Players: All NPCs in the Sect Are Moles

The great doors of the Knowledge Hall closed behind them, sealing the chamber off from the world outside.

The light inside the hall was dim, with only a few Everlasting Lamps casting a faint glow.

This place hadn't always been so deserted, but it had fallen on hard times. Now, it was so quiet that the only sound was their collective breathing.

Su Ling'er followed behind her First Senior Brother, her spine held ramrod straight. 'I'll have to take on so much for him in the future.' The thought filled her with a profound sense of purpose, making her mission feel both momentous and sacred.

Lin Qingfeng walked straight to the back of the hall and stopped before a row of neatly prepared wooden racks.

"Now that you have entered our sect, you shall receive its blessings."

Lin Qingfeng turned around. With a sweep of his broad sleeve, he gestured toward the items on the racks. His voice was gentle, filled with a profound, all-encompassing compassion. "These are the initiation gifts the sect has prepared for you."

Upon hearing this, a glimmer of hope rekindled in the undercover disciples' despairing hearts.

They had been squeezed dry, milked for every last coin. Still, even though they suspected this so-called initiation gift probably had a catch, this was a major demonic sect with an unfathomable legacy!

If he wasn't lying, then surely this "initiation gift," even if it wasn't some priceless treasure, would at least be a few vials of Foundation Establishment Elixirs. Or maybe a few pieces of protective armor?

However, when their eyes followed Lin Qingfeng's pointing finger, everyone's expression froze.

There were a dozen or so neatly folded sets of Guixi Sect disciple uniforms. They looked presentable enough, but hanging beside them were not the cold, gleaming flying swords one might expect. A closer look revealed that the row of objects was…

Sticks?

No, to be precise, they were pieces of wood carved into the shape of swords.

The craftsmanship was passable at best. You could still see unsanded splinters on the blades. The hilts, on the other hand, showed a hint of painstaking effort, but the swords as a whole looked like they had just been pulled from a woodshed.

The crucial part was, they didn't have a single trace of Spiritual Qi!

How could these be considered treasures? They were clearly toys for mortal children to play-fight with! Their own weapons were better than this!

'Wait, they look a little like Miss Su's sword, don't they? No, that's not right. Her Wooden Sword radiates Spiritual Qi, baleful energy, a bloody aura, and resentful miasma—all sorts of energies. These things can't even be mentioned in the same breath!'

Silence fell over the hall.

Lin Qingfeng watched their stunned, stupefied expressions—some even looked like they were having an existential crisis—but he remained completely unfazed.

'Judging a book by its cover. They don't recognize quality when they see it!'

'These aren't just vanilla Wooden Swords! I paid a fortune for these beginner perks! Even if you multiplied all the Spirit Stones you offered by several dozen times, you might not get the chance to own one of these. And you have the nerve to look down on them?'

He casually picked up a Wooden Sword, his fingertips brushing lightly along the blade.

"Do you find these swords… crude?"

No one dared to respond, but their dejected expressions said it all.

"Shallow!"

"Divine Weapons are, in the end, merely external objects! An over-reliance on a blade's Sharpness will only tarnish your Dao heart!"

Lin Qingfeng held the Wooden Sword in one hand, clasping the other behind his back as he addressed them. "The Great Dao is simple. It is a return to one's true nature. This sword of wood comes from the world, is born of nature, and is untainted by the bloodlust of metal and stone. It is in perfect harmony with the Celestial Dao!"

"The Guixi Sect had these Wooden Swords specially crafted not for you to engage in vicious brawls, but for you to hone your own peerless Sword Intent against their rough, wooden grain!"

"The day you can sever the world's greatest evils with this decaying wood in your hand is the day your own great Dao will truly begin to form!"

His words were soul-stirring, the logic a perfect, closed loop.

Especially when one considered the cost of these things, it truly was the profound wisdom of a Grandmaster.

"First Senior Brother is absolutely right!"

Before anyone could react, Su Ling'er stepped forward. With a metallic SHING, she drew the identical Wooden Sword from her waist.

"This is all the proof you need!"

Su Ling'er held the Wooden Sword high, her expression fierce. "When I first joined the sect, I was as foolish as all of you, unable to understand our First Senior Brother's earnest intentions! But this very sword has been with me as I've slain demons and devils, shattering countless techniques! It is precisely because it has no edge that I learned to guide my sword with my will!"

"If you scorn this sword, you are scorning the Great Dao itself! It means your conviction is weak!"

Su Ling'er's voice echoed through the hall. Combined with the formidable pressure of her Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation, her words stunned the spies into silence.

The undercover disciples stared at the sword in Su Ling'er's hand, which looked identical to the ones on the rack. Then they glanced at Lin Qingfeng's approving, "this child is teachable" expression. The foundations of their worldview began to shake.

'Could it be… that we really are the shallow ones?'

Within the crowd, several disciples stared at the Wooden Sword, their thoughts a tangled mess.

'But they only look the same on the surface! Miss Su's Wooden Sword is brimming with all kinds of auras. When she led us with Sword Control, we could feel its vicious and baleful energies. So many different powers swirled within it, it even felt a bit chaotic.'

'Are your Wooden Swords and the ones you're giving us even the same thing?'

'"The Great Dao is simple," "return to one's true nature"—what a load of crap! This is clearly a setup to get us killed by someone else's hand!'

'This demonic sect squeezed us dry of our Spirit Stones and our stamina, and now they won't even give us a decent weapon. Instead, they hand out these firewood sticks that would snap in two with the slightest pressure!'

What does this mean?

It means they want us to take these sticks and go feed ourselves to the demon beasts tomorrow!

'If we have an "accident" and die during the next trial, the sect won't have to pay any compensation and can even save on expenses! This isn't a sword; it's a Life-taking Talisman sent straight from King Yama!'

'So cruel… Is this what the demonic path is like? They won't even leave us the slightest chance of survival…'

One of the spies took a Wooden Sword with trembling fingers, feeling as if he were grasping his own future tombstone.

However, there was also a faction of spies whose eyes glittered with a completely different light.

Their gazes were fixed on the Wooden Sword in Su Ling'er's hand.

'What kind of power does Miss Su possess? She's a ruthless demonic figure who can play them all for fools while squeezing them dry!'

'Even a sect guide like her uses this kind of Wooden Sword. What does that imply?'

'It means this is absolutely no ordinary piece of wood!'

'It must be some kind of ancient, divine wood that embodies the principle of returning to one's true nature! Or maybe it's a sealed sword, blessed by a mighty expert!'

'It looks unremarkable on the surface, but it must hold a universe within!'

One spy, trembling all over, accepted a Wooden Sword with both hands, his excitement palpable.

'So the exploitation was just a test! Only those who passed are qualified to touch such a divine artifact! We just can't perceive its true nature yet!'

'The clouds have finally parted to reveal the clear sky!'

He even found a certain charm in the rough splinters. 'Those aren't splinters; they're the very texture of the Great Dao!'

'Guixi Sect! My loyalty is yours!!!'

Suddenly, the restriction inside his body triggered a sharp pain in his chest.

'Ah, wait, that's not right. My mission is to infiltrate this demonic sect and seize its resources. In the future, I will take all of its benefits and treasures back to my own sect and help it prosper!!!'

'The Guixi Sect is nothing but a stepping stone for the growth of my home sect!'

As he continued to convince—or rather, brainwash—himself, the stabbing pain in his chest finally began to subside.

In a corner of the crowd, a few of the more conspiratorially minded "geniuses" among the spies stood with furrowed brows, their eyes darting between Lin Qingfeng and Su Ling'er.

'Something's not right.'

'Something's very wrong.'

'If these Wooden Swords are so amazing, why doesn't First Senior Brother use one himself?'

'And even though Miss Su carries a Wooden Sword, she didn't infuse it with any Spiritual Power when she drew it just now. Was she deliberately avoiding something?'

'Could it be… this is a trap!'

'This is definitely a multi-layered scheme orchestrated by First Senior Brother and Miss Su!'

'These Wooden Swords are worthless scraps, just a prop to test our "loyalty"!'

'If we're stupid enough to take these crappy sticks into battle, we'll die for sure. But if we show any sign of disgust, it'll be seen as disrespect to the sect, and we'll be eliminated on the spot!'

'They're forcing us to enshrine this useless trash! We have to show reverence for the 'divine artifact' while also making sure not to actually use it and get ourselves killed… That must be the key to survival here!'

He respectfully accepted the Wooden Sword, having already made up his mind. 'I'll go back, build a shrine for this sword, and offer it three sticks of incense every day. I'll die before I ever actually use it!'

For a moment, the hall was a veritable circus of reactions.

Some were dejected, some were ecstatic, and some were nervously glancing around.

Only Lu Ping walked forward, expressionless, and casually picked up a Wooden Sword.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

He tested its weight.

Very light.

The material was indeed ordinary pine wood; he could even smell the faint scent of resin.

Then, Lu Ping casually tucked the Wooden Sword into his belt.

Some of the spies despaired internally.

'Even the senior brother from the eightieth step has given up resisting, calmly accepting his fate.'

Others, however, nodded to themselves in approval.

'The senior brother from the eightieth step truly has an extraordinary temperament. He must have seen through the sword's divine nature long ago, which is why he acts so nonchalantly. The Great Dao is already within him; there's no need for outward displays.'

Meanwhile, the few "geniuses" who thought they had figured everything out shot him a disdainful look.

'Is this guy from the eightieth step a plant? He was praised individually by Miss Su and the First Senior Brother, so it's not impossible! Still, since we've received the gift, useful or not, the first order of business is to lay on the flattery!'

With that, they held up their Wooden Swords with both hands and, with a loud THUD, dropped to their knees before Lin Qingfeng and Su Ling'er.

"This disciple… this disciple is enlightened!"

"This sword is not edgeless because it is weak, but because its edge is concealed! It is to teach us to guard against arrogance and impatience, to look within our own hearts! This disciple was foolish! I vow to worship this sword day and night, to comprehend the supreme Sword Dao within it with the utmost piety!"

"This disciple… me too!"

"This disciple is enlightened!"

Lin Qingfeng: "?"

'Worship? No, wait. This is a starter weapon. It's for you to go out, kill mobs, and grind levels, not to put on an altar and pray to like a god, you know?'

Before he could make a snarky comment, another one of the "geniuses" chimed in, his flattery taking an even more bizarre angle.

"The senior brother is correct, but not entirely!" he proclaimed. "This sword is not just for concealing one's edge, it is for 'severing the heart'! Severing our mortal attachments, severing our reliance on external objects! When I return, I shall set up a memorial tablet for this sword and pay my respects!"

"Well said!"

"First Senior Brother is truly a god among men!"

In an instant, the "geniuses" and the other demonic path spies who joined in were all scrambling over one another to praise Lin Qingfeng, once again painting him as the very incarnation of the righteous path.

Lin Qingfeng found the praise immensely satisfying, even if it all felt a bit strange.

'I'm starting to think this batch of Palu… has something seriously wrong with their wiring.'

'No wonder Little Junior Sister has you all wrapped around her finger! Is this what you people like?! Have I been too good to you?!'