Yun Jianchuan did not look surprised. He only said, "Let him enter."
The elder withdrew.
A moment later, Elder Wen Canglu walked into Green Wind Sword Hall.
He wore dark blue robes lined with thin black thread. No sword hung at his waist. No obvious weapon showed on his body. His face was refined, almost scholarly, with a faint smile that suggested he was never fully unarmed even when his hands were empty.
A 5th layer Sage Ruler.
Not the strongest man in the room.
Perhaps not even the most dangerous.
He stopped at the end of the stone table and bowed with perfect courtesy.
"Sect Master Yun. Elders of Verdant Edge. I apologize for arriving at an unpleasant time."
He Zhaoling sneered. "Night Ledger people always arrive when blood is fresh. Easier to smell profit."
Wen Canglu smiled.
"Profit is simply truth with better accounting."
Several elders' faces turned colder.
Yun Jianchuan's expression did not change. "Speak."
Wen Canglu straightened.
"Night Ledger has been following Long Shenyu and Long Shenyin since Moonwatch City."
That sentence changed the air.
Xu Mingyuan leaned forward slightly.
Qiu Renshu's eyes sharpened.
Wen Canglu lifted one hand. Three black-threaded image jades floated from his sleeve and landed softly on the stone table.
"Our outer lines were disrupted when Moonwatch City fell. The Moonveil Chamber was compromised. Our handler, Su Yueling, ceased sending clean reports after Long Shenyu seized the city's leadership. Before that silence became complete, several recordings escaped through old debt marks."
At the mention of Moonveil, a few elders glanced at one another.
Wen Canglu touched the first image jade.
The image rose.
Moonwatch City appeared beneath a darkening sky.
A beast tide stretched beyond the walls, a moving mass of fur, horn, claw, and killing hunger. City cultivators stood frozen on the battlements. Some were praying. Some were already breaking.
Then pressure descended.
Not an attack.
An aura.
The recording shook. The beast tide halted as if an invisible mountain had dropped in front of it. Low-ranked beasts collapsed. Stronger beasts whimpered and clawed backward. Even through the image, a faint remnant of the pressure made several weaker elders in the hall stiffen.
Long Shenyu stood above the city.
Long Shenyin stood near him.
Neither moved.
The beasts fled.
The image ended.
No one spoke.
Wen Canglu activated the second jade.
This time, the image showed a massive beast kneeling, its head lowered, blood dripping from its jaws. A 2nd layer Sky Lord beast king.
Tuo Shan.
Long Shenyu stood before it with one hand raised. Dark Qi sank into the beast's brow like a brand.
The beast trembled.
Then submitted.
Wen Canglu did not embellish. He did not need to.
"An entire beast tide repelled by aura alone," he said. "A 2nd layer Sky Lord beast king subdued and left to guard the Shen Family compound. Several Moonwatch powers branded within a short period. No meaningful resistance survived."
He touched the third jade.
River Ridge appeared.
This recording was clearer than Verdant Edge's.
Too clear.
Some elders immediately understood. Night Ledger had better record marks in the city than they had admitted.
The image showed flashes of the battle.
Long Shenyu destroying distant attacks aimed at Ning Huang.
The damaged Saint Artifact cracking.
Long Shenyin's spear killing Luo Zhenmu.
Lu Jiangheng dying with him.
Zhao Chuan and Lei Yunhe crippled.
The final image froze on Long Shenyu holding Ning Huang close while the city below stared like men watching a dream turn into disaster.
Wen Canglu lowered his hand.
The images vanished.
For a long moment, only the hall formations hummed.
Luo Fengyan's voice came out cold. "Why bring this to us first?"
Wen Canglu looked at him.
"Because Verdant Edge has already lost blood. That makes you more likely to treat the matter seriously."
"That sounds like an insult."
"It is an assessment."
He Zhaoling gave a low laugh without humor. "Night Ledger wants us to be your sword."
"No," Wen Canglu said. "If I wanted only a sword, I would go to Nine Severing. They are much easier to provoke."
A few elders' mouths twitched despite themselves.
Yun Jianchuan's fingers rested on Green Burial Wind.
"You did not come here to show recordings."
"No," Wen Canglu said. "I came because Verdant Edge should not be the only blade aimed at Long Shenyu."
Xu Mingyuan's eyes narrowed.
Wen Canglu continued, "If you attack alone and fail, your reputation suffers further. If you attack alone and win, you may still lose too many experts and learn too little. Either way, you bear the weight while others watch."
He paused, then smiled faintly.
"So do not make him only your enemy."
Qiu Renshu understood first.
"You want to turn him into bait."
"I want to turn him into temptation."
The words were soft.
They landed heavily.
Wen Canglu spread his hands. "The Noble Domain is full of righteous mouths and greedy hearts. Give them a monster and they will hesitate. Give them a monster holding treasure, and they will call hesitation cowardice."
Luo Fengyan's eyes flashed. "What exactly do you intend to spread?"
"Half-truths."
"Not lies?"
Wen Canglu chuckled. "Lies are brittle. Half-truths bend."
He tapped the image jades again, but did not activate them.
"We will release edited recordings across controlled routes. Merchant halls. taverns used by disciples. Auction brokers. Wandering talisman sellers. Information pavilions that pretend not to belong to us. The recordings will not be fabricated. They will be shaped."
His voice became smoother, colder.
"We show Long Shenyu standing near the broken Saint Artifact, but obscure the exact process. Viewers will see enough to believe he possesses a method related to Saint-rank power, but not enough to judge its limit."
A few elders leaned forward.
"We show Long Shenyin killing Luo Zhenmu, but cut away the clean spear exchange. Without the full sequence, observers cannot tell whether she killed him by raw strength, treasure support, or a hidden senior's remnant force."
He looked toward He Zhaoling.
"The result remains humiliating, but the question becomes profitable."
He Zhaoling did not answer.
Wen Canglu continued, "We show Ning Huang beside him. Not enough to prove she betrayed Heaven's Edict. Enough to make the situation volatile. Some will believe she was seduced. Some will believe she was captured. Some will believe she willingly chose him. All three interpretations serve us."
Xu Mingyuan said, "And the rumor?"
Wen Canglu's smile deepened.
"The rumor will be simple."
He raised one finger.
"Long Shenyu and Long Shenyin possess an ancient inheritance."
A second finger.
"They carry treasures capable of allowing Origin Core cultivators to resist Sky Lords."
A third.
"They may have obtained a damaged Saint-rank legacy."
A fourth.
"Their resources may help late Sky Lords break through bottlenecks."
A fifth.
"And Long Shenyu may have seduced or seized an heir of Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace, meaning anyone who captures him can gain leverage over an upper Noble Domain power."
A few elders inhaled softly.
That last piece was venom.
Not because it was the most believable.
Because it was the most useful.
Yun Jianchuan finally spoke. "Will that be enough?"
Wen Canglu turned to him. "Enough to stir interest? Yes. Enough to gather true predators? Not by itself."
"Then you have more."
"I do."
From his sleeve, Wen Canglu took out a pale jade slip sealed with three black thread marks.
The moment it appeared, a faint medicinal fragrance entered the hall.
Not strong.
Not dramatic.
But deep. Clean. Rooted.
Several elders' expressions changed.
Yun Jianchuan looked at the jade slip. "What is that?"
"News that will begin spreading in three days," Wen Canglu said. "A rare resource will appear in Jadeflow Exchange City."
The name alone carried weight.
Jadeflow Exchange City was one of the busiest neutral market cities in the Noble Domain. It did not belong openly to any single sect. That was its value. Auction houses, pill towers, beast-core brokers, broken inheritance stalls, talisman chambers, weapon refiners, and shadow traders all gathered there beneath oath arrays older than many current sect masters.
Inside the oath-protected districts, killing was forbidden.
Outside them, the streets had a long memory and no conscience.
Every year, cultivators arrived with fortunes and left with empty hands. Some won treasures. Some lost limbs. Some disappeared after buying the wrong item in front of the wrong eyes.
Jadeflow was not peaceful.
It was profitable.
Yun Jianchuan's eyes remained fixed on the jade slip. "What resource?"
Wen Canglu answered clearly.
"Sage-Root Heaven Marrow."
The hall erupted.
This time, even Yun Jianchuan did not stop the first wave of voices.
"Sage-Root Heaven Marrow?"
"Impossible."
"Where did Night Ledger get such information?"
"Is it whole or diluted?"
"Enough for one person?"
"Who owns it?"
"Which auction house?"
Wen Canglu waited.
He let greed breathe.
When the hall finally quieted, he said, "It does not guarantee a breakthrough to Sage Ruler. We are not spreading children's tales. But it can help a 9th layer Sky Lord sense Sage Qi, stabilize the dantian and soul during transition, and form the first outline of structured Dao authority."
No elder dismissed that.
No one could.
The step from Sky Lord to Sage Ruler was not a matter of stuffing more energy into the body. If it were, every old Sky Lord with enough spirit stones would eventually force the gate open.
But cultivation did not work that way.
Sky Qi made the dantian vast and the soul forceful. It gave a cultivator heavenly resonance and clearer Dao direction. Sage Qi was different. Sage Qi carried structure. Authority. Mature truth. To endure it, a cultivator's energy, body, soul, and comprehension had to align without collapse.
Many peak Sky Lords died at that gate.
Many more survived but failed, damaging their foundations so badly they never advanced again.
A resource that could steady the transition was not merely valuable.
It was worth killing for.
Wen Canglu's eyes moved across the elders.
"For late Sky Lords, it is priceless. For sects, it is war bait."
Xu Mingyuan was silent for a long breath.
Then he said, "You want every late Sky Lord, ambitious heir, hidden elder, and bottlenecked monster in the region looking toward Jadeflow."
"Yes."
"And you believe Long Shenyu will go."
"I do."
"Why?"
Wen Canglu's smile thinned. "Because he does not act like a lone rogue. He acts like a man building a force. He cares about the women beside him. Mei Qingxue, Shen Lanyue, Ning Huang. Their growth matters to him. He has shown willingness to seize resources openly and offend powers without concern."
He tapped the table once.
"A resource that can help Sky Lords approach Sage Ruler will interest him, if not for himself, then for them."
Luo Fengyan frowned. "He is Origin Core."
"So were the two who killed your inner deacon."
The words cut cleanly.
Luo Fengyan's face darkened, but he did not deny it.
Qiu Renshu stared at Wen Canglu. "And once he arrives?"
Wen Canglu's voice became softer.
"Then he will no longer be a rumor in a Lower Domain city. He will be inside Jadeflow, surrounded by Noble Domain eyes, hungry Sky Lords, sect heirs, hired killers, auction spies, and elders who will not tolerate being looked down on."
He looked toward Yun Jianchuan.
"Verdant Edge will not need to chase him into unknown terrain. The terrain will gather around him."
He Zhaoling finally laughed.
This time, there was pleasure in it.
"So we let greed do what caution could not."
Wen Canglu inclined his head. "Greed is the most reliable messenger in the Noble Domain."
After a short moment of contemplation, Yun Jianchuan's fingers tapped once against his sword hilt.
"Three steps."
The words cut through the hall.
"First, Verdant Edge will cooperate with Night Ledger's rumor spread."
A few elders shifted, but no one interrupted.
"Not openly," Yun Jianchuan continued. "Not crudely. I want no rumor that points back to our hall. The story must look like it grew by itself. Merchants, wandering cultivators, medical buyers, weapon brokers, loose-tongued guards from River Ridge, frightened Qin retainers. Let each carry one piece. Never the whole."
Yin Qianmo's eyes flickered with approval.
That was how rumors lived.
A rumor handed over as a complete meal could be tested, cut apart, and traced.
A rumor scattered like grain would be eaten by birds and dropped across a hundred roads.
Yun Jianchuan raised a second finger.
"Second, Verdant Edge will send an official delegation to Jadeflow Exchange City for the Sage-Root Heaven Marrow."
Yun Jianchuan's third finger rose.
"Third, we prepare a hidden sword execution squad."
He Zhaoling's eyes sharpened.
"But," Yun Jianchuan said, and the single word killed He Zhaoling's brief satisfaction, "they are not to act until Long Shenyu's methods are measured."
The Grand Elder's face sank.
"Sect Master."
Yun Jianchuan looked at him.
He Zhaoling spoke through clenched teeth. "If the squad is close enough to strike and you bind their hands, you invite hesitation. Hesitation kills swordsmen."
"Blindness kills more."
"They killed Luo Zhenmu."
"And if they can kill what we send next?" Yun Jianchuan asked.
He Zhaoling went silent.
Yun Jianchuan leaned forward slightly.
His voice did not rise.
That made it heavier.
"Grand Elder He, you think I am restraining you because I lack killing intent. You are wrong. I want Long Shenyu's head placed before this table. I want Long Shenyin's spear broken and melted into a warning plaque. But I will not spend Verdant Edge lives just to soothe the hall's wounded pride."
His eyes swept across the elders.
"Other sects will measure him for us."
Xu Mingyuan's gaze lowered in thought.
Yun Jianchuan continued, "Red Lotus Smoke Monastery is greedy enough to test anyone rumored to carry rare treasures. Gale River Spear Lodge hates missing chances to seize momentum in public places. They will not be able to resist. Let them send incense monks, spear heirs, poison veils, river ambushes. Let them discover whether Long Shenyu's power is talisman, bloodline, forbidden art, or true combat strength."
He tapped the table.
"When the prey reveals its teeth, then our sword moves."
He Zhaoling breathed out slowly.
He still hated it.
Everyone could see he hated it.
But Yun Jianchuan had not refused revenge. He had delayed it until the killing edge could land deeper.
That was harder to argue against.