Chapter 251 - 249: Ten Thousand Demon Sect
"Lord Liu, we practically forced the Grand Commandant to name me Hall Master during the meeting today. Will that cause any problems?"
After the meeting, Chen Yuan waited until he had returned to Liu Suifeng’s residence to ask.
"What? Are you scared?"
Liu Suifeng asked with a smile.
Chen Yuan shook his head. "I’ve known from the start that I’m your man, Military Advisor Liu. The Grand Commandant could never truly trust me.
I’m not scared, but I am worried that seizing the Hall Master position by what was practically force will lead to some trouble.
After all, the Grand Commandant is the head of the Zhenwu Hall."
This was Chen Yuan’s way of playing to his audience, saying the right thing to the right person.
Earlier, when Chao Hongtu gave him the token, he had said that since the Zhenwu Hall belonged to the Grand Commandant, he was naturally the Grand Commandant’s man.
Now, he was saying he was Liu Suifeng’s man. His allegiance was, one might say, quite flexible.
"The Grand Commandant is the head of the Zhenwu Hall, but the Zhenwu Hall isn’t his alone."
Liu Suifeng said calmly, "As someone in power, when you have absolute strength, your every command is followed without question. A single word from you can decide life and death.
But if you lack that kind of strength, you must cater to the interests of all your subordinates. Or rather, you must make your interests their interests. Only then can you sit securely in your position.
Clearly, the current Grand Commandant can’t do that. He can’t even satisfy the interests of Li Tiancheng.
The Zhenwu Hall is still a place that operates on rules, and even the Grand Commandant can’t break them.
If he didn’t appoint you Hall Master of the White Tiger Hall, he’d have no other suitable reward to offer you."
Chen Yuan nodded in understanding.
’Liu Suifeng’s meaning was obvious. Chao Hongtu was already losing control of the situation in the Zhenwu Hall.’
’Because he couldn’t satisfy his subordinates’ interests, the Hall Masters of the Four Martial Halls of Zhenwu were all scheming for themselves.’
’As for why Chao Hongtu finally agreed to give me the position of Hall Master, his hand had been forced. He had no other choice.’
’If he didn’t make me a Hall Master, what else could the Main Hall possibly reward me with?’
’Of course, he could have offered a lesser reward, but that would have been against the rules, and Liu Suifeng would certainly have objected.’
’All things considered, it was better to just give me the Hall Master position.’
With his business at the Main Hall concluded, Chen Yuan returned directly to the White Tiger Hall with his letter of appointment and summoned its many Inspectors and Guardian Envoys for a meeting.
Inside the White Tiger Hall, Chen Yuan sat upon the main seat that had once belonged to Feng Wushang.
Below him, the many Inspectors and Guardian Envoys looked up at Chen Yuan, their gazes filled with complex emotions.
They had watched with their own eyes as Chen Yuan joined the White Tiger Guard and then climbed, step by step, to where he was today.
When Chen Yuan first began his ascent, some had been jealous, others even resentful.
But now, few felt such jealousy. Among the Inspectors and Guardian Envoys present, most were genuinely convinced of his merit.
The reason was simple. When the Hu Yan Tribe and the Ten Thousand Demon Sect had pillaged the White Tiger Hall’s territory, Feng Wushang, as Hall Master, had failed to stop them.
He had even requested aid from headquarters, only to die at the hands of a mere junior from the Ten Thousand Demon Sect. One could say his death was both pathetic and disgraceful.
As their superior, he had been utterly unable to protect them or offer them any sense of security. Even if Feng Wushang hadn’t died, his authority in the White Tiger Hall would have plummeted.
Chen Yuan, despite his youth, had stepped up at the critical moment of Feng Wushang’s death. He took responsibility, drove out the Ten Thousand Demon Sect, annihilated the Hu Yan Tribe, and avenged them all.
Given all that, what was there to resent?
The man had the strength, he had the accomplishments, and everyone present even owed him a personal favor.
Once they realized this, no one in the White Tiger Hall dared to step out of line and cause trouble. Every single one of them was on their best behavior.
Led by Yu Yousong, the numerous Inspectors and Guardian Envoys rose and bowed to Chen Yuan. "Your subordinates greet the Hall Master!"
Chen Yuan waved his hand. "Rise. The western border of the White Tiger Hall’s territory is currently a scene of utter devastation. It is in dire need of a period to rest and recuperate.
The Hall has some gold and silver resources. Later, go see Yu Yousong. You will each receive a share in accordance with the level of damage your cities have sustained, to be used for recovery."
This wealth had all been prepared by Feng Wushang for his retirement. A good portion of the gold, silver, and jewelry had even been supplied by Chen Yuan himself as tribute.
Now that Feng Wushang was dead, all of it naturally belonged to Chen Yuan.
That miser Feng Wushang had spent half his life hoarding wealth, only to die without enjoying any of it. Now, it had all fallen into Chen Yuan’s lap.
Upon hearing Chen Yuan’s words, some of the Inspectors and Guardian Envoys present were stunned for a moment. The gesture felt jarring and unfamiliar.
When Feng Wushang was in charge, forget about him distributing resources—they were lucky if he didn’t demand things *from* them.
Yet here was Chen Yuan, distributing a wealth of resources as soon as he took office. The contrast with Feng Wushang was like night and day.
"Thank you, Hall Master!"
The first time they had addressed him as Hall Master, their voices were tinged with awkwardness. This time, however, it was completely sincere.
Afterward, Chen Yuan also appointed some new Guardian Envoys and Inspectors, directly confirming positions for people like Cui Guan.
In truth, the position of Inspector was also supposed to be decided in consultation with the Main Hall.
However, because the White Tiger Hall had suffered such heavy losses, and since even the position of Hall Master had been given directly to Chen Yuan, the Main Hall didn’t intervene with appointments at the Inspector Level, leaving Chen Yuan to handle it as he saw fit.
After dealing with these trivial matters, Chen Yuan prepared to enter a period of secluded cultivation.
In fact, ever since returning from Qin Province, Chen Yuan had wanted to enter a proper period of seclusion to process the experience he had gained from his fierce battles against numerous experts there.
But who could have predicted he would return right in the middle of the Hu Yan Tribe’s invasion, which had thrown him into one intense battle after another.
Now that he finally had time, Chen Yuan had three goals. First, to properly cultivate the *Valley Spirit Scripture*, a Cultivation Technique with considerable potential. Second, to process his battle experience. And third, to see if he could touch the threshold of the Primordial Pill Realm.
The first two goals were straightforward, but the third would be difficult.
Although Chen Yuan was currently in the Condensing Truth Realm Late Stage, trying to transcend the Condensing Truth Realm and take even a half-step toward the Primordial Pill Realm was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Many Martial Artists in the Jianghu spent their entire lives at the Peak of the Condensing Truth Realm, never able to reach the Half-Step Primordial Pill Realm.
And many more who reached the Half-Step Primordial Pill Realm were never able to successfully achieve Pill Solidification.
In short, the Primordial Pill Realm was a massive bottleneck for Martial Artists.
Once a Martial Artist stepped into the Primordial Pill Realm, not only would their strength skyrocket, but their lifespan would also increase. They could call themselves a Martial Arts Grandmaster and founding their own sect would be a simple matter.
Although Chen Yuan could now slay a Primordial Pill expert, he hadn’t even touched the threshold of the Primordial Pill Realm himself. When it came to his Realm, he still had a lot of hard work ahead of him.
「While Chen Yuan was in arduous, secluded cultivation...」
In a sunless valley, where dark clouds gathered and mist swirled, magnificent black palaces lay hidden below.
This was the headquarters of the Ten Thousand Demon Sect.
Because the Ten Thousand Demon Sect drew so much enmity from the Jianghu, the location of their Sect had always been a secret. No one knew in which province it was hidden.
At that moment, inside the great hall of the Ten Thousand Demon Sect, a woman with a strikingly beautiful face, a full head of white hair, and a frigid expression was staring fixedly at Yin Kuang, her eyes bloodshot.
"My son is dead! Why aren’t *you* dead? Why did any of you come back alive?"
Yin Kuang looked nervous and hurriedly said, "Elder Xu, please calm down! It’s not that I failed to protect Xu Tianhong. He wouldn’t listen to me at all! He ran off to the central region of the White Tiger Hall’s territory by himself, without even a single person for backup."
"I’m asking you, why is my son dead while you are still alive!"
Xu Baiwei’s face was contorted with rage, her once-beautiful features now twisted like a fiend’s.
Yin Kuang took a deep breath. "Elder Xu, can’t we be reasonable about this?
Xu Tianhong is already dead, but I was also responsible for dozens of other young disciples from the Ten Thousand Demon Sect.
Furthermore, Chu Hongshang killed Feng Wushang, the Hall Master of the White Tiger Hall, and earned the eighteenth spot on the Hidden Dragon Rankings.
I wanted to kill that Chen Jiutian to avenge Xu Tianhong too, but our Ten Thousand Demon Sect has already lost one prodigy from the Hidden Dragon Rankings. Were we supposed to lose another?
I had no choice. That’s why I brought everyone back."
At these words, Xu Baiwei’s gaze instantly snapped to Chu Hongshang, her eyes burning with a hatred so intense it looked as if she wanted to eat her alive.
"You were always at odds with my son back in the Sect! Speak! Did you plot his death this time?"
Xu Baiwei was merely lashing out in a fit of rage, but with that one unintentional accusation, she had stumbled upon the truth.
Yin Kuang quickly interjected, "Elder Xu, this has nothing to do with Chu Hongshang! After she killed Feng Wushang, she was recuperating by my side the entire time. She wasn’t present when Xu Tianhong died."
"So you were only looking after her and not my son? Then you can pay for his life with yours!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Xu Baiwei violently flung her hand forward. Boundless Demonic Qi converged, forming a jet-black strand of Sword Qi that slashed toward Yin Kuang.
The sword strike was so fast it appeared before Yin Kuang in the blink of an eye.
Just then, an aura of Blood Qi suddenly materialized and erupted in mid-air with a BOOM, neutralizing the Sword Qi.
A woman in white robes, with a beautiful face, a voluptuous figure, and a red mark between her brows, stepped out and sneered, "Xu Baiwei, why are you acting like a rabid dog, biting anyone you can get your teeth into?
Your son took after you. He was just like a rabid dog, running all over the Jianghu stirring up trouble. Even if he hadn’t died in Ning Province this time, he would have died somewhere else.
If you ask me, you shouldn’t blame anyone. If you have to blame someone, blame yourself for raising your son to have such a self-destructive personality."
The conflict between Xu Baiwei and Shi Xueyan was long-standing. If the Sect Leader of the Ten Thousand Demon Sect hadn’t been there to keep them in check, the two of them would have likely fought to the death by now.
Knowing of Xu Tianhong’s death, Shi Xueyan made no effort to hide her feelings, launching into a series of unrestrained taunts.
"Shi Xueyan! You’re courting death!"
Xu Baiwei roared, and an immense, terrifying wave of Demonic Qi erupted from her body as she prepared to charge at Shi Xueyan.
"Enough!"
Just then, a low shout echoed. Ripples appeared in the void, instantly dispersing the Demonic Qi that cloaked Xu Baiwei.
A black silhouette coalesced in the void, its face and form indistinct.
"Xu Baiwei, stop this nonsense. The loss of a young prodigy is a heartbreak for the entire Ten Thousand Demon Sect, but it is not the fault of your fellow sect members!"
Xu Baiwei glared around the hall and snarled, "Fine, fine! None of you care that my son is dead. In that case, I will get this revenge myself!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Xu Baiwei’s form blurred into a black shadow and vanished instantly from the great hall of the Ten Thousand Demon Sect.