Chapter 299: Prince Ning’s Ambition and Zhou Bao’s Cruelty
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Zhou Bao behaved mysteriously and seemed to be concealing something. However, Jiang Xiao could do nothing about it. Anyway, now he knew that Zhou Bao did not mean to risk his life, but instead, felt confident in himself. Jiang Xiao felt calm as if he had laid down a big stone that had been pressing on him.
Zhou Bao was the key person among them and was also their backer. If there was something bad that happened to Zhou Bao, their own lives together with their families would be at risk, let alone their future fortunes and happiness. Thus, regarding Zhou Bao and everything to do with the territory, Jiang Xiao was greatly concerned.
And as Zhou Bao left Jiang Xiao and used his body movements to flash away, he finally arrived at the construction site of the villa. Since his body movement was so fast, the people building the villa did not notice him at all. They only felt a smooth wind blowing around them.
“Golden Rooster, what on earth does this Kunlun Mountain want to do?”
Going inside the mine vein through the secret passageway that was opened by Sun Rat of Emptiness, Zhou Bao first found Golden Rooster chatting with Moon Deer of the Extended Net. When he met the people from Kunlun Mountain at that time, Golden Rooster passed his words to him secretly and asked him not to be polite to those from Kunlun Mountain. Most of what he expressed to Jiang Xiao just now was the result of Golden Rooster’s words.
Therefore, as soon as he had gotten rid of Jiang Xiao, he came to Golden Rooster immediately and wanted to find out what had happened.
“What do they want? Obviously, Kunlun Mountain wants to cause you trouble!” Glancing at Moon Deer of the Extended Net, Golden Rooster smiled and spoke as he saw Zhou Bao’s arrival. “You little boy! You should know common sense—no financial exposure. Though you have a Pure Yang Celestial Device, you should not show it like this. Now you have already attracted a group of envious ‘wolves’!”
“What f*cking envious wolves! Even Kunlun Mountain has no reason to abruptly cause me trouble! Don’t they want to hide their capabilities and bide their time?”
“By stealing your Pure Yang Celestial Device, they can also take their time to cultivate themselves better!” Golden Rooster smiled and answered him. “It’s Moon Deer of the Extended Net that found the problem in this situation. Let him tell you! ”
Hearing this, Zhou Bao turned to Moon Deer of the Extended Net with a puzzled expression.
Moon Deer of the Extended Net grinned. “There are two reasons for Kunlun Mountain to cause you trouble. Firstly, your territory belongs to their previous sphere of influence and you are the toughest guy to deal with within their influence. If they could kill you, it would not be hard to restore their influence to the same level as it was before the war. To them, the only difference is that those who originally served them, the tribes of Northern Yuan, have changed their allegiance to you lords from the South. You know, though these lords contributed a lot during the war with Northern Yuan, they are not powerful enough. Facing a huge power like Kunlun Mountain, they have no ability to win. As for the Great Jin, it’s too far to control and manage them. Secondly, Kunlun Mountain’s attitude is provoked and induced by someone who wants to trouble you through taking advantage of Kunlun Mountain’s power. ”
“Do you mean Prince Ning?” Zhou Bao said thoughtfully with a flash in his eyes.
“You are smart. It’s Prince Ning. How did you get that?”
“In the Northwest, though there are lots of enfeoffed territories, none of the lords from there have the power or influence to threaten me. Only Prince Ning does, as His Royal Highness has trouble with me and is very ambitious. While he acts very confidentially in the Northwest, it’s not convenient for him to deal with me publicly, but he could hassle me secretly!”
“That’s it! It’s Prince Ning that has provoked this whole thing!” Moon Deer of the Extended Net replied, “Besides, I also discovered Prince Ning’s ambition!”
“He wants to conquer the Northwest?!” Hearing the word “conquer”, Zhou Bao abruptly trembled. Thinking about this possibility and considering the previous clues, Zhou Bao could not conceal the shock in his eyes. “Does this guy want to occupy the Northwest Region?”
Moon Deer of the Extended Net nodded slightly and showed his appreciation of Zhou Bao. “It’s true. Prince Ning has a plan to conquer the Northwest. He bought several territories from the comparatively weaker lords. Those territories could be his base. He also cooperated with Kunlun Mountain, secretly intending to make Kunlun Mountain his backer of force. He plans to keep a foothold in the Northwest Region and then seek hegemony within it.”
“Seeking hegemony in the Northwest Region?” Zhou Bao grinned coldly and said, “Then I have become sore in his eyes or a thorn in his side!”
“Yes! Your influence is growing too fast, which is out of his expectation! The bigger your influence becomes, the sooner that he wants to kill you. Even though he might not kill you, he could weaken your influence and make you subject to him!” Moon Deer of the Extended Net answered with a smile.
“Occupy the Northwest? How dare he! He is the Prince of Jin. Though he’s not the Crown Prince, he still is one of the most powerful princes and has plenty of opportunities in the future!” Jin Yuquan frowned and was unable to understand it. “Moon Deer of the Extended Net, you’ve never told me about this before!”
“It’s all nonsense to you! Considering your intelligence and the question that you asked just now, you will just be laughed at!” Moon Deer of the Extended Net mocked him with a teasing expression. “You won’t understand Prince Ning’s intelligence!”
“Intelligence? I really can’t understand his so-called intelligence!” Mocked by Moon Deer of the Extended Net, Golden Rooster showed a bad expression rather than directly fighting with him. “What benefits can he gain in the Northwest Region?”
“What benefits? If he can seize the Northwest Region, even though he can’t find a country, his position would be almost the same as an emperor’s. The size of the Northwest Region isn’t smaller than the Plains. If it’s well managed, in several decades it will be a big country on par with the previous Western Region. Isn’t that better than competing with his snaky brothers for the far-reaching emperor’s position?” Moon Deer of the Extended Net grinned coldly. “That’s why he’s smart. He has already clearly understood that the position will most likely not fall into his hands. That’s why he is abandoning everything from the Central Plains and transferring all he has to the Northwest Region!”
“What? He’s transferring all his power to the Northwest Region?” With a sudden shock, a flash of incredible light shined in Zhou Bao’s eyes. “What a guy! If he really wants to control the Northwest, doesn’t he worry about the interference from the Central Plains? His father is a tough character who won’t be cheated so easily!”
“That’s why he cooperates with Kunlun Mountain and hides on the dark side without any big movement. However, small actions always continue!” Moon Deer of the Extended Net said.
Narrowing his eyes, Zhou Bao thought for a while. “Prince Ning has already gathered lots of powers in the Central Plains. And dealing with the lords in the Northwest, he will soon beat them without any big movement. These lords are newcomers without any base here. In the desolate and inhabited Northwest Region, coordinating with the local bully, Kunlun Mountain, and suppressing these lords by military force, Prince Ning can easily control them. These lords don’t have any resisting force and will definitely transfer their territories to Prince Ning, who behaves like their little master!”
“Right! All he needs to do is to secretly control those territories, transfer the rights to his followers, and wait for the right time!” Moon Deer of the Extended Net said, “Now, you are his only trouble. You have the strongest power among all these tribes and are the toughest one to deal with. What’s more, you are smart and close to him. You must sense something about all of his many movements. To make sure that his plan goes smoothly and he achieves his ambition come, he needs to kill you first!”
“It seems that he doesn’t have any luck. He chose the wrong opponent at the very beginning!” Zhou Bao smiled coldly. “He wants to use me as an example? Prince Ning isn’t qualified!”
“Right! Prince Ning, at most, worries about the connection between you and Tian Long Taoism. He doesn’t know about the relationship between you and the Immortal Palace. Actually, he may not know whether the Immortal Palace exists or not!” Moon Deer of the Extended Net smiled.
“He should know about the existence of the Immortal Palace. But as for the connection between me and the palace, he might not know!” Zhou Bao shook his head and continued, “If he wants to play with me, I’ll keep him company until the end. Making trouble in the Northwest, he is unluckily in the wrong place!”
“He has no choice! After the enfeoffment in the north, the Northwest Region is comparatively weaker in force. See, the Seven Troops of the Southern Yard of Northern Yuan has already been taken away by Jin. If carrying on hegemony in the southern area, he will find a dead end for himself. As the central part of Northern Yuan, it has already been authorized to the millennium families and great figures who have superpowers. He can’t take any action there. As to the northeast area that faces the sea, there is no back up there and, what’s more, where the original tribes live has not been enfeoffed. It’s a barren and worthless land. Thus, the only place he can act is in the northwest.”
“I see!” Zhou Bao nodded. “Anyway, Prince Ning is smart. Pity for him!”
“Yeah! What a pity!”
“And what about the Azure Secret Area?”
“Mouse has been busy inside. The progress is pretty good without needing to wait for half a year. Four or five months will be enough!”
“As soon as possible, please! I’m bored to death here.”
“You still feel bored now?” Moon Deer of the Extended Net smiled and said, “We are the real bored people, staying and living underground all day long!”
“That’s your own choice! You surely can let Mouse stay underground by himself and just walk out to take a look. Though it’s a little remote here, the scenery of Jilei Mountain looks great. You are so responsible that I feel embarrassed to invite you out!” Zhou Bao grinned. “But if you are really so responsible, how can you get so much news?”
Moon Deer of the Extended Net flushed. “I have my own news source. You don’t need to care about that and should only take care of your own business!”
“You’re right! I’ll deal with my own things! Kunlun Mountain will soon take some actions and I won’t be bored anymore!” Zhou Bao replied happily.
“Kunlun Mountain is the second largest school in the north with many experts. Can you hold off all of them by yourself?” Golden Rooster felt worried. “Though you have a Pure Yang Celestial Device, you are still on your own!”
“I get your point! Don’t worry! I can handle it! Surely, I won’t fight against them alone. I know that you have your own methods to bring Wang She here!” Zhou Bao added, “When he gets here, everything will be better!”
“You asked Wang She to help you?”
“I need help here since I can’t contain the entire situation alone. Wang She stays at Tian Long Taoism and has nothing to do all day long. Can’t he come here to relax his muscles and bones?” Zhou Bao smiled. “I believe that he must be willing to play here! “Not only him, but if Tian Long Taoism gets to know this, they’ll agree to let him crack down on Kunlun Mountain. After all, the world was divided into Three Great Sects before. Another two now want to make a name for themselves. None of the Three Great Sects are willing to accept this situation. If I can help them to suppress Kunlun Mountain this time, surely they’ll be very glad.”
“I get your point! I’ll inform Wang She immediately. Within five days, he’ll be here!”
“It’s okay now!” Zhou Bao smiled. “Take your time here and tell us any problem that you face. I’ll try my best to meet your requirements!”
…
…
Kunlun Mountain acted so fast that Zhou Bao had no time to react. The third day after they left, Zhou Bao got the news that a group of shepherds that appeared in his territory planned to live there for a long time. The news came from the old man, Gesang. These days, Old Gesang had been the leader among the criminals of Northern Yuan from his territory in the Central Plains with a high prestige among the citizens. And considering his close connection between the surviving stragglers of Northern Yuan, he kept up with everything.
In Zhou Bao’s territory, there were some idle herdsmen who survived the fall of Northern Yuan and did not want to change their customs. Zhou Bao did not set any rules for them except that they make no trouble. Actually, they always remained in peace and did normal things like shepherding in this land, communicating with some criminals who lived in Zhou Bao’s territory, trading for some necessities among their own shepherds, and getting some news. Zhou Bao was quite satisfied.
But recently, things had changed a little.
It seemed that someone had started to organize the herdsmen living in his territory to be a tribe and they planned to live in his territory for a long time.
However, if they were just normal herdsmen, Zhou Bao would not care too much. The problem was that these newly arriving herdsmen obviously had some connections with Kunlun Mountain. Judging from the news of Old Gesang, they were very likely from Kunlun Mountain and planned to found a new tribe in his territory.
His territory was actually part of Kunlun Mountain back in the time of Northern Yuan. For these people, Kunlun Mountain was a holy mountain and people from there were representatives of Grassland God.
This group of herdsmen lost their country and idled around everywhere. They were unwilling to be subject to the new lord. Now they felt extremely excited and refreshed when they met the representatives of the holy mountain. They thought that the Grassland God might have still remembered them and had come to save them by dispatching the oracles.
Stirred up by the people of Kunlun Mountain, they started to found a new tribe. The place that they chose fell just inside of Zhou Bao’s territory, less than 100 miles away from his little town centralization.
“These damned guys! They are courting death!”
Knowing the exact position where they found the tribe, Zhou Bao could not control himself anymore, filling himself with strong murderous intent. Zhou Bao knew that place, which was at the foot of the Jilei Mountain. With flourishing grasses, plenty of water, and a moderate climate, it was a sanctum there. Zhou Bao took that place as his first destination to develop when he finished setting up his base and his development of the territory. He never expected that someone else would occupy it before him. What was worse was that they belonged to Kunlun Mountain.
This was a total act of provocation!
But he thought too much about this. They were located there only because of the good Fengshui. They had no idea that he, Zhou Bao, also wanted that place.
No matter what, they messed up in his territory that was enfeoffed by the Imperial Court, and they apparently disgraced him. And Zhou Bao would definitely have no plan to respect them.
At Zhou Bao’s speed, hundreds of miles only took him several breaths worth of time to arrive there. What made Zhou Bao angry was that looking down from the sky, dozens of big or small tents had been set up forming a pattern similar to the previous tribes of Northern Yuan. A huge tent was set in the center point, in which lived the tribe captains and the other leaders. The other small tents were lived in by the normal herdsmen. These tribes that had suddenly popped up occupied many square miles around.
At the same time, Zhou Bao could clearly smell several strong spirits from this tribe that belonged to the experts.
“Five experts who are in at least Level Seven and more than 20 masters of martial arts belonging to the Bone-Forging Realm are all here. Their forces could easily destroy a middle-sized well-known family. Kunlun Mountain did dispatch a lot of them here. But, why the f*ck did they do this?!”
A killing intent shone in the eyes of Zhou Bao. With a golden light shining on the back of his head, Zhou Bao offered up the Golden Flame Mirror. And a straight beam of golden light flew to the biggest tent fiercely!
He had already sensed that three of the five experts who were above Level Seven were in the biggest tent and the other two were wandering among the tribe. Followed by the more than 20 masters of martial arts in the Bone-Forging Realm, they were cruising around and inspecting.
So, Zhou Bao started his attack without hesitation.
“What the f*ck!” As soon as the golden light of the Golden Flame Mirror had been sent out, the three experts lead by the white-clothed Elder felt something wrong. They were about to leave but, obviously, they could not move faster than the light.
As they were about to move, the fierce golden light burst straight down on them, covering the whole tent completely, and the tent turned into ash immediately. Through the golden light, there were three light points flashing that were the Gang Qi launched by the three experts. They tried to resist the power of the Golden Flame Mirror.
Unfortunately, compared with the strong Golden Flame Mirror, their Gang Qi could only defend for a very short moment. Their Gang Qi would die out under the Golden Light like a dead light socket.
Everything happened so abruptly and nobody expected Zhou Bao’s sudden attack without any notice. And no one had correctly predicted that his Pure Yang Celestial Device would have such superpowers. Even the Second Elder, whose cultivation had reached Level Eight, could not defend himself for even one moment. It was too late for them to react.
Three experts together with the upstarts in the tent had been destroyed into ashes under Zhou Bao’s attack.
“Second Elder! How dare you, Zhou Bao…!”
One of the two experts who lead the 20 followers patrolling the tribe reacted first. He shouted and waved his hands, sending a mighty power out to Zhou Bao.
“Cheap Trick!” Glancing at the white light, Zhou Bao showed his mocking smile coldly. As the golden light behind his head flashed, it hovered above a white light. Being covered by the Golden Flame Mirror, the white light stopped in midair. Standing still there, it was actually a white bead shinning with a crystal-like light.
“A pretty good celestial device! It should be a Celestial Device of the Mysterious Level. What a pity! Didn’t you know that I have a Pure Yang Celestial Device?!” Zhou Bao smiled coldly. Lifting up his finger lightly, Zhou Bao grabbed the flashing, white bead-shaped celestial device with the restrained golden light of the Golden Flame Mirror.
“How dare you, Zhou Bao!” At the same time, the two experts jumped into the air and dashed toward Zhou Bao.
Zhou Bao could clearly recognize that one of them was the middle-aged man that visited him that day.
“I was wondering who had the guts to cause me trouble! You Kunlun Mountain again!” Facing the two oncoming experts, Zhou Bao did not worry much as he moved the Golden Flame Mirror. The two fighting experts had to dodge the golden light at their first sight of it. As they had already seen with their own eyes, if they were covered by that golden light, they would die a graveless death.
“Humph! How rebellious you Kunlun Mountain are! You dare to collude with the traitors and sinners and attack an Imperial Court official! I’ve found out your plan. You acknowledge your guilt and get down on your knees quickly! Otherwise, even if you can survive today, later, when I inform the Imperial Court, you Kunlun Mountain will still be extinguished by the troops!” Offering up the Golden Flame Mirror, Zhou Bao shouted in a loud voice with a happy mood!
Being chased by the golden light of the Golden Flame Mirror, the two experts of Kunlun Mountain were in a terrible dilemma in which there was no way to heaven and no access to hell. Hearing what Zhou Bao had said, they were full of rage. The middle-aged man replied furiously, “Zhou Bao, how shameless you are! You raid us and kill our Elders, Kunlun Mountain will never forgive you or let you go easily!”
“Humph! Do you think that Kunlun Mountain can be a threat to me?” Summoning his thoughts, Zhou Bao made the golden light project and burst out furiously! The scattering rain of light covered the two hidden experts!
“Damn it!”
“Watch out!”
The two experts screamed out and started their Gang Qi immediately! But the power of that rain of light seemed to suppress their Gang Qi particularly and was so powerful that it fell onto the two experts. Even though they had already flashed very quickly, they still fell down to the ground screaming loudly as they were being beaten by the rain of light.
Standing in midair, Zhou Bao caught the Golden Flame Mirror behind his head. With a slight shake, the rain of light disappeared and subsequently, a strong power was reflected from the mirror!
It was different from the straight golden light. This time, the light of the golden light took the Golden Flame Mirror as the center, spreading all over and forming a huge light cover. The entire newly settled tribe was completely covered by the golden light.
