After so many years, the world had changed so much. The connection between the two forces naturally waxed and waned—it wasn’t anything strange.
Nowadays, Jade Pool and the Qian Family were only loosely connected.
The ancestor from thousands of years ago probably forgot about her current descendants, if she remembered them at all.
Hua Jian’s abrupt question about Qian Feixue made Linglong guess the letter must have come from Qian Feixue.
But as for why Qian Feixue wanted to contact Hua Jian, she couldn’t guess.
“Why do you ask?”
“Just curious, that’s all.” Hua Jian scratched her head.
She hadn’t intended to tell Linglong the truth, but after thinking about it, hiding everything wasn’t right either.
If Qian Feixue tricked her later, at least Linglong would know where she’d gone and could come save her.
“She invited me to the church to meet at noon tomorrow. That’s all.”
A meeting invitation at noon? Linglong found this odd.
According to Hua Jian, she’d only met Qian Feixue once—why would Qian Feixue specially invite her?
It didn’t make sense.
Either Hua Jian was omitting details, or Qian Feixue was someone unpredictable. Linglong guessed it was the former.
“Why does she want to meet you?” Linglong was always direct.
“Uh…” Under Linglong’s golden gaze, Hua Jian’s pre-prepared excuse stuck in her throat.
That look was so intimidating, she felt that if she lied, Linglong would pounce and bite her.
For the sake of her own safety, Hua Jian decided not to lie—better to say nothing than to make things up.
“It’s just some minor matter—shouldn’t be dangerous.”
“Oh?” Linglong dragged out the sound. Hua Jian’s reaction only confirmed her suspicion that something was up.
If she didn’t want to say, then the reason must be something awkward that she didn’t want Linglong to know.
Considering possible reasons, and the current situation, a bold idea came to Linglong’s mind.
Hua Jian was probably going to meet someone from Wanhuagu.
And the Qian Family’s ambiguous relationship with Wanhuagu made it plausible for them to help arrange a meeting.
Linglong felt she’d figured out the truth—her brain was still sharp!
“If you don’t want to say, then I won’t ask.” Linglong gave Hua Jian another glance, then lowered her head.
But in her heart, she’d already decided to follow Hua Jian in secret the next day.
Not openly, but covertly—just to keep her safe, of course. Very reasonable, right?
“Ahaha, really, it’s nothing serious. Don’t worry.” Linglong’s not asking made Hua Jian even more uneasy.
At the end of the day, she felt guilty—no matter what Linglong said, she’d still feel that way.
Sigh, she’d better finish tomorrow’s business quickly. Who knew what Huan Rui wanted to talk about…
……
The next day at noon, Hua Jian arrived at the Beijing Church on time and saw the eagerly waiting Huan Rui.
“Hua Jian, you’re finally here!” As soon as Huan Rui saw her, she rushed over and grabbed her hand, as if Hua Jian were a long-lost relative.
If Hua Jian hadn’t blocked her, Huan Rui would probably have taken the opportunity for a hug.
Hua Jian thought her relationship with Huan Rui wasn’t that close—this was maybe the fifth time they’d met, and their total time together didn’t even add up to a day.
Why was Huan Rui so enthusiastic?
Did she really have a face that inspired love at first sight?
Linglong, Cai Die, Su Xiaoxiao… every girl she met seemed drawn to her at first glance.
How strange.
“Let’s get to the point. Why did you call me here?” Hua Jian put on a serious face.
She had to take leave to come out—best get this done and return quickly.
“Oh, right—it’s about the Chai Clan Patriarch. The original plan was completely derailed by an accident, so now we have to pick a new candidate.”
Hearing Huan Rui’s slightly resentful recounting, the culprit herself grew awkward.
If Huan Rui found out she caused that accident, she might actually bite her.
Best not to mention such trivial details!
Better for everyone that way.
“You were originally going to support Second Lord Chai?”
“No, we planned to cooperate with the Great Young Master and help him defeat Second Lord Chai, but now that the Second Lord has fallen, we’ve lost our leverage.” Huan Rui shook her head.
Oh, so you wanted to help the weaker side win. That made sense.
But now that the weaker party had suddenly gained the upper hand, what would Wanhuagu do—pick an even weaker candidate?
“Who are you planning to support now?”
“There are a few options. One is the Su Family Young Master…”
“Scratch that one. He’s an arrogant fool. I don’t want to see him.” Hua Jian frowned and immediately shot down the idea.
The impression that Su Family Young Master left was so bad, she’d never let someone like him have a good time.
Wow! The way she rejected that was so cool—is this the confidence of a core disciple?
Huan Rui’s eyes sparkled in admiration—Hua Jian was really handsome when she spoke.
She listed a few more candidates, but Hua Jian didn’t comment—she didn’t know them.
Finally, Huan Rui named the most important candidate, already internally selected by Huaxinyuan as the Chai Clan Patriarch: Chai Xianyun, the young Lady of the Chai Clan!
Hua Jian was stunned, her face taking on a thoughtful look for the first time.
Compared to letting some unknown take over, letting Chai Xianyun do it seemed like a good option.
But first, she wanted to know why Huan Rui picked Chai Xianyun.
“She’s never been famous. Why did you choose her?”
“Well, it’s simple—because she’s your friend. We figured if she became Patriarch, you’d be happy.”
Huan Rui blushed, admitting honestly that the reason Chai Xianyun was chosen was because of Hua Jian.
Because she had a good relationship with Hua Jian, Chai Xianyun caught Wanhuagu’s eye.
“She’ll definitely be grateful for your help after becoming Patriarch, and since you two get along, working together will be easy.”
Huan Rui ticked off the benefits on her fingers—some were spiritual, some material.
In short, with Hua Jian, Wanhuagu had the perfect collaborator this time.
Chai Xianyun was already close to Hua Jian, and now that the Chai Clan was competing for Patriarch, wanting her best friend to live well made perfect sense.
And after her best friend’s happy life was settled, returning the favor to Hua Jian would be only natural.
As for the other Chai Clan members, it would be easy to find reasons to eliminate them from the competition—Wanhuagu had already collected all their dirt.
“For example, the Great Young Master—we discovered that years ago he had an affair with a common girl, and to cover it up, had her killed!”
“The Su Family Young Master is even worse, abusing his status and running rampant in the city—locals call him a pest. How could someone like that be Patriarch?”
“As for the others, they aren’t even the previous Patriarch’s direct descendants—what right do they have to compete?”
Huan Rui said, brimming with indignation.
She looked just like a bystander righteously outraged by villains controlling the Chai Clan, determined to help Chai Xianyun take the position.
But Hua Jian knew—the truly dangerous ones were probably Wanhuagu!
“And Chai Xianyun has no dirt on her?”
“She’s never really done anything—always treated as a marriage tool by the Patriarch, so she hasn’t even had the chance to make mistakes.”
Huan Rui nodded, confirming Hua Jian’s guess.
In terms of a clean record, Chai Xianyun really was the cleanest.
Mostly because she never did anything at all.
“So after she’s Patriarch, all affairs will be managed by you lot—she’s just a puppet, right?”
“Not a puppet! We’ll just help her manage clan affairs for a bit. After all, she’ll be new to it and there’ll be so much to learn.”
Huan Rui shook her head immediately—Wanhuagu would never do something as crass as seizing total control. That wasn’t their style.
Managing a big clan directly was too much work and not that profitable—Wanhuagu didn’t want to get too involved.
They just needed the clan to have Wanhuagu’s influence, supplying some intel and resources.
As for the clan’s future, they really didn’t care—whether it flourished or fell, Wanhuagu always had other partners.
“We haven’t approached Chai Xianyun yet. It’s better for you to do it,” Huan Rui continued.
If they went directly, it might upset Chai Xianyun, but if Hua Jian convinced her, things would be much simpler.
Hua Jian nodded—she was curious about one thing. “The Protectorate Supervisor is still in the city—aren’t you worried about being caught?”
That made Huan Rui pull a bitter face—of course she was scared, but what could she do?
She had to finish the task before she could return to the main sect in Hehuan Valley.
Plus, Huaxinyuan had made it clear that the results of this mission would directly affect her position in the sect.
Do well, and she’d be an inner disciple. Do badly, and she’d spend years grinding as an outer disciple.
To avoid a wasted youth in the outer sect, Huan Rui could only risk it.
“At worst, I’ll get sent to mine spirit stones for a few years—won’t kill me!”
Hua Jian was surprised by Huan Rui’s attitude.
Who would have thought this seemingly fragile girl was so daring? People really couldn’t be judged by their looks.
But then, considering that she dared be a Wanhuagu agent in Huiyue City, maybe it wasn’t that surprising.
“You’re optimistic. By the way, why did you join Wanhuagu? You grew up in Huiyue City—shouldn’t you have wanted to join the Saint Sect?”
Hua Jian was curious about Huan Rui’s past and couldn’t help but ask.
Asked about her past, Huan Rui shyly scratched her head, not sure where to start.
At first, she wasn’t in this line of work. She was just an ordinary girl in Huiyue City.
Then one day, she ran into a beautiful older sister on the street, was instantly entranced, and ended up following her to the pleasure boats.
And then… she was caught by that sister, who enticed her with the promise of good food and cultivation. She was recruited into Wanhuagu.
Yes, the beautiful older sister was Huaxinyuan.
Huan Rui had been lucky—her talent for cultivation was decent, and she was a natural fit for Wanhuagu’s techniques, so Huaxinyuan brought her to Wanhuagu’s base in Huiyue City.
“For someone else, that would be getting kidnapped and sold…” Hua Jian twitched. At first, Huan Rui had seemed smart.
Now, hearing how she joined, Hua Jian felt she was a bit naive—to just follow a stranger, to a place like that!
If her talent hadn’t been good, Huan Rui would be starring in some tragic comic called ‘Huan Rui the Untalented’ by now.
“That’s not it! We’re very proper—anyone wanting to do that kind of thing has to pass a competition!”
Huan Rui shook her head, protesting that Hua Jian’s prejudice against Wanhuagu was too deep.
Wanhuagu would never do such unseemly things—the girls on those boats were all volunteers.
As for why… well, Wanhuagu was inherited from Hehuan Valley, and some of the valley’s secret arts, when passed down to low-level cultivators, could have impressive effects.
Like prolonging life, strengthening the body, and nourishing the spirit.
But Wanhuagu’s core disciples hardly ever touched such things—they cultivated the Huashen Canon, which didn’t require those crude methods for power.
“I heard from my Shijie that when you master the Huashen Canon, you can absorb power just by walking, and those you absorb won’t even notice.” Huan Rui spoke with admiration.
“But you have to master it first…” Hua Jian had wanted to say “that sounds so evil,” but then remembered her current identity—as a Wanhuagu core disciple.
She should have heard of the Huashen Canon’s reputation, maybe even be cultivating it herself.
So her reaction should be to lament how hard it was to master, not to be amazed at its power.
“Yeah, I’ve only practiced a fragment so far—only when I get back to the main sect can I study the real Huashen Canon.”