Hidden Moth-Chapter 596 - 344: Shining Schemes, Open and Hidden Strategies

In the Magic Sect, the number of disciples within the Lingxi lineage is the smallest, often totaling less than three figures when gathered, and even including Wei Luo, there are just enough Tier Five cultivators to act as stewards.

As for the Xiao Alliance, the Lingxi Lineage is even scarcer, not only lacking a Tier Six Calculator, but currently only having one Tier Five Wanderer named Zhuli.

Zhuli is "intimately" associated with Hu Weidong. Before Hu Weidong had broken through to Tier Six cultivation, Zhuli had expressed her intention to find an opportunity to push him into the Supreme Council.

Zhuli had long favored Hu Weidong, and not just because of Hu Weidong's profound dual cultivation power.

Although Hu Weidong appears middle-aged, he is actually sixty-one this year, with one son and one daughter: daughter Hu Yuanzhen, aged twenty-two, and son Hu Henry, nearly eighteen.

He married very late, and had children even later.

Hu Weidong was originally arranged by his parents to study in the United States, and during his studies, he was noticed by a senior member of the Xiao Alliance who took him as a disciple to impart techniques. After graduation, he found a job locally and only considered family matters after formally obtaining citizenship.

His wife, strictly speaking his ex-wife, was also a student from the Eastern Country, a good several years younger than Hu Weidong. They married just before her graduation, later had two children, and obtained green cards before citizenship.

When their youngest child was just under two years old, the ex-wife ran off with a foreigner...

Such situations are common in the overseas student circle. Hu Weidong was relatively fortunate since his ex-wife left the two children with him and didn't take the opportunity to seize most of his assets or future income, leaving him bankrupt and homeless.

Despite having cultivation, Hu Weidong did not take any other actions.

At that time, Hu Weidong at least appeared to be penniless, with an income barely enough to get by and no savings, living in a rented apartment, truly with nothing to exploit.

Hu Weidong's parents in the Eastern Country privately had some assets, but he never used their money after graduation, and by the time his parents passed away a few years ago, he was no longer in need.

With his ex-wife gone, Hu Weidong had a period of disillusionment, seemingly losing interest in many things, focusing solely on cultivation. He successfully broke through to Tier Four to become a cultivator, then resigned and started a training institution.

He met Zhuli seven years ago when Zhuli was a doctoral student working part-time at the training institution to alleviate student loan pressure, and it was during this period she broke through to Tier Four cultivation to become a Divine Stick.

By then, Hu Weidong had Tier Five cultivation, and Zhuli would often seek his guidance in cultivation... they got close, maintaining a pure male-female relationship, without public declaration.

Zhuli then became a Tier Five Wanderer and entered the Supreme Council as an elder three years ago.

As a cultivator of Lingxi Skill, Zhuli possesses an intuition beyond ordinary understanding. She had long regarded Hu Weidong's ability and potential highly, also sensing that being close to him greatly benefited her cultivation.

At the beginning of the year, when the announcement from the Magic Sect's Hall of Sect Rules was released, Zhuli came to Hu Weidong to discuss and analyze it, concluding with a four-word summary: Opportunity has arrived!

Even the Xingshen lineage's Wenges is tempted, let alone Zhuli of the Lingxi lineage?

Among the seven technique inheritances, the Xiao Alliance possesses a relatively complete system for six, but the inheritance of the Lingxi lineage is thin, with only a fundamental technique available, and few supplementary references.

This is unsurprising, as the Lingxi Sect is too hard to infiltrate, the Xiao Alliance has never succeeded over a thousand years!

The fundamental technique of Lingxi Skill within the Xiao Alliance, is still the same millennia-old tradition. Zhuli managing to achieve Tier Five Wanderer status with it is already extremely rare.

If she wishes to progress further and higher on her cultivation path, the karma likely lies with the Magic Sect. After consulting with Hu Weidong, she devised a series of actions and plans.

At that time, the master-disciple of Dan Hill had already fallen into the Immortal Pot Grotto Heaven, so she sought to push Hu Weidong into the Supreme Council. This task originally seemed challenging, but coincidentally, Hu Weidong had become a Tier Six Alchemist, making it smooth sailing.

Having just become the Grand Elder, Hu Weidong successfully ousted Johnson and took control of nominating new elders. Wenges as a nominee was also decided through private discussions between Zhuli and Hu Weidong.

When news that Wenges had become the new elder was announced, Zhuli concluded that this person would come to find Hu Weidong immediately, so she made a point of going to Hu Weidong's place to wait, and indeed her prediction was accurate.

Today, Wenges came merely to probe for an alliance, while Zhuli and Hu Weidong were already true allies.

Zhuli reclined with grace on the armrest of the sofa, her figure outlines showing elegance, eyebrows hinting at spring as she smiled and said to Hu Weidong: "It's normal for him to come to you immediately; the real importance lies in what he wants to discuss with you."

Hu Weidong sat beside her saying: "You predicted correctly; Wenges indeed got tempted after seeing the announcement from the Hall of Sect Rules and came to probe my attitude."

Zhuli: "There's nothing surprising about this, the reason for nominating Wenges is precisely because, like us, he primarily advances cultivation realms without much sectarian bias.

The next step should be finding a way, so we might as well let him explore first, through him, we can understand the specific operations on the Magic Sect side and test the reaction from the Xiao Alliance."

Hu Weidong: "He wants both opportunities from the Magic Sect and not to expose himself, this path is not easy to find."

Zhuli: "You could lend him a hand."

Hu Weidong put his arm around her waist: "Thinking of consulting a master, how can I assist him?"

Possibly feeling ticklish at the waist, Zhuli chuckled a few times before saying: "If my prediction is correct, next the latest division of tasks among the Supreme Council elders will undoubtedly have you taking comprehensive charge of Eastern Country affairs.

The Eastern Country's business is significant; the person in charge at least needs to be a Grand Elder, and you come at just the right time."

Hu Weidong: "Isn't this matter already being handled by Fabre?"

Zhuli: "With such major changes in the Supreme Council, the elders will definitely need to reassign tasks. The Eastern Country affairs are now a mess, difficult to manage and very risky; Fabre would gladly seize this opportunity to pass the burden." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Hu Weidong snorted, "I actually couldn't ask for anything more."

Julie: "Only you can take on this matter. By then, you probably won't be able to refuse even if you wanted to.

But don't agree too readily either. Take the opportunity to lay out as many conditions as you can. The more you control, the easier it will be to win over the other elders.

Since you've taken on this task, you definitely need to personally go to the Eastern Country, using the pretense of sending a child to school, which would be perfect timing.

Once you get there, make your position clear to the Ancestral Hall, and you can privately connect with Wenges. You don't need to step in yourself; just tell Wenges what can be done, and let him make the contact..."

Hu Weidong praised, "You're truly ingenious, arranging everything so neatly!"

Julie didn't pretend to be modest, only giggled, "I'm just making suggestions; the real work has to rely on you. Like last time, I only foresaw that Mei Lin would send Johnson to make things difficult for you, to probe your style of action.

Removing his elder status was part of our plan.

I was worried about how Johnson might retaliate afterward, but you managed to bypass the vow among elders and resolved the issue the moment you went out... that's something beyond my capability."

It's true that cultivators from the Lingxi Lineage are adept at plotting, but not so much at action. But no matter how well-planned something is, someone has to execute it.

Moreover, a Tier Five Wanderer is far from infallible. Removing Johnson's elder status was part of Julie's prior plan, but Hu Weidong eliminating Johnson outside was beyond Julie's expectations.

Hu Weidong sighed inwardly upon hearing this, realizing that no matter how skilled Julie is at strategizing, she couldn't match the Lingxi Sect's Tier Seven Grand Calculators, Grotto Heaven Blessed Land, and complete heritage.

Thus, when dealing with the Magic Sect's Hall of Sect Rules, it's best not to play any conspiracies, just do things the proper way. As for what the proper way is, the Hall's announcement has already clarified that.

The Ancestral Hall uses open strategies, and just one announcement has caused divisions within the Magic Sect. It's affected not just ordinary members, but even several elders on the Supreme Council are intrigued.

...

"The Ancestral Hall has no conspiracies, only formal announcements. The attitude towards the Xiao Alliance is no different from other independent cultivators. The stance and accepted conditions remain consistent.

In handling matters related to the Xiao Alliance, you just need to adhere to this principle."

This was said by Mei Guyu to He Kao in a secluded valley within the Qihuang Spirit Garden. They had just finished taking Pure Yang Pill and Peony together.

Since Mei Guyu was in a vacuum state, she temporarily lost her divine power, so taking the pills was led by He Kao. Unlike with Wei Luo, nothing else happened in the process, just diligently using mana to refine spiritual effects.

The process was not much different from the time he took pills with Xing Rui.

But this itself represented unconditional trust, and this trust wasn't just a superficial attitude, but a genuine state of mind without worry, anxiety, or subconscious resistance.

Because in an entering state, mind and body are unified. If Mei Guyu had any doubt or hesitation, He Kao's mana entering her meridians would detect it, making taking the pills together impossible.

From nine last night to nine this morning, they successfully completed the pill-taking, and since it wasn't routine for accomplishing a task, neither of them was in a rush to leave, so they exchanged thoughts on cultivation and talked about recent events.

Regarding thoughts on the Xiao Alliance and its disciples, He Kao specifically consulted this Sect Leader of the Alchemy Sect.

In Mei Guyu's view, everything in the world can be simplified. She directly told He Kao that no matter how many ideas the other party had, from the Magic Sect's perspective, one just needs to grasp one principle.

Then Mei Guyu didn't continue the topic, but looked at He Kao with curiosity, "Your fundamental technique isn't the Alchemy Cauldron Skill."

He Kao replied, "Indeed, it's not."

He felt a bit embarrassed when answering because if Mei Guyu further inquired about the foundation of his cultivation, he couldn't answer comfortably and wasn't willing to lie, much less reveal his Hidden Moth identity in advance, so he would likely just explain it as having an elder who didn't allow him to speak on it.

Mei Guyu seemed aware of his dilemma, didn't press further, and tilted her head slightly, "But your Alchemy Cauldron Skill is already at Tier Four Cultivation."

The way she tilted her head was somewhat whimsical and cute, not at all like the aloof image many have of a sword cultivator elder, though her gaze was very clear, as if she could see right through someone.

In Qi Yuan and Runzhou, the weather in June was already very hot. The two wore long sleeves and pants throughout the night taking pills, but the clothing was thin and light.

They sat facing each other, just within arm's reach, neither too close nor too far.

After taking the pills, they were covered in fine sweat, surprisingly exuding a fragrant aroma... From He Kao's perspective, of course, Mei Guyu's scent was very pleasant.

The Tai Chi Yin Yang Array was set up amidst the forest in the valley, and at this moment, as the sun was already high in the sky, sunlight shone through the treetops onto them, making even the fine hair on her face look very clear.

Mei Guyu was undoubtedly a master, but not in the exaggerated gym-rat type; her muscles weren't overly pronounced, and her physique was gentle, or rather, superbly graceful.

She sat there peacefully, exuding an aura of health, vitality, and relaxed energy, concealing all her sharpness.

He Kao had seen her summon a Divine Sword to vanquish foes before, so the contrast with the current scene inevitably caught him off guard for a moment.

**