"Master, did everything go smoothly on this trip?"
Li Mu asked.
After spending so much time together, he had figured out Zhou Qingyun's temperament. It was best to speak plainly about anything; beating around the bush would only invite trouble.
"Both smooth and not smooth."
"We intercepted and killed Old Devil Jia and Old Devil Zhou, who attacked our mountain gate. But this matter won't be so easy to put behind us.
"The attack on our mountain gate wasn't primarily our responsibility, but we were in charge of intercepting the Demonic Cult's reinforcements. A crack force from the cult slipped through, so we can't escape some blame.
"Your Uncle Feng has already set off to hunt down the cult's other eight elders. He's doing it both to avenge us and to give the sect an explanation."
One man hunting down eight Demonic Cult elders—if word got out, it would be a joke. Unlike the orthodox sects, where seniority mattered, the Demonic Cult's Ten Elders had all earned their places with their fists.
Each of them was no weaker than the head of a first-rate orthodox sect. If all ten joined forces, they would be invincible under heaven.
Now, two of them had been killed, but the remaining eight could still roam the martial world as they pleased if they joined forces. Add the elite Demonic Cult fighters accompanying them, and they would be even harder to deal with.
But Li Mu knew this wasn't a joke. Feng Qingyang was like a protagonist with cheat codes. No matter how powerful someone was, when they ran into a creature as unreasonable as a protagonist, they were bound to meet a miserable end.
Besides, as far as Feng Qingyang was concerned, these Demonic Cult elders weren't strong enough. Together, they might be able to protect themselves. Once they scattered, the only question was how they would die.
"Don't worry too much. With your Uncle Feng's martial arts, even if he can't kill them, he'll have no trouble protecting himself."
Misunderstood, Li Mu could only laugh helplessly. Even if he wanted to explain, he didn't know where to begin.
He couldn't very well say, "I was thinking about how the Demonic Cult elders would die."
He reckoned no one but him could imagine that after this battle, the Sword Saint would be elevated to godlike status.
Perhaps the Mount Hua Sect, which had been on the brink of being wiped out in the original story, had survived because of this battle. The Ten Elders of the Demonic Cult had paid for it with their heads, reminding all the martial world's sects just how terrifying top experts could be.
If everyone hadn't been so wary, Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze might not even have had a chance to appear before someone killed them.
After all, watching over someone from the shadows wasn't the same as protecting them at their side twenty-four hours a day. There would always be moments of carelessness.
"I'm not worried about your Uncle Feng's martial arts, Master. It's mainly the affairs of the sect. The headmaster was badly injured this time and has gone into seclusion.
"Without the headmaster to keep them in check, the conflict between the Sword and Qi Factions will likely intensify before long. Even within the Sword Sect, things have become unsettled.
"They've been making underhanded moves since the last meeting, all because of the matter of succession. If I hadn't reacted quickly and used going into seclusion as an excuse to avoid them, things might have erupted that very day."
Ning Qingyu's injuries had far-reaching implications. Although he trusted Zhou Qingyun, Li Mu still didn't dare mention them outright.
This was a martial arts world, after all. Even bizarre techniques like the Seven Injury Fist existed. Who knew whether some peerless secret art could heal Ning Qingyu's internal injuries?
After hearing Li Mu's explanation, Zhou Qingyun's brow furrowed at once.
"That's truly outrageous. They've even stooped to bullying a junior. It seems they really have changed.
"If they dare act this arrogantly now, who knows what the Mount Hua Sect will become if they get their way!"
Li Mu could tell Zhou Qingyun was genuinely angry this time. There had been conflicts before, but everyone had still followed the basic rules of the game.
No matter who they supported, it had been limited to backing them from behind the scenes. No one had personally entered the fray, much less schemed against a junior.
Li Mu had managed to avoid it this time, but when it came to the rules of the game, the difference between none and one was the same as the difference between one and countless. Once it happened the first time, it could happen countless times.
When someone broke the rules during an internal struggle within a major power, it often meant that the infighting was escalating.
Angry as he was, Zhou Qingyun still couldn't do anything at the moment. Feng Qingyang wasn't on the mountain, and without a powerful pillar to rely on, they were currently at a disadvantage.
"Master, there's no need to be angry. Their actions prove that they're panicking. The more things are like this, the more we must keep our heads.
"Uncle Feng's proposal that day was rejected by several other elders. Even among the elders who had supported Senior Brother Cai before, three remained silent.
"Ultimately, it's because Senior Brother Cai hasn't shown himself capable enough to satisfy everyone. If he can't win over even the people within our own Sword Sect, what right does he have to expect the Qi Sect disciples to accept him?
"The more they do now, the more they'll turn the perceptive people in the sect against them. Even among the disciples of the uncles and senior uncles who support Senior Brother Cai, many of my fellow disciples are dissatisfied.
"In my view, the best thing we can do now is act as though nothing happened. We should wait quietly for them to make a mistake, then seize the opportunity to strike back."
Whether it was because he'd seen too many schemes in his previous life or because practicing martial arts had further developed his brain, Li Mu displayed remarkable maturity when it came to power struggles.
On the surface, he seemed to have done nothing. In reality, he had the calculations against Cai Buli and Yao Buzhou nailed down.
Wherever there were people, there was a martial world. Unlike Li Mu's rapid rise, Cai Buli and Yao Buzhou had risen by having resources piled on them.
Yao Buzhou had it easier. As the headmaster's senior disciple, he already had relatively abundant resources, and the Qi Sect had contributed little toward his rise.
Cai Buli was different. The resources in his master's hands alone couldn't have supported his cultivation. As far as Li Mu knew, Cai Buli's rise had been funded collectively by several Sword Sect elders.
Besides ordinary cultivation resources, the Sword Sect had even paid a steep price to trade with Mount Tianshan Sect for a Tianshan Snow Lotus, all to help him break through to the first-rate realm quickly.
There were only so many resources. The more you took, the less everyone else got.
The resources the elders handed out had, in truth, been squeezed from their disciples.
The amount each person lost might not have been much, but it was impossible not to resent seeing the resources the sect allocated to them handed out as patronage.
That was especially true for Sword Sect disciples with good talent who were stuck at the peak of the second-rate realm. Their resentment ran even deeper.
If no one stirred things up, everyone might keep it bottled up and gradually move on.
But once someone broke the silence, everything changed. Cai Buli and Yao Buzhou, who had once been held in high regard, immediately became objects of everyone's envy and jealousy.
Quite a few disciples grumbled in private, "If I had a Tianshan Snow Lotus, I'd have broken through long ago."
Complaints were only the beginning. As time went by and more disciples of the Bu generation broke into the first-rate realm, Cai Buli and Yao Buzhou's positions would truly come under threat.
The pits had already been dug, so Li Mu naturally didn't want to complicate matters. If the sect elders wanted to support them, then let them.
The more they invested in Cai Buli and Yao Buzhou now, the more dissatisfied their disciples would become.
When it all erupted, Li Mu didn't believe they would support the two men at the expense of their own disciples.
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