Those that were surrounded were in a state of unease to begin with. When they heard Miao Yi’s threat, some of them completely lost hope for survival. Naturally, the ones most anxious were none other than Han Chunfeng and the others. They stared at the frustrated Xu Huihuang, hoping that he could show some spine.
One Advisor cupped his fists towards Xu Huihuang and said, “My lord, this is ultimately, Raincloud Manor’s internal affair. It’s not in our best interests to involve ourselves!”
Another Advisor also voiced out, “My lord, Manor Head Miao is accusing us of sowing discord behind his back. I suggest we hand these people over and prove the innocence of our Pure Dream Manor!”
Then, the Advisor that previously suggested they rally their troops at the border of Raincloud Manor and scare Miao Yi’s forces also cupped his fists and said, “My lord, we don’t even know how this whole thing happened. Why should we put our foot in such a troublesome affair?”
The Deacons too, suggested that they should send these people, whom they had nothing to do with, away.
Xu Huihuang knew his subordinates were trying to give him a valid excuse to back away from this troublesome affair. However, the problem was… How were they going to send these people out there? They had over two hundred cultivators on their side. In contrast, how many men did they have in Pure Dream Manor’s headquarters? And with everyone bundled up together, how were they going to send these people away? Talk them into leaving?
When he heard how these people were dead set on chasing them off, Han Chunfeng immediately grew desperate. He cupped his fists, bluntly threatening, “Manor Head Xu, please give us a chance to live. Otherwise, we won’t go down without a fight!”
Suddenly, one of the Advisors from Mulberry Cloud Manor voiced out, “Brother Han, since your Manor Head has already come all this way, you should go back to him. Don’t drag us down with you.”
They didn’t wish to suffer the same fate as Han Chunfeng. They were only hoping for Miao Yi and his forces to retreat as soon as possible, then they would leave Pure Dream Manor and rush to Suppressing Tenth Hall immediately. There was simply no sense of security in staying in Pure Dream Manor. If even Miao Yi could come all this way, then their own brute of a Manor Head Sikong Wuwei was likely to do the same for them as well.
Han Chunfeng and the others were greatly shocked to hear this. There were only a few dozen people under him. Most of the forces here belonged to Mulberry Cloud Manor. If all of them were to stand on Xu Huihuang’s side, then what could he possibly change even if he fought to the end? He immediately yelled, “Tong Cheng! What are you saying?! Trying to burn the bridge now that you’ve crossed it?!”
Suddenly, Tong Cheng pointed his spear towards the other party and shouted, “Listen up, brothers! We shall join forces with Manor Head Xu and chase these people away!”
The forces of Mulberry Cloud Manor immediately understood what Tong Chen was suggesting. They quickly brandished their weapons, pointing them at Han Chunfeng and the rest of the Raincloud Manor forces, while the latter also hurriedly drew their blades in response. Both sides started hurling threats at one another, but none of them dared to make the first move!
Xu Huihuang cast a sideways glance at Tong Cheng, who continued to yell threateningly at Han Chunfeng. He was not an idiot. Since he had already decided to hand them all over to Miao Yi, why would he involve himself in their scuffle any further? Originally, he was worried because they had the advantage in numbers, but now that there was a rift between them… Xu Huihuang said, “I’ll go talk things over with Manor Head Miao.”
He secretly called for his handmaidens using voice transmission, and the three of them rode over on their dragon steeds. When they reached the other side, Xu Huihuang cupped his fists and said to Miao Yi in a low voice, “Manor Head Miao, I never wanted to involve myself in your affairs, but you saw it for yourself. I’m not the one refusing to hand those people over to you. They’re the ones who are using their overwhelming numbers to oppress us and refuse to come out. It’s obvious that they’re quite desperate. Why don’t you compromise a little, and let my men escape first? You can deal with the rest of them as you please after that. I assure you my Pure Dream Manor will not interfere.”
After which, Mu Tailai waved his hand and gestured for the men to make way.
Standing beside Miao Yi, Xu Huihuang immediately shouted, “Pure Dream Manor troops, listen up! You can come out now!”
The others weren’t that dumb either. Upon Tong Cheng and Han Chunfeng’s command, they immediately blocked the way to prevent the Pure Dream Manor forces from leaving, effectively surrounding them. Noticing their predicament, the Pure Dream Manor forces were absolutely thunderstruck.
Meanwhile, Xu Huihuang was fuming with rage at the sight. He pointed towards the other side and bellowed, “What do you traitorous bastards think you’re doing?! How dare you surround my Pure Dream Manor forces! I command you to stand aside this instant!”
Han Chunfeng shouted back, “Manor Head Xu, either we all leave together, or no one does!”
“How dare you threaten me! You must be tired of living!” Xu Huihuang shouted furiously. Now that he was out of danger, his confidence had greatly soared!
Standing beside Xu Huihuang, Miao Yi’s eyes inadvertently brightened. He never thought that things would develop into such a peculiar situation. Indeed, a place as bizarre as this would naturally give birth to equally strange characters. He turned his head to Xu Huihuang and said, “Manor Head Xu, now do you see that I was speaking the truth? These people are nothing but a bunch of traitors!”
Miao Yi then tossed him a sudden question, “Manor Head Xu, I wonder if you have reported this situation to Suppressing Tenth Hall?”
“I haven’t!” Xu Huihuang immediately denied having made any reports. When he noticed Miao Yi raising an eyebrow at his reply, he couldn’t help feeling a chill in his soul, and quickly added, “I did plan to report it initially. However, I didn’t expect your forces to arrive so soon. I didn’t even have the chance to write down the report! You can look at this if you don’t believe me!” He immediately handed his half-finished jade archive over to Miao Yi.
“Then I’d like to trouble Manor Head Xu to prepare a report to Suppressing Tenth Hall about our current predicament,” said Miao Yi.
“It’s indeed quite complicated!” Miao Yi honestly agreed. However, as for the nature of the complication itself, that didn’t need to be said out loud. He then instructed Xu Huihuang, “Just say that Tranquil Sun Manor had ulterior motives and incited a rebellion within Thousand Lake Manor, Raincloud Manor, and Mulberry Cloud Manor. Some of the traitors then escaped into your Pure Dream Manor and surrounded your forces. As such, you asked me to help you take out the trash!”
“Oh, you can just write the report down and send it now! That way, I can give my hardworking subordinates some peace of mind as well!”
“But I don’t have a spirit eagle with me right now, so I can’t send it through.”
“No worries, Manor Head Xu. When I was still in Traversing Moon Palace, I constantly had to take part in battles. And with how often I had to be away from my own territory, how could I not be prepared to always keep my communication channels active? I have a spirit eagle for communicating with Suppressing Tenth Hall right here. You can use it to send your report!”
“Heh heh, alright then!” Xu Huihuang immediately wrote down the report. However, after he was done writing, Miao Yi took it over and read it through. After making sure that the contents were okay, he handed it to his subordinate to send to Suppressing Tenth Hall!
At the same time, given how things had deviated from their original plan, Miao Yi wrote down two letters to send to Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei, telling the two of them to match his story in their reports and push all the blame onto that dead bastard Chang Zijiu. As for whether or not the top brass would believe them, that was not their concern. After all, there was no harm in having a few more excuses up their sleeves.
After which, Miao Yi whispered a few things to Xu Huihuang, to which the latter nodded in understanding. Xu Huihuang then shouted to the other side, “Pure Dream Manor forces, heed my command! Hold out for one hour! That’s all you need to do! I have already asked Manor Head Miao and his Raincloud Manor troops to rescue you. All they need is for you to hold out for one hour, and work alongside their army to force those traitors out from the inside! We’ll be able to exterminate these traitors in just one hour!”
Miao Yi waved his hand and shouted, “Attack!” His voice echoed across the mountain.
Miao Yi and his forces once again pressed in from the outside, while the Pure Dream Manor troops all brandished their weapons from within. The ‘traitors’ trapped in between both sides were instantly thrown into disarray. In the presence of such a major battle, Han Chunfeng and the others felt an immense pressure weighing down on them. They were truly frantic now!
They never wanted to battle in the first place. If they really had such boldness, they wouldn’t have tried to run away!
Meanwhile, the forces attacking them were also feeling terribly anxious.
“I surrender! I surrender!” Eventually, one of the ‘traitors’ caved in from the fear and shouted.
“We’ll surrender! We’ll surrender…” Similar cries immediately began to echo across the crowd as the ‘traitors’ jumped down from their mounts and threw down their weapons one after another.
Seeing their forces crumble under the pressure, Han Chunfeng, Tong Cheng as well as the other Advisor were completely dismayed. They too threw down their weapons, and slowly got down from their steeds.
In the blink of an eye, all the ‘traitors’ from the two Manors as well as the runaways from Tranquil Sun Manor dismounted themselves and surrendered!
“Bind them!” Miao Yi gave out a new command.
Soon, over two hundred people were restrained in the plaza right outside the Pure Dream Manor’s main assembly hall. Every single one of them was on their knees, oblivious to the punishment they were about to face.
Chen Fei stepped forward and reported, “My lord, they have all been restrained!”
Standing at the top of the steps before the entrance to the main assembly hall, Miao Yi was in the middle of making light conversation with Xu Huihuang, when Chen Fei’s report came in, and the two Manor Heads walked over side by side.
At this point, Xu Huihuang had regained the aura of a Manor Head. And after interacting with Miao Yi, he realized that the other party wasn’t such a difficult person to talk to at all. He walked alongside Miao Yi over to Han Chunfeng, where Miao Yi pointed towards the latter and smiled, “I’m sorry for making you see such an unsightly scene, Brother Xu. To think that one of my own Advisors would actually stoop to becoming a traitor!”
“Haah!” Xu Huihuang shook his head and sighed as he looked at Han Chunfeng, as though he was pitying the latter on Miao Yi’s behalf. He then asked, “Brother Miao, how do you intend to punish them?”
Miao Yi then coldly waved his hand and commanded, “Off with their heads!”
