Roping In, Ninth Royal Uncle’s Truly Sinister Scheme

Vincent Su nodded with utmost caution. Since Prince Nolan had already warned him, he certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to crash into the Cui Clan. What worried him now was...

"Nolan, if the Cui and Warren clans cooperate this time, and Cui uses the opportunity to rope in the Warren clan—if Warren sides with them, that would be a real problem."

Vincent Su was certain: Cui Clan agreed to cooperate with Warren this time, but they definitely had plans to win Warren over.

Cui Clan is truly devious!

Warren siding with Cui?

Prince Nolan shook his head. That was absolutely impossible. Two tigers might cooperate temporarily for mutual benefit, because the partnership is equal. But for one tiger to bow its head to the other? That will never happen.

Even if every last member of Cui or Warren died, neither side would ever bow to the other. That’s the pride of the aristocratic clans.

So, Prince Nolan wasn’t worried at all that Warren would support Cui. Otherwise, he would have stopped their cooperation from the very start, kept them from getting any closer.

"Vincent, you really don’t need to worry about this. Warren will never support Cui or anyone Cui backs. There can only be one top aristocratic house. Both Cui and Warren claim to be the number-one clan in the Nine Provinces Realm, and for centuries, they’ve never stopped fighting over that title.

If Warren sided with Cui and supported Cui’s candidate, even if they succeeded, when it came time to hand out rewards, Warren would still rank below Cui. No matter what Warren did, it could never match Cui’s contributions.

If I were William Warren Jinling, I’d either stay out of the Nine Provinces Realm’s power struggle entirely, or—if I did get involved—I’d never choose to cooperate with the Cui Clan. On the contrary, I’d support whoever stood against Cui. Only by doing that could I completely suppress Cui and become the leading house among the aristocrats.

William Warren Jinling is smart and cautious. There’s no rushing the task of winning over House Warren, and William won’t pick a side yet. When chaos truly erupts across this continent, that’s when he’ll make his move.

In the struggle for the throne, no one can really stay out of it—especially the great houses holding vast resources and wealth. Choosing a side is inevitable. This is when your judgment is tested: pick the right person and you rise to the top; pick wrong, and you lose everything.

Vincent Su rarely admires anyone, but when Prince Nolan speaks, he listens without question. If Nolan says House Warren won’t support Cui, Vincent believes it absolutely.

Vincent Su finally relaxed, gathering up the disaster relief reports on the table. He pulled out another sheet—a hand‑drawn map—and handed it to Prince Nolan: "This is the entry map for Skyvault Palace Sect. Storm Cloud Bu just sent word—he’s already infiltrated Skyvault and is searching for the Nine Provinces map.

Also, the Master of Mystic Healer Valley has restored Sienna Xuan’s face. Now, when Sienna is silent, she looks exactly like Serena Feng. The Palace Master’s wife at Skyvault also resembles Serena, and Storm Cloud Bu overheard the Palace Master call her 'Madame Yimo.'

Vincent Su wouldn’t have known who 'Yimo' was before, but now he does—Serena Feng’s mother is Emma Lu.

Vincent Su didn’t believe that the 'Madame Yimo' at Skyvault was really Serena Feng’s mother. Sienna Xuan is half a year older than Serena, and no matter how formidable Emma Lu was, she couldn’t have had two children in one year.

'Yimo?' Prince Nolan sneered, tapping the table. 'Have Storm Cloud Bu investigate the true identity of this Madame Yimo. Once he finds out, don’t report back—just leak it to the Palace Master at Skyvault. I have no feud with Skyvault Palace Sect; all I want is their Nine Provinces map. So let Skyvault descend into chaos—the more chaotic, the better.'

'That won’t be easy. Back then, no one knew Madame Feng’s origins. All they knew was that she was a commoner whom General Feng married, and she accompanied him through countless campaigns.' Vincent Su had already sent people to investigate, but found nothing.

Agreement reached, Prince Nolan began to lay out his plan: 'Skyvault Palace Sect still has its uses.' In other words, he didn’t intend to destroy Skyvault. He turned to William Warren Jinling, waiting for his reaction.

William Warren Jinling replied, 'A sect from the jianghu just needs a hard lesson. Sean Xuan is not bad.' In other words, let Skyvault remain. If it’s destroyed, Serena Feng will feel guilty toward Sean Xuan. Skyvault can exist, but the Palace Master must be replaced. He had no interest in spending effort on Skyvault—it was tedious.

When William said Sean Xuan was 'not bad,' he wasn’t praising him—he meant Sean was suitable for Palace Master.

On this point, Prince Nolan and William Warren Jinling reached another agreement. Neither intended to destroy Skyvault; in fact, they planned to help Sean Xuan purge the sect of dissenters.

In this operation against Skyvault, the one who would appear to benefit most would be Sean Xuan—and, of course, he’d be the busiest.

Prince Nolan and William exchanged a knowing glance and nodded.

The two foxes were perfectly in sync. They agreed: use this opportunity to force Sean Xuan back to Skyvault Palace Sect.

When the time comes, they’ll return Sean Xuan a Skyvault that looks polished on the outside but is a chaotic mess within, keeping him too busy to linger at Feng Manor.

After reaching this agreement, Prince Nolan tested William Warren Jinling with talk of the disaster relief plan. William vaguely sensed Prince Nolan’s ambition, but neither agreed nor refused outright.

Prince Nolan didn’t press further. After finishing his cold tea, he left, leaving William alone to ponder under the night sky.

He had no choice but to think deeply.

Just now, Prince Nolan revealed his ambitions. William Warren Jinling couldn’t pretend not to know, even if he wanted to.

Eastlyn Nolan—no wonder you can tolerate the Emperor sitting on that throne. Turns out, what you want isn’t just Eastlyn, but the entire world.

To restore the Former Dynasty’s golden age—Eastlyn Nolan, will you be that man?

William Warren Jinling understood—he wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. The bomb Prince Nolan dropped would keep him up for days. Just a few days ago, the Cui clan hinted at wanting to recruit House Warren.

The Warren and Cui clans can cooperate for now, but never for long. William Warren Jinling had no intention of courting disaster—even if Cui kept making concessions and offered tempting rewards, he wouldn’t agree.

First the Cui clan offered promises, then Prince Nolan made his move. It seemed House Warren couldn’t escape. In this world, 'long division leads to unity, long unity leads to division.' The Four Kingdoms have existed less than a century, and chaos is coming. In such turmoil, who can truly stay untouched?

William Warren Jinling felt the burden on his shoulders growing heavier. As House Warren’s decision-maker, a single misstep could doom his clan forever—and make him their eternal sinner.

Boom—flames shot into the sky. Not even a quarter-hour after Prince Nolan left, a massive fire broke out at the Imperial Clan Prison, lighting up half the Capital. The blaze woke nearby citizens, who rushed outside, crying and shouting…

'Fire! Fire!'

'Put out the fire—quick, put it out!'

...

The quiet night was suddenly filled with chaos. The prison wardens rushed to fight the fire, but the Emperor’s four elite guards didn’t help—they ran straight into the prison to check if Prince Nolan was still inside.

If Prince Nolan died in the fire or vanished in the chaos, the Emperor would take the blame.

Ignoring the burning heat, the four guards charged into the prison. When they saw Prince Nolan calmly sitting there, they all breathed a sigh of relief. 'Prince Nolan, please…'

Such a raging fire, yet Prince Nolan remained calm—his composure impressed them.

Prince Nolan looked up, swept his gaze coldly over the men, and gave a mocking smile. Unhurried, he stood and walked out.

Even though Prince Nolan said nothing, the four guards lowered their heads in shame. This fire looked like a plot against Prince Nolan—as if someone wanted to burn him alive…