Inside the Treasure Tree Sect, a slightly plump elder frowned down at the gruesome remains sprawled on the ground, silent for a long while.
This elder was none other than Tie Long — father of Elder Tie and the foremost Grand Elder of the Treasure Tree Sect.
"Father, say something, will you?" Elder Tie grew anxious watching his father's silence.
"Tie Can, this man — he's your brother-in-law?" Tie Long asked.
"Yes. If he weren't Xiaoqian's brother, why would I have brought his remains back for you to inspect?" Elder Tie's real name was Tie Can.
"This man wasn't killed by a person. What killed him should be a Spirit Beast — and a particularly bloodthirsty one at that." Tie Long sighed. "Besides, look — Yang Zhao was devoured without putting up even the slightest resistance. Since when does the Tiangui Kingdom have such powerful Spirit Beasts?"
"Who knows?" Tie Can was thoroughly vexed. "Father, do you think this Spirit Beast is formidable? Just how powerful is it?"
Tie Long shot him an irritated look. "How would I know when I haven't seen it myself? But given that Yang Zhao, an Earth Spirit Realm powerhouse, offered no resistance whatsoever, it must be far stronger than him. Tie Can, instead of wasting time, why don't you cultivate properly? Why are you always running off to mundane kingdoms? Are worldly affairs really that captivating to you?"
Tie Can bristled under his father's lecture. "Xiaoqian's brother was in trouble — what else could I do? Everyone knows Yang Zhao is my brother-in-law. If something happened to him and I didn't step up, wouldn't people laugh at me? They'd think I, Tie Can, was a coward who couldn't even protect his own brother-in-law. If I lost face, well — you're a heavyweight of the Treasure Tree Sect. You can't afford to lose face either."
Tie Long snorted. "You and your trouble. I'm warning you — if you're going to act, cut quick and clean. Don't cause me any disasters."
"I wanted to cut quick and clean, but I nearly got cut myself."
"What?" Tie Long was, at heart, the protective sort. Hearing his son's words, he couldn't help but ask.
"What do you think? That old fossil Ye Chonglou! He's been riding my back — two confrontations in a row now. Father, what is with that old coot? He's like a stone from a cesspit, both stinking and immovable. This time, he actually turned on me outright over some mundane-world brat. I even invoked your name, and he couldn't care less. He said your reputation might scare other people, but it doesn't work on him. Father, just how arrogant is that? You — one of the top figures of the Treasure Tree Sect — can't measure up to some idle old man from the mundane world? It infuriates me! Every time I think about it, I could spit fire."
"Ye Chonglou?" Tie Long's brow creased slightly at the name.
"Father, that old man Ye gives you absolutely no face at all."
Tie Long's expression darkened as well. "Given his seniority, why would he deliberately pick a quarrel with you?"
"It's all because of that Jiang Chen — some kid from the Eastern Kingdom. I don't know what kind of spell he cast on that old man, but Ye Chonglou is shielding him at all costs, even willing to clash with our Tie family over it. Father, he's nothing but a mundane-world vagrant elder. Surely even we, the Treasure Tree Sect, can't be powerless against him?"
Tie Can's words were laced with provocation, trying to stoke his father's anger at every turn.
But Tie Long had lived too many years to be set alight by a single sentence from his son. Besides, he knew his own boy's temperament all too well.
"It's not that the Treasure Tree Sect can't handle him. The thing is, Ye Chonglou hasn't actually opposed the Treasure Tree Sect at all. If anything, he and the Sect maintain a cooperative relationship. It's simply that he's never been willing to join — and if he had, the position of foremost Grand Elder might never have fallen to your old man here!"
Tie Long's voice carried a note of genuine wariness whenever he spoke of Ye Chonglou.
"Father, aren't you building others up and tearing our own family down?" Tie Can was deeply unconvinced. Given how high-handed that old man Ye was, he desperately wanted his father to step in and put the fellow in his place.
"Tie Can, you can lock horns with anyone you like — but don't antagonize Ye Chonglou if you can avoid it. It's not that I'm afraid of him; there's simply no need to make such a powerful enemy. If he truly became our adversary and chose to side with the Sect Master, our Tie family would inevitably be crushed entirely."
Where there were people, there was jianghu.
Where there was jianghu, there was struggle.
The Treasure Tree Sect, despite being a secluded sect, was no exception to factional politics.
The Tie family, represented by Tie Long, and the Xie family, represented by Sect Master Xie Tianshu, were the two great powers of the Treasure Tree Sect — an unspoken truth everyone understood.
Hearing his father's words, Tie Can grew sullen. "So what — we just have to swallow this bitter pill?"
"What are you getting angry about with Ye Chonglou? At his level, there's no point in you being angry at him. Even I don't want to tangle with him. Don't you think you're being ridiculous? If he truly wanted to suppress you, would he have let you walk out of there so easily?"
Tie Long continued his lecture. "Remember — don't be foolish. Ye Chonglou is not someone you can afford to offend. If you truly provoke that old man, he won't hesitate to come after you, and he won't care one bit about your father's face."
Tie Can was stunned. "You're joking — he wouldn't even give you face?"
"Of course not!" Tie Long snapped. "Back in the day, he didn't even give Xie Tianshu face. The Sect Master invited him to join the Treasure Tree Sect, offered him all manner of benefits and privileges, and that old man simply refused."
Tie Can stared blankly. Was there something wrong with Ye Chonglou's head?
An invitation from the Treasure Tree Sect's Sect Master — and he turned it down?
Could the mundane kingdoms really hold more appeal than a sect?
"Father, what's the deal with this Ye Chonglou? What reason could he possibly have to refuse the Treasure Tree Sect?"