At first, what he said didn't make much sense even to himself. However, as the words left his mouth, an idea began to form more clearly in his mind, and he continued, “The most important thing is what they will do if both you and the Arch-Emperor are present at the same time! Who cares if Chen Haosong and the others are actually loyal to the Arch-Emperor?! Which of them will actually admit that openly?
“Even if all of the nobility and aristocracy in the entire Arch-Emperor Dynasty are loyal to the Arch-Emperor, why does that matter?! None of them would ever dare to admit to that in your presence! That goes to show that you have them under your thumb!” The more he spoke, the more everything made sense, and the more excited he looked.
“Grand Heavenmaster, perhaps you can’t force everyone to be loyal to you, nor can you determine for sure who is disloyal. However, what you can do, sir, is make everyone fear you!
“Grand Heavenmaster, your loyal servant is of the opinion that you don’t need to try to figure out who is loyal to whom. You just need to figure out who they fear the most!” In the end, he was talking so loudly that he was almost yelling. At the same time, the Grand Heavenmaster’s eyes slowly began to narrow in thought. That in turn caused Bai Xiaochun to feel very proud of his words. Not only did they sound wonderful, they were actually packed with many levels of truth.
Considering that the Grand Heavenmaster was now thinking seriously about his words, Bai Xiaochun couldn’t help but sigh at how unparalleled he was under heaven.
“In order to protect that medicinal plant from the Li Clan,” he thought, “and also Que’er, I have to go for broke.” Clearing his throat, and feeling like the picture of outstanding righteousness, he struck while the iron was hot.
“Grand Heavenmaster, your humble servant has a plan….”
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Chapter
771: Ancestral Sacrifices
The Grand Heavenmaster’s expression had returned to normal, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Looking at Bai Xiaochun, he coolly said, “Tell me your idea.”
Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath, and then began to explain.
“Grand Heavenmaster, I can give you an opportunity to have all of the nobility and aristocracy show for themselves how they feel!
“Your humble servant is not perceptive enough to tell what those wily old foxes are thinking. But you, Grand Heavenmaster, can likely discern that from both their wording and the fluctuations of their divine souls.”
At this point, Bai Xiaochun’s idea had come together. Eyebrows dancing up and down, he continued, “Your humble servant’s plan is the type that will shake heaven and earth to the point where ghosts and gods will weep! It's simply amazing! Call it a deadly move, if you’d like, something that can pierce through the hearts of men!” He even thumped himself on the chest to emphasize his words. Then he waited for the Grand Heavenmaster to ask him to explain the plan in detail.
However, after a long moment passed, the Grand Heavenmaster’s expression was still placid. Eventually, Bai Xiaochun started to feel a bit awkward. Clearing his throat, he shook his head and kept on speaking.
“To employ this deadly move of mine, it’s important that all of the nobility and aristocracy be present. In fact, the Arch-Emperor also needs to be there. Grand Heavenmaster, is there any upcoming event or ceremony that everyone will need to attend?” Heart pounding in anticipation, he looked at the Grand Heavenmaster.
The Grand Heavenmaster peered back at him for a moment before his eyes widened.
“Next month, we have the ancestral sacrifices! Since you’re so confident, we can try out your so-called deadly move then, and see what happens.” The Grand Heavenmaster didn’t ask for any more details about the plan. He flicked his sleeve, causing Bai Xiaochun’s vision to swim for a moment. When things became clear, he was outside of the imperial palace.
“He didn’t even ask any details…? Don’t tell me he thinks I'm just grandstanding or something?” Looking back in the direction of Heavenmaster Hall, he snorted coldly in his heart.
“When Bai Xiaochun makes a move, he frightens even himself! Ah, whatever. When the time comes, I’ll show the Grand Heavenmaster and everybody else exactly how terrifying I am!” Brimming with confidence, he began to review his plan, and before long, could visualize a whole series of scenes involving what would happen. He could hardly wait. He even laughed aloud at the mere thought of the wonderful things to come. Feeling wonderful, he led his 1,000 corpse troopers back to the Inspections Manor.
Back at the manor, he summoned Zhou Yixing over to give a debriefing. Then he assigned a location in the Inspections Manor to him, and went into his own hall to meditate.
At the moment, he had no time or energy to spend on Song Que. He was fully focused on his upcoming plan. In fact, as soon as the door of his hall closed, he called Bai Hao out of his soulhoarding pagoda and began to explain the plan to him in full detail.
As Bai Hao listened, his eyes grew wider and wider. In the end, he gasped.
“Master… did you really think up this plan?” he asked, sounding a bit uncertain.
Bai Xiaochun was actually very pleased with Bai Hao’s reaction.
“Of course Master thought it up!” he said, thumping himself on the chest. “What do you think? Awesome, huh?!”
“This plan… is ruthless!” Bai Hao replied with heartfelt admiration. “Especially considering that the Arch-Emperor will be there. I bet the nobility and aristocracy are going to go crazy…. Of course, the key to it all lies, not in the plan itself, but in how perceptive the Grand Heavenmaster is.” With that, he and Bai Xiaochun worked together for a bit to perfect the plan even more. In the end, Bai Xiaochun was very pleased with it all.
“Time just moves too slowly sometimes. I wish the sacrifices were being held tomorrow!” Although he was feeling very excited, he managed to calm down eventually. Considering that he had just taken care of the heavenly marquises from the Li and Chen Clans, he knew that the city in general would be in a bit of an uproar. Obviously, now wasn’t the time to go about making any further trouble. Therefore, he decided to go into secluded meditation for the next month.
Back during the competition with Sun Yifan and Sima Tao, he had reached the Flame Harmony realm and gained much enlightenment of seventeen-colored flame. He had also made further advancement because of subsequent tests. Therefore, during his month of secluded meditation, he spent time to make even more progress.
The month went by very quickly. During that time, panic built within Arch-Emperor City. The fact that the Grand Heavenmaster had arrested Heavenly Marquis Chen and Heavenly Marquis Li, and that their clans had been shaken down, was shocking news to say the least.
All of the heavenly marquises in the city were nervous, and even the heavenly dukes were feeling the pressure. It was as if all of them could smell the reek of blood wafting through the streams of time from that original occasion in which the inspections commissioner had wreaked havoc.
Although all of them had been prepared for something to happen after Bai Xiaochun was appointed as the inspections commissioner, none of them could have guessed that it would happen so soon!
The Grand Heavenmaster had moved with lightning-like decisiveness. Four hours. Four hours was all it took for two heavenly marquises to be implicated, and two entire clans to be shaken down and then imprisoned.
The name of Bai Hao rocked Arch-Emperor City as violently as a windstorm. In fact, to many people in the know, it was obvious that the city had completely changed since he had arrived.
“This Bai Hao… is a star of calamity that brings disaster with him….”
“Ruthless! I was there when Bai Hao shook down those two clans, and let me tell you, he took everything, down to the grass!”
“Well, you can’t blame Bai Hao. There was always friction between him and the aristocracy. Eventually it reached the point where only one party could come out on top.”