Chapter 471: No Need to Unleash A Second Sword Attack
Ye Guan smiled and said, "Of course!"
The Great Daoist Brush Master smiled and was about to leave when Ye Guan added, "Let me accompany you on your way out."
The Great Daoist Brush Master nodded in agreement.
Song Zhiyan watched them leave and pondered silently in the main hall.
Outside the hall, Ye Guan suddenly said, "Senior, I have an idea."
"Go on," the Great Daoist Brush Master replied.
Ye Guan whispered a few words.
The Great Daoist Brush Master laughed out loud and said, "I was right about you. Your mind is just as sharp as your father's mind. Unlike him, however, you appear honest on the surface, but you have many tricks up your sleeve. I'll have to be careful of you in the future."
"It seems that we're on the same page," said Ye Guan with a chuckle. The two looked at each other with a knowing smile, resembling two cunning foxes.
The Great Daoist Brush Master recalled something and said, "However, you can still go and meet those two candidates. What if both of them have considerable influence over the outcome?"
"I hope that's the case," Ye Guan said with a nod.
The Great Daoist Brush Master smiled and disappeared into the horizon.
Left all alone, Ye Guan pondered for a little while before he turned and returned to the main hall. Song Zhiyan examined Ye Guan from top to bottom with eyes filled with curiosity.
Ye Guan smiled and asked, "Lady Zhiyan, why are you looking at me like that?"
Song Zhiyan smiled and changed the topic, asking, "Young Lord Ye, are you a swordsman?"
Ye Guan nodded. "Yes."
Song Zhiyan said, "You have the highest sword dao cultivation realm out of all the people I've ever met."
Ye Guan was shocked. Song Zhiyan could actually sense his sword dao cultivation realm? Ye Guan's sword dao cultivation realm was half-step Divine Realm, but he had been concealing it.
However, Song Zhiyan managed to sense it.
Song Zhiyan asked, "Young Lord Ye, you seem unwilling to enter a marriage alliance."
"Yes, I am unwilling," Ye Guan said, nodding.
Song Zhiyan was puzzled. "Why the contrast?"
Ye Guan smiled. "Lady Zhiyan, do you like marriages that are based on mutual benefits and interests?"
Song Zhiyan thought about it for a while before saying, "Everyone wishes to marry someone they truly love, and I am no exception.
"However, Young Lord Ye, you should understand that people like us don't usually have a choice, especially when it comes to important matters like marriage. We often have to compromise for the greater good rather than follow our hearts."
Ye Guan laughed and asked, "Lady Zhiyan, which of the two is more approachable? The Eternal Night Clan or the Eternal Clan?"
"Well, it depends."
"Does it depend on my prowess?"
"Yes. They can be persuaded with enough strength. Without it, however..."
Ye Guan fell silent. Major clans truly cared more about what they stood to gain than anything else. In other words, Ye Guan had to show them what he could offer if he wanted to establish an alliance with them. Moreover, it had to be something that they wanted to obtain as well.
This is going to be a challenge... Ye Guan sighed to himself.
Song Zhiyan suddenly said, "Young Lord Ye, there's something else you can do if you don't want to enter a marriage alliance."
Ye Guan looked at her and asked, "Lady Zhiyan, are you suggesting that I pick a side and help them ascend to the throne?"
Song Zhiyan was shocked. Clearly, Ye Guan was more clever than she initially expected. With that in mind, Song Zhiyan no longer dared to underestimate Ye Guan.
"I heard that the emperor is chosen through an election, though," Ye Guan added.
Song Zhiyan smiled. "That's correct. However, it is necessary for one to have powerful enough backers if they want to qualify for the elections. In other words, every candidate has the backing of numerous influential and wealthy clans!"
Ye Guan fell silent, and he felt like he finally understood how things worked here. The people would elect the emperor, but without enough power and influence, there was no way someone could even become a candidate in the first place.
Even if such people somehow managed to become candidates, it would be a waste of time, as they were guaranteed to lose without enough power and influence.
In other words, the election was a game of power and influence.
Ye Guan smiled wryly and shook his head. Then, he looked at Song Zhiyan and asked, "Lady Zhiyan, who do you suggest I support?"
"Ye Shurou from the Eternal Clan."
"Why?"
"Because I'm supporting her, too..."
"Lady Zhiyan, you are quite straightforward."
"Young Lord Ye, we can start negotiating if you're willing to help her ascend to the throne."
"Does that mean Lady Ye Shurou has a low chance of winning the elections?"
Song Zhiyan was slightly surprised, and she was about to say something when Ye Guan added, "You wouldn't have told me all these things if it were otherwise, right?"
Song Zhiyan sighed. "Young Lord Ye, you are indeed smart. You're right. Ye Shurou's chances of winning are low."
"The percentages are?"
"Thirty percent."
"Why would I help a candidate with a low chance of winning? The Eternal Night Clan is more attractive to me."
"The Eternal Night Clan knows that their chances of winning are high, so they're not going to bother even talking to you. However, we can negotiate anything if you help Shurou turn the tables and win the election."
Ye Guan went silent upon hearing Song Zhiyan's remark.
Song Zhiyan added, "Young Lord Ye, I believe that Shurou will have a pretty high chance of winning with your help."
The True Universe was a superpower with boundless resources. The Eternal Clan could certainly turn the tables around with the True Universe's help—unless it was too late and the Eternal Night Clan's candidate had already ascended to the throne.
Ye Guan said, "I'd like to meet those two candidates first."
"Of course," Song Zhiyan said, nodding. It wasn't strange that Ye Guan would want to meet the candidates first before making a decision.
Ye Guan added, "Lady Zhiyan, don't reveal my identity to the Eternal Clan, okay?"
Song Zhiyan nodded. "Okay."
"Thank you," Ye Guan said.
Song Zhiyan smiled and said, "The Eternal Clan is holding a banquet tonight. The prominent clans and sects that are supporting them will all be present. You can come with me and take a look."
"All right," Ye Guan said.
"As for your identity..." Song Zhiyan trailed off and pondered briefly before continuing, "We'll just say that you're my cousin. Is that all right?"
"Sure," Ye Guan replied.
Song Zhiyan got up and said, "Then, please relax until then, Young Lord Ye. I'll send someone to escort you over when it's time."
Song Zhiyan turned around and left.
"Lady Zhiyan," Ye Guan called out.
Song Zhiyan came to a halt and turned around to look at Ye Guan.
Ye Guan smiled and said, "Can you let me borrow books about the history of the Eternal Night Empire? The more books, the better."
"Sure, no problem," Song Zhiyan said before turning around and leaving.
Ye Guan got up and returned to his room.
Soon, a clean-looking servant girl walked into Ye Guan's room. She handed a storage ring to Ye Guan and said respectfully, "Young Lord Ye, the books about history that you've requested are all in the storage ring, and there are also other books covering a variety of topics.
"If you find them insufficient, please do tell me. I can go and look for more."
Ye Guan accepted the storage ring and smiled. "Thank you."
The servant girl hurriedly replied, "Young Lord Ye, you're too polite. I'll be right outside the door, so please feel free to summon me if there's anything you need."
Ye Guan nodded. "All right."
The servant girl bowed and left the room.
Ye Guan took out the books from the storage ring and read them eagerly. Ye Guan wanted to have a thorough understanding of the Eternal Night Empire before anything else.
There were tens of thousands of books inside the storage ring. Ye Guan had no plans of reading them all. He used his divine sense to glance through all of them and only memorized useful information, discarding the irrelevant ones.
It didn't take long for Ye Guan to obtain a rough understanding of the Eternal Night Empire. The Eternal Night Empire's history spanned billions of years, and its founder was known as the Eternal Night Sovereign. Back then, he had single-handedly dominated hundreds of nations in the Eternal Night Empire and suppressed countless the supreme elites of the powerful clans and families at the time.
Eventually, the Eternal Night Sovereign established the Eternal Night Empire. The Eternal Night Sovereign was also the one who had decided to seal the Eternal Night Empire, preventing its denizens from leaving and outsiders from entering so easily.
The Great Daoist Brush Master had told Ye Guan that it was all for the sake of safeguarding the Eternal Night Empire's eternal power, which was the source of their abilities.
The Eternal Night Empire developed steadily and grew even stronger over the years, but it soon faced a major crisis. Millions of years ago, an extraordinary woman appeared, and she was unhappy that only males could ascend to the throne. In the end, she broke ties with the Eternal Night Clan and left to start a new lineage.
She was so strong that the Eternal Night Clan couldn't do anything to her. She was so formidable that the Eternal Night Empire decided to summon the souls of their ancestors to deal with her, but she ended up suppressing her ancestors instead.
She suppressed the souls of her ancestors? Ye Guan was shocked. She's too strong, and she actually managed to start a new lineage.
Ye Guan felt slightly envious. The extraordinary woman didn't eradicate the Eternal Night Clan, but since then, the woman's lineage, the Eternal Clan, could now compete for the throne against the Eternal Night Clan.
It had been many years since then, but the system was still in place, as the extraordinary woman's soul was still in the Eternal Night City. Moreover, she had also nurtured an incredibly powerful army that obeyed only the Eternal Night Laws that the extraordinary woman had left behind back then.
They would swear allegiance only to the individual who had ascended to the throne through the elections, and their allegiance was never permanent as well, lasting only three hundred years.
The extraordinary woman's army was known as the Eternal Night Army, and the Eternal Night Army played a crucial role in maintaining the equilibrium of powers in the empire. The Eternal Night Army's existence was also the reason the two clans—the Eternal Clan and the Eternal Night Clan—had been abiding by the rules all this time.
Unfortunately, the Eternal Clan remained inferior to the Eternal Night Clan in terms of strength. After all, the strength of a clan wasn't decided based on the depths of their foundation alone but on their talents as well.
The clan with more talents would have a brighter future than others.
The Eternal Night Clan had managed to cultivate more talents than the Eternal Clan.
The history books allowed Ye Guan to grasp the Eternal Night Empire's current situation.
The Eternal Clan's condition was worsening, as every single emperor over the past three reigns had all come from the Eternal Night Clan. At this rate, the Eternal Clan would eventually find itself in a pinch.
If the emperor were from the Eternal Night Clan, they would certainly be biased toward the Eternal Night Clan, which meant that the Eternal Night Clan would have access to a ton of eternal power.
In other words, the Eternal Clan had to win the next elections; otherwise, they might no longer be able to turn the tables forever.
Ye Guan opened his eyes slowly. Song Zhiyan was right. Helping the Eternal Clan ascend to the throne meant that the Eternal Clan would most likely agree to his demands.
However, he had to consider the Eternal Night Clan as well, especially the fact that their chances of winning were higher than the Eternal Clan.
Ye Guan thought hard and long, but he still decided to meet the two candidates first before making any decisions. He had to assess them thoroughly, as making the wrong decision meant he wouldn't get the Eternal Night Empire's support.
Ye Guan shook his head and revealed a wry smile. He realized that things were getting more and more challenging for him. In addition to using his fleshly body to fight, he even had to use his brain!
Just then, Ye Guan heard knocking on the door.
Ye Guan emptied his mind and looked at the door. "Come in."
The door swung open, and Song Zhiyan walked into his room.
Song Zhiyan looked at Ye Guan with a smile. "Young Lord Ye, it's time."
Ye Guan looked outside and saw that it was already nighttime.
"All right, let's go," said Ye Guan with a nod. Then, Ye Guan stood up and left with Song Zhiyan.
The two boarded a luxurious carriage. The powerful arrays throughout the city prohibited flight, so they had no choice but to rely on a carriage to get to their destination.
The carriage was extremely spacious; it was so spacious that it resembled a palace.
Song Zhiyan poured a cup of tea for Ye Guan. "Young Lord Ye, may I know just how strong you are?"
Ye Guan looked at Song Zhiyan and smiled. "I'm decent."
Song Zhiyan blinked. "You're decent?"
Ye Guan nodded. "Against someone in the younger generation, there's no need for me to attack twice; against someone in the older generation, there's also no need for me to attack twice!"
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