How Much For Your Soul?

Chapter 60

It only took three days for Gu Bei to enslave five servants that were on the list of Gu Heng's trusted subordinates that had access to the kitchens. There was not just one central kitchen that supplied the entire Clan, but ten different ones with varying levels of security depending on who they served food to. Luckily, one of the servants that Gu Bei managed to capture had access to three elders.

Although he would not be able to poison everyone not allied to Gu Heng, three elders, their families and factions should get the point across. Of course, these five servants also had access to Gu Heng and his six allied elders. Shen Yue needed spiritual stones, and since he planned to stir up a hornet's nest in the Gu Clan, why not rob them while he poisoned everyone? Since it would be impossible to raid the Clan's treasury without being exposed, why not just take interspatial rings?

This would weaken the setup against Gu Heng, but why would Shen Yue care? His main goal was to gain resources and power, not get retribution for every 'evil' young master that his subordinates had issues with. The Gu siblings will be happy with the outcome regardless if Gu Hen is harshly punished or not. Especially when he finally manages to 'recruit' Gu Lan, then he only needs to 'tell' her that she is happy! The hardest part was finding out where to buy the Scarlet Apex Herb and Serpent Fruit that was necessary for the colourless and tasteless poison.

But with the five converted servants doing the looking, it would be just one more piece of evidence against Gu Heng. They also picked up some potent sedatives that would work on Dao of Dragon Elders. While the poison would take a week or so before the symptoms would show, Shen Yue wanted to rob everyone first before their guard was up. To do that, he would need the Elders comatose so the servants could transfer the contents of their rings.

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Fortunately, there were no soul marks or seals on the rings that would restrict access, like in other Wuxia stories. This way, instead of just removing the rings, it will take a bit of time before the owners realise they have been cleaned out. Any traceable items or Clan artifacts will be put in Gu Heng's interspatial ring just as another 'fuck you' to the Clan. Anyone with a brain would realise that he was set up, but it would only add to the shitstorm when everyone realised that they were poisoned.

It was a week later when Gu Bei gave the go-ahead to the servants. With the brilliant invention of the interspatial ring, it was too easy to smuggle the poison into the food meant for Gu Ya, the First Clan Elder, and his two confidant Elder's family and men belonging to their factions. Since the servants selected to carry out the attack were trusted members of the Clan, no one suspected them of such a heinous crime. Although it was easy to poison their food, it was too challenging to gain access to their courtyards to rob them. Since this was the case, Shen Yue had instructed Gu Bei only to pillage Gu Heng and his allies.

With one faction poisoned and the opposing faction robbed blind, the Patriarch had his work cut out for him trying to keep the Clan united. With the poisoning complete, it was now time for phase two of the plan. No one blinked an eye when six Elders felt tired and retired to their private courtyards early, nor when the guards nodded to the trusted servants they saw everyday entering with serving trays of tea. It was just another regular night in the heavily guarded Gu compound.

With the six Elder's interspatial rings emptied into multiple different spare rings, the servants met at a prearranged deserted area of the compound where Gu Bei was waiting. The contents were sorted, and anything that could be traced back to the Gu Clan was placed in one ring ready to plant on Gu Heng. While that servant took all the stolen goods and went to carry out his mission, Gu Bei cleared up any evidence tieing him to the crime. With his control through the slave seal, he altered the four unwitting pawns memory to seem as if it had all been ordered by Gu Heng.

Shen Yue had researched mindreading capabilities of this universe while he waited for Gu Bei to recruit his assistants in punishing his Clan. He found nothing to suggest that a Martial Ancestor could search a person's mind for memories that could implicate them, especially after he altered their victim's memory. Since killing the poor bastards would create more problems than they would solve, brainwashing some fanatics that thought Gu Heng's arse smelt like a rose garden into believing they were on a secret mission for him, seemed like fun.

With them believing they had just handed off their ill-gotten goods to Gu Heng's trusted attendant, they headed back to their rooms as the slave seal started to disperse. By the time they woke up in the morning, no matter how thoroughly their soul realm was searched, there would be no evidence of foul play, and they would believe they had completed a mission for their young master. Meanwhile, Gu Heng had his interspatial ring emptied and then filled with everything hard to sell. Shen Yue had also given Gu Bei a few ideas to prank the object of his hatred.

It may have been childish and left Gu Bei unsatisfied with the lack of bloodletting, but you could never go wrong with putting the victim's hand in warm water and drawing a dick on their face! With Gu Bei's less than enthusiastic reception to his idea, it was clear that this world had not really been introduced to the genius of dick jokes or humiliating pranks. It was a pity he would not be there to see it, but he couldn't stop giggling when he imagined all the stern members of the Clan wondering at the male genitalia covering the next Clan leader's face.

After the attendant added a few artistic strokes for the ball hair, he stored everything and left the room. His last job to do tonight was to leave the compound and hand off everything to a few of Shen Yue's slaves. They would split up the loot before hiding it in their rooms. This way, if there was somehow a way to track the rings, they should be able to salvage most of the loot. Shen Yue didn't want to be caught red-handed with the Gu Clan's stolen booty, so he planned to wait a week or two before receiving it.

With the servant's memories altered and the slave seal removed when he returned to the compound, everyone went to bed as if nothing had happened. With all the evidence erased and the minion's minds altered, there should be no way to trace it back to Shen Yue. A Martial Ancestor Realm expert should be unable to link the guilty party to the crime, even if they somehow suspect Gu Bei of playing a part. Through the slave seal in Gu Bei's Soul Realm, Shen Yue was able to read his thoughts as the mission was carried out. The amount of loot he saw in the rings had him rubbing his hands together in anticipation!

It turns out, being an Elder of the Gu Clan brought many benefits. Just the spiritual stones in one Elder's ring alone equalled to fifty to a hundred thousand! Gu Heng had a whopping ninety thousand, not at all lacking for one of the top youngsters of the Sect. Considering he has about seven hundred followers in his Blood Moon League, gathering resources must be a lot easier than people that have to work for others or acquire wealth for themselves. He was also a Central District student and had nearly the full support of his Clan, he could not appear to be deficient in front of others!

Unfortunately, all that wealth and that of his supporters were now destined to fund Shen Yue's bid on the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting. With that taken care of, Shen Yue now only had to concentrate on building up his forces and not drawing the attention of the hidden experts of the Sect. The only variable in his plans was the controversy surrounding the future of the Gu siblings.

When they left the Clan, they would lose the protection that came with belonging to a significant Sect family, but the Sect rules should protect them from death. If they were to be suddenly killed off for no reason, not only the Clan, but the Sect would receive harsh criticism. Who would want to join a Sect that brazenly killed its disciples? If those with Heaven grade Spiritual Roots could be killed off, there was no way other talents would join the Divine Feathers Sect!

Especially now that they would have a legitimate reason for leaving their Clan. Still, as Shen Yue waited and watched through Gu Bei for news of the theft, he could not help but worry. What if there was some unknown factor that was not mentioned in the novel? The risk was still worth taking. Unless he wanted to sell off demon spirits and strengthen his enemies, he could only carefully gather resources. He could not even steal a Deity's Lake as it would not fit in the Jade Immortal's Realm. But once he got his hands on that painting, he would have unlimited spiritual stones!