(MC POV)
"Oh, welcome back, Master Lin," Elder Feng greeted me when I returned to his courtyard. "Is the assassin taken cared of?"
"Of course, you don't need to worry about someone coming after your life anymore," I assured him.
"Ah, that is quite reassuring to hear. I was quite worried when my courtyard exploded in bright lights just now and the whole building was encapsulated in a barrier. So that was what your inscription was for."
"Indeed it is. Can never be too safe, you know?"
"Hohoho! You truly are something else, Master Lin! But… Erm… Where is the assassin?"
I waved my hand vaguely in the air, "Oh, I got her locked away for now. I'm just here to check up on you first before I go back to deal with her."
"I… I see... Still, to know that Master Lin has it under control is reassuring for this old man."
Of course it would…
*A few hours ago*
"... Op..."
I looked up at the giant blob of blue slime that was suspended in the air, its surface rippling constantly like the surface of a sea at storm.
All around us was the darkness of space, a few stars dotting the horizon that continuously winked back at us.
"Did you say something?" I asked.
"... Sto... "
I lowered my head back down to my book, "If you're saying something, I can't hear you. Speak louder."
"Stop… Please…"
I flipped the page, not showing any signs of having heard the blob.
"Please… I beg… You… Make it… Stop…"
Hmmm… Sophia should be taking care of my girls now. Hope they're fine. Wonder if they actually remember what happened the previous night?
"I'll talk… Please… Ughhh… No more… It hurts…"
Maybe I'll get them something nice on the way back. Guess I'll have to cut our camping trip short. Oh well, I don't think they want to stay there any longer than they have to anyway.
"Please… I… I can't take it… Anymore… Please… I'll talk…"
I wonder what Cai Hong is doing now? I hope she slept well yesterday with all that noise. Eh, should be fine since I tucked her in with the silencing inscription. I need to remember to make more candies for her soon, she really likes those that are strawberry flavoured.
"Feng… It's Sect Master Feng…"
I snapped my fingers and the undulations on the slime blob stopped. The darkness receded and we were back in the cavern once more.
"Say that again?"
The slime blob shook, "It's… It's Sect Master Feng… Elder Feng…"
I narrowed my eyes at the blob, "You mean the former Phoenix Sect Master, Elder Feng, set you up to this?"
"Yes…"
"Aren't you part of the Nirvanic Gate Sect?"
The blob slowly flowed into something that resembled the shape of a human body although it maintained its slime material.
"I am… I was… I was Sect Master Feng's apprentice first… He found me when I was… When I wandered into his Sect as a monster… But instead of killing me, he raised me… Trained me… So that… So that I can be used for assassinations…"
"Huh… Because you can shapeshift?"
The slime nodded, "They will never catch the real killer… And the fact that I know a few Techniques, I can pass myself off as a beginner Practitioner to infiltrate any Sect I wanted…"
"So Nirvanic Gate Sect was your target?"
"I was supposed to get close to their Sect Master, then kill them… But I never got the chance… She had chosen to send me here instead…"
I frowned at her, "And you're telling me Elder Feng decided to take this opportunity to have you kill me… Even though we were going to merge Sects? Going so far as to have you target him as well?"
The slime slowly transformed back into Zhiyang's features, the girl keeping her eyes staring at the ground, "It's to throw off suspicion on him… He had his own antidote to my poison… Made using Phoenix tears... He would have used that if Master Lin did not have a way to save him…"
Crossed my arms, "This seems way too convoluted. Had you been successful, the whole merger would have fallen through. This isn't beneficial to him at all. Makes me think that… You're lying to me, aren't you?"
"I… I don't know… I only did as I was told… Please believe me…"
I snapped my fingers and her skin rippled, the girl seizing up before collapsing onto the ground while clutching her head and screaming in pain.
"AAHHH!!! Please!! I'm telling the truth!! Please!!!"
I snapped my finger and the ripples stopped.
She gasped, her skin changing from her blue slime and back to her fair skin at random intervals.
"So you're just his personal tool, not his confidant or partner," I noted.
"Ye… Yes…"
"And you listen to him instead of running away because?"
"He… He has my slime core…"
Ah, of course. The slime core which is basically her heart. No wonder she wasn't afraid of me killing her since her real heart was somewhere else, she would have just reformed at where it was if I killed her.
"Hmm… Looks like I'll need to have a talk with Elder Feng then. Where does he keep your slime core?"
"I… I do not know…"
"Will you miss him if he's gone?"
Her eyes widened at my implication before shaking her head quickly.
"Hmm… Good. Then it looks like I have my work cut out for me. Are the others in Phoenix Sect aware of your role?"
"N… No… He had kept me secret from everybody else… Just in case he needed me to… Remove some of them…"
Huh, never would have guessed this was the same Elder Feng that greeted me at his Sect gates during the Sect Showcase Festival.
That, or she's trying to pull another fast one on me.
Either way, I'll need to go back to the Sect and confront Elder Feng about it.
I leaned forward and narrowed my eyes at her, "What else do you know then?"
"I… I was supposed to go back and… And let Elder Feng 'kill' me… You would come back and see my fake corpse and be owed a favour to Elder Feng..."
"You mean your own clone body? No way that will work, we would have figured out it was fake the moment we saw it."
She lowered her head, "Those… Those were his instructions… I don't… I don't know anything else beyond that… Sect Master Feng would give me the next set of instructions after I had completed the task…"
"Quite the cautious fellow hmmm? Very well then, I will go back and check if what you have told me is true. If I find evidence of you lying to me… Well… Let's just say that whatever you felt just from all that torture… That will be paradise compared to what I will do if you're lying to me."
"I… I assure you… Master Lin… Everything I have said so far is the truth…"
"We'll see," I snorted before gesturing to the empty room we were currently in. "You will stay here until I return, understand?"
"Understood… Master Lin."
"Good."
Now, I wonder how I will get Elder Feng to verify all this info without tipping him off?