Winds and Clouds Converge

"So that's how it is. A piece of trash like Ji Wuyong naturally couldn't withstand the seduction of the Joyous Union Sect." Xue Qingqiu sneered. "It seems the Joyous Union Sect has already reached its hands into the beds of the nobility... Those fools in the Demon Sect, who have been struggling against us for a thousand years, do they really think they're just dealing with a bunch of prostitutes and catamites?"

"I won't comment on the Joyous Union Sect." Xiahou Di mocked. "In fact, it's not just the Pleasure-Seeking Pavilion; most of the brothels in the Capital are secretly linked to the First Prince. Together, they've nearly crushed your Hundred Flowers Garden. If you hadn't been lucky enough to pick up a strategist who brought the Hundred Flowers Garden back to life overnight... heh... what other ideas would your Star Moon Sect have?"

Xue Qingqiu looked a bit embarrassed and snorted, "Xue Mu is my younger brother. His ideas are the Star Moon Sect's ideas. What do you mean 'picked up'?"

"Is that so?" Xiahou Di couldn't be bothered to argue. For a super-heavyweight like Xue Qingqiu, if the Six Fan Gates hadn't deliberately investigated her background, they would have been derelict in their duties.

She was an abandoned infant from a disaster-stricken farming family, less than three months old when left behind. The Six Fan Gates had checked thoroughly and concluded that her family had likely perished in the disaster; there were no blood relatives left.

She had been fortunate enough to be found in her swaddling clothes by a Star Moon Sect elder surnamed Xue. Her name and surname were both given by the sect. She was raised on the sect's milk, and from the moment she could walk, she was soaked in the Star Moon Sect's unique medicinal baths to build her foundation—she was a pure-blooded disciple of the Star Moon Sect. By the time she was a few years old, she displayed extraordinary talent and comprehension, quickly becoming an inner disciple and soon after, the personal disciple of the Sect Master. Thirteen years ago, a catastrophe occurred; the previous Sect Master died from a cultivation deviation, and the male and female leadership disagreed. After a civil war, the men left to establish a new sect, calling it the Blazing Sun Sect. As the personal disciple of the former Sect Master, Xue Qingqiu was pushed by the elders to become the Sect Master amidst the chaos, at the age of fifteen.

One could imagine that the elders had no desire to shoulder the responsibility of the sect's decline, nor the hardships that lay ahead; pushing her to be Sect Master was a blatant attempt to pass the buck. At the time, everyone thought the Star Moon Sect was finished. They were already hiding from the court and the righteous sects, while other Demon Sect factions were eyeing them like tigers. What could a young girl do with a Star Moon Sect that had suffered heavy losses and lost its morale?

No one guessed that this girl, who had taken the fall, would turn out to be a monster capable of turning the tide. Carrying the heavy burden, she roamed the pugilistic world, bewitching the masses, and tricking countless heroes to their deaths, allowing the Star Moon Sect to catch its breath. Her martial progress was even more brilliant; she reached the Dao-Seeking realm in five years and the Void-Piercing realm in three, completing a journey others couldn't finish in a lifetime, finally standing at the peak of the world's martial power. From then on, she hid her bewitching beauty, unleashed her demonic flames, washed her hands in blood, and piled up bones, shaking the world and forging a living legend.

By now, let alone passing the buck, the entire sect viewed her as a deity whose words were law. Under her prestige, the Star Moon Sect had grown stronger year by year; one only had to look at how many disciples had joined in the last decade to see that...

Given this background, if she really had a younger brother, he could only be the offspring of that elder surnamed Xue, someone who had left during the gender-based split without joining the Blazing Sun Sect, and had only recently returned to acknowledge his kin. The possibility was low; if that were the case, many people would have known Xue Qingqiu had a brother, and it wouldn't have been so abrupt.

However, Xiahou Di never imagined they had some bizarre relationship; she simply assumed he was a strategist. Who would ever guess that someone was courting Xue Qingqiu, was still alive, and was even acknowledged as her brother? They'd have to be insane... Xue Mu himself had no concept of just how terrifying this "sister" of his was. If he had known her for longer, he likely wouldn't have dared to harbor such thoughts...

In any case, Xiahou Di's "Is that so?" was filled with inflection. Xue Qingqiu said coldly, "Your Six Fan Gates isn't the Department of Household Registration. Stop meddling in other people's business."

Xiahou Di smiled slightly. "The Six Fan Gates is naturally not a group of gossiping housewives."

Xue Qingqiu snorted.

Seeing her embarrassment, Xue Mu quickly changed the subject. "In other words, Ji Wuyong's so-called 'corrupting the public' is just talk. If he really shuts down the Hundred Flowers Garden, his Pleasure-Seeking Pavilion will be wearing uniforms by the next day anyway. I heard the Joyous Union Sect people have already started working on the clothes."

Xiahou Di said calmly, "Perhaps. In fact, your uniform plan undermined the face of the righteous sects. The court was secretly supporting it, as long as you didn't involve the Six Fan Gates' uniforms."

Xue Qingqiu sneered, "Since the Joyous Union Sect is secretly undermining my Hundred Flowers Garden, I have no need to consider any camaraderie. Tonight, I will..."

Xue Mu quickly interrupted, "Sister, don't always think of violence when developing a business. You won't be staying in the Capital forever. What's the point of fighting until everything is in ruins? Besides, I'm the one who caused the uniform mess, so I'll naturally resolve it properly."

"Did I say I wanted to use violence?" Xue Qingqiu retorted stubbornly, then quickly asked, "What kind of devious plan do you have?"

"We just won't wear them," Xue Mu said nonchalantly. "If we don't wear them, seeing such a lucrative path, the Pleasure-Seeking Pavilion won't be able to resist. I suspect the experts of the righteous sects are already on their way to the Capital for this very reason. By then, we'll have already stepped back, and the Pleasure-Seeking Pavilion will be the ones walking into the line of fire, leaving them to deal with the headache."

Xiahou Di was stunned, a chill rising in her heart. Could this shift in the situation have been within his calculations all along?

Xue Qingqiu thought it made sense and laughed, "You really see things clearly. So, we'll just endure the losses for now and wait for the storm to pass?"

"Why would we suffer losses?" Xue Mu smiled slightly. "The second step I took earlier should be ready to bear fruit."

Xiahou Di felt an even deeper chill. The struggle of a mere Hundred Flowers Garden was a trivial matter, but the quality Xue Mu displayed in this small affair proved that he wasn't just having occasional flashes of genius; he clearly possessed the ability for global strategy.

"Is it that thing you were tinkering with earlier with Chan'er? I haven't seen it yet. Come, let's go take a look." Xue Qingqiu said with great interest, pulling Xue Mu away and treating Xiahou Di as if she were air.

Xue Mu helplessly looked back and shouted, "Chief, I'll wait for your good news!" before being dragged away, stumbling.

Xiahou Di squinted as she watched the siblings leave, pondering to herself: The Star Moon Sect is an old, powerful Demon Sect with deep foundations and resources. Xue Qingqiu is a master at navigating the pugilistic world, has a layout and foresight for the big picture, and is a martial genius with world-shaking demonic arts, which is why the sect's revival has been so rapid. But people are not gods; no one is omnipotent. Business management and strategic planning are her weaknesses, and the new generation of the sect hasn't grown up yet. Yue Xiaochan is still young, and as for Yin Ye... she's a complete disaster... So, the Star Moon Sect is currently facing a bottleneck; one only has to look at the losses in their businesses to see that further development will be difficult. But now, with Xue Mu, his ability to strategize is already faintly emerging... This combination is like a fish in water, a meeting of wind and clouds. If Xue Qingqiu really is as obedient to Xue Mu as she currently appears, it will be hard for the Star Moon Sect not to soar, and their enemies will have to prepare for disaster...

For now, she intended to cooperate with them, which was fine. But if they ever turned on each other, Xiahou Di believed she would definitely choose to assassinate Xue Mu at the first opportunity, no matter the cost!