Master, What Dao Do You Cultivate?-Chapter 12: Boarding Master’s Pirate Ship

Yu Ye felt the flames of justice that had just ignited in his heart immediately extinguished by Ji Qinglin’s cold splash of reality.
Ji Qinglin continued,
"Supporting justice costs money. I don’t have any, so I suggest you don’t either."
"And then?"
"Shen Bixin contacted me and said she was ambushed as well. That was the night before she met you. You should know what happened after that."
"I see, so Master decided to kill Sang Feng for revenge?"
"More or less. Actually, the decision to kill him was because we knew he’d keep hiring assassins. That’s a constant, deadly threat. Besides, you just happened to need a Cultivation Meridian Set. Sang Feng was working for Celestial Dao Biotech, which meant he could buy high-grade cultivation gear at an internal price. And Bixin found out through her medical contacts that he had recently installed the latest A-rank Meridian version of the set."
"So the night you took me in, you already bought a sailor uniform and planned to use me for a honey trap? For something this important, you really took a risk."
Ji Qinglin looked confused.
"What risk?"
"You didn’t tell me in advance. If I had messed up the honey trap, wouldn’t that have wasted all your preparations?"
Hearing this, Ji Qinglin chuckled.
"My foolish disciple, you didn’t seriously think getting Sang Feng that way was our only plan, did you?"
Seeing the clear, clueless look in Yu Ye’s eyes, Ji Qinglin explained further,
"Bixin had already planned everything. My involvement just made it easier to capture Sang Feng and provided her with additional backup plans. Putting you in danger to lure him out was never the first option.
"But since the operation was for your Cultivation Meridian Set, and I also wanted to test how much you trusted me, I let you take part directly. Even if you had failed, we had backup plans to lure him out and capture him.
"Luckily, my obedient disciple didn’t disappoint. Though there was a little mishap where you got poisoned and ended up nibbling on your master, it was no big deal."
Hearing Ji Qinglin bring up the poisoning incident again, Yu Ye was both embarrassed and annoyed. He wished he could force-feed Ji Qinglin a dose of that humiliating drug in revenge.
Mad Yu Ye: Wait a second—why didn’t they just tell you everything from the start?
Cold Yu Ye: If they told me everything upfront, who knows if I would have defected or ed them to the authorities? Now that I’m fully involved, they have nothing to worry about—I’m already an accomplice.
Realizing this, Yu Ye pressed on,
"No matter what, this is still murder. Master, aren’t you afraid of being investigated?"
"In Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, there’s no such thing as automatic prosecution. Investigations only happen if someone s it. And if you don’t grease the right palms, the case might not progress for a year. Now, tell me—who do you think will him?"
"His family?"
"The company chooses black-market agents based on three criteria: some gang connections, a low moral baseline, and no family. After all, these agents know too many company secrets—having family is a huge liability."
"What about the other people at the bar? Wasn’t he the boss?"
"He was just one of the owners. Now tell me, once his death is confirmed, do you think the other owners will focus on finding out what happened, or will they immediately scramble to expand their own influence in the bar?"
"And what about the company? They know he had access to a lot of their dirty secrets. Won’t they investigate?"
"The so-called ‘black-market agent’ is meant to be disposable—both sides understand that from the start. The company isn’t worried about their deaths. What they do worry about is their secrets falling into the hands of competitors.
"As long as they confirm he wasn’t captured by a rival company and is truly dead, that’s enough for them.
"In fact, they’d prefer it if his death were due to a personal grudge. That way, they won’t have to dig deeper and risk forcing their enemy to expose whatever dirt they might have on them. That would be bad for everyone."
"I just worry… what if they do investigate and it leads back to us?"
"As your master, I was just out for a walk when I happened to witness a car explosion. While fleeing the scene, I ran into my disciple, who had mysteriously been poisoned, so I had no choice but to help detoxify him. Then I happened to find my good friend Shen Bixin nearby, so I hitched a ride with her.
"At no point did I hurt anyone, nor did I even see Sang Feng. My disciple was poisoned, and we couldn’t even find out who did it—I’m the real victim here!"
Ji Qinglin spread his hands, looking righteously indignant as if he were the one being falsely accused.
Cold Yu Ye: What he’s saying isn’t wrong, but… why does he seem
so
practiced at this?
"And what about Dr. Shen?"
"She was the one who suggested taking Sang Feng out in the first place. Besides, doctors in Bangkok all have their own channels—within a few days, Sang Feng’s remaining body parts will be repurposed, leaving only his meridians and organs intact.
"Think about it—he used to do the same thing to smuggled immigrants and other victims. This is just karma."
Listening to Ji Qinglin explain everything so matter-of-factly, Yu Ye found himself at a loss for words.
"What’s wrong, Yu Ye?"
"Nothing. Just… I suddenly feel like Master is a bit terrifying."
"Do I? This is a life-or-death situation. Of course, I planned everything thoroughly. In this jungle-like world, isn’t this how everyone operates?"
Mad Yu Ye:
Like hell they do! Only serial killers are this damn skilled! I’m actually starting to miss the iron bars of my prison cell…
Cold Yu Ye:
But that guy really did deserve to die. And besides, part of the reason Ji Qinglin took this risk was for me.
"So, Yu Ye, have you made up your mind? Do you want to install this Cultivation Meridian Set?"
"If I refuse… will you expel me from the sect? Or… is there another consequence?"
Yu Ye almost said
"kill me,"
but he knew that rejecting it would mean refusing to acknowledge what they’d done. That would inevitably create a rift between him and Ji Qinglin.
Ji Qinglin looked confused.
"Expel you? Why? If you don’t want it, I’ll just sell the set and use the money to buy you a new one. What else would I do? Wait, do I come across as that strict?"
Hearing his response, Yu Ye realized he had instinctively assumed Ji Qinglin was some bloodthirsty madman. Now, he felt like he had been unfairly suspicious.
"Uh, no… I just didn’t want to waste all your effort."
"How would it be a waste? I never explained everything to you beforehand, so it’s understandable if you don’t want something second-hand. If you’re uncomfortable with it, I’ll just tell Bixin—she’d be more than happy to take an extra Cultivation Set."
Before Ji Qinglin could finish, Yu Ye looked up and said,
"No need. If it’s really safe, I’ll take Sang Feng’s set. Selling it to an outsider would just increase the risk."
Mad Yu Ye:
Damn, you’ve gotten ruthless too.
Cold Yu Ye:
That man deserved to die. Aside from being shameless, Ji Qinglin hasn’t actually done anything wrong. Besides, you know meridians soaked in blood integrate better than new ones. We need to recover some of our strength.
Mad Yu Ye:
You realize this means you’re boarding the pirate ship, right?
Cold Yu Ye:
No worries.
Mad Yu Ye:
Easy for you to say—you already bit the pirate.