Chapter 7-8
Is it that strange?
"Of course not. I am aware that the opening of the secret realm is confidential. Do you think I would offend the Su family for no reason?"
The servant responded promptly, "We dare not, Master Yang Huo. However, should the Wang Family or the Golden Lotus Pavilion were to become aware of this mat..."
The servant halted his mouth mid-sentence as he noticed Yang Huo's gaze towards him becoming more and more piercing.
"I understand your concern. But to question something so obvious, you don't expect me to be a fool, do you?" Yang Huo asserted.
Upon witnessing the unfolding situation, Elder Su Zhenhua promptly stepped in, attempting to defuse the escalating tension.
"Please calm your anger, Master Yang Huo. It is our fault for not adequately taught our servant well enough. He will be disciplined thoroughly." Casting a stern gaze upon the servant, the servant sank to his knees in an instant.
With his hand trembling, the uncle repeatedly struck his head against the floor and pleaded. "I-I beg your forgiveness, Master! Please have mercy on this foolish servant!"
Elder Su Zhenhua swiftly issued an order. "Get out! You must be whipped 100 times before the sun rises! Any less and I'll personally cripple you myself!"
"Y-yes, sir!" The servant stammered and hastened his feet towards the exit.
Everything had transpired rapidly, leaving Su Zhiyuan himself flustered and unsure of how to react. But just as the servant approached the door, Yang Huo's clear voice resonated throughout the room.
"Enough!"
Without moving his body or a hint of spiritual force behind his voice, Yang Huo's words were nothing more than just that, a word. And yet, Yang Huo's command acted like a spell, freezing everyone in their tracks. All eyes turned towards him as he gently set down his cup.
With his head shaking, Yang Huo released a resonant sigh for all to hear. "I tried to play along with your little game, but it seemed my goodwill goes unappreciated." Yang Huo then shifted his gaze towards Elder Su Zhenhua.
But it wasn't a gaze that felt chillingly cold, nor was it one that exudes scorn, or even a disdainful one.
It was just a look of plain indifference, a lack of amusement from the game that the Elder and the servant had orchestrated.
"Elder Su Zhenhua, do I need to repeat it again? I am not a fool. I can see your charade as clear as day."
Elder Su Zhenhua attempted to respond, but Yang Huo swiftly raised his hand, cutting him off. "I said, enough."
Yang Huo sighed, weariness evident on his face. "Do you not see the time? It's midnight, I'm tired. Forcing your guest to partake in such a pointless game is hardly good manners."
At this point, the System who had been watching was completely perplexed. It had no idea where Yang Huo was going with this. Its Host was clearly not following the cliche script right now.
As everyone in the room absorbed Yang Huo's words in silence, not knowing how to react, one person, however, stayed quiet for a different reason, and Yang Huo glanced at that person.
"What's wrong? Are you not following?" He inquired.
Su Zhiyuan felt immense pressure when Yang Huo fixed his gaze on him. He wanted to get his father to help him but....
"You should have had an idea from listening just now, but the secret realm is about to open soon. Unfortunately, your father here appears to harbor concerns that I may have disclosed this information to other factions in the city."
Yang Huo then shot a look towards the servant.
"So using this uncle over here, they tried to extract clues through my reaction by indirectly accusing me of it..... but after realizing they won't get anything, they acted as if nothing happened and redirected all the blame of offending me to this uncle instead."
It was not a bad move, requiring a certain level of coordination between the two... it allowed the Su Family to poke around the limit without needing to face real consequences for any mishaps. Yet, in the end, such actions amounted to nothing but an insult to him.
Su Zhiyuan sought to defuse the tension. "Master Yang Huo, there must be a misunderstanding..."
But Yang Huo offered a mocking smile in return. "Misunderstanding? I agreed."
"Think about it. What reason would drive them to risk accusing and offending me? To ensure I'm not stupid enough? That I'm not an idiot who thought that leaking the secret and offending the whole Su Family is a good move? That doesn't add up."
Yang Huo continued. "But what if the secret was already leaked? What if they are searching for someone who spilled the beans? Then everything makes sense."
"Even if they were mistaken about me, that's still one less person to worry about. However, if I am indeed the culprit, well, that's probably the best-case scenario for them. Isn't that right, Elder?"
Yang Huo shot a look at Elder Su Zhenhua.
Elder Su Zhenhua felt his whole body restless. Yang Huo's perceptiveness had caught him off guard. It was indeed risky to use such a method against an observant person. However, all the rumors surrounding Yang Huo had always been negative. He never considered Yang Huo to be one such person. Were these rumors a deliberate design?
Observing the Elder's disconcerted reaction, Yang Huo sighed. "I suppose I am correct."
Before the Elder could respond, Yang Huo took the initiative once again, this time taking everyone by surprised.
"I don't mind giving you a hand with the problem. What do you think?"
This unexpected statement left everyone in a state of bewilderment. Didn't Yang Huo felt offended just now and decided to expose everything out as petty tricks in order to mock Elder Su Zhenhua? Why did he suddenly had a change of heart and even offered assistance instead?
Noting everyone's face filled with confusion, Yang Huo rolled his eyes.
"What's the matter? We only got off on the wrong foot. Is it strange for me to extend a helping hand to a partner?"
Indeed, not only that, helping the Su Family will also clear the suspicion on Yang Huo himself. So from this point of view, this action did make sense.
But regardless, a hush fell over the room. If everyone just now could follow what happened, this time for sure, none of them saw it coming.
But unlike others, although it took him a while, Elder Su Zhenhua suddenly grasped Yang Huo's hidden meaning.
After clearing his throat, Elder Su Zhenhua opened his mouth, "We did indeed begin on the wrong foot. I assure you, there will be compensation later.... as for your assistance, how do you plan to help us?"
Yang Huo nodded at this and showed a positive expression. Fortunately, this Elder was a little capable.
"It depends. I need context."
A Letter Is All You Need
"It depends. I need context."
Elder Su Zhenhua shot a glance at the servant, who, though hesitant, followed the order and gave a concise overview of the situation.
.
.
.
"So let me reiterate, upon the Patriarch and the Elders' arrival at the secret realm location, your spies alerted you that other parties had suddenly moved? Are we certain this is not mere coincidence?"
The servant, or rather, the head of the secret guardians, responded promptly.
"Our intelligence confirms that this isn't a coincidence. The other factions are now actively stocking up on resources for the near conflict that will arise when the secret realm finally opened."
"That's quite a high-profile move from them, isn't it?"
Yang Huo turned to Elder Su Zhenhua. "With how fast they are reacting, they must have gotten the leak from a fast yet reliable source. I am sure you know what that means, right?"
Elder Su Zhenhua nodded in agreement. "Indeed. It's most likely that the traitor is among the Elders accompanying the Patriarch or among the guardians protecting the secret realm."
"That's right..... What do you say, uncle? I assume those guardians are under you?" Yang Huo then directed a question to the head of the secret guardians.
The uncle quickly explained. "I can assure you that none of them are the traitors! We have a system in place where we randomly pair them up every few days. If one of them were a traitor, their partner would notice immediately!"
Yang Huo scoffed at that. "Heh, easy for you to say. That's your people, after all."
The uncle could only offer a wry smile in response.
Yang Huo glanced at the Elder, who shook his head at it. And this made Yang Huo sighed and shrugged, "Fine, assuming it's not the guardians... then things get more complicated."
Tapping his finger on the table in contemplation, Yang Huo eventually furrowed his brows and turned back to the head of the secret guardians.
"These other factions.... who are they exactly? Are they major players?"
The uncle replied, "Yes, they're the Wang family and the Golden Lotus Pavilion. We haven't noticed any movement from the smaller parties yet."
A playful smile crossed Yang Huo's face as he turned to Elder Su Zhenhua.
"Elder, between these two factions, where do you think the Su family stands in terms of capability?"
Everyone was stunned when they heard Yang Huo. What kind of question was this? Elder Su Zhenhua naturally felt confused and said.
"I'm... not sure I'm following."
Yang Huo nodded in understanding. "It's nothing complicated, really. Depending on your answer, my advice for you will differ. So you know what to do, right?"
The Elder, of course, understood. Yang Huo was asking him to answer truthfully, without familial bias. But ignoring whether this was a relevant topic or not, would any elder dare belittle their own family?
Elder Su Zhenhua thought for a moment, but in the end, he gave up and answered. "Even if not by a long shot, our family is, of course, the number one."
"You sure?"
Elder Su Zhenhua met his gaze with unwavering confidence and affirmed his stance.
Yang Huo's smile widened. "Nice confidence." With a snap of his fingers, a set of paper and brush appeared on his table.
"Then my advice is simple," he remarked casually and began to write.
Curiosity piqued amongst everyone, but only the owl perched beside Yang Huo could see the content inside. And after just two sentences, the owl was startled by the content.
"Oh, I almost forgot..." Yang Huo glanced at the head of the secret guardians before returning to his writing. "Just for extra measure, I have one last question."
"If you recall the moment when you received the news, could you approximate the time when the Wang family and the Golden Lotus pavilion received the leak?"
The secret guardian's head wasn't ready for the question at first, but when he tried to think about it, he quickly shook his head.
"Even with knowing the duration for the message to travel to me, our spies may not be able to send the news to me right away, so unless I talked to them about this. It is impossible to know."
Yang Huo nodded. "That's a pity... but that's fine"
At that moment, Yang Huo set aside his brush and finished his writing. With a move of a finger, a gust of wind gently carried the paper over to Elder Su Zhenhua. And then, Yang Huo stretches for a bit and rose from his seat.
"Sending it to the other two is obvious. As for the others, I'll leave it to you to decide. But remember, the more, the better."
When Yang Huo began to turn and leave, both the head of the secret guardians and Su Zhiyuan were caught off-guard by this.
"Wait! W-where are you going, Master Yang Huo?"
Yang Huo chuckled softly. "Where else? To bed, of course. Goodnight, everyone."
With his goodnight bidding, he left the room immediately, leaving behind two bewildered individuals.
What just happened? Didn't you going to help us? How could you just hand us a piece of paper and call it done?
But when they turned their attention back to Elder Su Zhenhua, they noticed him deep in concentration, carefully reading the piece of paper in his hands.
"What... is this?" he murmured, his brows furrowing deeply.
Seizing the opportunity, the other two couldn't help but sneak a peek at the paper. And instantly, their eyes widened in shock, as if struck by a bolt of lightning.
"Isn't this––!!"
[––an invitation?!?!]
Yang Huo felt his ears bled from having the System's voice pounded in his mind. Yet the System kept shaking his head.
[Why would you send an invitation when we're on the brink of war?!]
The letter Yang Huo had written was an invitation to a meeting. However, the problem lay in its explicit mention that a secret realm was about to open.
Wasn't this just advertising that the Su family had an untouched treasure trove, ready to get taken?
[And how is this going to make the Su family find the traitor?!]
Yang Huo sighed softly as he lightly scratched his ears. "Well, it doesn't. Not necessarily."
Before the System could unleash another barrage of protests, Yang Huo swiftly covered the owl's mouth and continued.
'Consider this, if you were the patriarch of the Su family, what would concern you more? The traitor? Or the imminent war?'
Once the owl wriggled free from Yang Huo's grasp, it promptly responded. [Puah! Isn't it obvious?! The war is worse!]
Yang Huo shook his head.
'Then what if the Su family gave up control of the secret realm? Wouldn't that put an end to the war for them?'
