Chapter 173: Gathering and Discussion

The one-eyed man watched for a while, then started a new line and drew one large circle and three small circles below it.

The man opposite him looked at him, head bowed in thought: "Let it be this way."

He rose and left.

The man raised his head and said in a deep voice: "You really don't intend to leave, do you? If you decide today, there will be no chance to go back on it."

The man had already reached the door; he turned back and said: "There is nothing to go back on; the letter has already arrived. And actually... to say one more thing, even if this letter hadn't come, we didn't intend to leave anyway."

"Oh?" The man was slightly surprised. "Didn't you seem to have a clearer intention to retreat last time?"

"Because there is a new discovery," the man said. "Just last night, this fruit became a bit too tempting. We took the liberty to decide that no matter what, we must eat it."

"." The man frowned, not understanding.

But the man did not intend to elaborate.

"If there is any situation, contact us in time," he left behind one sentence, then turned and left.

At this moment, the parrot in the room suddenly twitched its head and started calling out: "Contact in time! Contact in time! Contact in—Squawk!"

The bird's body stiffened violently.

The man retracted the finger he had flicked out; the parrot fell straight down stiffly, with only its two thin legs twitching slightly.

The black cat by the window was startled for a moment and turned to look at the man. The man's gaze swept over it, and he continued to frown at the tabletop.

After a long while, he tapped the table, and someone entered from outside.

"Go notify the elders to arrive here before sunset."

——

Below the Moon-Catching Tower, in the small pavilion.

Pei Ye listened to the black cat's words, his brows already tightly furrowed.

In all fairness, when he sent the black cat out, this was not the conversation he wanted to hear, nor did he expect to hear such a conversation.

He had brought the kitten today intending for it to observe every move of Qijiao Shang Huaitong, especially to pay attention to the tracks of the two Life Vein experts beside him, so as to provide support for their action a few days later.

However, when he suddenly heard Qijiao Shang Huaitong say "the elders of the sect have some matters to discuss," he couldn't help but think of Li Bijun's plan. At the same time, Qijiao Shang Huaitong was going to board a ship and it was inconvenient to follow, so he let the black cat go to investigate the Seven Serpents private pavilion first.

Yet he did not expect to hear such content.

Pei Ye carefully combed through this dialogue.

Because this conversation did not avoid ears, the meaning was expressed very clearly: the man tended to "leave," but he had no power to decide. It was Zhao Fu who brought the final decision—not to leave. Following that, they discussed the reason for "not leaving," and following that was the plan after "not leaving," which was where Li Bijun was mentioned.

From this conversation, two sides could be clearly distinguished—the one-eyed man represented the Seven Serpents Cave, while Zhao Fu represented the other side; in this matter, they were the ones with the power to decide.

After combing through the surface meaning, he could begin to scrutinize the information hidden within.

From beginning to end, the first question was: who was going to leave?

Since it was Zhao Fu who decided, those who were going to leave were naturally the people on their side. Then, what was this "that side"?

Pei Ye had been in the city for no more than twenty days; there must still be many things in Bowang City that had not yet surfaced. If it were in the past, Pei Ye really would have had no way to guess.

But after experiencing that scene in the Moon-Catching Tower yesterday, this answer was almost ready to come out—that old man who hunted for Wu Gong!

He and Zhao Fu were in the same group.

Then the second question was: why did he want to leave?

With the Commandant as a cover and the Seven Serpents as protection, and his own actions being low-key and cautious, killing only a few rootless people every year, what could threaten him in the remote Bowang City?

Because he showed his face in front of him and Yang Yan yesterday?

No, when he committed the crime against Jiang Hong that night, he did not hide his face, not worried at all about leaving clues—clearly, facing two outsiders who had come to fight a Wu Dou, the old man was confident that his armor was thick enough.

Likewise, being seen by himself and Yang Yan was not enough to force him away. The facts were indeed so—even after seeing him again, the two of them still hadn't grasped his clues. And taking a step back, Yang Yan was originally a criminal, and he was just a country boy; even if they really discovered something, they could just silence them. How could he flee like a frightened bird?

So they were facing another kind of more powerful threat.

And Pei Ye had no clue about this threat, so he put it aside for the time being.

The third question was: what was the "fruit"?

There was no need for the two to use code words in private conversation, so "fruit" was more likely a common nickname they used—because it expressed the meaning appropriately, it was commonly used.

Fruit, ripening, what followed naturally was... harvesting.

Connecting it to the old man who hunted for Wu Gong, was that "fruit"... people like Brother Cheng?

Pei Ye suddenly thought of Yang Yan, but quickly denied it—according to Yang Yan, the old man didn't care much about him from beginning to end, and after being discovered yesterday, he also didn't hesitate to kill him.

This was probably an attitude of "this is Zhao Fu's business, it's not very important, but since he bumped into me, I'll just kill him."

As for the "fruit" they regarded as their goal, they should be monitoring or even protecting it at all times, until it ripened to be harvested in one go.

Then how to explain ripening?

After thinking about it, without support, to explain this word could only be a guess or assumption. Pei Ye put it aside for now and continued to look back.

The following nicknames were much easier to understand.

"The new reply from above," "above" was naturally the superior of Zhao Fu and the others—Zhao Fu was a Sixth Life, the old man was a Seventh Life; it was natural for them to have support behind them to make the Seven Serpents obey.

"That side is involved in troublesome things again," "that side" should refer to another matter that "above" was dealing with. "That side" must be more intense and more important, and the situation was not very good. "Above" felt pressure, so they ordered "this side" to push the plan forward while bearing the threat.

"As long as this person is solved," it returned to the current Bowang City. "This person" must be the threat that forced the old man to have the intention to retreat.

Further back, it related to Li Bijun's plan.

This was a matter closely related to him, and the information revealed in their words made Pei Ye inevitably uneasy.

——The first unexpected point was that the Seven Serpents Cave actually didn't care about Li Bijun's cultivation.

This attitude was consistent with Qijiao Shang Huaitong's behavior of not taking the opportunity to test her at the Singing Pill Society, but it was completely opposite to Cuiyu's perception.

One must know that the cornerstone of the entire plan was that the Seven Serpents Cave dared not sit idly by if Li Bijun had the possibility of defeating Qijiao Shang Huaitong.

Actually, Pei Ye did feel that this bait was completed a bit too hastily—if they wanted to make the news that "Li Bijun had learned Huang Feicui" more credible, they should have laid some groundwork earlier, rather than rushing to release a sword sound in the courtyard three days before the Singing Pill Society.

Of course, laying the groundwork too early was equivalent to enticing the Seven Serpents to act too early, which was also something that needed to be considered.

And having said that, fortunately, whether it was a lucky hit or not, the Seven Serpents finally decided to accept this challenge. It was just that clearly, they had already realized that this was a trap.

Of course, Cuiyu's plan was originally a trap within a trap. If the Seven Serpents' goal was only Li Bijun, then the bait was Li Bijun; and if the Seven Serpents realized that Cuiyu had ambushed a Seventh Life, then this Seventh Life was actually also bait.

But would the Seven Serpents Cave think even deeper?

Pei Ye turned and walked out of the garden. No matter what, the true face of this matter was much more complex than Li Bijun thought. Fortunately, the other side would not take the initiative to attack; they were waiting for the action from Cuiyu's side. And the day Li Bijun decided on was two days later.

There was still time to re-discuss.

"You don't need to leave," Pei Ye said to the black cat. "You stay here. If there is any important news in this room, inform me in time."

——————————

Changdao Martial Arts Hall, West Courtyard.

Five people in green clothes surrounded Li Bijun, some sitting, some standing. Everyone's expression was a bit stiff, and two of them even showed some pale green.

In their center, the young girl was leaning over the desk writing. The courtyard was silent, with only the rustling of paper and pen and the sound of trees, indistinguishable from one another.

Finally, the young girl stopped her pen. In front of her were two identical letters.

"Three people in a group, we have already divided it just now," the young girl said. "Ji Ji Shijie Shen goes first, leave the city and go straight along the main road to meet our team coming to participate in the Wu Dou; Zhang Shixiong Zhang's side needs to take a detour, leave the city from the North Gate, go towards Zheng Shou first, and then detour back to the mountain gate—did you remember?"

"... Remembered." The courtyard was silent for a while. A woman nearing thirty said with worry, "But Bijun... wouldn't that leave only you here?"

"It's better to have only me left here anyway," the young girl said.

"Such dispensable matters can be done by two people. We can always help you with something here."

Li Bijun shook her head: "This is not a dispensable matter. If I fail here, all subsequent decisions and responses of Cuiyu will have to rely on these two letters for support."

"Then, we can always leave two people."

"No need."

"But—"

"I have said it," Li Bijun interrupted, a pair of sharp green brows sweeping over the few people. "This matter, let it be like this."

". Good." The five people cupped their fists and bowed.

The atmosphere on the field stiffened again, and a kind of unease brewed in the courtyard.

It was not that the Cuiyu disciples had no composure when encountering things, but just now, this seventeen-year-old junior sister, the newly appointed Young Sect Master, had told them a matter they were completely unprepared for—the planning against the Seven Serpents Cave over the past two days, the Cuiyu mountain gate didn't know about it at all!

The whole thing was planned by this junior sister alone and pushed forward alone!

The few Cuiyu disciples were selected to follow the Young Sect Master to Shaolong Prefecture, so their temperament was naturally top-notch. They were absolutely not afraid of confronting the Seven Serpents; in fact, they had been stifled and looking forward to it for a long time.

But relying on the power of the mountain gate and executing Cuiyu's resolutions, and hiding from the sect they grew up in to act on their own to implement a plan whose victory or defeat was unknown, were two completely different things.

And the consequences of failure would still have to be borne by the sect.

The former, regardless of victory or defeat, regardless of life or death, you share the honor of the sect and are everyone's hero; the latter is walking alone against the crowd, and if you are not careful, you will have to face the shocked and angry expressions and hateful eyes of relatives and friends.

Li Bijun sending them all away today had the intention of protecting them.

They all knew that this junior sister had been unable to hide her irritability these days, often sitting in the courtyard for a long time at night, but they originally thought it was the anxiety of being a "bait." Who knew it was actually the unease of "walking alone."

Everyone's brains were a bit dazed and confused—should they stop her? Should they obey? Should they obey the order to leave? Or should they stay to help?

If according to the saying of a great family sect, they could also be considered the "direct line" of the young girl in front of them, but the two sides had only been together for half a year. In their impression, the young girl had always been a seed with amazing potential. Although precious qualities like intelligence and perseverance had already begun to show, the part of her as a naive young girl had always been clearly present. They had always been looking forward to her first sharpness.

And this time, suddenly, the young girl was indeed sharp, and the amazing courage revealed made them all dazed for a moment.

Was this sharpness, or recklessness? She could actually hide it from everyone so firmly—how did she have this confidence and courage?

Looking at the expressions of the people in front of her, either stiff or changing, Li Bijun's hand behind her back slowly tightened on her clothes, and fine sweat beads oozed from her palms.

The young girl first tried hard to hook the corners of her mouth, and then put on a calm smile: "Why are you all with this expression? Didn't we decide on the matters before and after? You all just follow it—ah, didn't you distinguish that this plan didn't come from the mountain gate just now, doesn't that mean this plan is exactly the same as the one decided by the elders? Now that you know it was formulated by me, you start to look down on me, right?"

The courtyard was still silent, but soon the woman surnamed Shen also hooked out a smile: "The elders actually couldn't make such a bold plan."

These words were too sharp, so much so that even the stiff atmosphere was pierced. Everyone moved their arms and legs, and all had reactions of varying sizes.

Yes, this was one of the reasons why the young girl was so arbitrary—handing the matter back to the mountain, it might not even have a clear result after half a month.

"Alright," Li Bijun's hand clutching her skirt behind her back loosened, and she smiled, "Has Zhang Shixiong Chu not come out yet?"

"Coming, coming." A tall man walked out of the room, his clothes not yet worn flat.

"I've wronged Zhang Shixiong for being stifled in the room for so many days."

"No, no, what kind of grievance is this."

Li Bijun smiled and nodded: "After the Wu Dou is over, I'll treat Zhang Shixiong to the Moon-Catching Tower."

". Good!"

"Since that's the case, then you senior brothers and sisters, set off now," the young girl said sitting at the stone table.

The worry on everyone's faces had not yet faded, but this time they finally didn't remain silent, and they all cupped their fists and left.

The woman surnamed Shen was the last to move. After everyone else had gone out, she looked at the young girl and cupped her fists.

"Ji Ji Shijie Shen—"

"Bijun... I can never convince myself that doing this is right," the woman said with her head bowed, her voice hesitant. "I really can't imagine that you would do such a thing without notifying the sect, and declare war on the Seven Serpents on your own... Tell me, if you fail, will Cuiyu collapse overnight?"

"." The young girl's hand behind her back tightened again, and the piece of clothing in her hand was already a bit damp and greasy. "Ji Ji Shijie Shen—"

The young girl's throat was a bit dry and hoarse.

"I can never understand and would never dare to do such a thing. Therefore," the woman raised her head, "I will always be an ordinary disciple, and you are the next Sect Master."

"."

"Regardless of victory or defeat, you dare to make this decision, you are already truly a hundred times higher than us. Shen Yao hopes with all her heart that you can win the bet!" The woman bowed, pressed her sword, turned around, and disappeared from the courtyard gate.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 174 =====