Chapter 18: Nothing breaks trust like a corpse talking back.
“…I had managed to kill the assassin, but it was too late, the Fourth Young Master had bled to death,” Moka repeated for the third time today, “the killer had no markings and I couldn’t recognize their face, but I did find this one them.”
From the inner linings of his suit, Moka produced a jagged dagger made from a boar’s tusk, that had the Zhen Clan symbol carved into the blade. As he presented the blade to the two elders, Moka had to suppress a devious smile.
A look of shock appeared on their faces as they realized who the dagger belonged to.
“This is…”
“Why do you have this blade?”
“This was on the assassin, First Elder, Sixth Elder. I’m not sure why he had it.”
The First and Sixth Elder looked at each other gravely, concerned about the implications of such a weapon being used to slay the Fourth Young Master. This is exactly what Moka wanted to see.
Moka had repeated this exact song and dance two times prior to this moment, but had changed a few key details here and there depending on the listeners.
While the Zhen Clan was united for the most part under the leadership of Patriarch Zhen Shi, the seven elders under him, his sons, still led their own branches within the clans’ internal structure.
This was due to their speciality being aether beasts.
Due to the varied nature of these creatures, it was found prudent to establish specialized branches that catered to specific types of beasts.
In order of the elders that led them, these branches specialized in: wolves, bears, peafowls, boars, roses, vipers and cats.
While the clan did encourage the branches to share training knowledge with one another, it didn’t really stop the brothers and their respective branches from butting heads.
One of the key things these brothers fought over was the distribution of resources for the younger generation, which inevitably involved the Fourth Young Master.
With the exception of the Seventh Elder, Zhen Yan, the other six elders were evenly divided between three approaches on the treatment of the crippled youth.
The First and Sixth Elders, Zhen Long and Zhen Ye, took the approach of just treating the Fourth Young Master like all the other youths in the clan. They knew that he had the potential, they just figured he was late bloomer. By maintaining the status quo, they figured Zhen Liu would be able to use his aether eventually.
The ones who wanted to help Zhen Liu to a greater extent were the Third and Fourth Elders, Zhen Lao and Zhen Xi. They figured that the quicker they fixed Zhen Liu, the better. On the day when Zhen Liu’s potential came to light, they believed that he could become the next pillar for the clan.
However, some thought this was a gamble not worth the effort.
The Second and Fifth Elders, Zhen Hou and Zhen Jin, believed it was wiser to cut Zhen Liu off completely in order to free up resources for the other, more talented, descendants…like their own children. The fact that suppressing Zhen Liu also made their brother Zhen Yan look bad was just icing on the cake.
It was this “little spat” that Moka hoped to use as fuel for the flames of internal strife, until the clan split itself apart.
The exact story he told the six other elders went as followed:
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As you may recall the day after Zhen Liu’s letter was found, the patriarch sent me to go and bring him back to the compound.
I had managed to catch up with him en route and was all set to bring him back, until he convinced me otherwise.
The look of pure determination on his face was inspiring to say the least. He knew damn well it was risky, but he had to at least try.
As a show of faith in his abilities and to at least fulfill my duties, I went with him to the wandering ruins that was located deep in the Jade Forest.
We had managed to find the wandering ruins and were about to enter it when disaster struck.
Our group was ambushed, I don’t know by whom but they were led by an Aether Master.
I had thought they were initially bandits but the way they fought was too well-organized.
All of the guards we had brought fought bravely and managed to kill their attackers, but they had died in the process as well.
By the time the battle had ended, only the young master and I were left standing.
In a single, careless moment, one of the attackers who I has presumed dead suddenly sprang back to life and stabbed the young master in the back.
I rushed the assassin and manged to kill him in one blow, but it was too late. The young master had bled out.
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Moka would then end this tale by presenting the listeners the “murder weapon.”
The weapon was always dagger, but the material would be different.
For the Third and Fourth Elders, he gave them a dagger made from a bears’ claw.
The Second and Fifth Elders received one made from a wolf’s fang.
Lastly, the First and Sixth were given one made from a boar’s tusk.
Outsiders wouldn’t be able to understand the significance of the daggers’ material, but to those inside the clan, the implications were clear.
“Now you understand why I didn’t bring it up when I first reported the young master’s death to you all,” Moka lied, “The implications of this would mean-”
“Of course, say no more,” the Fourth Elder interrupted.
“We’ll have some men look into the matter and get to the bottom of this,” the First Elder confirmed, “Just keep quiet about this.”
“Of course Elders, I shan’t say a word.”
Although…It probably doesn’t help that I had already planted evidence ahead of time, Moka thought to himself.
Everything was going as planned, all Moka had to do now was sit back and watch as his carefully laid plans tore the Zhen Clan inside out.
“Attention esteemed guests,” a servant for the Zhen Clan called out to the crowd, “we will be presenting eulogies shortly. Please make your way over to the memorial hall.”
The guests and clansmen finished up whatever conversations they were having and began to make their way over to the next hall over.
Everyone’s focus was currently drawn to just moving with the crowd, which is why it came as a massive jolt to the senses when the sound of the main gate being kicked down echoed through the hall.
“What the hell?!”
“Who dared to crash a funeral?”
“Wait isn’t that-?!”
“That’s the Fourth Young Master! Shouldn’t he be dead?”
“It can’t be,” Moka uttered as his eyes widened in shock.
Standing in the doorway for all to see was a bedraggled young man with a cranky, fierce look to his face.
Some of the attendants had doubts on the young man’s identity when he had initially busted through the door, but quickly came around to it when they saw his resemblance to the memorial tablet.
“He is way skinnier than his tablet!’
“Apologies everybody,” Zhen Liu called out, “but shouldn’t the guest of a honor for a funeral be actually in the box to hear the eulogies?”
