Chapter 499: Unconvinced
Next, Long Ao devoted himself completely to cultivating the inheritance-stripping art.
An unknown amount of time passed.
"Shanggong Yuan, do you know what my relationship is with Long Ao?"
Shaking his head, Shanggong Yuan replied with great curiosity, "I do not. Please, enlighten me, Senior."
"I’m from the Long Family."
Long Batian didn’t elaborate, but Shanggong Yuan wasn’t a fool. He understood the implication. Before he could even process the shock, his Divine Spirit was devoured.
Long Batian was a Celestial Divine Martial Artist, while Shanggong Yuan was merely a Void God. The gap between them was far too great.
"Ao’Er, don’t tell anyone about me. Do you understand?"
"Understood."
Long Ao understood his ancestor’s intentions perfectly. He turned, left the cave, and returned to the family estate. Only then did the rest of the Long Family learn he was back.
Long Ao didn’t tell anyone about his ancestor. He just made small talk with his grandfather, parents, and Ao Xue, not even mentioning the incident with Piaomiao Palace.
Upon returning to Piaomiao Palace, Feng Wuyi and Liu Boming immediately tried to rally the Third Level Long Family and the Netherworld Mansion to confront the Dragon Sect together.
But to Piaomiao Palace’s fury, no matter how much they pleaded, the two major powers refused to agree.
The reason was simple: this was a grudge between Piaomiao Palace and the Dragon Sect, and it had nothing to do with them.
The Netherworld Mansion and the Third Level Long Family were no fools. Since Piaomiao Palace was so anxious, something had to be up. If Piaomiao Palace was dead set on dealing with the Dragon Sect, they would act even without allies.
’In that case, why should we go looking for trouble?’
Piaomiao Palace was well aware of what the Netherworld Mansion and the Third Level Long Family were thinking, but there was nothing they could do about it.
’Act on our own?’
If it weren’t for the other major powers, Piaomiao Palace wouldn’t fear the Dragon Sect in the slightest. They wouldn’t take even ten, or a hundred Dragon Sects combined, seriously.
But the situation now was completely different.
If Piaomiao Palace moved against the Dragon Sect, even setting aside the risk of mutual destruction, simply having all their attention tied down would create a massive problem.
Piaomiao Palace knew perfectly well that the Netherworld Mansion and the Third Level Long Family were eager to see them and the Dragon Sect fight to the death, tearing each other apart. Then, they could simply swoop in and reap the rewards.
In the end, Piaomiao Palace also chose to bide their time.
Piaomiao Palace held back, but the Dragon Sect struck first. The Snake Emperor led the Corpse Slave Army on a campaign to conquer Kyushu. Those who refused to submit were annihilated without mercy. His methods were ruthless, swift, and decisive.
Kyushu consisted of nine states: Celestial State, Di Zhou, Rizhou, Yuezhou, Sunset State, Yunzhou, Chizhou, Illusion State, and Heilin State.
Using Celestial State as its base, the Dragon Sect began to expand. Their first target was Yunzhou. After all, Yunzhou’s so-called First Sect, the Cloud Sect, had already been wiped out by them. Compared to the other seven states, Yunzhou would be a much easier target.
Long Ao granted full authority to the Snake Emperor. It seemed the Snake Emperor was also eager to prove himself to the world—especially to Piaomiao Palace, the sect that had cast him aside. He wanted to show them just how wrong their decision had been.
Long Ao was well aware of the Snake Emperor’s intentions.
This was precisely why he had given the Snake Emperor sole command; he wanted to stoke his fighting spirit and thereby quicken the pace of their conquest of Kyushu.
Kyushu was home to countless powers; subduing them one by one would be no easy task. The Snake Emperor recognized this, so he decided to make an example of one to scare the others.
Admittedly, this tactic was highly effective. Whenever the Snake Emperor led the Corpse Slave Army to annihilate one power, the surrounding factions were terrified. Combined with the Snake Emperor’s mix of threats and enticements, Yunzhou and Chizhou fell within a single month.
When this news reached the Dragon Sect, everyone was ecstatic. But just then, the forces of Piaomiao Palace suddenly intervened. They avoided a direct confrontation with the Snake Emperor, instead moving to occupy the other states.
Long Ao was prepared for Piaomiao Palace’s sudden interference. ’Since Feng Wuyi and Liu Boming failed to kill me,’ he thought, ’Piaomiao Palace would never let the matter drop. They have to at least save face. Otherwise, what dignity would they have left?’
In the Snake Emperor’s opinion, since Piaomiao Palace dared to interfere, they absolutely couldn’t let it slide. Setting aside the matter of pride, if Piaomiao Palace managed to occupy several states, it would be incredibly difficult for the Dragon Sect to reclaim them later.
But at that moment, Long Ao urgently summoned the Snake Emperor back to the sect, which greatly displeased him. Still, the Dragon Sect Master was Long Ao, not him. No matter how much authority he wielded, it could never surpass Long Ao’s.
For this reason, the Snake Emperor had no choice but to reluctantly lead the Corpse Slave Army back to the sect.
Just as the Snake Emperor returned to the sect, he received news that the Sect Leader was ordering a withdrawal from Yunzhou and Chizhou.
Enraged, the Snake Emperor couldn’t for the life of him understand why the Sect Leader would withdraw their forces from Yunzhou and Chizhou. To just hand over the territory they had fought so hard to win... he refused to accept it.
「Dragon Sect, Main Hall.」
"Sect Leader, I have to ask you, why did you order our forces to withdraw from Yunzhou and Chizhou?"
The Snake Emperor’s attitude was appalling, angering everyone present. Ouyang Fei snapped, "Snake Emperor, don’t take it too far! You are just a Sect Elder, not the Sect Leader! The Sect Leader doesn’t need your approval to make decisions."
The Snake Emperor knew his attitude had crossed a line. No matter what, Long Ao was the Sect Leader, and their statuses were vastly different. Just as Ouyang Fei had said, the Sect Leader’s decisions required no approval from him.
But the Snake Emperor couldn’t accept it. To give away the territory he had fought so hard for, and for no good reason... He believed that anyone in his position would find it impossible to accept.
Long Ao smiled and waved his hand. "Elder She, please, have a seat."
Taking a deep breath, the Snake Emperor bowed respectfully. "I was reckless just now, Sect Leader. But I truly don’t understand. Why must we withdraw from Yunzhou and Chizhou, which we fought so hard to conquer?"
Stopping Ouyang Fei, who was about to speak again, Long Ao said with a smile, "The reason is simple. I don’t want a head-on clash with Piaomiao Palace."
The reason Long Ao hadn’t gotten angry was that he knew full well the Snake Emperor was acting for the good of the Sect. Otherwise, based on his attitude just now, Long Ao would have already lashed out.
’As the master of a sect, you must do what needs to be done and resolutely avoid what shouldn’t be. Only then will everyone in the Sect truly respect you.’
It could be said that Long Ao was the very soul of the Dragon Sect. It wasn’t always obvious, but if anything were to happen to him, the Dragon Sect would likely collapse in an instant.
"Elder She, I don’t need to elaborate on Piaomiao Palace’s strength. I’m sure you understand it far better than any of us. Let me ask you: if we were to face them head-on, even with the Corpse Slave Army, could we truly stand against them?"
(PS: Great news! I settled things with my editor today, and this book will be published in the future! When that happens, I, Xiaojiu, will send an autographed set to each of the top five fans on the leaderboard. Thanks to everyone who supports me!)