"Young Master, did you manage to meet His Majesty the Peacock Emperor?" Third Young Master Ji asked.
"Sigh. That's exactly why their attack was so carefully planned. His Majesty the Peacock Emperor is in seclusion and won't emerge for another half month. By then, the situation will have become completely unfavorable."
Third Young Master Ji was thoroughly exasperated. "So what you're saying is, we can only sit here and take the beating? Just let them run wild however they please? If they keep pulling stunts like this, will the Glass Kingdom City even have any order left?"
The Panlong Clan Master let out a cold laugh. "There's more to come. Tomorrow, the Royal Court Grand Clan's Taiyuan Tower reopens — at an even more prestigious location, and they're pushing the Myriad Longevity Pill as their flagship product!"
"What?" Third Young Master Ji's face darkened even further. "They're opening on the corpse of the Taiyuan Pavilion? This Royal Court Grand Clan is going too far!"
Even Jiang Chen felt his head buzz when he heard this.
The Royal Court Grand Clan actually had the nerve to reopen the Taiyuan Tower — and they still dared to use the name "Taiyuan"!
But on second thought, why wouldn't they dare? The Taiyuan Pavilion had been shut down already, and everyone was watching it become a laughingstock.
Against that backdrop, the grand reopening of the Royal Court Grand Clan's Taiyuan Tower was nothing less than a declaration to the world: the ones laughing last were the Royal Court Grand Clan and the Taiyuan Tower. As for the Taiyuan Pavilion — in the end, it was nothing but a joke.
That was the true ambition behind the Royal Court Grand Clan's scheme — killing three birds with one stone. They reopened the Taiyuan Tower, trampled on the corpse of the Taiyuan Pavilion, and slapped the Panlong Grand Clan in the face all at the same time.
One had to admit, this move by the Royal Court Grand Clan was ruthless.
Third Young Master Ji was furious. "Clan Master, His Majesty the Peacock Emperor may be in seclusion, but he has four great emperors under his command. Are they all just going to sit on their hands? Just watch the Shura Emperor's people run amok?"
"Third, watch your mouth! The four great emperors aren't happy either. However, the Shura Emperor's people have obtained so-called evidence this time. Even if they want to intervene, they can't act blindly. If the other side waves that fabricated evidence in their face, even the Peacock Emperor's camp would have a hard time saving face. In fact, the Shura Emperor's people might be waiting precisely for someone from the Peacock Emperor's camp to step in and ask questions."
Third Young Master Ji forced a bitter smile. "Then what are we supposed to do? If we let them succeed this time, who's to say there won't be a next time? Or the time after that? Can the Shura Emperor's people really ride over the heads of the Peacock Emperor's people and dump on them? Since when is that allowed?"
He couldn't stomach it.
The whole situation was absurd. The Peacock Emperor was clearly the foremost emperor in the Glass Kingdom City. So why did it seem like the Shura Emperor was the one throwing his weight around? Why were the Shura Emperor's subordinates even more arrogant?
Meanwhile, the Panlong Grand Clan, a faction loyal to the Peacock Emperor, was on the back foot at every turn — bombarded by provocations, hit by combination after combination.
Third Young Master Ji was, after all, young and hot-blooded. Having this happen once or twice was one thing. But when it kept happening over and over, he was truly fed up.
The Panlong Clan Master sighed softly. "Third, this matter isn't as simple as you think. First, our clan's recent setbacks — His Majesty the Peacock Emperor is well aware of them. That's why he's been watching our Panlong Grand Clan's prospects with a wait-and-see attitude. Second, the Peacock Emperor's most powerful successor, Young Master Fan, died unexpectedly. These events have been a tremendous blow to the Peacock Emperor's camp. His Majesty has not yet recovered from the loss of his heir."
"So the Shura Emperor is exploiting the opening?" Third Young Master Ji snorted coldly. "The Shura Emperor rose to power barely eight hundred years ago, and he already wants to challenge the Peacock Emperor's position? Is it the Shura Emperor himself who can't hold his patience, or is it those hawks and hounds of his?"
"Probably both," the Panlong Clan Master sighed. "Third, you need to keep your composure. I will continue to think of a solution. The Wei family is part of our Panlong Grand Clan — we absolutely cannot stand by and do nothing."
Jiang Chen spoke up suddenly. "The Shura Emperor's camp got to act first. Why can't the Peacock Emperor's camp act next?"
"What do you mean?" The Panlong Clan Master paused.
"They used the Taiyuan Pavilion as a pretext — even fabricated one — to arrest our people. So why doesn't the Peacock Emperor's camp turn their own methods against them?"
The Panlong Clan Master shook his head with a bitter smile. "Easy to say, hard to do. If we manufactured a similar excuse right now to arrest their people, that would be an open declaration of war. The Peacock Emperor's camp isn't afraid of a fight, but acting that way would show a lack of magnanimity. We'd need a genuinely convincing pretext."
"What kind of pretext would be convincing enough?" Jiang Chen asked.
"One that no one could doubt the moment they saw it."
"And if I could produce such a pretext — what then?" Jiang Chen asked in a low voice.
"Oh? You have an idea?" The Panlong Clan Master's eyes lit up. If there truly was such a pretext, then the Peacock Emperor's camp could absolutely do the same.
Just as Jiang Chen said — the Shura Emperor's side got to play the first move, and the Peacock Emperor's side could play the next. Tit for tat was, after all, a fundamental rule of the martial world.
If the Peacock Emperor's camp showed weakness this time, it might not look like much on the surface, but behind the scenes it would be a devastating blow to the Peacock Emperor's authority. The Peacock Emperor's camp certainly could not accept that. The only reason they hadn't acted yet was that His Majesty was in seclusion — without his direct orders, no one could take matters into their own hands.
But if there was a pretext that nobody could dispute at first glance, it would give them just cause to act. Even without the Peacock Emperor's personal approval, the four great emperors under his command could issue orders on their own.
The prerequisite, of course, was that the pretext had to be solid — enough to silence every tongue in the world. And it had to leave the Shura Emperor's people with absolutely nothing to say.