On one particular day, two guests paid a visit to Raincloud Manor. It was Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei. The two of them headed straight for the Manor Head's quarters, while their subordinates were taken care of by the other servants.
When they met up with Miao Yi, Sikong Wuwei chuckled and said, "Brother, do you see it already? It turns out they made up this whole thing about transferrals just so they could make things harder on the three of us."
"The moment they ordered our forces to be permanently stationed in Tranquil Sun Manor, I knew this was Suppressing Tenth Hall's response to our actions. This payback is a little faster than I expected." Miao Yi waved his hand in a welcoming gesture, and the three of them proceeded to Raincloud Pavilion together. As they sat down, Qian'Er and Xue'Er opened up all the windows, revealing the vast lake that surrounded them. What serenity!
One small round table was neatly placed inside the pavilion, furnished with three chairs. Tea was soon served, and one of the two young ladies excused herself to the side, while the other walked down the pavilion.
The three Manor Heads sat together. Sikong Wuwei cast a glance at the other two sipping their tea and said, "Judging by the looks of things, I'm assuming those six hundred men we're about to send out won't be coming back either. It's like trying to hit a dog with a meat bun. Periodic circulation, my ass! In the end, it's still up to them when to return our forces to us. Are we supposed to just quietly wait for danger to come knocking on our doors? If this keeps up, we won't have any troops at our disposal."
With Suppressing Tenth Hall's actions, their three Manors had effectively lost four hundred troops each in a single breath. Not to mention the losses sustained when they took over Tranquil Sun Manor, along with the people they had personally sentenced to death. Each of them had lost at least five to six hundred of their troops. Zhao Fei's situation was especially dire since he had ruthlessly laid to rest over two hundred of his own subordinates. After Suppressing Tenth Hall's 'restructuring', their three Manors' forces were practically reduced to almost half their original numbers.
Among the three Manor Heads, Miao Yi was youthful and proud, while Sikong Wuwei was rambunctious and loud. Zhao Fei was the more elegant of the three in terms of both appearances and mannerisms, at least at first glance. Slowly placing down his cup of tea, he said, "Once the troops are sent out, we can assume that they won't be returning for a while. One of my subordinates has some connections to Suppressing Tenth Hall and managed to get some intel. Apparently, for a place like this that's overloaded with manpower, it isn't actually a bad thing for Tranquil Sun Manor to have so many vacant spots. It wouldn't be wrong to say that the three of us have indirectly helped solve a problem for Suppressing Tenth Hall. The problem is, after our massacre of Tranquil Sun Manor, the rest of the troops are too terrified to take over the place. Given how complicated interpersonal relationships are in this place, the troops are able to use their connections to ask for benefits, but at the same time, they can use them to avoid bringing trouble onto themselves too. That's why Suppressing Tenth Hall is finding it hard to get people to replenish the members of Tranquil Sun Manor."
Listening to Zhao Fei's explanation, Miao Yi's lips curled into a disdainful smile, while Sikong Wuwei coldly chuckled. "What a bunch of cowards!"
Zhao Fei continued, "Initially, the three Advisors proposed to separate the three of us so that we wouldn't pose as big a threat to the others. However, the Hall Master disagreed, and it's pretty easy to understand why. It's because we aren't the real threat to his position; the three Advisors are. The Hall Master clearly couldn't be happier to see the three of us continue to go against the three Advisors. Moreover, it was also his idea to transfer our troops away, most likely to shackle our movements and make it harder for us to threaten the other Manors. Naturally, the three Advisors were all supportive of this proposition. And had there not been a surplus of troops in the other Manors, I'm sure we would have suffered even more losses than what we do now."
Miao Yi said calmly, "Let them take as many people as they want. We can do without such weaklings. Not to mention, we're not planning on stirring up any waves anymore. The battle with Tranquil Sun Manor alone has done enough to shake up the masses."
Zhao Fei nodded. "Besides, the cut in manpower has allowed us to save up on precious resources and made it easier to command the remaining forces. This saves us some trouble."
Sikong Wuwei huffed, "But they're clearly making an example out of us for everyone to see. I can't take this lying down!"
"We've even taken back the gifts we gave them. It's not like we haven't already done something even more shameful, so why bother with this little slap to the face?" Miao Yi slowly sipped his tea, then placed it down and said contemptuously, "If they want more manpower, then let them have it. Advisors, Deacons, Mountain Chieftains, Cave Masters, and even those useless subordinates. Whoever we don't find capable, we can just send to them and let them make all the arrangements. They can promote or demote them however they please. We won't interfere at all. These are their connections after all. Let them rack their brains about it. Don't they wish to keep our manpower low? Well, let's see how long they can do that. I want to make it so that they're stuck between a rock and a hard place. I want them to taste hell. Don't let any of the subordinates know about this for now. I know that a lot of them aren't willing to work under us for long. Afterward, just announce the official decree to them directly and let them leave happy. Once they reach their new posts, I have no doubt they'll have plenty of topics to talk about. Since they're not willing to work under us, let's see how happy they can be then!"
"Ohh…" Sikong Wuwei's eyes brightened as he imagined the scene of a bunch of Mountain Chieftains bumping into one another only to realize that there weren't enough vacant positions for them. How dumbfounded would those people look then? Sikong Wuwei almost burst out in laughter. However, his brows quickly creased, "If the higher-ups complain that their positions aren't suitable to be transferred away, then what?"
Having already caught on to Miao Yi's plan, Zhao Fei shook his head and lightly smiled, "Sikong, didn't the official decree from the higher-ups state that it was going to be a periodic circulation? It's not like the men won't be returned to us. They're just going to be used as normal subordinates in the other Manors for the time being. We're not relieving them of their positions. They are still our forces, at least on paper. We're only waiting for the transferred people to be returned to us. Why would the higher-ups complain then?"
Miao Yi raised his cup towards Sikong Wuwei and asked, "So, do you think the higher-ups are going to return them to us or not?"
Sikong Wuwei stroked his stubble and chuckled cunningly, "At this point, everyone knows that the higher-ups are doing all this just to get back at the three of us. If they returned our troops to us, wouldn't they be slapping themselves in the face? Would they still return them then?"
Miao Yi chuckled. "That's why I said I'd make it so that they're stuck between a rock and a hard place!"
After some thought, Sikong Wuwei said, "But what if they still return them to us?"
Zhao Fei waved his hand, "The higher-ups aren't going to be shameless to that extent. Even if they're just pretending, they won't be returning our forces to us in the foreseeable future! Once we've sorted out the remaining troops on our side, it will be hard for those that have been returned to take back their original positions. Simply put, the ones currently in position will be more useful to us than those who left. We won't use a bunch of incompetent fools! And once these people are returned to us, what else can they do but follow our command?"
Pa! Sikong Wuwei slapped his thigh, "What a brilliant plan! We can use people with the right aptitude to take over the vacated positions in our domain, thus making it easier to take control of our respective territories. After all, why waste our time fooling around with those idiotic higher-ups?"
The three of them then burst into laughter and raised their cups to one another.
As she listened in on the conversation from the side, Qian'Er couldn't help musing to herself, 'It's no wonder Master took care of Mount Calming Sea so easily after returning from the Subjugation Crusade; much better compared to us who had such a hard time dealing with the situation.' She couldn't help but admit that this was the gap between them. There were some positions that only individuals with a certain capability had the qualifications to take up. Qian'Er found herself learning something new.
Suddenly, Xue'Er walked up to the pavilion, then handed a jade archive over to Miao Yi. After reading it through, Miao Yi looked like he was trying to stop himself from bursting into laughter.
Sikong Wuwei asked curiously, "What's got you laughing so slyly, Brother?"
Miao Yi tossed the jade archive over to the other two Manor Heads, then immediately wrote a reply and handed it to Xue'Er to be sent out.
Only the words 'You deserve it' were written on the jade archive. Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei didn't recognize the transcendent seal placed upon it either, so they simply looked on in confusion.
Miao Yi explained, "This was sent from Advisor Tao of Traversing Water Palace. Back when I received news that our men were to be permanently stationed in Tranquil Sun Manor, I immediately lodged a complaint to her saying that Suppressing Tenth Hall is taking their resentment out on us!" He then tossed over two jade archives to Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei. These were both Tao Qingli's replies.
Back when Miao Yi lodged the first complaint, Tao Qingli immediately responded with a question: 'Who was it who went asking to take their gifts back, claiming it was under my command?'
This woman was extremely well-informed on the events happening in Suppressing Tenth Hall. She definitely had an informant on the inside. But then again, that particular incident did cause quite a commotion, so it was probably not surprising that she knew about it.
Miao Yi immediately defended himself: 'You did say that I can take them back myself. I wouldn't dare go against your orders.'
Tao Qingli was probably quite annoyed by his reply. However, she really did tell him to take those treasures back himself. As such, her response became: 'Are you telling me Suppressing Tenth Hall has no right to restructure the subordinates serving under them? Stop bothering me with these inconsequential matters from now on.'
Not long after that, Suppressing Tenth Hall released another official decree to transfer their three Manors' forces away again. Miao Yi immediately lodged another complaint stating that the higher-ups were treating them unfairly!
Clearly, Tao Qingli didn't have as much patience for him this time, which led to the simple, yet curt statement on the jade archive: 'You deserve it!'
Once he put together Miao Yi's explanation with the contents of the jade archives, Sikong Wuwei laughed aloud. "Well done, Brother! You've already established a connection with that future Palace Lord."
Back when the three of them went to Suppressing Tenth Hall to receive their punishment, Miao Yi had already told the other two about the current situation in Traversing Water Palace. Therefore, both Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei now knew that this Advisor Tao would very likely become the next Palace Lord.
As the three of them continued to talk about Advisor Tao, Yan Xiu came in and reported that the new Manor Head of Tranquil Sun Manor had arrived and was currently requesting an audience.
This new Manor Head was none other than the guy who'd been transferred away from Raincloud Manor not too long ago—Sun Lianping. He was actually on his way to his new post but decided to stop by Raincloud Manor and pay Miao Yi, whom he was already acquainted with, a visit before proceeding to Tranquil Sun Manor.
It's not like he had any other choice but to come here first! These new Manor Heads were all too ferocious. They didn't even leave a single person alive in the neighbor's house. Just thinking about living next to them made Sun Lianping shudder. Since he was somewhat acquainted with Miao Yi, he decided he'd best capitalize on it while he still could. Otherwise, he was afraid he would be following in Chang Zijiu's footsteps.
Visiting Miao Yi was just the first step. He still planned on visiting Thousand Lake Manor and Mulberry Cloud Manor later on. Little did he expect he would bump into all three Manor Heads together.
Manor Head Sun was extremely polite. However, he couldn't help musing deep down, 'As I suspected, these three are indeed allied together. I'm just about to step up to my new post, and I find these three together. Isn't this too much of a coincidence?'
Sun Lianping was so terrified that he couldn't help being on his best behavior.
They had a guest! Within the cool pavilion at the center of the lake, Miao Yi played the role of host and entertained Manor Head Sun.
Seated amongst Miao Yi and the others, Sun Lianping behaved in a very friendly manner. He was just short of swearing an oath of brotherhood with the three of them. He slapped his chest and declared, "Brothers, if you need any help in the future, just let me know. I absolutely won't refuse!"
Sikong Wuwei slapped the table and said, "Well said! It just so happens that the higher-ups have cut our forces. In the future, if we ever decide to rally our troops and attack some bastard that we don't like, we'll be sure to count you in as well!"
"..." With his cup raised, Sun Lianping suddenly tilted his head with a contorted expression on his face. 'I didn't say anything about that…'
"Heh heh! Please don't mind him, Manor Head Sun. He just likes to joke around. We're all civilized people. Why would we go around causing trouble for no reason?" Miao Yi tried to soothe Manor Head Sun.
Manor Head Sun agreed repeatedly. However, he thought to himself, 'You people consider yourselves civilized? You just killed every single person in Tranquil Sun Manor. That's over a thousand lives, my brother…'
In the cultivation realm, lies and deception were extremely commonplace. Those that managed to survive through all the violence and betrayals were people who gambled with their lives on multiple occasions. Miao Yi and the others were not the type of people who easily trusted someone else. They'd had their fair share of life-threatening situations to be able to survive as long as they had. How could they possibly treat Sun Lianping as one of their own so easily? Not to mention, their impression of the people here was bad to begin with. As such, there was no way they could think of him as a comrade so quickly.
However, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing for there to be an obedient fellow standing behind their backs. The three of them also showed respect to Sun Lianping by giving him some peace of mind...