Compared to the sharp edges and distinct personalities of the other higher-ups in the Prime Minister's Manor, Granny Long had always maintained the gentleness that lingered from her youth.
In contrast to the clearly demarcated conservative and radical factions within the manor, she had always simply gone with the flow.
This had nothing to do with capability; it was a matter of temperament.
For this, Lou Ji was to blame.
During Long Xinling's formative adolescent years, Lou Ji's companionship had tempered her impetuousness into steadiness. However, Lou Ji's habit of quietly handling every danger and chore around her had left Long Xinling devoid of initiative.
She was a quintessential pushover—so nice that among the manor's upper echelons, she seemed like someone who had ridden Lou Ji's coattails into power.
And that was precisely where the problem lay.
If Granny Long had truly been just a coattail rider elevated by Lou Ji, Xu Yinhe would have spared her life if only out of regard for Lou Ji. The reality, however, was that Granny Long had become a high-ranking figure in the manor because of her noble bloodline.
To this day, if one were to break down the vast Chancellor's Manor into factions, it could effectively be divided into five.
The newly minted elites promoted over the past decades, the original Jing River Xu family, the Imperial Capital's Feng family, the local aristocratic clans subdued through various means, and finally, the Imperial Capital's Long family.
The first three went without saying—Xu Yinhe held them firmly in his grasp. The subjugated provincial clans were scattered throughout Great Yan, and with the deliberate divide-and-conquer strategy orchestrated by the Di'an Prime Minister's Manor, even if they wished to coalesce into a shared interest bloc within the manor, they could hardly unite into a cohesive force. The sole exception was the Di'an Long family.
The Prime Minister's Manor had gone through two periods of rapid expansion, and both periods had been built upon the corpses of two millennium-old clans.
The Feng family's heir and the Eldest Imperial Princess had taken the lead in rebelling to seize power from their father. That faction had originally been held by Xu Yuan's mother, but after her passing, Feng Jiuxuan's hands-off nature meant it naturally passed into Xu Yinhe's hands.
The relationship between the Di'an Long family and the Prime Minister's Manor, on the other hand, was intricate. It had been far more of a partnership than an annexation. Back then, the Long family's Saint had passed away at an exceedingly unfortunate moment—right during the most tumultuous period of imperial succession.
Normally, this would not have been a grave crisis for the Long family. As one of the few millennium clans in Great Yan, they had weathered countless similar crises, and their deep foundation was more than sufficient to sit on the sidelines and watch the turmoil unfold. However, the clan head at the time had entered the fray to back the previous dynasty's crown prince out of personal friendship and promises made.
Namely, the Emperor's eldest brother, who bore a striking resemblance to Li Junqing.
And the outcome was obvious: in that political cataclysm, not long after the Long family's Saint passed away, the Long clan head also perished alongside Li Yaoxuan's elder brother, the crown prince.
The loss of their two pillars, coupled with a succession of strategic missteps, left the Long family in dire straits. Following the clan head's death, internal strife among the five branches of descendants caused the once-mighty clan to be schemed into dismemberment and fragmentation almost overnight.
Under such circumstances, Granny Long's brother used her relationship with Lou Ji to establish ties with Xu Yinhe, who had already risen to the position of Great Yan's Prime Minister.
Each had what the other desired.
Their cooperation unfolded naturally.
With Xu Yinhe's assistance, Granny Long's brother emerged victorious in the Long family's internal strife as expected, becoming the sole head of the clan.
The Long family became a close partner of the Prime Minister's Manor.
Yet even the closest partnership invariably shifts with time and changing interests.
In the tenth year of Granny Long's brother's rule over the Long family, at that year's Grand Banquet of the Prime Minister's Manor, this Long clan head clashed violently with Xu Yinhe.
Not long after parting on bad terms, he suddenly fell ill—gravely ill, and without explanation.
Despite being a Semi-Saint powerhouse, he swiftly died of that sudden illness.
After that, a new round of infighting erupted within the Long family.
The internal struggle came without warning and was fiercely brutal. Nearly all the direct descendants of the Long family died in the strife, utterly tearing the leviathan apart.
Yet the powerful inertia of a millennium clan kept the Long family's influence from truly dispersing; over these past decades, they had gradually rallied around Long Xinling, the sole surviving direct daughter of the Long family.
This had nothing to do with cultivation; it came from the nobility of her bloodline.
Just as ministers in ancient dynasties of Xu Yuan's previous life would invariably find a collateral royal to place on the throne after an emperor's death.
"..."
A flake of white snow fell upon the purple veil. The look in Lou Ji's eyes was tinged with loneliness.
"She never actually intended to restore the Long family. She was mostly hoisted onto that pedestal against her will by those people. But among her children, there are a few ambitious ones who have already reached out to many of the Long family's former retainers."
As she spoke, Lou Ji lowered her gaze, saying with a trace of self-mockery, "Yet even so, she could have survived."
Xu Yuan looked at her pale profile and asked in a low voice, "By killing her own children as a pledge of loyalty?"
Lou Ji shook her head. "That is only one way. Your father has immense tolerance; so long as one does not cross fundamental lines, his patience with us is practically limitless."
Xu Yuan pondered for a moment and understood the meaning behind Lou Ji's words.
His father had no objection to his subordinates wielding immense power.
Did Lou Ji have great power?
Thinking carefully, the Black Scale Guard was already frighteningly vast.
The Black Scale Guard spanned almost the entirety of Great Yan, and its compartmentalized, single-line structure of communication left it virtually independent of the Prime Minister's Manor's authority. Beyond that, Lou Ji controlled numerous avenues for funneling wealth.
It was an organization akin to the Embroidered Uniform Guard of his previous life. But where emperors of his old world had castrated the guard's power by turning it over to eunuchs in order to control and curtail it, Xu Yinhe did not care about such things in the slightest—he even turned a blind eye to her private money-making operations.
His father never minded delegating authority, but the prerequisite was that you had to deliver your pledge of loyalty.
The blood debts incurred by the Black Scale Guard had earned her the hatred of nearly every sect in the world; that was Lou Ji's pledge of loyalty to Xu Yinhe.
If Long Xinling wanted to restore the Long family, fine—but where was her pledge of loyalty?
With a trace of helplessness, Lou Ji murmured, "Your father waited a long time for Xinling, but she never made a move. Fearing she didn't understand, I even warned her in private, yet she still showed no reaction."
Puzzlement flickered in Xu Yuan's eyes. "Why?"
This was already an open-book exam—no, calling it open-book was too conservative; the answers were sitting right in front of her to copy.
Even if Granny Long couldn't bring herself to lay hands on her own children, she could have struck at the sects.
If Granny Long had harbored any such inclination, given her friendship with Lou Ji, Xu Yuan believed this older sister of his would have at least ordered the Black Scale Guard to provide intelligence support, even if she couldn't intervene personally.
In the snowy night, Lou Ji breathed out a puff of white mist that instantly dispersed. "Striking at the sects would implicate many of the Long family's veteran retainers, and those retainers are loyal to her."
"Isn't the end result the same?" Xu Yuan said softly. "If she didn't do it, the manor would do it after her death anyway."
"It's just her nature. She cannot raise her hand against her own people."
Lou Ji raised her eyes to look at the sword brilliance gradually fading in the night sky, as though glimpsing the timid, trembling girl who had spoken to her when they first met.
Biting her lip, Lou Ji clenched her fist tightly. "If I had only assisted from the side back then and let her handle those matters herself—if her temperament had become colder—perhaps the outcome today might have been different."
Granny Long died of her gentle nature, and died of the "delusion" of restoring the Long family.
Though it might not have been her intention, she had to die.
After those words, Lou Ji showed no desire to speak further. Xu Yuan accompanied her out of Xiangqin Court.
The female retained elders among Lou Ji's direct faction had already been dealt with; next, they had to head to Xingjing Court, where the male retainers resided.
Yet Lou Ji's mood adjusted quickly. By the time they arrived at Xingjing Court, she was chatting and bantering with Xu Yuan with a bright smile.
She spoke of the female retained elder who had called Lou Ji "Sister."
To Xu Yuan's amusement and exasperation, the reason his father had ordered the death of this former adoptive sister was simply because she was hopelessly lovesick.
She had a husband who, aside from good looks and poetic talent, was utterly useless in every other regard.
He enjoyed socializing with high officials and nobles, showing off before them.
Much like how Xu Yuan, strapped for cash in the past, had snuck into his father's study to steal internal briefs and sell them for money, the adoptive sister's husband often leaked confidential intelligence for the sake of those "friends."
The difference was that his wife was merely a senior figure in the Black Scale Guard, whereas Xu Yuan's father was the master of the Prime Minister's Manor.
Doing so brought grave consequences for them, whereas Xu Yuan could do so without facing any consequences at all—if being strung up and beaten by Xu Changge didn't count as one.
Before tonight, Lou Ji had warned that sworn sister she had picked up in Black Alley more than once. But lovesickness was beyond cure; within days she would forget the warnings and continue indulging her husband.
And so she died tonight.
Upon entering Xingjing Court, the white snow that Feng Jiuxuan's single sword strike had scattered across the ground had already begun piling up again. Xu Yuan strolled through the courtyard beside Lou Ji, walking while killing.
They mostly understood what they had done. Some chose a dignified end themselves, while others achieved dignity with Lou Ji's help.
What made Xu Yuan rather helpless, however, was that those who refused to die with dignity invariably lunged at him when they struck.
It felt very much like an overpowered carry escorting an obvious weak point on a stroll.
As Lou Ji killed, she also explained to Xu Yuan the reasons behind each death.
Some were guilty of outright betrayal; others had made clandestine compromises with the sects; still others had fallen into complacency and stopped seeking progress after securing power.
Along the way, Xu Yuan also bumped into two familiar faces: those two old men, Jiang He and Hua Hong.
Once the grand array of the Prime Minister's Manor activated, anyone without a soul key fell into the Luanyin Formation, unable to use divine sense to probe the outside world.
Each of the two old men led a pair of black-robed figures whose auras were unfathomably deep, knocking on doors one by one.
Just as Xu Yuan hesitated over whether to greet them, the two old men let out cold snorts and brushed past them.
They did not seem to be in high spirits.
Killing one's own direct subordinates naturally brought no joy.
Xu Yuan figured this was likely another form of a pledge of loyalty.
Emerging from the final courtyard, Xu Yuan let out a soft sigh: "This truly is a great purge..."
Tonight, Xu Yuan had accompanied Lou Ji in killing a total of eleven people.
By rough count: one suspected Transcendent Realm, three suspected Origin Realm, four suspected Grandmasters, and four mortals.
If one added those disposed of by Hua Hong, Jiang He, and other core members of the manor themselves, that number would easily multiply several times over.
And once the aftershocks of this purge spread beyond the Prime Minister's Manor, the number of people implicated would likely multiply a hundredfold.
"Excising a tumor is painful, but only by doing so can we keep moving forward."
Lou Ji disposed of the corpses with spirit-melting powder and murmured, "Rest easy. For every person killed tonight, your father prepared a contingency plan. Tonight is the beginning, but also the end; the manor won't suffer any major upheaval."
Xu Yuan smiled faintly. "Let us hope so."
Lou Ji's pretty eyes curved as she dusted the remaining spirit-melting powder from her hands, chuckling softly. "Everything's taken care of. Are you returning to the inner court tonight, Changtian, or staying behind to have a heart-to-heart with Sister?"
Xu Yuan glanced at her smiling countenance and shook his head gently. "I think rather than a heart-to-heart, what you want right now is some quiet to yourself."
Lou Ji reached up and patted Xu Yuan's head. "You truly understand me, Changtian."
Xu Yuan batted her hand away, turned on his heel, and started heading toward the inner court. "I'm heading back. So much happened tonight, and Xinyao is completely in the dark. Left alone in the inner court, she's probably worried sick."
"I'll see you off."
"No need."
"You plan to walk right under Ran Jianli's nose?"
"..."
Squeeeak—
When Xu Yuan returned to the inner court and pushed open the main courtyard gates, sure enough, he saw a slender figure pacing back and forth in the main hall where the family dined.
The sword radiance in the sky, as brilliant as an aurora, had completely dissipated, leaving the heavens to dark night. Amid the drifting wind and snow, inscribed lamps lit the hall brightly, illuminating the anxious look on the young girl's face.
The moment she heard movement at the entrance, a flicker of joy flashed in her eyes. Hurrying forward at once, she asked anxiously, "Third Brother, what happened out there?"
Xu Yuan smiled gently at her, stepping into the hall as he said softly, "Good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
Xu Xinyao froze for a second, then stamped her foot in mild vexation. "Brother! Stop keeping me in suspense!"
Entering the hall, Xu Yuan pulled out a chair and sat down, leisurely crossing his legs. Watching his fourth sister trail after him like a tail, he chuckled unhurriedly, "The good news is, we found a Boundary Void Stone."
"What?"
Xu Xinyao blinked, then reacted immediately.
As an array master, she understood all too well the value of an item like a Boundary Void Stone, which could bear the engravings of a teleportation array.
She probed, "The commotion outside was because of the Boundary Void Stone?"
"You could say that." Xu Yuan nodded and said in a hushed tone, "The bad news is, we failed. The cooked Boundary Void Stone sprouted wings and flew away."
"..."
"..."
Xu Yuan did not tell Xu Xinyao the full picture of tonight. Pruning off the head and tail, he gave a brief summary of the night's events. Just as he was about to crack a few jokes to lighten the mood, the corner of his eye caught an extra figure standing in the courtyard outside the main hall.
A figure holding a severed head.
Feng Jiuxuan had returned.
Chapter 519