City Lord Sihe's mental state was truly spiraling out of control. Most people were convinced that he had suffered from some form of Qi deviation. The term was a bit different for demons, but it was the best possible translation. Because demons' emotions were stronger than humans, working on their soul was always more dangerous. In a sense, it was similar to what demonic cultivators were doing. Thus, it was easier for them to completely lose control of either their emotions or their very cultivation. In the first scenario, it would only affect their mood, and maybe even their personality a little.
If a demon suffered from true Qi deviation though, they could simply lose their sanity. And those around City Lord Sihe were witnessing just that. The worst part was that they couldn't do a single thing about it. A few of his close counselors had tried to talk about the issue but they were rewarded for their loyalty by torture and death. Indeed, City Lord Sihe immediately thought they were trying to force him out.
Maybe they were trying to have his abandon his title so they could take it for themselves. Or they would exploit the fact that he was seeking help to undermine his competence and try to steal his position. City Lord Sihe could only see enemies all around him. In fact, even Nie Pian himself had to be extremely careful when he talked with City Lord Sihe. Despite being the only person he truly listened to, Nie Pian realized how unstable City Lord Sihe was. The wrong word with the wrong tone could lead to his death. Simply working under City Lord Sihe was putting one's life at risk. Nie Pian truly missed his days in Duma City. But he had no choice at that point. He had to see things to their end.
The counselors and the servants were doing everything they could to stay as far away from City Lord Sihe as possible. Some even left the entire region. A few defected for other city lords. Unfortunately, it increased City Lord Sihe's paranoia. After all, such events were proving him right. Thus he put several people under house arrest and even forced them to relocate their family in Siqian City. Consequently, if they tried to leave, he could simply eradicate their entire bloodline.
The more paranoid City Lord Sihe was becoming, the more influence Nie Pian had. Indeed, everyone was passing through him. After all, he would never attack or threaten them and he knew how to convey their messages to City Lord Sihe without causing his mood to shift too much. Nie Pian knew exactly what to say, how to say, and more importantly what not to say. Thus, he was actively trying to calm City Lord Sihe down. But sometimes, it also required to fuel his paranoia a little so that he could turn it against an actual problem.
At that point in time, Cao Yun had probably reached the capital of the Nalupu Kingdom, Sidina. That meant that he would have an audience with Lord Wanghuo. If things went smoothly, Cao Yun would get everything he was looking for. Nie Pian had to act as soon as possible. And things seemed to go well for him. Indeed, he had received a message from the Weiji family. Their family head, Weiji Fen was asking for help.
As Weiji He's son, Weiji Fen was denouncing the actions of his own father. But it was absolutely necessary in his current situation. After that, he praised City Lord Sihe in no unclear words. Obviously, he was terrified and was looking for someone to protect his family. Unfortunately, no city lord would accept to do so after what Weiji He had done. Supporting the Weiji family would be a terrible decision for most. Thus, Weiji Fen had turned toward City Lord Sihe.
Actually, it would be even worse for City Lord Sihe. Indeed, it would prove to everyone that he still had ties to the Weiji family. In fact, it might even link him to Weiji He's stupid decision. And consequently, it would implicate him in City Lord Gui's assassination. Obviously, City Lord Sihe could have none of that. Although Weiji Fen tried to address the issue, he was somewhat clumsy about it. And it didn't take Nie Pian too much work to make his words sound like a threat when he talked with City Lord Sihe.
To be fair, he didn't so much change the words, but rather altered their meaning by adding some commentary and tone to them. When he heard the secret letter, City Lord Sihe lost it.
"That bastard is trying to coerce me?! Who does he think he is?! If he goes down, I'll go down with him?! Is that what he thinks?! I'll tear his tendons out and strangulate him with them! I'll make him eat his own flesh! Bastard!"
City Lord Sihe was really letting his anger out. His screams could be heard throughout his residence despite many measures to prevent sound from leaving his chambers. Everyone in the residence was terrified as they didn't know who he was talking about. Many even made plans to leave in a hurry if things went bad. Not only was it risky to work for City Lord Sihe, the benefits were also getting fewer and fewer.
As a matter of fact, Nie Pian was probably the only one keeping the economy of Siqian City running. With only City Lord Sihe, the city would have collapsed some time ago. Slowly, Nie Pian was in fact replacing City Lord Sihe in all his duties of city lord. However, everyone was acting as though it wasn't the case, simply because they were genuinely afraid that Nie Pian would get killed by their actual City Lord's insanity. That being said, most people would welcome Nie Pian a their new City Lord.
"City Lord, I do believe that this Weiji Fen is simply clumsy with his words. He's afraid of what could befall his family. Most likely, he tried to contact other city lords and failed. He probably turned to you in his despair. At the time, Lord Wanghuo didn't say anything about their fate. However, they are under house arrest with guards ready to kill anyone leaving their residence. I can imagine their fear. Weiji Fen will do anything to save his blood."
"Anything indeed... You're absolutely right! He'll use me as a scapegoat if he has to. By blaming me for his father's foolish decision, he could protect his family..."
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Nie Pian didn't even have to distort the truth to fuel City Lord Sihe's paranoia. His imaginative mind was enough to create the worst possible scenario. Now, Weiji Fen was a conniving traitor in his mind. And nothing could ever change that. Even if Nie Pian tried to alter it, he would fail. Instead, he would lose his position close to City Lord Sihe.
"But, we can't simply kill him. After all, there are guards all around the Weiji residence. And who could be trusted for such a task?"
"You're absolutely right... And I can't even go there myself. I'm surrounded by snakes and I can't leave my own city for fear that they'll strike me at my lowest. It's such a pity that your cultivation is so weak."
Even though City Lord Sihe had given Nie Pian many miraculous pills, and used various seals to improve his cultivation speed, it wasn't enough to bring him all the way to late Golden Blood Child. After all, Nie Pian was indeed quite old. His lifespan could increase if he was able to breakthrough to the Accomplished Demon realm, but it was incredibly difficult at his current age. Besides, he was always busy with other matters. This was also a problem for everyone in Siqian City. They would love to see Nie Pian take over instead of City Lord Sihe, but he would die in a few decades at most. He wouldn't leave more than a century in the best case scenario. Still, it would be better than to keep a madman as city lord for more than a millennium...
"I know! We'll send a reply along with a small surprise. Since that moron's niece used some Bloodfire Vermilion Haze, we'll do the same thing. Yes! People already accuse them of using this poison, so we'll use it against them once more.
"Take a brush. Write down my reply. I have to make it so that everyone reading it knows that I take my distance with this accursed family."
"Of course, City Lord, immediately."
Nie Pian wrote down every word. The letter wasn't encrypted in any way. In fact, it was clear that City Lord Sihe wanted everyone to be able to read the letter and get its meaning. When Nie Pian was done, City Lord Sihe took the letter and read it several times to be sure. After that, he had Nie Pian rewrite it at least a dozen times. Only when he was truly satisfied with the result did he take it away in his personal quarters.
For several days, he worked on his plan. Along with the letter, he would send the dreaded poison. But he had to be careful about it. He wanted people to be convinced that the poison had come from the Weiji family, not him. As such, he would have to make sure that the letter would have no trace of it and that no one could determine when it had arrives. Indeed, if someone could discover that the poison had struck soon after the letter had come in, it would be obvious. He wanted anyone to be able to find and read the letter after the Weiji family fell to the poison. But he didn't want anyone to figure out he had used this poison.
In the end, City Lord Sihe found a guard he could corrupt. And since the guard would be close to the residence, he would die as well anyway. Killing the Weiji family was already bad, but also killing guards sent by Lord Wanghuo was even more terrible. However, City Lord Sihe didn't care at all. He was convinced that he was fighting for his life there. And he was, but he was doing everything he shouldn't have. In a sense, he was actively fighting against his own life. Unfortunately for him, there was no stopping him. Nie Pian didn't even try in fact.
-
While City Lord Sihe was busy with his assassination ploy, that had been so successful for both Weiji Nian and Weiji He, Nie Pian was busy in Siqian City. There was more and more unrest as City Lord Sihe's disease had pushed him to increase the taxes. He was forbidding people from leaving their house at certain hours. Many of his guards were patrolling the city, arresting innocent people under his authority. This was a total disaster and everyone knew it. But people were too afraid to speak up. And they were right. In the streets, there were still bloodstains from protesters.
Nie Pian was doing everything he could to calm things down. He had even given orders to the guards so they didn't perform their duties as intended. Unless they couldn't hide it, they let people slip through their fingers as much as they could.
Outside the city, there were also a few tribes that were getting agitated. Thankfully, Chieftain Sha Chai Gan had calmed things down on her side as well. But there were still tribes who were vehemently opposed to City Lord Sihe. Nie Pian talked with them whenever he could, asking as a diplomat between them and Siqian City.
Because City Lord Sihe had completely abandoned his duties, Nie Pian was forced to assume his authority from time to time. As it turned out, he was rather good at it but didn't like it one bit. Nie Pian was much better with numbers and money than he was with people. Always trying to keep everyone happy was part of his job of course, but in the current situation, it was just too exhausting and he wasn't even earning any money from them. He truly wanted to stop. Any ambition of being the future city lord he could have had was gone. In a matter of months, his face had aged so much, he now looked like a frail old man despite all the miraculous pills he had consumed.
Thankfully, no one wanted things to get out of control, so it was rather easy to keep the tribes from attacking Siqian City. Otherwise, there would be a bloodbath. Nie Pian was also tired of the thick odor of blood surrounding City Lord Sihe. He was killing people constantly because of his paranoia. He had killed counselors, servants, citizens, slaves, men, women, elderly, children. City Lord Sihe had completely lost any moral sense he might have had beforehand.
As Nie Pian was talking with the tribes, he knew that his master was preparing an assassination through poison. This was a terrible idea, but he couldn't talk him out of it. Thankfully, his ordeal would soon be over. Finally, he could leave City Lord Sihe's side and even retire. After everything he had done, Nie Pian was looking forward to his retirement. He would enjoy the last decades he had in front of him to the fullest. In fact, imagining what he would do was the only thing keeping him from going insane himself. Without that incentive, he might have collapsed from exhaustion and fear. Indeed, he was sincerely terrified of City Lord Sihe, like anyone else in Siqian City. One misstep could cause everything he had worked for to crumble.
-
Cao Yun had finally reached Sidina along with High Mother Lisha and a few Sisters. They would have an audience with Lord Wanghuo in a few days. For the time being, they settled to a small residence the Sisters of the Abyss had prepared beforehand. Everything was ready for this visit. High Mother Lisha would go to a temple of the Weaver of Souls while Cao Yun was staying at their residence. She would be busy for a while.
After that, Cao Yun and High Mother Lisha would visit Lord Wanghuo. A good thing was that he had left his harem in order to receive them. For weeks, if not months, he had stayed secluded in his harem. So everyone was quite pleased with this visit. Finally, they could get Lord Wanghuo to make some decisions.
Just after leaving his harem, Lord Wanghuo was assaulted with paperwork. Despite appointing many competent people at key positions, Lord Wanghuo still had to perform this kind of duty. Chief Elder Baishen would have felt bad for him...