Cui Hao couldn't help but feel a hint of satisfaction seeing Donggua being so cooperative.
Xigua might be cleverer than Donggua, but cleverness alone didn't call the shots in this world — especially half a Xigua, who would find it even harder to sway Donggua's decisions.
Cui Hao didn't linger any longer than necessary. He had made his point, and many things only required planting a seed of an idea in someone's mind.
Different people operated on different logic. One only needed to provide the opening; they would close the loop themselves.
"Since Fellow Daoist Donggua understands, I will do my best to arrange what comes next."
Cui Hao offered Donggua a look of mild respect, his gaze drifting unconsciously toward the jade slip in Donggua's hand.
He had no idea what the jade slip contained. Donggua had personally retrieved it, and Cui Hao hadn't had any good opportunity to examine it himself.
But he knew exactly who had provided its contents.
After all, the organization had Donggua thoroughly surrounded.
This was precisely why Cui Hao had come to say what he said — it was time to use Donggua as bait and see if something even deeper would take the hook.
Cui Hao took his leave with a faint smile still on his lips, giving Xigua a small nod as he passed.
He could only hope that this half a Xigua wouldn't prove too clever — or that Donggua would prove a little more foolish.
Xigua's half-dead face managed to force a smile in return.
The two of them crossed paths.
Xigua turned to watch Cui Hao go, a sliver of sunlight catching the man's frame as though escorting him into the distance. His feelings were hopelessly tangled, and his eyes flickered with an unreadable light as he stared after Cui Hao.
But before Xigua could collect himself, Donggua's calm voice reached him.
"Cui Hao does have some ability, and what he said isn't entirely without reason. If you follow orders to the letter like before, even your remaining half will end up finished here."
Xigua's voice turned frosty. "Cui Hao is compromised."
Donggua looked at the half-Xigua with a scoff.
"Who isn't compromised? You think he joined us for the sake of our people? He's after what he wants, naturally."
"Besides, the problem lies with the person, not the method. Isn't Cui Hao's plan exactly what we need?"
Xigua shifted his gaze to Donggua. "This is the way of sowing division. Once you follow Cui Hao's plan, you can no longer report the true situation to those above."
"You can't see only the benefits and ignore the costs."
Donggua lowered her eyes and tossed the jade slip toward Xigua.
Xigua caught it and extended his divine sense into the slip. Before he could fully process what was inside, he heard Donggua speak in a tone both calm and laced with helplessness.
"I want to live... at least this once."
Xigua fell silent for a moment, then handed the jade slip back to Donggua.
"I understand."
With those words, Xigua rose into the air and flew some distance toward the entrance.
He didn't look back at Donggua's expression.
Nobody wanted to die — but he had his mission, and he had someone more important who needed to live.
——————
Silent Bone Forest.
Wen Zuo wore a complicated expression as he watched Li Xingtian sit inside a demon-cave-like room, the corners of his lips curled in that ambiguous half-smile of his, casually chatting with the impeccably righteous Lin Luoyu.
He knew the two of them were senior brother and sister, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that they might come to blows at any second.
This was especially true for Wen Zuo, who had witnessed Li Xingtian's sky-filling blood aura firsthand. The sight of the two of them sitting together like this carried an almost indescribable sense of discord.
Li Xingtian was well aware that his smile carried a certain menace. To appear more approachable, however, he had trained himself to keep his lip curves subtle when he spoke.
"Our Fifth Junior Brother's requests are a bit unorthodox, but given his temperament, it's hardly surprising. He still knows what matters most, and his work has been reliable enough. You needn't worry so much, Junior Sister."
Lin Luoyu shook her head slightly.
"There's nothing to worry about now. Everyone around us is one of ours."
"Donggua has been led around by the nose by Cui Hao — Sandong's intelligence might not actually be all that low, either."
"It's just that this time, we'll need Second Senior Brother to cooperate a little."
Li Xingtian gave a small shake of his head.
"We're all from the same sect. Calling it a 'trouble' seems too formal."
"Eldest Senior Sister sent word earlier — Elder Zhang Miaoyu should be arriving to help in a few days."
Lin Luoyu nodded gently, then glanced around at the decor, which carried a distinctly demonic cultivation aesthetic. Her second senior brother had a bizarre aptitude for the demonic style, she mused, but decided against bringing it up.
She changed the subject instead.
"Any word from Master?"
"Some. Word is he's investigating something with Yu Yang Daozi, though I'm not clear on the specifics," Li Xingtian replied.
His words had barely landed when Cui Hao's energetic voice rang out.
"Senior Sister! I pulled it off!"
Lin Luoyu turned to look.
Cui Hao wore a triumphant grin. "Your junior brother has not disgraced himself. That Donggua is like a sand melon — completely malleable."
Lin Luoyu hadn't simply let Cui Hao run wild. She had kept herself informed throughout and had vetoed several of his more dangerous proposals.
She cut straight to the heart of the matter. "What about the half-Xigua? Did he believe it too?"
Cui Hao gave a light cough.
"He probably didn't believe much of it. But Xigua will have a hard time swaying Donggua's mind. We just need to stay alert in case Xigua has some extra means of tipping people off."
"If he does tip them off, we'll just have to trouble Eldest Senior Sister again — have her produce some genuinely enormous incentives. That way, the people above Donggua will start growing suspicious of Xigua too."
Admiration finally showed on Lin Luoyu's face.
"Not bad, Fifth Junior Brother. You really aren't afraid of Eldest Senior Sister beating you to a pulp."
She had, naturally, read through every item on the support request Cui Hao had submitted to Eldest Senior Sister.
It was essentially dumping every single one of his difficulties onto her plate.
Judging by the list alone, if Lin Luoyu were the one handling the support and had to fulfill all those conditions, she'd guarantee she'd deliver a Haoran Fist to Cui Hao after every completed task, just to loosen up his bones.
Cui Hao instinctively scratched the back of his head, his tone losing some of its confidence.
"This... this is a major task assigned by Master. It's only natural for Eldest Senior Sister to fully support my work, right...?"
As he spoke, Cui Hao's gaze suddenly turned earnestly toward Li Xingtian.
"Second Senior Brother, you've always been the most loyal one in the sect. Tell me — doesn't what I'm saying make some sense?"
Li Xingtian met Cui Hao's feverish, pleading stare and calmly picked up his empty teacup, taking a delicate sip of nothing.
"Second Senior Brother! I've always treated you like a real older brother!"
Cui Hao's eyes looked wounded, but his tone was as affectionate as ever.
"You know how hard it is for your fifth junior brother to pull this off."
Li Xingtian ultimately couldn't withstand his junior brother's shameless assault. He finally spoke.
"Your hard work is plain for all to see. Besides, Eldest Senior Sister has always been tough on the outside but soft on the inside..."
He paused, perhaps realizing that given Li Yingling's temperament, she would absolutely not let Cui Hao off easily. There was no point in feeding his junior brother false hope.
So he amended himself.
"Besides... there's still Master, isn't there."
Cui Hao let out a soft sigh, his expression turning somewhat solemn.
He had roughly calculated the timeline. Donggua would likely make her move in just a few days.
In about ten days or so, he estimated, he would have to face Eldest Senior Sister head-on.
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