Chapter 1473: No Surrender Accepted

This was no exaggeration.

Misty Pavilion’s eyes and ears spread throughout the world were a network painstakingly built over several hundred years. It was no small number of people, nor could such a system have been created overnight. Every placement had been handled with extreme caution to avoid exposure, and quite a few of those agents had already risen into the upper ranks of their respective sects.

Once that network was destroyed, even if Misty Pavilion wanted to rebuild it, several decades would likely pass before it could recover even a rough framework.

Lü Wushuang said, “I contributed to building that accumulation. Now they’ve kicked me out of the game, yet still want to use what I built against me. Naturally, I’m going to smash their rice bowl.”

“If the network is ruined, then so be it. It benefits both you and me. On this point, our interests are the same.”

Listening from the side, Zhuge Chi was shaken inwardly.

This was a powerful counterattack against the Nine Saints.

No—now there were only Five Sacred Venerables.

He had hidden inside the Zhao imperial palace for many years and had personally watched the entire cultivation world tremble before the Nine Saints. For all those years, no one had dared rebel.

Now, at last, he had truly encountered a group willing to strike back against them.

And he himself was standing among them.

What a magnificent, storm-tossed age this was.

...

“Maolu Annex?”

Beside the lotus pond at the Imperial Academy, Shao Pingbo abruptly turned around.

Shao Sansheng replied, “Yes. According to the reports, the conflict between Luo Qiu and Yuan Se began at Maolu Annex. Only afterward did the forces under both sides begin fighting openly, dragging the surrounding area into it and causing enormous losses inside Nanzhou’s provincial capital.”

Shao Pingbo’s expression shifted between suspicion and alarm. “Why Maolu Annex?”

Seeing his reaction, Shao Sansheng ventured, “Eldest Young Master still suspects Niu Youdao?”

A troubled light flickered in Shao Pingbo’s eyes. “With Maolu Annex suddenly involved, I feel inexplicably uneasy. I simply cannot stop myself from thinking of Niu Youdao.”

“Otherwise, why would Luo Qiu and Yuan Se suddenly start fighting at Maolu Annex of all places? Can that really be coincidence?”

He suddenly turned his head. “Send word to Tongueless Jia immediately. Ask whether he knows what happened.”

“All right.” Shao Sansheng acknowledged.

Jia Wuqun’s side replied almost at once and explained the cause.

The Six Sacred Venerables had secretly stationed themselves in the various states, with Yuan Se responsible for Yan. Yuan Se was fond of good food, while the cuisine of Maolu Annex was famed as unmatched beneath Heaven, so he had been hiding there for some time.

The incident itself had begun because Yuan Se, for reasons unknown, abducted Luo Qiu’s daughter. Luo Qiu, enraged, had then acted against him.

Once Shao Pingbo learned that, the unease in his heart gradually subsided.

...

After properly settling a series of matters, Lü Wushuang returned.

Niu Youdao invited her to sit and asked with a smile, “How did it go?”

The Prince’s residence and Maolu Annex had both been destroyed and would take time to rebuild.

Shang Chaozong had requisitioned the residence of a wealthy household. The family was more than happy to offer it up, eager for any chance to establish good relations with Shang Chaozong.

The people of Maolu Annex had moved there as well.

Niu Youdao was among them, though he remained hidden underground in a temporary tunnel Yun Ji had opened beneath the residence.

Lü Wushuang sat opposite him. “It’s done. There should be no problem.”

“I’ve also established a channel of communication with him. We can remain in contact whenever needed.”

Niu Youdao smiled. “Good. Once Misty Pavilion’s eyes and ears are crippled, the people it still has openly on the surface won’t be much of a threat. They’ll become living targets we can uproot whenever we wish.”

“I’d like to see how the Five Sacred Venerables continue their investigations after that.”

Just then, Guan Fangyi rushed into the secret chamber.

She first nodded to Lü Wushuang, then urgently reported, “Master Dao, something happened in Qi.”

Something truly had happened.

Although the troops under Jin’s Grand Marshal Gao Pin had remained firmly in place without advancing recklessly, Gao Pin’s moves behind the scenes had never stopped. He had been using every method he could think of to apply pressure.

The Qin army was far from home and already full of unease in the face of an unfavorable situation. Now Qin’s own territory had been divided between Yan and Han, throwing the army’s morale into further turmoil.

Gao Pin found his opportunity.

Someone inside the Qin army was turned.

The troops responsible for guarding the grain stores rebelled, set fire to most of the Qin army’s provisions, then fled directly to the Jin army.

By the time the Qin forces reacted and dispatched troops in pursuit, it was already too late.

With the overall situation collapsing and men thinking of their own survival, any strange thing could happen.

Inside the central hall of a prefectural city, which now served as Qin’s military headquarters, Luo Zhao stood before the commander’s seat with his face drawn tight, staring coldly at Lu Yuan, the newly appointed Sect Leader of Xiaoyue Pavilion.

Faced with Luo Zhao’s accusations, Lu Yuan shot back, “The general cannot control his troops and has no strategy for using them, yet now blames us. What kind of reasoning is that?”

Luo Zhao erupted. “I told you the grain must not be entrusted to outsiders. Xiaoyue Pavilion should have sent important personnel of its own to sit there personally and guard it.”

“If a large force of Xiaoyue Pavilion cultivators had been watching the stores, how could the enemy have succeeded so easily? The rebels would never have dared act so recklessly!”

Naturally, the rebels could not have burned the grain without cultivators cooperating with them.

In other words, a group of Qin cultivators had defected as well. Together they killed the Xiaoyue Pavilion personnel stationed there, allowing the rebels to set the fires and leave at their leisure.

Lu Yuan said darkly, “We already followed the general’s request and sent important personnel to guard the grain. The problem was the general’s choice of troops. You should never have assigned that unit to grain duty.”

Luo Zhao was so angry his teeth showed.

Bang!

His palm slammed onto the table.

“What important personnel?”

“Do you think Xiaoyue Pavilion is something so impressive that casually sending a few people is enough to frighten everyone into obedience?”

“Do you not know what the situation is now? Morale is unstable. No matter which unit you assign to guard the grain, that unit will become a target for Jin to subvert!”

The moment he said this, the expressions of the Xiaoyue Pavilion men changed.

A deputy general beside him hurriedly tugged Luo Zhao’s sleeve in warning, but Luo Zhao violently shook him off.

One elder said in a deep voice, “General, mind your words.”

“We will treat what you just said as words spoken in anger and not hold them against you.”

“There are also things the general should understand. Precisely because morale is unstable, Xiaoyue Pavilion has been forced to disperse large numbers of men to monitor the army. That is why our manpower is stretched thin.”

Luo Zhao’s face went white with fury. He nearly spat blood.

“Do you not know which matter is more important?”

“In war, grain is of the utmost importance. Without grain, this is no longer a matter of one rebel unit. The entire army will be destroyed!”

The elder tried to mediate. “General, arguing over this now has no meaning. We should think of another strategy.”

“Another strategy?”

Luo Zhao laughed coldly.

“What strategy is left?”

“Does anything I say matter?”

“When the former Wei Three Great Sects offered their conditions, I told you to accept them. You refused, which allowed Gu Yuanda to rebel successfully and instantly overturned the entire situation.”

“When it came to the grain, I told you to send more men to guard it. You refused to listen and made your own decision, and now the grain has been destroyed.”

“If Mr. Yucang were still here, he would have listened to my advice.”

“With you people instead, I am already out of ideas.”

“From now on, tell me what you want done, and I’ll do it. There’s no need to ask for my opinion.”

“General...” The deputy beside him quietly tugged his sleeve again.

Words like these could very easily bring disaster down on his head.

But Luo Zhao no longer cared.

Some things had been stuck in his throat for too long. If he did not say them now, he would suffocate on them.

Lu Yuan’s face darkened.

By mentioning Mr. Yucang, Luo Zhao was effectively calling him incompetent.

What Luo Zhao did not know was that Lu Yuan had faced difficulties of his own.

When Lu Yuan first became Sect Leader of Xiaoyue Pavilion, not everyone accepted him. If he had taken control of the sect and immediately agreed to the conditions offered by the former Wei Three Great Sects, what would others have thought of him?

Besides, judging from the situation at the time, there truly had seemed no need to agree.

He had also faced difficulty over the grain.

First, he had not believed the stores could be burned so easily.

Second, he truly did need to keep a close watch on the people below him. With morale already unstable, if a rebellion erupted under his watch just after he became Sect Leader, it would leave his reputation in tatters.

...

When word of the disaster reached the Qi army, Huyan Wuhen also slammed the table and furiously cursed Luo Zhao for committing such a basic mistake.

The people caught in the true dilemma were the Qin troops themselves.

More than two million men remained under arms. Individual units still held some grain of their own, but none had enough to last long.

Once everyone learned the main stores had been burned, panic spread even further.

Groups began secretly contacting the Jin army one after another, hoping to defect.

Eventually, an elder of Qiyun Sect strode into Jin’s headquarters and found Gao Pin.

He laughed heartily. “Lord Gao, the matter is settled!”

“The Qin army is willing to surrender. Xiaoyue Pavilion sent someone to contact me. They’re willing to submit.”

“As for the terms, I’ll trouble Lord Gao to decide them.”

Gao Pin tossed aside the military dispatch in his hand and rose from behind his desk. “Terms? There are no terms.”

The Qiyun Sect elder looked puzzled. “If they are willing to surrender, can we not simply accept so long as their conditions are not excessive?”

Gao Pin smiled faintly. “Elder, you’re thinking too much.”

“What do I want their surrender for?”

“If they had surrendered earlier, that would have been another matter.”

“But surrender now?”

“Too late.”

“I have already sent down the order. Whether it is the entire Qin army or any individual force within it, we will accept none of them.”

“No surrender will be accepted.”

The elder was astonished. “Why? Does Lord Gao intend to take advantage of the situation and annihilate them?”

Gao Pin laughed. “First force them until the dog jumps the wall, then fight them to the death?”

“I, Gao, am not going to do something that stupid.”

“Elder, refusing their surrender while also refusing to attack is the best strategy right now.”

“If we accept their surrender, more than two million troops will become our responsibility. How much grain would we have to provide to feed them?”

“It isn’t that we cannot supply it.”

“Only... since they are Qi’s allies, why not let them go ask Qi to solve the problem?”

The meaning behind his words ran deep.

The elder froze, then abruptly understood.

If Jin refused surrender now, the Qin army would have no choice but to retreat and seek support from Qi.

But Qi’s own reserves were not in good condition either.

Gao Pin intended to force the Qin army to consume Qi’s supplies.

“Brilliant! Lord Gao’s strategy truly is brilliant!”

The elder clapped his hands again and again in praise.

...

At Zijin Cave, elders including Yan Li and Fu Junrang arrived one after another at the council hall.

Only after entering did they discover that two Supreme Elders still residing within the sect—Chun Xinliang and Tu Kuai—were present as well.

Everyone who arrived first went forward to salute the two seniors.

Once all had assembled, Gong Lince finally asked, “Does everyone know who has yet to arrive?”

The group looked around.

Yan Li answered, “Elder Yuan An.”

Gong Lince nodded slightly. “Do you know why he has not come?”

Everyone exchanged looks.

Mo Lingxue said, “I heard the Sect Leader assigned Elder Yuan some matter to handle.”

“Correct,” Gong Lince replied.

“To be precise, I deliberately sent him away.”

Deliberately sent him away?

Everyone looked at one another, then gradually turned back toward Gong Lince and waited for him to continue.

If the Sect Leader said something like that openly, there had to be a reason.

Gong Lince drew something from his sleeve.

His voice became grave.

“I have here a secret letter.”

“It is a formal decree personally issued by Huo Kong, Presiding Administrator of Misty Pavilion.”

“I invited the two Supreme Elders and all of you here because we need to discuss this matter and make a decision!”

[End of Chapter 1473]