...The Kang Clan’s spy. Shao Qing’s facial expression froze as he struggled to stop his worry from outwardly showing. They’d barely started planning so there was no chance info about what they were up to had leaked already, right? But why else would this guy suddenly force his way in?

As Shao Qing stewed internally, trying to keep his calm, Tao Yun spoke up. Surprisingly enough, he’d taken almost no time at all to adjust to the situation. “Gong Jiang. Why are you here?” The question was a bit blunt, but it was better than staying silent.

Gong Jiang reacted somewhat slowly, almost as if he was also adjusting to his own arrival. “Well, the security division had an order of pills for Grandmaster Kang Bao that was turned over to Quasi-Grandmaster Shao, so I decided to come over and check on the progress.” The stress filling Shao Qing’s heart dissipated by over half, but just as he returned to a normal state something surprised him once more- a line of dark blood had started to flow out of Gong Jiang’s nose and drip down his face.

“Are you alright?” Gong Jiang’s reaction was still a beat slow. “Yes. Just some backlash from my soul contract. It took me a bit to convince myself this was the correct course of action.” The ominous feeling returned, but Shao Qing took the lead this time. “Ah. So you’re under a soul contract as well? I wasn’t aware that the security division engaged in such practices.”

“I’m not an exception- as far as the Kang Clan's espionage teams go it’s rather common. But you are wrong on one point.” The spy let the statement stand alone for a moment, but after seeing a lack of reaction continued. “The two of you aren’t under soul contracts, are you?”

Shao Qing had to fight the urge to attack. If they weren’t on Kang Clan premises, and his opponent hadn’t reached Soul Foundation, he would’ve immediately. Tao Yun, seeing that the situation wasn’t turning violent, stayed silent. “Why do you say that?” Gong Jiang smiled, but Shao Qing couldn’t help but find his cheerful grin grating. “Servants under a soul contract can’t plan out a heist and talk about breaking others out of their contracts, no?”

He’d heard them. He’d silently punctured through the room’s concealment formation and heard voice transmissions not being sent to him. Somehow. If his identity as a spy had been in question before, it certainly wasn’t now. “Of course we couldn’t seriously plan to harm the Kang Clan. But there’s no problem with talking, right- it’s just a bit of escapism.” Shao Qing had to deny any claim that his soul contract was broken. He needed time. With enough time he could deal with the problem, or run away if it was impossible.

“Oh? Of course- my apologies. But I do still need to do my due diligence. Why don’t we have someone examine your souls so we can put this whole incident behind us and carry on with the business of the pills?” Or not. Shao Qing really wanted to knock that smug grin off his face, but talking was still the only option. For some reason he was still chatting with them, so they might have a way out.

But despite knowing that, Shao Qing couldn’t think of anything to say. Maybe he could try to turn the conversation to the pill order first while he thought of something?

Before Shao Qing could finish brainstorming, Gong Jiang spoke again, the slightest hint of anxiousness entering his voice. “Under the case that your soul contract is broken, you have no real way out. As long as I am under a soul contract I am obligated to do my best to protect the safety of the Kang Clan and will have to report you.” As if terrified that the subtext of the sentence would go unnoticed, he continued. “For the time being I will conduct a thorough investigation of the two of you. If your soul contracts are broken, you clearly must have a larger force behind you who broke it for you. While I investigate you, it may be beneficial for you to contact this force. I will not stop you.”

At this point Shao Qing and Tao Yun’s jaws were both hanging open, but Gong Jiang ignored their shock, speaking faster. “As a member of the Kang Clan’s security division, it would be remiss of me to act hastily. Capturing the two of you immediately would alert the organization of what’s happening and stop us from discovering their full plan. That’s why I’ll be leaving the two of you alone during this investigation- if you ask for help and lure out your compatriots, that will be beneficial to my work.”

Gong Jiang nodded to himself, the blood from before falling from his chin and staining his robe. “Yes, that is why I’m doing this. Because it’s the best way to capture the organization behind you. Of course, at the same time I will not be alerting my colleagues- this organization has clearly infiltrated the Kang Clan already, and as they have the ability to break soul contracts they may have an insider in the security division. Therefore, until I’m done I must undergo my investigation alone, keeping it a secret despite the danger.”

Neither Shao Qing nor Tao Yun knew how to continue from here. It took several several seconds for Gong Jiang to reluctantly speak again, breaking the silence. “...So that’s that. Your only choice is to call your superiors for help and try to deal with me. Otherwise I’ll finish my investigation, unmask the two of you, and turn you in. Do you understand?”

Shao Qing reluctantly nodded. The smile that had momentarily slipped from Gong Jiang’s face reappeared once more. “Good. To begin my investigation, I’ll be getting a full eight hours of sleep. It would be irresponsible for me to start without being well-rested.” With that he left the room and disappeared from view, as if he hadn’t just found two Acupoint Opening cultivators guilty of treason.

Once he was safely in the distance, Shao Qing reluctantly spoke, double-checking the concealment formation as he did so. “...I think he wants us to break his contract.” Tao Yun merely nodded.

After some minor alterations to the room’s concealment formation, some investigations of the surrounding area, and Tao Yun switching from the Kang Clan’s voice transmission technique to a different one, the two felt safe enough to speak again.

Shao Qing was flabbergasted. “I have no idea how he convinced himself that this was a good course of action within his contract, but I suppose we have his… unique mindset to thank.” “Yes… I suppose so. What do we do now?” Shao Qing's response to this came quickly, having already been thought out as they made sure communication wasn’t compromised. “Prepare. Due to the assistance of his twisted logic we have at least eight hours, and if his slow response time earlier was any indication, possibly more. Even if he is great at deluding himself, his soul suffered some significant damage in the process. He might be asleep longer recovering."

With a strict time limit bearing down on the two of them, the two hurried to work. Tao Yun continued altering the formations around the room further, adding alarms to some of the existing formations and increasing the power directed towards the concealment formation. In the mean time, Shao Qing took out his pill cauldron and searched the room for sets of ingredients he needed. He didn't have much time to concoct pills, and while he only had a vague outline of a plan currently, no matter what the final plan ended up being it would benefit from having more of a few key pills on hand. He would need to go for quantity.

Before finishing his first pill conoction, Shao Qing downed a multicolored cocktail of pills. Several were to temporarily strengthen his soul and to reduce the need for sleep within the coming days, and a few other circumstantial pills could directly help improve the speed and results of the coming pill concoctions. Using these pills for mass-producing normal pills would normally cost far more than it gained, and with the frankly unreasonable quantity Shao Qing was planning on consuming he'd have to spend several days later expelling medicinal essence and making sure he didn't build up a resistance to similar pills in the future. Despite these drawbacks, this course of action was currently worth it- the cost of being exposed outweighed any other minor losses.

It took a single round of pill concoction for Tao Yun to finish his second set of alterations to the room's formations. For the time being, he had no plans to change them further. Tao Yun turned to Shao Qing as he watched him fill a bottle with small, red pills. "What are those?" "Just a little something using those Flaming Jumping Beans I harvested. I'll need more." Shao Qing rose to his feet as he went over to a shelf filled with pills. After a moment of rearranging pill bottles, he placed the bottle of freshly made pills among several bottles filled to the brim with pills of an almost identical appearance.

"While I work on this I need you to look for Gong Jiang. He may be a spy, but it's doubtful they have some sort of special dormitory, as that might raise suspicions. Try to find out where he lives." As Shao Qing said this, his hand flashed across a torn piece of paper. In less than half a minute, a rough sketch of Gong Jiang's face had appeared on it. "He might go by a different name in the clan. Take this."

Tao Yun took his leave, sketch in hand. With that done, Shao Qing returned to his pill concoction. It wasn't even half an hour later that Tao Yun returned. "He gave us the same name he used in the clan, so it didn't take long. Western Wing of the Ironwood Estate, Green Hall, Room 37." Shao Qing muttered to himself for a moment, prompting a floor plan of the area in question to appear in his mind- he'd already memorized the Ironwood Estate's layout using his mental cataloguing technique. "It's a residential area for Half-Step Soul Foundation and Early Soul Foundation cultivators, and the security measures are normal. The rooms are rather spread out and the foot traffic is low, so if we're careful we should be able to break in. Let's go."

Minutes later, the two stood in a long hall with only a few doors on either side. Spacious living areas flanked the hallway, concealment formations attached to each room preventing passerby from peeking into rooms and, as a byproduct, residents from peeking out. Unless someone left their room or happened to pass by the hallway neither Shao Qing nor Tao Yun would be discovered, but in an area as populated as this it was little comfort.

Due to the sheer quantity of cultivators within the Kang Clan many of the formations around each room had been arranged casually, and in this area were only the product of an ordinary Formation Master. This led to an estimate of five minutes to break into the room. Too long. After reluctantly loosening the requirement of stealth and hoping that Gong Jiang's lingering injuries would stop him from noticing when the formation was broken, this figure was cut to roughly two minutes for the formation locking the room. If they brute-forced it they could get through much faster, but as there was a basic alarm formation attached to the door they needed to use a more gentle approach.

One minute and fourty-three seconds. Tao Yun had displayed an array of secret techniques and nearly drained his qi in the process, but he had broken through the formation in front of him in record time and kept the disturbance to a minimum. If Gong Jiang was awake inside this effort would go to waste, but if he was asleep and his soul was injured, it would be easy to infiltrate.

Shao Qing consumed another pill, and his aura suddenly weakened. After using one of his clan's techniques, it lowered further, becoming difficult to detect. After taking a deep breath Shao Qing silently stepped forward and opened the door. A sitting room was revealed. The furniture was bog standard, and the place looked almost untouched- it looked like Gong Jiang didn't come here very often. Somewhat worried if his plan would go bust, Shao Qing entered further into his living space.

These initial worries were unfounded. After a short search, Gong Jiang's bedroom yielded the results Shao Qing wanted. Gong Jiang was lying on a bed at the edge of the room, deep in sleep, and some of his personal effects were on a table by the door's entrance. Among them was a small pouch filled with various varities of pills. After glancing inside, Shao Qing took his leave. He'd gotten what he was after.

By the time he exited, Tao Yun was gone. Before he'd left he'd set up a formation nearly identical to the one that originally locked Gong Jiang's door, the only difference being that he was the one who controlled it. Leaving the formation missing was a minor, but noticable change, so it needed to be rectified.

After the visit to Gong Jiang's quarters, Shao Qing returned to his pill concoction. Set after set of pills of varying appearances were spat out of his pill cauldron. Occasionally they would be produced from new ingredients, and sometimes they would be existing pills with changed exteriors. Several hours of rushed work passed before Shao Qing stood up and headed towards the alchemy division, more than half a dozen pill bottles in hand.

The clerk hurriedly straightened his back as Shao Qing approached. "I'd appreciate it if you could handle a few things for me. I've been having scheduling problems with a client of mine, Gong Jiang, and we aren't able to meet up for the immediate future. Unfortunately I'm working on a large order at his behest, and he may need part of it immediately. I'll be leaving what's done with you. If he asks for the pills in question simply give them to him and charge the appropriate amount of contribution points. Otherwise, simply keep them on hand and I'll retrieve them when it's time to turn in the order in full. Understood?"

Normally such commands would go unheeded, but in Shao Qing's case no such thing happened. The clerks of the alchemy division didn't have time to adhere to every special request they were given at the behest of an alchemist, but for someone with the status of Quasi-Grandmaster the situation was different. Their status was only below that of the handful of Grandmasters within the alchemy division, so it went without saying that they'd receive special treatment. On top of Shao Qing's stern tone and an expression that beget no argument, the clerk merely nodded and said that he'd pass the information onto the other clerks on duty. Even if it was special treatment, who cared? He'd rather do a bit of extra work than be fired because he angered the wrong person.

With most of the immediate preparations done with, Shao Qing returned to Gong Jiang's room. He was still in a deep sleep, stabilizing the injury to his soul. Under the cover of a combination of stealth pills and techniques, Shao Qing neared the bed. From twenty feet to ten feet, and ten feet to five feet, he remained undetected. Eventually he approached Gong Jiang's bed, Contract-Breaking pill in hand.

Before Shao Qing could forcefeed it to the man, an arm shot up from the bed, grabbing his own. A moment later another arm grabbed at his throat, locking him in place. The force of Gong Jiang's grip felt like it'd crush Shao Qing's wrist and collapse his trachea, but after a few seconds the pain lightened up as Gong Jiang regained consciousness.

"Good try!" Gong Jiang laughed as he stared at Shao Qing, who was practically frozen in place. A few more seconds passed before Gong Jiang sat up and removed his hand from Shao Qing's throat, grabbing the Contract-Breaking pill with it. "Thanks for the present. Should I show you out, or will you be leaving on your own?"

Shao Qing choked out a response. "I'll show myself out." Shao Qing ignored the lingering pain in his body and slowly walked out of the room, Gong Jiang's gaze following him as he did so.