Chapter 530 Song Yu
"You have come, Junior Brother."
"Yeah." Alex nodded and looked around the room, checking any suspicious things in his room or other rooms around.
"It's only been a few years, and you have become stronger than me." She could not help but sigh. Alex had become a 4-Star Martial Emperor while she was only a 2-Star Martial Emperor, the gap was too far, and once Alex became stronger than her, she would not be able to catch up in the future.
After ensuring that the surrounding rooms looked normal, he turned to Song Yu and said, "I am just lucky."
"You always answer like this. Maybe you should give me a portion of your good luck." She smirked.
When he was about to say something, Song Jia entered the room, intruding on their small conversation while handing Alex's green box. "This is your box. Though I am thankful for helping me earlier, you still need the box."
"You give her a key to the Strength Plateau?" Song Yu was surprised.
"Actually, I am returning the box," Alex answered frankly, shrugging his shoulder. He was not surprised that Song Yu did not hear it despite her hearing ability because the Sound Insulation Array was placed in every room. It should be for privacy purposes, he thought.
"!!!" Song Yu realized what he meant, recalling the matter from one year ago where she came to the Spirit Nest. "This... Is this my green box?"
"Yeah. I already have mine, so I will just give it back," he replied. "It's better for Senior Sister to have it."
"Elder Sister?" Song Jia stared at Song Yu dumbfoundedly, never expecting her to give him something like that.
"Ehm..." She glanced left and right, not knowing what to say. "Actually, I found the box in the past and just stored it inside my Space Ring."
He withdrew his gaze, searched for his seat and relaxed.
"Junior Brother, this..." Song Yu glanced at him, wanting to give it back to him.
"It's fine." He waved his hand, looking at the auction area.
"Can you keep this a secret?" She turned back to Song Jia with a complicated expression.
"..." Song Jia did not know what to do since it was a grave matter. Usually, to give something like this would require elders and patriarch approval. Considering she never said something like this and treated it like it did not exist, this matter would not blow up inside the family. She pondered for a moment before saying, "Alright. Just this once."
"Thanks."
Alex stopped caring about their matter, grabbed the catalog in the table beside him and searched if the list had anything different from what Anna gave.
"Alright. Let's stop this talk, I will handle it with the family." Song Yu sighed, stretching her hand to Song Jia and asking for the green box.
"Yeah." She nodded and handed the box.
Song Yu stored the box inside her space ring before walking toward Alex. "Well, you are going to talk about the war against the Joyful Union Sect, right? There is still an hour before the auction starts, so it's better to talk about it now."
"Sure." Alex nodded before glancing at Song Jia.
Song Yu misunderstood his intention and explained why Song Jia led him here and stayed. "My sister-"
"She is gathering people together with you and your grandfather. Don't worry, I know that." Alex shrugged.
Song Jia stupefied while Song Yu shook her head helplessly. "As expected, you already know it."
His expression was still flat, not happy or proud of his achievement.
She closed her eyes, recalled the scene where she talked with her grandfather.
...
"I have brought you a helper. Look." Her grandfather said, pointing toward a person on her back.
Though she might have heard the sound, she did not know who it was. Her eyes couldn't help but widen as she turned around. "You-"
"Sister, I wish to help you in this fight as well as to pay him back for saving my life."
They already knew the matter about the poison and the Klard City, but they expected Putri to come first. Yet, not only Song Jia came first, she wanted to take part in it instead of suggesting the idea. It was true that Putri did not have enough influence to gather force, while Song Jia had matured and shown great progress, making her a perfect candidate. Even so, it was hard to make the decision.
"In the past, I knew I had a rash personality and reflected on it. This time, I want to help you and pay my debt back."
"Song Yu," Her grandfather called her and smiled. "Take a look at her. She is not the younger sister that you need to protect all time. Though she could not be as efficient as you or me, let her try. Don't worry, I will be responsible for her training, while you need to give her a chance to prove herself."
Song Yu stared at her younger sister. The memories of the past kept replaying in her mind. They ended with a flash of the memory where she needed to flee from the continent to protect her and her family.
"This old man is not involved in the family's matter again. On the other hand, you have many matters at your hands, and you alone might not be able to handle all of them. That's why take your younger sister as your assistant. I believe both of your potentials are equal, she just does not have enough experience and responsibility until you finally return to this continent."
"It's enough, Grandfather." She stopped him and sighed. "It's not you who need to convince me, but her."
"This matter will be dangerous and might endanger the entire family with one wrong step. Are you sure you can take up the responsibility?"
Song Jia took a deep breath before saying, "Yes. Let me help you."
She had been practicing like a mad and trained her other skills befitting the young lady of big influence. The only thing she wanted was a chance to prove herself.
"Sister might be able to gather more than two thousand people, and I surely can't replace that. However, I believe I can gather around one thousand people too."
"Ho. But the fact that you have spies in your own group..." She stopped, knowing she should not continue.
Song Jia clenched her fist. "Yes. I can't say anything about that. After that incident, I had found another spy in my group and killed him before running a full check on my followers. I assure you I have cleaned my group."
She pondered for a few minutes before saying, "Alright."
Song Jia gripped a corner of her clothes, saying inwardly, 'I won't disappoint anyone this time.'
After that, they often gathered to discuss the continuation of their plan.
...
She opened her eyes and asked, "Are we going to strike them right after the Strength Plateau?"
Considering it would be a huge gathering, many higher-ups of Joyful Union Sect would certainly gather there. If they ambushed them when they flew back to the sect, they could cripple the Joyful Union Sect.
"No." Alex shook his head. "We are going to attack them right after this auction ends."
"Wha-!" They once thought Alex would attack them right after or before the Strength Plateau Event and took their green boxes. To think he blew their mind with unexpected timing.
"Are you insane?" Song Yu raised her voice. "They are holing themselves right now with all of their disciples there. If we attack now, we will take the full brunt of an entire sect. We need to diminish their strength first by attacking their higher up."
"There is no best time other than attacking them now." He shrugged.
"I can't picture how we would win. We need to fight against their twenty-five thousand Martial Lords or above. A hundred thousand if you also count the Martial Masters and Martial Grandmasters. After preparing for five months, we only have five thousand. Do you also have an army?"
"No. My number won't exceed twenty people." Alex shook his head, disappointing them once again.
"Then, why? If you are like this, I can't order for an attack since I am still responsible for the lives of five thousand men." She walked toward her, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him.
"Let me explain it first." Alex held her hands and pushed her away. "Just take a seat first."
Song Yu exchanged looks with Song Jia before falling into silence. Then, they took their own seat as Alex started explaining his plan. "First of all, Evelyn is captured."
"Evelyn?!" Song Yu instantly recognized this name, picturing that naive young girl.
"Yeah." He nodded. "This is one of my reasons to start a war this early. The second reason is that I have confidence in trapping at least ten thousand enemies at once. We can ignore the Martial Master and Martial Grandmaster since they won't bring any change in this war, so I promise you, I will trap ten thousand Martial Lords or above. Though I can't promise if I can catch the Martial Emperors."
"Ho-how?"
Since he was planning to use it in the war, it would not hurt him to show her now. He pointed his finger at the Sound Insulation Array in front of them. It looked like there was a token where they could open the array when the auction started, so without a token, he manipulated the array and made a hole to let the sound come in.
"!!!" Song Yu certainly knew nothing about this, while Song Jia was not that close to him to begin with.
He then closed it again before saying, "I am an array master. As long as I use my card right, I can trap them. That's why other than a certain item in this auction, I want to buy many Array Papers from you."
"Unlike the Willow Continent, they also have many Array Masters in their rank, you know." Song Yu still could not picture how this trick would trap them.
"I will have my assassins take care of their Array Masters the moment they need to break open my barrier. Besides, I will be using a Rank 6 Barrier, so we can eliminate the rank 5 or below Array Master. This way, I am sure we can count those array masters with our fingers." Alex smiled before tossing a space ring to her. "If they want to destroy the barrier, I will just throw my money there. This is why I have a deal of three million Spirit Gems with you."
Song Jia dropped her jaw, hearing three million Spirit Gems from his mouth. If she calculated all money Spirit Nest got together with this business, he would have five million Spirit Stones. Based on how loyal the Spirit Nest was, all the money would certainly go into his pocket.
"That's why in this auction. If I don't have enough money, can you put it to my tab first? I will get the rest of the money after destroying the Joyful Union Sect." He smiled.
"You are very confident, aren't you?"
"I will give you all of their green boxes for the strength plateau for the compensation of helping me. Though I will get all the things inside their treasury."
"..." Song Yu fell into silence... It would seem she and her grandfather had underestimated him. With him abandoning the two million profit of the medicinal herbs, she could use it to reward the people who joined the war, raising their motivation.
"That's right. You can get all the things in their space rings." Alex dropped another bomb. He felt the treasury would have more important things than those inside their space rings, so it was not a big deal to give it to Song Yu.
"Still, do you think we can fight them with five thousand plus twenty people of yours?"
"Don't underestimate my people. Each is stronger than you think. Besides, with your Grandfather, and two of my subordinates, we will have three Martial Monarchs," Alex said. "But they also have a single Martial Monarch, around five hundred Martial Emperors and five thousand Martial Kings. So, I need to warn you first."
Song Jia finally realized how monstrous Alex's information network was, while Song Yu calculated the pros and cons in her mind.
A few minutes later, she stretched her hands for a handshake.
"Let's destroy the Joyful Union Sect together, junior brother." She smiled.
Alex nodded and shook her hand.