Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 280 Rumors
"Master, would you like to reconsider Junior Brother Lin's matter?" Zhong Wenyuan spoke only after he had left.

Personally speaking, George Lam and him are like brothers.

From a public perspective, George Lam is an elder of the sect and has dual spiritual roots, making him the person most likely to establish the sect's foundation in the future.

What he was most worried about was that this incident would create a rift between the two of them, leading to discord.

For so many years, he has been in a position of relationship between the two sides of the tent.

Therefore, even though he knew that Song Xian's move was a warning to suppress Lin Zixiang, he still pleaded for mercy.

"I have thought about it carefully." Song Xianxu looked outside the hall, as if he was still watching Lin Zixiang's departing back, and his tone did not leave any room for negotiation.

"Then how long does the Master intend to let Junior Brother Lin stay in the casino?"

"If the affairs in the casino are handled well, he will naturally come back."

Zhong Wenyuan frowned and said, "Junior Brother Lin is a sect elder. If he is put in charge of the defense of the gambling city for a long time, gossip will inevitably spread. Junior Brother Lin is also a proud person. I suggest that he be transferred back in a few months, even if he is not responsible for the specific affairs of the Criminal Law Hall."

"Brother Wenyuan, do you think I'm deliberately making things difficult for him?"

"Of course that's not what I meant. Junior Brother Lin has made great contributions to the sect. Even if he doesn't know people well and makes some mistakes, I can guarantee that he is still loyal to the sect."

"I know." Song Xian retracted his gaze, his voice becoming somewhat vague. "I know Senior Brother Zixiang's contributions to the sect, but why would I want to do this?"

"But now that we've sailed, we can't turn back. We can only move forward. Our sect is no longer the small sect of ten people we were when we were first established. We now have over three hundred disciples, and all eyes are on us. Are we going to repeat the mistakes of the Qingyun Sect?"

"I transferred Senior Brother Zixiang to the Casino to give everyone in the sect an explanation. I also hope that he can seriously reflect on his mistakes and put the overall interests of the sect first."

"If we continue to indulge him and turn a blind eye, it will not only harm him, but also the sect."

Zhong Wenyuan opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but when he saw the determination in Song Xian's eyes, he finally closed it.

…………

At night, dark clouds covered the moon and the sky was dark.

In the brightly lit room, George Lam was drinking alone.

The door of the room was suddenly pushed open. George Lam looked up with an unhappy expression and was about to scold when he saw Zhong Wenyuan walking in.

"Brother Zhong, it's great that you came. Please have a couple of drinks with me! There won't be many opportunities like this in the future.

Zhong Wenyuan sat down across from him and said earnestly, "Junior Brother Lin, don't be sad. Going to Shitouling is only temporary. You will naturally return to the mountain gate after a while. The master has not stripped you of your status and position."

"I don't care about that." Lin Zixiang drank a glass by himself, put the glass down heavily, his face livid. "I just feel disappointed. You saw how he treated me today. I am the fish on the chopping board. It's like this."

"Who was it that helped him become the headmaster? Now that the sect has developed, he has successfully established his foundation, and he has so many people at his disposal, of course it doesn't matter whether I am there or not."

“When the birds are gone, the bows are put away; when the rabbit dies, the running dogs are cooked. I finally understand.”

Zhong Wenyuan sighed, "The headmaster knows everything. He's warning you by sending you to the casino in the hope that you'll reflect on your actions and stop doing these things in the future."

Lin Zixiang's face flushed, and he felt a little angry. "If I had already established my foundation, would I still need to sneak around to get those spirit stones? Isn't this all for building my foundation in the future? Is there anything wrong with this? In the final analysis, it's because I failed to establish my foundation. If I had succeeded, would he dare to do this to me?"

Zhong Wenyuan's expression shifted to a serious one, and he spoke with a stronger emphasis, "Now that we've come to this, I'll be frank. Junior Brother Lin, there's really no need for you to do this. If you're short on spirit stones for your foundation building, you can tell the Sect Master, and he'll definitely allocate some from the treasury. Why resort to this method and make things so awkward?"

"Don't blame the Master. Think about it, if you were in his position, what would you do?"

Lin Zixiang was silent for a moment, then drank the wine in the cup. He lowered his head and said in a low voice, "I don't want to beg like a beggar. Besides, who can guarantee that I can successfully build my foundation next time? The cost of building a foundation is no less than 50,000 spirit stones. I must prepare more spirit stones for future use. Didn't everyone do this in Qingyun Sect before?"

"So the Qingyun Sect collapsed." Before he finished speaking, Zhong Wenyuan took over the conversation with an expressionless face and no ripples in his voice.

George Lam looked up at him in surprise, then went back to drinking.

"Junior Brother Lin, we can't go back to the old ways." Zhong Wenyuan sighed.

…………

The case of Cao Qiyuan and Yan Kuan embezzling the sect's property came to an end, and the two were eventually sentenced to forty years in prison. Zhang Jian, the head of the Personnel Hall's Review Peak, was transferred to Guzi Peak, and the sect elder Lin Zixiang was transferred to Las Vegas.

This incident caused a huge uproar in the sect, and no one expected that Alan Tam was involved.

Even the lower-level disciples who did not know the inside story had guessed most of the answer after learning of it.

For a time, everyone in the sect was discussing this matter.

George Lam is an elder of the sect and naturally has extraordinary influence. As a result, all kinds of fabricated rumors are flying around, and even outrageous conspiracy theories have emerged, which forced Song Xian to issue a statement during a meeting to clarify the matter. He said that the personnel transfers of George Lam and Zhang Jian were due to the needs of the sect and had nothing to do with other things. It is strictly forbidden for sect disciples to slander the sect elders, and violators will be severely punished.

In public, the dignity of the sect elders still needs to be maintained.

Although the truth of the matter was indeed so, he was not demoted for such a crime after all. Besides, Song Xian just wanted to use this to warn him and did not want to ruin his reputation in the sect.

.........

Time flies, and it is the end of the year again. Heavy snow is flying all over the sky in Bianxi City, and the sky and the earth are covered with silver.

In the distance, on Qiyuan Mountain, a spirit ship slowly approached and stopped outside the mountain gate. A flag fluttered on the spirit ship with the three big words "Hunyuan Sect" on it.

After waiting for a while, several men dressed in the uniforms of the Beast Taming Sect came down the mountain. The leader was Jiang Feng's disciple Xu Hao.

Song Xian had been waiting on the bow of the ship. Seeing him arrive, he jumped down. "Master Song, it's been a long time since we last met. Thank you for your personal escort." Xu Hao smiled and bowed.

"Friend Xu, this is the income account book for this year. Please count it." Song Xian took out a stack of files and handed them to him.

According to the agreement, Hunyuan Sect has to pay 50% of the income from its resource jurisdiction and 60% of the profits from the inspection area to the Beastmaster Sect every year. Because most of them are first-level spirit stones, they are not convenient to carry around, so they have to be loaded on spirit ships and sent to Qiyuan Mountain.

"Leave these matters to them. Sect Leader Song, please come in!" Xu Hao ordered the Beast Taming Sect disciples to check the number of people. The two of them left the spirit ship and came to the mountain gate mansion.

"Friend Xu, this is your share." Song Xian took out a purple cloth bag in his hand.

When Hunyuan Sect took over Tianshan, he promised to give him an additional 10% of the resource income from Tianshan.

Xu Hao took the purple cloth bag, opened it and took a look, his smile widening. "Thank you, Master Song. Come, please have some tea. This is the new spiritual tea variety produced by Baoshen Pavilion. Let's taste it."

Song Xian sipped lightly and said, "I wonder if you are free, Master. I would like to meet you in person."

"My master is currently cultivating in the training room. If Master Song has no urgent matters, I will report to him when he returns to the mansion in the evening."

"Oh! That's all right, I won't bother you anymore. I have something I want to ask Fellow Daoist Xu. Rumors were swirling in Bianxi City a while ago that your sect was planning a war with the Yunxuan Sect. Your master even summoned me and told me to be prepared, saying I might be called upon at any time. But since then, there's been no further news. I wonder what's going on?"

"I'm not very clear about the specific details, but I heard that our sect leader personally warned Yun Xuanzong, and Yun Xuanzong finally gave in and promised not to expand his territory or demand taxes from other sects."

"Is that so?" Song Xian was skeptical about this. Although Hunyuan Sect had its own intelligence team, its intelligence network was limited to the Bianxi City area. The Beastmaster Sect and Yunxuan Sect were far away in Xijiang County. Moreover, it was such a confidential matter that Hunyuan Sect could not get any accurate information with its intelligence capabilities.

"I've heard that Qi Yunxuan, the head of the Yunxuan Sect, has a strong background and is closely connected to a certain important figure in the Qianqing Sect. Is that true?"

Xu Hao smiled slightly. "Master Song thinks too highly of me. How could a small person like me know this? As for the rumors, there are many different opinions, some true and some false. Some even say that Qi Yunxuan was sent to Xijiang County by the Master of the Qianqing Sect."

After hearing what he said, Song Xian stopped harping on the matter. He was just curious. The background behind Yun Xuanzong had nothing to do with him, and the situation in Xijiang County was not something he could control.

If Yun Xuanzong ever went to war with the Beast Taming Sect, and Jiang Feng wanted to recruit the Hunyuan Sect, he would have no choice but to send people there honestly.

"Fellow Daoist Xu has almost reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. I wonder when he will start the Foundation Establishment stage?"

"How can it be that easy to establish a foundation? Not everyone is as confident as Sect Leader Song and can achieve success in one go. I'd better prepare for a few more years!"

"I was just lucky."

"By the way, Sect Leader Song, I heard that many forces have opened shops in the Stone City created by your sect to buy and sell items for cultivation. Is this true?" Xu Hao changed the subject and asked about the Stone Ridge Casino. His expression became a little solemn.

Song Xian also knew that Jiang Feng would bring up this matter sooner or later, and he came this time just to test the waters, because a few years ago Jiang Feng had clearly stated that someone from the Beastmaster Sect had said that they were not allowed to open a market in Tianshan, so he used the method of building a casino to attract customers.

The ultimate goal was to utilize the geographical advantages of the Tianshan Mountains to establish a trade platform between the Qin State and the Muhe Grassland.

Although this is a clever trick, any discerning person can see that it is actually not much different from the market, it is just a different form.

The biggest obstacle here comes from the Beast Taming Sect, so Jiang Feng will sooner or later be involved in this matter.

Xu Hao brought this up at this time, it was definitely not casual chat, Jiang Feng must have discussed this matter with him before.

"We're just selling some spiritual wine and spiritual food to provide food and drink to those who come to the gambling city in Stone City. Fellow Daoist Xu mentioned this matter. Could it be that our respected master has asked about it?"

"To be honest, my master did ask about this matter. Sect Master Song knows that someone from the higher-ups in our sect has previously issued a warning not to allow Tianshan to establish a market. You have set up a gambling city, which is actually a bit dangerous. If the higher-ups learn of this and get angry, it will be very disadvantageous to your sect. The sect does not want Tianshan to become the focus and attract too much attention."

"I understand." Song Xian nodded, feeling a little heavy in his heart. It seemed that if he wanted to slowly develop the casino into a bilateral trade center, he still had a long way to go. The hurdle of the Beast Taming Sect alone was difficult to overcome.

Xu Hao continued, "The Tianshan Mountains were originally a barrier between the Muhe Grassland and the Qin State. Now that your clan has occupied them, legally speaking, this is an overstepping of boundaries. After all, your clan belongs to the Qin State. It's simply because our clan has controlled the Tianshan Mountains for so many years, and everyone is used to it, so no one takes it seriously."

"But if it is brought to light, it may cause a lot of unnecessary trouble. This is also for the good of your clan. If it attracts the attention of the major forces in the Muhe Grassland, the consequences will be unpredictable."

"Since the Stone City has already been built, then forget it. It's just a gambling house. Just don't make too much noise, otherwise it will be difficult to deal with. Not to mention the consequences of the major forces in the Muhe Grassland paying attention, even if the top leaders of our sect knew about it, they would probably order it to be abolished."

Song Xian knew that the Beastmaster Sect only wanted to use the Hunyuan Sect to occupy this important road and do things for them, and did not want the Hunyuan Sect to cause trouble.

They need a dog, not a wolf.

Even from Jiang Feng's perspective, he didn't want Hunyuan Sect to develop too well, otherwise it might get out of control.

There is no doubt that what Xu Hao said is exactly what Jiang Feng meant.

"I know what to do." When you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Being in a weak position, Song Xian can only endure and wait for the opportunity.

"I heard that the Tianshan Sect has been incorporated into your clan. This is not a good move. The Tianshan Sect was originally a faction of independent cultivators. Not only did they have cultivators from the Qin State, but they also had many cultivators from the Muhe Grassland. In the eyes of outsiders, this meant that the Tianshan territory was occupied by two factions. Now that it has been incorporated into your clan, there is no excuse left. I'm afraid this will attract the covetousness of the Muhe Grassland forces."

"I have already instructed that those monks from the former Tianshan Sect should still identify themselves as Tianshan Sect members when they are carrying out missions outside."

Just as he finished speaking, he heard footsteps outside. A disciple of the Beast Taming Sect came in and reported to Xu Hao that the spirit stones transported on the ship had been counted.

Since they didn't get along well, Song Xian didn't want to stay here any longer, so he offered to leave.

After leaving Qiyuan Mountain, he took Su Zhirou to visit Luoyun Sect.

His status now is no longer comparable to before. During this visit, not only was he personally welcomed by the elders of Luoyun Sect, but the sect's headmaster Tao Jinyuan also came out to meet him.

The two sides talked for a long time about the situation in Xijiang County.

Wen Yiren invited the couple to a banquet at her house and let them stay overnight.

(End of this chapter)