Your Lord Has A Screw Loose?
Chapter 677 - 679: The Old Snake Loses Power, the Alien Clan Lies Dormant

Chapter 677 -679: The Old Snake Loses Power, the Alien Clan Lies Dormant

“Just… like that, it’s over?” She Xi found it somewhat hard to believe. Today was the third day, and in addition to Su Shu dying in the Ministry of Justice’s prison, Qin Muye didn’t even attend court today.

He had thought there would be a storm of blood and carnage, and had made extensive preparations accordingly, only to feel as if he had punched into cotton, leaving him quite uncomfortable.

“No good, this can’t be a feint, can it?” She Xi couldn’t believe that Qin Muye would just let go of such a prime opportunity. It was more likely that a fatal strike was being brewed.

“Grand Secretary, what should we do about this?” Ye Yin, now standing in Su Shu’s place, spoke up.

“Don’t rush me, let me think.” She Xi knew that things were becoming ever more elusive; he didn’t even know where to start.

The Ministry of Finance was in Qin Muye’s hands, and in these three days even, the authority of the other five ministries had been stripped away piece by piece; his opponent was methodically reclaiming all of their powers.

“He’s gathering strength,” She Xi suddenly said.

“Gathering strength?” Shi En was puzzled. This didn’t look like gathering strength at all. It seemed like a far-fetched explanation, and Emperor Qian didn’t need to gather strength—he could just deliver a fatal blow directly.

“Yes, you should know as well that his kind of rhetoric and bullying can work once but not twice. So, if Su Shu hadn’t died, he could’ve erupted in anger, but now Su Shu is dead, and he has lost his leverage; naturally, his tactics won’t work anymore.”

“But to simply give up, that was somewhat unexpected for me. I thought he would use Su Shu’s death in prison to launch a new offensive.”

“It’s precisely because he has given up that he’s brewing a brand-new offensive against us!”

This statement made the others look at each other in bewilderment. Wasn’t this thinking too much? After all, nothing seemed amiss; everything was eerily calm.

“Grand Secretary, are you certain?” Ye Yin, too, suspected that She Xi wasn’t coping well with the shock and had begun to see shadows everywhere. Firstly, they had lost their inside support, so they couldn’t get any information from the Imperial Palace.

Hence he thought that what She Xi said was too far-fetched. Giving up this chance to pursue their victory might have an ulterior motive, but it was more likely a wish for reconciliation; otherwise, if emperor and ministers kept fighting, it would definitely result in unrest for the state and family.

After all, there were precedents for such situations—it usually started with making an example of one to warn the others, then letting them choose to either obey quietly or continue facing strikes. Consolidating power was simply a process as such.

“Are you questioning me?” She Xi frowned. Su Shu had died just yesterday, and Ye Yin had already jumped out, almost as if he had the illusion of wanting to take the lead.

After all, before this, whenever Su Shu and She Xi had aligned interests, they would attack whomever they agreed upon.

Now, without such a useful henchman, he felt somewhat out of sorts for a while.

“I wouldn’t dare; it’s just that the lowly official suspects Emperor Qian wants reconciliation. He is in the process of consolidating power. If we lie low temporarily, not struggle against him, and focus only on safeguarding ourselves against the three dukes and nine ministers, we could preserve our own safety. When he lets his guard down in the future, we can then trip him up and make him fall into the water,” Ye Yin said simply. We bow our heads now, and surely the other side won’t care too much.

Let’s just keep our official positions safe for now.

This suggestion was very appealing to the remaining members of the Alien Clan. They wanted to eradicate the orthodox lineage of the Human Clan, but they needed to survive first.

They aimed to live by eradicating the Human Clan’s orthodoxy, not to live for eradicating the Human Clan’s orthodoxy; there was a distinction.

“Yes, Grand Secretary, the Rebel Army is now at a stalemate, and we also cannot be too aggressive. One careless move could lead to a total loss,” said Shi En, the Minister of War. Naturally, he also understood the importance of preserving his official status. The ghouls of his clan had witnessed with their own eyes Su Shu’s agonizing death under the weight of the nation’s fortune.

If it were a minor clan member, perhaps dying quickly wouldn’t matter, but someone powerful like himself would suffer torment. Before Su Shu died, he wasn’t even able to whine like a mouse.

“Foolishness. If it’s reconciliation, it is nothing more than a frog being boiled in warm water. Emperor Qian is resourceful, if he makes peace temporarily, you all are bound to end up like Su Shu eventually,” She Xi was infuriated. He hadn’t expected this group of Alien Clans to come to a consensus.

When it came to their own interests, especially regarding such a vital issue as life and death, not a single member of the Alien Clan was willing to listen to She Xi.

He was the Prime Minister, one might say he was second only to one and above tens of thousands, and if anything were to happen, it couldn’t possibly implicate him. But they were not the same, as you stand and speak without pain, what about all of his people?

“Has Grand Secretary forgotten about the Rebel Army? All we need is to delay for a while, let the Rebel Army enter Imperial City, and then no matter what strategies Emperor Qian has, he won’t be able to deploy them,” Ye Yin directly refuted.

Thus, everyone present could see that She Xi wanted them to confront Emperor Qian head-on, which was not a good idea at all.

Now, as long as the Rebel Army enters Imperial City, everything would settle down, so why bother to fight head-to-head?

It’s nothing more than the fact that Emperor Qian’s lapdogs are unwilling to give up, or it could also be a deliberate attempt to eliminate dissenters. After all, once the deed was done, it would amount to letting the Alien Clan divide the whole world.

When there’s work to be done, one feels there are too few people, but when it’s time to eat, naturally, one feels there are too many.

In no time, all the Alien Clan simultaneously thought of this possibility. They wanted to eliminate other clans besides the Snake-man Clan before the deed was done, otherwise, why would they go head-to-head with Emperor Qian?

She Xi stopped speaking and just watched the Alien Clan group with a cold gaze.

This left Ye Yin feeling a bit uneasy,”Had things escalated too far?”

“Since you all want to delay, let’s do as you say. If something happens in the future, don’t come looking for me.”

After a long silence, She Xi finally spoke because he knew that he had to agree. Under the pressure of the situation, he could not defy it, and it was this that made him feel extremely troubled.

He thought he was doing it for the good of everyone, but they did not appreciate it; that much was already too much. But just now, that slight wariness and suspicion let him know he had gone too far.

“Grand Secretary is taking this too seriously. It’s just a discussion, after all. How can we do without Grand Secretary in this grand scheme?” Ye Yin didn’t offend him to death since he had achieved his goal, he certainly wanted to let him win back some face verbally.

The others also echoed his words. Although they opposed She Xi this time, it did not mean they would oppose him in the future. When their interests aligned, they would still stand together.

“Alright, don’t flatter me anymore. Be careful about this matter, after all, Emperor Qian still has an elite force outside Imperial City, and so far there is no news of them,” She Xi said, hinting subtly that they should not trust the so-called Rebel Army too much, or else they would truly fail.

“Does Young Master She not have any news on them?” Ye Yin asked bluntly. They provided the people and the power, but it didn’t seem right that they had nothing by now.

“None. This force is extraordinary, and so far there have been no traces of them.” She Xi heard what Ye Yin was implying, but there was nothing he could do about having no information.

“Given that, how about we consolidate the Rebel Army first? Perhaps we should choose one to support and control from among Chen Liuhuan, Duanmu Yan, and Yan Ling,” Ye Yin also knew that delay could bring more trouble. These three were very capable, and while they needed support, they also had to be controlled.

“Chen Liuhuan is a no-go. This person is quite cunning; he has already gained control of the Rock-men Army and even kicked out the Yu Family’s planted agents. He must be eradicated first,” Shi En spoke up. This was a taboo.

“Hmm, then let’s choose between Duanmu Yan and Yan Ling,” She Xi did not argue against this. He also understood that Chen Liuhuan absolutely must not grow too powerful.

“Before that, we also need to figure out how exactly Chen Liuhuan managed to get rid of the Yu Family’s people. After all, a mere Ghoul shouldn’t have this kind of ability,” Ye Yin added another point.

In their eyes, this might be due to good luck or perhaps he had noticed something. However, an investigation had to be conducted to clear any doubts and prevent real mistakes.

They acted within the rules of the Court because it was advantageous, but when dealing with Ghouls, they could naturally be unrestrained since nobody would bother about rules with a bowl of rice served on the dining table.

“Alright, if there are no objections, let’s end this. You all arrange the people yourselves,” She Xi felt too mentally exhausted to care anymore, so he rose and left on his own.

Seeing this, the other members of the Alien Clan did not stay long and left as well, preparing to organize their own people to investigate the situation and pick a candidate.

This matter still required some exchange of benefits to see whose turn it was to go. Since She Xi left first, it meant that the She Family had given up the opportunity to benefit from this trip, and the choice would have to be made among their clan families.