Otherwise, would Cai Qidong have taken a slap and still been grinning?

If Fuyu Mountain hadn't made a gesture, then Cai Qidong would've been worried—he'd probably have to stick his own face out and offer to be slapped.

"Your Minister Cai, he's definitely not just 'pretty good' like the rumors say. He's way beyond that."

"I've known all along that Minister Cai isn't simple. It can't be that in these ten years, everyone's making leaps forward except him, right? Besides, this isn't just about his own combat ability."

"True." Qin Kun nodded, realizing he'd really been blinded by his own stereotypes.

After all, in everyone's minds, the leaders from the Scorching Sun Department had risen up in those first decades after the Spiritual Qi Resurgence—experienced, but hardly the sort who relied on their own fighting strength.

In the last ten years, even with Spiritual Qi Resurgence ramping up, it's not like they'd turn over the whole leadership that quickly.

The last time Cai Qidong personally took action was ages ago. Based on his strength back then, looking at it now, it was pretty average—at best, like a tenth of Qin Kun.

"Senior Brother Qin, when did they make these decisions?"

"I found out just today too. It must've been decided a few days ago, when they were wrapping up the chemical plant's domain incident.

The West River Water System is complicated, and the water gods in it are a mess. Most of them are wild sacrifices, but there are still legit water gods who have been properly worshipped since way back."

Lately, there've been clear signs in Luoyue County of a Dragon God on the verge of awakening.

We've got to be ready for that, and Wang Xueqi just provided an opportunity—the best possible fallback opportunity.

Honestly, thinking back on it, only someone like me—who doesn't pay much attention or think too deeply—wouldn't have noticed it.

Maybe others, like Minister Cai, probably thought of it right away.

Letting Jiang Yanyan be officially acknowledged—those up top must have already considered what happened today."

"I just didn't see it coming." Wen Yan shook his head.

"You're different. You didn't even know about the ascension ritual stuff before. Haven't had anything like that happen in years; who'd expect it now?

And usually, it was only elders of great virtue from the Three Mountains and Five Ridges, the ones with divine skills and deep cultivation, who qualified for ascension.

But this time, who would've thought they'd allow that little girl to ascend?

Though, thinking about it, it actually makes a lot of sense—not to mention, it was pretty much necessary."

Wen Yan thought for a bit and asked,

"Is the situation really that bad? If it wasn't absolutely necessary, the higher-ups wouldn't approve it so readily, right? Dragon Tiger Mountain wouldn't have agreed so easily, either?"

"I'm not too clear on what's going on in Luoyue County, but from what I've heard, if a Dragon God's waking up in the West River Water System and doesn't mean well, the consequences are severe.

Water gods in the water system are always a pain—especially the ancient ones who still have bodies.

Even if you want to kill them, it's not that easy.

Sending Tuoba Martial God underwater to kill a Dragon God? I doubt that'd even work.

And if you fail, the retaliation will cost us everything.

So unless there's really no choice, we won't go to extremes.

You can't solve everything with brute force.

If only things were that easy."

"From the way you say that, has something like this happened before?"

"Yeah, about thirty years ago, there was a dormant Evil Flood Dragon starting to revive. Back then, its power hadn't recovered much, and the circumstances weren't right for it to regain strength. Even so, it could still stir the winds and the waters and flood a bunch of places. In the end, they lured it into a trap and used eighty auto-cannons to blast it into a sieve."

Qin Kun paused, thinking about Cai Qidong's background.

"At that time, Minister Cai was probably stationed there too. I don't think he was in charge back then—not sure if he was actually involved."

Wen Yan didn't ask more. He was reminded of the hint Old Zhao gave him by using that suicide calculation method.

Both east and west, people are coming—good and bad luck mixed.

He didn't know what any of it meant. But after hearing Qin Kun talk about Luoyue County in the west, Wen Yan figured he might have to walk the old Fuyu Mountain tradition—make an enemy of a water god.

And in the west, the likeliest candidate was the newly awakened Dragon God.

The east... for now, the only possible contact would be with the Changfeng Group.

He chatted some more with Qin Kun about the big turtle they'd sent out. By then, it was about time.

Old Zhang personally handled it—gathered up the ashes, sealed them, and handed them over to Wen Yan.

The work day was officially over at this point.

He took Wang Xueqi's ashes, went through the usual procedures, drove out to sea, and scattered them slowly over the ocean, making sure no one could ever use them.

Her ashes weren't like Uncle's. Uncle was the Big Executor Corpse—after finishing the task, he dissipated, so even if someone wanted to use him, it'd be pointless.

But Wang Xueqi ascended, so there was still some connection. Wen Yan didn't want anyone to exploit that.

After the boat trip, once back on shore and just returning to Virtue City, he got a call from the director.

"Wen Yan, is everything handled?"

"All done, director. Did you need anything?"

"Nah. An old friend of mine from Yu State came around, used some connections to ask me for a favor. Wants to have dinner and a chat with you."

Wen Yan checked the time and curled his lip.

"Director, it's almost six—dinner? I just finished up, won't be back in Virtue City until seven or eight, and I already invited my senior brother over to my place. Let's do it another time."

"No worries, just letting you know. It's an old connection, I can't say no, but I've passed the word on. The rest isn't on me."

"Alright, director, you can just say it straight next time."

After hanging up, Wen Yan glanced at Qin Kun, who'd come along with him.

"Senior Brother Qin, since you're here, want to come over to my place for a bit?"

"..."

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