Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Zhao Sheng pondered for a moment before hesitatingly saying, "Fourth Master, infiltrating Boiling Spring Valley is very difficult!"

"It's not just very difficult, it's incredibly, extremely difficult! Let me put it this way, in the last five hundred years, Black Ice Platform has only had one spy enter Boiling Spring Valley, and that was just twice at that."

He Ying picked up his robe that dragged on the ground and sat back down, his face expressing a sense of helplessness.

Zhao Sheng said thoughtfully, "Let's try it anyway. We can't rush this, we have to wait for the right moment!"

"Heh heh! You don't need to be anxious, the opportunity will present itself. If you knew the number of plans and rehearsals Black Ice Platform has conducted to eliminate any force that threatens the Imperial Family, you'd understand how terrifying an intelligence agency with over two thousand years of history can be!"

Facing the smug He Ying, Zhao Sheng felt an inexplicable chill in his heart.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

After leaving the intelligence point, Zhao Sheng followed his previous persona, resuming his "normal life" and "social interactions."

As for the intelligence, he no longer deliberately sought it out but took advantage of opportunities that came his way.

He guessed that the information he gathered was not of much concern to He Ying and others.

Moreover, Zhao Sheng knew that He Ying and the others all had their own plans, they were just keeping him in the dark.

From start to finish, Black Ice Platform never treated him as "one of their own," only as a "hired hand" and "cannon fodder."

Zhao Sheng didn't care about this at all.

...

Time remained still, time flowed like water!

In the blink of an eye, the dry season in Desolate Domain had passed, and once again the rainy season arrived.

One day, an imperial edict suddenly arrived from Yongjing, landing squarely upon the Zhou family.

The content of the edict quickly spread throughout Hongyang State: "By the decree of the Holy Emperor, the Zhou family's eldest daughter, given her virtues and good morals, her orchid-like character and the high esteem she holds among the people, is hereby promoted to the position of Crown Princess Consort!"

The Zhou family now had a daughter who had become the Crown Princess Consort!

This was like an invigorating shot to the Zhou family, not just exhilarating their mundane relatives but also exciting the cultivation clan members.

Being promoted to Crown Princess Consort meant that the Zhou family was favored by the current Crown Prince, which also meant that the Zhou family was very likely to become a future royal clan of the Dayong Dynasty.

If she ultimately became the Empress, it would secure the Zhou family's position in the Dayong Dynasty as solid as a mountain for at least two to three hundred years.

Not to mention the distant future, even now, the daughter of the Zhou family's promotion to Crown Princess Consort could bring tangible benefits to the Zhou family.

Indeed, everything proceeded as expected.

The "sincerity" of the Crown Prince arrived very quickly! Experience more on empire

The position of guard for Black Sand State was vacant, and Zhou family's General Zhou Zhonghang was specially appointed as General of Border, to be stationed in Black Sand State.

Black Sand State is located on the border of Dayong, a strategic location fiercely contested between Dayong and Da Zhen dynasties.

The reason for the contention is not the strategic terrain of Black Sand State but rather its large to medium spirit stone mine, which produces nearly two million spirit stones annually, with a steady output of top-grade spiritual stones and even occasional findings of Top-grade Spirit Stones.

Top-grade Spirit Stones are treasures even Nascent Soul Ancestors covet; if the Zhou family could secretly obtain one, even the faces of the Golden Core Ancestors of Zhou would beam with delight.

Therefore, upon receiving the decree, the Zhou family did not delay for a moment, immediately mobilizing the "Fire Wolf Army," and followed the Foundation Establishment Ninth Layer General Zhou Zhonghang, traveling day and night to take up the post in Black Sand State.

The Fire Wolf Army is a trump card force of the Zhou Family, trained under strict discipline following the method of a Major Sect in nurturing Guardian Immortal Soldiers.

Guardian Immortal Soldiers, from the legendary Dao of Arms, are somewhat like mundane armies, placing great emphasis on the power of unity and coordination.

The method of nurturing Daoist Soldiers typically uses Tao Formations to link everyone's spirit and establish a connection, reaching a level of unity where all are of one mind and strength.

Creating a Daoist Soldier Corps is extremely consuming and difficult to achieve; the Zhou family also used their bloodline as a guide and, after decades of day and night training, painstakingly formed a force of two hundred individuals in the Fire Wolf Army.

It can be said that once this Fire Wolf Army launches its formation, it could contend with Golden Core Masters beyond their level, and ordinary Fake Pill cultivators would be no match for it.

The Golden Core families of the Dayong Dynasty were not only limited to the "Lion, Tiger, Owl, Wolf" four houses, so why was it that only these four stood out.

The key lies in the fact that each of these four major families had a Daoist Soldier Corps similar to the Fire Wolf Army.

Therefore, only the Mo Family and the four major families were able to have a hand in the large spirit stone mines of Black Sand State.

When the Crown Prince offered "sincerity," the Zhou family reciprocated with their goodwill, unconsciously leaning towards the Crown Prince.

Moreover, with the Crown Prince's clout, the Zhou family rapidly expanded its influence across the Dayong Eighty-Eight States, reaping considerable benefits in just a year or two.

It could be said that the Zhou family was on an upward trajectory, with everything going smoothly and successfully, as if endowed with a hero's fortune that borrowed strength from the world itself.

Zhao Sheng had always been watching these "flourishing" fortunes of the Zhou family from a detached perspective.

Despite He Ying's tight-lipped nature, not giving away even the slightest hint, Zhao Sheng's intuition told him that all of this was the doing of the Black Ice Platform!

Having the Fire Wolf Army stationed in Black Sand State was clearly a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain.

While the Zhou family's expansion seemed beneficial on the surface, it could also be seen as a dispersion of their own strength.

Such cunning and perilously concealed tactics had ensnared the Zhou family in a trap without them realizing it.

As far as Zhao Sheng knew, the Zhou family was currently short-staffed, with half of their Foundation Establishment Clan Members needing to be dispersed across various states to oversee their family's businesses, and even more of the ordinary Qi Refining Clan Members were posted elsewhere.

If it weren't for Zhao Sheng emphasizing that his "days were numbered," and considering his devoted teaching of the younger Zhou family members, he as the Chief Guest Elder would have been sent to other states long ago.

Even so, Zhao Sheng was tasked with additional "missions," such as periodically inspecting Zhou City, taking occasional trips on assignments, and dealing with certain "enemies," and so on.

While Zhao Sheng silently awaited the right moment, time passed day by day.

Two years later, the situation of the Zhou family continued to improve, but dark clouds were drawing closer with each passing day.

In the past half year, the Zhou family suddenly noticed something amiss as their businesses across the states started to face troubles, either their transport teams being ambushed by Magic Thieves, their shops' businesses being usurped by certain powers, or even many clan members disappearing without reason.

At the same time, the Crown Prince also faced significant trouble. The Holy Emperor had recently chastised the Crown Prince for his reckless behavior and granted the Second Prince the title of prince.

The message was clear, allowing the Second Prince to compete with the Crown Prince.

With the inscrutability of the royal heart, the position of the Crown Prince was unstable.

In the past few months, the Crown Princess Consort sent letters home three times, repeatedly mentioning in her correspondences that the Crown Prince had very few capable people left and requested more able clan members from her family to serve under the Crown Prince.

Since they were already on the Crown Prince's ship, naturally, the Zhou family would fully support the Crown Prince to stabilize royal favor, which led to three Foundation Establishment Clan Members being dispatched to Yongjing posthaste.

Zhao Sheng saw all of this.

He vaguely felt that the opportunity he was waiting for was near, but he had not fully figured out how the Mo Family could gain the "moral high ground."

Without the moral high ground, they could not justifiably campaign against the "traitor" Zhou family.

Being an ancient family for a thousand years, the Zhou family was not to be trifled with. Although they had not completely seen through the Mo Family's conspiracy, they had their unique sources of intelligence.

Through intelligence and the recent series of unusual incidents, the Zhou family seemed to sense some imminent danger and surprisingly began to show signs of consolidating their forces.

Furthermore, the day before yesterday, the Patriarch of the Zhou Family suddenly issued a decree for outstanding younger generations such as Zhou Qingwu and Zhou Qingli to enter Boiling Spring Valley.

On the surface, it was for the Ancestor himself to provide personal instruction, but in Zhao Sheng's view, such an action seemed to imply protection.

"Could it be that Zhou Xilai has realized the Mo Family is about to make a move against the Zhou family?" Zhao Sheng thought to himself.

As Zhao Sheng was covertly sharpening his claws, awaiting the downfall of the Zhou family, He Ying unexpectedly contacted him.

Upon arriving at the information point, Zhao Sheng was surprised to find that Mo Wushuang, Bao Yu'er, and He Ying were all present.

"Eh, why is there a bald monk here?"

Zhao Sheng turned his head to look at the corner of the secret chamber, where a red-robed, dignified bald monk was standing.