Do You Want to Be a Star?

Unable to determine if Xue Qingqiu was spying on him, Xue Mu truly had no mood for that sort of thing. Furthermore, even if Xue Qingqiu were to send him women without a care, he had no desire to let her form the impression that he would sleep with female disciples at will; it was highly inappropriate.

And so, they devoted themselves to study.

Xue Qingqiu had long since promised that Xue Mu could peruse the Star Moon Sect's files at his leisure. Although the primary archives were not in the capital, the Capital Branch had its own records, which Meng Lan had the authority to access.

Meng Lan was very sensible. She went out to retrieve the files, showing neither disappointment nor any further attempts at seduction. She sat quietly to the side, tending the oil lamp, ready to answer any questions Xue Mu might have.

She was so sensible that it even stirred a sense of admiration in Xue Mu. The ability to let go, to sacrifice, and to remain composed—these qualities truly belonged to someone capable of taking on greater responsibilities. The Star Moon Sect had indeed been underutilizing her. If she hadn't feared being sold off to peddle her charms, she likely wouldn't have lost her composure and rushed to seduce him in the first place.

As he flipped through the files, Xue Mu finally gained a more intuitive understanding of the Hundred Flowers Garden.

While known publicly as the Hundred Flowers Garden, to the sect, it was naturally the Capital Branch. The Branch Master, Zhuo Qingqing, was of the same generation as Xue Qingqiu, being half a year her senior. However, she was not a core direct disciple but an inner-sect disciple. The Star Moon Sect's inner-sect selection was extremely strict; Zhuo Qingqing's status was already quite high. Apart from the sect's elders and hall deacons, individuals of her standing constituted the sect's backbone.

There was also a Deputy Branch Master, but she was currently away on a mission and Xue Mu had not met her. Under their jurisdiction were twenty-four outer-sect disciples, Meng Lan being one of them. She was relatively well-regarded by Zhuo Qingqing, which was why she had stood by her side when welcoming the Sect Master that day.

These twenty-odd people, plus the hired security and the like, comprised the branch's entire strength. They were primarily responsible for a few things:

The operation and protection of the Hundred Flowers Garden, the collection and transmission of intelligence, and the scouting of talented prospects.

When it came to operations, they were actually quite poor. After all, they had all practiced martial arts since childhood and had never learned such trivial matters. Every one of them got a headache just looking at accounts, so how could they manage a business? It was only because their martial aptitude was insufficient and their hopes for breakthrough were slim that they were assigned to manage affairs, eventually fumbling their way into some understanding of the trade.

For them, the most important work remained gathering intelligence and scouting for talent.

Here lay a contradiction. The capital was the only place where the Star Moon Sect could operate in the open. With the intersection of the palace, the court, and the public, the figures involved were complex and numerous; logically, they should have needed a large number of personnel here. Yet, suppressed by the Non-Violation Array, most sects were unwilling to station many people in the capital. Any loss was a waste, and experts were non-existent, so the capital was ironically the branch with the fewest personnel. This was true not only for the Star Moon Sect but for others as well.

That Deputy Branch Master had been borrowed by the Lezhou Seven-Mysteries Branch some time ago... The Seven-Mysteries Branch had a full hundred people, yet they still pulled from the capital, and Xue Qingqiu had even approved it... It was clear that the Capital Branch was essentially left to rot, as it couldn't produce any effective results anyway.

Yet, Xue Qingqiu seemed unconcerned... This could only prove that she had another, more complete intelligence channel within the palace, one far more useful than the Hundred Flowers Garden. The reason she maintained the Garden was for the sake of openly interacting with the imperial court, which related to her long-term layout. Thus, Xue Qingqiu placed great importance on Xue Mu's efforts to turn the situation around.

After organizing this information and running it through his mind, Xue Mu realized just how important his move to drag the Six Fan Gates into the fray was for Xue Qingqiu's foothold. It allowed her long-term plans to be brought to the present—in other words, it saved her ten years of struggle.

Additionally, he discovered a significant flaw in the Star Moon Sect's intelligence sources.

He had previously mentioned that the Joyous Union Sect had extended its reach into the beds of the powerful. Xue Qingqiu appeared to despise this, but in truth, she was doing the same. It would be strange if the demonesses of the Demon Sect didn't seduce the powerful. Not just in the capital, but in every branch, this was the standard operating procedure. The files showed that among the twenty-four outer-sect disciples in the capital, three had already become concubines to the powerful, and one had even become a wife. By extension, it was possible that even Righteous Path sects had disciples who had married women from the Star Moon Sect—a true layout across the world.

However, their methods differed from the Joyous Union Sect. While their objectives were different, it was also because the Star Moon Sect's cultivation techniques possessed a concealing effect—the Moon-Illusion Star-Concealment. As long as they deliberately hid their origins, others found it difficult to discern their background. This led the Star Moon Sect to prefer planting "nails" without exposing their identities, through things like "chance encounters" in the martial world or romantic affairs, which carried a relatively higher class. The benefits were obvious: those few women in the Star Moon Sect held high status in their households, and their husbands didn't even know they were from the Demon Sect...

But the flaws were also obvious: it was simply too slow. Looking at this layout, it had been going on for several years, yet there was so little progress. Presumably, it was the same elsewhere. When would this actually bear fruit? Was this another ten- or hundred-year plan?

This was why Xue Qingqiu had said that some things had no hope of being realized within these few generations; it was merely Yu Gong moving mountains.

Xue Mu sighed and closed his eyes in thought.

The Star Moon Sect's foundation was excellent. Xue Qingqiu was indeed a brilliant leader of her generation; her various layouts had built an incredibly solid base. Whatever Xue Mu wanted to do now had a strong foundation, making it ten thousand times easier than starting from scratch.

Where Xue Mu surpassed her was in his ability to use various methods to drastically shorten the time required for her plans. Take the current situation: countless people wanted to redeem Qianqian. If Xue Mu could promote one Qianqian, he could promote a second. Distributing dozens of girls, or even all the outer-sect disciples, would not be difficult. But he didn't want to use such methods long-term; primarily, in his mind, brothels were too low-class... He really didn't want to look back on his transmigration in his old age and find that his most significant achievement was being a pimp.

The Star Moon Sect should completely sever ties with the Joyous Union Sect. Let the Joyous Union Sect sell flesh; the Star Moon Sect could take the high-end route—the celebrity route.

Merging with the Joyous Union Sect would be best. They would have people for the high-end route and people for the flesh-selling route, forming an industry monopoly. At the very least, he had to beat them into submission, force them to share resources, and obey basic directives. This had to be the Star Moon Sect's first key objective in the near future.

Although they had been competing as major Demon Sects for a thousand years, he understood that the Joyous Union Sect hadn't produced a Void-Piercing Realm expert in two or three generations, relying only on dual-cultivation and combined-attack techniques to sustain their high-end combat power. That was why they had become increasingly debauched over the years; they were desperate. In the past, they had been selective about their targets for extraction, but now they were indiscriminate...

This was an opportunity. As long as he found a way to make them suffer a few more heavy losses, and Xue Qingqiu stepped in to exert pressure and offer a few carrots, it was entirely possible to force them into submission.

While pondering, he asked casually, "Meng Lan, do you want to be a celebrity?"

Meng Lan was stunned. "What is a 'celebrity'?"

"Uh... like Qianqian, for example..."

Before he could finish, Meng Lan's face turned deathly pale. "Young Master, you..."

Xue Mu immediately realized his words had been misunderstood and hurriedly explained, "That's not what I meant. Uh, let's use another analogy. Like Mu Jianli—would you want to be like her?"

Meng Lan breathed a sigh of relief, sweat visible on her forehead. "Young Master, you scared me... Mu Jianli is a heaven-sent talent; how could we compare?"

"So... why must one practice martial arts to become famous?" Xue Mu continued, guiding her from a different angle. "Look at these past few days. Is Three-Good Scholar Xue famous?"

Meng Lan immediately began to flatter him. "Speaking of that, Young Master is truly the most talked-about person in the capital right now, even surpassing Qianqian. Do you know, Young Master? There were many who dabbled in literature and art who were long looked down upon and felt stifled. But recently, with your great name spreading far and wide, even the Emperor has praised your stories. Many scholars have implicitly come to regard you as a pioneer and a guide. It is said that all sorts of strange articles have suddenly become more common..."

Xue Mu hadn't expected to trigger such a development. He thought for a moment and suddenly laughed. "Fine, I'll take a look at what's appearing on the market another day. Perhaps this 'guide' role has some unexpected uses. The Hundred Schools of Thought—isn't the School of Fiction one of them?"

Meng Lan smiled. "Young Master wouldn't make me write stories, would you? Meng Lan doesn't have that talent."

Xue Mu's finger traced the file recording Meng Lan's profile. "Body tempering and Qi cultivation both have results, reaching the Form-Manifestation Stage of internal and external fusion, yet stuck at this stage for two years with no gain, little hope for the Soul-Entwining Realm... Hmm... learned the zither since childhood, quite skilled?"

Meng Lan felt a bit embarrassed. "My martial aptitude is just so-so, but my zither skills are passable."

"Hmm... martial aptitude doesn't matter..." Xue Mu stroked his chin, thinking. "Zither Immortal Meng Lan—that sounds good."

Meng Lan was confused. Could a 'Zither Immortal' be bestowed like that?

Just as she was about to ask, a strange sound came from outside the Bamboo Pavilion, as if someone had collapsed to the ground, followed by a stifled cry.

Meng Lan stood up abruptly. "Assassins!"