"What ingenious plan do you have, sister?"
When Xue Linglong remained silent for a long while, Cheng Xinzhan prompted her.
Xue Linglong said slowly, "This really isn't easy to arrange."
Cheng Xinzhan said nothing, waiting for her to continue.
Xue Linglong went on,
"If we're going to kill him, we certainly can't do it in the Wood Temple. He has countless yin trees there. If anything goes wrong and those trees knot together into a net, neither of us will escape. Once the people from the Metal and Earth Temples arrive, they'll catch us like turtles in a jar."
"That makes sense."
Cheng Xinzhan nodded in agreement.
"We have to invite him out of the Wood Temple. But my place won't do, and yours certainly won't either. I don't think we can act anywhere within Heavenly Scabbard Mountain. Again, if anything goes wrong, we'll cause too much of a commotion."
"That makes sense too."
"We need to trick him into going outside and find somewhere secluded to ambush and kill him."
"How do we trick him, and where?"
"Leave the deception to me, sister that I am. I'll borrow your idea and lure him out over the unsettled position of Mountain Lord. Citing the old friendship forged when our three temples joined forces to slaughter Longbo Stronghold, I'll say that the Water and Fire Temples wish to acknowledge him as our leader. Then, on the pretext that a meeting between three temple masters within the mountain would arouse the Metal and Earth Temples' suspicions, I'll invite him to discuss it outside. We'll strike during the feast and kill him. What do you think?"
Cheng Xinzhan immediately shook his head. "No."
"Why not?"
"Old Ghost Li isn't particularly clever, but he'll certainly leave himself a fallback or take precautions before attending