Anbu and Root

"Your Highness, word has come from the palace. The delegation sent by the Heaven Dou Empire has secretly met with His Majesty."

In the study, the steward Dai Xuan was reporting the latest news to Dai Xuanyu.

"Mm. You may go."

Dai Xuanyu remained calm. He did not even put down the book in his hand, merely giving a slight nod to show he had heard.

Of course he knew the Heaven Dou Empire would secretly send a delegation. He had planned the whole thing himself.

"As you command, Your Highness." Dai Xuan promptly left the study.

The Heaven Dou Empire has taken the bait. And that woman Qian Renxue has too. A smile curled Dai Xuanyu's lips.

Everything was unfolding just as he had planned, without a hitch.

"Those Immortal Herbs are within reach!" Dai Xuanyu mused leisurely.

He had to plan ahead and lay the groundwork for his chance at the Immortal Herbs.

The difficulty was that the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, where the Immortal Herbs grew, lay in Sunset Forest.

That was within the Heaven Dou Empire's borders, and on Dugu Bo's turf.

That was why Dai Xuanyu had spent so much time considering how to proceed.

First, the matter was too important to entrust to anyone else.

Dai Xuanyu had to be there throughout, to guard against anything unexpected.

But that made matters even harder.

Even if Dai Xuanyu's status as crown prince was still secret, he was publicly known as the fourth prince.

The constraints of his position meant he could not leave the imperial capital for long.

Once or twice, he could claim to be in secluded cultivation and stay out of sight for a few days.

But if he stayed away too long, someone was bound to grow suspicious.

The only reason Dai Xuanyu had been able to spend half a month outside the city last time was sheer chance.

The Imperial Family had placed separate districts of the city under lockdown to purge as many spies from rival factions hidden in the capital as possible.

At the time, everyone had been warning their families not to cause trouble outside and to stay home as much as they could.

They could wait until the commotion died down.

That was why Dai Xuanyu's lengthy seclusion had not seemed so out of place.

I have Spirit Hall to thank for making this plan possible. Dai Xuanyu chuckled.

Without Spirit Hall, he could never have carried out that plan so naturally.

Ghost Douluo of Spirit Hall had barged into the Star Luo Imperial Palace without warning.

There, he had fought a "great battle" with the Star Luo Imperial Family's experts.

Naturally, the Star Luo Imperial Family had grown even more wary of Spirit Hall.

How perfectly reasonable.

Using that very incident, Dai Xuanyu had suggested to his imperial father that they send a delegation to the Heaven Dou Empire with a letter proposing an "alliance."

The two nations would draw closer and gradually form an alliance.

The Heaven Dou Empire would never pass up such a tempting offer.

And events had borne out Dai Xuanyu's prediction.

Look at that: only a few days had passed, and the Heaven Dou Empire had already sent envoys to meet the emperor in secret.

It showed how eager the Heaven Dou Empire was. They could hardly wait another moment.

As for why the Heaven Dou Empire's envoys had sought a secret audience, the reason was simple.

The Heaven Dou Empire did not want Spirit Hall to learn of the arrangement before it was settled.

As the Heaven Dou Empire saw it, Spirit Hall would try every means to sabotage the alliance if it found out.

Dai Xuanyu thought the secrecy was feasible, but unnecessary.

It was entirely a case of painting legs on a snake.

Their own crown prince, Xue Qinghe, was an impostor from Spirit Hall.

How could their secrets stay hidden when their intelligence leaked like a sieve?

But that was precisely why Dai Xuanyu had dared to devise this plan.

Qian Renxue, what will you do? Dai Xuanyu looked forward to her response.

Who least wanted to see the two great empires join forces?

Spirit Hall, of course.

And Qian Renxue, who had wanted since childhood to prove herself and make Bibi Dong see her in a new light, was bound to act.

As Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, whom she impersonated, Qian Renxue could hardly reject the alliance on principle.

In private, though, she would surely find a way to make her move.

If she could wreck the alliance between the two empires, perhaps even send their relations into another decline, it would be excellent news for Spirit Hall.

For Qian Renxue herself, it would be a major achievement too.

Dai Xuanyu was certain she would do it, and do everything she could to sabotage the alliance.

No one would ever guess the so-called alliance is just a smokescreen.

The thought of playing the Heaven Dou Empire and Spirit Hall like puppets in his palm made Dai Xuanyu want to laugh.

One side would strive with all its might to secure the alliance, while the other would do everything possible to destroy it.

Whatever happened, Dai Xuanyu did not care.

He had floated the idea of an alliance only to give himself a pretext to travel to the Heaven Dou Empire and lay the groundwork in advance.

So what if the talks collapsed and relations fell to freezing point?

Would that not give the Star Luo Empire an even better reason to attack the Heaven Dou Empire later?

And if the alliance held and was successfully concluded, that was fine too.

They could use the Heaven Dou Empire's strength to slowly wear down Spirit Hall.

Either outcome of this alliance plan would serve the Star Luo Empire well.

"Alpha."

Dai Xuanyu set down his book and clapped softly.

The next instant, a black-clad Soul Master whose face was impossible to make out appeared in the study.

He dropped to one knee before Dai Xuanyu.

"How are the preparations?" Dai Xuanyu asked.

"Everything is in place, my lord," Alpha reported in a cold, flat voice.

"Good. In that case, you will lead Root."

Approval flashed in Dai Xuanyu's eyes as he rewarded Alpha with the position.

"Thank you, my lord." Alpha's voice remained as cold and emotionless as ever.

Dai Xuanyu did not mind.

As long as he was useful.

Lately, Dai Xuanyu had been reorganizing the forces under his command.

He had divided his death attendants, death warriors, assassins, and other operatives into Anbu and Root.

Members of both organizations went by code names. Dai Xuanyu commanded them all, and they answered to him alone.

Their duties were the only difference.

Anbu members had a measure of freedom, like Wang Hao, who had been assigned to Dai Xuanyu's command as a leader.

Wang Hao knew how to conduct himself and had proved useful, so Dai Xuanyu had made him the leader of Anbu.

Root, on the other hand, consisted of merciless killing machines.

They were death attendants among death attendants, far closer to what most people imagined death attendants to be.

And Root's leader was Alpha, whom Dai Xuanyu had just appointed.