Chapter 760: Sword of Mandate
Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu continued forward. Zhang Yuelu said, “If I’m not mistaken, Su Yi and Li Changge have already begun fighting by now.”
Qi Xuansu did not think too highly of Yao Pei. He asked, “If Su Yi loses, would Li Changge really dare kill her?”
Zhang Yuelu replied, “You’re underestimating the courage of the Li family. Why wouldn’t he dare?”
Qi Xuansu said, “I mean, how would the Li family clean up the mess afterward? Or rather, how would they offer a reasonable explanation?”
“A duel,” Zhang Yuelu answered with certainty. “That’s exactly why Li Changge insisted on taking the field himself. A duel must be consensual. How would he lure Su Yi into agreeing? By baiting her with himself. Li Changge wants to kill Su Yi, and I’m sure she wants the same. Clearly, both of them think I’m just a filler without my family’s backing, so they aren’t afraid of me reaping the spoils. As long as they eliminate the other, they’ll certainly seize the advantage over me.”
Qi Xuansu sighed. “Then what about the mission?”
Zhang Yuelu said, “No matter who survives, it won’t be seen as putting personal interest above duty. If Su Yi survives, she’s the Pinky. Her job is to stall Li Changge anyway. That can be considered a stopgap tactic, which is perfectly justifiable. If Li Changge survives, he has a valid excuse for being unaware of the situation, since this Anchor the Monkey operation is classified, and Li Changge has been excluded from it. Since he technically doesn’t know about it, there’s no clear evidence that he intends to sabotage it. He can claim that crossing paths with Su Yi in Wuxing Mountain is a coincidence.”
Qi Xuansu muttered, “That excuse barely holds up. It’s skating that line of ambiguity.”
Zhang Yuelu scoffed. “For Li Changge, ‘barely’ is more than enough. A lot of things don’t hold up if you dig too deep, but the key is how much people choose to dig. Look at the two major Jiangnan cases. Weren’t they both brushed aside in the end? Now, imagine it were you who dueled Su Yi and killed her. Even if you carefully orchestrated everything, followed every rule, and had witnesses and physical evidence, the Quanzhen Sect would still find ways to deal with you. That’s because you have no influence. Power trumps reason, simple as that.
“Li Changge is different. He has the backing of the Taiping Sect, so it’s very hard to touch him. To put it bluntly, if someone dies in a duel, no matter how impressive Yao Pei’s background is, she’s only officially a fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist master, nowhere near important enough to escalate the matter to the Golden Tower Council. So in the end, the case will fall to Beichen Hall and Fengxian Hall. Need I remind you which sect is heading those halls?
“Of course, if Su Yi kills Li Changge, it will be the same outcome. The Taiping Sect won’t be able to do much, and the Quanzhen Sect will protect her. In that sense, Li Changge actually simplified a very complicated matter. Forget the politics, forget the schemes, and they’ll settle it with their fists. The winner stands, and the loser dies. Winner takes all. It’s a risky move for sure, and Li Changge is arrogant enough to bet on himself.”