Soaring the Heavens

"We've finally left that worrisome place!"

The original Mountain Chieftain of Mount Hongdong—Cheng Hailiang—said in relief as he led his troops out of Raincloud Manor territory.

Turning back to look at the place he'd called home for many years, he couldn't help feeling a little saddened at this departure. But alas, he was simply too terrified of the way Miao Yi killed people. The guy didn't so much as bat an eyelid when chopping a man's head off! So many of his comrades were beheaded with just a single command from that lunatic. As he recalled the sight of blood gushing out from sliced necks and heads rolling across the ground, Cheng Hailiang couldn't help but shudder. This subsequently made him restless every time he had to receive an official decree from Raincloud Manor.

Maybe it was because he had been rather obedient as of late, but the Great Manor Head Miao was actually generous enough to transfer him to Pure Dream Manor during this circulation of Suppressing Tenth Manor's forces. Not to mention, he was also allowed to bring along his subordinates, with all his Advisors, Deacons as well as the ten Cave Masters being permitted to join him in this transferral. This way, he wouldn't have to build up a network of trust from scratch in his new post and was saved from quite a fair bit of trouble.

In the past, he had thought this was all just a dream. It could also be said that Cheng Hailiang was afraid that Miao Yi would suddenly change his mind, so the moment he received the decree, he immediately gathered his men and left. They didn't stop for anything, and only found some peace of mind after leaving Raincloud Manor territory.

Looking at his subordinates and their handmaidens down below, the grief on Cheng Hailiang's face soon gave way to excitement. He raised his arm high towards the crowd and yelled, "Brothers, we've finally left Raincloud Manor! From now on, we don't have to live so anxiously anymore! Once we've paid our respects to the Pure Dream Manor Head and receive our decrees of appointment, we'll head straight to our respective territories, where we'll finally be able to rest easy. Let's move on!"

The crowd felt a rushing excitement at the sound of this and cheered on, "We shall follow after our lord till death!"

"Let's move!" Cheng Hailiang waved his arm, then continued leading his troops towards their destination...

"What is Miao Yi doing? Another Mountain Chieftain? My Pure Dream Manor has only transferred one Mountain's worth of forces away, so I only need one Mountain Chieftain. Why is he pushing so many of them onto me? Not to mention, I'm the one who has to appoint the Mountain Chieftains in my territory. Does he really think he can teach me what to do? Even if I do respect the guy, there isn't really a need to send so many of them in one go, don't you think?"

Soon, one of his servants reported that Mountain Chieftain Cheng Hailiang of Raincloud Manor's Mount Hongdong was here to take up his new post. Manor Head Xu Huihuang frowned at this, then waved his hand in dismissal and said, "I'm not meeting him. Let him wait. I'm going to ask Suppressing Tenth Hall about this. Could there be a change in the official decree that I wasn't informed about?"

Cheng Hailiang didn't get to meet Manor Head Xu Huihuang as the latter was too busy, so he simply brought his troops to wait at the mountain at the back. As he arrived, he saw a single rider approaching. The rider came to a halt before Cheng Hailiang, then shouted, "Cheng Hailiang, you're here too?"

Cheng Hailiang immediately recognized this person as Mountain Chieftain Xiang Dongliu of Raincloud Manor's Mount Spiritual Longevity. He couldn't help exclaiming, "Xiang Dongliu, why are you here?"

With a dark expression, Xiang Dongliu chuckled in exasperation and said, "Why am I here? The same reason you are, of course! We've all been tricked by that Miao Yi. Pure Dream Manor only needs one Mountain Chieftain. With you included, we now have five Mountain Chieftains here!"

"What?!" Cheng Hailiang was shocked. 'Five Mountain Chieftains are here to take up a post? I wasn't the only one? How can five people share one position?'

Noticing Xiang Dongliu galloping away, Cheng Hailiang anxiously called out, "Brother Xiang, where are you going?"

Xiang Dongliu completely ignored him. Then, as Cheng Hailiang turned around, he saw another four riders galloping off. They were all familiar faces, and each of them was a Mountain Chieftain of Raincloud Manor.

"Heh heh! Even this Cheng Hailiang is here. Damn it! It was only four people vying for a single position, but now that number has been raised to five! That Miao Yi is such a sly dog. He can't screw with us like this!" One of the people who rushed past Cheng Hailiang cursed.

Cheng Hailiang was completely dazed and just stood in place, as did his troops.

It took him a while before he finally snapped back to reality. Finally realizing what the other Mountain Chieftains were heading off to do, Cheng Hailiang hurriedly leaped onto his steed. He told his subordinates solemnly, "This is bad! I want all of you to wait here while I head to Suppressing Tenth Hall to look for Advisor Ji. Things could turn serious if I wait too long!"

"Please hurry, my lord. We will wait for you here!"

"My lord, you mustn't stop for anything along the way!"

"My lord, if you need to offer gifts, then don't hold back. Worst comes to worst, we'll all chip in for it!"

All his subordinates hastily urged him to go. Evidently, they realized how serious the matter was as well.

"Hiyahh!" barked Cheng Hailiang, then shot out with his mount like an arrow.

Raincloud Manor had received an official decree from the higher-ups ordering the transferral of over two hundred men to two other Manors. Things were better on Pure Dream Manor's side of things. Out of some respect to Manor Head Xu Huihuang, Miao Yi had only sent five Mountain Chieftains his way. In contrast, he had sent away three Raincloud Manor Mountain Chieftains and four Deacons to the other Manor. This meant that the other Manor Head would have to make arrangements for a total of seven Mountain-Chieftain-ranked individuals.

There were two Mountain Chieftains left in Raincloud Manor. One was Chen Fei, who was Miao Yi's trusted aide. Naturally, he wouldn't be sent away. As for the other Mountain Chieftain, he was beheaded by Miao Yi back in Pure Dream Manor, and his position remained vacant all this while, so there was no one to send away.

As for Miao Yi's six Deacons, only two remained. The other four were all kicked out. As for Mu Tailai and Hu Defu, perhaps it was because they accompanied Miao Yi quite often; they were able to switch gears rather quickly. As such, Miao Yi figured he could give them a chance and let them stay by his side. He still needed subordinates after all.

As for the more than one hundred subordinate Cave Masters, Miao Yi barely remembered any of them, so he sent most of them away.

Just as a bunch of Deacons and Mountain Chieftains were rushing to Suppressing Tenth Hall to plead their case, Raincloud Manor's Mount Spiritual Longevity, which currently did not have a Mountain Chieftain, was suddenly under attack by a group of masked men covered in black.

Most of the people quickly surrendered out of fear. However, one particular cultivator risked his life to break the encirclement. In the end, he was knocked down his steed by a single spear.

With blood dripping down the edge of his mouth, the cultivator quickly stood up, his eyes bloodshot as he raised his spear, and cautiously scanned the four masked men surrounding him. Much to his surprise, the person that previously knocked him down suddenly pulled down the mask covering his face. The cultivator asked in shock, "Advisor Mu?"

This person was none other than Raincloud Manor's very own Advisor Mu Tailai.

Another masked man approached on his dragon steed. He also took off the mask on his face and was revealed to be Raincloud Manor's senior administrator of General Affairs, Yan Xiu. Yan Xiu nodded towards the cultivator and asked, "What is your name?"

Still a little confused by the situation, the cultivator cautiously replied, "This subordinate is called Yang Zhaoqing!"

Yan Xiu tossed a jade archive over to Yang Zhaoqing, then solemnly announced, "Yang Zhaoqing, by the Manor Head's decree, from this moment onward, you shall temporarily take up the position of Mount Spiritual Longevity's Mountain Chieftain! You are hereby ordered to immediately take control of the Mountain and sweep out any remnants of stagnation." Yan Xiu then pointed towards the men who surrendered and continued, "If something like this happens again in the next ambush, then we will have someone else take your place as Mountain Chieftain. The Manor Head has given you one year. If you are able to reach his standards by the end of the year, then he shall permanently appoint you as Mountain Chieftain of Mount Spiritual Longevity!"

Yang Zhaoqing's expression gradually turned to joy and excitement, but before he could offer his thanks, Yan Xiu had already turned his mount around and shouted, "Move out!"

The group of masked men immediately galloped away, leaving the defeated troops in a daze.

Yang Zhaoqing read through the jade archive in his hand and noticed that Manor Head Miao's transcendence seal was indeed on it. Generally, it stated that Yan Xiu was tasked with surveying each of the Mountains on behalf of the Manor Head and that he possessed the authority to delegate someone to be an interim Mountain Chieftain for that particular Mountain. The interim period would last for a year, and the person delegated would be given full authority to make all the decisions pertaining to his particular Mountain. If anything were to happen, the Manor Head would take responsibility for it! Once the one year period was up, those who passed the test would be permanently appointed, whereas those who failed would be kicked aside as the Manor Head had no use for such incompetent fools!

Once he was finished reading, Yang Zhaoqing was feverish with excitement. This surprise that fell from the sky was a little too abrupt for him to handle. He never thought that a chance beyond his wildest dreams would just suddenly appear before him, and couldn't help thinking that this must be some sort of hallucination.

He gave himself a vicious pinch… and felt a sharp pain! This was not a dream.

Yang Zhaoqing reread the decree a few more times, just to make sure that he was not mistaken. He pursed his lips tightly, then looked towards the direction of Raincloud Manor. Raising the jade archive in his hands, he bowed down, his voice stuttering from excitement as he said, "Subordinate Yang Zhaoqing hereby accepts Manor Head's official decree. I shall not fail my lord's hopes!"

As long as one was not a fool, they would be able to understand what kind of Mount Spiritual Longevity the Manor Head wished to see with this method of choosing a suitable successor. It was definitely not the old Mount Spiritual Longevity. Yan Xiu's words had made things very clear—the remnants of stagnation are to be swept away!

Yang Zhaoqing quickly turned around. With bloodstains still on his mouth, he raised the jade archive up high with one hand as he walked proudly towards his other comrades. He then shouted excitedly, "Mount Spiritual Longevity troops, heed my command…"

In the next few days, Raincloud Manor's Mountains kept getting ambushed one after the other. Naturally, the person behind all this was Yan Xiu, who was obviously acting under Miao Yi's orders. Without Miao Yi's approval, Yan Xiu wouldn't dare do such a thing.

It was not exactly a foolproof plan to employ such a strategy to find capable individuals to take over, but Miao Yi was out of options. For now, he needed to stabilize the situation, then slowly make the necessary adjustments. It was impractical to think of solving the situation in one go.

He wasn't like Zhao Fei or Sikong Wuwei, who brought along a bunch of trusted aides with them who could immediately help out with sorting out the troops.

Miao Yi finally understood why Yang Qing took him in under his wing all those years ago, and why Wu Menglan had wanted to recruit him. Without any capable subordinates looking after his vassal territories, chaos would surely rein, with incompetent subordinates either constantly failing to meet his expectations or stirring up troubles for him. There was no way he could cultivate in peace like that. Given the vastness of the domain under a Manor Head, it was physically impossible for Miao Yi to go around and solve every single problem that would pop up. If that were the case, then even if his cultivation rose higher, he wouldn't have the time for anything else.

While Raincloud Manor was keeping busy in the shadows, the three Advisors of Suppressing Tenth Hall were toiling away in the light. They enjoyed it back when they received the benefits and just pushed the names to their subordinates. But now, with a bunch of Advisors, Deacons, and Mountain Chieftains knocking on their doorstep, the three Advisors couldn't help feeling a terrible headache.

Moreover, Raincloud Manor wasn't the only one; those kicked out of Thousand Lake Manor and Mulberry Cloud Manor were here as well. Normally, the three Advisors wouldn't feel troubled making arrangements for one person. But to have so many of the people they'd received benefits from over the years suddenly pounding on their door like this, and for the same damned problem no less, the three Advisors couldn't help feeling a little overwhelmed.

The three Advisors soon met up with one another and decided to look for Hall Master Shen Huaixin together to lodge a complaint against Raincloud Manor, Thousand Lake Manor, and Mulberry Cloud Manor's actions. They intended to request that the Hall Master order the three Manor Heads to take their men back.

Shen Huaixin couldn't help feeling amused deep down. He had long received news from the other Manors asking about the situation. When Shen Huaixin saw the report, he immediately knew that those three were at fault and that they were trying to make things difficult on the three Advisors on purpose. Normally, it was beneath an esteemed Hall Master like himself to get in the way of someone else's benefits. After all, he would still have something to gain by not interfering. As such, he was in no rush at all with regards to the current situation. It wasn't as if those Mountain-Chieftain-class subordinates could complain to him anyway.

Shen Huaixin also never thought that this transferral strategy would incite Miao Yi and the others to retaliate in such a way. 'Things have really escalated now. Those three are fully intending to go head-to-head against the three Advisors! This is a good thing!'

'This is definitely a good thing for me!'