Death… and me

Tie Bu Tian understood Chu Yang's intentions clearly. Even though he did not have any concrete proof, he believed that Chu Yang would not harm him or Iron Cloud Nation. Furthermore, he was sure that Chu Yang would not misappropriate the power given to him in some sort of evil scheme.

This was the reason why Tie Bu Tian was willing to give it a shot. Because he was aware of Chu Yang's capabilities and sure that he would not harm Iron Cloud. At this point, he had actually desperately needed someone to help. He was exhausted from shouldering his burden as the ruler of Iron Cloud. He needed someone to share it with but none of the civil and military officials in the royal court were suitable to help.

This was because of their relationship between them, him being a prince and them being his subjects!

Chu Yang's situation was perfect for such a role. This was because Chu Yang would never be subjugated under him and it was also his background that made him suitable to manage Bu Tian Pavilion. He was from Jiang Hu and hence had no connections to the court which was one of the major factors which played towards this decision that Tie Bu Tian made.

If anyone else from the civil or military officials were to take control of Bu Tian Pavilion, Tie Bu Tian would be worried because he was fearful that they may use it for their own benefit. Moreover, he had founded the Bu Tian Pavilion but did not have enough time and energy to properly nurture and develop it into something more powerful.

Thus, Tie Bu Tian also had his reasons as to why he had complied with Chu Yang's request to take over and manage Bu Tian Pavilion.

Or who knows what other reasons he might have had.

As for Chu Yang, at this time, he was currently thinking about Tie Bu Tian's childhood… it was truly a tragedy. Even compared to a prince of some normal country, Tie Bu Tian's childhood was many times worse.

As Tie Bu Tian said, the path of a ruler was a cruel one!

…

"What plans do you have for your Heavenly Armament Pavilion?" Tie Bu Tian asked with a smile and his natural composure. It was already late in the afternoon when Chu Yang met with Tie Bu Tian again, giving Tie Bu Tian time to return to his usual self.

"Heavenly Armament Pavilion…" Chu Yang had originally wanted to merge Heavenly Armament Pavilion with Bu Tian Pavilion, but when the words reached his mouth, they came out quite differently, "Heavenly Armament Pavilion would exist independently. However, it cannot remain as it currently is; it's too wasteful. I shall shift my Heavenly Armament Pavilion to Emerald Flow Lake; is that alright?"

The Emerald Flow lake was a small lake inside of Iron Cloud Citadel. It was about ten blocks from the Iron Cloud Inner City but seemed rather far away and was a popular spot for people to stroll. This was because it was separated by a dense area of buildings and thus seemed really far away.

"Emerald Flow Lake? Not a problem." Tie Bu Tian readily agreed, "I will immediately arrange for it." Tie Bu Tian thought the "wasteful" part Chu Yang was referring to was those divine weapons; However, he was not aware that Chu Yang was, in fact, referring to Gu Du Xing.

Such a powerful expert with limitless potential left to sit around idly… that was truly wasteful!

Chu Yang's countenance remained unchanged, but he was overjoyed on the inside.

However, he knew that Emerald Flow Lake wasn't just a good place for a stroll. In his previous life, this was the location where he found the second Nine Tribulations Sword fragment!

Now if he would directly take over this area, all that he needed to do was to wait until his cultivation level was high enough to break the seal of the second Nine Tribulations Sword fragment. He would be able to obtain the fragment without anyone knowing!

The second fragment of the Nine Tribulations Sword! Chu Yang was burning with excitement.

Both of them boarded a carriage and moved off. This carriage was completely sealed off from the outside and had no openings. If someone from the outside were to look, they would not have expected that the prince would be sitting in this ordinary looking carriage.

Even though the interior of the carriage was spacious, Chu Yang and the prince sat near one another. Chu Yang was able to smell a whiff of a faint fragrance drifting throughout the air. He couldn't help but snort, concealing his annoyance within.

How can a man wear perfume?

Tie Bu Tian noticed that something wasn't right. He then began to distract Chu Yang with a conversation about different irrelevant topics. Tie Bu Tian's education was truly profound. He was able to talk about a wide variety of topics and whichever topic he chose to converse about would have some insightful comment to provide. The topics ranged from heaven to earth, from legends to current famous figures. His knowledge on every topic was simply amazing.

In terms of his education, Chu Yang trailed behind Tie Bu Tian by a great distance. The only thing he could do was listen. Time slowly passed and Chu Yang became more and more engrossed in Tie Bu Tian's words and no longer paid any notice to the fragrance that was in the carriage.

The carriage stopped and both of them got off. They then entered a large manor.

"This is Bu Tian Pavilion's headquarters." Tie Bu Tian said softly as he walked. Chu Yang replied with an "oh", surprised with what he saw.

For anyone who heard the three words "Bu Tian Pavilion", a grand building would come to mind. However, it turned out to be just an ordinary one-story building.

So that place with the plaque "Bu Tian Pavilion" and the small lake that Tie Bu Tian had his first discussion with me at was just a cover? To Chu Yang, that place felt better suited to be called the "Bu Tian Pavilion."

This place was a little too ordinary.

As they walked into the building, Tie Bu Tian brought Chu Yang straight into the main hall. Although there were a few people who were there earlier discussing something, the moment that they saw Tie Bu Tian enter, they immediately stopped what they were doing and stood up to greet him.

"This person is Chu Yang, Senior Chu." Tie Bu Tian introduced, "From today on, Senior Chu is a person of our Bu Tian Pavilion. His temporary position is Adjunct Minister of Bu Tian Pavilion. From now on, Senior Chu will be participating in all of Bu Tian Pavilion's matters, from planning to decision-making."

All five of the people in the room were shocked and it was displayed on their faces as their expressions immediately changed.

The title of Adjunct Minister was no ordinary position. If the word "Adjunct" was left out, he would have been Bu Tian Pavilion's Minister. Before this, the minister position belonged to Tie Bu Tian; this position was even higher than Pavilion Lord.

Could this youth be the future Minister of Bu Tian Pavilion?

All of them were extremely surprised. Tie Bu Tian had brought in a youth to take over the position of Minister. The Pavilion Lord and his deputy were of the 5 individuals present in the room. The other 3 were all Martial Great Masters. How could they possibly tolerate a youth being in a greater position of power as compared to them?

"This is Bu Tian Pavilion's Lord, Icy Soul Revered Saber Artist, Cheng Zi Ang. This is his deputy, Shooting Star Revered Martial Artist, Chen Yu Tong." Tie Bu Tian introduced each person to Chu Yang. All five faces managed to show a smile and came up to greet him one by one.

Icy Soul Revered Saber Artist Cheng Zi Ang seemed to be about sixty. He had gray hair and a thin body that seemed quite frail as though a strong gust of wind would be able to knock him off his feet and blow him away. As for Chen Yu Tong, he was a large man with a strong build. He was about forty-five or forty-six years old with a crude face.

They both looked and evaluated Chu Yang with their gazes. In their smiles, there were signs of discrimination.

After the brief introduction, Tie Bu Tian brought Chu Yang into an inner room. This was a study filled with documents lying in piles and piles.

"This is where Bu Tian Pavilion keeps all of the documents on all of Iron Cloud Nation's personnel. Each one of these documents has carefully recorded and categorized details from great to small. All the events that happened in their lives, as well as things such as personal abilities or skills, are all written down. As you can see, normally, a person with a cultivation level below Martial Master would be unable to join Bu Tian Pavilion. In addition, if their background were clouded in mystery, they would not be permitted to join either."

Tie Bu Tian slowly continued, "At present, Bu Tian Pavilion has a total of eighty-seven people. Within this group, there is one Revered Saber Artist, five Revered Martial Artists, and thirteen Martial Great Masters. The rest are Martial Masters of grade four and up."

"This strength is weak. Too weak!" Chu Yang shook his head. Such strength in a sect would be incredibly powerful, but placed in a war between two large nations, it was far too little.

Compared to Diwu Qing Rou's Golden Horse Riders Department, this strength was not enough. In fact, it did not even earn the right to be compared to the Golden Horse Riders Department.

Golden Horse Riders Department is well-established with about thirty thousand people! Even if you didn't count the support staff, the number of experts at the level of Martial Master and above was about twenty thousand!

With such a horrific number, how could a newly established organisation such as Bu Tian Pavilion compare?

"Until now, Bu Tian Pavilion has been considered as my personal force and they have only dealt with strategies. Our few assassination attempts have all ended in failure, resulting in us losing many people" Tie Bu Tian said slowly, "Because of this, I am afraid to develop it any further."

Chu Yang lightly nodded.

Even though Tie Bu Tian did not say it outright, Chu Yang heard: There are spies in Bu Tian Pavilion!

As long as there were spies hidden within the organisation, no matter how detailed or well planned the assassination attempts were, they would still no doubt end in failure. It was no different than sending your subordinates straight into the hands of the enemies!

"This is the first problem you have to solve." Tie Bu Tian said casually.

"Not a problem." Chu Yang glanced at the piles of documents and said decisively.