Chapter 338 - 136: Zhao Ci: Crap, I’ve Become the Demon Monarch

Chapter 338: Chapter 136: Zhao Ci: Crap, I’ve Become the Demon Monarch

Zhang Da Yong often suffered from severe headaches. While each episode didn’t last long and barely affected his cultivation, it was a different story for the mansion competition missions. There, it could cause a major disaster at any moment.

Once it was clear he wouldn’t recover, Zhang Da Yong felt he was a burden and resigned from his post as a Mansion Official. He packed his things and prepared to go home.

Zhao Ci had to do a lot of convincing to get him to stay, telling him to focus on recuperating first. Once he was better, he could join the team in a support role, and they would find a chance to treat his injury sooner or later.

But with one person down, they were shorthanded on missions, and their room for maneuver was greatly reduced.

But that was far from what made them furious.

It was...

"Are the people from the Ninth Prince’s Mansion and Prince Ying’s Mansion out of their minds?"

Feng Kucha was practically livid. "I could let it slide if they just came to sabotage this one mission, but then they went and accepted every single one of our missions after that."

The Imperial Clan Court had always encouraged intense competition between the mansions. Aside from the trivial, domestic tasks Kan Luotang was handling in the Northern Three Prefectures, almost all missions could be accepted by multiple mansions simultaneously.

The last mission, as usual, involved solving a case.

For Zhao Ci, it was as easy as having the answer key and just filling in the steps. All his men had to do was find specific pieces of evidence and intimidate the suspect a few times, and the case would be practically solved.

But this time, the Ninth Prince’s Mansion accepted the same mission.

Zhu Yan and Feng Tianxi went over and caused a huge mess, nearly getting the suspect killed in an "accident." At that point, they still hadn’t obtained much of the key evidence. If the suspect had died, there would have been no one left to testify.

It was so infuriating!

Then, when they went to turn in the mission, they discovered that almost every task they had accepted had also been taken by the Ninth Prince’s Mansion and Prince Ying’s Mansion.

It was blatant sabotage.

"That’s to be expected."

Zhao Ci sneered. "They’re trying to sabotage us because they’re afraid. We’re the ones in the stronger position, so there’s no reason for us to lose our cool."

The missions from the Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of Works were all long-term. For the last six months, the main focus had been on missions from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War. Solving cases and catching criminals were the primary sources of merits, and with his methods, Zhao Ci had been racking them up way too fast.

Especially with the rumors spreading everywhere that he intended to vie for the throne.

It was only natural that they were wary of him.

Zhao Yong and Zhao Xie had been warned by Old Deng, so their investigations were focused on dismantling each other’s assets.

But they didn’t represent the entire will of their respective mansions.

They might be willing to ease up on him, but that didn’t mean their Mansion Officials were willing to let him build up his power in peace.

They had to ensure the prince they supported took the throne. The sunk costs were too high. Even if the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince wanted to back down, their followers would never allow it.

As for Zhao Yong and Zhao Xie, they absolutely wouldn’t be allowed to go easy on Zhao Ci.

Right now, the Tenth Prince’s Mansion had accumulated over a hundred merits from completing missions. Combined with the merits left over from the Pill Association, they had enough for a full three slots in the War God Tower.

In contrast, the merits earned by those two mansions could be exchanged for one and a half slots at most. The Ninth Prince’s Mansion, after paying off its debts, couldn’t even scrape together enough for a single slot.

It would be weirder if they *didn’t* try to cause trouble.

Feng Kucha said indignantly, "But we can’t just sit here and take it!"

"Taken down? We’ll take *them* down!"

Zhao Ci snorted. "As for the missions we have now, we’re dropping them all!"

"Huh?"

Feng Kucha and Xiao Shenke were both stunned for a moment. ’Is he just giving up?’

Zhao Ci snorted coldly. "They think they can wear us down just because they have more people. If they can be shit-stirrers, why can’t we? They love snatching our missions, so let’s give the missions to them. We’ll go and take *their* missions. Let’s see who can outlast who!"

"What a great idea!"

Feng Kucha’s and Xiao Shenke’s eyes lit up. They’d never thought of a move like that.

The Imperial Clan Court had already announced the details of the Spring Hunt. In essence, there would be ten tokens, and each token represented one slot. Whoever snatched a token got the slot.

Right now, Kan Luotang’s side was completely unaffected. By April of next year, she would have no problem accumulating enough base merits for four slots. If they could just snatch one token during the hunt, the Tenth Prince’s Mansion would be in a perfectly acceptable position.

In contrast, the Ninth Prince’s Mansion and Prince Ying’s Mansion couldn’t afford this game of attrition!

After all, the missions they sent people to sabotage weren’t that easy to complete. If Zhao Ci’s side simply didn’t try, it would be very difficult for their rivals to solve the cases. And according to Imperial Clan Court rules, a mansion couldn’t accept new missions if they had three incomplete ones on hand.

All his side had to do was interfere with their main force, and their rivals would be in a world of hurt.

’I might suffer.’

’That’s fine.’

’But you’re going to suffer more!’

’Everyone has a breaking point.’

Zhao Ci waved his hand. "You two go back and rest. It’s time for me to cultivate."

"Alright!"

The two nodded. However, instead of immediately returning to their quarters to rest, they went to chat with Zhang Da Yong.

Zhao Ci returned to his Practice Room and began his tenth session of bone forging.

「A quarter of an hour later.」

He let out a long breath.

Right now, his Flesh Soul, sinews, and bones were all at a state of true First-Grade Perfection. There might still be room for improvement, but with his current knowledge, he couldn’t imagine what that would look like.

Next up,

was the Pattern Condensation Realm.

The Physical Body Divine Treasure was important because it was the foundation for all other Divine Treasures.

When one’s qi is perfected, the spirit flourishes. A strong physical body can also raise the potential of the Primordial Spirit.

The Five Elements Divine Treasure corresponded to the internal organs, and the cycle of the five elements all took place within the physical body.

Therefore, condensing patterns in the physical body was a crucial juncture that determined the future direction of one’s cultivation.

For him now, the most rational course of action was to focus on cultivating the Gold of the Zhao Clan and the Water of the Xiang Clan, strengthening his physical body to a terrifying degree.