Game World: I Can Share Talents

Chapter 90: This Won’t Cost Me My Head, Will It?

Westheid would not allow emotions like fear and anger to cloud his reason. After a brief moment of panic, he immediately began to think calmly.

Whether it was because of the butterfly effect or some other reason, delving into the cause was meaningless. The key was how to respond.

After careful consideration, his final conclusion was... it wasn’t a huge problem.

Yes, not a huge problem.

The Chaos Erosion starting two years early was indeed something he hadn’t anticipated.

Advancing to the Legend rank within two years... that was truly unlikely. Not even with dual T0 Talents.

But that didn’t mean Westheid was finished and could only sit around waiting to die.

Advancing to the Legendary Celestial Rank was, simply put, the most direct and brutal way to break his bloodline shackles. No matter what bloodline restrictions he had before, once he became a Legend, his fate would be in his own hands. He wouldn’t have to worry about the Pure Holy Spirit anymore.

’Holy Spirit Ancestor? Stop trying to claim we’re related. We’re not close.’

’At most, when I return to the Qinghui Territory, I’ll tearfully loot the corpse and not let the gold coins dropped by that old fogey go to waste.’

But in reality, besides advancing to Legend, there was an even more direct way to escape the Chaos Erosion.

That was to reclaim the Qinghui Territory and rescue the Pure Holy Spirit from Chaos’s corruption. In terms of difficulty alone, this path was actually simpler.

’They really aren’t giving me a moment’s rest, just cranking up the difficulty... Forget it. It’s not a big deal.’

Westheid shook his head with a wry smile, immediately sitting down at his desk to think about how to reclaim the Qinghui Territory.

He no longer had the luxury of choice. Faced with this imminent crisis, Westheid had to make reclaiming the Qinghui Territory his primary objective.

Though it was a great pity, his plan to go to other nations and leech dungeon XP had to be scrapped. Even if he lost these opportunities forever, in a future era where Celestial Gods no longer appeared, any "dungeons" that might still exist would be nothing like the harmless Secret Realm Trials.

’Good thing I wasn’t too specific when I made my wish. Otherwise, things would be pretty awkward right now.’

Westheid sighed and began to draft amendments to the Oath. Since he had decided to reclaim the Qinghui Territory, revising the Oath could no longer be delayed; it had to be done as soon as possible.

Fortunately, Duke Qinghui already had a draft in mind. After spending the entire morning at his desk, he finished writing the final amendments.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—

As the bright midday sun streamed into the room, making the floor glow with a warm light, Yolanda’s voice came from outside the door:

"Brother, are you resting?"

"Come in," Westheid said.

The vibrant, platinum-haired girl then walked into the room, approached the Patriarch, and reported:

"Brother, this is the list of families that came to visit us today. Please look it over. Which ones require return gifts, and which invitations should be accepted... or should I continue to handle these matters myself?"

Yolanda knew well Westheid’s personality and his hatred for troublesome tasks. He would most likely push the social obligations onto her again. However, the platinum-haired girl’s etiquette was flawless; she would never be perfunctory with her reports or inquiries.

"Let me see."

However, to Yolanda’s surprise, this time Westheid took the list with a serious expression and began to look it over.

It couldn’t be helped. To reclaim their homeland, the Qinghui Clan couldn’t possibly achieve anything with just the two of them.

Since they lacked the absolute brute force to steamroll everything, they had no choice but to compromise with the secular world.

Money, resources, prestige, and a certain degree of convenient authority—none of these could be lacking.

In other words, they needed to pull in some support.

But as he looked at the pages filled with the unfamiliar names of the Imperial Capital’s nobles, Westheid’s expression grew troubled.

’I really don’t want to owe anyone any favors. If I absolutely have to... it should be someone I know through and through and can trust.’

Placing the list on the desk, Westheid said to Yolanda:

"Help me invite the Yuanxi Palace and the Shadow Flame Duke. Tell them the Qinghui Clan is preparing to reclaim our homeland and requires the support of our Friends of the Oath."

"Reclaim our homeland?"

Yolanda was stunned. "Brother, you mean..."

"We’re preparing to return to the Qinghui Territory. We’re going to take back everything we’ve lost!"

Westheid looked at his sister’s charmingly baffled expression and smiled. "What’s wrong? Isn’t this what you’ve always longed for?"

Yolanda nodded. "That’s true, but our clan has only just gotten back on track. There’s no rush to reclaim the territory. We could build up our strength for another two years to maximize our gains."

Westheid gave his sister a meaningful look. If he weren’t certain she didn’t know the consequences of the Holy Spirit’s corruption, he would have started to doubt her loyalty.

’You’re from a branch family, not bound to the Pure Holy Spirit, so of course you can wait. But your big brother can’t wait much longer.’

’This "maximizing our gains" you speak of... don’t tell me it comes at the cost of my head?’

"If you don’t want to reclaim the territory, you can always find an excuse—insufficient resources, the timing isn’t right. But that’s how our spirit slowly drains away. The shame of the Qinghui Clan must be washed away now, with our actions!"

Westheid stood up and said, using the words most likely to persuade Yolanda:

"Yolanda, don’t you trust my judgment?"

His words had an immediate effect. Yolanda caught the keywords "family’s honor and disgrace" and, as if injected with a shot of adrenaline, her pretty face flushed red.

"I understand, Brother! We can’t stay in our comfort zone forever. We must show our determination to restore our homeland!"

"Exactly. Go send the invitation letters to Yuanxi Palace and the others and explain the situation. Afterward, I’m going out to submit the contents of this revised Oath to the Holy Hall."

Westheid said with a smile. He had Yolanda’s easy-to-read personality completely figured out.

Although his loyal clanswoman would have obeyed a direct order, a few nice words were better for boosting her motivation. He could consider it farming some affection points.

’My sister might not be T0-tier, but she’s top-tier T1 at least. Even if she doesn’t use me for parts, her future achievements won’t be less than the Legend rank.’

’I definitely have to win her over.’

「In the afternoon」

Westheid went straight to the Holy Tree Palace and handed the revised treaty of the Oath to a Holy Temple Priestess. If all went according to plan, once the priestess burned the new treaty as an offering to the Radiant Holy Tree, the Oath would soon be amended.

The revised Oath didn’t actually contain anything too excessive. In essence, it just diluted the connection between the Qinghui Territory and the Imperial government as much as possible.

At that time, the subordinate relationship between the Pure Holy Spirit and the Radiant Holy Tree would be severed, and the Qinghui Territory would change from an "autonomous Shubang" to a "non-tributary state." They would likely lose access to many of the Imperial government’s preferential policies.

In times of peace, these few revisions would have been enough to cripple the Qinghui Territory’s economy, leading to widespread public resentment and cries of suffering.

But since the Qinghui Territory had already fallen, none of that mattered.

Yolanda didn’t have much of an opinion on the matter, because she had truly believed Westheid’s polite platitudes in front of the Divine Ancestor. She even praised the Patriarch’s backbone afterward, saying that the Master of Qinghui ought to have such spirit.

In a way, Yolanda was also quite naive.

「That evening」

Westheid returned to their residence. Just as he stepped out of the car, he spotted a delightful guest at the entrance.

It was Mivana.