Wan Liu had his doubts. He would not just believe anything. Even if he believed in Jun Nie, the other clans would not do so that easily.
"I do. Firstly, both Keal and Xin died at Yang Zhai's hands. Second, Yang Zhai told us that Osu Ke inquired about the Death Warrant from Yang Zhai and you know what he told Osu Ke. The Death Warrant given to Yang Zhai by the Bai clan was a defensive ire, and he admitted that too in front of Tai Qi. Well, what do you think about that? Isn't everything obvious?"
"As for the third one, one of the men who attacked us admitted to me that he was there to kill me on Zihao De's orders. And of course, the fourth one was informed to me by my informants, here's the letter." Jun Nie handed a letter to Ma Wan Liu.
Ma clan leader's eyes dilated when he read the letter. The one attacking the Ma clan with the Death Warrant was none other than Cu Gil, and obviously, it was stolen from the Bai clan. Was it that easy to steal it from the Bai clan? Of course not, it was definitely done with the Bai clan leader's indirect permission.
If what Jun Nie said was true, then the Bai clan would definitely kill Osu Ke to hide the information. After all, everyone who knew about Death Warrant knew that it was made to only kill, not to defend. And there was only one man in the Bai clan capable of killing Osu Ke without even a little commotion, and that was none other than Tai Qi.
"But why is Yang Zhai helping us? Wasn't he throwing big talk like not betraying his clan and something like this, so why would he suddenly turn to our side?"
"About that, he was already working with Jun Haru secretly. He wanted the inheritance as well. When he thought that betraying his clan might not get him even a little amount of inheritance, he did not turn to our side at the final round. I had also told him to never openly admit that he was with us, that's why he didn't accept our offer. I wanted to keep everything under wraps until the final round. But we lost and I think it's about time for us to strike." Jun Nie said with an awkward smile.
"Oh, then why did he kill Keal and Xin?"
"Well, we only met Yang Zhai after reaching the Bai clan. For some reason, both Keal and Xin attacked Jun Haru at the Clan leader's residence and Yang Zhai saved him. After that, both of them became good friends, and at some point. Jun Haru invited him to our side. Last night, I bribed him saying that if we get the inheritance, we will give him 20 percent of it. Of course, we won't. We will just use him." Jun Nie stopped to contemplate and continued,
"Even though he killed Keal and Xin to save Jun Haru, we can say that the Bai clan killed them on purpose. I think we should already start preparing for a war. The Bai clan is already planning to destroy us. We need to strike first, after all, even the Death Warrant is enough to destroy our clan even if it develops to rank 3, let alone rank 4. Until then, we would have almost lost all of the rank 3 cultivators and below that. And if we don't do anything, our numbers will keep on dwindling with the passage of time as long as Cu Gill keeps on attacking us, and this was all done by the Bai clan. We don't have much time, we need to do something while we still can." Jun Nie was already urging Wan Liu.
"If everything you said is true, then forget about the reason, I want to know how dare they try to mess with us like that. Jun Nie, can you bring Yang Zhai to me? I want to hear everything from him myself." Ma Wan Liu said with anger in his tone.
Jun Nie was his strategist, so Ma Wan Liu believed in what he said. However, he still wanted to confirm everything related to Yang Zhai himself as Yang Zhai was a crucial witness of two reasons out of four mentioned by Jun Nie. Even if Yang Zhai goes back on his words from the fear of death later on, Ma Wan Liu will at least have no doubts left after listening to Yang Zhai.
…..
That night,
Yang Zhai was standing with Jun Haru, whereas Ma Wan Liu and Jun Nie were sitting on two chairs.
Yang Zhai secretly came to the Ma clan camp. He was instructed by Jun Nie to be there tonight, as Jun Nie was sure he would be able to convince Ma Wan Liu by then if he was not the one helping Yang Zhai.
"Yang Zhai, Jun Nie told me everything, but I want to hear from you as to what exactly happened. I also know that Jun Nie agreed to give you a 20 percent share of the inheritance if we manage to get it just for giving us information. Don't worry, nobody will be able to hear us here, so speak without worries. So tell me about the incident that happened at Tai Qi's residence and about Osu Ke. Do you have anything to prove these claims?" Wan Liu Qi questioned.
He had no doubts left about the Death Warrant and Zihao De's order to attack Jun Nie. He believed in him. But Yang Zhai was a different case. He might be lying to get a share in the inheritance.
"Clan leader, when Keal and Xin attacked brother Jun Haru, I saved him. But as a result, I ended up killing both Keal and Xin. Brother Haru can be a witness to this." Yang Zhai said and looked at Jun Haru.
Ma Wan Liu also looked at Jun Haru.
When Jun Haru saw this, he nodded and said,
"Yes, clan leader, Yang Zhai is telling the truth. When I was alone with them in the Bai clan leader's residence, they attacked me out of nowhere. I was at death's door and brother Yang saved me. I am not sure as to why they attacked me though."
"As for Elder Osu Ke. One day, he came to the clan leader's residence and asked me about the Death Warrant that I Had. You should know that I was given a Death Warrant by the third elder Zihao De and was told that it was a defensive ire. I told everything to the elder Osu Ke when he investigated me in front of clan leader Tai Qi. But later on, I came to know that the Death Warrant was not a defensive ire, but an attack one. The one I was given was fake. It was also destroyed when I tried to defend myself with it from my uncle's attack." Yang Zhai explained everything in detail.
Yang Zhai also explained Osu Ke's appearance and all the other questions he asked of Yang Zhai.
"Fine, you can go back. Also, we might need your help later on. Don't worry, we only needed this information and nothing else to stay careful and to know the truth. You will be provided with 20 percent of the inheritance after we get it. Just keep on giving us information from now on whenever we need it. And if you join us completely, we might even think of giving you 35 percent of the inheritance." Wan Liu tried to bribe Yang Zhai as well.
As they were not going to give Yang Zhai even a little bit of the inheritance, it didn't matter how much Ma Wan Liu promised Yang Zhai, therefore, he went ahead and promised 35 percent of the inheritance.
Jun Nie last night pretended to not know about everything that his son told him and pretended like he was bribing a normal kid in front of Yang Zhai. Jun Haru also told Jun Nie that Yang Zhai was after the inheritance. As a result, Jun Nie ended up promising Yang Zhai 20 percent of the inheritance share. Yang Zhai only needed to share the information and nothing else.
He also did everything in this manner to not let Yang Zhai know that he was going to start the war that Yang Zhai stopped. And as Yang Zhai was getting what he was after —the inheritance— Jun Nie believed that the person behind Yang Zhai would not mind or Yang Zhai might not even tell that person about the deal between Yang Zhai and Jun Nie.
Only providing information didn't mean that a war would ensue. Thus, Jun Nie believed that the man behind Yang Zhai would not take any action. Also, even if the war did break out, the Ma clan was doing it because they were wronged by the Bai clan many times, so the man behind Yang Zhai would not be able to blame Jun Nie this time.
Jun Nie now also knew that the one behind Yang Zhai was not Ma Wan Liu. If he was, he would have insisted on not starting a war. Also, he called Yang Zhai for confirmation, which means he did not ever speak with Yang Zhai before, if he did, why would he call Yang Zhai as he would have known all of this beforehand? But, Ma Wan Liu did not even know anything, not even that Keal and Xin were killed and did not disappear before today.
As for whether Ma Wan Liu knew that Jun Nie wanted to kill his own son to start a war previously or even that Ma Wan Liu wanted to get rid of him, Jun Nie did not know about this yet. In the letter —that was given to Jun Nie by Jun Haru and to Jun Haru by Yang Zhai— was written that Ma Wan Liu knew about Jun Nie's scheme of starting a war by killing his own son and that he was just waiting to get rid of Jun Nie.
But right now, it was a matter related to the clan and its future, so even if Ma Wan Liu knew that Jun Nie wanted to start a war for his own revenge, he had no choice but to go along with Jun Nie's plan this time around.
Forget about starting a war for the inheritance, even if it was not related to it, after what the Bai clan did to us, a war is the only option left. Otherwise, Ma Wan Liu's authenticity in the Clan would be reduced if he stayed quiet even after what the Bai clan has been doing to us. And of course, even if Ma Wan Liu trusted me and my strategies, he would not even for a second believe that I would not spread rumors and would stay quiet: thought Jun Nie.
No matter how strong a lion was, it still needed its pack to hunt and rule.
As a result, a war was impending over everyone's head and was ready to bear its claws on the two clans and many lives.
/!*****!*****!/