus on what Tang Ze won."
The sect had reaped great rewards from Tang Ze's accomplishments, and naturally, a share of these rewards would be given to him.
First of all, there were several high-quality pills, and these would be refilled every month until the next year.
Secondly, there was a spirit spring under a ten-thousand-year-old tree which was perfect for meditating and cultivating as the Qi there was twenty times thicker than other areas - Tang Ze and his group could go there for one month at a time once in a year to cultivate.
Third, there were many alchemical ingredients that Yin Tiang would have otherwise found impossible to get his hands on.
Fourth, he was rewarded with three hundred thousand sect merit points.
Fifth, there were two snow leopard pelts. He didn't know why they gave him this - likely they had seen him inquiring about it during the tournament and then decided to give him two more thinking he had a fondness for them or something. Perhaps it was the prefects who had told them that?
Sixth, was a letter from the emperor inviting him to lunch with him - he already had been invited, though this was the official invitation.
Seventh, were three gold-plated plaques depicting that he had won first place for each of the three categories. Each of them had a small illustration - one of them of a man pushing a boulder, another of someone punching a slime, and a third of someone running. The actual trophies, as per sect guidelines, were kept in the sect division's trophy cabinet, so this was their way of giving him some memento of his victory to show people.
Eight - he had been given actual money, which was the one thing in there that shocked him the most. Five hundred gold coins, a considerable amount. A single gold coin could easily feed a family for a month. It wasn't a large amount for a cultivator though, as some items could go for several ten thousand coins even at the Qi Refinement realm which is why people usually bartered with pills at that level.
It was mortals who mainly traded with coinage. Still, while he could buy things that he needed for cultivation using his own sect points, this would be a nice treat if he wanted to get something else. He just couldn't think of anything at the moment other than some supplied for making costumes.
Ninth, was a pass that let him use the pegasi carriages the sect had any time he wanted for the next five years. He could always just teleport to places though, so for the most part, this didn't seem to be that useful to him.
Tenth, was a letter from the Supreme Elder of the sect congratulating him. It was a very long-worded document, but when one summarized it, essentially what it said was - "Good job."
Eleventh, was another book on the Mercury Empire. This had been given to him by Elder He Xuan, and there was a note attached to it telling him that Elder He Xuan hoped that Tang Ze would enjoy reading this as well.
Twelfth, was a vase with a depiction of the Starfall Basin on it. It looked like nothing remarkable to Tang Ze, but Chen Yu seemed to recognize its true worth. "Wait - is that one of Master Cai Yulin's works?" Chen Yu asked. Cai Yulin was arguably one of the best artisans in the entire Raswatian Empire. His great-aunt had a plate made by one of Cai Yulin's more well-known apprentices, and had said that it was the most expensive thing in her whole house. She hadn't even let Chen Yu touch it - heh, Chen Yu couldn't wait to see the look on her face when he visited her and told her about this.
This was only the bulk of the benefits Tang Ze had been given, but not all of them.