Chapter 1096: Time to Act
Allowing Zhuang Yingjie to meet Ye Zhiqiu should have been a minor matter for Yang Haoran. However, instead of arranging the meeting, he employed a delaying tactic, which, of course, was born from his own considerations.
Yang Haoran didn't trust Zhuang Yingjie deep down. It wasn't merely a simple intuition; it was also based on the details he had observed throughout their entire interaction.
Zhuang Yingjie's desire to be transferred from Gu Mo City to the Jingling Continent branch and climb to a higher position might be genuine. However, his true intention for wanting to meet Ye Zhiqiu – to have Ye Zhiqiu rejoin the Demon Hunter Association – was not necessarily true.
Originally, Ye Zhiqiu went into hiding because he was implicated in certain matters, which had even alarmed the Demon Hunter Jingling Continent branch at the time, leading them to dispatch personnel to investigate. For safety's sake, Yang Haoran had made Ye Zhiqiu go into hiding from the very beginning.
Now that Ye Zhiqiu had reappeared, and Zhuang Yingjie coincidentally came knocking, who could say if Zhuang Yingjie was investigating that past affair or genuinely wished for Ye Zhiqiu to return to the Demon Hunter Association?
In his view, if Ye Zhiqiu truly rejoined the Demon Hunter Association, the Jingling Continent branch might reopen the investigation into that past incident. Regardless of whether the Jingling Continent branch could unearth anything, it would ultimately still be a troublesome affair.
Of course, even if Ye Zhiqiu didn't rejoin the Demon Hunter Association, if Zhuang Yingjie reported his discovery, the Jingling Continent branch might still investigate. However, this situation would still be slightly better, as they wouldn't know Ye Zhiqiu's whereabouts. Even if the Demon Hunter Association sent people to Gu Mo City, they wouldn't find Ye Zhiqiu there, because he had already left Gu Mo City long ago.
Previously, when dealing with Zhuang Yingjie, Yang Haoran had intended to tell him that he and Ye Zhiqiu were merely ordinary friends. He would have claimed that Ye Zhiqiu had owed him a favor, which was why he had offered assistance when Yang Haoran was in trouble that day, and that afterward, Ye Zhiqiu had left Gu Mo City, his destination unknown. That way, he could have completely washed his hands of the matter.
However, just now, he hadn't told Zhuang Yingjie any of that. Instead, he had informed Zhuang Yingjie that Ye Zhiqiu was in seclusion. The reason was simply that he didn't want Zhuang Yingjie to know Ye Zhiqiu had already left Gu Mo City.
After that battle, no other forces had come to cause trouble at Yang Haoran's Death God Temple. This was naturally due to the deterrence provided by Ye Zhiqiu, the three-star Demon Hunter. If the major powers of Gu Mo City were to learn that Ye Zhiqiu had left, the situation would certainly change significantly.
Although Yang Haoran possessed strength, he didn't want to be besieged. If other forces were to regard their Underworld Office as a target for attack, it wouldn't be good for him. He wasn't afraid, but he simply found it troublesome.
By telling Zhuang Yingjie that Ye Zhiqiu was in seclusion, he was, in fact, telling Zhuang Yingjie that Ye Zhiqiu was still with him. If Zhuang Yingjie intended to make a move, he had best weigh his own strength first.
If Zhuang Yingjie's arrival this time was abetted by Spirit Mediums, then the news of Ye Zhiqiu still being at the Death God Temple would very likely reach the Spirit Mediums' ears. This would also be a good thing for Yang Haoran, as it would not only deter the Spirit Mediums but also potentially mislead them, affecting their subsequent arrangements.
It was precisely because he had considered these factors that Yang Haoran told Zhuang Yingjie that Ye Zhiqiu was in seclusion, rather than telling him Ye Zhiqiu had already left.
As for how long this delaying tactic would last, Yang Haoran couldn't really guarantee it. However, he wasn't overly worried. He would meet challenges as they came, for he was certainly no pushover. If it truly came down to strength, he was by no means lacking.
Lu Wu successfully opened his Heaven Soul. News of this spread among the Night Watchers almost immediately. When Lu Wu had appeared, all the Night Watchers in the Death God Temple had witnessed his domineering side, making it impossible for the matter not to spread.
Lu Wu's breakthrough delighted these Night Watchers, especially the squad he led. All the Night Watchers appeared exceptionally excited. Although they were mostly newcomers and had little concept of opening the Heaven Soul, they all knew one thing: their captain had become stronger than before.
The Night Watchers under Shui Ling's command, while happy, were also filled with anticipation, hoping their own captain would emerge from seclusion soon, as they too wished to witness their captain successfully open her Heaven Soul and experience a dramatic leap in strength.
Their anticipation was fulfilled the very next day. Early that morning, Shui Ling appeared inside the Death God Temple and summoned all the Night Watchers from their various squads.
The Night Watchers were unaware of the exact time Shui Ling emerged from seclusion, because she didn't cause a stir as big as Lu Wu had—no shouting, no explosive release of her Spirit Power.
Besides not knowing when Shui Ling emerged, the Night Watchers also didn't know if she had successfully opened her Heaven Soul. Shui Ling hadn't mentioned the matter, nor had she erupted with powerful Spirit Power in front of them, so they couldn't confirm whether her seclusion had resulted in her successfully opening her Heaven Soul.
Although curious, none of the Night Watchers dared to ask Shui Ling directly. They could only speculate and discuss in secret. Some Night Watchers believed Shui Ling had, in fact, successfully opened her Heaven Soul, but simply hadn't publicized it due to her personality.
Of course, there were also Night Watchers who believed Shui Ling had not opened her Heaven Soul during this seclusion, which was why she hadn't mentioned her retreat at all after emerging.
Whether Shui Ling had successfully opened her Heaven Soul was something Yang Haoran knew best. On the very night Lu Wu opened his Heaven Soul, Shui Ling also emerged from seclusion, having successfully opened her Heaven Soul as well.
Shui Ling's strength was indeed slightly less than Lu Wu's, but the gap wasn't particularly large. The Pure Yin Qi contained within a single Soul Pill was quite formidable. If Lu Wu could successfully open his Heaven Soul with one Soul Pill, Shui Ling naturally wouldn't be an exception; that slight difference in strength wouldn't affect the final outcome.
When Shui Ling emerged from seclusion, she was very quiet, not disturbing anyone. She went straight to pay her respects to Yang Haoran. It was precisely because of this that Yang Haoran was the first to know Shui Ling had emerged, and the first to know she had successfully opened her Heaven Soul.
Yang Haoran wasn't surprised in the slightest that Shui Ling was able to successfully open her Heaven Soul; it was precisely what he had anticipated.
After meeting with Shui Ling, Yang Haoran naturally offered his congratulations. He then examined the state of the Spirit Power within Shui Ling's body, gaining a general understanding of her strength, and immediately summoned everyone else to the conference room for a meeting.
The "everyone else" referred, of course, to the important members of his team in Gu Mo City, and the newly arrived Yao Guozhi was naturally one of them.
Previously, because Lu Wu and Shui Ling were both in seclusion, the team wasn't complete, so Yang Haoran hadn't made certain arrangements. Now that Shui Ling had emerged, all his important members in Gu Mo City were present. He wasted no time, immediately giving detailed instructions and deployments to everyone. The meeting finally concluded at dawn.
After leaving the conference room, Shui Ling, Lu Wu, and the others began to act according to Yang Haoran's instructions. It was precisely for this reason that Shui Ling's squad was summoned by her, and these Night Watchers only then realized that Shui Ling had actually emerged from seclusion.
According to Yang Haoran's plan, once Shui Ling and Lu Wu emerged from seclusion, his operation against the Spirit Mediums would commence. However, this operation wasn't about immediately assaulting the Spirit Mediums' stronghold. After all, there were many Spirit Masters among the Spirit Mediums in Gu Mo City, and on their side, besides himself, only Lu Wu and Shui Ling had opened their Heaven Souls. The other Night Watchers were almost all newcomers and still very weak. If they engaged in a head-on confrontation, it would undoubtedly result in heavy casualties for his side.
Therefore, what he wanted to do was proceed step by step, gradually achieving his goals.
He entrusted the fighting and brawling to Lu Wu, the battle-hungry individual. As for intelligence gathering, he assigned it to Shui Ling. Yao Guozhi's mission, of course, remained the same: to manage the Underworld Office's territory. As for Huang Sha, due to his identity and the need for a master to guard the Death God Temple, Yang Haoran kept him within the Death God Temple.
As for himself, he left the Death God Temple, taking a very reluctant Xiang Chuan with him.
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