Chapter 173 : Chapter 173
Chapter 173. Zhou Yu Flies into a Rage as They Turn on One Another
The office fell into dead silence. Zhou Yu and Zhou Mingyuan stared at each other wide-eyed, their faces filled with disbelief.
Something about this was impossible to understand.
Jiang Yichen had stopped an SS-Rank Beast Tide? How could those words even belong in the same sentence?
Even three Martial Gods would struggle to block an entire SS-Rank Beast Tide. How could Jiang Yichen, a Seventh-Realm Martial King, possibly stop it?
“What? Is there a problem?”
Xu Lin could understand Zhou Yu’s stunned expression, so he asked the question calmly.
Zhou Yu slowly came back to himself. Looking at Xu Lin’s projection, his face turned as ugly as if he had swallowed something foul.
He had triggered the beast tide in order to get rid of Jiang Yichen, yet instead he had helped Jiang Yichen earn military merit.
And not just any merit, but the most prestigious honor in the army: Special Class Merit. With an honor like that attached to his name, who would still dare touch Jiang Yichen in the future?
If anything happened to Jiang Yichen from now on, it would no longer be just the Jiang family investigating. All of Huaxia would take it seriously and pursue the matter to the very end.
Zhou Yu felt like he could barely breathe. With difficulty, he forced out, “N-No problem, Commander Xu. I will go make the preparations right away.”
“Um... Commander Xu, may I ask how Jiang Yichen managed to stop the SS-Rank Beast Tide?”
Xu Lin thought for a moment, then sighed. “It would not be accurate to say Jiang Yichen stopped it by his own power. Rather, the Jiang family produced a talisman master capable of refining Ninth-Rank Talismans, and Jiang Yichen used two of them to block the beast tide.”
!!?
Ninth-Rank Talismans!
The moment those words were spoken, Zhou Yu and Zhou Mingyuan were completely dumbstruck.
Since when had the Jiang family produced a talisman master capable of refining Ninth-Rank Talismans?
Zhou Yu’s face twitched as he nodded stiffly. “U-Understood, Commander Xu. I will notify the ten major military districts of East China immediately.”
“Mm. Remember, you must invite the senior leadership of all ten military districts. It is not often that East China produces someone awarded Special Class Merit. We must handle this properly,” Xu Lin instructed before hanging up.
Zhou Yu’s face still twitching, he clawed at the hair fixed in place with pomade, blinked rapidly, and moved his limbs about, utterly at a loss.
Zhou Mingyuan, meanwhile, clenched his fist and slammed it against the desk. “That bastard Jiang Dongnian. I knew it. He and his elder brother Jiang Zhentian are clearly in league with each other. They used us to pad Jiang Yichen’s military achievements!”
“Otherwise, there is no way that old fox Jiang Dongnian would have kept it hidden from us that the Jiang family had produced a Ninth-Rank talisman master.”
At that moment, Zhou Mingyuan finally saw Jiang Dongnian clearly. Every time he offered an idea, it ended up benefiting Jiang Yichen in the end.
Good, very good. So the two Jiang brothers have been playing me for a fool all this time?
Jiang Dongnian, if you refuse to show loyalty, then do not blame me for turning ruthless. I am going to expose every last bit of your dirty business.
The veins on Zhou Mingyuan’s forehead bulged with rage.
Zhou Yu, however, looked completely lost. “Jiang Yichen did not die, and he even got Special Class Merit. I have spent six years in the military district and have not even touched the edge of Third Class Merit.”
“And now things are even worse. With Special Class Merit attached to his name, how are we supposed to move against him? Touching him now would be the same as opposing all of Huaxia.”
He was truly out of ideas.
If he had known this would happen, he should have listened to the Chief Clan Elder and let Jiang Yichen off for the time being, then looked for another opportunity later.
But now, not only had he failed to kill Jiang Yichen by triggering the beast tide, he had actually helped him obtain Special Class Merit.
Zhou Yu was so furious he felt like coughing up blood.
“What do we do now?” he asked weakly.
Zhou Mingyuan gradually calmed his emotions and fell into thought for quite a while.
“Xiao Yu, we cannot move against Jiang Yichen anymore. We have to get rid of the other threat first.”
Zhou Yu frowned. “What threat?”
“Jiang Feng.” Zhou Mingyuan’s eyes darkened. “He is the only person who knows the specific details of how we arranged the beast tide. He is a ticking time bomb. If we do not remove him, sooner or later we will suffer for it.”
“Now that Jiang Yichen is not dead and has instead received the highest military honor, his position as the Jiang family’s heir is already set in stone.”
“Jiang Feng has no value to us anymore. The sooner we eliminate him, the safer we will be.”
After hearing that, Zhou Yu weighed it carefully for a moment, then gave a slight nod.
“All right. But I cannot make a move inside the military district, so I will have to trouble you.”
Zhou Mingyuan nodded with a smile. “He is only in the Fourth Realm. Just find two assassins and have them deal with him. Then...”
He leaned close to Zhou Yu’s ear and muttered the rest of the plan.
...
As evening fell, Huaxia Headquarters.
“Commander-in-Chief, that is the full situation. The Jiang family’s hidden foundations may be even deeper than Huaxia’s itself.”
Inside the spacious conference room, Tang Wuji looked at his father-in-law’s back and spoke with a sigh.
Hong Wu stood with his hands behind his back, and an almost imperceptible glint flickered through his shrewd eyes.
“Ninth-Rank Talismans, a divine beast kept as a pet, and even the ancient Greek evil god Medusa has been subdued... Jiang Zhentian, you truly do know how to surprise me.”
Hong Wu slowly turned around. “Has Jiang Zhentian come out of the Sacrificial Heaven Ruins yet?”
Tang Wuji shook his head. “The expedition team only heard countless sword cries from outside the ruins, but they did not see any sign of Jiang Zhentian emerging. Still, Jiang Zhentian’s vital signs remain normal.”
Hong Wu gave a slight nod and patted his son-in-law on the shoulder. “Little Tang, build a stronger relationship with the Jiang family. It will benefit you.”
Tang Wuji thought of his disappointing son. Ever since that boy started following Jiang Yichen, his strength had been improving by leaps and bounds.
He nodded sincerely. “Understood, Commander-in-Chief. I will strengthen cooperation between the Tang family and the Jiang family.”
Hong Wu smiled in satisfaction.
“But, Commander-in-Chief, you knew full well that Jiang Yichen did not stop the beast tide with his own strength, but by relying on Ninth-Rank Talismans. So why did you still award him Special Class Merit?”
When Hong Wu heard that, he tapped Tang Wuji on the head. “What do you think of Jiang Yichen’s potential?”
“It is unfathomable!”
“Exactly. If Jiang Yichen grows to maturity, it will be a good thing for Huaxia. Giving him the highest honor is a way of protecting him more effectively.”
Hong Wu narrowed his eyes slightly. “Do you not think this beast tide came too suddenly? Whether the force behind it was an outer god or someone from within remains to be determined.”
Tang Wuji understood at once and could not help saying, “As expected, Commander-in-Chief, you have thought this through more thoroughly. But Cerberus is the divine beast of Hades from ancient Greek mythology. Is that still not enough to prove that the outer gods were responsible?”
Hong Wu shook his head, his gaze sharp. “The time has not yet come. The outer gods would never make such a large move at this stage. It is obvious they borrowed someone else’s influence.”
“Little Tang, go secretly investigate the true cause of this beast tide. I will not allow traitors who serve the enemy while feeding off us to exist.”
Tang Wuji’s heart tightened. “Understood, Commander-in-Chief!”