CHAPTER 112: MASTER NINE'S ARRANGEMENTS

Xue Fuxiao couldn't help but roll his eyes in exasperation.

"What do we do now?"

"Nothing. Eventually, the jade will be discovered and absorbed, and that's a good outcome for us, no matter who ends up finding it, even if it's a demonic church underling. As long as it doesn't return to its original owner to aid in his resurrection, I count that as a victory, and if it's obtained by one of us, then that would be even better!"

Dongfang Sansan was very pleased with himself.

As opposed to fixating on finding the jade before the enemy, all he had to do was ensure that the enemy didn't get what they wanted.

"Who did the Church of the Self-Righteous send this time? Did you have to face Duan Xiyang?" Dongfang Sansan asked.

"No. There was a standoff, but no one attacked, and all Duan Xiyang did was release his spear intent from two mountains away to declare his presence. He really thinks he's the most powerful warrior in the world now!" Xue Fuxiao scoffed in a sullen manner.

He had always been the one doing things like this in the past, yet Duan Xiyang had stolen that privilege away from him.

"I instructed you to lose to him last time precisely to lift the pressure of being the number one warrior on the Cloud Weapon Archive off your shoulders, and it's already working. Duan Xiyang is beginning to rest on his laurels now, and that will allow us to avoid a great deal of future losses."

"That was part of your consideration? I gotta hand it to you, that's really impressive," Xue Fuxiao begrudgingly praised.

"If only that head of yours wasn't completely empty. That way, I wouldn't have to exhaust myself thinking of everything," Dongfang Sansan scoffed.

Xue Fuxiao didn't want to talk anymore.

He noticed that all of his recent conversations with Dongfang Sansan had been rather hurtful to his self esteem, and he didn't know what Dongfang Sansan's problem was.

"Go visit Dong Changfeng and help him recover," Dongfang Sansan sighed. "All of his hard work over the past century was most likely undone during his battle against Bei Mingxin."

"Alright, I suppose it can't be helped," Xue Fuxiao sighed.

Given that Dong Changfeng was also a spear user, it would benefit him immensely if he could dispel and absorb Duan Xiyang's spear intent through his own power.

The resulting enhancement to his cultivation base and combat prowess would be so substantial that it would be sufficient to propel him from 36th all the up into the top twenty on the Cloud Weapon Archive!

However, if Xue Fuxiao were to help him by using the saber intent of the Passion Severing Saber to combat Duan Xiyang's spear intent, then Dong Changfeng wouldn't be able to reap any benefits.

In fact, his cultivation base could even regress, and his confidence as a warrior could also be negatively impacted, essentially wasting the past century of toil.

However, it was clear that he hadn't managed to harness Duan Xiyang's spear intent. If he had accomplished that feat, then Bei Mingxin would've most definitely already met his demise!

The fact that Bei Mingxin had managed to escape indicated that Dong Changfeng hadn't even returned to his former strength, let alone surpassed his former peak.

"I'll go right now," Xue Fuxiao said. "Dong Changfeng's old injuries are most likely flaring up right about now, so he's going to be particularly vulnerable. Hopefully, he's not going to be dead by the time I get there!"

"Don't say that!" Dongfang Sansan snapped.

Warriors of their caliber were generally very careful with their words as they knew that they couldn't just say whatever they pleased.

They wielded such immense power that their words had a subtle influence on the Great Dao, and they ran the risk of speaking things into existence.

Among the top Guardians, Bing Qianshan was renowned for his lack of verbal discipline. One time, he adopted a disguise and went to spectate a prodigy undertaking a trial, and the trial overseer had been less than hospitable to him.

Unable to resist, Bing Qianshan threw a jab as he asked, "Why do you look so pissed off? Did your wife cheat on you or something?"

Lo and behold, the trial overseer caught his wife in bed with another man upon returning home that very same day...

This didn't happen 100% of the time, and it certainly wasn't an exact science, but it was not to be ignored, either.

"There's no hurry. There's something else I'm going to need you to do for me in a few days, and you can just go visit Dong Changfeng on the same trip. Right now, the White Cloud Prefecture is the safest it's been in centuries, so there's no need to go help him right away. Perhaps he'll be able to gain some insight during this time."

"Alright, in that case, I'm gonna go train now."

With that, Xue Fuxiao raced away as a streak of light, while Dongfang Sansan began to reflect on recent events.

Even though a resounding victory had been scored, it was still important to reflect and reassess.

All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have occurred to him, and he ordered, "Bring me all of the reports we've received over the past few months."

Before long, a mountain of reports had piled up in his office, and after splitting them into piles based on location, it was immediately apparent that the pile of reports from the White Cloud Prefecture stacked up far taller than all of the other piles.

A hint of elation surfaced in his eyes upon seeing this.

I knew it! The White Cloud Prefecture has been a central hub of activity of late, and it's also where we've scored most of our victories in the past few months. In this brief period of time alone, three clans affiliated with demonic churches were exposed, starting from the Su Clan of Green Wave City.

They're only small clans, but things have never gone this smoothly before. On top of that, Sun Wutian's body was buried near the White Cloud Prefecture, his Formless Divine Jade also ended up here, and his divine avatar was also destroyed here as well!

Dongfang Sansan's heart was beginning to pound in his chest as he began to connect the dots.

As the chief advisor of the Guardians and someone who had lived for countless years, Dongfang Sansan's intuition was tingling.

Somehow, the White Cloud Prefecture had become the center of the storm!

Prior to this, the White Cloud Prefecture had been a rather insignificant place according to all parameters, including geographic location, population density, and GDP, yet in the past few months, it had suddenly shot up to prominence.

I can only think of two possible explanations for this. Either the Church of the Self-Righteous has shifted its focus here, or a bearer of fortune has appeared here. Right now, the Church of the Self-Righteous is still far too busy managing its newly founded nation, so there's no way it would shift its focus here at a time like this.

That leaves only one possibility! A bearer of fortune has emerged and is bringing about all of these drastic changes. Wherever they go, that place will become the center of the storm! Who could this bearer of fortune be?

Right at this moment, a voice rang out from outside.

"Master Nine, we've just received a report with a moon symbol on the cover."

Dongfang Sansan immediately stowed everything away with a sweep of his sleeve, then instructed, "Bring it in."

The moon symbol was one that had never been used before, but Dongfang Sansan had explicitly stated that as soon as a report with such a symbol on its cover arrived, it was to be brought to him right away regardless of what he was doing at the time.

Furthermore, it was not to be seen by anyone before him, including even Xue Fuxiao!

Dongfang Sansan had intentionally brought up this matter to several of his closest subordinates some time ago, but even after waiting for quite some time, the Church of the Self-Righteous displayed no response to this information.

Only after ensuring that those around him were trustworthy did Dongfang Sansan feel it safe to begin officially using the moon symbol, exercising extreme caution throughout the entire process.

The report was placed onto his desk, and he revealed its contents by smearing a special liquid over its surface, then rearranged all of the characters using a secret key to produce a coherent message.

A grim look instantly appeared on his face after reading the report, which informed him that Mu Linyuan was currently staying with Fang Che.

He immediately sent out a concise response.

"Do not take any action against him!"

However, that still didn't put him at ease as there was a chance that an attempt to arrest Mu Linyuan could be made before Ye Meng received his response, and that would be a disaster.

With that in mind, he immediately sent a soul message to the southeastern headquarters.

"Go to White Cloud Warrior Academy and..."

The message had been sent to one of his most trusted subordinates, who was also currently serving as Moon Shadow's primary handler.

The subordinate in question immediately set off for White Cloud Warrior Academy after receiving the message, and only after addressing this matter did Dongfang Sansan continue to ponder the matter of Sun Wutian's vanished Formless Divine Jade.

However, his train of thought had been interrupted several times in a row, and he was unable to recapture that spark of inspiration for now.

In the end, he could only give up with a resigned sigh.

Should I pay the White Cloud Prefecture a visit?

After briefly entertaining the idea, he ultimately decided against it. In the wake of the founding of the New Chu Nation, Dongfang Sansan was extremely busy, so he couldn't go anywhere at this particular juncture.

However, he was still feeling rather concerned as in his eyes, Fang Che's way of doing things was a little too rough around the edges.

With that in mind, he sent another message to his subordinate in the southeastern headquarters: "On second thoughts, come visit me at the headquarters first, then go to White Cloud Warrior Academy from here."