I had thought the woman had lied once she had caused the tunnel to collapse around me. Her claim of working for the Patriarch was only an excuse to get me to follow her. But she really was a member of the staff. Aa flunky, more a gopher than anyone of real import, but still a servant that worked in the Patriarch's office. That she had been so sure of her success that she hadn’t even tried to hide her identity was beyond audacious.

Before I headed to the Patriarch's office to confront the would-be murderess, I packed up what few items I had scattered around the apartment and restored the information system on the desk back to default settings, erasing all of my information. I had already considered not keeping the apartment when I had returned last time, but recent events had me reassessing my status with the Sect too.

I had decided I’d had enough. It was time to move on, and I was going to update my affiliation with the Sect and become a roaming member. It would give me the same access to Contribution Hall I already enjoyed as well as access to the library, but my actions and my time would be my own to determine from now on.

I would spend my time and energy in Xiwang. I had enough to do building a territory and city that was strong enough and safe enough for my family to live. I had ten months before they arrived, and I was tired of wasting my time on thankless missions for a Sect that refused to support me or protect me.

I didn’t trust the Patriarch, or Elder Shadow for that matter, to act in my best interests anymore. I would always be a secondary consideration if that to whatever plans they had for the Sect or their House. That would have been fine if they had treated me as a valued member, but they hadn’t. And I kept finding myself discarded or marginalized in our dealings.

I had yet to get any real help or benefit from agreeing to act as their stooge. Perhaps my resentment at Elder Shadow’s decision to bar me from exploring the Rift that I had discovered, located on my own land, had left me with more resentment than might be warranted. But I couldn’t help feeling like a child being sent to her room while the grownups dealt with adult issues.

Sour grapes?

Maybe.

And I wouldn’t take actions that would be detrimental to myself or my people. I would continue to feed them any information I came across that they might find useful. The difference going forward was that I wouldn’t go out of my way to ferret out that information. My primary focus would be my Fief, my family, and my cultivation. All other considerations would be only an aside.

I had realized as I came to my decision to change my affiliation into one of the roaming cultivators, why so many had taken that path. Unless your goal was to become an Elder or Patriarch, there was no reason not to. It allowed the most freedom and ability to grow. Freedom to study Alchemy, for example, without being barred from formula or manuals because of politics.

The Sects were great at offering a path forward, for novice cultivators. The resources that could be obtained and techniques that could be studied were significant. But the restrictions on your time and the fierce competition for those limited resources made less sense as you progressed. When you could claim a Fief as large as a country, why would you fetter and hobble yourself with those restrictions unless position and Sect authority were your goals?

The change in Sect status was a secondary consideration at the moment. First, I needed to deal with the spy on the Patriarch’s staff. I wish I had time to effect some repairs on my armor first, but there was no pressing need. The fight with Daniel had destroyed the Hanfu I’d been wearing when he’d attacked forcing me to equip the armor Yvonne had made for me, but that armor had weathered the fight well.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I should have been wearing it, especially since I’d already been the victim of a murder attempt. The armor was barely singed, but a good polish and treatment with a new application of heat-reflecting liquid would need to be scheduled.

The Patriarch maintained a suite of offices near the Sanctum large enough to hold the staff it took to run the Sect and deal with the world at large. I had identified the woman who had tried to kill me as Noellyn. Her file had her as a minor staff member, commissioned to work as a servant, instead of an actual member of the Sect.

She was listed as having a Silver Spirit Root and having reached the perfected tier of the Body Refinement Realm. Her cultivation technique notwithstanding, she was documented as having one affinity, which she had been recorded as water, not earth.

The information that the Sect had posted about her made no sense. The woman that I had followed into a trap had been able to mask her cultivation level, and from what I had been able to grasp when she’d triggered the tunnel collapse had to have been at least a Nascent Soul Realm. She was certainly an earth affinity specialist, so why she was documented as having a water affinity gave me pause.

Either Noellyn was adept at hiding her true cultivation realm and affinity from someone as powerful as the Patriarch, or there was someone within the Sect who was skilled enough with illusions to steal another person’s identity. Someone able to take the shape and form of a cultivator so flawlessly that they could mimic realm and affinity.

It took me a while of looking in offices and walking halls to find the young woman in question, her look of confusion completely believable as I moved to stand in front of her. That look only becoming more confused as I ordered her to accompany me. I had blasted her with the strongest perception sweep I could.

A probe so intense that some of the talismans she was wearing, cosmetic, beauty, and charisma charms completely shattered. My perception scouring her completely and comparing this woman to the one that had tried to kill me.

“Come with me,” I ordered the flustered young woman.

It took a few moments for her to regain her equilibrium and center herself after I reigned in my perception. Her hands were trembling as she moved to stand, her movement nervous as she adjusted her Hanfu. She could have made a scene. Demanded I explain my actions, but she was either too scared or too flustered to try. She simply followed behind me meekly as I stormed off.

“I need to speak with the Patriarch,” I informed a pair of guards stationed in front of her office. “Please ask if she has time to speak with Jai Myche. Inform her I have information about Sect security.”

Neither guard seemed concerned about my pronouncement, but one did at least knock on the door behind him before entering to relay my message. The Patriarch quickly agreed to see me letting the guard know it was alright for Noellyn and me to enter.

“Jay?” The Patriarch greeted me as soon as we entered. She was obviously angry with me, believing me to have shirked my responsibilities these past few weeks. “Where have you been? I expected a report from you weeks ago, I certainly expected a reaction to the agreement Clement managed to broker for you before now.”

“I was trapped in the tunnels,” I explained, “led there by this woman, or a person disguised to appear as this woman before she triggered explosions bringing the mountain down around us.

“She was powerful enough with the earth element to escape, leaving me to dig my way out or die.”

Noellyn paled in shock and fear as I explained my experience. The tale I recounted could have very well placed her as the culprit, she may have only been gifted with a Silver ranked spirit root, but if she was an earth aligned cultivator that wouldn’t matter. Even if she wasn’t as powerful as the woman who I’d followed, or at least she didn’t seem to be, she would have been powerful enough that she could survive and free herself from a cave in.

“I’m not sure if Noellyn was the individual involved, or if there is another cultivator involved, but what is apparent is that the Sect has been compromised, and the people that are involved in the smuggling ring and those that had tried to hide the Rift have people placed in positions inside the Sect to monitor communications.

“You knew that the Sect probably had been infiltrated with spies, this just proves how invasive that infiltration has reached. They knew the second I had returned, the details of the Rift, and were able to affect a trap that required skills and resources that were probably stolen from Contribution Hall.

“None of that would have been possible if they hadn’t been monitoring your missives, and had people placed in Contribution Hall that could acquire the resources they needed.

“I’m not sure how you will be able to find the truth, but I’ve done all I can, all I’m willing to do. I’ve already been attacked and almost killed twice now. I’ve identified the product, probably the place where the item was being grown and cut off the distribution channel.

“I think the rest is up to you or the Empire to solve. I’m going to take a step back, change my affiliation with the Sect and become a roaming member while I focus on my Fief. My family will be arriving in under a year, and I need to have a place for them to settle.”

I had tried to parse my words carefully. The guard and Noellyn were listening, and I didn’t want to share any of the Patriarch’s secrets I was privy to. I’m not sure I succeeded. The emotion on the Patriarch’s face continued to transform as I spoke, going from angry to disbelief, to shock, to acceptance.

I wasn’t sure what she was thinking. I didn’t want to make an enemy of her. Having her as a friend had been dangerous enough. But I had to start prioritizing my own interests.

It was time.