Chapter 11629 — Though the Words Were Not Spoken Plainly

In name he would be Chief Retainer, but in truth, he had gone and found himself a patriarch to bow down to.

For anyone else, such a move would be a fool's gambit, pure and simple.

Yet Han Niansan's face lit up with open admiration; he clapped Han Changshi on the shoulder and praised him, "Now this has some flavor to it—a fine proposal. I approve."

In the end, the whole point of today's affair had been to bind the Han Princely House to Wei Zhao. Since Wei Zhao refused to be the Han King, then the next best thing—making him Chief Retainer—was none too shabby.

As for whether Wei Zhao might later use that position to meddle in the affairs of the Han Princely House, Han Niansan was not the least bit worried.

Quite the opposite—Han Niansan rather wished Wei Zhao would meddle.

The more he meddled, the deeper the karmic entanglement between Wei Zhao and the Han Princely House would grow, and the tighter the two would be bound. That was precisely what Han Niansan wanted most.

Everyone turned to look at Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao nodded. "That works."

After all, when he returned from the Realm of Sin this time, his goal had been nothing less than the whole Inner Royal Court—and that meant he could not possibly bypass the Seven Princely Houses.

The Han Princely House was the most ready-made first anchor, so naturally he meant to hold it in his grasp.

Thus each side got what it needed, and all were well pleased.

Han Changshi's ascension to the seat of the Han King was, for the Han Princely House, a momentous affair—and even for the whole Inner Royal Court, no small matter either.

After all, however diminished its influence, the Han Princely House was still one of the Seven Princely Houses.

Its weakness was only relative to the other Princely Houses. Compared with the other powers of the Inner Royal Court, the Han Princely House remained a veritable colossus.

When a new king took the throne, custom dictated that a report be filed with the Inner Royal Court's authorities, and only after obtaining the nominal sanction of the Zhou Son of Heaven could the accession ceremony be held.

But given the peculiar circumstances of the present, everything was to be kept simple.

Han Changshi ordered the venue cleared and the banquet reset. Meanwhile, Han Niansan—the true soul of the Han Princely House—set about winning over Wei Zhao, and over the banquet let slip to him a good deal of deep, insider intelligence.

Cross-checking it against the various details he had just pried out of the Old Monster Gu, Wei Zhao suddenly saw the whole picture with perfect clarity.

"The waters of this Inner Royal Court really do run deep."

He had sensed it before now: every faction in the Inner Royal Court was stirring, and even without his own intervention, this was the calm before the storm.

But just what lay behind it all, Wei Zhao had not known.

Now, at last, he understood.

With a meaningful look, Wei Zhao said, "So, by what you're saying, Elder—any power of even modest standing has already made contact with those old monsters within the Inner Royal Court, and they are all waiting for a new age to arrive?"

Han Niansan nodded. "Each age has its own dominant theme. Once you reach the level of a Heaven-Rank Venerable, you can no longer advance simply through personal fortune and solitary cultivation."

"Only by hitching a ride on the main melody does one have any chance of breaking upward. Otherwise, every last one of these old monsters has already hit the ceiling."

"Barring the unforeseen, when the new era arrives, the entire Inner Royal Court will be turned upside down."

"All the old monsters are placing their bets—the seven great princely houses, the other factions, all of them fall within their range of choices."

Wei Zhao caught on. "So you mean to place your bet on me, Senior?"

Han Niansan laughed. "You could put it that way. Unfortunately, a melon forced off the vine is not sweet. As things stand, this is quite good enough."

Wei Zhao asked, "Which house is currently the most favored?"

Han Niansan: "Take a guess."

Wei Zhao answered without thinking, "The Qin Princely House."

If the Inner Royal Court truly entered a new era of contending warlords, the one most likely to break through the encirclement was naturally the Qin Princely House.

At least in terms of hard power, before he himself had appeared on the scene with the Ten Great Sinners, no house across the entire Inner Royal Court could truly contend with it.

Even the Vertical Alliance that had gathered six of the great princely houses only surpassed it in momentum, without any substantive advantage.

Han Niansan shook his head. "Then you have guessed wrong. The last thing these old monsters want to choose is the Qin Princely House."

Wei Zhao was dumbfounded. "Huh?"

Han Niansan explained, "It is true that the Qin Princely House has the strongest comprehensive strength, but that premise rests on the old Inner Royal Court. Under the present circumstances, the joining of any single old monster could overturn the original power structure. How much strength you originally had no longer matters in the slightest."

Wei Zhao grasped it at once. "Whether you have strength or not doesn't matter—what matters is whether everyone favors you?"

Han Niansan nodded in approval. "That is exactly the meaning."

The implication was that even a previously obscure minor faction, so long as it could attract enough old monsters to its side, might overturn the Qin Princely House in terms of hard power.

On this point, the Qin Princely House's original advantage no longer mattered.

"And that is only one part of it."

Han Niansan continued, "There is another, even more important reason that influences these old monsters' bets: the Qin Princely House is the greatest beneficiary of the existing order."

Hearing this, Wei Zhao understood.

The era was about to capsize; the more one had profited from the old era, the greater the likelihood of being overthrown in the new one.

In other words, in the eyes of the many old monsters, the true target of universal hostility was now the Qin Princely House.

Naturally, the other seven great princely houses were no better off.

In their eyes, Wei Zhao's sudden emergence was not a bad thing at all—it was precisely the clearest proof that the new era was about to arrive!

Han Niansan spoke candidly: "This time it is a cataclysm for the entire Inner Royal Court, and for our seven great princely houses, an even greater calamity."

"There is no lack of old monsters choosing to place their bets on us, but there are very few."

"The only thing the seven great princely houses can rely on are the ancestral forebears each of us enshrines."

Wei Zhao looked at him and said bluntly: "Among the ancestors of the Han Princely House, are you the only one who can come out and move about, Senior?"

Han Niansan answered with a shamefaced sweat: "For the moment, yes."

The implication being that this might yet change later on.

But in Wei Zhao's view, the greater likelihood was that it would never change again.

Even though the Han Princely House's standing was not what it had once been compared to the other six, if Han Niansan alone truly had to hold the field, the chances of weathering the coming catastrophe were really not great.

No wonder the man was so impatient to bind himself to Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao turned and asked: "Senior still has not answered the question I asked earlier."

Han Niansan smiled, a smile thick with meaning: "If I do not tell you, you might never guess—the place where the old monsters are clustered most thickly right now is the Son of Heaven's royal palace."

Wei Zhao was astonished: "They favor the Zhou Son of Heaven?"

To be fair, however much of a puppet the Zhou Son of Heaven might be, he was still, in the end, the nominal foremost personage of the Inner Royal Court.