“Go back and lead your subordinates. Leave the negotiating jobs to me. You just need to control your people and protect them. Well, if you want to practice your succubus skills, you can just wander in the city and allow yourself to be violated.”

Zhu Qiao clicked her tongue. He stomped her feet and walked back to her underlings and other disciples.

No one noticed a new tattoo behind Han Wenjie’s neck. A small yin-yang diagram slowly sank into Han Wenjie’s skin and disappeared.

After walking for a few minutes, Han Wenjie slapped the back of her neck as if a mosquito had bitten her. She looked around in a confusion.

“What’s wrong, elder Han?” Asked Zhu Nuan.

“…Nothing. It must have been my imagination.”

“Oh, okay.”

The two elders proceeded to the Han Garden Institute. They didn’t know what Zhu Qiao had done.

Behind their backs, Zhu Qiao stumbled and knelt. She covered her nose with her handkerchief, hiding her nosebleed.

Ding

You have stolen a portion of Han Wenjie’s recent memory.

Uploading data…

Similar to what Cao Mao had experienced, Zhu Qiao’s system uploaded a massive data of Han Wenjie’s memory into her brain directly. The excruciating headache was manageable, but the confusing memory and the changes in muscle fibers was a torture.

This was the effect of the talisman Zhu Qiao had used. It could copy a portion of the target’s memory during the recent days to the user.

Upload complete.

Upgradable meridians have been detected. Do you want to upgrade your cultivation base, now?

‘No. Not now.’

Affirmative. Suppressing your current cultivation to the level 10 of the bone refining realm.

Zhu Qiao closed her eyes to process the information.

The picture of Han Wenjie talking to a few garden masters appeared in her mind. Zhu Qiao could also identify the people in the memory without knowing them in person.

‘Yuan Shaoqing? The patriarch of the Yuan Clan? Oh, he and Han Wenjie are colluding to take over the city and the entire sect? WTF!? Why are they acting like Wei Huang and Xu Xiuying!?’

Zhu Qiao was looking for a clue relating to her quest. However, she discovered a coup d’état conspiracy and Han Wenjie’s colleagues instead. She tried to dig into a deeper memory, but she found nothing.

Giving up the task, Zhu Qiao got back on her feet and pretended that nothing had happened. She hid the blood-soaked handkerchief in her spatial ring after she stopped the bleeding.

Snort

Khak

Ptut!

Unladylike, Zhu Qiao snorted and spat black blood on the street like a thug.

Several JY disciples cringed by Zhu Qiao’s action, but none of them voiced their opinion. Their social statuses had flipped 180 degrees as the pink-haired girl turned out to be the Zhu Clan’s youngest princess while they got stuck at the bottom of the food chain.

Joyous Yin practitioners always ended up doing odd jobs while VY disciples could enjoy their luxurious resources and cultivation time. Their livelihood didn’t improve after switching side to the Zhu Clan.

“Girls, I know what you’re thinking,” Zhu Qiao inhaled back the remnant of black blood and spat them out, “I’ll get you a new cultivation technique, so those bitches can’t take advantage of you girls again.”

“T-thank you, lady Zhu.”

“For now, stick together and keep your hope up. Once I get my hands on a new cultivation technique, I’ll teach all of you!”

“Understood, lady Zhu.”

The JY disciples still hesitated if they should rely on Zhu Qiao. As for the latter, she didn’t care if they would have faith in her or not. After all, as long as she completed the quest, the heaven-grade technique would give her negotiation power within her clan, and everything would follow.

For now, Zhu Qiao took it slow, just like what she did in her tutorial quests when she was still in the Silver Phoenix Sect.

.

.

.

Jia Garden Institute, Jia Wenhe Workshop

Dong Zhongying was inspecting the fake corpse of Xie Tian, made by Jia Wenhe.

As Jia Shan had told Cao Mao, Jia Wenhe had refined a corpse of a 5th-stage expert with a lizardman bloodline. The crystalized dantian of the dead man had a tinge of fire element Qi in it.

“Perfect! I’ll take it!” Dong Zhongying laughed and took the corpse into his spatial ring.

“The city token and the land deed, please.”

“Of course!” The fat man tossed a scroll, a jade token, and a sag of essence cores to Jia Wenhe, “It’s all there.”

Jia Wenhe caught everything with one hand and sent his Qi to inspect everything, checking if there was an embedded array or inscription on them. Fortunately, nothing was tampered.

“Whatever you plan to do with the corpse, it’s none of my business. However, I will not take any responsibility if you happen to offended someone after this. As soon as the trouble comes to me, I’ll fucking expose this deal to the public and tell everyone that you forced my hands.”

“Ha! Don’t worry. Liu Bian can’t do shit. Even if he discovers the truth, he won’t have enough resources or time to come after you. Hell, I doubt he has enough forces to challenge your sect when Wei Huang is still glaring at their throats.”

Jia Wenhe clicked his tongue. He stored everything and waved his hand, “You can leave if you’re done here. I have other business to attend to.”

“Is this how you send off your guests?”

“This deal never happened. Also, you are an UNINVITED guest.”

“Ha! That’s true. Well, I was never here. Hahaha!” Dong Zhongying smirked and turned around, wiggling his jiggling belly. He exited Jia Wenhe’s workshop.

In front of the workshop, two subordinates of Dong Zhongying was waiting for him. The general who had fought against Xu Lanying, General Hua, was there along with Li Wenyou.

“Are we done?” Hua Xiong glanced at the fat chancellor.

“Yeah. It’s done. Let’s go back and claim the prize.”

The three of them ignored the manner and jumped to the sky, flying home by themselves. They ignored the experts on the ground, who gave them a disapproval look.

Without realizing it, they flew over Zhu Qiao’s group and Cao Manor. Nobody noticed their presence since their cultivation base was insignificant to these masters.

.

An hour after Dong Zhongying had left, Jia Shan visited Jia Wenhe.

“You got what they promised?”

Hearing his brother’s question, Jia Wenhe sighed and tossed the land deed scroll to Jia Shan, “Yeah. I’m surprised that they gave us the entire Siren City.”

“They probably looted everything, so they don’t need it anymore.”

“True. Anyway, it’s a good place to establish a new sect or a new clan. The western Blood Sea has a lot of blood element Qi, and the soil is rich with yin and yang essence. We can try growing Siren Ruby Bamboos there. If we have at least 100 to 200 bamboos, we will have enough resources to return to the holy hand and heal your dantian.”

Jia Shan smiled. He was proud that his brother was planning ahead for his sake. It seemed that the deal with Dong Zhongying was Jia Wenhe’s idea, but he never claimed the credits.

“You’re not afraid that the crown prince might come after you when he discovers the truth?”

“That fatty will have to deal with his wrath first. Well, by the time he comes after me, he has to go through the Dong Clan, Huangjin Sect, Wei Huang’s rebel armies, and the second prince’s guys in the court. It’s not easy to work and live in the royal palace when a bunch of egotistic 6th-stage assholes is gathering in one place.”

Jia Shan burst into laughter as he could see the picture. Nothing would come out well when too many proud experts worked for the same organization for a long time.

Laws, common sense, and peace were never in their dictionary. Whenever a conflict of interest occurred, powerful cultivators always solved it with their fists and weapons. The winners would be recorded in history as righteous rulers while the losers would be killed, crippled, enslaved, and forgotten through time.

Thus, the royal palace was a hell on earth. Only crooked people enjoyed working there.

“Yeah. There was a rule of golden seven back in our homeland – Three for balance, five for stability, and seven for prosperity. No more than 7 powerhouse figures should be allowed to govern the same force for a long time without a stronger ruler, or they’ll start teaming up and suppressing the other.”

The Emperor of the Liu Dynasty, Liu Hong, was not a strong cultivator. He was only a weak 5th-stage expert, and he could govern the court because of his strong followers. He didn’t know that these 6th-stage masters were manipulating him to get free resources and authority.

However, Jia Wenhe saw through the situation inside the court as he had seen similar political struggles within the Jia Clan in the holy land. Unless the leader was stronger than the subordinates, the organization would be in decline because of infighting.

“Ah, that’s why I’m planning to quit from the Myriad Cauldron Sect when I get this deal. We need to get out before it’s too late.”

“Huh? You’re quitting already?”

Jia Wenhe scoffed, “Golden Seven – My garden, Xin Garden, Ju Garden, Han Garden, Nerd Garden, the Yuan Clan, and the city protector.”

“That’s seven, though.”

While Jia Wenhe was talking, his hands were busy packing his belongings as if he was in a hurry, “You have never joined the assembly meeting, so you haven’t met every faction leader yet. All gardens have one leader each, Protector Pan, who’s in charge of guarding the outskirt city is the 6th, but there are more than one leaders from the Yuan Clan.”

“… I thought they have only one representative.”

“Yuan Hua left many chess pieces for her clan. She has recruited two experts from the holy land to work for her nephew. Therefore, the Yuan Clan has three representatives. Currently, there are 9 leaders, including me.”

“…”

“The power is slowly changing without you knowing it. After the last herb gathering event, the Yuan Clan used the context of sponsoring the sect from the lack of income and customers by adding the two holy land experts as guest elders. Now, the Han, the Nerd, and the Xin Garden have already joined them. It’s a matter of time before Protector Pan and the Ju Garden will accept their fate.”

Jia Shan understood the point. Before, all garden masters maintained the balance of the sect, not allowing anyone to stay on top of each other. However, the Yuan Clan used their connection as the relative clan of Goddess Yuan Hua to consume the sect from within. Soon, it would be united under the Yuan’s banners.

Jia Wenhe wanted to bail before it happened.

“When do we leave?” Jia Shan got to the point.

“A week. I’ll concoct another pill to finish my unfinished commission first, then we leave. Go tell your pupils to finish their jobs as well. I heard he got a commission for making shit-load of aphrodisiac pills.”

“Yeah, I’ll tell him.”

.

While Jia Shan was confirming the deed with Jia Wenhe, Cao Mao also had something to decide.

It was the campaign mode. He had to choose his target today.

Six screens floated before him, showing him the details of available protagonists, antagonists, and neutral characters.