Chapter 17 - “Righteous”

-??? POV-

-Time: Just as Long Ren left-

Star Sect. The Overlord clan of the Yan Nation. A righteous sect that rose above the surrounding sects in just under 200 years, surpassing its peers in an unbelievably fast amount of time.

My current task right now is to watch them. Interact with these ants, much to my dismay. I have a mission to complete.

Some things are just out of our control, I must do what needs to be done, so my clan can thrive, even more, reaching new heights.

And Star Clan will be the first step of our Grandiose plan.

I quickly used an invisibility spell, making me, well, invisible, both in sight, qi, and pretty much everything else. Sometimes I wonder how our ancestors could make such advanced technique so easily, even though it is not her specialty.

As I finished turning invisible, I quickly went towards the sect's gate, passing through the crowd easily and heading towards their meeting hall.

Today was their quarterly meeting date, and getting information directly from the top is the most efficient way to finish my mission.

As I reach the meeting hall, I could see all of their elders already sitting in their respective seats. Twenty outer elders, ten inner elders, five head elders, one grand elder, and finally, the Clan Head himself.

Looks like I came a bit too early, as they were still comparing each other's cups. A respectable occasion. Though, sometimes I wonder how these ants could be so proud of themselves while showing off their pathetic cups.

We are not the same, I suppose. My mind wanders around, trying to pass the time as they kept doing formalities with each other.

After a while, they started the meeting. A meeting I'm willing to focus on.

"As per usual, We will start with the small stuff first." The Clan Head, Xing Ping declared. He then starts to appoint each of the elders to reveal their quarterly reports on everything, money, cultivation of students, etc.

Boring stuff, but is what I came here for.

After it's all done, the Clan Head turned towards the Grand Elder, Xing Lao.

"Xing Lao, How is the progress with your disciple?" Xing Ping asks

"He's doing great, His progress is going better than yours, at least." Xing Lao answered, with a sneer at the end, provoking Xing Ping.

"Heh, we'll see. You sent him on a mission just now right?"

"Indeed, I sent him to get his first kill," Xing Lao answered

"That kid's still a greenhorn?" Xing Ping asked, quite surprised

"Yes, but its fine, we have the [Clear Mind] pill after all, even if he breaks down, he can still be a genius cultivator," Xing Lao answered. It seemed like he already planned on everything for Long Ren.

Less work for me.

'But, [Clear Mind] pill huh.' I thought inside my mind.

If I recall correctly from the mission's guide, this [Clear Mind] pill, is more devious than it sounds. A pill capable of singlehandedly increasing Star Clan's prestige.

"If you say so. If you haven't, you can take 5 years worth of pills from our inventory, don't forget it." Xing Ping commanded.

"I know. He might be my first disciple but I know what I need to do with him." Xing Lao answered, seemingly unappreciative of Xing Ping's high-horse tone

Then I recall it. The reason, why the Star Clan could rise so fast so easily is due to their brainwashing technique.

[Clear Mind] pill, a pill that helps clear a cultivator's mind, helping them alleviates the burdens in their minds quite effectively, but, has a catch. It makes the cultivator's mind susceptible to indoctrination.

According to the guide I was given, the pill was created by the founder of the Star Clan, or at least he found the recipe for it.

The pill is now a pill that is fed to every single high-potential cultivator in the clan, cultivators that have great potential of leading their clan and taking positions of power.

A brainwashing technique, per se, but more subtle. Much, more subtle.

Every pill slowly degrades the cultivator's mind and free will, replacing them with thoughts of protecting the clan, making the clan thrive, and sacrificing themself for the clan's greater good.

Pretty nasty stuff.

The pill is fed over the course of five years, ten plus if the cultivator's will is strong enough. Slowly, they will feed them lies such as how this pill can help them in the long run or whatever.

After the first year, they then begin their real indoctrination. Loyalty towards the clan, slowly corroding their free will. The best part? They don't even realize it. But even if they did, it was when it was already too little too late.

Even if they know they were brainwashed, the thought of staying loyal to the clan and not betraying it is too ingrained in their minds to stop the brainwashing process.

This makes each and every one of the Clan's higher-ups trusts each other, very much so.

They all know, after a while, what they had experienced, and they all knew everyone else at or above their position had experienced it as well.

This creates an environment in which everyone is loyal to the clan and trusts each other with every single bit of their mind, only having their clan's best interest while pushing aside their own wants and needs below it.

Though, they apparently still have some of their own free wills, as the pills only want to ingrain complete loyalty to the clan and not make mindless dolls.

It's quite funny how the most powerful "righteous" clan in this area is built upon pure lies and deception. How ironic.

Maybe this clan's Ancestor thought his way is just, righteous, and for the best interest of the clan. Or maybe he knows of its evil nature but still makes a deal with the devil.

I do not know. Nor do I care really, as this pill only works for these weak ants anyways. Long Ren would complete his fated act before the pill even mattered.

Anyways, their meeting continued on after that and started discussing more important matters.

"Now…The Fire Nation has attacked."

"WHAT?!"

"IMPOSSIBLE!"

Several loud cries of the elders resounded through the air, making my ears itch, ugh, It's just a nation attacking, don't overreact!

"Why did they attack? We are clearly stronger than them, We have three clans under our jurisdiction while they only have two!" One of the inner elders says.

"I do not know, but they suddenly attacked our Yan nation's southern border, chipping away at the city there. Their troops are small but due to that, we suspect this is just a probing attack.

A meeting will be conducted to assess this further in 3 months' time with all of Star Nation's Clans, and our clan acting as the moderator. I will be going with 3 more elders, those who are free, are free to join."

As Xing Ping said his piece, several hands volunteered, showing their eagerness to participate in every clan's matter.

These ants…such miserable fates and yet are incapable of altering them.

No matter.

They decided upon their meeting group and concluded the meeting, everyone started leaving while the ones who volunteered stayed to peruse more things.

That's my cue to leave. I have gained all the information I needed, now, all I need to do is just act upon it.

I will need to infiltrate them, as a high-position member.

But they have never let anyone who is not raised by the clan acquire such position…whatever shall I do.

Oh, wait. Brainwashing.

Two can play at that game, after all.

…

(A/N: There's a pic of Long Ren I made here, more will come in the auxiliary vol if I have time)