劍問蒼天 - 第146章 毒計 - 清風書屋

"What?" This news was even more startling than Mingwang's words before. Mingli and the others were all people who well knew the stakes involved, and they understood at once what the death of this man meant.

Mingwang looked around at them all and smiled. "None of you are fools. You should all know that what we face now is an opportunity."

Mingli pondered a moment, glanced at Cangyan Daoren, and said, "Was this news brought by this... Daoist?"

Mingwang nodded. "Indeed. And these past few days I have secretly verified it—it is true."

Mingli drew a deep breath and said, "What is the state of the Ten Thousand Poison Sect now?"

The Ghost King glanced at Cangsong, who understood and said, "Before the Poison God died, he left the position of sect master to Qin Wujiu, but several of his other disciples refused to accept it. The Ten Thousand Poison Sect is in utter chaos now—to fight over the seat of sect master, the various masters within the sect have split into factions and struggle endlessly among themselves."

The Ghost King cut in, "Good that it's chaotic—the more chaos the better. This is precisely our grand opportunity to unify the Holy Cult." He paused, then suddenly smiled at Mingli and said, "Come to think of it, it was you who gravely wounded Qin Wujiu in the Dead Marsh that created this chaos. Your merit is no small thing."

Mingli's heart stirred. He raised his head to look at the Ghost King and saw his gaze as usual, his eyes glittering with keen light, yet he could discern nothing unusual in his expression, and so he could only remain silent.

The Ghost King did not dwell on the subject either, saying, "I have summoned you all here today chiefly because Daoist Cangsong has a stratagem that can help our Ghost King Sect crush the Ten Thousand Poison Sect in one stroke..."

Everyone was startled. The Ten Thousand Poison Sect had always been reckoned foremost among the three great factions of the Demonic Cult. Though the Poison God, their gravest scourge, was now dead, a centipede dies hard even when dead—even if the Ghost King Sect threw in all its strength, toppling the Ten Thousand Poison Sect in a single blow would still be fraught with difficulty; and even if it could be done, they themselves would likely be gravely weakened, profiting only the Enchanting Soul Sect, which stood by watching coldly from the sidelines.

Mingli knew the Ghost King had always been meticulous and would never fail to see a truth even he himself could easily grasp. For a moment, he grew somewhat curious about this so-called brilliant scheme of Daoist Cangyan and said, "Oh? There is such a wondrous plan—I must hear it."

Daoist Cangyan did not stand on ceremony. He gave the Ghost King a slight nod, looked about at the assembly, and said, "Do you know what the people of the world fear most at present?"

At this question, seemingly beside the point, Mingli and the others were all taken aback. Yousi said, "Naturally it is those man-devouring beasts and demons of the southern marches. Daoist, why ever bring up these monsters?"

Mr. Ghost, seated beside the Ghost King, after his initial surprise, now gave a slight nod beneath his black veil and let out a soft murmur, as though he had thought of something.

Daoist Cangyan said to Yousi, "This stratagem must be built upon those beasts and demons. Otherwise, given the Ten Thousand Poison Sect's strength, whoever wishes to swallow it will find themselves gravely weakened in the doing."

Most of those present had by now grasped the drift. Mingli nodded and said, "Indeed. It would be best if we could set the Ten Thousand Poison Sect and the beasts and demons to fighting each other—but how can it be done?"

Daoist Cangyan smiled slightly and said, "In truth it is very simple. Those beasts and demons kill every person they see, do they not? And many of them have keen noses and relish human flesh. We need only do thus..."