Display the Majestic Prestige of Heaven's Might

Cui Hao lightly brushed his fingers over the jade token, naturally understanding what the Yunmeng Pavilion’s earlier maneuver had been intended to accomplish.

Compared to taking control of Beiju Luzhou, the Yunmeng Pavilion was probably more concerned that it might one day fall under the control of his own master.

The Yunmeng Pavilion Leader rose to his feet. Under the moonlight, the white clouds woven into his White Cloud Flowing-Silk Robe seemed to be drifting for real. He looked at Cui Hao and said:

“As for anything deeper, I don’t know the details either. I also have no idea who organized this alliance. Sometimes, when we handle matters, all we need is an unspoken understanding.”

“If you have no objections, tomorrow we’ll tell Zhaoling that we agree with her proposal. From then on, she’ll direct this operation.”

“Zhaoling has received quite a bit of care from you during this time. She’s certainly grown a great deal.”

“You can take the opportunity to add in any little schemes of your own. I won’t particularly mind.”

“As for where the Yunmeng Pavilion and your master will go from here, that will still depend on Zhaoling’s wishes.”

Cui Hao put away the jade token and hurriedly rose to respond:

“Understood! I’ll take good care of Boss Zhaoling for you!”

The Yunmeng Pavilion Leader let out a soft chuckle at that. It was impossible to tell what he meant by it. Then a shaft of moonlight descended, and his figure seemed to dissolve into it, vanishing without a trace.

Beneath the moonlight, Cui Hao slowly sat back down in his chair. He raised his eyes toward the still-radiant moon and sighed wistfully:

“Master… I haven’t run away even though you left me with this whole mess.”

“This is what a truly devoted disciple looks like…”

“Maybe I should ask Master for a little reward later. Surely he’ll give me something, right?”

“Forget it. I haven’t had a drink with Master in a long time. I’ll just have a drink with him when the time comes.”

Under the solitary moonlight, Cui Hao’s shadow stretched long behind him.

The next day, at noon beneath the blazing sun, Cui Hao walked toward the council hall with a languid expression. However, halfway there, he ran into Zheng Zhaoling beside the fish pond where the fish were fed in Yunze.

Judging from the direction Zheng Zhaoling had come from, she had most likely just left the council hall.

Cui Hao put on a smile and nodded at her, then intended to walk past her.

But a hand reached out and blocked his path. Cui Hao looked over and saw that its owner, Zheng Zhaoling, was staring fixedly at him.

Zheng Zhaoling said, “I was looking for you.”

Cui Hao straightened and gave Zheng Zhaoling a solemn formal salute.

“All right, Boss Zhaoling!”

“Why do you call me ‘Boss’? Are you insulting me?”

“Boss… Is that really how little morality you think I have?”

“No. In my eyes, you’re just heavily in debt.”

Cui Hao let out a light laugh, his tone somewhat helpless. “Fine, fine. What did you want to see me about?”

Zheng Zhaoling hesitated for a moment before taking out a Yunmeng Token.

“The Leader said today that he agrees with my proposal and will allow me to carry out this operation as I see fit. I’ll be in charge of directing it.”

Cui Hao raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Isn’t that a good thing? Why do you look like something terrible has happened?”

“I’m not as good as you at dealing with all those hidden twists and turns,” Zheng Zhaoling said quietly. “I don’t know whether the Leader’s sudden change in attitude is meant to hint that I should do something.”

Cui Hao was also stunned when he heard that.

A question like this was something she ought to have pondered privately. Why would she ask him, an outsider in name, about it?

Still, the fact that Zheng Zhaoling had come to him suggested that she trusted him to some degree.

Cui Hao stood there, looking at the suspicion in Zheng Zhaoling’s eyes. After thinking for a moment, he decided to return her trust—and give her a warning as well.

“Maybe your Leader wasn’t speaking in riddles at all. Maybe he simply meant exactly what he said.”

Zheng Zhaoling held the Yunmeng Token in her hand. Ever since becoming a core disciple, this was the first time she had taken charge of the highest-grade Yunmeng Token—the highest authority, capable of commanding the entire Yunmeng Marsh.

Cui Hao saw the uncertainty in her heart and smiled lightly.

“Just treat it as a test. Do what you want to do, and do what you believe is right. Besides, if anything goes wrong, I’ll take the blame.”

The suspicion on Zheng Zhaoling’s face faded. She drew a light breath and said:

“What happens next is my responsibility. It has nothing to do with you, and I don’t need you to take the blame.”

Looking at the complete change in her expression, Cui Hao smiled knowingly and said:

“Understood, Boss Zhaoling.”

Zheng Zhaoling waved the Yunmeng Token in her hand and looked at Cui Hao.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let you call me ‘Boss’ for nothing.”

“Oh?” Cui Hao’s eyes lit up as he looked at Zheng Zhaoling. “Could it be that Boss has some incredible top-grade spirit treasure to share with me?”

“No spirit treasure,” Zheng Zhaoling said, pointing the Yunmeng Token at him. “But I do have a task. Looking at your lazy, habitual-slacker appearance, I hereby recruit you under my command to handle odd jobs. You’ll be responsible for anything I tell you to do.”

Cui Hao’s eyes widened.

“Wait… I haven’t been slacking off! I was busy all night and didn’t get any rest. I only just found a moment to spare, and I was already on my way to the council hall…”

“Ah… forget it.” Cui Hao waved a hand halfway through his sentence. “Boss, I’ll do whatever you say.”

Zheng Zhaoling turned and walked back toward the council hall, her tone far more resolute than before.

“Purge the Evil Spirit Sect and pacify the incense gods!”

“Boss is mighty! Long live Boss!”

Cui Hao raised his hand, cheering for Zheng Zhaoling like a lackey under her command.

At Fractured Cloud Peak, on the border between the Central Province and Nanzhanbuzhou.

Several towering mountain peaks pierced through the clouds, shredding the white clouds that had once stretched endlessly across the sky.

Li Yingling stood atop one of the peaks, gazing calmly at the slowly drifting clouds below. Her voice was equally tranquil as she said:

“Junior Brother…”

“Senior Sister… I really can’t go on,” Li Xingtian said calmly, though a trace of grief finally surfaced in his normally expressionless face. Perhaps he truly was heartbroken, because he interrupted Li Yingling. “Everyone is saying now that blood-qi cultivators can’t be trusted, that they’re all liars from the Eighteen Immortal Sects.”

Li Yingling turned her gaze toward her second junior brother. A faint smile appeared on her face as she asked softly:

“Is that so, True Lord Deceit?”

The moment Li Xingtian heard those words, his expression became even more pronounced—almost ferocious.

Originally, he had assumed that after cultivating blood qi, he would inevitably end up with a title involving words like Blood, Slaughter, Killing, or Butchery—something that sounded so brutally bloodthirsty one might imagine him devouring children alive every night.

But in the end, every one of those titles had been ruined by his own Senior Sister.

Li Xingtian considered himself a straightforward and uncomplicated man. In particular, he had little experience with deception and was not especially skilled at it.

Yet, without realizing it, he had followed his Senior Sister’s arrangements, occasionally using the purest blood qi to disguise himself while infiltrating enemy forces and gathering information.

Now, this true blood-qi cultivator—whose blood ran hot and whose temper was direct—had somehow acquired the title of True Lord Deceit.

And Li Yingling, adhering to the principle of using one trick until it conquered the world and refusing to change tactics even after death, had completely transformed the public’s impression of blood-qi cultivators.

They had once been thought to rely on brute force: strong but simple-minded, powerful but witless.

Now, blood-qi cultivators had become something else entirely—

Insidious, shameless, and devious blood-qi heretics.

Li Xingtian found the situation impossible to describe.

He felt that something like Blood Butcher would have been much easier to accept.

What kind of lousy title was “True Lord Deceit,” anyway?

It was utterly unfair. That title should have gone to Eldest Senior Sister instead!