Chapter 1112: If They Spurn Our Courtesy, We'll Drop All Pretense

Sha Rulai said nothing. When Niu Youdao received no answer and looked up, he found the other man staring at him rather strangely.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not talking nonsense. Misty Pavilion may not understand Shao Pingbo as well as I do. I have grounds for this guess. I'm not asking you to waste your effort blindly."

That was not what Sha Rulai meant at all. He asked in return, "A mere Shao Pingbo—no matter how much trouble he causes, he's still destined to remain an ordinary mortal. Instead of focusing on what's right in front of you, you're still thinking about killing him at a time like this?"

"Mr. Sha, don't underestimate him. Give that man the right fulcrum and he can move anything. Underestimating him could have fatal consequences. I know him better than you do."

"This has nothing to do with whether I underestimate him." Sha Rulai stared at him. "You're asking me to kill him? Are you joking?"

The reminder made Niu Youdao fall silent. Little by little, he understood the deeper meaning behind Sha Rulai's words.

Sha Rulai continued, "I know the two of you once fought each other to the death. You even chased him personally all the way from Beizhou to the Qi capital. Later he fled to Jin. Why could you do nothing about him after he escaped there? Wasn't it because Jin assigned a considerable number of experts to protect him? Do you think the guards around him are decorations?"

"Misty Pavilion is not under my command now. I already told you there are Misty Pavilion people watching him. Do you think it would be appropriate for me to mobilize my own forces against him? And you want me to search Wei's capital and Qi's capital. How am I supposed to find him without mobilizing a substantial number of people—in other words, without using Misty Pavilion personnel? The moment I expose myself, how am I supposed to explain it to those above? This is a war among the states. Without authorization from above, how do I explain interfering in it on my own? Tell me, what excuse could I possibly give?"

"Niu Youdao, as long as our business here is handled properly, it won't matter how much Shao Pingbo jumps around. When the time comes, killing him will be nothing more than a word from you. Don't create complications now."

After a moment of silence, Niu Youdao slowly said, "Jin's ambitions aren't small. Will the Nine Saints really allow Jin to become dominant over all the others?"

"Dominant? How dominant can it become?" Sha Rulai replied. "Even if Jin unifies all Seven States, so what? The division of power among the various factions of the cultivation world cannot be changed. As long as the cultivation world remains under control, what does it matter who becomes emperor of all beneath Heaven?"

"If they can let the states unite, they can make them divide again. The more the fighting continues, the more cultivators die. At that point, even the Tiandu Secret Realm could be dispensed with. A permanently fixed Seven States arrangement that lets the factions of the cultivation world gradually accumulate strength is the last thing the Nine Saints want to see. Throwing out bait and letting them fight over it is the best method."

"Do you think the Nine Saints would move to curb Jin's ambitions? The moment they intervened, the Seven States would realize none of them would ever be permitted to grow too powerful. Who would still keep fighting one another then?"

"There is a reason hundreds of feudal states fought until only seven remain today. The states must be kept competing internally, and they must be kept competing with one another as well."

"Without temptation, who would keep fighting and killing?"

"I'm telling you, when my master Luo Qiu heard that Jin had launched an invasion of Wei, he had no reaction at all. He didn't even say one unnecessary word. He cares far more about the cause of Hong Yunfa's death and what really happened in that great fire at Wuliang Garden."

The reasoning was obvious once stated. Niu Youdao sighed and waved a hand. "Forget it. Don't involve yourself in this. I'll have the people outside deal with it."

Sha Rulai warned, "I'm telling you now: don't do anything reckless. Otherwise, don't blame me if I cut off your contact with the outside."

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

...

At the imperial palace of Wei, Xuan Wei stood beneath the eaves and looked through the window at Xuan Chengtian, who was huddled in a corner of the room like a man who had lost his soul. Her expression was complicated.

He had brought about a calamity on a monstrous scale, endangering the very survival of Wei's three great sects. The three sects had been completely enraged. From top to bottom, their disciples were furious and wanted to execute this emperor they themselves had protected for so many years.

By now Xuan Chengtian had utterly lost the hearts of the people. The three great sects could kill him without the slightest burden and without fear of causing any consequences.

But Xuan Wei refused to allow it. Under her determined protection, the three great sects had no choice but to let the matter rest. There was nothing they could do. Wei needed Xuan Wei to control the situation now.

Otherwise, after causing a disaster of this magnitude, Xuan Wei would never have been able to save Xuan Chengtian.

And so Xuan Chengtian had been placed under house arrest, confined in the Cold Palace where disgraced imperial consorts were ordinarily shut away. The place was bleak and desolate.

"Bitch!" Xuan Chengtian suddenly roared.

He had spotted his elder sister standing outside the window. Like a madman, he scrambled to his feet and rushed over, shoving at the wooden boards nailed across the window as he bellowed at Xuan Wei like an enraged beast.

Only after he calmed slightly did Xuan Wei ask, "Do you understand what you did wrong?"

Xuan Chengtian laughed bitterly. "I was wrong? I certainly was. I treated you as my own elder sister, born of the same mother, yet all along you were scheming to usurp the throne. I trusted you for so many years and entrusted the state to you. It was my mistake. It was all my mistake. My trust was what fed your ambition!"

Xuan Wei's anger flared. "Even now, you still believe those two women were helping you? Those two vile women were spies planted by Jin. Jin's army has already invaded Wei, and you still feel no remorse?"

Xuan Chengtian threw back his head and laughed until tears streamed down his face. "Spies? Do you believe that yourself? You've controlled Wei for so many years. If they were really spies sent by Jin, would you have allowed them to reach my side so smoothly? If they truly were spies, then you must have deliberately let them through!"

That single sentence actually left Xuan Wei speechless. She did not know how to refute it. Could she claim she had made no mistake? She could only say that whoever had planned this from behind the scenes had been too cunning, cunning enough to deceive even her eyes.

"I am your elder sister," Xuan Wei said. "You would rather believe two outsiders than believe me? Or do you actually understand everything already, but refuse to admit that your own absurdity brought Wei to the brink of destruction because you don't dare face it?"

"Bitch, stop making excuses!" Xuan Chengtian shouted. "You say those two were spies. Fine. Then answer me this: were all those people in the harem spies too? You killed every one of them. Why? Wasn't it because you wanted to prove that Wei answers to you now? Xuan Wei, I never imagined you could be this ruthless. What is there you wouldn't do? When am I going to die? When are you planning to kill me? Come on! Kill me!"

Almost completely deranged, he suddenly thrust his hand through the gap in the window lattice and clawed wildly at Xuan Wei.

Whoosh! Nearby, Ximen Qingkong flicked his fingers and sent out a sharp burst of force. It struck the flailing hand and removed the threat to Xuan Wei.

The two cultivators guarding the room immediately pushed open the door, flashed inside, seized Xuan Chengtian, and dragged him away from the window.

Xuan Wei's lips tightened as she watched her younger brother being hauled back.

"He can't calm down right now. Once he does, he'll come to his senses." Ximen Qingkong walked to Xuan Wei's side and sighed. "Let's go."

Xuan Wei turned to leave, while Xuan Chengtian's unwilling roar came from inside the Cold Palace. "Xuan Wei, I'll see how you face the ancestors of House Xuan after you die! Sooner or later, Heaven will take you, you bitch..."

They had just left the Cold Palace when several people approached from ahead: Chang Linxian, Sect Leader of Lingxu Mansion; Zang Feng, Sect Leader of Shouzheng Pavilion; and Luo Yanzhen, Sect Leader of Dale Mountain.

The sect leaders of all three of Wei's great sects had come here in person. With the situation as it was, none of them could remain sitting comfortably in their own sects. Each had rushed to the center of Wei's government to watch developments closely.

There was one other man among them: Jin Lingzan, Censor-in-Chief of Wei.

Jin Lingzan had survived through sheer luck. Shao Pingbo had not generally targeted the civil officials, but he had wanted to leave the civil administration leaderless and had made specific arrangements against Jin Lingzan.

Yet when the upheaval began, Jin Lingzan had happened to be at Tianwei Residence discussing government affairs with Xuan Wei and had escaped disaster there by chance.

After the two groups met and exchanged greetings, Xuan Wei asked, "What is happening in Qin?"

Jin Lingzan sighed. "Our agents in Qin report that Qin's army is still moving at an unhurried pace, dragging its feet. It doesn't look as though they're coming to our rescue."

"Hmph!" Xuan Wei snorted. "Since they spurn the courtesy we're showing them, then we'll drop all pretense. Pass down my order: cut off every channel through which grain is sold to Qin. From this moment onward, not a single grain of Wei's food is to fall into Qin's hands. Anyone who dares disobey will have his property confiscated and his clan exterminated!"

"Wait!"

Jin Lingzan was about to accept the order when Chang Linxian, Sect Leader of Lingxu Mansion, raised a hand to stop him. He said gravely, "Chancellor, we are the ones asking Qin for help right now. This is no time to act out of anger."

"Sect Leader Chang, you worry too much," Xuan Wei replied. "I have long had Qin's circumstances under control. The former lands of Zhao were ravaged by war, and Qin founded its state on that battlefield. Farming through the seasons was badly disrupted, leaving them in urgent need of money and grain to stabilize the situation. Qin found a way to make money by brewing liquor, and I let them have their way. They wanted grain, and I let them have that too."

"I not only supplied them with grain, I kept the price down while doing it. They have profited handsomely at Wei's expense. Now Wei is in trouble and they want to stand by and watch? There is no such easy bargain in this world. Wei is not so easy to take advantage of."

"Easy money is pleasant to make, and the pit of desire is never filled. The more money they made, the less willing they became to stop. The situation inside Qin now is that the influx of money has rapidly prospered every trade and profession, yet no one wants to farm. Wei controls Qin's grain prices. Growing crops merely to fill one's stomach does not pay as well as working in the other trades, earning money, and buying grain instead."

"With the whole current moving that way, even when Qin's court orders farming restored, no one truly obeys. They comply in public and resist in private, while vast stretches of farmland lie abandoned."

"I also have a clear grasp of Qin's internal grain supply and how long it can last. Once Wei cuts off the flow of grain, Qin will descend into serious disorder within three months. Among all the states, only Wei has enough surplus grain to help Qin quell that chaos. If they try to restore their agricultural capacity now, do you think they still have time?"

"I originally prepared this move for another purpose. Jin's invasion of Wei has simply forced me to use it now."

"I will make Qin understand this: Wei can throw Qin into chaos, and once Wei falls into Jin's hands, Qin should not dream that Jin will supply it with grain. A Qin convulsed by internal disorder would also offer Jin the perfect opportunity to conquer it. I want to see whether Qin is afraid then. I want to see whether they still dare keep dragging their feet!"

Only after hearing this did the three sect leaders realize Xuan Wei had prepared for such a contingency long ago. Their spirits immediately lifted. Even the way they looked at her changed, their eyes shining with excitement.

[End of Chapter 1112]