The drizzle parted by forceful qi was only fleeting after all. Within half a day, the rift torn forcibly through the cloud layer over the capital region had vanished without a trace.
The heavy rain clouds, stretching across ten thousand li, formed an imposing expanse.
The autumn rain began to fall once more.
Great Yan's landscape was beautiful, veiled in gray-blue amid the rain like a misty wash of ink.
Yet this tranquility was suddenly broken by a middle-aged man. He descended from above the clouds, graying at the temples, the black robe he wore untouched by rain or dew as he dropped straight into the towering, undulating mountain range.
Unlike the picturesque beauty seen from afar, close up the mountain forest was thick with the scent of decay and ruin—animal carcasses, rotting leaves—though fortunately the falling rain washed away most of it.
The rain pattered through the dense woods with creaks and trickles. Xu Yinhe walked through this uninhabited forest, ascending over the carpet of dead leaves.
As he advanced, an invisible force parted a path through the overgrown woods. His steps appeared slow, yet his pace was remarkably swift; by the time some of the forest's native beasts caught sight of the uninvited guest and cast wary glances, his black-clad figure had already vanished.
Within a few breaths, Xu Yinhe stood before a cavern.
The cave mouth was several fathoms wide, pitch-black within, like the maw of a man-eating beast.
He walked inside to its furthest depths. Looking at the burly old man seated cross-legged on a boulder, Xu Yinhe did not speak at first.
The cave's qi dynamic was visibly disordered by the old man's breathing exercises; only when he reined in his cultivation technique and opened his eyes did everything return to calm.
In the end, Ran Jianli spoke first. Looking at the black-clad middle-aged man in the darkness, his tone was tinged with helplessness:
"Xu Yinhe, you truly hid yourself well. Throughout this Northern Hunt, I thought all along that Li Yaoxuan was the host of the Feast at Hong Gate, never imagining that an old bastard like you was the strongest one on the field."
Xu Yinhe paced closer, halting a zhang away.
"Li Yaoxuan is not weak either."
Ran Jianli narrowed his eyes, his tone wistful: "It seems you truly did contemplate regicide back in Huanglong Forest..."
Xu Yinhe did not deny it. "It no longer matters."
"Fair enough. So, my Lord Chancellor, did you come all this way specifically to kill me?" Ran Jianli teased with a chuckle.
He had never been a stern man, not in the past and not now. The passing of years had made him more composed, but his temperament remained unchanged.
Xu Yinhe's expression was serene, his voice echoing softly: "If I wished to kill you, I would never have sent you away in the first place."
Hearing this, Ran Jianli pondered for a moment and asked casually, "Speaking of which, what method did you use back then? The shockwave of our clash was fierce, but it shouldn't have been enough to conceal the spatial traces from that Xuankong Ring of yours. At such close range, with Li Yaoxuan's cultivation and keen eyes, he surely should have noticed something amiss."
The moment the transmission reporting the upheaval in Di'an arrived, their battle had erupted.
For Saint-tier cultivators of their caliber, superiority and victory were largely determined in the very instant they crossed blades.
The first time his spells collided with that heavy sword, Ran Jianli realized he was no match for the Prime Minister—and the gap between them was quite substantial.
Though nothing was absolute in a life-or-death struggle, the disparity had exceeded that threshold. Ran Jianli hadn't felt much despair at the time.
Instead, he had thought: this dog-fucker Xu Yinhe was just like that god-damned Xu Changtian—both full of bullshit. On the night the Sword Saint fought the Sien Sovereign, he actually claimed he hadn't defeated Feng Jiuxuan in twenty years. Damn it all, if you never competed, it didn't count as winning, was that it?
Like father, like son—cut from the exact same cloth as that wretched Xu Yuan.
Still, knowing the gap was one thing; fighting to the death was another. If someone wanted his life, he couldn't just sit and wait for death.
Ran Jianli took death lightly, and before coming to the capital, he had already prepared himself to perish. Yet just as he was about to risk his life against the Prime Minister, he felt a ripple of spatial arts envelop him.
At that instant, Ran Jianli had been utterly dumbfounded.
He had even wanted to send a voice transmission right then and there to ask Xu Yinhe what in the world he was playing at.
Yet everything unfolded too quickly. There was no time to ask, nor time to react.
He had only a split-second choice.
Either submit to the spatial arts and let Xu Yinhe teleport him to some unknown destination for an unknown purpose, or use his qi to break free from the spatial spell and stay in Huanglong Forest to fight Xu Yinhe to the death.
Two choices.
The former offered a chance at life, uncertain though the motives were.
The latter meant certain death unless the Emperor and the military array joined him in besieging Xu Yinhe—and if Xu Yinhe were truly set on taking his life, the Emperor and the military array might not even be able to stop him.
So Ran Jianli chose the former.
He wanted to see what Xu Yinhe was up to.
He had pondered much over the past half-day, and now that the man had indeed sought him out as expected, he voiced the question in his heart: "And why did you teleport me away?"
Xu Yinhe stood quietly in place, speaking softly: "Li Yaoxuan was distracted by something else, so he did not sense the ripples of the spatial technique. As for why I did not kill you... it was simply unnecessary."
"Unnecessary..."
Ran Jianli frowned slightly, gazing at that calm expression in the darkness. The disregard stirred a trace of irritation, yet also helplessness. He sighed softly: "Never mind... Li Yaoxuan was distracted? Was something else present at the time?"
Xu Yinhe did not answer.
Ran Jianli was a fraction short after all, unable to perceive the presence of Heaven's Will. Since that was the case, silence was best.
He merely said, "When I say it was unnecessary, I mean no insult."
Hearing this, Ran Jianli knew he would get no answer and waved a hand in the dark. "Then why didn't you kill me? If I return to the Sword Sect and show my face, all the resolve you and your third son displayed this time will go down the drain."
Xu Yinhe shook his head, speaking with absolute certainty: "You won't."
Ran Jianli narrowed his eyes and laughed heartily: "Hahaha! These old bones of mine may be indolent by nature, but I am still the leader of the Sect Alliance. I won't just take advantage of this feigned death to walk away and wash my hands of everything."
Seeing that Ran Jianli was asking what he already knew, Xu Yinhe laid it bare: "The Sect Alliance was founded on the Immortal Tax law. In all other matters, it is fraught with friction and infighting. You need your death to unite the sects and prevent certain worms within from entertaining appeasement toward me."
The Sect Alliance was too loose, deeply steeped in the mindset of letting others burn so long as oneself stayed safe. Every sect and faction looked only to its own interests, assuming the imperial court would eventually compromise.
Yet among the Sect Alliance's upper echelons, there were clear-headed leaders as well.
They knew full well that the Prime Minister would never compromise.
War was inevitable.
Thus, they needed the death of someone of sufficient weight to shatter the grand illusions of those seeking appeasement!
Ran Jianli had come to the capital specifically to die.
Having his purpose in coming to the capital laid bare, Ran Jianli's smile faded. "So, you intend to let me go back first, and only then announce that I faked my death?"
"Perhaps." Xu Yinhe did not deny it.
Ran Jianli's gaze grew grave, and he bared his teeth. "If you put out that word, how do you plan to answer to the imperial clan? Aren't you afraid Li Yaoxuan will suspect you of harboring ambitions for the throne?"
Xu Yinhe shook his head, remarking flatly, "You and I are different."
"..." Ran Jianli fell silent.
A man knows his own house best. Ran Jianli understood the internal state of the Sect Alliance all too well. If the world's sects learned that the Prime Minister had secretly spared Imperial Preceptor Ran Jianli when he was doomed to die, how would the situation unravel?
Most critically, his own girl—the prime disciple of the Sword Sect—truly shared an entangled, ambiguous relationship with that wretched Xu Changtian.
Ran Jianli had no idea how Tianyuan Sword Sect, as the leader of the sects, would maintain its standing then, or how he, as head of the Sect Alliance, could possibly explain it.
The Prime Minister's Manor had no such worries, backed by the prestige and credibility Xu Yinhe had built over decades.
Furthermore, if Li Yaoxuan did not trust Xu Yinhe, how could he have permitted him to grow so powerful to this day?
After a long silence, Ran Jianli sighed ruefully: "Chancellor, this underhanded scheme of yours is truly venomous. Coming to find me now—are you here to obtain proof?"
Though the Sect Alliance was plagued by fierce infighting, if Ran Jianli stayed hidden in feigned death without showing himself, no one would believe the Manor's unilateral claims either.
Thus, Xu Yinhe needed evidence—clear proof that Ran Jianli was still alive in this world.
Thinking of this, Ran Jianli had already formed the intent to take his own life.
Strong as Xu Yinhe was, if he truly resolved to die, the man couldn't stop him.
Looking at the burly old man whose legs had yet to regenerate, Xu Yinhe shook his head slightly. "If I intended to do that, you would certainly take your own life."
Here, Xu Yinhe paused, gesturing for the other man to disperse the qi dynamic primed for self-destruction, before continuing: "Therefore, I will not forcibly extract evidence. Furthermore, the Prime Minister's Manor needs you to keep those hidden sects in check from the shadows. If you die, and if the Sword Sect falls, the worldly sects will lose their backbone and quickly be subsumed by the hidden sects. That would be detrimental to our imperial court..."
"Why does it feel like the more you talk, the more I want to die?" Ran Jianli clicked his tongue and muttered.
"..." Xu Yinhe remained silent.
"Just a joke." Seeing his reaction, Ran Jianli grinned, stroking the white beard on his chin as he murmured, "Since you won't kill me and don't want proof, what did you come looking for me for? A man like you wouldn't do something so superfluous."
What they had just discussed, Ran Jianli could have deduced through the stakes and relations even without Xu Yinhe coming in person, though nowhere near with such certainty.
And to this question, Xu Yinhe answered with utter directness: "I once promised Changtian that I would give him a chance."
"A chance?" Ran Jianli's expression turned odd in an instant, his bewilderment plain to see. "You want him to persuade me to lead the Sword Sect into throwing our lot in with your court?"
"I do not know."
"What?"
"I only gave a promise. What he intends to do, I do not know either."
"Tsk." Ran Jianli clicked his tongue, a look of distaste on his face, but then he suddenly realized something. He fixed his gaze intently upon the black-robed middle-aged man and asked, "And if his intentions run contrary to yours, what then?"
Xu Yinhe pondered for a few breaths, gave a faint smile, and said calmly, "His decision shall prevail."
"..."
The words faded into the dark, silent cavern.
Yet Ran Jianli's pupils constricted at those words; for a long time, he could not utter a sound.
Defer to Xu Yuan?
What kind of joke was this?!
Even when rulers groomed heirs and transitioned power, they never did it in such a manner.
"Phew..."
Suppressing his unsettled thoughts, Ran Jianli exhaled a breath and sighed:
"You truly place great faith in him—and you truly are in a hurry.
"Chancellor, why must you be so headstrong?
"If there is no war, wouldn't it be wonderful for the two of us to live in peace as in-laws?"
"..." Xu Yinhe gazed at him in silence, his expression as calm as though looking at an idiot.
Ran Jianli shook his head indifferently. "Heh, just idle musings, no need to take it seriously. Though you and I have not crossed paths deeply in this life, I know someone like you could never abandon a lifelong ambition pursued through an entire lifetime.
"Still, now that we've spoken this far, I have a feeling we might never meet again in this life. So let us speak plainly. In truth, ever since you rose to prominence back in the day, I have always been rather curious about you.
"Xu Yinhe, would you answer a question for me?"
"..."
Xu Yinhe fell silent for an instant, then nodded. "Speak, Imperial Preceptor."
Ran Jianli took a deep breath and looked straight into his eyes: "I recall that you too originally hailed from a prominent clan among the sects. Back then, why exactly did you conceive the thought to turn heaven and earth upside down?
"Was it for the common folk of the world?"
With those words, the cavern fell silent.
The middle-aged man clad in a black dragon robe lapsed into silence upon hearing this, appearing not to have anticipated such a meaningless question, or perhaps sinking into memories of days long gone.
The answer to this question was truly far too distant.
So distant that even he, who had served as Great Yan's Prime Minister for decades, had nearly forgotten it.
Seconds and minutes ticked away.
After an unknown span of time, Xu Yinhe's sigh-like voice slowly drifted out:
"Yes, and no. None of it matters anymore..."
Chapter 740