The meeting officially began.
The Penguin Voice connection was established online.
Mu Qingxue and Liu Yue discussed various plans targeting Wushuang Tower, while the managers from both guilds took notes.
All except for one person.
That person was Chen Xiaoyan.
Her gaze was fixed on the ID ‘Wendao Hongchen’ in the group member list. She repeatedly compared it with Liu Yue’s ID, ‘Dao Ji Shi Kong.’
‘Damn, the more I look, the more I think Mu Qingxue is right.’
“Xiaoyan, do you have anything you want to say?” Mu Qingxue suddenly asked Chen Xiaoyan.
Liu Yue’s voice instantly went silent, as if she were also waiting for her to speak.
“Huh?” Chen Xiaoyan looked blank, completely caught off guard.
“I asked if you have any plans regarding Wushuang Tower,” Mu Qingxue repeated.
“No.”
On the other end of the voice chat, Mu Qingxue couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Alright then. Liu Yue, we’ll stick to this plan for now. Managers, make sure your notes are ready. Our two guilds must ensure we can coordinate at any time in the future.”
Yutian, Junior Sister of Zhenwu, and March responded, “Understood, Guild Master.”
Wendao Hongchen, Qiushui Sanchi, and Please Give Me a Flying Sword also replied, “Understood.”
This time, Chen Xiaoyan heard Wendao Hongchen’s voice. It was very magnetic. She pursed her lips, feeling even more uncomfortable in her heart.
“What are your arrangements for Shenzhou?” Liu Yue asked.
Mu Qingxue replied, “Once the war starts, place them at the front of the battlefield. They cannot be at the rear.”
If they were at the front and Shenzhou betrayed them, Xueyan Pavilion and Sword Pavilion could respond easily. But if they were at the rear and a betrayal occurred, they would be caught in a pincer attack, which would be extremely troublesome.
“Fair enough. I agree,” Liu Yue said.
Mu Qingxue continued, “Shenzhou’s forces aren’t that strong. Even if they defect to Wushuang Tower, it doesn’t matter much; at most, it’ll just be a minor headache. What I’m most worried about right now is Reincarnation Hall. Liu Yue, how much do you know about them?”
“I don’t. I can’t even get any spies inside,” Liu Yue admitted.
Mu Qingxue laughed. “Same here. This suggests that Reincarnation Hall’s intelligence capabilities are even more terrifying than we imagined. Do you think there’s a possibility that Reincarnation Hall is stronger than all our guilds, and they’ve just been hiding their true strength?”
Yutian chimed in, “That’s unlikely, isn’t it? How long has Reincarnation Hall even been established? How could they be stronger than us?”
Qiushui Sanchi added, “True. Isn’t Big Boss Mu Qingxue being a bit too paranoid?”
Mu Qingxue sighed. “I hope I’m just overthinking it.”
“Xiaoyan,” Liu Yue called out to Chen Xiaoyan at that moment.
“Yes?”
“Why aren’t you saying anything? I feel like you’re being a bit quiet,” Liu Yue said, voicing her doubt.
“I was thinking about something else. What’s up?”
“Ahem.” Mu Qingxue let out a couple of fake coughs to draw everyone’s attention to herself, asserting her presence. “Liu Yue, aren’t you going to introduce the new manager of Sword Pavilion to Xiaoyan?”
Liu Yue fell silent for a moment, saying nothing. She immediately grasped the meaning behind Mu Qingxue’s words and called out ‘Qingxue’ with a hint of gratitude.
“Alright, Qingxue.”
“Wendao Hongchen.”
Wendao Hongchen replied, “I’m here.”
“Introduce yourself.”
Wendao Hongchen said, “Bosses, I am Wendao Hongchen, the Second of Zhenwu. Please guide me in the future.”
As a rising star who had recently shot to fame in Zhenwu, Wendao Hongchen had quickly caught Liu Yue’s attention. She had looked into him in several places and found that his reputation was excellent. With an extraordinarily handsome face, he had numerous female fans within the Zhenwu Sect.
Furthermore, his strength was nothing to scoff at. He often enjoyed helping players who didn’t know how to play well, which made him very popular.
Most importantly, he hadn’t joined any guild.
So, for the sake of Wendao Hongchen’s fans, Liu Yue had personally gone to invite him to join Sword Pavilion yesterday. She had expected that recruiting such a star figure would be difficult, but to her surprise, he had agreed immediately.
The entire series of persuasive arguments Liu Yue had prepared became useless in an instant.
“Hello,” Chen Xiaoyan’s tone was very calm.
But those who knew her well understood that the calmer her tone, the bigger the problem.
Liu Yue suddenly became nervous. She went over her words and actions from the past two days in her head. It didn’t seem like she had done anything wrong. So, what was going on with Xiaoyan?
Mu Qingxue facepalmed. She was utterly speechless at Liu Yue’s low emotional intelligence—a feeling of disdain born from her spectator’s perspective—and decided to prompt her again.
“How did you come up with the ID Wendao Hongchen? It sounds quite nice.”
Following her words, everyone subconsciously looked at Wendao Hongchen’s name, feeling a bit confused. It seemed pretty ordinary.
Unlike the managers who were in a fog, Liu Yue quickly spotted a clue. Connecting it to Mu Qingxue’s previous hint, she was certain the former knew something.
Wendao Hongchen. Dao Ji Shi Kong.
Liu Yue pondered these two IDs repeatedly. Just like Chen Xiaoyan, she didn’t think much of it at first, but once the idea was planted, the more she looked at them, the more they looked like a couple’s name.
The moment the words left Mu Qingxue’s mouth, she regretted it.
Wouldn’t it be better to let Xiaoyan and her keep misunderstanding each other? It might even eliminate a competitor. She couldn’t help but ask herself why she was meddling. Why on earth was she doing this?
Mu Qingxue silently took out a diary. On the cover of the diary, seven large words were written: Self-Cultivation of a Heroine.
She looked at it for a while, nodded involuntarily, and then hid the diary away again.
‘I probably just don’t want to see Xiaoyan unhappy… yeah, that’s it.’
Wendao Hongchen spoke up, “I just picked it randomly back then. Looking at it now, it really is quite a coincidence.”
Liu Yue immediately followed up with an explanation, “Wendao Hongchen is very popular in Zhenwu. I personally went to invite him yesterday, hoping his fans would join Sword Pavilion and expand the guild’s power. I’m not sure how many have joined by now.”
Invited yesterday—meaning they hadn’t known each other long and weren’t close.
His fans could join Sword Pavilion—meaning her goal was only his fan base and nothing else.
The managers of Sword Pavilion fell silent, including Wendao Hongchen.
Although they had only been in contact for two days, he had observed the girl who was the First of Zhenwu for a long time before that. He had a slight understanding of Liu Yue’s character. She spoke very little, often being overly concise. Usually, she could summarize everything in a single sentence and would never speak a long string of words like she just did.
It was very abnormal.
“Did you just meet?” Chen Xiaoyan murmured to herself.
However, her self-muttering was taken as a question by Liu Yue.
Liu Yue hurriedly replied, “Yes, we only met yesterday.”
After all, her observations from the previous days didn’t count as ‘meeting.’
“Then why didn’t you tell me? I thought I had been kicked out of the Sword Pavilion management,” Chen Xiaoyan said in a resentful tone, which actually made Liu Yue breathe a small sigh of relief.
“It’s my fault. I’ve been a bit busy lately and forgot. I was planning to tell you yesterday, but I got nervous and… forgot.”
Hearing this, Chen Xiaoyan couldn’t help but giggle. “Yue, since when did you become so scatterbrained?”
“I apologize to you.”
“No need. You didn’t do anything wrong, so why apologize to me?”
“I should. Xiaoyan, you are a part of Sword Pavilion after all. It was my mistake not to notify you when a new manager joined.”
“It’s not that serious. You just forgot.”
“Xiaoyan, don’t worry. I promise this won’t happen again.”
“It really isn’t that serious, Yue!” Chen Xiaoyan curled her lips into a smile, though her voice sounded helpless.
“Ahem.” Mu Qingxue coughed twice again to show her presence.
She was reminding the two of them that she was still there.
‘Both of you, tone it down a bit.’