Mortals contemplating eternal life are like those peering into an abyss through dense fog, or gazing at the moon from the bottom of a well—never able to behold its true face.
Xu Yuan agreed with his father's words, yet only by half.
Cultivators across the world were as numerous as carp crossing a river, but over myriad years, those who attained longevity numbered no more than two or three.
As one of them, the woman surnamed Wen had to be treated with grave seriousness, but when it came to playing chess for the realm, in his heart, she was still merely one player.
She had lived for fifteen hundred years. She had witnessed the majesty of the Heavenly Gate Sword Immortal and lived through the era of Great Yan's Grand Ancestor. Even the reign of the vast imperial dynasty beneath their feet was merely a fraction of the years she had traversed.
No one could be certain of what means the woman surnamed Wen possessed; the three techniques she had revealed in the Zhenxi Incident alone—Spirit Inhabitation, Void Realm, and external incarnation—were already enough to put her on par with Chancellor Xu.
Therefore, no amount of caution toward a figure like her could be considered excessive.
Yet, just as in the past when countless calamities of the Long Night descended, the human race invariably brought forth thousands of heroes in times of peril, and the realm today was likewise an era where humanity's stars shone bright.
The Emperor of Great Yan and his princes, the Pavilion Master of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, and the thousands of juniors within the Sect Alliance were all individuals who demanded serious consideration.
Looking at the gray-templed, middle-aged man behind the stone table, Xu Yuan suddenly felt that in Cangyuan, the collapse of the Chancellor's Manor might well have been partly due to this.
Unrivaled natural talent had instead become his father's constraint. Standing so high, he could only see the two or three towering peaks piercing through the clouds.
Perhaps in the eyes of the man before him, only those few could be called opponents.
Yet...
A mountain may be majestic, but without stubborn rocks forming its base, how could it ever reach into the clouds?
"Father, the woman surnamed Wen cannot represent the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, much less the thousands of sects."
Xu Yuan tried to remind him.
Hearing this, Xu Yinhe fell silent for a moment, his tone calm and unperturbed as he spoke:
"If your father could not see that, why would I have taken the step of preaching the Dao to the whole realm?
"The strength of the people is immense, yet scattered. Guided properly, it can far surpass the nobility. But at present, your father no longer has the leeway to look downward."
At this point,
Xu Yinhe looked at his son before him, a hint of complexity entering his eyes.
There was guilt, but even more expectation.
Xu Yuan felt a touch of confusion. His brow furrowed slightly, and he opened his mouth to speak.
Yet he saw his father already wave a hand, steering the conversation back:
"That woman was unwilling to see Ran Jianli directing the Sword Sect from the shadows to vie with her for leadership of the Sect Alliance. If she had the power, intercepting and killing him was an inevitable outcome."
Xu Yuan rested his palm on the stone table, feeling the winter chill. He wanted to steer the topic back and ask what his father had meant just now, but upon seeing his father's expression, he ultimately swallowed his words in silence. After a brief deliberation, he replied:
"But the problem is, with Tianyan personally delivering Ran Jianli's corpse to the Sword Sect, how are they going to explain where the body came from?"
Xu Yinhe shook his head and countered with a question:
"Do you think that matters?"
"..."
Xu Yuan was stunned for a moment, then gave a bitter smile.
Logically speaking, Ran Jianli's corpse ought to have been in the Imperial Court's hands. If Tianyan brought it to the Sword Sect, anyone would suspect that Ran Jianli had been killed by the hidden sects like the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion. It was an act that completely fractured the Sect Alliance.
After all, the hidden sects' ambitions were plain for all to see.
Yet things were never one-sided. To outsiders like them, that was how events should unfold, but the issue was that they did not know the full picture.
Viewed horizontally a range, from the side a peak.
Lacking a single piece of intelligence, what one saw could be worlds apart from the truth.
Therefore, it did not matter.
What mattered was the hidden sects' purpose in intercepting and killing Ran Jianli.
In the winter air, Xu Yinhe exhaled a plume of white mist, speaking with earnest gravity:
"You cannot oversee all things under heaven. For some matters, you need only know their purpose—knowing that if the woman surnamed Wen dared to intercept and kill Ran Jianli, she must have follow-up measures to strip the Sword Sect of power."
At that,
Xu Yinhe lowered his calm voice slightly and asked:
"Changtian, Ran Jianli is dead. Can what you originally intended to do still continue?"
The study courtyard fell silent, a few withered leaves drifting down from the ginkgo tree.
So that was it.
From the moment his father mentioned Ran Jianli's death, Xu Yuan had roughly guessed the purpose of his visit.
He did not answer immediately, his thoughts turning at rapid speed.
With Ran Jianli dead, could it still be carried out?
He had no confidence in that question either.
Regarding how to save the Sword Sect, Xu Yuan's ideas had already undergone several changes.
At the very beginning,
this promise had merely been a lie told to the Big Ice Block.
He had made too many promises in his past life; one more shackle wouldn't have burdened him in the slightest, not to mention that the initial purpose of this promise had been to keep himself alive.
Later,
Xu Yuan realized that he could no longer let this promise remain a mere shackle, so he used intelligence from his past life to draft the first plan to save the Sword Sect.
In Cangyuan, after enduring immense difficulty to help the Big Ice Block escape the Prime Minister's Manor's pursuit and go into exile overseas, players could obtain a legacy from the Sword Sect through a series of plotlines.
It was a key—
a key the Sword Sect had lost during its era of decline.
A key that could unlock the Sword Sect's former secret realm.
He had made this the core of his plan, gradually weaving together the details.
After troops arrived outside Wanxiang City, before parting ways, Xu Yuan had given information about this key to Ran Qingmo so she could take it back to the Sword Sect.
With this key, the Sword Sect would have a way out.
And once they had a way out, no one would think of fighting to the death.
Xu Yuan had intended to use this key to force the Sword Sect into retreating into the secret realm to become a hidden sect, and then seal the entrance to the secret realm completely.
The process would be bloody, and the Sword Sect would despise the Prime Minister's Manor that brought about their downfall, but under the current general trend of history, it had been the only way to save the Sword Sect.
His subsequent experiences during the turmoil in the Northern Border had only reinforced that conviction.
Because he discovered that all these sects shared the same nature.
Right up until the moment their homes and sects were ruined, the nobility within the sects would still engage in internal strife, clinging desperately to their little plots of land and refusing to let go.
The Wanxiang Sect was like this, the Northern Border sects were like this, and the Sword Sect... should have been no different.
Yet that was precisely when an unforeseen turn occurred.
The Sect Alliance's leader, Ran Jianli, harboring a resolve to die, had rushed to Di'an—an act that shattered Xu Yuan's assumption to pieces.
Courage was not a glory belonging solely to the Prime Minister's Manor.
An organizational structure like the Sect Alliance had endured in the world for tens of thousands of years, surviving through repeated calamities of the Everlasting Night. Even under today's imperial realm, it still clung beneath every unified dynasty and continued to persist.
One could call it decadent and ruined, or even short-sighted and petty, but to call it feeble and weak would be an insult to it—and an insult to the Prime Minister's Manor itself.
It was also at that moment that Xu Yuan realized martial might alone could never force the Sword Sect, the head of the Sect Alliance, into submission.
He needed other pieces of the puzzle.
Sowing discord.
And doing so was not actually difficult.
What brought one to rise would also bring one to fall.
The structure of the Sect Alliance dictated that the conflict between the Sword Sect and the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion was utterly irreconcilable. With a slight push, coupled with that key from his past life, the Prime Minister's Manor could easily back the Sword Sect into a corner.
The concluding stages of both the new and old plans required martial might to suppress the Sword Sect into surrendering, yet there was a fundamental difference between them.
Hatred.
The target of that hatred had changed.
From the Prime Minister's Manor to those backstabbing hidden sects.
The backstabbing by the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion and the various hidden sects would plant a seed named resentment throughout the Sword Sect. The pain of a blade from behind would always exceed the enemy's sword. And when that dissatisfaction and resentment reached a certain threshold, that would be the day Xu Yuan arrived in person at the Tianyuan Mountain Range.
With a stick in one hand and a carrot in the other, he would offer the Sword Sect promises and an honorable way out, then convince the most prestigious man within the Sword Sect to propose that very recommendation at the Sword Sect's Elder Council—accepting imperial amnesty.
When that time came, the Sword Sect might still choose to fight to the death, but the probability would be very small.
But now, all of it was gone.
Because Ran Jianli was dead.
The greatest bridge connecting the Prime Minister's Manor and the Sword Sect had collapsed without a sound.
What should he do?
Could the scheme still proceed?
Would the Big Ice Block's master's wife possess enough prestige to bear such a heavy burden?
None of this did Xu Yuan know.
All kinds of questions and uncertainties made Xu Yuan hesitate, but the master of the Prime Minister's Manor before him did not give him much time to think, his voice following immediately:
"Changtian, confirmed news of Ran Jianli's death will cause a period of chaos across the realm. The Overseeing Heaven Pavilion and those hidden sects will certainly use this Tianyuan Grand Tournament to consolidate the Sect Alliance from within. Since they have placed their piece, we must follow up and accelerate.
"If Ran Jianli's death does not disrupt what you planned before, then go and do it as soon as possible. This period of time is the final opportunity your father leaves for you."
"..."
The final opportunity...
Xu Yuan's thoughts were in some disarray.
As the heir to the Prime Minister's Manor, he should—or rather, must—learn the ruthless resolve his father displayed in his youth, striking down his circle of close friends without hesitation, and he should also possess Xu Changge's decisiveness in being willing to cut down his beloved.
Silent for a long time, countless thoughts raced through his chest. The cards he had laid out along the way continuously came together, and an idea gradually formed in Xu Yuan's mind.
After a quiet moment, Xu Yuan suddenly spoke:
"I can. But the strategy must change."
As he spoke, seeming to have made up his mind, he raised his gaze to Xu Yinhe, his voice slightly raspy:
"Father, regarding the Sword Sect... I need greater authority."
Xu Yinhe narrowed his eyes slightly, his tone flat:
"How great?"
"Infinite."
"It has already been given to you."
"..."
The winter wind blew biting and bleak, swaying the hair at his temples.
Xu Yuan's eyes widened slightly, followed by a flicker of complex emotion.
The Black Scale Array Art.
The Prime Minister's Manor's true supreme authority—bar none.
Xu Yinhe stood up. As if to lighten the mood, he glanced sideways at his third son, whose eyes were downcast and face dead serious, and joked half-heartedly:
"Though with your current half-baked mastery, it is still far from enough."
With that,
Xu Yinhe walked up to Xu Yuan, patted his shoulder, then silently turned and walked out of the courtyard.
Xu Yuan looked up at his departing father.
As if by some trick of perception, at this moment Xu Yuan suddenly felt that the man's back was no longer towering and majestic, but rather like an old man stepping into his twilight years...
Footsteps crunched crisply over the fallen leaves.
Watching the figure approaching the courtyard gate, Xu Yuan spoke up suddenly:
"Father, you... forgot about the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion."
Xu Yinhe paused in his steps. He did not turn back, nor did he conceal his view of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, his voice straightforward:
"In the past, the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion dominated the world through the interplay of three things: deducing the heavenly secrets, the leader's absolute rationality, and supreme individual might. But judging from your and your maternal uncle's assessment of the Zhenxi Incident, the current Pavilion Master seems to have only that rationality left."
"So you believe the Pavilion Master cannot defeat that woman surnamed Wen."
"Mm."
Xu Yinhe did not deny it.
In his eyes, the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion posed a threat, but only to the extent of an oversized Sword Sect, far less dangerous than the woman surnamed Wen.
Yet contrary to his expectations,
Xu Yuan's next words offered a reply that caught him entirely unprepared.
He said:
"What if the person in power at the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion is no longer that Pavilion Master?"
Chapter 750