Book 8: Chapter 51: Allegiance
“You said you wanted the responsible persons found and didn’t care about the methods or the cost,” said Lo Meifeng. “Now that you’ve had a little time to sleep on it, does that still hold true?”
Sen’s only answer was to drop a bag full of gold onto the table between them. Lo Meifeng nodded and stored the bag in her own storage ring. After that, a steady stream of people that a blind man could recognize as dangerous came and went through the manor. However, none stayed for longer than it took to have a brief, private meeting with Lo Meifeng. They all left looking highly motivated. Sen didn’t ask who they were or what orders she gave them. For once, the only thing Sen cared about was results. He did spend a lot of time in the courtyard, glaring at the spot where the explosion had happened. It had taken a lot of conversation with the survivors to piece together an incomplete idea of what had happened.
Someone had brought in a load of what was supposed to be food. They even had a talisman to let them get through the gate. That was enough to make Sen gnash his teeth. That was such an obvious flaw in the defenses. The talismans weren’t personal. A problem Sen realized he would need to overcome, although not until he could get his anger under wraps again. Still, the use of one of his own talismans undoubtedly meant that the body of someone who used to work for him was out there somewhere. Probably dumped or buried outside of the city walls, never to be found. One more body to add to the butcher’s bill, fumed Sen. There was a headcount going on to see who was missing. They had a fairly good idea of who had died in the courtyard, but a lot of these people were still strangers to each other or had been brought on recently. It was a frustrating possibility that he’d never know who had died with any certainty, which would make it impossible to see to the needs of their families.
The explosion itself had vexed Sen to no end. He couldn’t comprehend how such a thing could have been accomplished without any use of qi. It was Long Jia Wei who had finally solved that mystery for him after the man found Sen glaring at the scorched, damaged stones in the courtyard.
“It’s a kind of mortal alchemy,” said Long Jia Wei. “My sect… My former sect taught us about it. A tool to use in times when we didn’t want to make it obvious cultivators were involved. It’s a combination of sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter. It’s a crude but effective way to cause an explosion.”
Sen frowned as he thought about it. Auntie Caihong had taught him a bit about those kinds of ingredients, but her focus was healing and poisons. Not surprisingly, those had become his own areas of real expertise, even if he was much more interested in healing than in poisons. Applying what he did know about those ingredients, he could see how that combination would produce such results. He nodded.
“I would like you to procure those ingredients for me,” said Sen.
“As you wish, Lord Lu,” said Long Jia Wei. “May I ask why?”
“I want the people who did this to personally experience the effects,” said Sen, his face going hard. “Not all at once. In small doses. One limb at a time, perhaps. I wish to repay their action in kind. However, I need to understand what I’m dealing with to make that happen.”