Chapter 710: No Common Guest of the Red Dust

"I see. Then an escort truly would be inconvenient. In that case, forgive the Myriad Beasts Sect for our lack of courtesy in not seeing you farther. Take care on the road, sir!" Qiu Shan cupped his hands in farewell.

He made no further attempt to keep Jia Wuqun and had no desire to. Better to avoid inviting trouble.

"Until we meet again!" Jia Wuqun said with a cheerful smile, cupping his hands before turning to leave.

Qiu Shan had only just relaxed when Jia Wuqun had taken a few steps and suddenly slapped a hand to his forehead. He turned and came back. "Elder Qiu, how muddleheaded of me. The Chancellor gave me one more instruction, and I nearly forgot it. Please pass it on to Sect Leader Xi."

Qiu Shan forced a smile. "I am listening."

Jia Wuqun's expression turned serious. "The situation is this. War is unpredictable, and the Yan army's offensive is truly fierce. Our forces are having great difficulty resisting. The generals surveyed the terrain throughout Song, considered one place after another, and concluded that the area around the Myriad Beasts Sect is particularly suited for battle. They intend to lure the enemy here and make this the main battlefield for the decisive clash with Yan. The Myriad Beasts Sect has stood in Great Song for many years. I am sure you also have Song's interests at heart and will not begrudge vacating the area. I have delivered the message. The Myriad Beasts Sect should make preparations early. I will take my leave. Elder Qiu, no need to see me off!"

Qiu Shan's face darkened.

Jia Wuqun had already turned away, flicking out both sleeves as though he truly meant to leave.

"Brother Jia, please wait!" Qiu Shan called.

Jia Wuqun stopped and turned around. Qiu Shan had already hurried over. The two men faced one another, eyes locked.

"Does Elder Qiu have some further instruction?" Jia Wuqun asked with a smile.

Qiu Shan said in a low voice, "Were those words just now true?"

Jia Wuqun looked surprised. "Why ask such a thing? Elder Qiu, affairs of war and state are no game."

Qiu Shan knew the man was forcing Sect Leader Xi Haitang to come out and meet him. Yet this was not something that could be treated as a joke, and Qiu Shan had no authority to decide it himself. Slowly, he said, "If you leave the message with me, I may not be able to explain it clearly. Could Brother Jia wait a little while? Allow me to see whether I can ask the Sect Leader to end his seclusion early, so you may convey it to him personally."

Jia Wuqun immediately brightened. "I have long wished to pay my respects to Sect Leader Xi's transcendent countenance. How could I let such an opportunity pass? No matter how urgent my affairs, they cannot be more important than meeting Sect Leader Xi. I will gladly wait."

"One moment." Qiu Shan inclined himself slightly, then flashed away.

The Myriad Beasts Sect disciples left behind stared at Jia Wuqun with open hostility. He merely smiled, turned with his hands clasped behind his back, and faced the surrounding mountains, leisurely admiring the view as though their opinions of him did not matter in the least.

The retainer cultivators who had accompanied him from the capital noticed the hostile looks. They stayed close beside Jia Wuqun, alert to everything around them.

He did not wait long before Qiu Shan came flying back and landed beside him. "Brother Jia, the Sect Leader has ended his seclusion early on your account. Please."

"To disturb the Sect Leader's cultivation retreat—my apologies, my apologies." Jia Wuqun repeatedly begged pardon, then extended a hand in return. "Please."

The two walked side by side, climbing flight after flight of steps toward the Myriad Beasts Sect's main hall.

At the entrance, several Myriad Beasts Sect disciples stepped across and extended their arms, barring Jia Wuqun's escorts from entering.

Jia Wuqun glanced back and raised a hand, signaling that it was fine and that the retainers need not follow him inside.

He remained at the doorway for a moment and looked into the hall. Xi Haitang had appeared, and most of the other senior figures of the Myriad Beasts Sect were present as well.

Even if Jia Wuqun was not personally acquainted with all of them, he had seen most before. He noticed that Elder Chao Jing was absent, and his thoughts immediately connected that absence with Chao Shenghuai's return.

His gaze swept across the hall. Various possibilities were rapidly weighed in his mind. Only then did he lower his raised hand, lift the hem of his robe, and step across the threshold. As he walked, he cupped his hands to those on either side, finally stopping before Xi Haitang to salute. "Greetings, Sect Leader. It has been many years. Sect Leader, your immortal bearing has grown even more transcendent."

Xi Haitang said, "Mr. Jia is no common guest of the red dust either. Otherwise, you would never have made it in here. There is no need for such courtesy."

His tone was less than courteous, and the reception hardly looked like one where tea would be poured for a guest.

Jia Wuqun waved a hand in self-deprecation, wearing a helpless smile, then once more cupped his hands to the Elders on either side.

Xi Haitang said, "Junior Brother Qiu tells me that Mr. Jia said the Song army intends to use the territory of my Myriad Beasts Sect as the main battlefield for its decisive engagement with Yan?"

Jia Wuqun replied, "Sect Leader misunderstands. It was not something I said. It was a decision made by the generals at court."

"Is that so?" Xi Haitang said. "Song is a vast country. There are countless places where a battle could be fought. Why here? Forgive my poor eyes, but I cannot see what makes the area around the Myriad Beasts Sect so suitable as a battlefield."

Jia Wuqun shook his head. "To tell the truth, I cannot see what is so good about using this place as the main battlefield either."

Xi Haitang's voice turned cold. "Then why? Is someone deliberately looking for trouble with the Myriad Beasts Sect, or does this supposed decision not exist at all?"

A faint smile curled at the corner of Jia Wuqun's mouth. "Sect Leader should know that Grand Commander-in-Chief Luo Zhao is directing this war, and Luo Zhao is the son-in-law of Lingxiao Pavilion. If Luo Zhao insists on placing the battlefield here, I would have no way of knowing his purpose."

His words seemed to imply that if someone was looking for trouble with the Myriad Beasts Sect, it was the three major sects, not the court.

And it was difficult not to make the further connection: if the war was going badly and the three major sects were suffering, perhaps they had no intention of allowing the Myriad Beasts Sect to remain comfortable either.

Xi Haitang said, "If the court has already made its decision, my Myriad Beasts Sect likely has no power to reverse it. It seems we will simply have to relocate. We will vacate the area for the court's army to fight in, lest we interfere with the campaign."

Jia Wuqun said, "War is merciless. Wherever a great army passes, it crushes everything before it. I fear this land so rich in spiritual beauty will be destroyed."

"There would be no helping it," Xi Haitang said. "We cannot allow the selfish concerns of the Myriad Beasts Sect to harm all of Great Song."

"The Myriad Beasts Sect is indeed noble and selfless. Admirable." Jia Wuqun sighed. "But if this place is destroyed, where will the Myriad Beasts Sect go? Your sect is so large and has so many disciples. I fear no other place could easily accommodate you."

Xi Haitang said, "From the sound of it, does Mr. Jia perhaps have some way of looking after the Myriad Beasts Sect?"

"The Chancellor still has a certain influence at court. Luo Zhao may be Lingxiao Pavilion's son-in-law, but he is also His Majesty's adopted son and, more importantly, His Majesty's subject. Luo Zhao must listen when His Majesty speaks. If the Myriad Beasts Sect has need of it, the Chancellor will certainly do everything he can to reverse the court's decision."

Xi Haitang nodded. "Timely aid in the middle of a snowstorm is rare indeed. If the Chancellor is willing to go to such lengths to help the Myriad Beasts Sect, I wonder whether there is anything he needs us to do in return?"

"The Chancellor's son-in-law, General Chen Shaotong, has been ordered to take the field and halt the Yan invasion. This battle can only be won, not lost. If he loses, the relationship between father-in-law and son-in-law will have enormous consequences for the Chancellor. If the Myriad Beasts Sect could give General Chen its full support and help him win, that would be the greatest help you could offer the Chancellor."

They had already guessed beforehand that this was probably the reason for Jia Wuqun's visit. After all his circling around, it had indeed come to this. Disdain and cold smiles gradually appeared on the faces of the Elders to either side.

Xi Haitang said, "Then I fear the Chancellor will be disappointed. The Myriad Beasts Sect does business with people from all under Heaven. We have no reason to offend our customers and have never involved ourselves in conflicts between states. If the court insists on using this place as a battlefield, there is nothing we can do about it. As I said, we will vacate the area for the court's army and avoid interfering with the war."

Having sounded Jia Wuqun out and confirmed his purpose, Xi Haitang did not believe for a moment that the court truly intended to turn the Myriad Beasts Sect into the main battlefield.

"Sect Leader—"

Jia Wuqun had barely begun when Xi Haitang raised a hand and cut him off. "If Mr. Jia has come as a persuader, there is no need to say more."

"Ha ha..." Jia Wuqun burst into laughter. The laughter softened, but the smile on his face only deepened as he stared at Xi Haitang. "I did not come merely as a persuader. In truth, I also came for the good of the Myriad Beasts Sect, to spare it the calamity of annihilation."

Xi Haitang snorted. "I would like to know who dares annihilate my Myriad Beasts Sect."

Still smiling, Jia Wuqun gave him two words. "The Chancellor."

"Zi Pingxiu?" Xi Haitang sneered again and again. "Him? Mr. Jia, aren't you afraid of spraining your tongue with such grand words? My Myriad Beasts Sect keeps itself apart from these affairs and helps neither side. I would like to see who dares move recklessly against us while two states are at war. Anyone unafraid of losing the war is welcome to try!"

Jia Wuqun said, "I would remind Sect Leader of one thing. The Myriad Beasts Sect stands on the soil of Song, after all. Can you truly bear to sit by and watch Song lose the war?"

"There is no need to remind me," Xi Haitang said. "If Song loses the war and the state itself is gone, some people will become homeless dogs with nowhere to go. And they would still threaten my Myriad Beasts Sect? What a joke. Better to think about how they will protect themselves when that day comes."

Mockery appeared at the corner of Jia Wuqun's mouth. "Sect Leader takes too much for granted. How could Song possibly cease to exist? Whether Song wins or loses, Song will not be destroyed. Does Sect Leader Xi believe Yan has the strength to annex Song? Or do you believe this will cause Han to invade and destroy Song? Neither possibility exists. Yan is already desperately weak. It is enduring this war only because it wants to drag Song into the water and force Song to resist Han alongside it."

He swept his gaze over everyone present. "Do you believe me? Once Song has been beaten badly enough, the two states will immediately negotiate peace. Yan cannot possibly hand Han an advantage, or it would face an enormous threat from Han and Yan itself would be the next state destroyed. That is why Yan needs to drag Song into resisting Han together. Once both sides have been beaten to the point where neither can continue entangling itself with the other, they will immediately negotiate peace so they can join forces against the threat from Han. So where does this talk of 'the state itself being gone' come from?"

A number of senior Myriad Beasts Sect figures frowned. Statecraft was not their specialty, but they were no fools. What Jia Wuqun said was entirely possible. The seven states had fought and made peace for many years. Today's enemy becoming tomorrow's ally was nothing unusual.

After quietly observing everyone's reactions, Jia Wuqun continued, "Some time ago, the Chancellor was careless as well. He never imagined that the two-million-man river-defense army would have its line broken by Meng Shanming so easily. He took the initiative to recommend his son-in-law Chen Shaotong to lead troops into the field. In truth, it was supposed to be little more than going through the motions so his son-in-law could pick up some merit. But just after he made the recommendation, news came that the river defense had been breached. The court followed the current, and now the task of intercepting the Yan army inside Song has fallen onto Chen Shaotong's shoulders."

"Chen Shaotong has scraped together several hundred thousand rabble from here and there. How could they possibly be a match for Meng Shanming's main Yan force of more than two million? The Chancellor has now been forced into a dead end. Song will not be destroyed. As I said before, Song and Yan will inevitably negotiate peace and end the war. But for the Chancellor, if Chen Shaotong collapses at the first blow and causes such a grave failure in affairs of state, then a Chancellor who selfishly recommended his own son-in-law will not escape disaster."

His gaze swept across the men on either side. "The Chancellor will not sit and wait for death. He can only find a way to protect himself. How? If his position at court becomes impossible to defend through court politics alone, he will have no choice but to curry favor with the three major sects and use their influence to maintain his footing at court. The Myriad Beasts Sect is such a large sect planted in Song that the three major sects have never felt at ease with you. They would probably be delighted to see the Chancellor mobilize every force at his disposal to drive the Myriad Beasts Sect out of Song. Even if he cannot drive you out, he can still torment the sect until it is half-dead. A Chancellor driven into a dead end will have no scruples left. Green-faced and baring his fangs, he becomes terrifying. He eats people."

The space before Jia Wuqun blurred.

Xi Haitang suddenly flashed in front of him and seized his long beard in one hand. "What kind of thing are you? I gave you face and you refused it. A mere ant dares come here and threaten my Myriad Beasts Sect? I think you've grown tired of living!"

His hand tightened and yanked.

A whole handful of beard was ripped out by the roots. Blood immediately streamed from Jia Wuqun's chin.

[End of Chapter 710]