Lianshan Xin was still a little shaken.
Three days ago, Chairman Qu had dropped to his knees before him at lightning speed. He had thought he had the man firmly in hand, and so he had relaxed his guard against the Qu household.
But today, when he met Chairman Qu's eyes, his innate ability had suddenly stirred.
Looking straight through Chairman Qu's body, he had seen the chairman outside Bailudong Academy, going out to meet several badly wounded men.
One of them was none other than the Vice Headmaster of Bailudong Academy.
The Headmaster of Bailudong Academy was a figure of weight throughout the realm, and rarely appeared in person. Nearly all of the academy's affairs were handled by the Vice Headmaster, a famous man across all Jiangzhou—Lianshan Xin had met him too.
It had already been confirmed that the Vice Headmaster was a Demon Cult elder. So whoever would go out to meet a Demon Cult elder could only be one of the Demon Cult as well.
Chairman Qu had hidden it well enough. If not for his cheat, Lianshan Xin never would have uncovered the man's secret.
There were so many heroes in this world. Even with a see-through cheat, a man had to guard against arrogance and rashness.
After all, his innate ability activated at random, and Lianshan Xin had yet to grasp its exact pattern, so he could not stake all his contingency plans on it.
And many things were useless to know. He knew, for instance, that becoming Bailudong Academy's Chief Disciple would earn him a Qi Condensation Pill—but the problem was how to become Chief Disciple in the first place.
Lianshan Xin turned all this over and examined himself, but let nothing show on his face. Instead he deliberately pointed at Chairman Qu and said frankly, "Brother Kong, this man has some friction with my father. I borrowed your prestige to lean on him a little. I hope you'll forgive me."
Kong Ningyuan laughed easily at that. "I thought it was something serious. A trifle like that isn't worth mentioning. Do you need me to go warn him?"
"That would be even better."
Lianshan Xin was not gloating for the fun of it. He had realized that Chairman Qu—consummate actor that he was—had deliberately thrown himself at his feet in order to disguise himself all the better. And the closer he appeared to Kong Ningyuan, the more Chairman Qu would let down his guard.
Then his parents would not be in danger.
Kong Ningyuan did not take Chairman Qu seriously at all, and warned him to his face in a few words. Chairman Qu was all nods and murmurs, bowing and fawning, showing not the slightest trace of a Demon Cult villain's swagger.
Lianshan Xin's gaze only grew darker.
At least the man had hidden himself well all these years, and his parents had not been touched by it.
But a Demon Cult villain for a neighbor was a hidden danger all the same.
Reporting Demon Cult villains was the bounden duty of every subject of Great Yu.
Lianshan Xin was quite ready to collect the reward of five hundred thousand taels of silver.
"Chairman Qu, I keep my word. Something has happened at the academy recently, so I'll go there first. Once I've arranged things, I'll send word to Young Master Qu. His prospects are in my hands."
At these words Chairman Qu fawned all the harder. "Then I thank you, Young Master Xin."
"Mm. Brother Kong and I will be off to the academy first."
Lianshan Xin and Kong Ningyuan swept away.
Watching their backs, Chairman Qu kept the fawning look fixed on his face. Only after he had seen Lianshan Xin and Kong Ningyuan climb into their carriage did he turn back toward his own house, his expression settling into calm.
"Father, why must you fawn over the two of them like that?" Qu Junjie said with a frown. "Kong Ningyuan has been dragged into this and can hardly protect himself, let alone Lianshan Xin."
Chairman Qu glanced at his son and cautioned him. "Care never goes wrong. If our identity is ever exposed, it will be utter destruction."
"I know. I simply can't stand the sight of Lianshan Xin. Who does he think he is, ordering you about to your face? If you weren't so even-tempered, Father, I'd have killed him long ago."
The young were always hot-blooded.
Chairman Qu shook his head and instructed him patiently. "There is no point in a moment's satisfaction. Do not forget the grand plan of our Sacred Cult."
Qu Junjie nodded, eyes blazing with fervor. "The Heavenly Sword is broken, and the Nine Heavens are plainly in decline. The day we strike back at Great Yu cannot be far off."
…
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
On the road to Bailudong Academy, Kong Ningyuan went on briefing Lianshan Xin on the current situation.
"Brother, do you know why the imperial court wants to strike at the Demon Cult and the overseas nations?"
Lianshan Xin chose his words carefully. "Great Yu rules the Nine Provinces in all their vastness. The only ones who still dare to defy the imperial court are the Demon Cult and the remnants of the nations it has destroyed. Great Yu holds the Central Plains as the orthodox power and has extinguished countless states. The remnants of those fallen states cannot gain a foothold in the Central Plains, so most of them fled far overseas, where they cling to a breath of life behind the vast sea, and there they formed the Overseas Island Nations Alliance."
Kong Ningyuan nodded. "Some small nations also survive in barbarian lands like the Western Regions and the Southern Frontier. Taken together, they are still no match for the court—unless something goes wrong within the court itself."
At the end, his voice dropped. "Judging by this upheaval at the academy, the Demon Cult and the overseas nations have joined hands. If all had gone as it should, once the Heavenly Sword took the field it ought to have wiped them out root and branch. But as things stand, the Heavenly Sword has failed, and the Nine Heavens have lost their old invincible dominance."
Lianshan Xin digested this in silence, then offered his own view. "Whatever trouble arises inside the court, the policy of striking at the Demon Cult and the overseas nations will not change."
"True. And the more serious the court's internal troubles, the harder it will strike at the alliance of the Demon Cult and the overseas nations." Kong Ningyuan agreed with him. "In my reading of history, I always find that once great trouble arises at home, it sets off war abroad. But weapons are ill-omened and war is perilous. There are always men of talent who rise on the tide, but more often one general's success is built on ten thousand bleached bones."
Lianshan Xin said gravely, "Brother Kong, the great tide of the world does not move at our command. Whether we take part or not, these things will happen. If we try to flee, the end result is usually that we become one of those withered bones. When immortals fight, it is always mortals who suffer. Running away solves nothing."
Kong Ningyuan's gaze sharpened. He looked deeply at Lianshan Xin, then cupped his fists. "I have learned something from you, brother. Just now I truly did think of shirking the difficulty and drawing back."
"You are a son of an established clan, Brother Kong, and you have a great deal of room to maneuver. It is only natural to have such thoughts. I cannot afford them. To put it bluntly, the moment a conscription order comes down from above, I will be sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder. I truly dare not count on luck." Lianshan Xin consoled him.
"If the realm were at peace, I would not need to worry overmuch. But if a storm is coming, the storm the Kong clan faces will only be greater." Kong Ningyuan was not comforted. "Brother, in your eyes the Kong clan is a giant. In the eyes of the Nine Heavens and the Demon Cult, the Kong clan is nothing worth mentioning. I too must think of danger while I am safe. You are right—running away solves nothing."
"Brother Kong, the Heavenly Sword is one of the Nine Heavens and now acts as headmaster of Bailudong Academy in the real headmaster's place. Can the established clans and the jianghu of Jiangzhou really accept that?" Lianshan Xin asked a question that concerned him. "Bailudong Academy has always held the lead among Jiangzhou's jianghu, and it is where the sons of Jiangzhou's great clans go to study. The Heavenly Sword stepping in means Bailudong answers directly to the imperial court. A great many people will object, won't they?"
"Of course. Even within the court, there are many who dislike the Nine Heavens." Kong Ningyuan's gaze toward Lianshan Xin was full of appreciation. "You truly read the small signs and see where they lead, brother. You have grasped where the problem's complexity lies. The Nine Heavens supervise the officials at court and suppress the jianghu in the countryside. Many people do not want the Nine Heavens' power to swell—least of all to the point of controlling one of the realm's Four Great Academies, as with Bailudong."
Lianshan Xin was not surprised.
The Nine Heavens were essentially a supercharged fusion of Great Yu's Embroidered Uniform Guard, Eastern Depot, and Western Depot. It was only natural that they had many enemies both at court and in the countryside.
But as one of the court's highest armed forces, the Nine Heavens naturally had their own need to expand their territory.
As one of the realm's Four Great Academies, Bailudong had originally leaned toward being a neutral holy ground of learning, cultivating talent for the court and the jianghu alike—especially talent for Jiangzhou's jianghu and established clans.
But once the Heavenly Sword put down roots at Bailudong, the talent the academy cultivated would surely flow more and more to the Nine Heavens.
"Originally the Nine Heavens could never have stretched a hand into a place like the academy. But the Heavenly Sword's failure gave them a reason to intervene."
Here Kong Ningyuan's voice suddenly sank low. "The Nine Heavens mean to sweep away the power of the Demon Cult and the overseas nations, but whether they will use the chance to sweep through Jiangzhou's jianghu—or even Jiangzhou's officialdom—no one knows. In short, Jiangzhou will know no peace from now on."
Lianshan Xin's expression was just as grave, though inside he felt nothing at all.
Whose fault was it that his family was poor? They were not even worth the Nine Heavens' trouble to sweep away.
On the contrary, once the Nine Heavens went to war and sharpened the present conflicts, it would be the chance for small men like him to step onto Jiangzhou's great stage.
Chaos was the grave of the established clans and nobles, and the ladder of the ambitious and the Progressive Party.
As for ordinary common folk, they had never had any choice at all.
Chapter 5