Extra's Strategy: Cultivate Protagonists, Become Invincible-Chapter 236: Like A Devil’s Whisper

"Now that Senior Brother has gotten the message, it will keep him occupied for a while. He will try numerous means to weed out the spy among his juniors. While he’s distracted, I can do what I need to do and prepare for the endgame."

The idea that someone from Xiao Mei’s circles had sold everyone out was a poisonous seed he had planted in Xiao Mei’s mind with his own hands after her first defeat.

The possibility of a betrayal had struck her just as hard as his fists.

From what he knew, she hadn’t brought it up to her group. Even whether Chen Yan himself knew about it was doubtful.

To ensure the spread of the paranoia, he had to give Chen Yan a direct hint, without exposing exactly how much he knew.

After all, the information in his hands might not be entirely correct. If he gave away too much, Chen Yan might grasp its origin and the inaccuracies, if there were any.

That would neutralize the threat entirely.

As for the duel itself, it served its own purpose; several, in fact.

Firstly, having already defeated those fellow disciples in combat, he felt quite confident in taking them on again. Using them as whetstones, he could improve his combat capabilities tremendously.

Secondly, this was a good way to teach those self-righteous young cultivators that to live well in this world, certain character traits had to be discarded. Hiding their true selves behind a veil of justifications could only fool the blind and the deaf.

Jiang Chen’s greed for resources, Xiao Mei’s prideful nature, and Yang Kai’s foolish confidence in Chen Yan—such behavior was no different team seeking death! As a fellow disciple, how could he not educate them and correct their behavior?

And thirdly, these duels were Chen Yan’s main channel of information about him. That placed Han Xuhan in a position of control. He could decide which of his cards could be shown beforehand, and which cards he would keep as a surprise.

For Chen Yan to fully trust this channel, Han Xuhan had to keep feeding him bits and pieces of new information through the duels. And then, once Chen Yan’s trust in the channel’s stream was solidified, he might just discover that the water in that stream might be poisonous!

Hehehehe...

His maniacal laughter had no audience, but in the days that soon followed, his nefarious plan spread its wings boldly above numerous watching eyes, stirring up a violent storm.

Every day, without a break in the routine, Han Xuhan appeared in that mountain, sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by groups of curious disciples.

He went from door to door, openly challenging Chen Yan’s juniors to martial duels. His targets weren’t just limited to those who were actively serving Chen Yan. He chose his opponents based on their capabilities, using the matches to temper himself against a wide range of tactics, techniques, and opponents.

The disciples of that mountain were flabbergasted. Most of them had no idea why they’d be targeted like this. The only passable excuse Han Xuhan gave them was that one of their fellow disciples, Yang Kai, had tried to cause trouble during Han Xuhan’s law lectures.

Poor Yang Kai could only keep his mouth shut and accept the fierce criticism of his peers. He couldn’t just tell them that it was senior brother Chen Yan who had ordered him to do it.

At first, none of Han Xuhan’s opponents refused him outright. His past reputation as a weak piece of trash had left an impression on everyone’s mind. Many assumed that they could win with a bit of effort.

Those who weren’t aware of the ongoing feud between Han Xuhan and Chen Yan mostly decided to duel him to protect the dignity of their mountain peak. It was only after being thoroughly beaten black and blue that they came to their senses.

Han Xuhan hadn’t even needed to resort to the poisonous fog to defeat them. These duels were fair and balanced, leaving no room for accusations of cheating.

Within a week’s time, rumors of Han Xuhan’s brash actions spread to every corner of the outer court. Even the most out-of-the-loop disciples came to know of a renowned trash who was redeeming himself by challenging an entire mountain peak!

They were young and hot-blooded, hearts filled with passion and fascination towards legendary feats. How could they not be swayed?

Day by day, the audience of these duels grew. By another week’s time, Han Xuhan pretty much had half the outer court following his trail when he went out to challenge his next opponent.

This also contributed immensely to the audience size of his law lectures. From around a hundred regular followers, the number of disciples attending every lecture swelled well above two hundred.

By then, all the disciples of that mountain peak had grown united. After dozens of secret meetings where they analyzed the situation, cursed Han Xuhan and Yang Kai, and speculated on the hidden causes and motives, they came to a firm decision.

Even if it meant bringing shame to their mountain peak, they would refuse Han Xuhan’s challenges, at least until some of their strongest martial artists had a breakthrough and regained their confidence.

Unfortunately for them, Han Xuhan had already foreseen this scenario.

So, the next day, when his chosen opponents refused to even open their doors to respond to his challenge, he didn’t leave the mountain. Instead, he headed to a familiar hut.

Huddled behind that hut’s front door, Jiang Chen flinched when he heard the sing-song tone of a familiar voice. That dreaded scourge has come!

"Brother Jiang Chen! Are you going to come out? Or do you want me to smash my way in?"

"Screw off! I’m still recuperating from our last duel! Go bother someone else!"

Jiang Chen felt no shame or guilt in lying so blatantly. At the moment, he wasn’t confident that he could win even if no poisonous fog was involved.

Moreover, even if he did accept the challenge, he would be criticized to death by his fellow disciples for disobeying the consensus.

’I’m not opening this damn door! Not a chance. If you break in, you’ll be breaking the law!’

Then, he heard Han Xuhan come to stand right on the other side of the door and whisper.

"Don’t you understand what’s going to happen if you refuse to duel me, Brother Jiang Chen? Your senior brother hasn’t given up on his goal to snatch my wealth. He’s just busy trying to figure out whether any of you have stabbed him in the back!"

Jiang Chen shivered. Was that why Senior Brother Chen Yan hadn’t contacted any of them for the last couple of weeks?

"Sooner or later, his goose chase will come to an end. Then things will return to how they were, with him ordering you idiots to come fight me again. If I do the same as you and go into hiding like a turtle, do you think he’ll let you off the hook? Hehehehe!"

Jiang Chen could almost envision the scene. The frustration almost exploded like a bomb inside his chest.

"Don’t forget about the lifeline I threw at you guys, either. I’ve already given you a way to rip me off. Just respond to that public challenge on behalf of Chen Yan.

If you can beat me and my ’mysterious backer’ by any means, you can actually gain all the resources you want without violating the sect’s laws. In fact, this is the only risk-free way for you to achieve your goal!"

Jiang Chen’s knuckles gripped the door handle so tightly that the skin turned white.

"So what will your decision be, Brother Chen? Do you still dare to hide? You know me well, and you know Chen Yan even better. I’ll leave the decision in your hands..."

As if hypnotized by a devil’s whisper, Jiang Chen’s wrists moved, and the door began to turn.