Fan Tiantiao had no choice but to spell it out, "Old Huang, because this matter is of great importance and long-term significance, we don’t have access to many top leaders; it’s also hard to determine whether they can be relied on, cough cough... If word gets out, the plan that has been in the making for hundreds or thousands of years could be destroyed overnight..."
Huang Yifan strongly agreed, "Yes, we must be cautious. You’re absolutely right."
Fan Tiantiao couldn’t help rolling his eyes before bursting out, "What we an is... if you don’t have a specific plan of action, Old Huang, could you perhaps find soone higher up to take charge and direct this matter?"
Ah, we know you don’t have the brains for it; frankly, we didn’t have much hope in you.
We just don’t know who would be more reliable, so we thought to ask you for a referral, or to report it directly!
But who would have thought you could be so clueless, missing the hint seven or eight tis without getting it?
This ti, Huang Yifan did get it, and frowning in thought, he suddenly slamd the table, "Are you saying I’m brainless?"
Fan Tiantiao was dumbstruck!
How the hell did you catch on this ti?
No sooner had I ntioned it than you reacted?
And of all things, this should have been the last thing you understood!
"Hmph!"
"Slap!"
Fan Tiantiao was smacked to the ground by Huang Yifan, who then stood up and paced back and forth on top of Fan Tiantiao, mumbling in contemplation, "This matter is as serious as you say. It seems I need to make a trip to headquarters."
"Creak, creak..."
Fan Tiantiao’s bones cracked under Huang Yifan’s pacing, and he clenched his teeth to endure the pain.
But he couldn’t hold back the scream, "Old Huang, Vice Mountain Master Huang... rcy, please, I... this won’t do!"
It was agonizing.
Because Huang Yifan suddenly stopped moving while standing on his kidney area and even started to apply more pressure.
Upon hearing the plea for rcy, Huang Yifan just humphed and said, "You seem like a spineless coward. If you were captured, I bet you’d turn traitor!"
Only then did he step off him.
Fan Tiantiao clutched his waist, looking utterly pitiful.
For heaven’s sake, you were stepping right where it could end my lineage. How could I not beg for rcy? Being turned into a eunuch for offending a superior, how unjust would that be?
What does this have to do with being spineless?
When you, Huang Yifan, et the bigwigs from headquarters, are you always this tough?
What nonsense!
If only I’d known that Chen Ru Hai’s forr superior would be just as unreliable as Chen Ru Hai himself. I’ve been too careless...
...
Huang Yifan told Fan Tiantiao to wait for news the next day, and then he took off like a shot.
No matter how crude, Huang Yifan was capable enough to hold the position of Deputy Mountain Master; surely he could understand implications?
However, it was said that Fan Tiantiao often clashed with Chen Ru Hai, who was a forr subordinate of Huang Yifan, so it was always necessary to give him a good thumping.
Sure enough, the man swallowed the bait without question.
Huang Yifan raced through the sky, facing the wind.
As an old Jianghu, he was actually thinking further and deeper than Fan Tiantiao.
If it were true... then there would be so much to work with.
So he made a beeline for headquarters overnight.
And he went straight up several ranks to request an audience with the Think Tank, Ninth Lord!
The Ninth Lord was none other than the Guardian’s Chief Think Tank, whose real na was Dongfang Sansan.
The na Dongfang Sansan might sound ridiculous, but he was a man with unfailing strategies.
For many years, it was Dongfang Sansan, with his tactics, who had supported the fight against the Wei Wo Zheng Sect.
It could be said, without Dongfang Sansan’s planning, constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul to deal with every plan of the Wei Wo Zheng Sect, eting force with force and shoring up defenses as needed, given the Wei Wo Zheng Sect’s rising montum, the Guardians would have collapsed long ago.
But with Dongfang Sansan’s strategies, they often exploited the Demon Sect’s vulnerabilities and outnumbered them in combat.
Such actions had kept the Guardians ahead in the overt power dynamics on the continent to this day.
It was a tireless endeavor.
The reason behind Dongfang Sansan’s peculiar na was that... his father lacked education and was exceptionally virile, taking seven or eight wives and having seventy-nine children.
By the ti the twenty-fifth child ca along, basically all the nas he could think of had been used up.
Great Sea, Tall Mountain, White Cloud, Clear Sky, Black Cloud, Violent Wind, Stormy Rain... all of these nas had been taken.
And Dongfang Sansan’s father was quite a force to be reckoned with—referring to martial prowess, not intellect.
So the old man felt that naming his children and daughters sothing like ’Dog Egg’ or ’Chick Egg’ would be sowhat indecent.
Asking others to na his children was also out of the question because that would be beneath his dignity.
And having his wives na them? Out of the question too—the father was feudal: what right did won have to na children?
If won were allowed to na the children, where would the head of the household’s face be?
So from then on, regardless of gender, from ’Dongfang Erliu’ to ’Dongfang Qijiu’, the nas followed this pattern.
And the old man’s public explanation was quite noble: to avoid the repetition of nas!
Oh, I forgot to ntion—Dongfang Sansan’s father was the previous generation’s Mixed Heaven Hamr Dongfang Zhongming, ranked fifth on the Cloud Weapon List!
As the na implies, Dongfang Sansan was the thirty-third born.
After Dongfang Sansan beca famous, he tried to cover up the origin of his na, leading to the saying, "With a perfect ten of heavenly intent, I only aim for nine."
Or alternatively: Ten parts of heaven’s will, I sche threes and threes!
After all, three tis three is nine.
Perfectly logical.
So, aside from the older generation who knew the true origin of Dongfang Sansan’s na, the younger generation, regardless of their cultivation or status, always respectfully referred to him as ’Ninth Lord’!
Huang Yifan had waited for two hours before Dongfang Sansan finished his work and called him in.
As Huang Yifan entered, there were still dozens of docunts spread out on Dongfang Sansan’s desk, awaiting his attention.
"Ninth Lord is still working so hard," Huang Yifan said in front of Dongfang Sansan, as obedient as a little rabbit.
His voice was even trembling.
He was excited, feeling as if he was on a pilgrimage.
There was no helping the vast difference in their status.
"You only have a quarter of an hour."
Dongfang Sansan, sowhat exhausted, lifted his teacup and reminded Huang Yifan not to waste ti on pleasantries, "After a quarter of an hour, I have other matters to attend to."
Huang Yifan didn’t dare to dawdle.
He knew just how precious Dongfang Sansan’s ti was.
So he rattled everything off directly—the matters related to Fang Che, the Shadow activities, his own conjectures, discoveries, and the arrangents below...
As well as long-term plans, he spoke them out swiftly.
From the mont he started talking about specific matters, Dongfang Sansan’s expression began to concentrate.
He listened intently, without uttering a word.
In his eyes, the stars twinkled and changed.
After listening to everything,
Dongfang Sansan first pressed a bell, and imdiately soone entered. He instructed, "Postpone the following matters by an hour."
"Yes."
"Close the door, soundproof it. Exclude!"
"Yes!"
A mont later.
After everything quieted down, Dongfang Sansan began to muse.
Then he spoke softly, "We are aware that the Wei Wo Zheng Sect is using the Five Spirits Gu to communicate. We have always wanted to imitate and decode it but have been unable to. Thus, we decided that aside from the high-ranking Guardians, it should be kept a secret from everyone else. So everyone below the rank of Guardian, including all the Wardens, is unaware of the reason—they only know that the Wei Wo Zheng Sect communicates swiftly, much more conveniently than us, and hence we are always researching how to match or surpass them through manpower."
Huang Yifan was stunned, "Why?"
Dongfang Sansan’s face revealed a torturous hesitation, and he spoke slowly, "Because the Five Spirits Gu are living creatures, using such beings, harboring them within the body to achieve free communication... this is not sothing humans can do. And the Wei Wo Zheng Sect can do this, yet we cannot."
With that, he sighed deeply, "If I am not mistaken, in so places unknown to us, there may have already been a victor, but that’s a realm we cannot reach. Equally unimaginable, we can only save ourselves."
Huang Yifan was utterly confused.
Not sothing humans can do—I can understand, but I do not comprehend.
What does the Think Tank really an?
"All you need to know is that this matter should be sealed off,"
Dongfang Sansan sighed, "The news is good and accurate, yet, once misused, I fear it could cause great turmoil and upset among the people."
Now Huang Yifan was even more puzzled.
But he rembered to be obedient and said, "Yes, I will not speak of it and will imdiately seal it off."
"Mm."
Talking about this matter made Dongfang Sansan’s eyebrows furrow even more.
In the depths of his eyes, there was even a hint of despondency.
He was silent for a mont, then finally spoke, "Vice Mountain Master Huang, do you feel that this Fang Che does not seem like a bad person?"
Dongfang Sansan spoke very slowly.
As if he was pondering each word he said.
Huang Yifan also beca anxious and carefully thought it over again, "I... I cannot see through him."
He really wanted to admit, it truly doesn’t seem like he’s a bad person.
But in front of Dongfang Sansan, he dared not make such a definitive statent.
"Not being able to see through... not being able to see through is good."
Dongfang Sansan, frowning, murmured to himself, and took out several smoothly rounded Copper Coins from his bosom, letting them clink loudly in his hand.
Then he scattered them across the desk.
He stared intently, listened to their sounds and observed their forms.
A mont later, he uttered a surprised sound, his eyebrows tightly knit together, "The Divine will is confused, it cannot be divined."
His eyes suddenly sharpened.
Huang Yifan didn’t even dare to breathe, just watched bewildered.
"The Divine will is confused... Perhaps it is really soone from the Wei Wo Zheng Sect."
Dongfang Sansan sighed deeply.
"This... Ninth Lord, what does this an?" Huang Yifan was a bit puzzled.
"Because we cannot disturb or influence the Divine will, yet the Wei Wo Zheng Sect can."
Dongfang Sansan sighed deeply once more.
Huang Yifan still didn’t understand what he ant.
But Dongfang Sansan didn’t continue to explain.
He just frowned in thought.
"The Divine will is confused, auspicious and ominous outcos are uncertain. Since it is confused, why then is there uncertain fortune and misfortune? It should be entirely misfortune, where does the fortune co from?"
"Could there be sothing in it that benefits us?"
"Where would the beneficial aspect lie?"
...
[The patch about the Five Spirits Gu is in this Chapter, how do you all feel about it?]
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