Chapter 1201: Everyone Has Their Own Schemes; The Treachery of the Human Heart

"Is it really appropriate to let Qin'er fight for the Luo Tian Sect? She's..."

"She is just fine. She is Qu Lingjun's Dao companion, and Qu Lingjun was the sole disciple of their Supreme Elder back in the day. Her status can't be any more legitimate."

"You know that's not what I mean. The problem is, Qin'er is an outstanding disciple of our younger generation, so her intervention can be taken as Windflower Palace's intervention. If the Five Elements Divine Sect uses this as an excuse to jump in directly..."

The night breeze gently drifted through a set of exquisite palaces, murmuring softly as it swirled in the corners.

Facing the doubts of her fellow disciple, Fairy Moonbreeze fell silent, but only for a moment. She then revealed a smile.

"Senior Sister, do you really think the Five Elements Divine Sect will stop looking for an excuse if we don't intervene?"

With graceful steps, Fairy Moonbreeze paced slowly through the hall.

"The Five Elements Divine Sect and Skyscraper Cliff instigated Sima Wenjie to start an internal conflict in the Luo Tian Sect. Then, using the fact that the sect owes them a favor, they forced it to hold the Ten Decisive Duels with the condition that the Luo Tian Sect will be incorporated into the Divine Sect if it loses.

"But the thing is, the world already knows that the Luo Tian Sect is under our protection. Every step the Five Elements Divine Sect has taken until this point is practically a blatant slap to our faces! If they succeed, how will the world view our Windflower Palace? If we do nothing about this, then I am sure, after they're done with the Luo Tian Sect, ??they will go on to sow discord among our other vassals. In the long run, will this land still belong to us anymore?"

The gentle-looking woman in luxurious palace attire standing behind her nodded thoughtfully. Her junior sister's reasoning was indeed sound, but still, she had her own concerns. "Even a broken ship still has some perfectly usable nails. The Five Elements Divine Sect is nowhere near crumbling, especially when it still has three Sages, and that's if we ignore the one from Skyscraper Cliff. Our palace only has two Sages, we really can't afford to go head-to-head with them."

Fairy Moonbreeze suddenly turned around. "And do you think they can afford to go head-to-head with us? What are you scared of? Under the supervision of the Holy Land, do you think they will dare launch a full-scale war? Of course they won't! That is exactly why they are using petty tricks like inciting our vassals so they can slowly eat away at the Windflower Domain. What we need to do now is chop off their greedy tentacles. Whenever one sticks out, we cut it off!"

She stopped for a moment, aware that she was heating up a bit too much, then added with a hint of frustration, "Senior Sister, I advised you long ago to absorb the other domains' forces while they were collapsing, but you refused. Now that they've all retreated to our domain, we are actually short-handed. I understand that there is nothing we can do to those long-established upper sects for forcing us to handle this mess, but letting those puny fellows provoke us like this is another thing altogether."

The senior sister let out a long sigh. "You're right, I didn't think things through."

Fairy Moonbreeze waved her hand, putting a stop to this pointless discussion; she already knew her sect master's temperament all too well. In fact, she herself had been considered better suited for the role back when she was younger. Had she not been so engrossed in alchemy, she would have been the sect master instead of her senior sister.

"Fortunately, I was quick to seize the opportunity and brought a genius like Qu Lingjun into our sect. I even betrothed Qin'er to him, and that completely won him over."

When Qu Lingjun was mentioned, the senior sister couldn't help but smile.

That young man is indeed a remarkable one. He's only a mid-stage Initiate, yet he can refine top-grade Jade Dew Pills and even a soul cultivation pill! Thanks to him, our palace has been able to continuously produce new stars like Qin'er over the past century. There's one pity, though... His cultivation aptitude is too poor; even with all the resources of our palace, he will likely never have the chance to form a Golden Core.

She suddenly asked, "I heard Qu Lingjun offered the second-tier Spirit Passage Pill formula for our help...."

Fairy Moonbreeze readily admitted it. "Sort of. Perhaps it's a bit underhanded on my part, but I did indeed request the formula and refining method of the Spirit Passage Pill in exchange for Qin'er's assistance.

"Don't underestimate this pill just because it's only second-tier. It was the work of Dan Chenzi. If it's consumed regularly, it will provide tremendous help to Initiates when they advance to Golden Core. If you look at the Luo Tian Sect, they haven't been weakened by these hundred years of hardship at all; instead, they've continuously produced Adepts. This pill must have played a big role in that. If our palace obtains the formula, we can refine as many as we want and give them to our most talented members. That will surely produce us a batch of Golden Core experts in a short time!"

When Dan Chenzi was mentioned, for some reason, Fairy Moonbreeze felt a sudden wistfulness.

He was an extremely rare case of a powerful figure who had risen from among the common people. Step by step, he had raised the Luo Tian Society from a mere ragtag group all the way to the level of a major sect, all by himself. Then, during the Frontier War, he had slain a great many demons and beasts, then cleared the mountains to establish his own territory, with the goal of laying a foundation that could stand strong for millennia to follow.

If that war hadn't taken an unexpected turn, how could the Luo Tian Sect have been forced into such a state of flux? With a solid base and a wise leader like Dan Chenzi, they could have easily become one of the leading sects in the Eastern Wilderness by now! And if Dan Chenzi had been given the opportunity, he might have had a good chance to touch the Nascent Soul Realm!

Sadly, there were no "ifs," no "what ifs," no "maybes." Every one of those possibilities had crumbled like a dream after the intervention of that seemingly almighty demoness.

***

On the balcony of a tall building in Skypiercing Pass, Divine Fire was talking to his grand-disciple Ran Feng. "The Luo Tian Sect's Supreme Elder, Dan Chenzi, is still alive. According to Sima Wenjie, his sister and Dan Chenzi have a pair of Spirit-Link Gu, which allow them to know instantly if the other person dies. Sima Wenjie confirmed from his sister that Dan Chenzi is not dead."

Ran Feng remained somewhat doubtful. "But he's been gone for over a hundred years. Couldn't something have happened to him?"

Divine Fire chuckled. "Cultivators who thrived in a snake pit and then crawled out through their own power are the craftiest kind. They don't die so easily. Dan Chenzi survived the Jade Cauldron Domain's civil war, planned and executed the conquest of a blessed land for his sect during the Frontier War, and then even survived the famous battle at Green Parasol Mountain. What could be more dangerous than these battles?"

Ran Feng finally understood, and his interest in this legendary figure heightened. "I heard our Supreme Elder tried to recruit him?"

Divine Fire's lips twitched as he recalled his senior brother's... appreciation for Dan Chenzi. He shook his head and lowered his voice. "Indeed. He is capable of something that can help our Supreme Elder get to Divine Transformation, which is why we have repeatedly tried to recruit him. While he isn't around now, we know that he is still alive, so we must seize his weakness first and wait for him to come to us willingly."

What the Five Elements Divine Sect had done to recruit Luo Chen wasn't some hollow act. Back when he advanced to Golden Core, they had extended an invitation to him across domains, and he had directly rejected them. During the demon invasion, they had then aided the Luo Tian Sect, hoping he would come to them willingly to repay this favor.

Unfortunately, Luo Chen had never once reappeared after so many years. To make it worse, the Luo Tian Sect had been leaning on Windflower Palace and trying to break free from the Five Elements Divine Sect's control, which was something their Supreme Elder, Divine Origin, could not tolerate. Of course, the official reason for forcing the Luo Tian Sect to merge into them was that the latter was ungrateful, so the Five Elements Divine Sect wanted to recoup their losses. They had a legitimate reason, and they had the manpower!

They cooperated with Skypiercing Cliff due to the latter's past ties with Sima Wenjie. Skypiercing Cliff agreed to the cooperation, and their reason was that they wanted to seize control of the Windflower Domain and needed a strong ally to help test Windflower Palace's bottom line. Each with their own goal, the two powers joined hands, using Sima Wenjie as their puppet to stir an internal conflict in the Luo Tian Sect.

As Divine Fire was about to continue on this topic, he noticed something and said, "Everyone's here. Let's go back inside."

With that, he waved his sleeve and quickly appeared in the pavilion just in time footsteps echoed in the corridor. A moment later, a gray-robed old man led Sima Wenjie in.

"Old Ghost Skyscraper, how have you been lately?"

"Divine Fire, you're still as hypocritical as ever." Skyscraper sneered, then said in an accusing tone, "You've really messed up today."

Divine Fire begged to differ. "Sure, Emei lost. But it's not that big of a deal. The sword cultivator I invited from the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect won, didn't she?"

"Your people should have won both matches!" Sima Wenjie suddenly interjected with a resentful expression. "If you'd followed my plan and sent Fellow Daoist Qu, we would have had a great chance of taking down Dragon Fiend!"

It was utterly disrespectful for an Adept to interrupt while two Sages were talking, but Divine Fire merely gave him a glance, then asked Skyscraper, "Regarding the duels tomorrow, have you decided on who to send?"

Old Ghost Skyscraper replied, "I've come to discuss exactly this. It's highly likely that Wang Yuan will act tomorrow. I suggest sending Yin Sixiang to deal with him."

Upon hearing this, Ran Feng's face dropped at once.

Divine Fire, without a second thought, waved his hand dismissively. "Out of the question! Sixiang is at the peak of Golden Core and on the verge of breaking into the Nascent Soul Realm. This is a crucial time for him. We cannot let him take any risk!"

Skyscraper scoffed. "Don't you know how strong Battle Devil Wang Yuan is? He's very close to reaching the fourth realm of Physique Refinement and obtaining the Flawless Golden Body. No Adepts can do anything to him, except Yin Sixiang! Don't you want to take down Wang Yuan?"

"I do, but I won't push for it when it entails putting my Dao-nephew at risk," said Divine Fire matter-of-factly. "If we make a top dog fight a top dog, they'll just tear each other to pieces. We should abandon this match and focus our chances on the next three."

"No!" Sima Wenjie cut in again, directly rejecting Divine Fire's suggestion, and announced his calculation. "Wang Yuan is the banner of the Luo Tian Sect and their confidence. If we defeat him, it will be a devastating blow to their morale, and we will win the remaining three matches without a fight!"

Having been humiliated twice by Sima Wenjie in a short span, Divine Fire's expression turned somewhat unpleasant. He fixed on Sima Wenjie a long stare, then suddenly laughed. "Are you scared you may have to face Sima Huiniang?"

Sima Wenjie's face instantly turned blue, then red, then white. It made for a truly fascinating sight.

Skyscraper finally intervened and saved him from further embarrassment. "I also think we should try to take down Wang Yuan tomorrow. If we win, we'll have five victories in hand. We'll be dealing a huge blow to all the Luo Tian Sect members' confidence, and this will put us in an invincible position. At that point, Windflower Palace will have no choice but to directly step in, and we can finally expose to everyone in the Windflower Domain how weak their leader is in reality.

"As for your Dao-nephew, you don't need to worry about his safety. I have a True Artifact that works well to restrain Physique Refiners. Yin Sixiang can use it to defeat Wang Yuan with ease. We'll be killing two birds with one stone, both achieving our goal and garnering fame for your sect's prodigy in one go, so why not?"

"Oh?" Divine Fire raised a brow. "Elaborate."

***

"Wenjie, after it's done, don't forget what you promised me," Skyscraper said to Sima Wenjie after Divine Fire's party left.

Sima Wenjie instantly understood what he was talking about. "Of course not! Once I become the head of the Luo Tian Sect, I can rightfully obtain the original Fine Dust Primordial Art from Wang Yuan. From what I've gathered, it's a Supreme Path technique, as opposed to the simplified version we use, and it was created by Maste... by Luo Chen himself, for his own use! With this technique, your sect can once again produce one Adept after another! I'm sure of it!"

Producing one Adept after another?

Old Ghost Skyscraper sighed inwardly, for that was all he desired.

During the Frontier War, his most promising junior, Wei Wuya, perished on Green Parasol Mountain, leaving his sect without its most capable inheritor. The misfortune would have still been toleratable if it had stopped there, but unfortunately, in the subsequent century-long war, Skyscraper Cliff had seen its Adepts falling in succession until it faced a complete lack of successors.

Under such circumstances, the fact that the Luo Tian Sect members formed their core one after another piqued Skyscraper's curiosity. Therefore, while the Luo Tian Sect was still a dependent force in the Five Elements Domain, he had started bribing and persuading Sima Wenjie to let him in on the secret of their prolific production of Adepts. Unfortunately, the demons' invasion had been so swift that it had disrupted his plan. The Five Elements Domain hadn't been able to withstand their advance, and the Luo Tian Sect had turned to Windflower Palace for support.

On the surface, Skyscraper Cliff was using Sima Wenjie to test Windflower Palace's attitude and try to secure a better spirit land. But in reality, Old Ghost Skyscraper was coveting that incredible Core Formation art, hoping to use it to revitalize his sect!

Everyone here had their own agenda, and Sima Wenjie was no exception.

After he gained the assistance of two major sects, his ego had inflated to an unprecedented degree, and so had his resentment. In his view, his actions were perfectly justified, and the Luo Tian Sect rightfully belonged to the Sima family! From its inception, the sect had been managed by his sister. She handled all sorts of mundane affairs, day in and day out, for over a century, without ever slacking off. His elder brother as well—for the sake of the sect, he had devoted himself entirely, until his very death.

Now that Luo Chen had vanished, Sima Wenjie deemed it natural that the Luo Tian Sect went to the Sima family. Yet the sect had instead poured all its resources into cultivating juniors such as Dragon Fiend, Mei Ruoqi, and Yuan Yijun. On top of that, the position of sect master had been passed on to Yao Mingyue! And what had he gotten in return?

Sima Wenjie had pressed his sister about this, only to be rendered speechless by her answer, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.

"My husband's orders were to put the sect's heritage above all else as the Luo Tian Sect's core principle. It's only normal that I follow that principle."

To hell with your heritage! I risked my life for the sect; am I not part of the sect? Don't I deserve some of that heritage?

Even after his sister had inexplicably formed her Golden Core without needing to use the Nether Origin Pill, he didn't get to have it. Instead, the pill had gone to that old fart Min Longyu. Meanwhile, he had received nothing, despite being one of the earliest members of the Luo Tian Society, holding an important position, and being the sect master's younger brother and the Supreme Elder's brother-in-law. They couldn't even put aside any of the resources he needed to form his Golden Core!

After Skyscraper left, Sima Wenjie stood alone in the pavilion. His face was grim and sinister, and his heart burned with raging fury.

"It's just too unfair, and all of you have a hand in it! I'm just taking back what is rightfully mine! You have no grounds to blame me!"