A Feint Plan

As the light that signalled the arrival of morning broke through the eastern side of the Red Jade Pavilion, it landed on a sleeping figure's face.

Zhang Chun Wu's face twitched at the sudden sensation of warmth on his face. A moment later, he slowly opened his eyes.

After two days without sleep, the sensation of waking felt slightly alien to him, but it was a surprisingly welcome feeling. As the boy got up, he remembered the conversation he had with the other being inside him the night before.

"Are you there?" He asked quietly. He was slightly anxious to know if his idea was correct or not. If William had also fallen asleep during the night, then the two would have to figure out another reason why he wasn't capable to sleeping.

A moment later, a response came.

"About time you woke up, I nearly died from boredom." William's annoyed voice spoke into Zhang Chun Wu's mind. Taking over, he quickly jumped out of the bed, before stretching his arms upwards. Now that Zhang Chun Wu had woken up, William naturally wanted to move around a bit. The two spoke to each other for a bit while William hopped around the room.

"Do you feel sleepy?" Seeing that William had stayed awake the entire night, Zhang Chun Wu proceeded to check up on his state of mind. As he had just woken up, he didn't mind William taking over the body temporarily.

A moment later, as Zhang Chun Wu began his morning routine, William responded.

"I tried to sleep near the end, but I wasn't tired. It looks like like you're right." William replied. In the last few hours before dawn broke, William had ran out of things to look at, so he had relegated to sitting down in a small corner of the shadows to wait the time out.

Seeing that his guess was right, Zhang Chun Wu smiled. It seemed that there was something strange going on with his body, but at least he knew what to expect now.

As they telepathically discussed the details of William's night, Zhang Chun Wu completed his morning routine. Stepping out the door, he began to head towards the main meeting hall of the Zhang Clan- there were some details that needed to be revised given the previous day's confrontation.

Marching out of the Red Jade Pavilion, he crossed through the garden, stepping on the newly trimmed grass.

"By the way, you need to teach me how to cultivate. Otherwise I'm going to go crazy the next time I need to go on night duty." William's sudden request startled Zhang Chun Wu.

"Huh? You don't know how to cultivate?" He responded, brows slightly angled upwards. He thought for a moment that William was making a silly joke, but his tone didn't seem to imply that it was merely a jest.

"How am I supposed to know how if you've never taught me?" William responded a little sarcastically.

Zhang Chun Wu's face became blank for a moment. Then a moment later, he replied, "You're telling me that there are people in your world that don't know cultivation techniques? Even the commoners here know a move or two!"

Feeling skeptical, Zhang Chun Wu continued to probe. "If you don't know how to cultivate, how can you use my Prime Artifact?" For a moment, he thought it was a prank. Even if William didn't have any cultivation techniques, he still had to have some sort of practiced ability in order to be reincarnated like he said, right? Although Zhang Chun Wu didn't know too much about the world, his grandfather was, after all, a Nascent Soul Cultivator. But even the patriarch of the Zhang Clan dared not say he could reincarnate with his memories intact.

Hearing the confusion in Zhang Chun Wu's words, William came to a realization. It seemed that Zhang Chun Wu had never brought up the idea of cultivation with him because he had assumed that William's old world followed the same rules as his. Of course, how could he expect that the concept of immortal cultivation was merely fantasy in William's world?

"Oh no, you see, in my world, we don't-"

Before William could continue, his eyes suddenly constricted, and his voice stopped mid sentence. He felt like something had gripped the interior of his neck, preventing him from enunciating any sounds. He stood there for a moment in panic, wondering what was going on, before the sensation slowly faded away.

[Warning: Revealing the secrets of the sky at your current level will result in a €#&$@€ ?&@>> ?€£^%€¥@&]

Seeing the system's warning, William broke into a cold sweat. Thank goodness the system had some sort of fail safe, otherwise who knows what would have happened just now.

"Hello? Are you alright?" Zhang Chun Wu heard William go silent, so he tried to check if he was still alright.

A moment later, William's voice came again. "Anyway, I don't know how to cultivate, so you'll need to teach me."

"Oh, okay." Zhang Chun Wu ended the conversation, shifting back to the real world. Walking into the General meeting hall, he immediately noticed the third elder, Zhang Wu Dao, sitting by a table nearby.

A myriad of different sized papers and talismans littered the table, and the third elder was deep in concentration.

Zhang Chun Wu opened his mouth to speak, but before he could talk, Zhang Wu Dao spoke first.

"Oh, you're back already? Excellent. I need you to organize another carriage for the Jin family, along with an invitation for the Myriad Flowers Pavilion's branch master. Make sure to include no less than 300 grams of Blue Night Ore, but don't include more than 400- they might think we're desperate otherwise."

The elder quickly grabbed two sheets of paper and a small box from the stack of existing papers, then held them towards Zhang Chun Wu.

"Also, here's the Violet Essence that the Thunder Trade Organiza- Oh hi, Chun Wu."

Realizing he had been talking to the wrong person, Zhang Wu Dao quickly put down the items he had prepared, then turned towards the boy.

"You're here about yesterday right? Give me a moment to tidy up, you go ahead to the Inner Sanctum first. The first elder is already there, so you can give him a report of the previous day first." Zhang Chun Wu nodded his head, then moved past the third elder. As he continued walking, he turned around, seeing the third elder had returned to his table again, seemingly writing something on another piece of paper.

Continuing forwards, he arrived in front of a large door. There was only a small hallway that separated the General meeting hall from the Inner Sanctum, so it didn't take long for Zhang Chun Wu to arrive at his location. Opening the doors, he saw the Zhang Wen Ming, as well as another elder sitting in front of a large refectory table, drinking tea.

The two paused when Zhang Chun Wu walked in, then Zhang Wen Ming beckoned him in with a wave of his hand. Zhang Chun Wu walked in, still slightly tense. Although the First elder was generally relatively friendly, he had still been unexpectedly fierce when Zhang Chun Wu had been testing out his Prime Artifact the day before yesterday, so he was naturally still a bit on edge.

"Greetings, First Elder, Eighth Elder." Upon arriving at a nearby seat, Zhang Chun first bowed towards the two elders, before he took a seat by the Eighth elder.

Zhang Wen Ming nodded, evidently happy to see that Zhang Chun Wu had not become too arrogant after he had awakened his Prime Artifact, while the eighth elder waved his hand up and down.

"There's only three of us here, no need to worry too much about honourifics." He chuckled, then leaned in a little closer towards him. "So Chun Wu, I heard you whipped Wu Ji's ass yesterday. Great job, that silly boy needed a beating." He chuckled, then gave Zhang Chun Wu a few pats on the back.

"Er, eighth elder, I didn't really beat him that much…"

"What's with this eighth elder this, eighth elder that? Call me Senior Chuan!" The elder spoke jovially. He seemed intent on continuing their conversation, when Zhang Wen Ming let out a soft cough.

"Zhang Chuan, I get that you're eager to talk with your Nephew now that you're back from the Black Snake Forest, but there are still some rather important things to discuss." Setting his tea on the table, Zhang Wen Ming directed his gaze towards Zhang Chun Wu.

"I've already heard the report from Wu Dao. Our spies have informed us that the Wu family is currently scrambling for medicinal fluids that are capable of curing burns, and that the Gao family have invited an expert to try to cure Gao Xue before the selection day." The first elder looked at Zhang Chun Wu, who's heart tightened.

Suddenly, Zhang Wen Ming smiled.

"Excellent work, Chun Wu. It seems that you've done better than I expected." Hearing his words, Zhang Chun Wu suddenly revealed a weird expression. He had expected to be berated by the elder, just like how William had told him off the previous day. It wasn't only Zhang Chun Wu who was surprised. William had also been caught off guard upon hearing the first elder's words.

"Oh? Perhaps you thought I would scold you like I did a few days ago?" Seeing his weird expression, Zhang Wen Ming raised an eyebrow. The Eighth elder interjected at this moment, adding in a word of advice.

"Cultivation is about plunder. If you see a weakness and do not grasp it, you are taking a step towards death."Zhang Wen Ming nodded, silently agreeing with the Eighth elder's words.

"Two days ago, I put up a display of force, because I thought you were still young, and did not understand the ways of the world. You did not understand enough about your own weaknesses, so I showed you what weakness was." Zhang Wen Ming was, of course referring to when he had used fighting intent to arouse fear in Zhang Chun Wu.

"Yesterday, even if it was by accident, you grasped the weaknesses of the Zhou Wu Alliance. By crippling Gao Xue temporarily, you've make sure the Gao clan gains no benefits from remaining in the alliance, while also making sure that the Gao doesn't sow a permanent emnity with our Zhang Clan. This is commendable." Having praised him, Zhang Wen Ming then pulled out a piece of paper from within his Spacial Ring.

"You did well, but we unfortunately will need to revise our plan with the Li family, given that the Zhou and Wu clans are certainly going to keep a closer eye on you now. Zhou Wang Hu will certainly not allow you to slip out of his sight, so we will certainly not be able to meet up with the Li clan before arriving at the Desolation Cliffs without being noticed." Zhang Chun Wu looked at the head elder's face blankly, but William had a dark expression. He sat in Zhang Chun Wu's mind, brooding over the matter.

Unfortunately, neither he nor Chun Wu had considered this aspect of the problem when they had rushed off to break up the fight the previous day. Originally, he had proposed for a small convoy to split off from the main group of Zhang Clan guards that would be escorting the youths of the Zhang Clan, which would meet up with the Li Clan. The Li would already have multiple members of the Zhang Clan's guards hidden on their convoy, so the two families would essentially be secretly massing their forces in one group while the other group served as a distraction.

The Zhang Clan guards were already with the Li clan. They had been moved secretly the previous evening, but now the second part of the plan, which was getting Zhang Chun Wu to the Li clan was becoming a problem. If they acted according to the original plan, he might be attacked before he could even reach the Li Clan's forces, but he couldn't just walk to the Li estate now, or else everyone would know that Zhang Chun Wu was going to travel to the capital with the Li clan.

As if sensing his frustration, Zhang Chuan suddenly chuckled. "Little Wu, if the first elder hadn't thought of a solution, do you think he would have sent away those guards yesterday?" His words enlightened William, who turned towards the first elder, seeking for answers.

"Mm. I've already made arrangements regarding this matter. You should have seen Wu Dao today right? Li Tian Xi and I will be sending convoys in and out of the county for the next seven days. We're hoping to pull some more man power to our sides."

Stroking his beard, Zhang Wen Ming continued talking. "At the same time, it provides a cover for our actual operation. In Four days time, we'll be delivering a shipment of pills to the Li clan estate. You'll be inside one of the boxes." Hearing that he was going to be stuffed inside a box, Zhang Chun Wu turned pale. He wanted to retort, but William stopped him. He motioned for Zhang Chun Wu to release control, and then took over.

"Won't the Zhou clan get suspicious if I disappear for three whole days?" William asked. He had considered this idea as well, but William didn't think that the Zhou clan would sit still if he suddenly stopped appearing in the Zhang estate.

"Haha, haven't you forgotten about my Prime Artifact?" Zhang Chuan suddenly interrupted. Then, under William's shocked gaze, a liquid flowed out of the eighth elder's body, covering him entirely. A moment later the liquid shrank, revealing a figure that looked exactly like himself.

"The eighth elder will be assuming your identity for the last few days while you're hiding at the Li clan. No one knows that elder Chuan is back yet, except for the three of us and the second elder, so don't tell anyone." Zhang Wen Ming spoke, breaking into a sneer.

"If nothing goes wrong, we should be able to fool Zhou Wang Hu, that old cat. I'd like to see how he lives this one down!"