Early in the morning, the entire Xu Residence was eerily quiet. All the servants were walking around in silence. The whole residence was at peace. No one was making any noise.

　　Inside the residence’s main hall, six people were sitting together. They were bickering with each other.

　　The seniors of the Startling Cloud Association were gathered, all four of the clan leaders and the two main guardians.

　　The leader of the faction, Xu Zhichun, had died so suddenly. It was far too abrupt.

　　The maid knocked on the door in the morning, but there was no response. She dared not to barge into the bedroom, so she went and reported it to the Lady. Lady Chen Siyu allowed the others to enter the bedroom, where they then saw Xu Zhichun lying peacefully on his bed, deceased.

　　The brilliant leader of the faction had died so suddenly. They were shocked. It was unbelievable. After checking his body, it was initially suspected that he was consumed by his cultivation.

　　Xu Zhichun had died and left the Startling Cloud Faction behind. It was quite the mess.

　　The four clan leaders and two guardians were sitting at the table in deep discussion. The issues being discussed were whether to make the leader’s funeral a quiet and peaceful one or carry out a grand funeral but more importantly, the appointment of a new leader of the faction needed to be deliberated. They had to figure out who was going to be the next faction leader.

　　The four clan leaders were the elders who had brought up the faction. All of them were from clans of faithful subordinates, but ultimately under Xu Zhichun’s rule, they could only order people from within their own clans. As for the other two guardians, they did not hold much influence so they were not much of a threat.

　　They were clear and understanding. If they really were unable to bring each other together, the Startling Cloud Association would split up, and the Equal of Heaven Association that had been waiting from the sidelines would attempt to make the situation worse so they needed to keep the faction together.

　　But to let an outsider be the faction leader? They were not totally convinced.

　　Guardian Xu continued their conversation by proposing his opinion. He suggested that Lady Chen Siyu be the new faction leader and inherit the Startling Cloud Faction from the Young Master.

　　After his proposal, everyone was silent. They looked at each other in dismay.

　　Lady Chen Siyu was a woman. It was hard to imagine that everyone in the faction would be willing to listen to a woman giving them orders. Besides, she was not even one of Xu Zhichun’s children.

　　Unfortunately, no one knew where the two sons of the faction leader were. They were too young. It was much too hard for a child to carry such a heavy responsibility.

　　“I feel that Lady Chen Siyu is suitable to be the faction leader!” Hu Hai stroked his beard.

　　“Lady Chen Siyu is a fair person, she’s kind and suitable. It would be great to have her in the faction. Furthermore, all our brothers outside of the faction would be convinced too.”

　　“But she’s a woman!” the Hurricane Clan Leader muttered.

　　Hu Hai scoffed. “Green Deer Cliff’s followers are all women, and which one of them can you defeat?”

　　“About this…” Everyone shook their head helplessly.

　　This was relatively true to an extent, but there were only a few followers in the Deer of the Cliff. The world still belonged to the men, and obeying the orders of a woman was certainly seen as awkward. What’s more is that they probably would not even be able to lift their heads in public either.

　　“What we need to do now is to prevent the Equal of Heaven Association from looting us! Don’t tell me one of you wanted to be the faction leader? You don’t have that kind of fate! Just give up and truly obey Lady Chen Siyu!” said Hu Hai.

　　“Elder Hu, what you’ve said is indeed right, but…” the Nebula Clan Leader was a handsome middle-aged man. He lightly stroked his beard and sighed.

　　“We’re taking it too lightly!” Hu Hai scoffed.

　　“Elder Mah, if Lady Chen Siyu is here, then the Startling Cloud Association will always be here too. If we make someone else the leader, is everyone going to be convinced? Fighting over the position of the faction leader will only lead to none of us staying in the end!”

　　Zheng Gongming, the one who was always with his eyes closed and taking a nap suddenly opened his eyes.

　　“Lady Chen Siyu’s personality is flexible, she’s suitable as the leader,” he slowly said.

　　“Elder Zheng has already spoken of his opinion. It surely can’t be the wrong decision?” Hu Hai laughed.

　　Xu Anxia did not say a word. This was because his experience was lacking compared to the other five people in the main hall. Whatever he said would certainly not be taken as seriously as what the others say. The suggestion he made had been approved and that in itself was already very precious.

　　“… Okay then. Let Lady Chen Siyu be the new faction leader!” the white-haired Volt Clan Leader said, in a deep tone.

　　“That’s what it should be!” Hu Hai clapped his hands.

　　“I only hope that this was the correct choice…”

　　…

　　The water-like moonlight shrouded over the Xu Residence’s garden.

　　Chu Li and Chen Siyu sat beside the stone table, enjoying the fresh bloom of the flowers, and were leisurely talking to each other. The lights lit up the garden and gave it a dreamy and magical atmosphere.

　　“I can’t believe it…” Chen Siyu softly shook her head.

　　She had thought that there would be numerous obstacles for her to face and that it would prove almost impossible for her to become the new faction leader. She could not believe how successful the plan had been. The position of faction leader belonged to her after just one day.

　　The Lady found it improbable as if she was in a dreamland.

　　The leader of the Startling Cloud Association. This was a position Chen Siyu had never even dreamed of having. The position was high and powerful, and whoever held it was considered the leader of half the Cloud State Town. The moment she stomped her foot, the entire town would shake.

　　Chu Li looked and smiled at her.

　　He could tell what state she was in without activating the Omniscient Mirror. The position of faction leader and wife of Young Master was very different, like the clouds and the soil. It was no wonder that she was in such shock.

　　“Cousin sister, the position of faction leader is not an easy burden to carry.” He passed Chen Siyu a bowl of cold water to cool her down.

　　Chen Siyu looked at him, confused.

　　“Can you control the four clan leaders, two big guardians, the foreign high official, and even clan’s commoners?” asked Chu Li.

　　Chen Siyu suddenly furrowed her brows and shook her head.

　　She was a woman. Her innate mastery was severely lacking and as well as that, her martial arts skill was not fully trained either. It was impossible for Chen Siyu to control the elders with a competition of martial arts.

　　“If you can’t control them, you are nothing more than a puppet. It would be almost worthless to be Faction Leader,” said Chu Li.

　　“Then what should I do now?” asked Chen Siyu.

　　“You need to separate and balance each of them. Don’t let them band together and pull you down.”

　　Chen Siyu looked as if she was in deep thought about it.

　　Chu Li smiled.

　　Chen Siyu was an intelligent person, as well as a scheming one. She made every single move calmly and with much deliberation. Not to mention, she was full of potential and only required a little more training. With it, she would be able to remain as the faction leader.

　　Chu Li left for a while to give her some time and space to think.

　　“If this can’t be done, then you can only use force against them,” said Chu Li.

　　Martial arts was the fastest way to solve problems. If one only knew how to control their subordinates, it would be useless. The most important part of a faction leader was their martial arts skill.

　　“… Don’t fight unless you have to,” Chen Siyu said.

　　If she killed any of the elders as soon as she got the position, she will have made people restless. Controlling the reaction was not going to be beneficial to her at all. The Equal of Heaven Association will attempt to create more problems when given the chance and the Startling Cloud Faction would be plunged into chaos.

　　“I’ll kill one of them before I leave,” replied Chu Li.

　　Chen Siyu looked at him.

　　Chu Li smiled.

　　“Don’t tell me that you want to save those who have bad intentions towards you?”

　　“But killing people…” Chen Siyu hesitated.

　　“How can you build up your standing if you don’t kill? If you don’t build up your standing, no one will listen to you, since you’re a woman!” said Chu Li.

　　“Who should I kill?” Chen Siyu sighed.

　　She had just contradicted herself. Even though she felt that killing was not necessary, what Chu Li said still made sense. If one did not show that they were mighty and powerful, being the faction leader would only be an empty title.

　　“The Leader of the Hurricane Clan.” Chu Li smiled. “He had hooked up with the Equal of Heaven Faction.”

　　Chen Siyu was shocked. “How could this be?”

　　Her father in law may have been a monster, but Xu Zhichun’s diplomacy was quite notable. He had good intuition too. Chen Siyu could not believe that he did not know that someone so close to him was a traitor.

　　“I think faction leader Xu Zhichun knew about it,” Chu Li said.

　　Chen Siyu looked at him, confused.

　　Chu Li sighed.

　　“Leader Xu is very confident. He thinks that he can handle every situation and that everything is under his control, so he acted like he knew nothing to fool the Equal of Heaven Association. He would only have acted when the conflict reached a decisive point.” Chen Siyu furrowed her brows and muttered to herself.

　　All these people with their complicated schemes and plans gave her a headache. It seemed like her level was far from theirs. She still needed to learn a lot more to secure her position as faction leader.

　　“The way Leader Xu dealt with problems was like playing with fire. Cousin sister you can’t be that way, so we need to remove the problem first. If you want to secure your standing, you must show the Equal of Heaven Association your power!” Chu Li said.

　　“My standing…” Chen Siyu understood all of a sudden.

　　Chu Li smiled.

　　“We need not worry about this right now. Just make sure you’re ready. The position of faction leader isn’t an easy task. Spur your will!”

　　“I can handle it!” Chen Siyu softly bit her red lips.

　　This was about their own lives. Chen Siyu was a weak woman. Even if she wanted to quit the position, she would still be bullied by the others, perhaps for the rest of her life.

　　Chu Li smiled and nodded his head. He felt satisfied.

　　Chen Siyu was already a smart person. If she were threatened to make a choice between life or death, she would definitely be more motivated but was nonetheless lacking in protective skills. This fact was still dangerous.

　　“What martial arts do you normally cultivate?”

　　“I normally cultivate Thrilling Storm and Sword of Thrilling Storm. Those are the skills I inherited from my family.”

　　“Nothing else?”

　　“No.”

　　“Don’t you have an ace in the hole to protect yourself?”

　　“The technique itself has a finishing blow, yes.”

　　“… I have but one martial arts skill. You can use it when you’re in a bind.” Chu Li took out a notebook.

　　Chen Siyu walked towards Chu Li in shock. She lowered her head to have a look.

　　“The Eternity Blade.”

　　She had heard of this specific martial art technique before. It was incredibly powerful, but once it was used, either one of the users or the victim will die.

　　Chu Li took out a porcelain bottle and passed it to Chen Siyu.

　　“This is the Energy Pill. If you really need to use the Eternity Blade, eat this first. Activate the Eternity Blade after fifteen minutes. It can revitalize your inner energy so you can continue to fight.”

　　“I can only use the Eternity Blade once?” asked Chen Siyu.

　　“Only once. Eat the Energy Pill before activating it so you can recover fast enough to keep fighting. Remember, only use the Eternity Blade when you have no other choice.”

　　“Why?”

　　“The Eternity Blade burdens the meridians too much. If you use two blades at once and your meridians can’t handle it, you’ll put your own life in danger.”

　　Chu Li had the Life and Death Scripture to enhance his meridians. He even got to cultivate Minute Pulse Cleansing Technique. Added on with the boost from the Torso Refiner, he was able to activate the Eternity Blade multiple times. But it would not be the same for anyone else. If it was activated twice, the user’s meridian would crash and they would either die or be rendered in a vegetative state for life.

　　Chen Siyu looked intensely at Chu Li. She pursed her red lips without saying any words of thanks.

　　“Thrilling Storm isn’t so bad. Sword of Thrilling Storm is good too. Once you finish cultivating it, that should be enough for you to become a top master with it. The main key is still to reach the innate mastery boundary though. The Energy Pill can assist you in this matter. I’ll go and get a few more bottles for you later,” Chu Li said.

　　“It’s okay. This is already enough for me.” Chen Siyu hurriedly shook her head.

　　She knew about the Energy Pill. This was one of the many spirit medicines of the Public House. It was very effective in the replenishing of inner energy. Chu Li had already given her a bottle but still intended to give her more. Chen Siyu dared not to accept his offer.

　　Chu Li smiled.

　　“The Energy Pill is very precious in the Martial Arts World but it’s close to nothing in the Public House. You need to cultivate faster so you can be a powerful faction leader, or else you won’t be able to convince the crowd and that’s not a good thing!”

　　“… Okay,” Chen Siyu sighed.

　　The Startling Cloud Association also had their very own spirit medicine because they were a powerful and famous faction, after all. However, the difference between them and the Public House was still like the heavens and the earth.

　　Chu Li suddenly furrowed his brows and shook his hand to signal her to stop talking. He sensed an intruder in the residence!