CapĂtulo 1004: A secret war in shadows
âFor starters, it might have been a genuine impulse on their part. Sword Cultivators⊠no, Weapon Cultivators tend to be competitive when it comes to skill with their weaponâ, Wu Long began replying to the actual question next.
âAh⊠yes, I read about that as wellâ, Wei Yuanjie instantly had recognition in his eyes.
âAnd it can also be simple arrogance. When they heard he was from a Fractured World, of a lower Boundless World no less, and called himself a Sword Cultivator, the inner arrogance within them couldâve prompted them to assert their superiority, as well as to show that âsomeone like thatâ doesnât deserve to claim that Daoâ, Wu Long added.
âIgnorance of those who believe the Dao cannot be found everywhere equally, and that the path to the Dao is behind some golden gates thought up by peopleâ, Duan Feng shook his head with lament.
âThat is part of the equation, even if it is speculative which of the two it was, or maybe a combinationâ, Wu Long continued, âBut it also cannot be denied that there is a possibility Ko Zhumen is colluding with the 5th prince. The mere fact he already extended formal greetings to him despite not doing it for you for so long already speaks volumesâ
âThatâs the part I donât getâ, Wei Yuanjie livened up, sitting up straight again, and even leaning a bit forward.
âHe couldnât really avoid doing it for the Imperial Delegation, because the delegation is more formal than a visit of a prince with only a âdiplomatic missionâ. After all, the Emperorâs brother acting as an official envoy is hereâ, Wu Long shrugged, âBut he could have excluded the 5th prince from his greeting since the prince was here on the insistence of his maternal family, simply to counterbalance you, not really in any official capacity. That tells us that he wanted to elevate the status of the 5th prince. And there are two plausible explanations for that, neither of which I can exclude at this pointâ
He then raised his hand and unfolded his index finger, âOne is that he is simply interested in doing the same thing I am doing by introducing more factors with the auction â causing trouble for you without necessarily improving his own position. He already had to concede acknowledging you, so adding the 5th prince doesnât hurt him that much, however that makes things difficult for you which makes it worth his whileâ
And then unfolding his middle finger as well, âThe second explanation is that there is a secret agreement between him and the 5th princeâs maternal family. It is entirely possible for the reason the Imperial City reacted so quickly to your mission here being unveiled, and thus the families backing the other princes were able to appeal to the Emperor to send out someone to make it a fair competition, is because City Lord Ko contacted them in hopes of thwarting you. If he succeeded in evading you to the end while the other prince arrived, he could have denied officially acknowledging both of you, stating as the reason that he did not know who to acknowledge, thus implying you had to have your competition among themselvesâ
âI see! So he wanted us to fight among ourselves without committing to any side. Even if he made an agreement with the 5th brotherâs mother, he could simply state that circumstances didnât allow him to intervene in the actual fight of two princesâ, Wei Yuanjie exclaimed with an enlightened look.
âYes, it is, of course, a speculation as well, but it is likelyâ
âBut wouldnât he still have to acknowledge one of them when the fight was over anyway?â, Duan Feng asked.
âNot necessarily. What he wanted to avoid was to bow his head to a direct descendant of the current Emperor. That would have automatically extended the pledge of his Cityâs allegiance to the next generation of the Imperial Family, and thus would have been active throughout the reign of the next Emperor, thousands of years into the futureâ, Wu Long shook his head.
âI see! If itâs uncle, it is still the previous generation of the Imperial Family and is treated as under the reign of only my Imperial Father, the current Emperor!â, Wei Yuanjie read the nuance.
âIndeed. He wouldâve reached an agreement with the Imperial Ambassador behind closed doors before your competition with the 5th prince had a chance to find a conclusionâ, Wu Long nodded, âNow, however, as you are both acknowledged, the pledge cannot go through without your participation in the ceremony â he failed the moment you managed to stand in front of him face to face that dayâ
âSo the next best thing for him is to have the 5th prince, whose family he has an agreement with, come up on topâ, Duan Feng nodded, understanding the situation.
âHmm, if the City Lord is actually on his side, it might be a bit tough though, no?â, Wei Yuanjie traced his chin with a thoughtful expression, âI mean, he controls this City with an iron hand, so he could start subtly arranging events in this city that would skew things in 5th brotherâs favorâ
âPossibly, but we were going against him already, so it isnât something we didnât prepare forâ, Wu Long shrugged without worry as he leaned back on the backrest of the sofa, âWe have eyes and ears spread throughout the city, so we will see the signs ahead of time. Or rather, a secret war is about to start between our side and his, fought in the shadows of the city around the exact thing you pointed outâ
ââŠevery time I think I see everything you have you just take out more that I didnât know aboutâ, Wei Yuanjie sighed, shaking his head with a wry smile.
He has seen that Wu Long has subordinates, but with time he started to understand that it wasnât just a small group, but a whole Sect, as he heard people address him as Valley Master.
Along with the Soaring Feather Trading Company which was meteorically rising, and the words he spoke about having people throughout the city, it amounted to a scary amount of influence for one person who wasnât known to anyone.
Not just him, his whole powerful and apparently numerous force which could perhaps even rival one of the three big Sects, was completely unknown to the regional powers despite operating within the Wei Dynastyâs sphere of influence.
But Wei Yuanjieâs heart was already on Wu Longâs side even when measured against his allegiance to the Wei Dynasty â which wasnât a strong sense of allegiance to begin with.
And Duan Feng, despite knowing a bit more about the origin of that force â though not able to explain how it traveled with Wu Long or where could such a scale of force hide with so many eyes searching for them â was also more of an ally to them rather than a stranger. And he was fundamentally not interested in politics and power structures to begin with, his focus more and more revolving around the Dao of the Sword.
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Wu Long then went to see Li Weifang, he asked Butler Bang to send him toward the training field of the Oak Fortress. He praised his good work first, and then proceeded to make good on his promise to teach and guide him in Halberd Arts for a few hours as a starter, giving him plenty to practice and ponder on.
The latter first was trying to be polite, saying that he didnât really do much as a follower yet, and that Wu Long was busy, but it was hard for him to hide his excitement at receiving Wu Longâs teachings, and so his resistance did not last long.
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