An hour later.
Soft clouds drifted lazily across the distant sky, and an eerie stillness hung over the main gate tower of Wanxiang's East City wall.
A table of precious red thornwood sat quietly beside the open-air battlements.
On one side was the Wanxiang Sect Master, his fingers trembling slightly.
On the other was a handsome young man, looking thoroughly relaxed and at ease.
After signing his name with specially crafted ink on special paper, the sect master stood up immediately and looked at the youth bathed in sunlight.
"Young Master, will this suffice?"
Hearing him, Xu Yuan slowly shifted his gaze from the scenery outside the walls. He picked up that piece of toilet paper, glanced over it, and smiled. "Of course. I trust your noble sect will fulfill the terms faithfully."
With a sullen expression, the Wanxiang Sect Master gave a slight nod before asking, "Now that the covenant is signed, might I ask when the Chancellor's Manor will withdraw its troops?"
Xu Yuan shook his head and regarded him in silence.
The sect master did not press the matter further. He sighed, cupped his hands in a salute, and said, "Then this old man shall take his leave."
"Take care. I won't see you out."
Seated on the main tower, Xu Yuan calmly watched the old man dwindle into a tiny black speck and vanish from view. He then casually tossed the sheet of toilet paper back onto the table.
As the page drifted down, cascading sunlight illuminated the scattered patches of blood staining the tower floor.
The war was over.
Though it had lasted less than two hours, and though the elites of the Wanxiang Sect had never truly engaged in battle, it was nonetheless over.
A sect was not an empire. If its mountain gate was razed, there was no relocating elsewhere to stage a resurgence.
The Wanxiang Sect had not dared to take that gamble.
The sect master had framed this meeting as keeping an appointment, but bluntly put, he had come to sign a treaty under duress.
The moment the paper settled on the table, a slender, jade-like hand picked it up.
Draped in a lavish brocade fur robe, Lou Ji held the covenant and gazed after the departing figure of the sect master, asking softly, "It's over?"
Long accustomed to her habit of appearing and disappearing like a ghost, Xu Yuan smiled slightly. "I suppose so. In any case, until they hand over everything they owe, I won't be withdrawing the troops."
Scanning the clauses on the sheet, Lou Ji sat down across from Xu Yuan, her voice tinged with surprise. "A lump-sum delivery of thirty-five million taels in cash silver?"
Leaning back against his chair, Xu Yuan said with a touch of exasperation, "I initially assumed the Wanxiang Sect could produce twenty million at most. It seems I truly underestimated the wealth of these millennial sects. Still, killing the goose that lays the golden eggs is certainly a fast way to get rich—especially when it's someone else's goose."
Lou Ji sighed. "My Black Scale Guards can work themselves to death all year round and never see that kind of money."
Xu Yuan chuckled. "The Black Scale Guards were never meant to generate wealth. Besides, sister, don't you also run the Sword Whisper Pavilion and the Wind Listening Tower?"
The world's foremost assassin guild and intelligence broker.
A rueful look crossed Lou Ji's eyes. "Those two places only pull in pocket change."
With that, Lou Ji began ticking them off on her fingers like a fretful housewife. "Changtian, it costs money for the Black Scale Guards to grease palms, money to bail people out, money to plant moles, and money to bribe officials. Not to mention the cultivation resources for everyone underneath me..."
"...Does it really eat up that much silver?" Xu Yuan's lips twitched as he cut short her grumbling.
Lou Ji nodded, speaking with genuine annoyance. "Yet Hua Hong refuses to disburse funds, and that brat Xu Changge is completely unyielding—he won't listen to reason or bribes! They want the horse to run without feeding it any grass."
Xu Yuan felt a prick of surprise.
Logically, an agency like the Black Scale Guards should be one of the Chancellor's Manor's most vital pillars. There was no reason his father would withhold funds.
Opposite him, Lou Ji's alluring eyes curved. Leaning her supple torso forward, she rested her breathtaking bust right on the tabletop and whispered, "Changtian, how about big sister negotiates a little deal with you?"
"..."
Xu Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly. Putting on a grave expression, he leaned forward as well. "Go ahead, sister."
Pressing down further, a hint of a smile danced in Lou Ji's eyes as she drew out her words slowly. "Let's... change that ninety million to this number."
With that, her slender index finger traced the shape of an eight upon the red thornwood table.
"..." Xu Yuan stared at her.
Straightening his back, he cleared his throat. "Do I look like that sort of person?"
Before his words even finished, her fragrance preceded her.
Lou Ji suddenly materialized beside him, perching sideways on the armrest of his chair and gently swaying his shoulder. "Changtian, your sister has always doted on you the most since childhood. I even damaged my foundation back then for the sake of your constitution. Won't you help your sister out just this once...?"
"Stop."
Xu Yuan hesitated for a moment, then massaged the space between his brows. "That would be hard to conceal."
Lou Ji offered a carefree laugh, affectionately wrapping her arms around his head. Her voice was soft, yet thick with underlying meaning. "If Xu Yinhe dared to send me here, he certainly knew what I'd do. Your father's bottom line is likely around seventy million. Help your sister just this once?"
With his left eye's vision entirely smothered and his cheek squished out of shape by the pressure, Xu Yuan remained thoroughly unmoved, even rolling his eyes. "Then shouldn't I just report seventy million straight up?"
Lou Ji blinked, her expression turning playful and sweet. "That... seems fine too~
"Though, it might be a bit tricky to explain to Zong Qingsheng and Hua Hong~"
As she spoke, Lou Ji pointed down below the city wall. There stood Yuan Hao, sighing while nervously rubbing his hands together, casting frequent anxious glances up at the ramparts.
Zong Qingsheng was the head of the Black Scale Army and Yuan Hao's direct superior.
Hearing this, Xu Yuan froze. He instinctively tried to lift his eyes to meet Lou Ji's, but both his sight and his movements were thoroughly pinned down. He cleared his throat. "Father's bottom line is seventy million?"
Lou Ji sat sideways on the armrest, crossed one shapely leg over the other, and lowered her voice like a sly vixen. "Your sister never said that~"
"..."
Xu Yuan fell silent, casting a glance toward the Imperial Capital.
His old man wasn't merely testing his methods for dealing with external forces.
He was also having him familiarize himself with the high-ranking figures under their command.
For the first time, he was being made to coordinate the interests of subordinates.
For the first time, he was being made to win people over.
Had Lou Ji not deliberately dropped this hint, he truly wouldn't have considered this angle.
Of course, even if he hadn't realized it right now, he would have understood later—once the other high-ranking officials began sending representatives to approach him.
However, revealing the seventy-million bottom line meant Lou Ji had essentially leaked the answers to the test for him.
Pondering briefly, Xu Yuan tapped on the table. "Then we will only report seventy million."
"Changtian..." Lou Ji moved as if to smother him in her chest.
"Wait."
Xu Yuan called out to stop her. Freezing mid-motion, Lou Ji paused as Xu Yuan took a deep breath and said softly, "I can give you fifteen million taels."
"..."
Upon hearing those words, Lou Ji visibly froze for a moment.
She had only been joking earlier; she had never expected to actually get over ten million.
After all, aside from her Black Scale Guards, the other factions within the Chancellor's Manor were watching like hawks.
Had Changtian offered too much, she might have actually refused it.
Showing favoritism to one party based solely on personal ties was a cardinal taboo in leadership.
With that realization, Lou Ji slowly sat upright.
Xu Yuan looked over at her.
Seeing his calm, unperturbed expression, Lou Ji's curiosity was piqued. Her lovely eyes curved into crescents as she lifted his chin with a slender forefinger, her breath warm and sweet like orchids.
"For you to be so generous, Changtian... what is it you need big sister to do for you?"
Chapter 185