Chapter 461 — Cloud and Rain at a Turn of the Palm
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The Palace Master may, out of old sentiment, not deal too harshly with you. Otherwise, I fear the whole Liu family, high and low, will be exterminated, its very name struck from the rolls!
" Liu Ruyin ground her teeth—when suddenly Shen Mu's voice came, curious: "Sister Ruyin, didn't you say the visitor from the True Heaven Palace was Yu Ruyi? I thought there was only Sister Yu Ruyi. So who might these sisters be?
" Liu Ruyin shot him a venomous glare and said coldly, "I did say that the visitor from the True Heaven Palace was named Yu Ruyi, but I never said she was the only one. I also told you from the start that several senior sisters had come from the True Heaven Palace—did I not? " Shen Mu's face cleared. He laughed. "That was rash of me.
I thought it would be enough to kill just one sister. " Liu Ruyin's fury blazed. "Sect Master Shen, you killed an elder of the True Heaven Palace and sought to sow discord between my Liu family and the True Heaven Palace. And now you ask me how we are to proceed?
" Shen Mu rose and smiled. "Sister Ruyin, I have just come from the He family. Sister Yiyi is preparing to summon the great clans to deliberate on a great matter: to overthrow this Palace Master of the True Heaven Palace who climbed to the throne only through rebellion and chaos. The Palace Master governs against the way of heaven, and both heaven and men are resentful.
The Yu family grows ever more powerful, and your Liu family is but fish on the Yu family's chopping block. The arrival of Yu Ruyi and these sisters is enough to make the whole Liu family bow and scrape.
The Yu family slaughtered the Xiong family until only an orphan and a widow remained—does that not worry you? " Liu Ruyin felt a chill of alarm; there was truth in every word Shen Mu spoke. With Yu Ruyi dead in the Liu household, the True Heaven Palace would certainly not let the matter rest.
The Liu family would inevitably be dragged in; even if they did not die, they would be flayed of a layer of skin, forced to pay tribute of untold treasures to the True Heaven Palace. And the Liu family's greatest treasures were their corpses. Only, this villain Shen clearly had no good intentions; he meant to drag the Liu family into the water and make them stand together against the True Heaven Palace. Yet his talk of He Yiyi summoning the great clans to deliberate—that did stir her. The Yu family was cold and faithless. Last time they had dealt with the Xiong family too ruthlessly, all but wiping them out. Though the Xiong family had long occupied the Palace Master's seat and drawn the covetous eyes of the other clans, they had at least acted with a measure of fairness. The Yu family was different.
The Xiong family numbered a million souls, young and old, a power of immense magnitude—and the Yu family had actually gone in for the kill, cutting the roots and burning the weeds, slaughtering all but Xiong Xiyu and her daughter, who fled the Western Lands. Everyone else had been annihilated. That was more than mere ruthlessness. "If we could use this chance to overthrow the Yu family.
.
. " Liu Ruyin looked at Shen Mu, wavering.
The other Liu family experts were filled with rage, yet no small number of them were pondering Shen Mu's proposal. Shen Mu smiled.
"Sister Ruyin, the Xiong family is left with only an orphan and a widow. If Xiong Xiyu ascends the Palace Master's seat again, how could mother and daughter alone govern the Western Lands?
They would have to borrow the strength of great clans like yours. With the Yu family holding the True Heaven Palace, you cannot insert the least bit of your own power.
But the day the Xiong family takes back the True Heaven Palace will be the day your great clans take your seats within it. " At last Liu Ruyin made up her mind. She looked at the little girl beside Shen Mu and said, "Little one, what do you think?
" The little girl laughed.
"Since Mother has already made up her mind, why ask me?