The courtyard smelled of wet straw and early rain—an ordinary morning, if the way people watched you did not feel like anything but measurement. Li Wei moved through the practice rows with his usual quiet focus, but the glances he received had a new quality: not mere curiosity, but the small, eager tilt that comes when someone expects a story to snap. Rumor, he had learned, loved punctuation.
It began as a dozen small things: a look held too long, a phrase dropped in a cooking circle, a half-phrase caught and repeated like a favored proverb. Then came the sharper strikes—snippets of accusation shaped to sting. Chen Bo's group had become more artful; where they once muttered, they now whispered with performative hurt. "He treats practice like a show," one would say. "He uses discipline to seduce." Another added, soft and venomous, "Who keeps the records? Who verifies who consents?"
The smear had teeth because it was plausible. Li Wei felt the old burn of exposure—the way power attracts interpretation. He kept moving, kept training, but the system's small blue rectangle cut into his field with a new note.
[ALERT]
Host: Li Wei
Status: Reputation Volatility — Rising.
Hint: Political friction detected. Documented transparency and elder endorsement will mitigate.
Reward: +40 Qi upon successful resolution.
He met Hua Lin beneath the veranda. Her jaw was set like someone who had sharpened a blade for words. "They're moving from complaint to campaign," she said without preamble. "It will spread if not met. Elder Ji will question you soon."
"Then we prepare," Li Wei replied. Preparation had been his new currency: ledgers, witness lists, aftercare logs, signed protocols. He had been boring about documentation and for once his boringness might save him.
Elder Ji's summons arrived as a hush before midday. The assembly hall folded into a heavy quiet as he took the dais, his presence the sort that made people feel as if their deeds had edges. He did not accuse immediately; he cataloged. "There are rumors circulating about improper conduct under the guise of practice," Elder Ji said. "I have read the preliminary claims. Master Han, bring forward any documented practices you deem relevant."
Master Han stepped forward like a slow tree. "We have instituted instructed aftercare, witness protocols, and supervised practice rotas. Li Wei has volunteered to teach and has logged consent forms for his sessions."
Elder Ji turned his stone gaze on Li Wei. "Young man. Speak plainly. Are your practices consensual? Are your bonds voluntary and honored? Provide evidence, witness testimony, and demonstrate that there is no coercion."
Li Wei's throat tightened for a second. He could have bristled, spun a tale of slander, invoked the envoy's talisman, or fumed. Instead he did what the system and Hua Lin had both taught him: he leaned on paperwork and people. He stepped to the dais and presented the ledger he kept—neat entries of date, time, participants, witness names, aftercare notes. He handed copies to Elder Ji and Master Han, and to the smaller faces in the hall who might be hungry for proof.
"Hua Lin supervised the triad sessions," he said, voice steady. "Master Han witnessed the last public instruction. Each partner signed consent and aftercare forms. We logged physical and emotional states and scheduled follow-ups. I have invited several of the outer cohort—Chen Bo included—to the next supervised session as participants or observers."
A murmur ran like wind, some skeptical, some approving. Chen Bo's club tittered at the idea of being asked into the drills. Elder Ji took the papers with a slow, unreadable expression. "Documentation is useful," he said at last. "But rumor is not always rational. I will appoint an inquiry: Master Han and I will observe all supervised sessions for a lunar cycle. Li Wei—you will cooperate fully. Any evidence of coercion and the sanctions will be swift."
It was a conditional reprieve. Elders did not trust quickly, but they respected ledgered care. The envoy's talisman in Li Wei's pocket buzzed faintly as if it, too, took note.
[NOTIFICATION]
Condition: Elder Inquiry initiated (14 days).
Effect: Inner monitors will observe supervised practice. Maintain compliance and expand witness roster. Rewardoncompliance: +120 Qi.
The political field had shifted; attention would now be technical and methodical instead of immediate and messy. That suited Li Wei. He set about doing precisely what the orb recommended: broaden witnesses, formalize consent, invite critics into process rather than bristling. There was a tactical purpose to humility: when you invite a skeptic to watch the gears, you make rumor harder to sell.
He visited Chen Bo that afternoon—an intentional choice. Rather than confrontation, he offered to teach Chen Bo a grounding drill and asked for help carrying a crate of dried herbs to the supply shed. Dirty work had a way of softening angles worthier than speeches. Chen Bo accepted with the wary curiosity of someone who smells an offer and can't quite tell if it's bait. During the crate shift Li Wei kept the conversation light, not pleading but practical: "I'll teach any of you my breathing set. It helps on long shifts. If you want, I'll include your name in the witness roster."
Chen Bo's voice was rough when he answered. "Are you trying to buy us?" he asked.
"No," Li Wei said. "I'm trying to make us safer. If you know the movements, you know what is normal and what is not. That helps everyone."
It was not entirely persuasion by charm—though Charm Aura, still a small passive on his side, made his words land with an easier cadence—but more an appeal to shared craft. The system recorded the micro-quest.
[MICRO-QUEST]
Task: Engage skeptical outer cohort through labor and instruction.
Result: +20 Qi. Passive Empathy +1.
Outside the formal inquiry, the politics threaded into softer places. Lan Yue watched with the kind of inscrutable attention that meant she catalogued variables for much later testing; Master Han offered curt, steady support in private; Hua Lin coordinated witness shifts and made sure the consent forms were written in clear, accessible language. Mei Ling and Yun Shuang held to the schedule of check-ins, anchoring the emotional architecture that had begun to look like infrastructure.
There was cost. The inquiry meant more eyes, more calculations, and for a time, less privacy. But Li Wei had anticipated this. He scheduled open sessions as learning opportunities, posted protocol sheets in communal spaces, and insisted on aftercare being a visible practice rather than a whispered secret. Transparency, he had learned, could be armor.
When the day drew to a close, Elder Ji offered one final, if guarded, comment. "I will not tolerate exploitation," he said. "Nor will I allow reckless rumor to fracture duty. You will continue your instruction under supervision. If your ledger and witnesses hold true, the matter will close. If not, the sect has ways to correct imbalance."
Li Wei bowed. The sentence was less a threat than a ledger kept by an old hand. He had bought time and process. Now he had to keep both.
That night, in the quiet of his room, Mei Ling sat with him and read the ledger by lamplight. Yun Shuang hummed while mending a strap; Hua Lin brought herbs for the aftercare kit and set them in order. Their presence was a small, steadying force. The Obsidian Heart thudded like a contained promise.
The orb offered a parting note as he closed the book.
[NOTIFICATION]
EffectGranted: Political Acumen (Passive) unlocked. Benefit: +5 to persuasion checks with elders; advisory: use sparingly, ethically.
Li Wei inhaled and understood the meaning in his bones. The Perverted Dao had not only taught him how to convert intimacy into Qi. It had taught him how to convert power into responsibility—and politics into a practice of care. Tonight he would sleep with the ledger at his side and a plan for witness rotations in his head. Rumor could be loud, but structure, he realized, made it quieter.
End of chapter 18