---
The Azure Cloud Sect sat like a coiled beast atop Mount Fenliu, a vast sprawl of jade halls and towering pavilions. Beneath its pristine surface, ambition and fear flowed thicker than Qi.
Wei Xie stood alone in the courtyard behind the outer disciple training arena, sweeping fallen plum blossoms into a pile. To anyone watching, he was just another servant—silent, forgettable, beneath notice.
Which is exactly why no one noticed him listening.
---
"Senior Brother Zhao has been hogging all the spirit pills again," hissed a short-tempered outer disciple nearby. "The pill elder favors him because his cousin's a core disciple."
"Then challenge him," said another. "Duel him and make it public. He can't refuse without losing face."
"I'm only mid Qi Refining! He'll gut me!"
"Not if someone... stirs the pot. He's already under scrutiny for that accident during patrol last month."
Wei Xie didn't need to hear more.
He had what he needed.
---
That night, he lit a lantern and returned to the servants' archive closet, a cramped stone chamber few ever entered. Inside were broken shelves, moldy books, and a cracked wall where the spiritual array didn't quite reach.
Wei Xie used it as his nest.
He unrolled a scroll he had drawn himself—a map of relationships and grudges inside the sect. Tiny ink marks linked names like spider silk. Some lines were red. Others, black.
Zhao Renshu—outer disciple, overconfident, cruel, quick to anger.
Liang Fei—resentful, weak, desperate to rise.
Pill Elder Gong—corrupt, careless, treats rules like formality.
He dipped his brush and began writing an anonymous message.
> "Pill Elder Gong,
Your name is being tarnished by disciple Zhao Renshu. He boasts of your favoritism and threatens to reveal your 'other dealings' if denied spirit pills. I thought a loyal servant like you would want to know before rumors spread further…"
He folded the message, sealed it with powder, and slid it into a scroll delivery satchel. It would be found by morning.
---
The next step: exposure.
Two days later, Liang Fei challenged Zhao Renshu in the main sparring square. A large crowd gathered. Dueling was not uncommon in the sect, but duels with such uneven skill levels always drew blood—and attention.
Wei Xie stood among the servants, silent as always.
He didn't cheer. He didn't speak.
He just watched.
The duel began.
---
Zhao Renshu was all arrogance and flash, wielding a glowing saber coated in blue flame. Liang Fei moved nervously, his blade trembling slightly. As the fight began, Zhao toyed with him, striking his arm and cutting into his robes, smirking the whole time.
"Is that all?" Zhao laughed. "I've seen chickens with more fight!"
But then, the shift came.
Elder Gong arrived.
So did two other elders—one from the punishment hall.
And someone whispered that an anonymous message had circulated claiming Zhao was blackmailing Pill Elder Gong.
Now Zhao hesitated. He grew distracted. His defense slacked.
Liang Fei, sensing weakness, drove forward with a desperate swing.
The saber slashed across Zhao's shoulder.
He fell.
The crowd roared.
---
Zhao wasn't severely injured, but his pride was.
More importantly, Elder Gong distanced himself immediately, declaring, "This one has no personal ties to Zhao Renshu and will launch an internal audit."
The message was clear: Zhao had been abandoned.
Wei Xie smiled to himself.
Rumors are like blades.
If you place them well, someone will always pick them up and swing them for you.
---
That night, Wei Xie returned to the archive closet and added two new lines to his map:
Liang Fei – indebted.
Zhao Renshu – humiliated. Dangerous, if suspicious. Avoid.
Then he turned to a new scroll—this one half-filled with names underlined in green ink.
These were people with secrets.
He already had three:
A disciple who falsified a spiritual beast hunting record.
A steward selling talismans meant only for inner disciples.
A maid who slipped poison into her lover's tea to frame his wife.
Secrets were currency.
And Wei Xie was building a fortune.
---
Meanwhile…
High atop the Silent Star Pavilion, Elder Qin Yue stood by her scrying mirror, watching the duel replay in echo.
She stroked the surface.
There was no sign of Wei Xie's involvement. No footprints. No handwriting. No statements.
And yet…
Everything moved too cleanly.
She narrowed her eyes. "No cultivation. No root. No record. No reason to exist."
She turned to her attendant. "Send word to the Library Pavilion. I want everything ever written about a boy named Wei Xie from Hollow Jade City."
The attendant bowed. "Shall I inform the sect leader?"
"No," Qin Yue murmured. "If he's truly insignificant, he'll vanish. If not... I want to see who he tries to manipulate next."
---
Days passed.
Wei Xie moved through his routines like mist—present, but unnoticed.
He learned which elders slept with which concubines.
Which disciples stole pills from the infirmary.
Which guards took bribes at the entrance gates.
He never blackmailed anyone.
He never threatened.
He simply let people know he knew.
And that was always enough.
He left notes, slipped truths into the right ears, planted questions in the air.
A few disciples started to fear shadows.
One even accused his roommate of spying.
They were both punished.
Wei Xie never even spoke to either of them.
---
By the time the moon had waxed full again, a new name was whispered through the servants' halls:
"The Listener."
A nameless shadow. A whisper collector.
No one said his real name.
No one knew his face.
But already, people feared being seen by him—even if they didn't know who "he" was.
Wei Xie didn't correct them.
Let the mask grow on its own.
The best lies are the ones people invent for you.
---
Late one evening...
Guo Ren approached Wei Xie at the well, sweating and pale.
"Trouble," he muttered. "Outer disciple Zhao… he's asking around. Thinks someone set him up. Thinks you're connected to Lin Yuan."
Wei Xie didn't react. "What did you tell him?"
"Nothing. But I think he's going to the Punishment Hall."
Wei Xie took a slow sip from the water ladle.
Then he smiled.
"Good."
Guo blinked. "Good?"
Wei Xie rose. "He's walking into another trap. He just doesn't know it yet."
---
That night, Wei Xie visited Lin Yuan for the first time in nearly a week.
He bowed low in the garden. "Young Master, may I speak freely?"
Lin Yuan waved lazily. "You always do."
Wei Xie looked up. "Zhao Renshu is digging. He's suspicious of the elders. Word is, he blames you for his public fall."
Lin Yuan's expression darkened. "That rat dares?"
"Perhaps he even believes you framed him to gain Elder Gong's favor."
Lin Yuan slammed his palm against a table. "Ridiculous!"
Wei Xie said nothing.
Then, after a pause, he whispered, "If I may suggest... allow the Punishment Hall to take him in. Quietly. They'll find something. They always do."
Lin Yuan grinned.
Wei Xie turned to leave.
And Zhao Renshu would vanish by morning.
---
Above, in the Silent Star Pavilion…
Qin Yue watched her scrying glass go dark. She rubbed her thumb against her ring—an artifact that detected truth from lies.
It had not activated once during Wei Xie's last conversation.
Not once.
"…So," she whispered. "You truly believe everything you say."
She looked to the stars.
"Interesting."
---