In the wind sect.

"Father, I suspect that there must be something wrong in the flame sect," Bohai said. ​​

"I agree, the appearance of the golden eagle twice cannot be simple, when he left the flame sect, it was carrying someone but when it returned, he was carrying four people," Meng Hui said

"Who do you think he was carrying, they cannot be simple people, from what I know about the flame sect, they would never make use of the golden eagle for trivial matters," the sect leader said

"People on the streets are saying that the first person that was on the golden eagle seemed to be a female so they assumed that it was the young mistress of the flame sect, and from what I know, the flame sect has three guardians, so I assume that the people on the golden eagle are the young mistress of the flame sect and the guardians," Bohai said

"In the flame sect, the guardians are responsible for protecting their master, the moment the person they are supposed to protect dies, they also have to die for failing to protect their master or dying instead," the second elder said

"Only a cult sect-like them would have such customs, how can they make the guardians after their master, as expected of the flame sect" Meng Hui

"But ever since the last sect leader of the flame sect became the sect leader, no guardian has ever been killed after the death of the one they are supposed to protect, all the previous guardians died during the battle so I don't know who the new guardians are," the first elder said

"If they have kept quiet all these years, why did they suddenly decided to appear," the second elder said

"They must have some hidden plans and we have to find them out before they reappear in the Jianghu world," the sect leader said

"I suspect that it might have something to do with Huo Lan, we still need to be careful with her, if they found out about her powers bring dispelled, they might decide to rebel against the imperial decree," the third elder said

"I agree, after all, the emperor was scared of the flame sect power that is why the battle of ever night was allowed to take place, if they have fully recuperated and they decide to rebel, the emperor might give in to them and order us to return Huo Lan to the flame sect," Meng Hui said

"Father, I strongly advise that we don't do anything to her for now, until we figure out what is happening in the flame sect if the cave collapse and Huo Lan dies in there with her follower from the flame sect, they might not take it easy," Bohai said

"Sect leader, even if the flame sect tries to take back Huo Lan by disobeying the imperial decree, they would not only be fighting against the flame sect but they would also be fighting against all the wulin sects," Meng Hui said

"Even if they manage to take her back and she tells them about the power dispelling, she wouldn't be able to prove it, it would be her word against ours and without evidence, the flame sect wouldn't be able to come up with a reason for fighting against our sect," the second elder said

"She also has the testimony of her attendance" Bohai said

"then we can just make sure that the attendance doesn't land in their hands," the sect leader said

"We have to remember that her attendant is also the child of a guardian and they attach lots of importance to them, if she was in the flame sect, she would have been one of the guardians," Bohai said

The sect leader ran his hand thorough his medium-length beards in thought, he was also scared of the flame sect in the past so he and the emperor cooked up a plot which made the whole world think that the flame sect was evil but no one knew the involvement of the emperor. He really can't risk letting the flame sect become as powerful as they were before but he can't do anything about it if they have concealed themselves in the mountain without any information about that, he is also the leader of the martial alliance now after he accused the past sect leader of the flame sect of carrying out evil deeds and using blood magic so he overthrew him and took over his position as the leader of the martial alliance much to the discontent of the thunder sect who had only joined the campaign against the flame sect in the past because they wanted both the wind sect and the flame sect to suffer loses so that they would become the top sect but unfortunately for them, things didn't play out the way they wanted it to, the flame sect was far too powerful than they thought, so they all had to contribute more disciples to fight for the cause. If the sect leader of the flame sect didn't surrender to stop more of his disciples from losing their lives, the flame sect would have won the battle.

"I think we should just wait to find out what is going on, there is no way they can remain inside the mountain forever without interacting with the outside world," the third elder said

"We can't be sure about that, they might have been out under disguise," Meng Hui said

"Alright, my previous order still remains, everyone should keep their eyes out," the sect leader said

"Understood!" they all chorused

---------------------

In the imperial court.

"His majesty is entering the court!" the imperial eunuch from outside the court, the ministers who lining up at both sides of the court bowed their head, held the tablet in hands and stretched both hands forwards as they cleared the way for the emperor to pass through.

The ministers wore a spread wings headcover, they were dressed in different colours, the high ranked ministers wore red, the middle-ranked officers wore blue while the lower-ranked officers wore green but their dresses all had gold coloured embroideries on them. The emperor entered into the court with the imperial eunuch following behind him, he was dressed in a black round hat with a flat rectangular closing on top of it and long beads dangling at the front and back, He wore a yellow coloured dress with a golden dragon embroidered on it and yellow belt on his waist, his sleeves were long and horizontally wide.

He slowly and majestically walked to his throne, then he sat on his throne and spread his wings on his throne.

"Long Live your majesty!" the ministers chorused

The emperor raised his hand to signal them to stand at ease, they all raised their heads at the same time with their ministerial tablet in their hands.

"Your majesty, some areas in Yinzhou have been flooded and many citizens have lost their houses and belongings as a result, the provincial government has reported that the province is short of funds needed for relief," the minister of finance said

"Your majesty, some of the constructions in Suzhou has been halted because of the shortage of funds," the minister of works said

"Why are there a shortage of funds in these two provinces, when they received more revenue than the other provinces," the emperor said, from his tone, it was obvious that he wasn't pleased with their reports.

"Your majesty, these two provinces have lots of infrastructural works going on, in Yinzhou, the residents have been unable to pay tax as a result of the loss and they have spent a lot on rebuilding the bridges and houses that were destroyed," the prime minister said

"The ministry of finance should supply them with more funds, but they are not to ask for more revenue after this" the emperor said

"Your majesty, the Mongolians are yet to pay their tribute, how should we go about this" the minister of foreign affairs said

"The Mongolians have been showing signs of rebellion for a year now, perhaps they have decided to rebel, your majesty must not deal softly with them, otherwise they will grow wings and rebel," the prime minister said

"We should give them another chance, it is right for us to handle them with an iron hand but we should advocate peace rather than war," the regional commander who is also the emperor advisor said, some of the ministers in the hall glared at him with malice in their eyes, he could feel their gaze on him but he didn't even bother to look at them, He and the prime minister shave been competing in court for years so this wasn't new to him.

"I think we should do as the regional commander said, we should send a letter of warning to them," the minister of defence said, it was no surprise to the ministers on the prime minister's side that the minister of defence was supporting the regional commander since they are allies.

"your majesty, if we keep tolerating their act of disobedience, they will look down on us, if we don't act now, we might be giving them a chance to prepare themselves for war against us," the minister of foreign affairs said

"Are you suggesting that we put our citizens in danger of war again, we are prospering due to the grace of his majesty, if we go into war now just because of their disobedience, the nation would plunge into poverty again?" the regional commander said with a very stern and authoritative voice.

"Your majesty, the regional commander…" the prime was still speaking but the emperor cut him off.

"Enough, I have made my decision, you have just reported about floods in Yinzhou and shortage of funds, if we go into war now, the nation would be greatly affected, I would write a letter to the Khan and I will entrust the ministry of foreign affairs with the duty of sending the letter," the emperor said

"Your majesty, if they refuse to send their tributes after receiving the letter, what should be done with them," the minister of foreign affairs asked

"Why don't we wait until then, there are other ways to solve conflicts between two nations, it doesn't have to be war," the emperor said

"But…"

"Enough, I have spoken and my decision is final," the emperor said, then he stood up from the throne and left the court, all the ministers bowed as he walked out of the court.