Hm. So it just occurred to me that with the wog that the reason Elder Zhou was so important to the Argent Sect being that he had the potential to replace Yuan He, and the Duchess has a golden opportunity for a win/win scenario if she uses CRX to make a play at an increased centralization in the Emerald Seas by negotiating with the Argent Sect for a requirement for her aid to be that they give CRX a fair shake at Sect Head. This is an avenue for centralization that avoid stepping on any of the toes belonging to her vassals, and more importantly the Sun/Bai conflict basically guarantees it will succeed in shoring up the border region as any amount of funding she provides will be exceeded by the far far richer inner provinces.
Although more significant than any money would that the Duchess as a White tier cultivator can follow up on maybe she gave to Yuan He at the tournament in regards to an opportunity to clash with her, and is the something in theory that might give him the necessary insight to hit White tier, which from the pov of the Duchess is likely a good thing as a White is someone who needs to be bribed to keep happy thus benefiting the Emerald Seas. Meanwhile the Sect Head having lost his best chance at producing a successor capable of keeping the Argent Sect treading water, and has little to lose having endured decades, or even centuries of his requests for additional funding being met with "We'll consider it if you produce a crop of talents sufficient for the royal guard, and/or ministry of integrity agents for us to feed into the meat grinder that is inner province politics" thereby removing them from protecting the border he needs more funds/manpower to properly safeguard much less maintain the local economy to support the Sect military.
Oh, and the worst part about it is that Elder Zhou likely died on, or near enough to some rather critical border fortification that they've been compromised, and that is how you get a Sect Head while too virtuous to break/bend any laws is perfectly willing to play ball with whatever the Duchess has planned to benefit the Emerald Seas. Because at the end of the day Yuan He almost certainly remembers what the province was like before Ogodei wrecked the place, and even if he didn't a lot of his close friends to bring him down making him naturally inclined to be proactive about avoiding a repeat of history when an option opens up to do so.