822 A Tactic Suggested by a Despicable Fellow

This incident involving a biscuit was not as simple as a sold biscuit being poisoned. After all, the people of the Xuanji Sect were not stupid. In truth, the incident with the biscuit was a disaster and was extremely complicated. Even now, Zu Lian had not been able to get to the bottom of the matter. What he could confirm was that it all started from a minor dispute that had taken place in one of the branches of the Xuanji Sect. This particular branch of the Xuanji Sect had received an anonymous letter. The contents of the letter were simple. It told of a planned assassination on one of the deputy branch leaders that would take place within five days and that the assailant would be disguised as a biscuit seller. The branch leader had mixed feelings upon reading the letter. Its credibility was one thing. More importantly, the branch had more than one deputy branch leader and the biscuit sellers in the city numbered in the hundreds. Which deputy branch leader had been targeted?Which biscuit seller was the assailant disguised as?The branch leader had gotten a headache….Nevertheless, he gave the order to search the city. He had to weed out this threat to the Xuanji Sect. Still, it was a massive operation. Even with the widespread influence of the Xuanji Sect, they were unable to find out who the targeted deputy branch leader was. All they had managed to find were a few suspicious figures. Before long, five days had passed. The attack did not take place. However, the branch received another anonymous letter.The contents of the letter were similar to the previous one. A biscuit seller was going to assassinate a deputy branch leader."Damn your assassin!" The branch leader flew into a rage and tore the letter into pieces. No one spoke of the matter after that. Another five days passed, the deputy branch leaders remained safe and another anonymous letter arrived. There were no other developments. The branch leader later decreed that there was no need to show him such anonymous letters and his subordinates could do as they deemed fit. After that… Something happened. On a cold and windy night, a deputy branch leader left to run some errands and did not return. The next day, his body was found by the city gates with a half-eaten biscuit left on it. "…" The branch leader was extremely distressed and this matter was brought up to the higher-ups in the Xuanji Sect. However, the higher-ups could not make the decisions for the branch. The branch leader was ordered to conduct an investigation into the matter. The branch leader had no idea how to conduct his investigation. Was he supposed to round up all the biscuit sellers in the city and kill them? There was simply no way to go about it. The things that happened in the following days were even more exciting. The branch continued to receive anonymous letters listing different targets in the branch. On some days it could be the wife of a deputy branch leader. On another day, it would be the personal aide of the branch leader. The intended targets were everchanging but the supposed assailant was always a biscuit seller. The members of the branch lived out their days in fear, their panic fuelled by the occasional killings and the biscuits that were left on the corpses. Finally, the Xuanji Sect had enough. All the biscuit sellers in the city were captured and taken in for harsh interrogation. What happened next was easy to guess. Biscuit sellers no longer operated in the city. There was no longer any hope of finding biscuits for sale in such a large city. As for the consequences… It caused an uproar among the population. People demanded that the Xuanji Sect return them their biscuit-eating ways of life. At this point, the Xuanji Sect received another anonymous letter. The contents of the letter were similar to the ones that came before it, except that the assailant was going to be a vegetable seller instead of a biscuit seller."…" The branch leader was stupefied. Facing mounting pressure from the people, he chose to release the biscuit sellers and began to investigate vegetable sellers instead. Nevertheless, more than half of the biscuit sellers who had been released left the city. After all, they could always sell their biscuits in another city. The biscuit-selling trade would never die!Before long, most of the biscuit sellers in the city moved elsewhere in search of a safer and more carefree life. Later, after a few more killings had taken place, the vegetable sellers in the city began to suffer.The hardworking vegetable sellers were dragged away and subjected to brutal interrogations. As a result, not only was there a shortage of biscuits in the city, no one sold vegetables anymore. Rage!The rage of the general population was a force to be reckoned with!The imperial authorities were finally compelled to address the matter and strongly reprimanded the Xuanji Sect. The vegetable sellers of the city got their freedom back but more than a third of their numbers left the city immediately. Thus, this particular branch of the Xuanji Sect experienced much hardship in the days that followed. They became despised by the people and were shunned like the rats in the sewers.They had lost their prestige and were now of ill-repute.The talented members of the branch were annoyed. They had joined the Xuanji Sect to bring glory to their families, not to be hated on by the general population. Following the passage of time, the Xuanji Sect had to bring this particular branch underground and deployed their members elsewhere. Only a few would stay behind in the city as informants. After the Xuanji Sect had retreated from the city, the other sects moved in to fill the power vacuum and actively recruited members for their causes. The Shadow Sect was the most prominent among them. The Shadow Sect proceeded to open dozens of biscuit shops and won the love of the people with their version of pizza. Later… Similar events happened in the cities that the Xuanji Sect had taken root in. Within a year, the Xuanji Sect had been forced out of several cities. The Shadow Sect quickly moved in to fill up the power vacuums in these cities and before long, the pizza became a very popular food item in these locations. Not only did they bring in large amounts of money for the Shadow Sect, but they also won the Shadow Sect popular support in these cities. In this way, the reputation and influence built up by the Xuanji Sect over several centuries became eroded. A year!Within a year, the Xuanji Sect had not only lost several cities' worth of income but also the prestige in their reputation. How could they not be angry?Zu Lian was not stupid. He was more than aware that it had been the work of the Shadow Sect. All he lacked was proof. Without proof, all he could do was to launch attacks on the Shadow Sect branches in several cities. The problem was that the Shadow Sect was rather powerful and had the support of the people. The Xuanji Sect was on the losing end. After challenging the Shadow Sect on a few occasions, the reputation of the Xuanji Sect deteriorated further. On the contrary, the Shadow Sect continued to rise in popularity and their businesses prospered greatly. This was the incident with the biscuits. Hence, how could Zu Lian control his anger upon seeing Wu Yuer? After all, it was a few cities' worths of income that they were talking about. Most importantly, the thing with the biscuits was still going on. It was like a fire that was spreading across the dominion of the Xuanji Sect. Zu Lian had not yet thought of a good way to prevent these things from happening. He could only bear with it and avoid making trouble for the biscuit sellers and vegetable sellers. However, he could not stop the anonymous letters from coming in.The killings had indeed decreased in number after the Xuanji Sect had stepped up on security. Nevertheless, the occurrences of one or two incidents were enough to keep the Xuanji Sect members talking. It was a terrible feeling. It was like an illness that he had no way of getting to the root of. An illness that hurt him every once in a while like gangrene in the bones. Zu Lian felt like he was going crazy. "I wonder which despicable fellow gave Wu Yuer such an idea!" The Xuanji Sect and Shadow Sect had been fighting for years and Zu Lian knew what Wu Yuer was capable of. Thus, he was sure that Wu Yuer would not have been able to come up with this underhand tactic.Of course, now was not the time to be thinking about all these. Zu Lian only wanted to vent his anger. After all, his suppressed anger along with Wu Yuer's arrogance was making it difficult for him to bear it for any longer. However, the main problem was that… Even though he had flaunted his seniority and had flashed his anger, Wu Yuer could not even be bothered with him. She continued to keep the look of indignance and disdain on her face."Idiot!" Wu Yuer replied curtly and turned her gaze to Mu Qingfeng in expectation of his reply. "You…""Sect Leader Zu, there is no problem with Sect Leader Wu signing up for the tournament. Besides, we're in the midst of a discussion that concerns the welfare of people in the world. Whatever the conflict between the Xuanji Sect and the Shadow Sect, I hope that you will be able to let bygones be bygones. If we can't achieve unity in the martial arts fraternity, what would be the point of calling for a Heaven Alliance Meeting?"Zu Lian had wanted to say something when Mu Qingfeng waved a hand at him and offered some words of advice. Zu Lian narrowed his eyes and looked around him. The leaders of the Five Sects and the minor sects were all looking at him. He decided to keep his mouth shut.Be that as it may, Zu Lian was fuming mad and his face had turned a deep red. "Alright, I will apologise for being rude to Sect Leader Wu today. However, I'd like to see how the Shadow Sect would measure up against the Xuanji Sect and the Five Sects of the Holy Region!" Zu Lian was an esteemed sect leader after all and he practised self-restraint. Mu Qingfeng dropped the matter as well and turned to the crowd once more. "Any other sects willing to participate in the tournament?""…"The people from the other sects looked at each other. The underlying tensions between the Xuanji Sect and the Shadow Sect were plain to see.They decided to keep their silence for the sake of the long-term developments of their sects. After all, the bright young members of their sects represented their futures. "If there is no one else, then let us not waste our time!" The Valley Master of Fu Xi Valley Mo Shanshi had spoken."Mm, I thank everyone for your faith in this venture. The Five Sects, the Xuanji Sect and the Shadow Sect will participate in this tournament. As for the fighting order… we'll draw lots to decide. Does anyone object to this?" Mu Qingfeng nodded and announced in a loud voice."No objections!""The drawing of lots is very fair!""That's right. Since it was Pavilion Leader Mu who had called for this meeting, let him enforce the rules."The members of the audience looked around at each other and nodded. They were all in agreement with Mu Qingfeng's suggestions. "Alright, let us commence with the drawing of lots!" Mu Qingfeng nodded. Although the rules of the tournament had been altered slightly, he had expected the participation of Xuanji Sect and Shadow Sect. He was still satisfied with the way things had turned out. As for the lots to be drawn. Mu Qingfeng had them all ready. At Mu Qingfeng's command, a disciple of the Heaven Dao Pavilion brought out seven jade-green tablets that shimmered brightly. "These tablets are numbered 1 to 7. 1 will face 2, 3 will face 4 and 5 will face 6. There are seven sects participating in this tournament so the sect that draws the 7 will progress directly to the second stage of the tournament. Any objections?""No? Then let us begin!" The sect leader of the Xuanji Sect Zu Lian spoke up and turned to look at the young disciple standing behind him.The young disciple understood and proceeded to pick out a jade tablet after bowing to Mu Qingfeng. The number on the tablet flashed in the daylight. "5!""5? Hehe, not bad!" Zu Lian nodded his head in satisfaction. Although he was slightly disappointed at not having drawn the 7, drawing a 5 meant that he would be involved in the last fight of the tournament's first stage. This would allow him to study the prowess of the Five Sects first. "Yin Yang Hall has picked out the number 1!" A voice rang out and everyone turned to look at the Yin Yang Hall disciple who had chosen the tablet. "It seems like we'll have to go first. Who is going to face us?" The Hall Master of Yin Yang Hall Dao Hun stood up and focused a cold gaze at the person with the Yin-Yang mask sitting behind Dao Xin.