Yue Gui nodded. "Chen Jiang is right. The reason I asked you to stay is because of this matter."

He took a sip of tea and said, "The Steward Xu Yang offended is named Xiao Hua. This person is petty and narrow-minded. Xu Yang embarrassed him at the Task Hall, which is why he’s being targeted.

Xu Yang has not yet achieved Qi Cultivation Gang, but was assigned by this Xiao Hua to do a task that only Qi Cultivation Gang disciples can do.

Given Xiao Hua’s pettiness, you all had best consider whether we’ll be implicated if we continue our alliance with Xu Yang."

A petty Steward!

The expressions of Qin Ze, Liu Qian, and Chen Jiang all turned serious.

Even if an Inner Sect Disciple had been the one targeting Xu Yang, they wouldn’t have cared much.

No matter how high an Inner Sect Disciple’s status was, they had no real power in the Outer Sect and couldn’t control anyone.

An Outer Sect Steward was different. They were the ones who managed Outer Disciples.

And Xiao Hua wasn’t just any Outer Sect Steward; he was a Steward in a crucial place like the Task Hall. To say he held the power of life and death wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration.

"How could Xu Yang have gone and embarrassed a Steward?" Qin Ze asked with a frown.

He naturally didn’t want to disband the Alliance if it could be maintained. If word got out that they had immediately cut ties with Xu Yang just because he offended someone, it would be terrible for their reputation.

In the future, no one they sought to cooperate with would trust their word.

Yue Gui shook his head. "I don’t know the specifics of what happened, but Xu Yang is definitely being targeted, and there’s a high probability that we’ll be implicated as well. This is what a senior brother from my previous class at the fist gym warned me about."

"Let’s all state our positions. Do we continue the Alliance, or do we kick Xu Yang out?"

Chen Jiang said, "I don’t want to be targeted by a Task Hall Steward and end up dead in a ditch somewhere for no reason."

Qin Ze was silent for a moment. "How do we kick him out? Do we make a public statement saying Xu Yang is no longer a member of the Alliance? Without a suitable excuse, how will we establish ourselves in the future? How will we earn anyone’s trust?"

He didn’t state his position, but his meaning was obvious. He was just worried about his reputation being affected.

Liu Qian didn’t speak, but her brow was tightly furrowed.

She didn’t want to be targeted by a Task Hall Steward either, but she also didn’t want to break their pact.

This wasn’t a matter of friendship; once your reputation is ruined, it’s difficult to ever get it back.

Yue Gui said, "We can publicly announce that the Alliance is disbanding. But privately, we can continue it."

This was the only compromise he could think of. It would distance them from Xu Yang without causing too much damage to their reputations.

"It’s a bit underhanded, but it seems it’s the only way," Liu Qian finally said.

The four of them looked at each other, expressions of shame on their faces.

Although they weren’t particularly close with Xu Yang, this cowardly act of abandoning an ally at the first sign of trouble still made them feel ashamed.

...

When Xu Yang returned to his courtyard, he saw that Zhang Yong and Zhao Zhifei had come to visit. The two of them were sitting with Sun Tao in the yard, and none of them looked happy.

Zhang Yong sighed. "Xu Yang, you saw it all so clearly. I never thought Gu Haoming could be so despicable."

Jiang Ping said, "I didn’t expect him to be so ruthless and turn on us so quickly. I should have been wary of him back when he abandoned Gu Fang without a second thought."

Zhao Zhifei’s face was ashen. "That bastard said that once we got to the Purple Sun Sect, we’d all advance together. Turns out he just wanted to use our contribution points to support his own progress."

Xu Yang almost laughed out loud.

He had heard from Liu Qian that Sharp Wind Hall had started fleecing its members, but he thought at most a marginal figure like Zhang Yong would be targeted. He never expected Zhao Zhifei and Jiang Ping to be among them.

From the sound of it, the three of them had been backstabbed by Gu Haoming.

And they really had been backstabbed by Gu Haoming. Regardless of whether the rule about handing over contribution points came from Cao Rong or Yun Feng, the only reason the three of them had become members of Sharp Wind Hall in the first place was because of Gu Haoming.

Now they were being forced to hand over contribution points, and Gu Haoming was nowhere to be seen. If that wasn’t a backstab, what was?

And in all likelihood, Gu Haoming was getting a cut of the contribution points they were forced to hand over.

"How many contribution points do you have to hand over each month?" Xu Yang asked, suppressing a smile.

He still remembered how smug they looked when they first became members of Sharp Wind Hall, with faces full of bright hopes for the future.

Who would have thought that karma would come for them so quickly?

Zhang Yong said sullenly, "One!"

One might not sound like much, but for a Qi Gathering Martial Artist, earning even ten contribution points in a month was very difficult. It was equivalent to handing over a tenth of their income.

With their contribution points being extorted and their cultivation time squeezed, they were caught in a vicious cycle. The three of them wanted nothing more than to kill Gu Haoming and Cao Rong.

But they didn’t dare to resist. Nominally, Sharp Wind Hall and the Dawn Association had merely joined forces, but they all knew in their hearts that Sharp Wind Hall had actually been absorbed by the Dawn Association. Cao Rong and the others had likely only announced a partnership because they were worried that the members would resist too strongly.

It was like boiling a frog in slowly warming water. Once Cao Rong and the others had leeched a bit more nourishment from them and grown strong enough not to fear their resistance, they would probably announce that Sharp Wind Hall had been merged into the Dawn Association.

Xu Yang smiled. "One isn’t that many. You and Cao Rong are sworn brothers who share life and death. Supporting him with one contribution point a month for his cultivation so that he can grow strong and lead you into the Inner Sect—isn’t that a good thing?"

"If you can’t even spare one contribution point, what kind of brothers are you?"

Zhang Yong, Jiang Ping, and Zhao Zhifei felt a knife twist in their hearts.

At the Dragon Assembly, their blood had boiled with passion when they heard Cao Rong declare that they would be sworn brothers from then on. Now, their hearts ached with a pain just as intense.

The three of them had complex expressions; Xu Yang’s words were exactly the same as what Cao Rong had said when he announced he was collecting membership fees. It was as if Xu Yang had been there himself.

Sun Tao chuckled and chided him, "Alright, Junior Brother Xu, stop rubbing salt in their wounds. Zhang Yong and the others were tricked by that scoundrel Cao Rong and fell for his trap."