Initiating

"What do you mean by that?"

Jun Nie's eyes narrowed, and he looked at Jun Haru with a serious expression.

Jun Haru continued with tears in his eyes. He was crying profusely, saying,

"I should not have believed him over you. How could I even believe him?!! I was foolish to even think that a complete stranger would help me."

"What exactly happened? Tell me everything and from the start"

"One day, I received a letter. In the letter was written that you wanted to kill me. I did not believe it at first but decided to be cautious as was said in the letter and went with your plan. But on that day at the Bai clan leader's residence, both Keal and Xin attacked me, putting me at death's door."

"But Yang Zhai saved me and killed both of them. With this, how could I not trust him? I now even think that both Keal and Xin might have been collaborating with someone from the Bai clan, maybe that's why Yang Zhai knew that they were going to attack me."

"Now that I think about it, I am sure Yang Zhai was using me. I just realized how big of a fool I was for believing a stranger over my own father. When he was going to kill me in the final round, I realized that for him, my life did not matter."

"Father, I don't even deserve forgiveness, I am ready for whatever punishment you bestow upon me."

Jun Haru said while crying.

Jun Nie stood up and looked around before coming back and looked at Jun Haru with anger that was visible in his eyes. This anger was not for Jun Haru though, but for Yang Zhai. He clenched his hands into fists. After a few seconds, he pretended to be fine though.

"This is what you get for believing in others other than your own kin, and that too your own father. What were you even thinking?!!"

Jun Nie was almost going to punch his son but stopped while thinking about something.

"Anyway, tell me everything about what you two have been doing."

"Yang Zhai wants the inheritance for which the two clans have been fighting. He has been vying for it ever since the two clans. He even got two materials of rank 3 from me. Also, he told me that you wanted to start a war by killing me. How can a father kill his own son just to start a war?!!! We could have done this by only killing the Bai clan leader's daughter. I was an idiot to believe in Yang Zhai's words."

Jun Haru spoke slowly but shouted loudly at the end of his sentence.

"Stop, you idiot. Speak slowly."

Jun Nie stopped Jun Haru in a hurry.

Jun Nie could not even handle everything Jun Haru said before, but hearing what Jun Haru said just now made Jun Nie's expression turn grave.

So, Jun Haru knew about everything from the start and had been pretending to not know. And Yang Zhai knows about my war plan as well, which I only told Yen Hu and nobody else, how? I am sure that Yen Hu did not betray me, so how did Yang Zhai know?: these were Elder Jun Nie's thoughts.

He wanted to kill Jun Haru right now. To him, his revenge mattered more than even his own son, so if Jun Haru told anyone about his schemes, Jun Nie would die for sure.

But Jun Haru told me everything and all the schemes, which means that his trust in Yang Zhai has been broken because of Yang Zhai's betrayal in the last round and he told me about my plan of starting a war as well. This means that he truly doesn't believe Yang Zhai now and thinks that it was a ruse by Yang Zhai. If he thought that it was real, he would have never told me this, fearing that I would kill him: thought Jun Nie

I can use this to my advantage and know about the one behind Yang Zhai. I must make him believe that Yang Zhai was a liar and that everything said by him was a lie, and that I can never even think of killing him. However, I should still be cautious. I need to get rid of both Yang Zhai and Jun Haru as soon as I discover who is behind Yang Zhai: Jun Nie was already thinking about his future plans.

Jun Nie wanted to get rid of both Yang Zhai and Jun Haru right now, but could not do so. Even if he did, there was no benefit as the one behind Yang Zhai would still be alive. Jun Nie, not for even a second believed that everything was designed by Yang Zhai. Yang Zhai was just a kid, with only a year of cultivation. And how could he know everything about Jun Nie and his plans when Yang Zhai had not even reached rank 3, let alone rank 4? If he gets rid of Yang Zhai right now, then the one behind him will remain in the shadows, whereas Jun Nie will be in the open. If Yang Zhai dies, Jun Nie would never be able to know about the one that was using Yang Zhai.

To him, Yang Zhai posed no threat yet, besides having the knowledge of Jun Nie's scheme. And that knowledge was also in someone else's possession, thus, getting rid of Yang Zhai would not benefit him at all.

In fact, it only puts me at even more disadvantage as I would have no link left to get to the one controlling Yang Zhai: thought Jun Nie

He could get rid of him whenever he wanted to, so he decided to hold on for a little while.

As a matter of fact, if I play every card correctly, I can even use it to my advantage: a smile appeared on Jun Nie's face as he was contemplating.

"Very well then, we can't undo what has already been done. But don't expect any forgiveness from me without any compensation," said Jun Nie.

"I am ready for whatever punishment you bestow upon me."

"No, there's no need for that. You know as well as I do that I wanted to start a war by killing the Bai clan leader's daughter, which failed thanks to you. But you were made to believe that I wanted to kill you to start a war. You didn't think for even a second that when a war could be started just by killing Tai Qi's daughter, why would I kill my own son? Do you have anything to say about this? Now, we must deal with Yang Zhai and the one behind him. After all, they know too much about us. That's another problem you created." Jun Nie shook his head and said.

"About that, we can use Yang Zhai for this. He used me to stop the war you wanted to start, now we can use him to start a war. I hope this will at least lessen my mistake a little bit," Jun Haru thought for a second before answering.

When Jun Nie heard this, his eyes narrowed. This was something he didn't expect from Jun Haru.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, even if Yang Zhai used me, he still collaborated with me and did things behind everyone's back, even his own clan if I am right. So, that makes him a traitor to the Bai clan as well to a certain degree. And as he is still a rank 2 cultivator, the threat of a rank 4 cultivator should be enough to make him. If that's not enough, he has already made an enemy of the Ma clan leader. Thus, even if he has someone behind him, he has no choice but to work with us. I am sure the person behind him should not be stronger than the Ma clan leader even if that person is as strong as the Clan leader. Unless the one behind him is the clan leader, we can deal with that person."

"But for that, we need the Ma clan leader's help. If what you said does work, we need to make sure that the one behind Yang Zhai is not Ma Wan Liu. We should be cautious while dealing with the one behind Yang Zhai. We also need to make sure that the one behind Yang Zhai doesn't know about our plan." Jun Nie considered Jun Haru's suggestion and nodded. He continued,

"If we manage to do this, and make Yang Zhai work with us. I am sure at some point, Yang Zhai would end up revealing that person's identity. But we would need to be extremely careful during all of this, otherwise, we will end up paying a heavy price."

"Yes, father. So, what should we do." Jun Haru looked at his father and asked.

Jun Nie was still not convinced by Jun Haru. He still had his doubts. If Jun Haru could betray him once, he could do it again.

He thinks Yang Zhai betrayed him because he almost died at Yang Zhai's hands. However, Yang Zhai might try to convince him again. I need to make sure that this doesn't happen: Jun Nie was still worried.

"First of all, don't let Yang Zhai know that you revealed everything to me. Also, I will go and try to find out if Ma Wan Liu is the one behind Yang Zhai or not. You, on the other hand, need to get Yang Zhai on our side. He wants inheritance, right?" Jun Nie contemplated before saying. He already had a plan in mind. This was the reason he was called the great scheming shadow of the Ma clan.

…..

At the same time,

"Yang Zhai, you impressed me. Even though you could not kill Jun Haru, you did great in winning the final round. As promised, the clan will give you 10 percent of the inheritance, or you can choose one item of your own choice from the inheritance after it opens." Zihao De praised Yang Zhai.

He was not alone. Tai Qi was also with them. Tai Qi and Zihao De were sitting on two chairs, whereas Yang Zhai was standing in front of them.

Even though Yang Zhai was alone with them right now, Si Kim was also present a while ago. But, Yang Zhai was stopped by Zihao De and stayed behind, whereas Si Kim left.

"I did my best for the clan and am happy that I could contribute to the clan's benefits. As for Jun Haru, I am sorry about that, third elder. I tried my best but could not succeed." Yang Zhai replied politely.

"Anyway, even though I have my guess, I want to hear it from you for what you did in the final round." This time, it was Tai Qi who queried.

"About that, clan leader, I was instructed by the third elder to make sure that Jun Haru doesn't use his ires. Therefore, I did what I did. As for why I did not stop the bidding, I wanted to make sure that I ended up showing my trump cards, which include the Golden Shield. I needed to force Jun Haru into not using his treasures."

"As I was going to fight in close range anyway, I did not think that there was any disadvantage for me during the battle by showing my trump cards. As I showed my Golden Shield, it sent the Ma clan into commotion which ended up colluding with Jun Haru's thinking ability, and both Jun Haru and I ended up not using any ire, giving me enough time to kill him. Even though my hands were trembling doing that, I did my best to kill Jun Haru but he survived."

Yang Zhai said respectfully.

Tai Qi and Zihao De looked at each other. Amazement could clearly be seen in their eyes. Yang Zhai really had a plan. He was just a 15-year-old kid, but he could plan up to this! Of course, Tai Qi and Zihao De were going to be amazed.

"Impressive, Yang Zhai, impressive. If you keep this up, I am sure you will benefit the clan to a high degree. Anyway, what do you want to do, choose an item from the inheritance or do you want 10 percent of the inheritance?" Zihao De asked.

"About that, can I ask for something else than these two?"

Tai Qi looked at Zihao De and gave the permission.

"If you don't mind, can I have Kroy City's emblem and the nomination spot?"

When Tai Qi heard this, his expression turned serious. Not because to him Kroy City's emblem and the nomination spot had more value than the inheritance, but because Yang Zhai already had one emblem and a spot, so why did he want another one, and that too when Yang Zhai didn't know its function.

!*****!*****!