Prince Wenyan and Captain Bu Zhe looked at each other, confusion written in their eyes at Yang Qing's advice. But when they saw him smiling and the genuine look on his face, they couldn't help but laugh along with him as they shook their heads.
"We will do just that," said Prince Wenyan. He had already decided after the evaluation he was going to urge his father to dump the problem on the doors of the Spiritual temperance sect.
Despite their cavalier attitude regarding matters outside their sect grounds, surely they would have a reaction if an organization such as the Dark Helminth Ghost sect, planted its footprints within their territory.
He even felt a vague sense of satisfaction at the thought of dumping it on them.
"Maybe I should remove myself from the competition for the throne, letting others carry the weight doesn't seem bad at all," he thought before he shook his head and smiled ruefully.
"Master Yang Qing, can we inform the king about this?" Captain Bu Zhe tentatively asked.
It was then that Prince Wenyan noticed he had overlooked Yang Qing's opinion in involving his father.
"It would be best. Even though the Dark Helminth Ghost sect would not be in a position to act on you since we will be tracking anyone with ties to Su Liwei, It doesn't hurt to be extra vigilant," said Yang Qing.
"I'll also be disclosing the matter to the Spiritual temperance sect after I'm done here," he added a second later.
Prince Wenyan and Captain Bu Zhe became visibly delighted at this.
The word of someone from the Order would carry more weight than their own. And Yang Qing would less likely be turned away at the gate while for them well.....
Most people thought they had a subordinate relationship with the Spiritual temperance sect but they knew it couldn't be further from the truth. They were glorified errand runners for the sect. If they went there without an invite from them, they would be turned away just like the rest of them. They'd get a solid beating accompanied by a stern warning for their troubles.
His grandfather, the previous king, suffered such a treatment when he was still king. He had a deep relationship with them going back over a thousand years.
He soon came to realize he grossly overestimated the weight of that relationship when he went unannounced to their sect to seek guidance in his cultivation. He had been at the peak of the core formation realm at the time, just inches away from becoming a quasi-palace realm cultivator.
He needed assistance on just that final push, therefore he went to his 'old friends' the Spiritual temperance sect.
He left a chipper smug old man but came back a vengeful, bitter very older man with no life in his eyes. He abdicated his throne that very same day and left for parts unknown.
From what his father told him, his grandfather took up fishing and farming in some fields within the kingdom.
His grandfather's beating served as a reminder and warning to the Summerfield kingdom about their place within the Spiritual temperance sect's eye.
Yang Qing personally delivering the news to the Spiritual temperance sect had saved both him and his father, a potential beating. Moreso him, since his father was shameless enough to leave him with the bag to handle the whole thing.
The more he thought about this, the more he felt he should really give up the throne.
A thousand years later the Summerfield kingdom had gained a weird rumor and reputation, it was that the king's seat was cursed. In those thousand years, kings would abdicate their throne within short periods of each other. Some even sat less than a day in that seat before they gave it away, while the heirs apparent would run away or wail at being chosen as the next king.
The rulers started locking their successors after that, to ensure there was someone to succeed him/her after they left.
No one ever knew where the previous kings went off to after they left their posts, but the farming techniques of the kingdom exploded by leaps and bounds in those a thousand years, with the source of that upsurge being unknown. But that is a story for another day.
....
"Judge Yang Qing, what do we tell those outside?" Prince Wenyan asked after he had resolved himself to find a new path, during that brief pause.
"We tell them nothing,"
"Pardon.."
" There's no need to explain anything as any explanation we offer, will only draw more conclusions from them.
Better to just leave everything to their own imaginations, which with time, will get preoccupied with their evaluations.
So let's go on with business as usual,"
"Okay then," Prince Wenyan said as he motioned for Captain Bu Zhe to arrange for the next organization to be evaluated.
Both he and Yang Qing returned to their earlier positions like nothing had happened.
As for the servants who had been in the hall with them, Yang Qing had them sent away after his meal. He had already detected Su Liwei when the evaluations began thus when he detected his turn had come, he had the servants sent away before Su Liwei came into the hall.
Just as expected, the organizations were at first full of confusion and questions at the delay, especially when they didn't see the Wild Roar sect come out. But when they got no reply from the guards or Captain Bu Zhe, that curiosity got shelved the moment the evaluations began progressing like normal.
Under the euphoric cheers of promotion and despair of being caught cheating, the organizations soon forgot there had been a two-hour delay or a sect master had gone missing during an evaluation.
Organizations dropped like flies within the Spiritual temperance sect region, the missing sect master and his disciples drew curious thoughts when they didn't come out but a few hours later, they were long forgotten.
...
Inside a gazebo in the center of a lake was a young man leisurely throwing worms into the lake as he held a communication talisman in one hand.
"It seems like what you feared, has happened. One of the division leaders in charge of the operation got marked,"
" I told you this may happen, cancelling the operation would have been a safer option.
The opponent this time wasn't someone they could handle.
What was he marked with?"
"Based on his description, it seems to be the treading cicada peach wood,"
"Will you help him? Though I think it's safer to just eliminate him. If he was marked, then the special inquisition has already been dispatched as we speak. There's not much time, better to cut our losses and eliminate any traces he has on him to us,"
"To others, the peach wood might be trouble but alchemy and spiritual plants are our forte. We will help him. We still need the Dark Helminth Ghost sect to act in the open as we prepare in the shadows."
"Does it have to be the Order?"
"Are you having second thoughts, you can still back out if you want. I know you have attachments to it, I won't fault you for it. You have already helped us plenty enough."
"I'm already on this road, I can't leave it. And the reason I'm hesitant isn't because of loyalty, it's because I know how powerful they are. The Radiant Sword sect would be an easier target in my opinion."
"It's precisely because they are powerful, that it has to be them. The destruction of the Star Collapsing Sword sect was an eye-opener for us.
The Order is a much bigger threat. They also have more enemies than the Radiant Sword Sect, making it easier for us to rope in more people against them.
The Myriad Beasts sect fell because of the same thing, now it's their turn. Rather fitting for them to share the same fate since part of it is built in their former territory.
Take care of yourself and avoid doing anything that would draw suspicion before the second phase is set in motion,"
"I will,"
The young man calmly placed the communication talisman on his lap as he admired the lake below him that was filled with an endless number of beasts continuously fighting for the worms he dropped.
Any one of these beasts could cause terror within the continent, since the weakest of them was at the palace realm and the stronger were at the quasi-soul formation realm.
"Time for some chaos," the young man muttered as he gently smiled, throwing another worm into the lake.
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