Chapter 11629 — Though the Words Were Not Spoken Plainly
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
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.