Within Ma Family Manor, Ma Tianyi and Zhao Zhen had been living through fire and water these past days. The script had not played out as they had envisioned; instead, because Ma Shaokang had vanished without a trace, dead or alive, the two found themselves hamstrung in handling the manor's affairs—without a legitimate name, their words carried no weight.
Their original plan had been to capture Ma Shaokang alive, use drugs to control him, and then hand great power over to Ma Tianyi with full legitimacy. Later, they could simply find an opportunity to have Ma Shaokang die. Even if suspicions arose afterward, they would not stir up much trouble.
But in the battle at Hengqu Mountain, the two had fallen short at the final step. They could only slink back to Ma Family Manor, pretending they knew nothing and continuing to live there as usual, while intensifying their contacts with the manor's upper ranks and preparing to seize Ma Family Manor in the future.
Not long afterward, news that Ma Ruzhen had died from Qi Deviation while attempting to break through to Grandmaster during secluded cultivation spread throughout Ma Family Manor through men arranged by Ma Tianyi and Zhao Zhen. Then, before everyone's eyes, they opened the site of his secluded cultivation, confirming the news beyond doubt.
Since many within the manor knew that Ma Shaokang had left for Hengqu Mountain to hunt before leaving the manor, there was no tragedy of Leaderless Dragons, with the tree falling and the monkeys scattering. As Ma Ruzhen's sworn brothers, Ma Tianyi and Zhao Zhen temporarily took charge of all the manor's affairs, openly declaring that they would return authority at once when the young manor lord came back.
There was, in fact, a problem involved here. Ma Shaokang had not returned,