"Brother Qi, pick out the things on this list first."
"Brother Jiu, you take the things on this list."
After Qi Shiyun left, Lianshan Xin called Qi Wenbin and Du Jiu into the storeroom and handed each of them a slip of paper.
Qi Wenbin took the slip, glanced at what was written on it, and asked in puzzlement, "These are all materials for sword training and some precious medicinal herbs. Brother, what do you want them for?"
Lianshan Xin did not hide anything from them. After all, Qi Shiyun had said that both men would become his capable subordinates in the future.
"Brother Qi, the things on your slip are for Lord Heavenly Sword."
"Brother Jiu, the things on yours are for Third-Place Qi."
"We'll pick out what they need first, then choose whatever we can use or like for ourselves."
"Finally, we'll call the brothers outside in to share the windfall."
"Of course, we have to leave at least half."
Qi Wenbin and Du Jiu were both startled and delighted.
Du Jiu immediately asked, "Third-Place Qi agreed?"
Lianshan Xin shook his head and said solemnly, "Third-Place Qi knows nothing about this. Every arrangement, every idea, was mine alone."
Understanding dawned on Du Jiu. "Young Master Xin, this was my idea. It has nothing to do with you."
Lianshan Xin sighed inwardly. No wonder Qi Shiyun had said Du Jiu had more talent than Qi Wenbin.
His superiority really was plain to the naked eye.
Qi Wenbin was a beat slower, but he soon caught on and hurriedly said, "Little Jiu and I came up with this together."
"Enough. This was my idea." Lianshan Xin cut short their declarations of loyalty. "Go prepare my gifts for Lord Heavenly Sword and Third-Place Qi first. If the sky falls, I'll be the first to hold it up."
He was different from Qi Shiyun. A man had to know his own place.
With her current standing, Qi Shiyun was entitled to have someone do her dirty work.
Lianshan Xin was not there yet.
At the very least, he had to formally join the Nine Heavens, obtain the Qi Condensation Pill, and become the Chosen One Son of Heaven designated by the Chosen of Heaven Lineage before he was entitled to cultivate men to do his dirty work.
Until then, he had to treat Du Jiu and Qi Wenbin as brothers.
Afterward, he would still have to treat Du Jiu and Qi Wenbin as his secretary and driver.
"I'll go see how President Qu is doing."
Lianshan Xin was eager to kill him and silence him for good.
But he soon discovered that Qi Shiyun had done it for him.
"A wretch of the Demon Cult, stubborn beyond redemption. Anyone has the right to put him to death."
Watching Qi Shiyun cut off President Qu's head with a blade, Lianshan Xin suppressed the nausea rising within him and asked worriedly, "Third-Place Qi, will Lord Heavenly Sword be displeased that you dealt with President Qu yourself without reporting to him?"
Third-Place Qi raised one finger and explained, "First, I am the heir to the Chosen of Heaven Lineage. Lord Heavenly Sword has the authority to deploy me, not to make decisions for me. The Nine Heavens have nine lineages. None is subordinate to another; they only cooperate."
Lianshan Xin silently committed this information to memory.
"Second, President Qu had to die. You know why."
"I was going to do it myself. I didn't mean to trouble you," Lianshan Xin said sincerely. "There was no need to dirty your hands over such a trifling matter."
Qi Shiyun patted his shoulder and said calmly, "There's no need to lower yourself so much. Once you join the Chosen of Heaven Lineage, we will be fellow cultivators, supporting, helping, and trusting one another. There is much you don't understand yet. Once you truly master the Dragon Aiders Art, you will naturally understand what I mean."
Although the Dragon-Supporting Immortal Art was an act of supreme treason, its practitioner and its recipient truly shared a relationship of mutual assistance, cooperation, and shared benefit.
Of course, the downside was that if they died, they died together.
Thus, whenever a Chosen of Heaven practitioner through the ages met with misfortune, some imperial son, prince, or princess would invariably be confined in the Imperial Clan Court or suddenly drop dead.
These were things Lianshan Xin would only truly understand later.
For now, all he felt was Qi Shiyun's sincerity in winning him over.
"You need to prepare yourself. There is a ninety percent chance President Qu never revealed the news of the Millennium Snow Lotus. Otherwise, the Qu Family would have been wiped out immediately. But there is still a ten percent chance that the news leaked. If it did, the leader of the Demon Cult may learn of it, and you will become a thorn in his eye and a splinter in his flesh."
Lianshan Xin nodded silently, then smiled with easy composure. "When soldiers come, we'll send generals to meet them; when water rises, we'll bank it with earth. Third-Place Qi, I'm in no position to think that far ahead."
"Well said. Deciding when a decision must be made is a talent too."
The affinity between people was a curious thing.
Qi Shiyun now felt that Lianshan Xin suited her tastes more and more. She truly was a genius with an eye for pearls.
"I'll leave the Qu Family's affairs to you for now. I'm going to report to Lord Heavenly Sword. Once you've finished here, go home for a visit."
"My lady, what if those fiends from the Demon Cult double back..." Lianshan Xin was somewhat worried.
Qi Shiyun could not help laughing. "If Thousand Faces really had that kind of courage, why would he still be skulking in hiding? Stirring up a bigger incident and drawing the Nine Heavens into deploying a large force-has he grown tired of living?"
Heavenly Sword was only one of the Nine Heavens.
If Heavenly Sword truly could not control the situation in Jiangzhou, he would not be the only one the Nine Heavens sent.
"Relax. The sky won't fall."
Qi Shiyun instilled a powerful sense of confidence in Lianshan Xin. He did not know where her confidence ultimately came from, because the reasons she had given him did not seem foolproof to him.
But he would not question her decision.
After seeing Qi Shiyun out of the Qu residence, Lianshan Xin scanned his surroundings. Finding nothing unusual, he turned and went back inside.
By then, quite a crowd had gathered outside the Qu residence.
But with people from the Nine Heavens maintaining order, the crowd outside was not noisy.
Lianshan Xin showed himself openly and had never considered concealing his identity.
He intended to climb higher sooner or later. Why insist on pretending to be ordinary?
In his experience, unless he died halfway through his endeavor, before his undertaking was even half complete, then as long as he remained alive, everyone around his parents should be a good person.
Ten years ago, the people around him had treated him according to his parents' standing.
Now, ten years later, it was time for those around them to treat his parents according to his own standing.
After Lianshan Xin disappeared from view, a man and a woman withdrew their gazes from a table beside a second-floor window in a tavern two streets away from the Qu residence, beyond the area he had surveyed.
The woman frowned and asked, "Master, do you think this could be a trap? Qi Shiyun discovered your double, yet she didn't launch a citywide search. That's very strange."
"It isn't strange."
Seated opposite the woman was an utterly unremarkable-looking middle-aged man. Put him in a crowd, and he would immediately blend into it.
The man took a sip of wine. The bitter liquor slid down his throat, and he coughed softly, bringing up blood.
He raised a hand to stop the woman's concerned response, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with a spotless white handkerchief, then said calmly, "Don't worry. I won't die."
"Master, do you think Qi Shiyun is genuinely foolish and never thought to search the entire city? Or does she not dare?"
"Wrong."
The man smiled. "Qi Shiyun is afraid of what she would do if she actually caught me."
The woman was taken aback. "Master, I don't understand."
The man explained, "The Nine Heavens have nine inherited lineages. Beyond those nine lineages, there are also three major factions. The largest favors maintaining the status quo. Another dislikes fighting with others; they are the recluses of the Nine Heavens and rarely emerge into the world. Neither of these two factions is an enemy of our Holy Cult. Only the weakest faction is our great enemy."
"What faction is that?"
"The Young Faction within the Nine Heavens. Qi Shiyun is one of its leading figures. Its most defining traits are youthful fervor and heaven-bestowed genius. Yet its members do not wield the power to overturn the world, nor have they inscribed their names upon the martial world or in the histories."
At this point, the man sighed softly. "But these people no longer want to wait. Young warriors yearn to win glory."
Before you continue