Xuandao walked through the gap between the Zhongnan Sect and the Huashan Sect, who were standing off against each other.
"Junior brother. What is going on here?"
"Senior brother!"
This time, Xuanjin could finally puff his chest out.
In this current situation, Xuandao's appearance was like a mighty army of ten thousand.
"This time, our sect gained a very small reputation and received the Bugunsa pact to move back to our former quarters. However, the Zhongnan Sect absolutely refused, which led to this situation."
Xuanjin emphasized the word 'small' while looking at the stiff Qingyouzi.
"Move back to the former quarters?"
Xuandao's eyes widened.
"When did our quarters change?"
At the completely unexpected question, Xuanjin smiled awkwardly.
He had forgotten while his senior brother was traveling the murim recently, but then he recalled that Xuandao had holed up in Huashan and never stepped out during that time.
"The Zhongnan Sect has been using our former pavilion as their quarters."
"Why is the Zhongnan Sect using our pavilion...?"
Xuandao's voice lowered.
Hearing that the Zhongnan Sect, of all places, was using the Huashan Sect's pavilion made him feel incredibly uncomfortable.
Soon, he offered a fist-and-palm salute to Qingyouzi.
"It is a pleasure. I am Xuandao."
"...I am Qingyou."
"Haha. So you are the Fengyun Jian."
Xuandao nodded his head.
Fengyun Jian was an elder of the Zhongnan Sect and a man of considerable skill.
"I never expected to meet you like this at the Alliance."
"I, too, did not expect to meet a fellow Daoist like this."
A subtle atmosphere flowed between the two.
After a brief moment, Xuandao opened his mouth.
"May I ask why you refuse to move out of the pavilion?"
"How could I agree when they suddenly told us to move out yesterday?"
Qingyouzi spoke calmly.
It was clearly different from his arrogant attitude just a moment ago.
It was only natural; the man before him was an absolute master who had greatly shaken the current murim.
For he was the Huashan Shenjian who had killed the Baisha Shen.
"Hmm. That makes sense."
Xuandao nodded.
Even he would have refused if he heard such a thing suddenly.
"Senior brother!"
Just as Xuanjin was about to flare up.
"However, I heard that the pavilion the Zhongnan Sect is staying in was originally our pavilion."
It was a dry voice.
Yet the power contained within it was enough to strip Qingyouzi of his soul.
"Then wouldn't yielding be possible?"
"That is from the distant past. If we are to delve into the past, isn't this world under heaven not ours, but nature's?"
"So you're saying the present is what matters."
"That is correct."
"Hmm."
Xuandao, who was stroking his chin, turned his head.
"Junior brother. I have something I'm curious about."
Xuanjin looked at Xuandao with puzzlement for suddenly asking him, but his eyes sparkled at the following question.
"When you moved pavilions in the past, did you receive any separate permission?"
"No, we did not."
Xuanjin declared firmly.
At that, the faces of the Zhongnan Sect's Daoists crumpled violently.
They had forgotten, but that was what happened in the past when they moved their quarters to the Huashan Sect's pavilion.
No, it was even worse than now.
"What do you think?"
"...."
Qingyouzi bit his lip.
"...That, too, is a thing of the past."
"Is that so? Then may I ask one more thing I am curious about?"
Qingyouzi felt a chilling aura sweep down his spine for a moment, but he asked carefully.
"...What is it?"
"Why did you move your quarters to our pavilion of all places?"
"Th-That was decided by the Alliance."
"By the Alliance, you say?"
"That is correct."
"Fellow Daoist."
Xuandao's eyes narrowed as he called out to Qingyouzi in a low voice.
"My eyes are not blind."
Xuandao's voice sank.
It was a whisper that seemed to have been pulled up from the deep sea.
"How long did you think the Huashan Sect would turn a blind eye to the Zhongnan Sect's actions?"
"Gasp!"
Overwhelmed, Qingyouzi gasped.
Immediately after, the momentum that swept in in an instant completely gripped his body.
"Martial Uncle?"
"What is wrong?"
He was horrified as he saw his martial nephew and senior brother looking at him from behind with puzzled expressions.
'Th-This pressure is only on me...!'
Sending such intense momentum to a single person was a technique that could never be displayed without exceptional internal energy manipulation skills.
"I heard you asked my junior brother earlier if he was going to make an enemy of the Zhongnan Sect."
"Senior brother?"
Xuanjin's eyes widened.
"May I answer that question on his behalf?"
Xuandao slowly stroked his chin.
Then, opening his mouth as if looking down on the Daoists of the Zhongnan Sect at a glance,
"It doesn't matter if we make an enemy of the Zhongnan Sect."
* * *
The Murim Alliance began to stir greatly.
The Huashan Sect and the Zhongnan Sect clashed!
The Huashan Shenjian personally declared he would settle things with the Zhongnan Sect!
The clash between the Huashan Sect and the Zhongnan Sect, both members of the Nine Sects One Faction, would have been enough to be on the lips of busybodies.
But with the absolute master, the Huashan Shenjian, who had recently shaken the murim, stepping in between them, it was only natural that the rumors spread through the Murim Alliance like wildfire.
And at the center of those rumors, the Huashan Shenjian, Xuandao, was smiling brightly.
"Tianhui, it's been a long time."
"It has been a long time."
Despite Tianhui's half-hearted answer, Xuandao kept sticking close to him.
"Did anything happen?"
"If you mean things happening, one just happened."
"Just now? Ah!"
Xuandao laughed lightly.
"It was bound to happen anyway."
"That's true."
Come to think of it, he was right.
A clash with the Zhongnan Sect, their sworn enemy in Shaanxi, was an unavoidable inevitability.
At that time, Xuanjin, who had been watching the conversation between Xuandao and Tianhui with a surprised face, opened his mouth.
"It's been a long time, Senior Brother."
"It's been a long time for you too."
"You've become a lot more easygoing."
"And you've become a lot more upright."
Xuandao and Xuanjin smiled at each other.
Originally, their relationship was just so-so, but in the eyes of the two who had gone through this incident together, there was trust.
"Where have you been all this time?"
Tianhui asked Xuandao.
He said he was going to see the Alliance Master on the first day he arrived, but then he disappeared.
"I've been moving back and forth here and there."
Xuandao answered with a gentle smile.
"For a month?"
"Haha. That's right."
Xuandao, who laughed heartily, briefly stared into empty space, perhaps reminiscing about that time.
Then he set down his teacup with a click.
"Other factions from the Nine Sects One Faction came to me, saying they wanted to cooperate with our sect."
Xuanjin's eyes rounded.
"If it's other sects..."
"Shaolin, Qingcheng, and the Beggar's Sect."
Xuanjin was shocked.
He could understand Shaolin and Qingcheng.
Because they were three of the fronts in the Evil Sect War currently established in the Murim Alliance.
They probably moved to quickly win over the Huashan Sect, which had recently produced the Huashan Shenjian and elevated its fame.
But.
"The Beggar's Sect?"
"That's right."
"The Beggar's Sect has maintained neutrality for a long time. So why are they suddenly seeking cooperation with our sect..."
"The Chief of the Beggar's Sect personally came to me and wanted to join forces to build a power base."
"A power base?!"
Xuanjin jumped up in surprise.
The Beggar's Sect had always proclaimed neutrality no matter what happened in the Murim Alliance.
But a power base?
"He said that the Evil Sect War in the Alliance has become too fierce, and there are signs it will soon become unstable, so they need the strength to maintain balance."
"But why would the Beggar's Sect, of all places, suddenly..."
"They probably want to maintain the current situation because it suits them."
Tianhui interjected.
Only then realizing Tianhui's presence, Xuanjin let out an 'Ah' and displayed a troubled look.
"This might be too complicated a story for Tianhui yet, so perhaps we should talk about it later..."
"No, it's fine if it's Tianhui."
"Pardon?"
Xuandao laughed softly and continued speaking.
"My thoughts are the same as yours. Perhaps because the Beggar's Sect was dissatisfied with the current Murim Alliance, they provided me with information."
His gaze shifted to Xuanjin.
"The Chief of the Beggar's Sect said that in the current Murim Alliance, small fights are going back and forth due to the Evil Sect War. Is that true?"
"Yes, it is true."
Xuanjin answered in a small voice.
"The current Murim Alliance is divided into four factions in total. Shaolin and Emei; Wudang and Zhongnan; Qingcheng and Kunlun; and lastly, the coalition of small and medium sects led by the Murim Alliance Master. Beyond keeping each other in check, they are starting fights here and there."
"Are Jiange and Diancang neutral?"
"I heard they are busy with the succession issues of their own sects."
"It's exactly as I heard from the Chief of the Beggar's Sect."
Xuandao stroked his roughly grown beard once.
"Phew, it really is complicated."
Letting out a deep sigh, Xuandao downed his tea in one gulp and moved his lips.
"Then I will now tell you why I came so late."
Xuanjin began to speak with a serious expression.
"Everyone except Wudang and Zhongnan wanted to join hands with me."
"As expected!"
Xuanjin's eyes sparkled.
In the past, the Huashan Sect was in a position where they were ignored not only by the Nine Sects One Faction but also by the small and medium sects.
But now they had become an existence everyone reached their hands out to.
For him, it was an overwhelming emotional experience.
"And so?"
In contrast, Tianhui was indifferent.
'Well, it's nothing special.'
He had already figured to some extent that it would be like that from the conversation just a moment ago.
"So I met them in person and listened to what they wanted."
"What is it?"
Looking at the excited Xuanjin, Xuandao answered in a cold voice.
"The position of the Alliance Master."
Instantly, the room froze.
"The position of the Alliance Master, you mean...?"
"They must want to oust him."
"B-But when the Eight Great Families seceded from the Alliance, the Nine Sects One Faction made a pact not to take the position of the Alliance Master as much as possible..."
"That's why they are all thinking of putting up a proxy to take the position of Alliance Master."
Tianhui let out an exclamation of admiration inwardly.
'Wow, they're using such a loophole.'
It was a way to strike at a loophole.
Since they couldn't become the Murim Alliance Master themselves, they were thinking of putting up a puppet.
It was a truly despicable method that even the Evil Sect or the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult wouldn't think of.
The Nine Sects One Faction, the noble houses of the Orthodox Faction that boast of being pure.
"The balance has already tipped. All of the Nine Sects One Faction are trying to drag down the current Alliance Master, and each is growing their own power. And our sect has no choice but to step into that fiery war as well."
Xuandao closed his eyes tightly.
Recalling the Luohan Monk, the elder of the Qingcheng Sect, and the Chief of the Beggar's Sect who had come to find him, one by one, he shook his head.
"So I wandered around for a month, met with them, and heard their conditions."
Xuandao's pupils deepened.
"Regarding who to join hands with."