Aki was in the middle of making plans for his trip when an unexpected message arrived. A core disciple Aki was not familiar with arrived bearing a message that he was not too keen on hearing.

“Elder, disciple Drifting Snow offers greetings. Elder Raging Waters has requested your presence at the mission hall. There have been concerning developments in our skirmishes with the Slime sect.”

Oh, great. I’m really not looking forward to meeting with that guy again. Additionally, this seems like a pretty troublesome matter.

The Slime sect was the primary rival of the Thousand Lakes sect in the regions. The reason for the rivalry between the two sects was rather simple; the Slime sect uses techniques which pollute water, and this pollution can end up in Thousand Lakes sect waters. Due to this, whenever the Slime sect seeks to expand their influence, the Thousand Lakes sect has to react or risk damaging the source of their cultivation.

Both sects were vassals of the Liquid Sword sect, so the conflict was not allowed to escalate too much, or they would express their disapproval. Due to this, elders generally did not participate in the conflicts. Rather, both sects would send out disciples who would engage in some light skirmishing. Deaths were a possibility, but not too common in these fights.

Whatever situation is going on here, I’m really not qualified enough to express my opinion as I have no idea how these politics work. Well, I guess I’ll just use my usual tactics.

Sighing at the annoyance, Aki resigned himself and headed out towards the mission hall.

The mission hall was near the other key sect facilities, like the treasure pavilion and the archives. It was where sect missions were organised, and a large part of sect point transactions were handled. The building was rather functional in design, a simple wooden construction with no extraneous ornamentation. A core disciple was waiting for Aki by the entrance and led him to a meeting room inside the building.

In the centre of the meeting room was a large oaken table, on which a map of the region was splayed. Little coloured pieces of wood were placed over the map, probably indicating the movements of different factions in the field. Elder Raging Waters was as imposing as he had been before, but this time Aki could not sense the domain that had stormed over him last time. He was crouched over the table, talking animatedly with a woman Aki did not recognise.

The woman was in black robes instead of the sect’s signature white and blue, but her robe did have the rank-indicating gilded decorations on it. She was an unexceptional looking woman, and Aki could not sense one trace of her aura. Her plain features almost seemed too forgettable to be natural. Grey hair arrayed in a simple ponytail and plain brown eyes.

Alright, that has to be elder Boreal Night. So, she does show up when she is actually needed? I wonder if her disciples at Boreal Night Hall know about this.

Noticing that he had entered the room. The woman nodded towards Aki.

“Ah, Thousand Lakes. It has been some time. Greetings.”

Raging Waters on the other hand grimaced with displeasure, before reluctantly acknowledging him.

“About time you showed up, Thousand Lakes.”

Oh boy, he’s still mad about that competition. Well, I don’t think bringing it up will help anything. Aki smiled amiably at both of them.

“I trust I have not kept you waiting long. What exactly is the situation?”

Boreal Night stood up straight and pointed towards a spot on the map, indicating a sizable lake between Slime sect and Thousand Lakes sect territory.

“My disciples have found indications of large-scale ritual preparations at this site, with the Slime sect being the most likely perpetrator. The proof is flimsy however, which makes justifying an escalation risky. We would need to send in a large force to properly stop this, which could be taken as a provocation from us.”

Raging Waters smashed his fist onto the table, shaking the arrayed pieces.

“Damn this diplomatic theatre! Let them think it’s a provocation, what of it? We can’t allow such an act to have any chance of passing.”

No hint of emotion passed on the woman’s face, but Aki somehow still got the impression that she was not pleased.

“A simplistic view. If we give them such an opportunity, they will get up to something truly heinous. An escalation is not what we need right now.”

She turned back towards Aki.

“Well, you are now here Thousand Lakes. What’s your take on this?”

Yes, it would be good if I had a take on this. Aki was regrettably not an expert on the political warfare of the cultivation world, as he was rather new to the job. It’s not like the position came with an instructions booklet! However, as the sect leader he was supposed to be able to manage such matters. Aki had to put his brain to work once again. He scrunched up his face in thought.

Alright, I do not know how to handle this situation, so I have to somehow make them think I do, while allowing them to actually handle it. I think giving them some random zodiac animal talk should work. Those can always be interpreted however the listener wants them to be, allowing them to think I’m giving advice while they actually come to their own conclusions. The key is that I can’t be too specific.

Aki acted as if he had come to a conclusion after careful consideration, which in a sense he had, and so he proceeded to give his view while twirling his moustache.

“Indeed, it is a difficult situation to solve. However, one should remember this: You can cut the grass to frighten the snake, which will lure the tiger from the mountain.”

Pleased at coming up with something that could possibly be construed as military advice, Aki waited to see how his speech would be taken. The reaction was however different than he had expected, Boreal Night looked as if she had instantly understood what he meant, and Raging Waters grimaced. The woman gave Aki an approving look.

“Thousand Lakes, that is a phrasing of the 36 stratagems that I have not heard before, but that one is known for a reason. That would indeed be a workable idea. I like it, we should go with that.”

Wait a minute, is that an actual thing? That random talk was some very specific profound strategy? What exactly have I proposed? Aki was not sure whether this was a good or bad thing.

Even Raging Waters did not seem completely against the proposal. He was considering it with a frown on his face.

“Well, that is at least better than doing nothing. A workable beginning, I would say.”

“Alright, we will proceed using that plan”, Boreal Night nodded. She then moved back to look over the map, and pointed at a different point on it, inside Thousand Lakes sect managed lands. “That is however not our only concerning issue. My agents have received reports from rogue cultivators that there has been an unusual amount of demonic cultivator activity in our region. We have not managed to find out what they are up to yet.”

After laying out the situation, she turned an expectant eye towards Aki. Don’t look at me like that! I don’t know anything about this stuff! Why don’t you propose those stratagems yourself or something! Aki however realised that his silent raging would not bring results, and began to think.

Alright, my zodiac animal metaphor confusion strategy is clearly more risky than I though as I run the risk of accidentally mentioning some very specific ones. What else could I use for metaphors? We are the Thousand Lakes sect, so maybe some water metaphor would work? Aki twirled his moustache for a moment, then raised his finger to point at a random point in their territory.

“When the rain disturbs the water, it is an opportune time for fishing, is it not?”

He gave a knowing smile, then discreetly observed the reaction to his proclamation. Hopefully this time I was vague enough. However, to his dismay, the elders again seemed to know exactly what Aki was planning. Boreal Night gave Aki another approving glance, while Raging Waters repeated his grimace performance.

“As expected, I can see that stratagem also working. Another new phrasing though. Have you been studying some new interpretation of the 36 stratagems?”

Wait, that was another one? How can that be? Is every vague metaphor actually part of some group of deep wisdoms? Aki hoped that the strategy he had proposed was a solid one and decided that he should escape before he complicated matters further.

“Fellow elders, I shall leave the rest of the planning to you. I have to go to handle some urgent matters.”

Aki briskly walked out before more insights could be demanded from him and flew back to his residence at top speed.

Aki wanted to get on with his vassal visitation journey as soon as possible, as the dreams of the food possibilities provided by the Soul Food school proved to be rather tantalizing for him. However, that left him little options for escorts. I am still quite weak by the standards of cultivators. It would be good to have someone capable along.

Passionate Seeker was busy organising the experiment, and Spring Melt was similarly occupied at her post and Summer Warden was busy with his own important tasks. That left Winter Gale, so Aki was soon sitting in his courtyard, listening to her giving a report on the new rule changes in the outer sect.

This time she was not snacking on spirit fruit, but rather some sort of plant which emanated a rich vital Qi. She gnawed at it lazily while giving her report.

“So yeah, the rule changes should lessen the pressure out there somewhat. With a designated combat zone, they should still be able to fight with each other somewhat. The woods of course cannot be monitored completely, but we should be able to dissuade attacks somewhat if we manage to make them think we know what’s going on. I’ve made a few arrangements to arrange for such situations.”

Well, she seems to have handled that well. We’ll have to wait and see how it works out. Then, onto the next matter.

“Disciple, you have completed your mission well. With that, we can move onto your next task. I will be conducting an inspection at a few of our vassal organisations, and you will be accompanying me on this journey.”

She perked up at that slightly, clearly more interested than when giving her report.

“An inspection tour, master? That seems interesting. What are we investigating? Do we have traitors we need to take out?”

She seemed rather eager to get to knocking heads, so Aki corrected her misconceptions.

“Nothing of the sort, we are merely trying to catch hold of a few opportunities, and secure new resources for the sect.”

Winter Gale seemed a bit disappointed that the mission would be a diplomatic one, so Aki decided to throw her a bit of a bone.

“But, I have heard reports of demonic cultivator activities in the region. You can keep your eyes out for them.”

“Alright master, I’ll sniff out any such troublemakers for sure!”

His escort secured; Aki set off to make his last preparations for the trip. Those demonic cultivators seemed to be in a completely different area, so we shouldn’t actually run into any trouble.