Xi Shen’s shamelessness and Mu Fan’s craziness were too eye-catching.
No way Mu Fan would fall for such tactics right?
That was what everyone was thinking.
But then they become dumbfounded when he agreed.
“Ahh, I guess I could have agreed to something like that. Alright, I swear to join your Faction, but, if you want me to become your loyal subordinate you’d have to give me a reason why.”
After that a lightning struck overhead, confirming that Mu Fan had indeed meant to swear a Blood Oath.
Shiming’s eyes all most spout fire upon seeing this unbelievable scene. They were the ones who wanted him to join their Faction, but now he suddenly join Xi Shen of all people Faction and now even held a grudge against their Ming Clan. This outcome was completely absurd!
It almost feels as if some inexplicable force had manipulated all of this to happen. It was just too much of a coincidence for this to happen!
While the crowd began to chatter loudly about what Mu Fan joining Xi Shen's Faction meant, Xi Shen was smiling rather contently in his heart.
‘I guess that son of heaven tittle is finally doing some work in the background, even I think this is too much of a coincidence.’
Xi Shen then said, “That’s fine, you’ll come to understand how much of a fortune it was for you to join my Faction.”
'With this, I have found my sixth Faction member, but he’s not even a sword wielder. I’m really getting further and further away from what my original plan was. I still don’t know if this is good. Father wanted my presence in the Celestial Academy to be a bridge that connects it and the Divine Star Academy, but I’m diverting from that objective a little. Hmm, I wasn’t especially doing this for father, and he didn’t necessarily ask me personally to do it, so going about this in my own way is good. However…'
As Xi Shen's thoughts reach here, he glanced around the crowd to see a few disciples taking out jade slips.
‘With me officially forming my Faction, even though I said I won’t rely on my family, they are still wary of the Li Clan having a presence in the Celestial Academy. The last time that had happened was during my brother’s time here, and back then he had suppressed the voices of the Seven Major Clans in the Sword Pavilion and then branch out to most of the Academy. Unfortunately, he fell out with Ling Tian and chose to leave the Celestial Academy, making the Major Clans breathe a sigh of relief. Even though I’m known to be incomparable to my brother even with my Supreme grade soul and Comprehension, they are still on high alert to prevent something like that from happening again. They have too many stakes in the Celestial Academy to be pushed out or have the Li Clan take control over it. There were only so many places on the Maple Continent my Li Clan didn’t control. To them, the Celestial Academy was the ideal training ground to raise their younger generation and build their power away from my family’s prying eyes.’
Xi Shen looked away from those people and then snorted in his heart, ‘Well, whether they like it or not my Faction will be established. Maybe I can’t fulfill my father's desire, but like what my brother did I can create a Faction that suppresses them entirely. This time it'll encompass the whole Celestial Academy. But then again, I have to take it one step at a time. There are a lot of obstacles in the way of that goal, for now, I’ll just think about creating my legion of cultivators.’
After making the Blood Oath, Mu Fan spun around to face Shiming on stage and then said, “Bastard, what excuse do you have now?”
Mu Fan got ready to move towards the stage, but Shiming suddenly said, “I think this Faction against Faction battles have gone on long enough. We from the Ming Academy have seen so many talented individuals, so we are grateful for the Sword Pavilion to have accepted our selfish request. Now, if you will excuse us.”
After saying that, Shiming didn’t wait for his companions as he hurriedly left the stage.
Mu Fan who was eager to battle Shiming stared at his back dumbfounded.
“Fucking cowards the lot of you!!”
Then as if remembering something, Mu Fan spun around to face Xi Shen and said, “Hey, you're really the second prince right? Come-on come-on, use your power to solve your subordinate's dilemma. My family is getting harassed by the Ming Clan.”
Xi Shen smiled at Mu Fan’s words and said under his breath. “You might act like you’re crazy, but you can’t fool me like you fool everyone.”
Hearing that, Mu Fan’s eyes flickered for the briefest of moments, but it quickly disappeared as he laughed and said, “Huh? What do you mean? Are you gonna help your subordinate or what?”
Others might have been mistaken about Mu Fan, but Xi Shen wasn’t. Just because he acted strange or crazy doesn't mean he was stupid.
Xi Shen could tell he only became his subordinate because he was afraid of the Ming Clan or the other Major Clans targeting his family because of his talents. He must have sensed that if they had indeed moved against his family while he was in the Academy there was nothing he could do about it.
And it didn’t necessarily have to be threatening him outright, just a little reminder of the gap between his Clan and the one of the Major Clan would force him to join one of them. Luckily, that wasn’t the case and it looked like it was a misunderstanding.
But he must have been scared that it was while coming here.
From the look of things, and what he heard among the crowd, he had been in seclusion. Xi Shen guessed one of the reasons was that he was trying to avoid allying with one of the Seven Major Clans.
Why that was the case, Xi Shen didn’t know fully, but it was probably because of his pride as a genius.
But seeing him willing to join him, Xi Shen wondered if he knew about him not relying on his Family, and instead he was creating a Faction of his own.
If that was the case and he had thought about everything, Mu Fan was smarter than what he let on.
“Alright, as my subordinate I’ll personally take care of it.”
Hearing Xi Shen said he’ll personally take care of it and not his father, Mu Fan smiled.
‘Is he trying to reassure me? I never want my Clan to become a subsidiary branch for anyone. I know my own talents better than anyone, and that’s nothing more than me wrapping a chain around my neck and handing the only key for it to that Major Clan. But I like this brat, the second prince who can’t cultivate huh? Even I have heard of his infamous title when I was in seclusion, but doesn’t he seem completely different from the useless and trashy person the rumors describe him as? I guess rumors are only just that, rumors.’
“Okay, you said you’ll help me, then let's go to my Clan right now to get back my father his position as Clan Leader.”
Mu Fan then grabbed a dumbfounded Xi Shen by his arm and used his movement technique to leave the training grounds.
Yang Su and everyone in the group stared on flabbergasted, before Yang Su move first and then Fei Yin with the rest. This ultimately resulted in the scene of Mu Fan dragging Xi Shen by the arm through the Sword Pavilion mountain while being chased by Yang Su and the others.
While being dragged by his arm, Xi Shen couldn’t help but think that Mu Fan’s presence had made things a lot more chaotic. Perhaps it was because of his personality affecting the group.
*******
Word Count: 1343
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