"It depends. I need context."
Elder Su Zhenhua shot a glance at the servant, who, though hesitant, followed the order and gave a concise overview of the situation.
.
.
.
"So let me reiterate, upon the Patriarch and the Elders' arrival at the secret realm location, your spies alerted you that other parties had suddenly moved? Are we certain this is not mere coincidence?"
The servant, or rather, the head of the secret guardians, responded promptly.
"Our intelligence confirms that this isn't a coincidence. The other factions are now actively stocking up on resources for the near conflict that will arise when the secret realm finally opened."
"That's quite a high-profile move from them, isn't it?"
Yang Huo turned to Elder Su Zhenhua. "With how fast they are reacting, they must have gotten the leak from a fast yet reliable source. I am sure you know what that means, right?"
Elder Su Zhenhua nodded in agreement. "Indeed. It's most likely that the traitor is among the Elders accompanying the Patriarch or among the guardians protecting the secret realm."
"That's right..... What do you say, uncle? I assume those guardians are under you?" Yang Huo then directed a question to the head of the secret guardians.
The uncle quickly explained. "I can assure you that none of them are the traitors! We have a system in place where we randomly pair them up every few days. If one of them were a traitor, their partner would notice immediately!"
Yang Huo scoffed at that. "Heh, easy for you to say. That's your people, after all."
The uncle could only offer a wry smile in response.
Yang Huo glanced at the Elder, who shook his head at it. And this made Yang Huo sighed and shrugged, "Fine, assuming it's not the guardians... then things get more complicated."
Tapping his finger on the table in contemplation, Yang Huo eventually furrowed his brows and turned back to the head of the secret guardians.
"These other factions.... who are they exactly? Are they major players?"
The uncle replied, "Yes, they're the Wang family and the Golden Lotus Pavilion. We haven't noticed any movement from the smaller parties yet."
A playful smile crossed Yang Huo's face as he turned to Elder Su Zhenhua.
"Elder, between these two factions, where do you think the Su family stands in terms of capability?"
Everyone was stunned when they heard Yang Huo. What kind of question was this? Elder Su Zhenhua naturally felt confused and said.
"I'm... not sure I'm following."
Yang Huo nodded in understanding. "It's nothing complicated, really. Depending on your answer, my advice for you will differ. So you know what to do, right?"
The Elder, of course, understood. Yang Huo was asking him to answer truthfully, without familial bias. But ignoring whether this was a relevant topic or not, would any elder dare belittle their own family?
Elder Su Zhenhua thought for a moment, but in the end, he gave up and answered. "Even if not by a long shot, our family is, of course, the number one."
"You sure?"
Elder Su Zhenhua met his gaze with unwavering confidence and affirmed his stance.
Yang Huo's smile widened. "Nice confidence." With a snap of his fingers, a set of paper and brush appeared on his table.
"Then my advice is simple," he remarked casually and began to write.
Curiosity piqued amongst everyone, but only the owl perched beside Yang Huo could see the content inside. And after just two sentences, the owl was startled by the content.
"Oh, I almost forgot..." Yang Huo glanced at the head of the secret guardians before returning to his writing. "Just for extra measure, I have one last question."
"If you recall the moment when you received the news, could you approximate the time when the Wang family and the Golden Lotus pavilion received the leak?"
The secret guardian's head wasn't ready for the question at first, but when he tried to think about it, he quickly shook his head.
"Even with knowing the duration for the message to travel to me, our spies may not be able to send the news to me right away, so unless I talked to them about this. It is impossible to know."
Yang Huo nodded. "That's a pity... but that's fine"
At that moment, Yang Huo set aside his brush and finished his writing. With a move of a finger, a gust of wind gently carried the paper over to Elder Su Zhenhua. And then, Yang Huo stretches for a bit and rose from his seat.
"Sending it to the other two is obvious. As for the others, I'll leave it to you to decide. But remember, the more, the better."
When Yang Huo began to turn and leave, both the head of the secret guardians and Su Zhiyuan were caught off-guard by this.
"Wait! W-where are you going, Master Yang Huo?"
Yang Huo chuckled softly. "Where else? To bed, of course. Goodnight, everyone."
With his goodnight bidding, he left the room immediately, leaving behind two bewildered individuals.
What just happened? Didn't you going to help us? How could you just hand us a piece of paper and call it done?
But when they turned their attention back to Elder Su Zhenhua, they noticed him deep in concentration, carefully reading the piece of paper in his hands.
"What... is this?" he murmured, his brows furrowing deeply.
Seizing the opportunity, the other two couldn't help but sneak a peek at the paper. And instantly, their eyes widened in shock, as if struck by a bolt of lightning.
"Isn't this––!!"
[––an invitation?!?!]
Yang Huo felt his ears bled from having the System's voice pounded in his mind. Yet the System kept shaking his head.
[Why would you send an invitation when we're on the brink of war?!]
The letter Yang Huo had written was an invitation to a meeting. However, the problem lay in its explicit mention that a secret realm was about to open.
Wasn't this just advertising that the Su family had an untouched treasure trove, ready to get taken?
[And how is this going to make the Su family find the traitor?!]
Yang Huo sighed softly as he lightly scratched his ears. "Well, it doesn't."
Before the System could unleash another barrage of protests, Yang Huo swiftly covered the owl's mouth and continued.
'Consider this, if you were the patriarch of the Su family, what would concern you more? The traitor? Or the imminent war?'
Once the owl wriggled free from Yang Huo's grasp, it promptly responded. [Puah! Isn't it obvious?! The war is worse!]
Yang Huo shook his head.
'Then what if the Su family gave up control of the secret realm? Wouldn't that put an end to the war for them?'