Chapter 1137: Chapter 712: The Transition of Power

Hua Hong was ushered away by a crowd.

Though the Ink Shadow Pavilion was the power center of the Prime Minister’s Mansion, high-ranking figures like Hua Hong and Lou Ji rarely appeared here, except for end-of-year banquets or urgent meetings personally convened by Xu Yinhe.

As the Crown Prince who had “supervised the country” on behalf of the Prime Minister’s Mansion for more than a decade, Xu Changge understood how busy these people truly were.

Lou Ji was especially worth mentioning—she spent barely a handful of days in Di’an each year.

Hua Hong was slightly more present, but his workload was mountainous, and many cooperative ventures and investigations within the Commerce Assembly required his personal oversight on-site.

For these two individuals to both come to the Ink Shadow Pavilion on the same day to report their duties was a rarity in the past decade.

Was it due to the succession change?

Even within smaller sect families, such a major affair would stir tremors both inside and outside; how much greater the turmoil in the Prime Minister’s Mansion!

Looking back at Dayan’s history, anytime a behemoth-sized leadership change of this nature happened in the Prime Minister’s Mansion, it was typically accompanied by a large-scale purge—especially of the predecessor’s close confidants.

However, thanks to his father’s accumulated prestige, the upheaval within the mansion should be relatively restrained.

At the very least, no deaths should occur—especially not among the high-ranking figures.

But that was the limit.

With Changtian taking over governance, constrained by differing perspectives and judgments, some of his predecessor’s policies would inevitably be overturned.

This, in turn, would certainly impact the distribution of benefits across several of the mansion’s subordinate institutions.

Lou Ji and Hua Hong had likely hurried over for this reason, to meet with Changtian.

With this reasoning, he speculated that he might see familiar faces waiting at the top floor later.

Standing in place for several breaths,

Xu Changge then led the Feng Family’s trio of youths upstairs toward the loft.

The vaulted corridors were majestic and opulent, and the echoing footsteps added to the profound solemnity.

Xu Changge walked ahead in silence.

The Feng trio followed closely behind.

On her first visit to such a lofty domain, Feng Mingming appeared uneasy, but her dark eyes couldn’t help darting around in curiosity.

Walking through the deep corridor for a while,

The girl couldn’t help but tug at the sleeve of the sloth-like girl in front, whispering in a mosquito-like voice:

“Sister Xunhua…who was that white-bearded elder we saw earlier?”

Feng Xunhua lazily glanced at the girl, tilted her head to think, and replied listlessly:

“Probably…the president of the Tian’an Commerce Assembly.”

“…The Tian’an Commerce Assembly?”

Feng Mingming’s beautiful eyes blinked, her mouth slightly agape: “Is…is he just a branch president?”

The Prime Minister’s Mansion was too distant for her, but the Tian’an Commerce Assembly was familiar.

Back on Qifeng Mountain, when only a branch president from the Prefecture City visited, even the typically aloof and mighty Great Elder welcomed him with a smile and personally escorted him for a mile.

The sloth-like girl, however, seemed indifferent to this.

Tilting her head, she casually remarked: “I’ve seen portraits of him…he’s the President of the Main Assembly, little Mingming.”

Feng Mingming was startled, then timidly asked:

“Portraits of the elder president?”

“Because… the Great Elder was acquainted with him and told me to remember his face.”

“Remember him?”

“Because the Great Elder said he was a traitor who betrayed his benefactor…”

“….” Feng Mingming.

“….” Feng Xianru.

The air suddenly became still.

Feng Xianru’s heart skipped a beat, and he gradually looked toward his elder sister with an expression of astonishment and confusion.

Feng Xunhua tilted her head, her gaze questioning:

“Little brother…what’s wrong?”

“I…I…you…”

Feng Xianru wanted to say something, but in the end, he couldn’t articulate a word.

He felt his elder sister truly needed to be sent back home.

Feng Xianru took a deep breath and hesitantly glanced toward the man in the green robes ahead, only to see him still walking steadily.

With this man’s cultivation, he’d undoubtedly heard everything just now.

Why was he pretending not to have heard?

In this silence, so heavy it seemed to solidify, the group fell into an uneasy hush.

At the Ink Shadow Pavilion’s top floor, there was an open-air suspended corridor,

One side housed elegant guest rooms, while the other overlooked the magnificent view of most of Nine Dragon Di’an.

Feng Xianru had no mood for sightseeing and walked along nervously.

The Minister Xu’s Family had already rewritten the history, but as a core member of the Feng Family’s auxiliary lineage, Feng Xianru had been told the true circumstances behind the Feng Family’s downfall.

The coup for power back then had claimed many lives, and Feng Xianru understood the danger hidden in such events.

Because of his foolish sister’s words, the Great Elder might very well face dire consequences, yet the man in green ahead remained silent, leaving Feng Xianru no choice but to keep quiet as well.

Traversing another dozen meters, Feng Xianru wrestled internally with whether he should speak up when a rough and hoarse male voice abruptly rang out from the end of the corridor:

“This old man hasn’t seen the scrawny brats of the Feng auxiliary lineage in ages. And the moment these brats show up in Di’an, they spill such explosive tidbits.”

Following the voice, they saw yet another elder.

With short, graying hair and dressed in loose coarse clothes that couldn’t conceal his towering figure, the most striking feature about him was the scar diagonally cutting across his entire face.

Zong Qingsheng.

Commander of the Black Scale Army.

Zong Qingsheng sat squatting in front of the Nine Dragon Pavilion entrance, his gaze half-focused on the approaching four, puffing leisurely on a long-stemmed pipe, resembling a massive iron-bear crouched in the corner.

When Xu Changge approached,

Zong Qingsheng didn’t bother standing up. Instead, he looked directly at the sloth-like girl and remarked:

“What you said wasn’t entirely wrong, little girl. Hua Hong really was a traitor to Feng Zhoushu, the old patriarch of your family. After all, the Feng Family Head saved him back then, but he chose to help Miss Qian’er turn against his benefactor.”

At this point,

Zong Qingsheng grinned broadly, his face twisted with his ghastly scar, emitting violent killing intent:

“But that’s not the sort of truth you should be blurting out, little girl.”

“…”

Feng Xianru held his breath, and even the sloth-like girl looked away under the oppressive atmosphere.

Xu Changge glanced at the elder, ignoring the provocation, and calmly asked:

“Elder Zong, what are you doing squatting here?”

Zong Qingsheng exhaled smoke that diffused into the breeze, shook his ink-colored pipe, glanced toward the room behind him, then at Xu Changge before coldly snorting:

“Some people don’t know the rules of first come, first served. This old man waited here three days to catch Hua Hong, and now Lou Ji has darted in ahead. Xu Changtian is letting her stay without sending her out—tell me that isn’t bad luck!”

Got cut in line, so he stayed ahead to block anyone else from going first.

Xu Changge was momentarily speechless and replied:

“I’m merely here to deliver people; afterward, I’ll leave.”

“That’s fine then.”

Zong Qingsheng took a deep draw of his pipe, exhaled, and gazed at the Di’an City view beyond the carved wooden railings, asking:

“Feels like a lot has changed. You finally unburdened your load?”

“Something like that,” Xu Changge admitted without reservation.

“Heh.”

Zong Qingsheng chuckled lowly and sighed: “If possible, this old man would hope that…..”

“Elder Zong, mind your words.”

Xu Changge interrupted, his gaze calm as still water.

For a fleeting moment,

Zong Qingsheng irritably waved his hand and spoke bluntly:

“Save the roundabout talk. This old man’s not one of your loyalists. Hoping you’d stay in power is just so you’d keep allocating more funds and resources to the army.”

During Xu Changge’s tenure, he had poor relations with Hua Hong and Lou Ji but maintained close ties with Zong Qingsheng.

The reason was simple.

He sought vengeance against the sects.

And vengeance required abundant armaments to wage an annihilating sect war.

Xu Changge was a staunch hawk.

Even Lou Ji, herself an ironclad hawk, considered him a dangerously radical one.

Requests for military allocations from Zong Qingsheng were almost always granted, and if not for the father suppressing him from above, the Prime Minister’s Mansion might have entered a full wartime economy five years ago.

The high winds coolly stirred strands of hair,

Xu Changge paused briefly, then lightly shook his head.

At this point, Zong Qingsheng’s words were no longer merely directed to him.

Knocking lightly on the door to the guest room, Xu Changge called inside:

“Changtian, I’ve brought the people you wanted.”

After saying this, just as he intended to leave, Xu Yuan’s voice rang out from inside:

“Elder Brother, wait a moment. There’s something I want to discuss with…..”

“Bang!”

Zong Qingsheng rose abruptly, furiously smashing his smoking pipe:

“Xu Changtian! You’re outright ignoring me?! I’ve been waiting here for three days! THREE DAYS!”