Firmament Sword

With that, Xu Su shot Xu Luo a sideways glance. ”You really left me a nice little job to do!”

Xu Luo knew he was referring to the unfortunate women from the Stony Sect and chuckled. ”It’s a great opportunity that most people would kill for, yet here you are, my dear brother, blaming me.”

”Do you have any suggestions for Guo Ying?” Xu Su asked, ignoring Xu Luo’s banter.

”Suggestions...” Xu Luo’s eyes gleamed as a thought occurred to him. ’The Fengyue Building... If I could take it over and let Guo Ying run it, that would be a pretty good solution!’

’I just wonder if Phoenix and her master will hold it against me...’ Xu Luo mused. He then reconsidered. ’Right now, the Fengyue Building is controlled by Crystal and her people. Things within the Merak Sect probably haven’t been sorted out yet. In the short term, Li Wenxi and Phoenix shouldn’t have the energy to worry about this place. If I seize this chance and take over the Fengyue Building, I doubt they’ll blame me for it.’

’After all, a pleasure establishment with such a powerful ability to generate wealth is better off in someone else’s hands than remaining in the enemy’s grasp, letting them accumulate capital.’

’Besides... I don’t think they’d consider me an outsider, would they?’ With this thought, he smiled and said, ”I actually do have an idea about that, but we’ll have to wait until after we get back from exploring the ruins!”

Xu Su knew his younger brother was no longer the frail boy he once was. Hearing his words, he simply nodded without further comment.

Soon after, Huangfu Chongzhi and the others had a banquet prepared. The group sat together, drinking and discussing the current state of affairs.

”Down south, the fighting has mostly died down. The Great Yan suffered a major blow this time, and it’s all thanks to you!” Xu Su said, raising his cup to Huangfu Chongzhi and the others with a smile. ”I propose a toast to you all!”

Huangfu Chongzhi and the others all raised their cups. ”This was all thanks to Xu Luo,” Huangfu Chongzhi said with a laugh. ”Without him, it would have been nearly impossible for us to accomplish any of this on our own.”

”No need to be so modest. Your actions in the south, including the recent battle where you crushed the Da Han’s Noble Legion, were absolutely stunning and incredibly gratifying to hear about,” Xu Su said with a smile.

”Did the Da Han Empire really withdraw its troops because of that battle?” Little Fatty asked, looking at Xu Su.

”It wasn’t the only reason, but your battle was responsible for over eighty percent of it!” Xu Su replied with absolute certainty. ”You’ve heard about the composition of the Noble Legion, but you probably don’t know all the details.”

”Weren’t we told that the regular soldiers in the Noble Legion all come from the noble families of the Da Han Empire?” asked Little Fatty.

Xu Su nodded. ”Not just from noble families, but also many children of high-ranking military officials. Otherwise, the Noble Legion wouldn’t have degenerated into a glorified daycare for pampered soldiers before Wan Tong took over. Even the Da Han Army’s number one man, Hao Liancheng, was helpless. Speaking of which, that Wan Tong was quite a capable person, turning the Noble Legion into a formidable Elite Legion. It’s a shame... he was born at the wrong time.”

As he spoke, Xu Su turned to Sui Yan. ”I hear your Mechanical Skill played a decisive role in that battle?”

Sui Yan had known Xu Su since they were young and somewhat idolized the army’s ”Wise General.” He said bashfully, ”The truly decisive factor was Third Brother. Without him, even if we had managed to kill their soldiers, we never would have escaped.”

”Yeah, Wan Tong and his junior martial brother were just too powerful. Terrifyingly so!” Little Fatty said, still shaken by the memory.

Xu Su smiled. ”You all have truly grown up. And you’ve managed to stay true to yourselves through it all. That’s really remarkable.”

Xu Jie and the others exchanged glances, a smile appearing on each of their faces. Deep down, it wasn’t that they hadn’t had their own internal struggles, but the bond of their brotherhood had ultimately triumphed over all the pressures from the outside world.

At this point, Huangfu Chongzhi spoke up. ”Speaking of which, even though the wars in the north and south have died down, things within the Empire are far from peaceful. After suffering successive blows these past two years, Prime Minister Wei is finding it hard to maintain his previous monopoly on power at court. The great clans of the Cangqiong Kingdom are all starting to make their moves, each with their own agenda.”

”Many of the families who relied on Prime Minister Wei are now terrified,” said Xu Su. ”But what we’re seeing more of is the desperate lashing out of people who are stuck in an inescapable mire yet still see a chance at staggering profits.”

Xu Luo nodded. ”Recently, many of the great clans from various regions have started gathering in the Imperial Capital. With the war at a temporary standstill, I’m afraid the Military Merit Faction... is going to have a rough time.”

”Damn it. If anyone dares to make a move, we’ll just kill them,” Little Fatty said with a sneer.

Mo Yun glanced at Little Fatty and said coolly, ”If it were that simple, do you think your Second Brother and the others wouldn’t have done it already? Would they have waited until now? There are so many families—can you kill them all? Besides, how can you be sure those families don’t have powers stronger than yours backing them?”

Scolded by his second sister-in-law, Little Fatty just grinned sheepishly and didn’t talk back, simply taking a drink as if nothing had happened.

Xu Jie glanced at Mo Yun and said with a laugh, ”To be honest, that’s exactly what I was thinking.”

”Idiot!” Mo Yun shot Xu Jie a look. ”If you actually did that, you’d be putting all your families in the line of fire! You can kill them, but what makes you think they can’t strike back?”

Huangfu Chongzhi sighed. ”That’s true. When dealing with these families, you either have to completely crush their arrogance, or you find a way to bring down the families themselves. Killing them... you can never kill them all.”

”Enough. Let’s not talk about these vexing matters. Drink up!” Xu Luo said, his expression calm as he raised his cup and downed it in one go.

Everyone chuckled and drained their cups. Then, Xu Su laughed. ”Actually, you don’t need to worry so much. There’s one main reason those families are so frantically trying to strike back: they’re scared!”

”Scared?” Everyone turned to look at Xu Su.

Xu Su nodded. ”That’s right. If they weren’t scared, why would they be making these moves? If they weren’t scared, why would they need to band together?”

Huangfu Chongzhi nodded in agreement. ”He’s right. Even when they’re on the same side, it’s impossible for those families to be truly united. For them to band together and head to the Imperial Capital at the same time means they’ve been pushed into a corner. Their goal... isn’t just to put pressure on us. It’s to put pressure on my father, the Emperor!”

”If they want a fight, then let them come,” Xu Jie sneered. ”They think they can bully the Military Merit Faction because we’re not as wealthy? They think they can stir up trouble just because the war is over? Let’s see who’s afraid of whom.”

Little Fatty chimed in, ”We’ll head back to the Imperial Capital right away. Do they think they’re the only ones with allies?”

Sui Yan added, ”If they want to get a foothold in the Imperial Capital, they’ll have to go through us first.”

Guo Ying had been listening quietly off to the side, feeling somewhat stunned. Although she had grown up in a sect, she wasn’t completely ignorant of the secular world.

In the secular world, families with deep roots were usually very low-key. But if someone truly threatened their core interests, their retaliation could be terrifying.

Yet these young men before her all seemed so nonchalant. Their words sounded boastful, but Guo Ying could sense that their attitude stemmed not from fear, but from a genuine reluctance to get involved in such struggles.

’Now that the Stony Sect has been wiped out, my own sect will surely be furious with me,’ Guo Ying thought. ’They might even... expel me directly.’ As she thought of her master and then looked at the deep, brotherly bond between these young men, she was suddenly overcome with envy.

At Dubhe, her fellow disciples were far more polite and courteous to each other on the surface than Xu Luo and his friends. But behind the scenes, the backstabbing and scheming were endless. Every single one of them was an expert at plotting in the shadows.

After all, though the sect was vast, its resources were finite. Whoever won the favor of the higher-ups would naturally receive a larger share of resources and be able to cultivate to a higher realm.

A faint mist gathered in Guo Ying’s eyes. ’The goals of a sect and the secular world are completely different,’ she thought. ’But when it comes to genuine happiness, the sect can’t even begin to compare.’

The group drank late into the night. Mo Yun, being pregnant, excused herself early, and Guo Ying went with her back to her room.

Mo Yun had already heard a little about Guo Ying’s situation. As she escorted her to her room, she offered some comforting words with a smile. ”You don’t need to worry so much. I’ve heard of your sect; it’s a very powerful one. And while what your master did was upsetting, I’m sure that with the Stony Sect already destroyed, she won’t hold it against you too much. You’ll just need to lay low for a while. Once everything blows over, you should be able to return to your sect.”

Guo Ying shook her head slightly, a bitter smile on her face. ”I know my master very well. As long as you do everything she says, you’ll be fine. But if you dare to defy her, she will never let it go. After all these years, I know exactly what kind of person she is, and I know just how domineering the Dubhe sect can be.”

”The great sects all tend to be domineering. There are very few that are particularly reasonable,” Mo Yun said with a small smile. ”But you really don’t need to worry. That Xu Luo... he’s no ordinary person.”

Guo Ying just smiled, not taking Mo Yun’s words to heart. In her mind, while the young man named Xu Luo had won great fame in the secular world and was admired by many, from the perspective of a sect, he was utterly ordinary.

Any disciple from a sect could easily enter the secular world and achieve fame and status.

But she had no idea that the one who had truly rescued them from the Stony Sect was Xu Luo himself.