Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 241

Being beaten is painful, but losing the chance to snatch buns because of it is unbearable: a little beggar doesn't want to be hungry or be beaten, but if he has to endure one, he'll choose to be beaten, since he's used to it anyway.

Another customer came forward. This time, the customer was leading a child who was about the same age as him but was dressed in clean clothes. The customer was a little slower in taking out money and taking things.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the little beggar pounced like a hungry tiger, snatched the bun that the customer had wrapped in his other hand, and then, without looking back, relied on his familiarity with the place to quickly escape the scene.

He's already very skilled at this routine. Today, the rolling pin thrown by the steamed bun shop owner didn't hit him, saving him from pain. Hehe, that's great!

The angry shouts and children's cries behind him did nothing to make the little beggar feel that he had done anything wrong; in fact, he didn't even know what was right or wrong.

After all, no one had taught him... In this kind of world, there are many people like the little beggar. Without any education, they naturally do whatever is in their own interest.

This has nothing to do with morality; it's all about survival.

"Is this Jing Ke's child, the prophesied one who will be associated with the Mohist school in the future?"

Lord Dongjun of the Yin-Yang School, who had observed the entire event, said coldly.

"Cough cough," Chu Nan Gong coughed, "The person has been found for Lord Dongjun, and my task is now complete."

"As for what comes next, Lord Dongjun probably won't need this old man as a burden."

Having said that, Chu Nan Gong, leaning on his cane, left, feigning difficulty in walking.

Yan Fei didn't care about his departure. This time, Donghuang's mission was to have the newly joined Chu Nan Gong work together with himself, who was in charge of Mo family affairs. Nan Gong was responsible for finding the target, and Dongjun was responsible for taking action. The division of labor was clear.

Once the candidate is identified, Yanfei can easily complete the subsequent tasks.

A young beggar was found rudely eating a stolen bun in a dilapidated house. Suddenly, a woman dressed in extraordinary clothes barged into the house. The beggar immediately grabbed a wooden stick and made a fierce expression on his face.

"who are you!"

The child's innocent voice and the indistinct sound of food still in his mouth made the beggar pose no threat whatsoever.

Dongjun never wastes time talking to people who aren't qualified. He simply teleported forward and used Yin-Yang techniques to hypnotize and knock the little beggar unconscious.

Then, a ghostly blue flame appeared in her hand...

Yan Fei's Yin-Yang forbidden spell technique is difficult for ordinary people to see with the naked eye. Her proficiency and coordination with the Yin-Yang techniques within her body are a level that Gao Yue in the Mechanical City could never reach in a lifetime of normal development.

"Tianming, you are the child of Jing Ke and Li Ji, the favorite concubine of the King of Qin, in the Qin palace..."

With an emotionless whisper, Dongjun imprinted the Yin-Yang technique and fabricated memories into the little beggar's body, then added a layer of sealing spell to completely seal away these memories.

As the curse's effect weakens, things that didn't originally belong to the other person will emerge from their subconscious and become real memories...

This is a complex process, and very few people in the entire Yin-Yang School can complete the forgery... Apart from Donghuang, only she and the Moon Goddess can do it.

Even Xinghun's understanding of the Yin-Yang Forbidden Spell is not as good as that of Riyue and the other two.

This child is connected to the Mohist school and the King of Qin, so his importance is self-evident. The elderly couple who adopted him have also died, and relying solely on stealing steamed buns, it's unlikely he'll live long enough for someone to come looking for him.

The Eastern Emperor's mission still needs to be completed, so the Eastern Lord secretly infused Tianming's body with some more Yin-Yang techniques and placed them into the sealing spell, but hidden them a little less than the memories.

In this way, when the child encounters certain dangers and his heart rate increases to a certain level, he can use this power to save his life.

Having completed all the arrangements, it was already the afternoon of the next day. Yan Fei wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead and left the simple house with a cool expression.

An hour later, Tianming opened his eyes and looked around blankly. At the same time, the throbbing feeling in his head made him clench his fists, but the hunger in his body made him subconsciously want to find food first.

What Tianming couldn't see was that a wisp of black energy was intermittently appearing between his brows, and on the side of his neck, a strange symbol beat a few times like a heart before settling down...

------

Although Lu Wei had become the leader of the chivalrous sect in Daze Mountain, he didn't spend much time personally staying at Xiaogeng Manor after the meeting there.

The Gonggong Hall is fully equipped, but the nominal new hall master, Nian Duan, is still staying at the clinic at the crossroads. The hall master's hall is simply closed to the public and remains Lu Wei's asset.

Six-year-old Qian'er had reached the age to learn martial arts. The Moon Goddess did not delay his growth and traveled a long distance from Xianyang to carefully teach her son Yin-Yang arts.

Xiao Qian'er's body was perfectly nourished, and since childhood, the Moon Goddess had helped nurture his constitution, and Nian Duan and Mu Rong had helped him with medicinal and dietary supplements. In addition, with his extremely high talent, under the Moon Goddess's carefully prepared teaching plan, he easily mastered the first level of Yin-Yang Arts, 'Alchemy', as if it were a flowing stream.

The key to alchemy lies in manipulating the five elements. The five elders of the Yin-Yang School try to specialize in one branch of alchemy, but Xiao Qian'er is the one the Moon Goddess intends to inherit the Yin-Yang School, so she cannot develop in a single direction.

With Lu Wei's healing power, he could have cultivated all five elements from the very beginning.

The Illusion Technique, the second level of Yin-Yang Arts, is the Moon Goddess's forte, and she is the most outstanding teacher in this area.

Among the Hundred Schools of Thought, the Yin-Yang School places the highest emphasis on talent. Age has never been used as a standard for judging strength within the Yin-Yang School. However, if geniuses cultivate too quickly, the internal conflicts of Yin-Yang techniques may not be properly regulated, often resulting in various side effects:

For example, the strange patterns on Xinghun's face, the red palm of Dasiming's skull blood handprint, and the inability of the future Shaosiming to speak.

These are all results of different Yin-Yang techniques. For example, Dongjun also practiced the Skull Blood Hand Seal, but her palms did not have the same problems as Da Siming.

The Moon Goddess's specialized training certainly wouldn't allow Xiao Qian'er to experience a similar situation, so there's absolutely no need to worry about that.

After conducting research on the Six Halls, Lu, the leader of the martial arts school, would occasionally come to take a look.

He also studied some Yin-Yang techniques, but rarely used them in actual combat.

Lu Wei's martial arts system has been formed, and over the years he has never actually lost a match against Chen Sheng, Wei Zhuang, or even the Six Sword Slaves.

Among the characters currently active in the martial arts world, he is probably the only one who could remain unscathed after several moves from the combined attack of the Six Sword Slaves.

However, defeating the Six Sword Slaves head-on is unlikely. Perhaps the only way is to use covert methods to launch a surprise attack during battle, forcibly killing one or two members of the Six Sword Slaves and breaking their six-in-one structure. After that, the difficulty of dealing with the Six Sword Slaves will drop significantly.

Xiao Qian'er has exceptionally favorable learning conditions, giving her an early advantage over most of her peers.

However, the fact that he will lead the Yin-Yang School in the future, and that he will be the sword in his hand, may make it difficult for him to play a role when Lord Xia Kui is conquering the world.

I can only hope that I can play the role of an assistant, discarded after the country is restored to order...

Chapter 277 On the Eve of Unification

Time quickly passed to the 26th year of King Zheng of Qin, 221 BC.

That spring, the Qin state had already wiped out the remaining forces in the Yan and Dai regions and gradually established its rule there.

Fearing that the Yan nobles were colluding with the northern wolf tribes, Wang Ben left almost his entire army behind and returned to Xianyang alone with a small retinue.

At the same time, Meng Tian and Ren Xiao were also preparing to lead their troops to attack Qi. The final battle for unification was about to begin.

The State of Qi prepared a defensive line of 200,000 men in Gaotang. This force was not weak. Even though the country had not fought a large-scale war with other countries for nearly 40 or 50 years and its generals lacked experience, it was still able to stop Meng Tian's 300,000-strong army from crossing the river thanks to its rich military equipment and sufficient food.

The war raged from spring to midsummer, with the Qin state achieving virtually nothing.

If they chose to continue the war of attrition, this battle might take even longer than the war with Chu. Therefore, King Ying Zheng of Qin decisively sent Wang Ben, who had just returned to rest, back to Yan to gather soldiers and march straight to Linzi from the north!

I thought the Qi army would be as easily defeated as the Han army, but now it seems I underestimated them. Meng Tian cannot achieve a quick victory.

The Qin army in the north numbered less than 50,000, and the grain transport routes in Yan were incomparable to those in the Three Jin regions. If such an army were to penetrate deep into the heart of Qi, it would be at great risk of being annihilated.

But the gold and silver investments that Qin has made in Qi over the years are meant to pay off at this moment!

Even if 50,000 troops successfully reach the walls of Linzi, they will not be able to breach the city. However, the strongest city defenses are often easy to break through from within.

Once the terms for negotiation with Hou Sheng are agreed upon, he will naturally help resolve the issue with King Jian of Qi.

...

In the Daze Mountains, more than half a year has passed since the new leader of the Xia clan took office.

After several months of operation, Chen Ping and Ji Yan have successively taken over as hall masters of Kuiwei Hall and Siyue Hall, respectively, while Lieshan Hall, which still has a vacancy, is still undergoing an internal investigation.

However, the frequency of the review is not high now, and in reality, A Yu is exercising the authority of the hall master at this moment.

Due to a lack of manpower, A-Ye from Chun Valley Town in Weidi came back to help. Their surnames clearly revealed their identities as direct descendants of the Xia Kui.

As a result, some farmers even fabricated rumors that the Tian family was collapsing and that the Lu family would replace the Tian family in their former position.

In fact, if such a thing really happened, the disciples were used to the Tian family and wouldn't be unable to accept another Lu family. However, Lu Wei did not intend to do so, so everything calmed down after he took control of Lieshan Hall, which relieved the Zhu family and Tian Hu.

Before the leader of the Heroic Order is determined, all the halls are equal. After the leader is determined, the power will naturally be in the hands of the leader. Even the six hall masters can now be appointed and dismissed unconditionally by Lu Wei in name only.

From the perspective of unity and prestige cultivation, this power has never been abused by any leader of the knights.

Therefore, even though Lu Wei had already decided to eliminate Tian Hu, he only asked Ji Yan and Chen Ping to devise a plan to wipe out the Tian family in one fell swoop. Without a proper reason, Lord Xia Kui would not act rashly against him.

Whether in the martial arts world or the imperial court, the highest authority rarely or never takes action personally, as frequent use of power is not conducive to cultivating respect for subordinates.

After all, you won't lose if you don't make a move!

Inside the Kuiwei Hall, Wu Kuang was initially astonished that he hadn't gained the disciples' approval, allowing Chen Ping to become the hall master. He couldn't understand why his former status as the Kuiwei Chief Steward, and his meritorious service in infiltrating the Luo Wang organization at great cost to restore order, would be treated this way by his disciples...

He wasn't particularly greedy for that power: as someone who had crawled out of the dead, Wu Kuang's desire to gain the farmers' approval outweighed everything else.

The choice made by the disciples of Kuiwei Hall made him feel that everything he had done wasn't so noble after all...

He had investigated Chen Ping's background; he was just a newcomer who had only recently joined the farm.

This person was promoted by Tian Mi. Later, after the Chun Gu Manor incident, he stayed at the Gonggong Hall Medical Clinic for a period of time due to his injuries. During this time, Chen Ping firmly stood on Lu Weixia Kui's side and took the initiative to stabilize the commotion among the disciples of the hall after they learned that Hall Master Tian Mi had been labeled a traitor, thus preventing major chaos in the Kuiwei Hall.

Therefore, he was nominated as a candidate for the position of hall master and competed against himself.

In terms of merit, Chen Ping certainly made many contributions to stabilizing the Kuiwei Hall, but compared to myself, he was ultimately far inferior...

But the truth is, he, who had been working diligently to eliminate Tian Mi's remaining followers in the Kuiwei Hall, was defeated by Chen Ping, who had always appeared timid and submissive.

After the position of Hall Master was decided, Chen Ping generously extended an olive branch to Wu Kuang for the position of new Steward. Wu Kuang was unhappy, but he had no choice but to accept it.

The competition for the position of hall master was fair throughout, and he had no right to overturn it. Besides, Chen Ping was a decent person, and his unreasonable behavior was not befitting a disciple of the Farmer's Clan...

Compared to Kuiwei Hall, Siyue Hall was filled with peace and tranquility.

Although no one could have predicted that Zhang Er would voluntarily relinquish power.

After gaining the support of a large number of disciples in the hall, this steward of the Four Mountains Hall actually stated that he did not want to become the hall master and then openly supported Ji Yan.

Given his current situation, and considering that other mid-to-senior level managers who might have expressed concerns have already been eliminated, the remaining and newly added management teams naturally have no further objections.

However, Ji Yan still has a long way to go to hide the casino and brothel businesses that Siyuetang has developed over the past twenty years.

Especially after the Qin state unified China, and all actions had to be openly in accordance with Qin law, it was very difficult to open up new trade routes.

The two halls are developing their own affairs, and Lu Wei has spent the last six months visiting the six halls.

Based on the data that has been collected, it can be seen that the total number of disciples of the Farmer School in Dazeshan and the surrounding towns has exceeded the conventional limit of 100,000, reaching as many as 120,000.

Including Jing County in the south and other places, the total number will approach 200,000!

On the eve of Qin's unification, the Farmer School, having completed unification, reached its new peak! Under the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty, even if some of the Farmer School disciples were conscripted, the number of ordinary people who would join the Farmer School would only increase.

With such power, rebellion seemed inevitable.

However, maintaining the 100,000 peasant disciples verbally is already the limit that the King of Qin can tolerate. Even though the threats from the various schools of thought are different, once the news of 200,000 peasant disciples spreads, the Qin army will definitely arrive in an instant.

When the Qin-Qi War broke out, the peasants colluded with some generals in the Qi army to sell grain and fodder at high prices, making a fortune in the Qi treasury. This money was quickly exchanged for a batch of military equipment in the Qi army and hidden in the Daze Mountain as a warehouse.