Chapter 138 Choice
The natal object of a cultivator has special gifts.
Some of these talents might serve as warnings to their masters, but Jiajing couldn't tell for sure, because there was no sign of his natal Ming Dynasty in his sea of consciousness, or maybe this sign did not provide an obvious warning?
Was it just a special spiritual connection? Jiajing didn't know.
I can't help but feel that today was not a good day as I agreed to go to the night market to meet Li Changqing. I just want to finish the discussion at the night market as soon as possible and then return to the sect.
"Boom!" The shuttle roared, breaking through the continuous rain curtain and rushing towards the direction of the endless forest in the east.
With Jiajing's reminder, Liu Quan didn't want to delay any longer. He chanted some magic spells to speed up the shuttle.
Nothing unexpected happened along the way. Outside Yeshi, Liu Quan put away the shuttle and arrived at the family's inn in Yeshi, where the two separated.
Because Li Changqing only invited Jiajing and did not invite Liu Quan, only Jiajing went to "Zixian Bookstore" alone.
"Mr. Zhu." At the door of the bookstore, Li Changqing was wearing a gray-white linen scholar's gown and a square scarf on his head. Combined with his handsome and elegant appearance, he attracted a lot of attention.
Seeing Li Changqing standing at the door of the bookstore waiting early, Jiajing was not surprised, because when he stepped into the alley, an undisguised spiritual sense flashed past him.
"Mr. Li." Jiajing also bowed. After a brief exchange of courtesies, the two sides went into the second floor of the bookstore and sat down.
"Congratulations, sir, on your further progress in cultivation and breaking through to the seventh level of Qi training," Li Changqing said, "It seems that you have an extraordinary destiny."
Jiajing was not surprised that the other party was interested in his cultivation speed.
A mortal in his fifties with a mysterious origin broke through the seventh level of Qi training in less than two years of practice. This speed is truly extraordinary.
Of course, if it were placed in an academy or a major sect in the Central Plains, this speed would only be average, but among the new sects in the Great Wilderness, it would stand out from the crowd.
"Thanks to the resources given by the sect leader, I was lucky enough to break through." Jiajing nodded and said.
"I have a life-reflecting artifact here. Sir, do you need to take a look at it?" Li Changqing said as he raised his hand. A diamond-shaped crystal stone as big as a human face appeared on his palm. "If you can see the artifact in advance, I can also help you find your life-reflecting artifact."
"Sir, just drop a drop of blood onto the 'Life Reflection Instrument', and you will be able to see your life."
The natal reflection magic weapon! If it was before, Jiajing might have thought of taking a look, but now he won't.
In the entire world of immortal cultivation on Arcturus, there is no concept of "dynasty". If Li Changqing knew that his destiny was a dynasty, it would probably cause him to think too much.
People in the immortal cultivation world of Arcturus generally have no concept of "dynasty", which in itself is very telling.
The lower level can be understood as a certain level of cultivation required for cross-world teleportation, and it is understandable that one has never left the "Jiaosu" star field.
But those monks whose cultivation has reached the standard of cross-world teleportation must have some knowledge of other star fields, and it is impossible for them not to know about the Ziwei Star Field. From the few words in the "Star Field General Knowledge Records" that I found before, there were monks who learned about the Three Enclosures in the secret realm.
This shows that some great monks must know about the Ziwei Star Region and the Dynasty Lin Lide, but there is no news about it in Arcturus. Jiajing would never believe that there is no strict control by the academy.
Jiajing himself was worried that there would be a cultivator in the Ming Dynasty whose destiny was to establish a dynasty, or one who could develop into a dynasty, and that his rule would be threatened one day.
What about the academy? The academy is very strong, but if you know that a cultivator's destiny is a dynasty, then you must know that this is the path to imperial hegemony. What should you do then?
Jiajing didn't dare to gamble on the academy's attitude.
"No need," Jiajing nodded his head and refused. "Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Li. I have my own plans for my natal item. Why don't you tell me why you invited me here this time?"
Jiajing refused without beating around the bush and was not afraid that Li Changqing would think too much.
Compared to reflecting your true destiny and letting the other person see your "Da Ming", it is safer to give the other person a sense of mystery that you know what your true destiny is.
Sure enough, after hearing Jiajing's straightforward refusal, and even stating that he already had plans for his natal item, Li Changqing's lips curled up.
Obviously, Jiajing's words made him think that he already knew what Ben Ming meant, but did not want to reveal it in front of him.
After all, in the world of cultivating immortals, the natal object can be known by others, but the natal object is everyone's privacy. It is generally recognized that the natal object is not necessarily the same as the natal object.
Jiajing refused to reflect his destiny here. There is no other explanation except knowing his destiny.
"Sir, you give me a more and more mysterious feeling," Li Changqing shook his head and smiled, raising his palm slightly, and threw the life-reflecting magic weapon on his palm to Jiajing, "Give it to Daming."
Jiajing raised his hand and used his spiritual energy to catch the natal reflection magic weapon, his face remained calm.
There was no sign of joy or surprise.
It's not that this life-reflecting magic weapon is not valuable, on the contrary, it is very valuable. If it is placed in any major city for cultivating immortals, it will be sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. No one will buy it except for medium and large sects.
Even for the Daming Immortal Sect, this thing is even more necessary, with it, the sect can test the life of the disciples in the sect. In this way, the sect can also make arrangements for the life of each disciple as soon as possible.
The reason why Jiajing was calm was that his long years as an emperor made it difficult for him to show his emotions on his face.
Whenever he encountered something new in the world of cultivating immortals, he would be surprised, but as a result, there were fewer and fewer things that could make him emotionally fluctuate, and everything he had seen could not make him emotional.
Even if it was something minor that he had never seen before, it would not cause him any emotional fluctuations. He would feel a slight sense of novelty but would not take it too seriously.
Just like this life-saving magic weapon, he had heard of it a long time ago and knew its function. He also knew what it meant to the sect, and he knew that this thing was no longer useful to him.
Therefore, he was very calm when he got his natal magic weapon.
"Thank you very much, sir." Jiajing was not polite and put away the natal reflection magic weapon.
"I invited you here this time mainly for one thing," Li Changqing said, leaning forward slightly with a serious expression, "I hope Yeshi can get back on track as soon as possible, and I want to talk to Daming."
Now, the management and development of the Ming Immortal Sect are all in the charge of Liu Quan and Jiajing.
Li Changqing obviously hoped to talk directly with Jiajing, the person who was the mastermind behind the Ming Immortal Sect.
As for Liu Quan, although he is the sect's grand elder, his identity is the same, whether it is the grand elder Liu Quan or the fourth elder Jiajing, there is no difference in their identities.
Since there was no difference, he naturally talked directly to Jiajing, the person behind the Ming Immortal Sect.
Getting on the right track! Jiajing's eyes flashed, and he understood what the other party meant.
The wild market has been established for several months, almost a year, and according to normal development, it is naturally on the right track.
But the original intention of establishing the wild market was not to do legitimate business. The wild market was a product tacitly approved by the academy's simple rules.
The real big profits in the wild market are all in those things that are not allowed to be seen in public, or even banned by the academy. The biggest profit among them is undoubtedly the "spiritual vein business".
"Sir, you should know about the spiritual veins, right?" Li Changqing waved his hand and set up a ban, blocking the sound and making it easier for the two to speak freely. "The Ming Dynasty gave the management rights to the Yellow Wind Valley. In fact, to put it bluntly, they want the Yellow Wind Valley to be eliminated first, right?"
There was a calm expression in Li Changqing's narrow eyes, and his handsome and elegant face was now made to look a bit evil by the teardrop mole at the corner of his eye.
Although he was asking, his tone was full of the meaning of "I see through your intentions".
At this moment, Li Changqing seemed to be showing Jiajing his truest side. Greed, profit first!
Of course, Jiajing never thought that the other party was a good person. How could a good person rule the wild market? In fact, Jiajing had a premonition that the other party had some intentions towards the Ming Dynasty, or himself.
This is intuition, but Jiajing is best at playing with people's hearts, so he is sure that the other party has other intentions towards him!
"The Ming Dynasty is just a sect without any background," Jiajing said calmly, "There are many factions within the academy. If something unexpected happens and a purge occurs, then those who cooperate with the academy..."
Be brief when speaking and make your meaning clear.
"Heh," Li Changqing chuckled and looked at Jiajing leisurely, "So your original plan was that if the person in charge of Yeshi was a fool who only worked for the higher-ups, he would naturally not refuse the kindness of Yellow Wind Valley."
"In this way, with the academy's backing, the Yellow Wind Valley can do the spirit vein business unscrupulously. Even if there is an internal fight in the academy one day, the people in charge of this wild market will be liquidated."
"You, the Ming Dynasty, are just the fish and shrimp that follow in this huge spiritual vein business market and drink the soup."
"What's more, Daming is still half the owner of Yeshi. The newcomers will not catch all the fish and shrimps in one net for the sake of profit. It's the same as the saying that when the water is too clear, there will be no fish."
"And you, the Great Ming, don't seek great wealth and honor, but steady development," Li Changqing said with approval in his eyes. "It's a pity that you didn't expect that I'm not a fool."
"Now, my ship, Daming is on board."
Jiajing did not deny this statement.
"Sir, do you know how big Arcturus is?" At this time, Li Changqing suddenly changed the subject and asked a seemingly irrelevant question.
"I don't know." Jiajing shook his head.
He only knew that the shortest distance given by the academy from Sifang City to Dongnan City was 278,280 miles, nearly 280,000 miles. If the "Suzaku Binghuo Yimu Shuttle" flew at full speed, this distance would be enough to circle the earth several times.
From Sifang City to Southeast City, it is only two-thirds of the southeastern part of the entire Great Wilderness.
The entire Great Wilderness is divided into twelve parts. Based on this calculation, how big is the area of the Great Wilderness?
This is beyond the ability to be simply summarized using human-level area units such as "mu", which makes people just feel how big it is.
Many mortals will never leave their country in their entire lives, and the same is true for many cultivators. If it were not for the teleportation array, they would never leave the borders of a certain area in their entire lives.
What's more, how big is the entire Arcturus?
"It's very big, so big that it's meaningless to describe it simply by the area it occupies," Li Changqing smiled, "but I've seen its full view in the library of the academy." "There are six continents on Arcturus." Li Changqing seemed to be recalling, "Sir, you should know that there are four major academies on Arcturus, namely Dazhu, Baima, Qiuju, and Aoshuang."
"There are other academies besides!"
"The four major academies occupy four continents, and the other academies, large and small, occupy two continents."
"The four continents are divided into four directions: east, south, west and north."
"The White Horse Academy governs the southern continent. For the creatures living on these continents, the center of the continent is the Central Plains. Therefore, there is not just one Central Plains, but six..."
After briefly explaining the territorial division of Arcturus, Li Changqing continued, "The academy has three branches, upper, middle and lower."
"The upper three clans monopolize the most fertile territory in the Central Plains, and they eat everything they can get. The middle three clans can only eat leftovers, and the lower three clans can only drink soup."
"Even in this Great Wilderness, the upper three veins have taken full advantage."
"The distinction between upper and lower levels of the academy is based on the family's power, resources, and the number of powerful monks it possesses. In addition, there is another force in the academy, and that is the family of the head of the academy."
"The undisputed strongest, the upper, middle and lower veins fight to the death, only then can the headmaster's family feel more at ease."
Hearing this, Jiajing was not surprised at all.
After he learned about the world ruled by the academy, he saw through that the Confucian Academy on Arcturus was just a mutated large-scale dynasty, and the family factions in the academy were the ministers in the court.
The dean's family is equivalent to the royal family.
The three veins of upper, middle and lower are the civil officials, military generals and even other interest groups in the court.
Li Changqing spoke in great detail, and seemed to be afraid that Jiajing might not understand, so he continued to speak slowly and roughly about some basic information about the academy.
"The middle three veins want to replace the upper three veins. The upper three veins are on guard against the middle three veins. The middle three veins have to deal with the upper three veins and the lower three veins at the same time. At the same time, they have to be on guard against the other two veins in the middle three veins, haha!"
Having said that, Li Changqing sneered.
Jiajing listened quietly the whole time. He knew that Li Changqing said this definitely not to complain to him about how difficult life was for the Three Central Meridians, especially for the Li family which was the first family among the Three Central Meridians.
He must have other plans!
"This new land of Great Wilderness was established as a battlefield of the three branches of the academy as early as one hundred and twenty years ago."
There was a flash of thought in Jiajing's eyes, as if he saw the time when Datong became a battlefield for the struggle between the Yan Party and the Qingliu Party.
"So there will be no peace in the Great Wilderness. There will definitely be a life-and-death struggle between the three veins."
"My goal is very simple," Li Changqing said simply, "The goal of my Li family is to take over the entire southeastern area of the Great Wilderness, then the entire southern part of the Great Wilderness, and finally take over the whole area."
"In one fell swoop, I have entered the ranks of the upper three meridians!"
As expected! Jiajing was not surprised at all.
It's just like the factional struggle in the court. Whoever has the greatest power in the court has the greatest say.
By the same token, the Great Wilderness is a new land. If it is controlled by the Li family, endless resources will flow in continuously. Even the Li family, the first family of the three veins in the academy, cannot ignore it.
The reason why Li Changqing set his sights on the Great Wilderness was obviously because the limited resources in the Central Plains could no longer satisfy the development of the Li family.
However, it was not only Li Changqing who saw this, but also several other clans... This shows how cruel the future struggle will be.
"So, you need to plan ahead," Jiajing raised his finger, "You must first stabilize the country before you can resist foreign aggression. Sifang City and Southeast City belong to the Li family, which means that this area must be cleared."
"As expected of you." Li Changqing did not deny it.
"The sects around Southeast City are under the charge of other people. Among the sects around Sifang City, except for your 'Daming Immortal Sect' and 'Beast Taming Sect', 'Yellow Wind Valley', 'Qingyuan Immortal Sect', and 'Xiaoshushan Immortal Sect' are all pawns of the top three sects."
"As for 'Wuqing Mountain', I only learned about it not long ago. I believe you already know about it. It belongs to another one of the three central veins."
"Sir, maybe you understand why the people who rule Sifang City are from my Li family, but the surrounding sects are all from other families?" Without waiting for Li Changqing to finish, Jiajing said calmly: "The dean wants to see you fight each other, and at the same time prevent you from uniting."
Seeing Jiajing calmly pointing out the essence behind this, Li Changqing's eyes focused for a moment, and then he clapped his hands and sighed: "The leader of the Daming Immortal Sect should be you, sir."
It's this sentence again. He said it once last time and he said it again now.
"Tell me what you think." Jiajing said bluntly.
Seeing that Jiajing did not respond, Li Changqing did not force it, "Let Daming take the lead in doing the spiritual vein business and attract the Yellow Wind Valley, Qingyuan Immortal Sect, and Xiaoshushan Immortal Sect to join."
As he spoke, a cold look flashed across Li Changqing's eyes.
Jiajing lowered his eyebrows and raised his fingers slightly, with thousands of thoughts emerging in his mind. Then he looked up at Li Changqing.
"Cut the Gordian knot. What you want is to catch the enemy by surprise." Jiajing has seen through Li Changqing's plan.
"'Wuqing Mountain', 'Yellow Wind Valley', 'Qingyuan Immortal Sect' and 'Xiaoshu Mountain Immortal Sect' are all pawns of the other three sects."
"My Ming Dynasty has basically been branded with your Li family's label, and the other branches must have known about it as well."
Li Changqing listened calmly as Jiajing revealed his plans bit by bit.
"Everyone understands that putting you all together is to make you fight each other," Jiajing paused, "Now on the chessboard, everyone is sitting still, waiting for the first move, and responding to all changes with the same attitude."
"You all understand that, regardless of the will of the head family, you cannot just stay where you are and not move. You cannot afford to waste time."
"The key now is how the first person to make the first move will make the first move." Having said this, Jiajing stared at Li Changqing solemnly and said in a deep voice:
"You plan to use the spiritual vein business to catch everyone in one fell swoop."
"And my Daming is the bait in your hand. Daming will pull the other companies into the spiritual vein business. No," Jiajing shook his head, "There is no need for Daming to pull them. If Daming goes down, they will definitely go down with it. In fact, this is just a trap!"
"They will think that Daming is doomed, and you are standing behind Daming. You will never expose the spiritual vein business to others."
“You are sending a signal to the outside world.”
"This signal is that you have the first move, and the move you are going to make is a safe one. You are telling everyone that the fight will proceed slowly, rather than being a fight to the death right from the start."
"In this way, everyone will be able to command their pawns safely and obtain a large amount of resources in this new land."
"After all, if the development of the Great Wilderness is not profitable, then the meaning of its existence will no longer exist."
"In fact, you are using the Ming Dynasty to stabilize the others. Once the other families are gone, you will cut the Gordian knot."
"And the Nascent Soul Great Monk who is in charge of Sifang City? He will uproot these sects with lightning speed."
After saying this, Jiajing leaned forward slightly and looked at Li Changqing solemnly, "If I were you, sir, I would cut the Gordian knot and give up one bait in exchange for all the big fish."
“This is a very good deal!”
"Once this piece of land is cleared, we can spread our own chess pieces on it again. Then, this southeast corner will all belong to the Li family."
Jiajing stared at Li Changqing and shook his head slightly.
After these words, the meaning was very clear. It was a good deal to give up a chess piece in order to cut the Gordian knot.
Li Changqing and Jiajing looked at each other.
The atmosphere in the room became inexplicably heavy.
"In the entire Daming Immortal Sect," Li Changqing said after a moment, "you are the only one I like." As he spoke, he raised his hand and took out a blood contract, placed it on the table, and pushed it in front of Jiajing.
"Sir, why don't you join my Li family?"
"The leader of the Daming Immortal Sect will be you, sir. The Daming Immortal Sect will become the number one sect in the Great Wilderness, a giant like a giant that can support the sky." Li Changqing said, "Your destiny is not bad."
"With the support of the Li family, sir will reach the Golden Core stage, or even the Nascent Soul stage, in the shortest possible time."
After saying that, Li Changqing even took out a ring and pushed it in front of Jiajing, "There is a ninth-grade spiritual vein in it."
Ninth-grade spiritual vein! Jiajing's eyes subconsciously looked towards the storage ring, and an imperceptible luster flashed in his eyes.
He knew that he had guessed Li Changqing's thoughts correctly.
The other party wanted to use the Ming Dynasty as bait to cut the Gordian knot and clear out this corner of the southeast. As for the other people in the Ming Dynasty, he didn't care at all. When the knife fell, everyone would shut up.
No one will investigate the specific details of the dispute among the top management of the academy.
"..."
(End of this chapter)
