Chapter 487 - 245: Martial Alliance Leader! The Mastermind

Chapter 487: Chapter 245: Martial Alliance Leader! The Mastermind

"You are right to scold me, Aunt."

Ouyang Ke lowered his head, the struggle on his face intensifying. After a moment of hesitation, he gritted his teeth and said,

"It’s just... I want to give it one last try. I have something of a friendship with Inspector Chen Sheng of Ning’an. He’s Nie Lingxi’s husband now, which makes him Nie Lingshan’s brother-in-law.

If he can mediate on my behalf, maybe there’s still a chance... If even he can’t help, I... I’ll give up at once and look for someone else."

Ever since he had met Nie Lingshan, her radiant beauty and unique disposition had been deeply imprinted on Ouyang Ke’s mind, making her impossible to forget.

He was unwilling to give up on the spark he’d felt at first sight unless he was truly at a dead end.

Seeing the persistence in Ouyang Ke’s eyes, Lady Lan sighed inwardly, and her stern tone softened slightly.

"Ke’Er, it’s not that I’m trying to force you. The truth is, our sect is riddled with crises. Profound Yin Valley is watching us like a tiger, a mole is waiting for the right moment to strike, and ever since your father passed away, you and I..."

Her voice trailed off. She didn’t continue to reminisce about past hardships, her words dissolving into a long sigh.

"Never mind. You’re a grown man now. I don’t need to belabor the point."

"I understand your good intentions and the debt I owe you, Aunt."

Beneath his sleeves, Ouyang Ke’s fists quietly clenched, his voice firm.

Though Lady Lan was not his birth mother, she had raised him from childhood, taught him his Cultivation Technique, and stabilized their sect. His debt of gratitude to her was as heavy as a mountain.

He knew better than anyone the heavy burdens this glamorous aunt of his shouldered, and the secret fatigue and anxiety she concealed within her heart.

"As long as you understand."

Lady Lan leaned back against her chair, looking slightly weary, and waved her hand.

"You may go. Remember, until the reinforcements from the Nie Family arrive, everything in the sect must proceed as usual. Don’t let anything seem out of the ordinary, lest you alert the enemy and cause unforeseen problems."

"Yes. I will take my leave."

Ouyang Ke nodded gravely, bowed deeply, and slowly backed out of the great hall.

As she watched his burdened figure retreat, Lady Lan sat alone in the vast, empty hall, another long sigh echoing among the pillars.

’To entrust the sect’s very survival entirely to outsiders...’ The feeling was like tethering one’s destiny to a rootless plant adrift on the water, filling Lady Lan with a profound sense of unease and powerlessness.

’But what could she do?’

Trying to resist the Profound Yin Valley, a Major Sect from the Southern Border, with her sect’s strength alone was akin to a mantis trying to stop a chariot—utterly futile.

’If there were any other way, wouldn’t she prefer to hold her destiny firmly in her own hands?’

’But that was far easier said than done!’

Only by forming a Golden Core and stepping into the Grandmaster realm could she gain any real say in this treacherous game of chess, allowing her to sit at the negotiating table instead of being a mere pawn.

However, the difficulty of Core Formation is harder than ascending to the heavens.

Lady Lan didn’t lack talent, nor did she lack resources, yet her bottleneck remained as solid as a boulder.

The Phoenix Yin Gu King she had been nurturing within her body for many years was meant to be her greatest asset and her best hope for achieving a Breaking Realm.

Yet after years of research, she had come to truly understand the principle that solitary Yin cannot create.

For the Phoenix Yin Gu King to unleash its full, heaven-defying, fate-altering power and help her achieve a Breaking Realm...

...it needed the Dragon Yang Gu King, a creature of the same origin but opposite in nature. Only when Yin and Yang Complement Each Other could its true potential be unleashed.

But the problem was...

Her taming of the Phoenix Yin Gu King born in the Poison Flame Cave had been a stroke of luck, a complete accident in itself.

What hope did she have of taming the even more ferocious and violent Dragon Yang Gu King? The chances were infinitesimally small.

Besides, even if she did manage to tame it, there was the method for Yin and Yang to Complement Each Other...

’Does that mean she really has to find some random man and perform... that act of dual cultivation?’

The mere thought of it filled Lady Lan with a strong sense of revulsion and discomfort.

What’s more, not just any man could withstand the power of the Gu King.

The situation had become a near-complete deadlock.

For this very reason, Lady Lan’s Cultivation had all but stagnated in recent years.

She even needed to periodically feed the Phoenix Yin Gu King with her own blood essence, as it grew increasingly restless and vicious from the Yin and Yang imbalance, a process that drained her considerably.

"Sigh..."

The desolate sigh once again echoed through the silent hall, carrying an inexpressible weight and a sense of being utterly lost.

...

「Meanwhile, within Ning’an Prefecture.」

The newly established Initial Saint Sect was like a dark horse that had burst onto the scene. Backed by Chen Sheng’s relentless covert support and driven by Chu Kuangfeng’s bold, public reforms, it was expanding and strengthening at a jaw-dropping, frenzied pace.

Under a special amnesty from the Government Office and the recruitment efforts of the Initial Saint Sect, large numbers of wanted men and Jianghu wanderers were rapidly absorbed.

In a short period, although the Initial Saint Sect had only just been founded, its number of disciples and overall strength could no longer be ignored—especially not the aura it projected, a mix of ferocity, wildness, and the ravenous ambition that comes from long-suppressed greed. It was enough to make any of the old, established sects take notice.

More importantly, with Inspector Chen Sheng, who oversaw all of Ning’an’s Military and Political Affairs, as its unshakeable backer, the Initial Saint Sect was virtually unstoppable in its quest for resources and territory.

The support from the Government Office, including direct threats of force when necessary, put immense pressure on all other factions.

Lu Qingsong, Bai Qing, Wangqingshan, and others had seen the situation clearly for a long time.

The Initial Saint Sect was, at its core, simply Chen Sheng’s hand reaching into the Jianghu.

Chu Kuangfeng was merely the pawn he had placed front and center.

The so-called coexistence of the Five Sects, in which the Initial Saint Sect claimed thirty percent of the profits, was in reality just Chen Sheng ensuring the largest slice of the pie was held firmly in his own hands.

What alarmed Lu Qingsong and the others even more were the whispers that Nie Xuanfeng, Governor of the Jingwu Bureau, would soon be transferred out of Ning’an due to family arrangements. As for his successor...

...it was highly likely to be Sun Yuzhi, who had an exceptionally close relationship with Chen Sheng!

If that came to pass, Chen Sheng’s power in Ning’an would reach its absolute zenith.