Chapter 927: Returning the Courtesy

"So it really was because of the Heavenly Fire Limitless Art..."

Inside the council hall, Gong Lince murmured thoughtfully after hearing Yan Li's report.

The other Elders were much the same, each wearing a contemplative expression.

When Gong Lince came back to himself, he smiled and nodded toward Yan Li. "Junior Brother Yan, you've spent these past few days running back and forth around Niu Youdao. You've worked hard."

Yan Li modestly replied, "I wouldn't call it hard work. It was part of my duty. Only what I should have done."

"Junior Brother Yan handled this well." Yuan An offered a word of praise, then turned to Gong Lince. "Senior Brother Sect Leader, the information Junior Brother Yan brought back is important. It also woke us up to something. Kunlin Shu may appear to be only an ordinary disciple of Tianhuo Sect, but in truth his significance to Tianhuo Sect is anything but ordinary. It seems this is about far more than his having mastered Fire Phantom Shadow Escape... With this man in our hands, there is a great deal we can do."

Yan Li shook his head. "I know what Senior Brother Yuan means, but Niu Youdao's words aren't without reason. The Heavenly Fire Limitless Art may be excellent, but even Tianhuo Sect, which has devoted itself to fire-aspected cultivation arts for generations, produced only this one Kunlin Shu capable of mastering it after its third generation. Are we somehow supposed to surpass Tianhuo Sect in a field they've immersed themselves in for so long? From that alone, it's obvious that even if the art fell into our hands, it wouldn't mean much."

Elder Fu Junrang waved a hand. "True enough, but its significance to Tianhuo Sect is different. Tianhuo Sect will never abandon this man. They absolutely cannot allow him to fall into Niu Youdao's hands as a slave. If that truly happened, I doubt Tianhuo Sect would be able to eat or sleep in peace. They will inevitably come to us and demand him back."

Elder Yin Yide pondered. "If Tianhuo Sect truly applies pressure, I'm afraid we won't be able to keep him. Yan maintains such a large military posture that replacing old warhorses with new ones cannot be done without Qi. Even if we don't want to hand him over, I'm afraid we ultimately will have to. Still, that gives us room to negotiate properly. This time, Tianhuo Sect will have to bleed a little."

Yuan An nodded. "Exactly what I mean. All of us, from top to bottom, went through all this trouble helping Niu Youdao. Looking at it now, the effort wasn't wasted."

Yan Li hesitated. "I understand what all the Senior Brothers mean, but under the wager, that married couple belongs to Niu Youdao. They're his servants. Will Niu Youdao really hand them over so easily for us to dispose of?"

Elder Mo Lingxue said, "Junior Brother Yan, that's not the right way to put it. Niu Youdao is now an Elder of Zijin Cave. When Zijin Cave's interests are involved, he has to obey the larger situation and think of the greater good."

Yan Li said, "The greater good again? Of course he should consider Zijin Cave's greater good. But is it appropriate for us to keep putting that hat on him every time? Last time we pushed him like that, he retaliated in Beizhou. If we keep doing this... I'll speak plainly. If the Nanzhou forces hadn't committed themselves fully to resisting Song in the east, Yan would have collapsed long ago. In the western campaign against Zhao, Nanzhou's forces were again the mainstay. When Zhao was destroyed, Niu Youdao secretly joined forces with Xiaoyue Pavilion and played a decisive role. Not only did that avert Yan's crisis, it also won enormous benefits for Yan. During the interstate war, the forces stationed along the border to guard against Han were also led primarily by his people. His faction has rendered major service again and again, yet after the wars we gave them no real benefits. Instead, we've restrained the expansion of his power, tried to control his sources of wealth, and kept telling him to think of the greater good. What happened in Beizhou was already his warning. If we keep going, put yourselves in his place. A man might endure once, but who could endure forever? I've dealt with him a great deal and understand him fairly well. That fellow is absolutely no vegetarian. Once he starts striking back, who knows what unexpected mess he'll create."

Mo Lingxue said, "Junior Brother Yan, why do I get the feeling you're speaking on his behalf?"

Yan Li replied, "Senior Sister, I'm not speaking for him. I simply think he went to so much trouble to get that married couple into his grasp because he must have something in mind. Do you think he doesn't know about the benefits we're talking about? He's not stupid. Quite the opposite—he's extremely shrewd."

Gong Lince raised a brow. "You mean he seized that married couple because he intends to extract benefits from Tianhuo Sect?"

Yan Li said, "Senior Brother Sect Leader, we all know that once Tianhuo Sect applies pressure, it'll be very difficult not to hand them over. Do you think he doesn't know that? If he wasn't after some benefit, why would he go through all this trouble for nothing? He set those harsh conditions. Qian Fucheng and the others didn't want to agree, yet he worked behind the scenes to provoke them until they did. Is that normal? Does he look like someone who was forced into accepting the challenge with no other choice? He plainly dug a pit and lured Qian Fucheng and the others into jumping inside. If there were no benefit in it, would he do something like that?"

Gong Lince said, "That isn't what you said at the beginning. You said he only wanted to understand what hidden issue lay behind the affair."

Yan Li looked slightly embarrassed. "I suppose he didn't understand the situation at first either. Right now I'm simply trying to think of him in the worst possible way. With that fellow, being a little more suspicious is never wrong. At the very least, the benefit is already sitting in front of him. Do you think he'll let go easily now?"

Everyone fell silent in thought. They had to admit Yan Li made sense. The benefit was already basically in hand. If Zijin Cave intercepted it now, that would amount to robbery. Niu Youdao certainly would not agree.

More importantly, the wager stated in black and white that the married couple belonged to Niu Youdao. They did not belong to Zijin Cave. They belonged to Niu Youdao personally. Niu Youdao was the one who truly had the right to decide what happened to them.

If they genuinely infuriated him, Niu Youdao could release the couple with a single sentence. He alone had the authority to void the wager, and he alone controlled its outcome. If he smashed the pot, the chicken would fly and the eggs would break; no one would get the benefit.

Of course, Niu Youdao might not actually dare to overturn the whole matter, but the right to speak was in his hands. In the end, those two were his people. If Zijin Cave wanted them, it would need Niu Youdao's agreement.

Mo Lingxue said, "He's an Elder of Zijin Cave. Whatever benefits Zijin Cave gains are naturally benefits for him as well."

Yan Li smiled bitterly. "Senior Sister, it seems you still don't understand him. That brat... Senior Sister, believe me: the moment you say that to him, he'll immediately turn it around and ask whether, since he's an Elder of Zijin Cave, his benefits aren't also Zijin Cave's benefits."

Silence fell across the hall again.

The core problem was that they could not simply seize things from Niu Youdao by force. Nor could they actually overpower him that way. He was not some lone man without backing. He had an enormous force of his own and had joined the sect with that power already in hand. They could not squeeze and manipulate him however they pleased.

Of course, the very reason Zijin Cave had recruited him was precisely because they valued the benefits his forces could bring to the sect.

Now, the power in Niu Youdao's hands could also be called Zijin Cave's power. Niu Youdao himself had never said otherwise. The problem was that those forces did not listen to Zijin Cave. They listened only to Niu Youdao, and Niu Youdao would inevitably keep a death grip on them.

It would be strange indeed if Niu Youdao obediently handed that power over to Zijin Cave. Forget Niu Youdao; none of the people in this hall would agree to such a thing if they were in his position.

Even if Niu Youdao said aloud that he obeyed the sect, so long as he was unwilling in his heart, those forces would never truly fall under Zijin Cave's control.

The grand principle was simple enough: as a disciple of Zijin Cave, everything one possessed belonged to Zijin Cave. Yet who among them did not keep some measure of personal leverage in his own hands?

And right now, they could not simply move recklessly against Niu Youdao. He was a fully legitimate Elder of Zijin Cave. Before he did something that crossed the line, who would dare ignore sect rules and arbitrarily imprison, coerce, or kill an Elder just to see what happened?

The moment they moved against Niu Youdao, the forces under him would inevitably panic and fear a purge. And if Zijin Cave moved against Niu Youdao, it would indeed have to purge his faction and replace its leaders with people it trusted. Even merely to protect themselves, those forces would absolutely collude with Xiaoyao Palace or Lingjian Mountain and invite them to intervene. At that point, the power that currently fell within Zijin Cave's sphere would be torn apart as well. The loss would outweigh the gain.

More importantly, Niu Youdao's faction had already grown to a truly considerable scale. It was not merely Nanzhou, controlled by the Shang faction. Zijin Cave's own strength was no longer enough to settle everything in one lightning-fast stroke.

Zijin Cave could not do it. Xiaoyao Palace could not do it. Lingjian Mountain could not do it either. Only if all three joined forces could they eliminate the aftermath, and Zijin Cave could hardly join hands with the other two to smash its own foot and tear down its own stage.

Even leaving that aside, every group had its rules, a system that held the group together. Not everyone could simply do whatever he pleased. Recklessly using force against an Elder of Zijin Cave was impossible.

Everyone present was at least an Elder of Zijin Cave. Just as Yan Li had said regarding Sacred Realm, when Zijin Cave recommended disciples, there was no question of recommending Elders.

Preserving certain rules was the same as preserving one's own interests. No one wanted to destroy a rule only to have the precedent fall on his own head one day. Until they possessed a proper justification, no one here would openly say that they could simply do whatever they wanted to an Elder. Even if such crooked thoughts existed in their hearts, they would not voice them unless there was no other choice.

By the same token, now that Niu Youdao was part of Zijin Cave, he too did not dare openly violate sect rules. At the very least, the forces in his hands were not yet powerful enough for him to stand alone against the sect's rules.

"If we'd known, we really should have thought more carefully before making him an Elder of the sect," Mo Lingxue muttered.

Everyone glanced at her. That was useless talk. Without offering enough benefit, would Niu Youdao ever have joined Zijin Cave?

Then everyone glanced at Gong Lince. The decision back then had been made by the Sect Leader.

Gong Lince shot Mo Lingxue a sidelong look but said nothing. He knew she was merely venting.

Just as everyone was considering how to handle the matter, a disciple came in to report that Wen Mo'er had arrived.

Gong Lince immediately waved for her to be admitted.

Everyone knew that Wen Mo'er was outwardly assigned by the sect to the Maolu Annex to attend to Niu Youdao's daily needs and facilitate communication between the two sides. In truth, she also bore responsibility for keeping watch on Niu Youdao.

Her visit should concern something happening on Niu Youdao's side.

Sure enough, after Wen Mo'er entered and saluted, she reported, "Sect Leader, over at Tortoise-Slumber Pavilion, Martial Uncle Ju An, who attends to Elder Zhong's daily needs, gathered a basket of fresh fruit from the rear mountains and delivered it to Elder Niu, then took his leave. Afterward, Elder Niu had a banquet prepared as a return gift and personally sent people with it to Tortoise-Slumber Pavilion, inviting the Martial Uncles and Martial Seniors there to taste it. He also told them that from now on, anyone from Tortoise-Slumber Pavilion who wanted to eat could go to the Maolu Annex at any time."

After Wen Mo'er withdrew, Mo Lingxue asked curiously, "Returning a basket of fruit with an entire banquet—what sort of custom is that?"

"Ahem, ahem!" Yan Li suddenly coughed twice. Of everyone present, he had the most right to speak on this subject. With an awkward grin, he said, "Senior Sister may not know this, but I'm the one who's always freeloading food and drink at the Maolu Annex. And don't laugh—Niu Youdao really knows how to live. Not merely well; the man has turned living well into an art. The Commandery Princess combs his hair, a whole group of monks manages his food, and over there morning bells and evening drums sound while clear sutra chanting washes the mind clean. As for the banquet, calling it unrivaled beneath Heaven isn't much of an exaggeration. The food really is exceptionally good. He's ruined me so badly that other food and wine don't taste like anything anymore. Every few days I find myself wanting to run over there again."

[End of Chapter 927]