The gaze was naturally Qiu Yan's. At some point, Qiu Yan's eyes had settled on Xu Yingyi. Under that gaze, a flicker of panic unexpectedly surfaced in Xu Yingyi's heart, as though all his thoughts had been seen through.
But he had, after all, served as a grand councilor for several years. He quickly suppressed the unease and withdrew his gaze, though he could not help muttering inwardly, Qiu Yan cultivated for a time in the past. Even if he crippled his own cultivation, he must still have some wicked tricks up his sleeve. I must be careful. Besides, this man poses an enormous threat to our great clans and cannot be recruited. The arrow is already on the string; it has to be loosed!
With that thought, he gradually found his footing.
"Besides, according to the Heavenly Stars and Earthly Fiends Bandits, their so-called acceptance of amnesty is only a stopgap measure. One could hear it from that envoy's words: he blamed their present disadvantage entirely on Qiu Yan. If it had been the Qiu Yan of old, he might have been able to escape through sheer martial prowess even if surrender negotiations proved dangerous. But now that his cultivation is gone, would he not be at everyone's mercy? No, wait. I hear he still has several subordinates with considerable cultivation, all first-rate experts..."
As he thought this, Xu Yingyi turned his attention to figuring out how to draw Qiu Yan's helpers away and reduce the variables. But at that moment, the emperor upon the dragon throne spoke. "Minister Qiu, how do you think this matter should be handled?"
For the emperor to ask a minister for advice during morning court in the Golden Hall was a display of trust, yet there was little real inquiry in his words.