Blade

"Xinyao, what has you in such a rush?" A gentle, calm voice drifted from the wing room in the inner courtyard. Sitting behind the desk in the room, Xu Yuan glanced at the pushed-open door. Morning light slanted past the eaves, spilling into the room. Xu Xinyao, who had rushed over to deliver the news, seemed frantic. Her face was flushed as she bent over in the doorway, hands braced on her knees, her ample chest heaving as she panted for breath. In stark contrast to her state was the unruffled calm on the face of the young man inside. After catching her breath with a few deep gasps, Xu Xinyao wiped away the fine beads of sweat beaded on her forehead and said hurriedly, "Third Brother... Chief Lou isn't permitted into the inner courtyard, so she had me come tell you. She... she said Sister Qingmo's master has passed away." Upon hearing the news, Xu Yuan showed no trace of panic. He said softly, "Calm down." "But..." "I already know about the gift box sent by the imperial court to the Sword Sect." Xu Yuan raised a hand to cut off his fourth sister's anxious tone, adding quietly, "Though Father relieved me of all burdensome official duties these past few days, he still occasionally sends word of a few vital pieces of news, and this imperial gift was among them." Hearing this, Xu Xinyao studied her elder brother's expression. Seeing no unusual emotion on his face, she asked hesitantly, "Then aren't you worried about Sister Qingmo's reaction, Third Brother?" Xu Yuan slowly set down the ancient tome titled *Black Scales* in his hands. After a moment of contemplation, he said softly, "Of course I am. But before affairs of state and the realm, personal feelings always pale in comparison." "..." Xu Xinyao blinked, looking somewhat troubled. Xu Yuan took a deep breath and continued at an unhurried pace, "Xinyao, I was the one who personally submitted the Equal Tax Immortal Law. I no longer have any ground to dissuade Father from taking this step, for this serves as a warning to every sect under heaven: those who defy imperial decrees shall be shown no mercy!" Her inherent gentleness and kindness made it difficult for Xu Xinyao to accept this explanation. Pressing her red lips together, she asked, "Just for... a warning?" Xu Yuan shook his head and gestured to the seat across from his desk, motioning for her to sit. "Of course not. "Sending those severed legs to the Sword Sect serves multiple ends. "Within the imperial court, it confirms that Ran Jianli died during the Northern Hunt. It leaves the royal family riding a tiger with no way to dismount, binding them more closely to our Prime Minister's Manor to a certain extent. "As for the Sect Alliance, while the news of Ran Jianli's death will shatter many sects' fond dreams of appeasing the court, it will also exacerbate the rift at the very top of the alliance—between the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion and the Tianyuan Sword Sect." Xu Xinyao took her seat timidly. By now, having seen her former ideals thoroughly crushed, she had chosen to evade reality. She no longer wished to hear of grand affairs of state. Yet since her third brother had brought it up, she followed along: "You mean the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion will definitely seize this chance to make a move?" Xu Yuan nodded and said faintly, "Yes. But Ran Jianli's death is not a one-dimensional matter. His exalted status makes the entire affair as tangled as a spider's web. "On the one hand, his death will indeed weaken the Sword Sect's influence. Unlike in an era ruled purely by sects, an imperial realm places somewhat less emphasis on individual cultivation when measuring a faction's voice, but there remains a distinct difference between a sect guarded by a Saint and one without. "On the other hand, it places the Sword Sect upon the moral high ground within the Sect Alliance. "After all, in a sense, Ran Jianli died for the realm like a sovereign dying for his state. If anyone tries to strip the Sword Sect of its position as head of the alliance over this, they would be trampling upon the very righteousness that binds them!" Hearing the word 'righteousness' from Xu Yuan's lips, Xu Xinyao hesitated before asking, "Third Brother, does moral righteousness really matter?" At heart, Xu Xinyao was a traditional woman. Concepts of propriety, hierarchy, and moral order held an indelible weight in her mind. Yet people always changed with their environment. Having spent so much time around her boundary-flouting brother, she no longer placed much faith in the efficacy of such moral causes. "You once told me yourself that moral righteousness is merely a shackle placed on the weak by the strong. Once the strong lose their power, the authority of that cause will inevitably slip away." Xu Yuan was slightly surprised, but he nonetheless explained, "Then perhaps I didn't phrase it clearly just now. When I mentioned moral righteousness, I was referring to the Sect Alliance's vital lifeline. "Every faction has its lifeline—the bedrock of its existence. Once it is lost, its destruction is likely not far off. "Take a few examples. If the lifeline of the Great Yan imperial family is their thousand-year royal bloodline, and that of our Chancellor's Manor is Father himself, then the Sect Alliance's lifeline is that very sense of righteous cause." At this point, Xu Yuan let out a slightly helpless chuckle and continued, "With the strength of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion and that woman surnamed Wen, they could certainly use brute force to compel the Sword Sect to surrender authority now that it lacks a Saint. But the price would be the loss of the alliance's foundation—that thread of trust, fragile as a stalk of straw." "Trust?" Xu Xinyao murmured. Xu Yuan tapped lightly on the edge of the desk. "Ran Jianli sounded the alarm for the Sect Alliance with his own flesh and blood, yet the Sword Sect would still end up stripped of power. What do you think the other sects would feel? "Any formation within the Black Qilin Army would charge forward heedless of life and death on Father's sole command. But the Sect Alliance cannot do that. They are merely a loose coalition. With the Sword Sect standing as a cautionary tale before them, would any other sect dare lay down their lives for the cause? "Xinyao, this is an inescapable open ploy Father has laid for the alliance." Hearing this, Xu Xinyao asked instinctively, "Then what if the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion chooses not to—" Halfway through the sentence, she swallowed her remaining words. Her naivety was long gone. She understood clearly that even if the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion Master knew full well what was at stake, they would still have to contest the position of alliance leader. For even if the Pavilion Master did not wish to fight for it, their supporters would forcibly hoist them onto that seat. With war looming, the Sect Alliance could only have a single voice setting the tone. Otherwise, when the war truly began, facing the two supremely centralized behemoths of the royal family and the Prime Minister's Manor, any internal discord, struggle, or infighting would lead to an utter rout. Yet the problem was... According to the plans of Father and Third Brother, neither the Sword Sect nor the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion would be able to subdue the other in short order. At that thought, Xu Xinyao instinctively looked at Xu Yuan and asked cautiously, "Third Brother... can only one of them survive between the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion and the Sword Sect?" "..." Xu Yuan was somewhat surprised, but soon felt a wave of relief. As expected of a brilliant scholar, his fourth sister was indeed sharp. In such a short span, she had deduced one of the root causes behind the Tianyuan Sword Sect's destruction in *Cangyuan*. With that thought, Xu Yuan slowly rose from his chair, ran a hand through his hair behind his head, and let out a sigh. "Xinyao, this world is never bereft of talent. "Even Father nearly became a blade in the hands of those hidden sects..."