Chapter 989: Playing with Fire

Proofreader : Papatonks

Keeping that look for a few moments longer, Elder Li was having trouble reacting. Only later did he turned a stiff head to Executive Cao with an eye twitch, "Little Cao, are you sure it's a... spy?"

"Uhm, I guess..."

"Guess your pea-brain!"

Pa!

Elder Li smacked him real hard as he cursed, "In the name of all that's holy, are you trying to get me killed as well? What spy out there has such power, erasing fifty Genesis experts off this heaven's green earth? She has to be a peak Genesis Stage at the minimum! And you! You came to me without even knowing her strength? Now you got me suffering the same thing you have by losing so many men!"

Elder Li growled and Executive Cao only made himself small and winced under the verbal assault, proclaiming his innocence in his mind.

[It wasn't me who found the spy, but Qian Fan who told me. That a dozen Soul Harmony Stage cultivators scared her off.]

But now things went from bad to worse, first the loss of fifty Soul Harmony experts and now another loss of fifty experts, but a stage above that.

With such a hole in their mismanagement record, the two had no way of covering or straightening it up. Best find help.

Executive Cao lowered his head in silence. He hardly had any power as an executive to get this disaster handled and could only sit there like a statue and listen to the other.

Elder Li was so tense and vexed under this problem, he was stomping all over the room. Sometimes glaring at the trembling Executive Cao, though this was no time to vent. He needed something to make those losses look necessary, not just that they were sent out to die.

After long moments of furious thinking, Elder Li took a deep breath and walked outside, "Follow me!"

Executive Cao rushed along like a meek puppy.

In a room filled with the intoxicating smell of all kinds of pills, a white-haired old man with a valiant face and shocked eyes, shouted, "Is what you're saying true? To lose so many men then the person must be incredible!"

"Yes, Venerable Ma, he has to be a crucial member and not just a simple spy."

Elder Li bowed next to him with a bright look, like a good devil on his shoulder, "He must have a special mission coming into northern lands. We have indeed suffered many losses, but all we have to do is capture him and it will become our greatest achievement in the northern lands. It won't stop at just our Sect Leader, or the other four sects, but we'll even earn the respect of the other lands in our alliance. Venerable Ma, you are one of the ten High Venerables in our sect, but by pulling such a feat will send you into the top three!"

Venerable Ma was silent, putting pressure on Executive Cao and feeling the need to speak up to drag him into this, "Yes, yes, Elder Li is right. This is a chance of a lifetime and letting it slip by would only leave other venerables to take advantage of it. Please make a quick decision, Venerable Ma."

"While it does sound nice, I fear she's already at peak in strength and can't be handled..." Venerable Ma frowned, pensive, a cautious and weary man.

Elder Li egged on, "Fortune favors the bold, Venerable Ma. She's just a peak Genesis expert. It would be very simple for you to have her tied and brought back, especially with ten other peak venerables. Ten against one at the same cultivation is bound to result in a win. the only risk that could ever pose this operation is if she detonated."

"Your words do make sense."

Mulling it over some more, Venerable Ma's interest grew, but not enough, "But if she isn't just a peak expert and instead one of central area's Nine Sword Kings..."

Elder Li dismissed his worries with a wave, "Venerable Ma, you're overthinking things. Why so low-key if she were a real Sword King? Why sneak around behind a caravan? I believe she doesn't want us to discover her since she can't take on our sect. That's unlike how an arrogant and obnoxious Sword King acts. Venerable Ma, there's no need to worry so much, just get her captured!"

Venerable Ma thought it over some more and then nodded.

"Wait here, I will invite some venerables to help capture this central area spy, for our sect's glory!"

Venerable Ma flicked his sleeve and stormed out the door. The other two bowed, "Congratulations, Venerable Ma, on your success in becoming a top three venerable!"

Venerable Ma was gone soon and the duo sighed, "Damn it, giving the credit to another again!"

"Yeah..." Executive Cao mumbled.

Elder Li's face fell and smacked him again, "Yeah my ass! Damn useless fool, come, we need to wait at the entrance to congratulate Venerable Ma when he arrives."

"Elder Li, congratulate..."

"That's enough out of you. You still want a bit after all this? You can't have your cake and eat it too. Be thankful if we even get some crumbs. At the very least, we're the ones who supplied this intel."

Elder Li's brow shook, glaring hard at him and mocking, "If we can't even do something as simple as that, we might not even get the crumbs, that old coot swallowing it whole. You might be fine with that, but not I, humph!"

Elder Li flicked his sleeve and left. Executive Cao needed time before finally exclaiming and rushing after him.

[Of course, with such a big fish, there's bound to be some leftovers, ha-ha-ha...]

The two credit-stealing old men braved the biting winds, the icy snow pelting their skin, waiting with such bravery before the sect's entrance, to sing the ten venerables praises upon their return, sucking up to them for even a wee bit of reward.

Though reality seldom conformed to peoples' wishes. As luck would have it, they were up against a mountain so hard, nothing they threw at it put a dent in it...

They had been waiting for a full hour before the barrier to the sect opened and the two elders lit up, fixing their clothes for their greatest performance yet.

What welcomed them was the most familiar and elderly excited Venerable Ma, on his mission to catch the spy.

The venerable, however, didn't look so perky at the elders though. Judging by his ruined clothes, his wretched and panicked return, it was anything but joy among the countless thoughts that ran through his head.

"Venerable Ma, you..."

Elder Li began with an expected look, "Did you get her..."

Venerable Ma dished out two heavy smacks on both of them, throwing them off their feet. He did not forget to curse either, "You have the nerve to show your faces to me? Screw you and all your kin! Truly, there's no one setting you up to fail more than your own dumb people! You came to me to get the spy without even having a clear picture with what we're dealing here? I ought to strangle you here and now..."

"Uh, Venerable Ms, you don't mean to say even you fail..." Elder Li gasped in shock.

The sudden warping of the Sun Sea Sect's barrier, and its subsequent explosion, cut off his voice.

With the vanishing of the barrier, what appeared before them was the picture of grace in the form of a delicate woman yet bearing cold eyes, her fine features in a mask of anger.

Venerable Ma fled without any hesitation, wanting nothing to do with this broad.

Whoosh!

Thousands of people landed just then, as the experts of Sun Sea Sect showed to fight off the invader, unleashing all their power unto the woman.

She hardly cared, though, her icy gaze fixed on the frightened Venerable Ma. She was out for blood.

Thump~

Clear and resounding steps echoed as a middle-aged man in a fancy robe walked before the crowd, glaring at the woman, "I am the Sect Leader of Sun Sea Sect, Bu Xingyun. Who are you miss? Do you not fear death?"

"Bu Xingyun of Sun Sea Sect? Humph!"

The woman mocked him, " You've got quite the apt name for your situation, Unlucky. I have a bone to pick with that brat and have been following his caravan. I have no relationship whatsoever with any of you! Yet why the hell do you pester me time and time again? Buzzing around like flies is starting to piss me off, even if you don't. So might as well finish you all off and end this incessant pestering!"

(StarReader: it's a pun. His name sounds just like the characters for unlucky.)

Bu Xingyun frowned and jeered, "Finish off my sect? You talk a big game! Just who do you think you are, miss? Cease your boasting before you earn everyone's ridicule!"

The men started laughing in disdain. Only Venerable Ma shuddered in his spot...