Chapter 32: Sweeping the Board

In the echoing silence of the canyon, Jian Feng stood over the unconscious forms of Abbot Kasyapa and Elder Bao. The battle was won, but the game was far from over. A decisive victory was useless if the cleanup was sloppy.

He first conducted a thorough search of their bodies. As expected of agents of a cautious organization, they carried little that was incriminating. However, tucked inside the Abbot's robes, he found a small, flat token made of a cold, unfamiliar black metal, inscribed with the symbol of a grasping, shadowed hand. It was a mark of identity. Tangible proof of the Umbral Hand. He pocketed it.

His next task was dealing with the prisoners. Killing them would be simple, but it would leave two high-ranking individuals inexplicably missing, raising questions he preferred not to answer. Leaving them alive was an unacceptable risk. He chose a third option. After reinforcing the Soul-Stillness Seals on both men to ensure they would remain in a deep, death-like coma for months, he transported their bodies to the deepest part of the hidden cavern system he had discovered, concealing them behind a rockfall and placing a new illusion formation over the entrance. They were no longer threats; they were assets, preserved for future interrogation by his father.

With the primary threats neutralized, he turned his attention back to the settlement. The deep, subterranean tremor from the Flesh-Vessel Array's self-destruction had sent the entire town into a panic. Miners and guards ran through the dusty streets, shouting in confusion.

Jian Feng walked directly into the heart of the chaos, his expression calm and authoritative. His very presence seemed to command attention, and the panicked miners quieted as he approached.

"There has been a deep-vein collapse in the mountain," he announced, his voice carrying clearly over the crowd. His explanation was simple, believable, and addressed their immediate fears. "The primary grinding array has been compromised. For the safety of everyone, all mining operations are hereby suspended pending a full structural inspection."

He then turned to the chief foreman. "All miners are to be given double rations from the clan's reserves, effective immediately. The infirmary will open its stores of restorative herbs. Your health has been neglected for too long."

The orders, delivered with unshakable confidence, had an immediate effect. The panic subsided, replaced by a wave of surprised gratitude. In a few short sentences, he had provided an explanation for the disaster and demonstrated a concern for their well-being they hadn't felt in years. He was not just a Young Lord; he was their new authority.

His next stop was the residence of the now-catatonic Elder Jin. He performed a cursory "examination" and grimly declared that the elder had suffered a severe cultivation deviation, brought on by the stress of the mine's collapse. He wrote out an order for Jin to be transported back to the main clan under guard for "long-term treatment," effectively and quietly removing the final local conspirator from the board.

Then, he made his way to the Monastery of the Serene Soul. The remaining monks, leaderless and cut off from their masters, were in a state of confusion. Jian Feng informed them that Abbot Kasyapa and Elder Bao had been summoned back to the clan for an urgent, high-level consultation regarding the mining disaster. He then entered the infirmary where the "sick" miners lay.

Under the guise of a "purification ritual to cleanse the room of ill-fortune," he moved from bed to bed, using his Origin Qi to subtly shatter the siphoning runes carved into the floorboards. The constant, draining pressure on the miners vanished. He then organized for all of them to be moved back to the town's main infirmary for proper, clan-funded medical care. To the onlookers, it was an act of profound mercy.

Within forty-eight hours, he had stabilized the entire operation, quelled the panic, and won the fervent loyalty of the common miners. He had become their savior.

Finally, he retired to his office to compose his official report to his father and the Grand Elder Council. He wrote with the precision of a master strategist, crafting a narrative that was truthful in its essence but brilliant in its omissions. He reported that he had uncovered a conspiracy between Elder Bao and an outside organization that was using a forbidden array to siphon the mine's energy. He detailed how he had discovered their smuggling of the "Husk-Jade" and their connection to the strangely popular local monastery.

The climax of his report was a masterpiece of strategic communication. He wrote that, upon discovering their plot, he had laid a trap within the mine itself. When he confronted the conspirators, they had attempted to activate their hidden array to destroy the evidence and kill him. However, thanks to his "pre-emptive sabotage," the array had backfired, causing a massive internal explosion. Abbot Kasyapa and Elder Bao, he wrote, were caught directly in the chaotic blast and were now "missing, presumed dead."

The story was perfectly plausible. It explained the tremor, the disappearance of the leaders, and his victory, all while framing him as a brilliant strategist who had won through intellect and foresight, not through the impossible martial feat of defeating two Core Formation masters by himself.

He sealed the jade slip and sent it flying towards the clan's capital. He then stood and looked out the window at the now-orderly mining town. The first glimmers of genuine vitality were returning to the faces of the miners. He had swept the board clean. The local operation was dismantled, the evidence was secured, the populace was on his side, and a perfect narrative was on its way to his father.

Now, he simply had to wait for the storm his report would inevitably create in the clan's highest echelons.