Chapter 1112: Three Hidden Dangers

Bang!
As the doors of the council hall closed, only two people remained inside. Happy then opened his eyes and gently tapped his seat twice without drawing attention.
Tap, tap!
The rhythmic sound seemed to trigger some mechanism, and suddenly the sound of springs could be heard.
Yi Di also stopped stroking the blade of his sword and was surprised to see the several-inch-thick iron wall panels attached to the doors and windows suddenly drop!
Boom!
Boom, boom, boom!
Like a domino effect, the iron wall panels continued to fall one after another, instantly sealing off the doors and windows. In the blink of an eye, the entire council hall was transformed into a heavily fortified metal fortress from the inside.
“…”
Faced with this sudden change, Yi Di frowned and glanced at Happy’s face. “In the Central Plains, nothing can threaten you anymore. There’s no need to keep anything secret when discussing anything, right…”
Happy had caused such a huge commotion, turning the atmosphere tense. Even Yi Di couldn’t maintain his composure and couldn’t help showing surprise.
“There’s indeed no need to keep talks secret.”
As he spoke, Happy stood up and walked into the hall. “Fighting you has been my long-held desire for years. But in the Xifeng Tower’s prison, we both had reservations and didn’t give our all… Since I still have some free time now, how about letting me see your eleventh and twelfth swords?”
“I see.”
Yi Di’s eyes lit up!
With a slight smile, he quickly drew his sword. The moment he grasped it, a powerful sword energy filled the somewhat empty hall, adding a sense of coldness to the air.
Yi Di’s voice echoed through the hall:
“Although I know I’m no longer your opponent, I’m still curious. I want to know what fraction of your strength I can force out of you…” Before he could finish, he saw Happy already taking out the Golden Scaled Divine Sword, which emitted a faint golden glow, from his Qiankun Bag. His expression relaxed—to be honest, he had been worried that Happy might pull out the Dark Iron Heavy Sword.
Hearing this, Happy simply smiled calmly and replied,
“You flatter me. Fighting the Evil Emperor was because I was a bit tougher and managed to win by a narrow margin… But it wasn’t me who defeated the Evil Emperor—it was he who defeated himself! If only he could stay calm, I wouldn’t have been able to do much to him. It’s a pity he had to reveal his weaknesses on his own.”
As he spoke, Happy sighed deeply.
“Although the weaknesses were forced upon him by me, the main reason was that the Evil Emperor didn’t unleash his full strength and didn’t treat me as a real rival.”

Hearing Happy’s words of joy, calmness, and humility, Yi Di neither interrupted nor said any flattering words. He simply stood there quietly, watching Happy’s composed expression as he defended himself.

“If from the start he had treated me as a fierce rival like you, Yi Di, he wouldn’t have lost so miserably…”

Happy ignored Yi Di’s coldness and silence and continued on his own: “Actually, I was surprised myself when I managed to defeat the Evil Emperor twice. From the beginning, my goal was merely to hold him back as much as possible… But the Evil Emperor was different. To maintain his reputation as the greatest master in the world, he was too strict with himself, always hoping to crush me with overwhelming strength and end the fight instantly.”

“…”

Yi Di understood. In fact, that was also his view. The Evil Emperor was indeed stronger than Happy, with a clear advantage. Yet he overlooked the details, determined to finish Happy off in the shortest time possible, which led to Happy turning the tide several times and causing the complete collapse of the Wild Wolf Organization and the First-Class Hall in the Central Plains.

“The Evil Emperor really lost to himself. He cared too much about his reputation, too much about your year-and-a-half in a vegetative state…” Yi Di finally spoke, his tone filled with emotion, as he stared intently into Happy’s eyes. “Until a second ago, I thought you still didn’t have the strength and qualifications to be the greatest in the world. It was the Evil Emperor who shaped you… But I never expected you to see through everything so clearly… Now I have to overturn my conclusion! Even if you’re not the greatest right now, one day, that position will always belong to you.”

Praised in person by Yi Di, Happy became unusually shy: “You don’t need to care about my pride. You’ve told me before that after dealing with the First-Class Hall and repelling the Wild Wolves, you’d leave Jinxiu Heishan. So we’re just friends. I know a vice leader can’t hold your heart…”

“…”

Yi Di fell silent for a moment before speaking again: “I’ve suddenly changed my mind.”

“Why?”

“Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?” Yi Di unusually took a detour, looking intently into Happy’s eyes with ulterior motives.

Happy couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow: “How can the greatest swordsman in the Central Plains lie?” His tone was full of astonishment.

Yi Di ignored Happy’s teasing: “The lie is that I suddenly don’t want to leave Jinxiu Heishan and want to stay… The truth is that I don’t want the Central Plains to fall into chaos again, giving the Wild Wolf Organization another chance.”

“Oh?”
Kai Xin showed a slight smile. “Why do you say that?”
Yi Di didn’t answer Kai Xin’s question right away. Instead, he stared intently at her calm smile and slowly shook his head.
“Mei Ying is right. You truly were born to be a ruler. You understand what I meant by my earlier words, and you also know I won’t leave Jinxiu Heshan, so you weren’t worried at all about bringing up our old agreement in front of me.”
“…So it was Mei Ying who told you.”
Thinking of that woman whose mental strength was no less than Meng Yun’s, Kai Xin finally understood why Yi Di had said such astonishing things.
Until now, Yi Di had always been a solitary and proud swordsman, an unparalleled master who wasn’t controlled by anyone and had no ties!
He couldn’t possibly be interested in gang interests, yet he had just pointed out the biggest threat in the Central Plains—something completely unlike his usual style!
“What else did Mei Ying tell you?”
Looking at Kai Xin’s calm face, Yi Di suddenly felt that this person was indeed as inscrutable as Mei Ying had said.
“The reason you suddenly halted Jinxiu Heshan’s expansion and stopped controlling all resources south of the Yangtze River is that old feelings are just a trivial reason…”
“…”
“Jinxiu Heshan now faces three fatal threats!”
“First, with the disappearance of forces like Yipin Tang and Xue Meng, their disciples won’t just vanish—they’ll flow into other gangs, becoming their strength. If Jinxiu Heshan controls all resources in the Central Plains, it will surely provoke dissatisfaction from all gangs…”
“…”
“The second threat is Xi Feng Lou!”
“…” Kai Xin’s expression changed slightly.
Yi Di’s tone remained unchanged: “After all, Xi Feng Lou was once the most renowned top force in the Central Plains. Although its reputation has been severely weakened, it still has substantial resources and a strong foundation there, and it hasn’t been in decline for long… Once the problem with Yipin Tang is resolved, the people of Xi Feng Lou will surely miss the days when they had branches everywhere. They’ll likely think that Jinxiu Heshan has profited from others’ misfortunes…”
“Perhaps that’s an overstatement, but getting rich quickly in troubled times is true. By giving up all resources south of the Yangtze River, Jinxiu Heshan can keep Xi Feng Lou calm for a while, allowing it some time to organize itself and recover… Without your intervention, the conflict between Xi Feng Lou and Jinxiu Heshan would likely have already begun.”
“Truly worthy of being the ‘Queen of Shadows’.”
Hearing this, Kai Xin was finally slightly moved.

As someone within the situation, if he could see this, it was because he couldn’t find many useful people in Jinxiu Heshan to take care of such a mess. As the second insider, Shadow being able to see this through the haze clearly showed he was a person with far-reaching vision and deep insight.
“There’s another hidden danger?”
After hesitating for a few seconds, Kai Xin raised his head and asked about the last hidden danger facing Jinxiu Heshan: “Meng Yun.”
The Emperor stared into Kai Xin’s eyes.
Unfortunately, this time he still couldn’t read any surprise or similar emotion in Kai Xin’s eyes—it seemed the latter had reached the same conclusion as Shadow.
As expected!
This time, Kai Xin didn’t ask for reasons but nodded thoughtfully: “Shadow indeed thought of this too. Since Meng Yun was able to keep the information of the twelve major gangs in the capital so closely hidden without any leaks over five years, it proves its accumulated strength far exceeds that of Xifeng Lou, even beyond our imagination. Yipin Tang isn’t so easy to destroy.”
“Shadow said the same thing,” the Emperor said helplessly, tapping the three-foot-long Qingfeng sword in his hand. “But everyone outside knows how miserable Yipin Tang is now—almost all its branches have been destroyed, and its million-strong army has shrunk to less than 100,000… With you two controlling the Central Plains, Yipin Tang shouldn’t have a chance to revive…”
“Outside the region.”
Kai Xin uttered these two words calmly.
Now that Yipin Tang no longer had any foothold in the Central Plains, it could only expand outside. Yet outside was the domain of the Wild Wolves Organization, making it difficult to establish a base.
The Emperor sighed again:
“You two have reached the same conclusion again. I now fully believe you’re indeed someone like Shadow. It seems Meng Yun’s defeat this time wasn’t undeserved at all!”
Fighting one against two, losing to an alliance of two opponents of the same level—Meng Yun could still be proud…
Kai Xin smiled:
“Shadow telling you all this shows that your relationship is indeed as Bai Xiaosheng described—both of you have a good impression of each other.”
The Emperor was about to speak, but upon hearing this, the words he was about to say were instantly swallowed back. Annoyed, he coughed and said, “Nonsense.”
“…”
Kai Xin smiled and said nothing more.
It was indeed more appropriate for the Emperor to speak about these matters rather than Shadow, and Shadow probably intended to use the Emperor as a counterbalance.
Now, Jinxiu Heshan’s power had grown to such an extent that Shadow couldn’t ignore it or remain indifferent!

The moderate and effective governance in Jinxiu Heshan brings joy; it is believed that Jinxiu Heshan will soon get on track, transforming its massive strength into a solid foundation and truly gaining the capability to dominate the Central Plains. Having a key figure like an emperor in Jinxiu Heshan will surely help maintain good relations between it and Xifeng Tower.