Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Chapter 712: Chapter 46 Flexibility
 

Hearing Wei Dongliu’s response, Sect Leader Shenyue fell silent.

Past cultivators who faced his tests either insisted on killing the condemned with righteous indignation or believed that they should spare the person for the greater good.

Those who wanted to kill were basically judged as failures, because in history, that city lord had indeed defected due to his daughter’s death, and the Human Race had paid a heavy price to kill him.

In the Cultivation Realm, strength reigns supreme most of the time, and laws and morals are only there to restrain the weak.

If the answer was to spare the person, then Sect Leader Shenyue would then ask: What about the relatives of the deceased? How would one deal with the overwhelming public outcry?

After all, most of the time people just want to see blood for blood, justice served. As for how much it costs to uphold justice, they don’t really care that much.

Therefore, if the test-taker stammered and couldn’t speak, it was still a failure;

But if one could point out the “insufficiency of public sentiment” or hypocritically say a few words about “letting the people suffer a little more,” then Sect Leader Shenyue would consider them to have passed.

He just never expected Wei Dongliu to give such an answer.

Not to kill, nor to release, but to keep imprisoned, dangling the fate of the lord of Dongli City, then squeezing him for all he was worth…

It sounds simple at first, but upon deeper thought, it seems a bit out of the ordinary, and even a little chilling.

It’s a good plan, but this person… If one pondered hard for a few hours before coming up with it, it would be one thing.

But to answer so directly without hesitation, off the cuff, that was somewhat difficult to evaluate.

“Quite clever, but ultimately lacking in righteousness,” after a long silence, Sect Leader Shenyue felt it was better to score him eighty-four points, “You’ve passed this question, let’s see the next one.”

He led Wei Dongliu onward, through the long, gloomy corridor, and soon they arrived at the second prison.

Inside the prison sat a young man, also disheveled, but treated a bit better than the previous one, not chained through his shoulder bones, merely shackled at the ankles and wrists, unable to move freely.

“This man is of mixed blood, his father from the Human Race and his mother a high-ranking member of the Demon Race,” Sect Leader Shenyue stated emotionlessly, “After much effort, we finally convinced him to act as a spy for us, to gather intelligence on the Demon Race’s military.”

“After numerous attempts through his mother, he finally acquired an important piece of intelligence. We acted upon this information, but ended up ambushed and suffered heavy losses.”

“He is thus imprisoned on suspicion of collusion, but he has always claimed that the information came from his mother and that he didn’t alter it or intentionally deceive the Human Race.”

“Now I ask you: How should this man be dealt with?”

Wei Dongliu was silent for a moment, then asked:

“Didn’t you verify the authenticity of the intelligence upon receiving it?”

“Of course,” said Sect Leader Shenyue somewhat embarrassingly, defending his position, “But intelligence, with its mix of truth and falsehood, ultimately cannot be verified with one hundred percent certainty.”

“Aren’t you a master of Art Calculation?”

“If Art Calculation could solve everything, what would be the need for spies and covert agents?”

“You make some sense,” Wei Dongliu pondered briefly before answering directly, “Just send a message informing his mother, stating that your son has colluded with the Demon Race, causing severe losses to our Human Race. We plan to execute your son. If you don’t wish for his death, then you must pay a sufficient price to redeem him.”

“Is it really that simple?” said Sect Leader Shenyue with a hint of surprise, “If his mother let him come back with false information, she must have already considered his life worthless, right?”

“The information is definitely false,” Wei Dongliu nodded and said, “The question is whether this person is aware that the information is false.”

“So the issue is whether he colluded with his mother to intentionally give the Human Race false information, or whether his mother saw through his intent and deliberately kept him in the dark as well?”

“Hmm…” Sect Leader Shenyue pondered, “Continue.”

“The likelihood of the former scenario is not great,” Wei Dongliu continued, “If this person knew the information was false and still delivered it to the Human Race without any regard for his own safety, wouldn’t that be akin to seeking death? Tell me, after he provided the Human Race with the information, did he try to escape?”

“No,” Sect Leader Shenyue sighed, “He didn’t show any abnormalities until we captured him.”

“So we just need to observe his mother’s reaction,” Wei Dongliu said calmly, “If his mother is willing to pay a price to ransom him back, it shows he really might be suspected of colluding with the enemy.”

“Then we kill him,” Sect Leader Shenyue said, nodding.

“Why kill him?” Wei Dongliu asked curiously, “As long as the price is high enough, it wouldn’t matter to let her ransom him back. After all, you already know this person is a spy, what harm could he do if he stays alive?”

“Uh,” Sect Leader Shenyue was at a loss for words.

After discovering a spy, isn’t it the default rule to execute them immediately?

To let him be ransomed back… it’s not that it’s not an option, but it does sound a bit odd. How can you be so flexible?

“What if his mother refuses to ransom him?” Sect Leader Shenyue asked.

“Easy,” Wei Dongliu said, stroking his palm, “Show him his mother’s reply letter, letting him know that she has no intention of saving him.”

“If this man remains expressionless and accepts his fate calmly, it indicates that he already knew his death was certain, so you may just execute him.”

“If this man is despairing, angry, fearful, and harbors deep hatred for his mother’s indifference to his demise, it shows he truly knew nothing of the false information, hence spare his life, as he may still be of use in the future.”

“Of use for what?” Sect Leader Shenyue asked curiously.

“Do you even need to ask me that?” Wei Dongliu looked at him with bewilderment, “I’m not abreast of the specific circumstances of the Human Race’s armies, nor the ways in which he could be of use… Surely that’s something you need to weigh for yourselves?”

“Cough cough cough, I understand now,” Sect Leader Shenyue coughed awkwardly and said, “Well, first use a strategy of division. If this person is successfully turned against his mother, it shows that he was unaware of her scheming and did not betray us.”

“As for executing him or keeping him for future use, that should be decided based on the situation…” At this point, he suddenly seemed a bit dazed.

What did we do before?

Oh, it seems we just executed them directly, after all he brought back false information and caused heavy losses to the Human Race’s army.

Thinking about it, there isn’t necessarily a need to execute him publicly. Anyway, this man is already at our mercy, so we might as well skillfully drain the last bit of his value effortlessly… being flexible is truly remarkable!

“I heard that you happen to be the Sect Leader of a Sect outside?” Sect Leader Shenyue suddenly asked.

“As I mentioned before, I am the Lord of the Mortal Life Path Sect,” Wei Dongliu answered.

“Hmm,” Sect Leader Shenyue noted silently, thinking to himself that this Sect Leader is truly a flexible man. If he had lived in our era, he would have certainly shone brightly in the confrontation between the Human Race and other races.