Chapter 314: A New Position, a Set of Tasks, and a Tryst
Kang Ya-Ting was immediately admitted to Elder Dai’s chamber by her attendant. He cupped his hands. “Greetings, Elder.”
She sighed. “Why do you always have to cause me trouble? Don’t I already have enough on my hands with the tournament and a looming sect war?”
“Apologies, Elder Dai.” Kang Ya-Ting was honestly at a loss as to what exactly he’d done that time to complicate her life.
His face must have shown his confusion because she said, “It’s that note you sent me three days ago about Zhong Shoushan.”
Ahh. The spymaster must have been even more incompetent than Kang Ya-Ting had suspected if the issue was taking up a great deal of Elder Dai’s personal attention. He said as much.
“Incompetence I can deal with. Missing that our messages were being intercepted was incompetence. Not telling me about the growing relationship between the Jade Chameleon Sect and the Swift Blizzard Sect or about the mercenary Formations Master was something else entirely.”
Kang Ya-Ting raised his eyebrows.
“It was political,” she said. “Zhong Shoushan knows that you and I will get credit if Chao Su and the Rising Tide Sect do well in the tournament. If they fail, we’ll receive equal amounts of censure, and it turns out that his niece wants my job. He hid the information from us.”
Only years of experience kept Kang Ya-Ting from literally letting his jaw drop. “Is he mad? We’ve had two of our Golden Cores use the Trials Pagoda to advance to Nascent Soul. That’s way past the point of no return. If the Rising Tide Sect fails, the Poison Claw Sect won’t be far behind them.” The more he thought about the situation, the angrier he became. “Elder Zhong’s actions go far beyond simple politics. It’s a betrayal, Elder Dai. A betrayal!”
“Tell me something I don’t know. The Sect Leader himself agrees.” She let out a frustrated breath. “Zhong Shoushan has been removed from his position and is now on his way back to the main branch being accompanied by two members of the Punishment Hall. Before he was allowed to leave, he was forced to reveal the entirety of his spy network, which, unfortunately, was not nearly as extensive as the resources he’d been drawing suggested. Whether that is due to incompetence or malfeasance will be determined by Grand Elder Xai.”
Kang Ya-Ting couldn’t quite repress a shudder. If there was one person he did not want to get on the wrong side of, it was that man.
“So you have to determine who the new branch spymaster will be,” Kang Ya-Ting said. “I have a couple of recommendations if it pleases you, Elder Dai.”