"One of you go now and send word to Elder Mu. Tell her a masked cultivator has completed her task, we will go find a inn and wait there in meantime." I paused.
"The other one comes with us. Contact your fellow disciple when we settled at a inn so that your elder can find us."
The disciple's eyes widened as he took in the carriages and their occupants. "Of course! Please, follow me. I'll escort you to the inn where Elder Mu is staying."
"Now, lets go."
They nodded without hesitation and waved the guards aside to let us through.
As we made our way through the city streets, I noticed.
Most of the city had emptied out due to the earlier fight. The streets were quiet most of them doors closed, stalls shuttered, the occasional figures moving quickly with their head down.
Most faces showed fear. Others showed various emotions.
We found an inn without trouble. Spiritual formations glowed faintly in the air around it, providing protection.
I got several rooms and settled the victim girls and caravan people first before anything else. Then I came back down to the lobby, sat and waited with the sect disciple for elder Mu to come.
She did not keep me wait for long.
After an incense of time,
I sensed a familiar spiritual signature approaching rapidly.
Elder Mu came through the door with her hair in loose disarray, like she had been pulled somewhere in a hurry and had not had a moment to fix it since. The disciple trailing behind her looked slightly windswept and wobbly.
Looks like she came on Flying sword, probably at high speed.
The young disciple rushed outside, presumably to inform Elder Mu of our arrival. I helped the caravan members settle the girls in the inn's courtyard, ensuring they had water and comfortable places to rest.
She found me across the lobby.
"Lin Yuan," she said, walking toward me with quick, precise steps. "You're back. You're... you're alive."
"Disappointed?" I asked with a slight smile.
She dismissed my teasing tone and asked
"I heard you finished what I asked."
"I did."
I reached into my storage pouch, took three bags and placed them on the table in front of me. The overseer. The bandit leader. The accountant.
She looked at the contents in the bags and then up at me.
"The lean looking guy was the accountant of gambling den run by the bandits under overseer he was my first thread," I said.
"Through him I found that their gang leader , who was that guy with a scar face was collecting and supplying blood from virgin young girls for the overseer to cultivate the demonic arts."
"After finding about it I first killed the accountant and then I left a message at the city lord personal office in his manor. That message is what surfaced everything at your meeting."
I kept my voice even. "After your fight with the overseer I used the accountant's identity to draw them out, found their location, after giving them some good affectionate care they spilled almost everything and from that I knew about the location where the girls were being kept. I got them out. I also let them settle their accounts with these criminals. Then here I am in front of you."
She looked at the bodies and their wounds. She was shocked became quiet for a moment. Then realised.
"So it was you who set all of this in motion."
"Now, now don't accuse me. It moved the way it moved because every party played their part," I said.
"I only provided the first push." I looked at her steadily. "Though I will say this. I killed and delivered a demonic practitioner that a sect elder from sun moon spirit sect could not finish alone, even with a tier three talisman. I also rescued the victims. I closed every loose thread." I leaned back slightly. "Would it have ended this cleanly without me? Would you able to find this plague without my intervention? Can you imagine how many others would have died and suffered if I let that overseer bastard alone ?"
She opened her mouth, tried to refute my words, but found nothing to say.
"So what do you want?"
Then a loud but calm female voice, sounded of high authority came from outside. Not Elder Mu.
She straightened immediately. "My master," she said quietly. "She is the supreme elder of our sect. She came personally to stabilize the situation. Be careful with your words."
I stood up and went outside. Elder Mu and disciples followed.
Eventually the caravan people and the victim girls also came out hearing that voice, joining us outside the inn.
There in the air, a woman floating in the air at moderate height above the inn without a flying sword.
I thought. Flying in the air without any support.She is definitely a Golden core cultivator.
There are also two unknown foundation establishment cultivators and city lord flying beside her on their flying swords.
The woman was slightly aged, black hair threaded with grey, pinned with a crescent moon ornament that caught the light when she moved. Her presence pressed outward without any visible effort, the way a mountain does not try to be large but simply is.
Beside her the city lord had come down from his sickbed, still wrapped in bandages, still clearly in pain, and clearly intending to do his job anyway. The other two foundation establishment cultivators I did not recognize them.
I stepped out first, met the supreme elder's gaze, and gave her a measured bow with my fist cupped.
"Greetings, supreme elder."
She looked at me with sharp, assessing eyes in the way experienced people looked at things.
"I heard what you said inside," she said. "But I don't understand one thing. Tell me why you involved yourself in this."
Eder Mu also looked at me with curiosity.
"My childhood friend died at the hands of the previous gang leader," I said. "He was collecting blood for your overseer. She was not even a cultivator. She was only just a child barely 15 years, but she subjected to a brutal death at an young age." I held her gaze. "Your sect's negligence created the space for this demon to run recklessly for years. Many people suffered due to it."
The courtyard became very quiet.
Eder Mu was anxious due to my straight forward questioning of their sect's teaching and she kept looking at me and the supreme elder.
Supreme elder descended from the sky, floating gracefully, others behind her also came down with her.
She walked to where the survivor girls had gathered at the inn entrance, looked at them for a long moment, and bowed slightly. Not a full bow. But a real one atleast.
The girls looked terrified.
"We are sorry," she said. "What happened to you was because we were careless with who we kept in our ranks. That is our failure."
"No no, supreme elder, please don't do this...." Those girls were already waving their hands, faces flushed, trying to ease her.
Even now. Even after everything. Still trying to make the powerful person feel better.
So we have to be respectable to the wrongdoers if we don't have power.
Haah..I sighed.
The supreme elder turned back to me, back to her usual self of authority.
"How may I address you, Young Daoist?"
"Lin is fine." I said.
"What do you want, Young Daoist Lin. Name it. We will try to satisfy your demands as long as they were in our limit"
I did not look away from her.
"Make sure every girl is returned to her family safely," I said immediately. "If their home situation is difficult, give them a residence here in the city. Bring their families if they want their families. Find them work they can manage and live here."
"And for those whose circumstances make returning home difficult or impossible, provide them with housing in the city and honest work."
She did not answer immediately. She looked at the one of the foundation cultivators to her right.
It was the other Foundation Establishment cultivator I didn't know about.
He stepped forward and introduced himself with a short bow. "I'm Manager Feng from the Jin Shang Hall. We need attendants for various operations such as accounting, storage management, customer service. Respectable work with fair pay. We can employ everyone if they wish to work for us. The position comes with employee housing."
The City Lord also stepped forward despite his injuries. "The city administration can handle housing. We have many vacant properties. We'll provide residences at no cost."
"Also the city lord manor has vacant residences. Any girl who wants to stay in the city, with or without family, will have housing and a position in the administration department. We will handle it personally.""
The supreme elder looked back at me and the victims.
"I will send a foundation establishment cultivator to escort each girl home. Those who wish to remain in the city, we bring their families and settle them at their choosing. Those whose families cannot be found or who suffered losses or died, we'll compensate them or their families according to their situation."
She paused looking directly at me. "This is my personal promise to you, Daoist Lin."
I studied her carefully, searching for any sign of empty words or political agenda.
But her eyes were clear, her spiritual energy steady and sincere.
Only then did I give her a genuine bow.
"I hope to see it kept."
"You will see it yourself in the coming days," The Supreme Elder's expression softened with genuine sympathy. "I won't insult you with material compensation. But know that the Sun Moon Spirit Sect owes you a debt. If you ever need assistance, you can use your connection with my disciple to send a request."
"I'll keep that in mind," I said.
With that cryptic statement, She glanced meaningfully at Elder Mu, who was trying very hard to look anywhere but at me.
"Complete the procedures here. Report to me when it is done."
"Yes, Supreme Elder!" Elder mu and disciples answered.
Then the Supreme Elder rose into the air and was gone, the City Lord, Manager Feng and the other mysterious cultivator also departed following the supreme elder.
But the city lord bowed once again to me before turning back towards his manor joining the others.
I turned back to look and found Wei Changbo standing near the door with his people gathered loosely behind him.
I approached him and took a pouch two thousand spirit stones from my storage pouch and held them out.
"For the delay and the trouble I've caused," I said. "And for not asking questions when it mattered."
He looked at the stones and shook his head. "Senior we cannot...."
"You can," I said. "You and your people worked through the journey for my cause. Your people drew swords when I asked them to. Take it. They deserve it"
He looked at it again. Accepted it with both hands and looked inside.
His expression was filled with surprise because of the amount, he tried to talk.
"Go and have a feast." I said simply.
He nodded, accepting my gesture.
I then looked at three of the female cultivators from his group and called them over. I gave them each five hundred spirit stones.
"Take the girls out for a stroll. Buy clothes, food, medicine whatever they need. Keep what is left to yourselves. Buy something for yourself too. Don't hold back"
Their eyes went wide and quickly thanked me.
"Go," I said.
They were already moving, already talking to the girls, voices lifting for the first time all day into something that sounded like actual excitement.
Wei Changbo also gathered his men with a look. "We will find somewhere to eat."
Then men were enjoyed by the unexpected feast, quickly they started to give suggestions on what to eat and drink.
Elder Mu looked at the two remaining disciples and tilted her head slightly. They nodded and fell in to guide the two groups into the city streets without needing to be asked twice.
I motioned to the workers at the inn who were waiting for our orders to go and do their work.
They fled into inn quickly and the courtyard became almost empty, it was just me and Elder Mu standing in there.
Quiet.