Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Ding Tai had no fondness for the Ding Family. His loyalty was solely to the elderly Cousin who had brought him out, now eighty years old. Cousin belonged to the elders of the Lineage, but due to disappointment with the Lineage, he no longer cared about its loss of power. At the same time, Cousin was also the most respected person within the Lineage, and Ding Tai was his grandson.
"After the Assessment Match, only two members of the Ding Family passed the assessment, while Ding Tai became the scapegoat for the three who failed. Upon returning, during a meeting of the Ding Family, they accused Ding Tai of doing nothing and not communicating with his teammates, ignoring the captain's orders." Wandering Path noted, "Without rebuttal, Ding Tai seemed to accept their accusations as true. Seeing everyone attacking him verbally, he decided not to linger and prepared to leave the meeting. However, the three failures blocked his way, demanding he explain himself to the family head. That was when Ding Tai took action."
A hunter happened to be present at the Ding Family at that moment and witnessed the scene. As soon as Ding Tai moved, his body emitted a blade-like glow. By the time the light faded, he had already left the venue of the Ding Family. The hair of the three failures had been shaved into a single line. Though all were practitioners, their strengths were worlds apart. No one dared to accuse Ding Tai again; it was as if nothing had happened.
Wandering Path continued, "Ding Nuo, Ding Tai, and Ding Wen are the three most powerful figures in the Ding Family. We won't count Dina. After the assassination attempt on the Ding Family Head, Ding Nuo invited Ding Tai, and with Cousin endorsing him, Ding Tai has become a very important figure among the collateral branches of the Ding Family. His position is that of general affairs for the collateral branches; any changes in residence among practitioners must be reported to him, and he has authority over them. It is said that he and Ding Nuo have sworn brotherhood; whether this is true or not is unknown, but Ding Nuo is someone whom Ding Tai respects greatly."
After listening to all this information, Cui Ming suddenly realized, "The Liu Family wants to arrange a marriage with Ding Tai."
"Yes. A very suitable candidate. Although due to his personality and other reasons, Ding Tai will not become the leader of the Ding Family, his status within it will be very high. Decades later, he will undoubtedly be a highly respected elder. Marrying into him would be an excellent choice for the current situation of the Liu Family."
Cui Ming replied, "But for the Fire Cult, this is a terrible choice."
"Ding Tai has no interest in romantic relationships; for him, women are merely a physical need. His motto is: only the strong can survive. If he weren't from the Ding Family, he would have been executed long ago; if he weren't a prospective practitioner, he'd still be doing menial work in the family. Without strength, he would only be part of those who follow orders." Wandering Path added, "For the Fire Cult, it can't be considered a terrible choice; it certainly doesn't compare to Ye Wen. My purpose today is to have you think of a way to capture Liu Meier. I don't feel secure about her whereabouts."
Cui Ming shook his head. "Senior, you overestimate me; I can't just frame Liu Meier. I lack evidence and would end up being countered. Besides, shooting at a prominent target brings trouble. Even if I manage something against her, both the Liu Family would despise me and so would any members of the Fire Cult. Why should I complicate my life?"
"What are you saying now?" The rogue was displeased.
"I'm speaking honestly; just eliminate her and be done with it."
"Don't say useless things; I know you’ve researched about Liu Meier, so you must have your own opinions. Share your thoughts without needing to do anything else."
After pondering for a long time, Cui Ming finally said, "Senior, why not play along with their game and pull off something big?"
"What do you mean?"
"You see now. The Fire Cult is stirring, which indicates they possess considerable strength. And what about the third-party forces? We can drag them into this."
"Wandering asked, 'Are you referring to the Silent City?'
'Yes,' Cui Ming replied. 'The plan is simple. First, we need a fake elder, like a false prophet or something. Then we contact Liu Meier to help him do something bad; otherwise, we'll inform the Alliance of Liu Meier's identity. I've dealt with the Prophet's Messenger and learned quite a bit about the Silent City.'
Wandering calculated in secret; he was most familiar with the prophet, so creating a false prophet wouldn't be too difficult. Would they believe it? If they did, then they would have to help him; if not, he could use the guise of a false prophet to 'frame' Liu Meier as a Fire Cultist. The Silent City was isolated; unless the Fire Cult broke in, this rumor could easily delay things for a year or two. At least during that time, no noble family would dare to risk marrying Liu Meier.
Wandering nodded. 'This is a good move; we profit whether we win or lose. What's next? What kind of mischief are we planning? You always have a purpose when you threaten someone.'
'...' Cui Ming pondered.
Wandering asked helplessly, 'Are you still thinking on the spot?'
'Of course! I'm thousands of miles away from Liu Meier; why would I waste my time plotting against him?' Cui Ming looked around for a moment and said, 'Pirate King Ronk.'
'Interesting, go on.' Involving all forces while leaving the Alliance to watch from the sidelines was excellent.
Cui Ming continued, 'We need to acquire some treasure that just happens to be plundered by Lank without their knowledge. The Silent City rarely interacts with the outside world and needs help, so they turn to the Fire Cult. The condition is that the Fire Cult retrieves this treasure, and then we contact Lank as Fire Cultists, explaining that we're looking for such an item and hope they hand it over willingly. The Fire Cultists won't be sure if it's one of their own who foolishly contacted Lank, which might even cause some internal strife. In reality, it doesn't matter whether we have the treasure or not; we just need to say it.'
Wandering clapped his hands. 'I like this idea! It's brilliant; the Alliance faces no risk at all. Whether we can deceive them or not, it benefits the Alliance either way.'
Mi Xiaonan interjected, 'Senior, isn't joining the Alliance supposed to require virtues like integrity, fairness, and justice?'
Wandering retorted with frustration, 'Which law states that virtuous people can't do bad things? Cui Ming, we need to refine these details further; I think it's excellent to exploit their information asymmetry among those three forces—there's great potential here.'
Cui Ming hurriedly said, 'That's about it; you can come up with the details yourself. You're more familiar with the prophet than I am.'
Wandering nodded slowly and said, 'Could we perhaps incorporate elements from Void Power? For instance, the treasure could be something sealed from the Lost Civilization Tomb belonging to a Mage—a handwritten manuscript detailing how to use Void Power. The Fire Cultists might have ears in the Alliance and would certainly know about some matters between the prophet and Mage since we made such a big fuss last time in Dawn City. How do we lose it? The Messenger—the Prophet's Messenger—delivers something back to Silent City but ends up dead due to the 'wild man's' unique body or other reasons, rendering them temporarily incapable of resistance. At that moment, Lank just happens to raid the ship and takes away the manuscript stored in their luggage.'
'I think for authenticity's sake, we could find a real wild man to carry out this task. After all, they all end up mad and dying in prison; it’s better for them to die with purpose.'"
Wandering nodded repeatedly, "That makes sense."
Mi Xiaonan looked at Li Qing, who was silently eating. The two villains, one old and one young, were concocting a wicked plan, and she felt there was no way for her to interject. Their scheming had seeped into their very bones; they could come up with ideas effortlessly. In the face of such brainstorming, it was better for her to focus on eating. Sigh... she had always thought Wandering was a paragon of virtue, but perhaps it was good to have such a leader who wouldn’t easily be taken advantage of. There’s a saying that rings true: dealing with bad people using good methods doesn’t work; it’s better to use bad methods against bad people.
In this simple hot pot scenario, the Fire Cult Practitioner found itself embroiled in endless disputes.
...
Wandering was a doer, unafraid of any task. The plan had begun!
For the Fire Cult Practitioner, these twenty days were undoubtedly the most unbearable. First, they lost an excellent assassin, and they had to thank him for taking out one of their own. At the negotiation table, the Bufon Envoy subtly informed the Fire Cult envoy that if the Fire Cult could not be sincere, any misunderstandings or conflicts that arose would be quite unfortunate.
This threat wasn’t much, but then Silent City got involved. A person claiming to be the Prophet's Envoy waited in Liu Meier's hotel room for the Costume Designer. He informed her that the Prophet already knew she and Liu Meier were Fire Cult Practitioners. If they were willing to assist the Prophet, he would keep this secret.
Would they agree? First, they needed to verify the Prophet's authenticity. The Fire Cult had very little knowledge about Silent City; like the alliance, they only knew about one city lord and the structure of the Four Elders. The Four Elders were Toad, Sadin, the Prophet, and one individual who had never shown their face. The Costume Designer negotiated with the envoy, who responded vaguely about how they discovered Liu Meier's identity: only the master knew. When asked what the Prophet wanted, the Prophet's Messenger told her they needed to retrieve something.
The Prophet's Messenger had no ulterior motives; under the Costume Designer's questioning, she reached several conclusions. The first conclusion was that the envoy truly did not know how the Prophet discovered Liu Meier's identity. The second conclusion was that what they were looking for was a manuscript written by a Mage from a lost civilization. This manuscript had been obtained by this envoy from the desert and was supposed to be delivered to Silent City by another envoy. However, during transit on a ferry across the sea, an accident occurred: the transporting envoy went mad and jumped into the ocean. While everyone was still in shock, Lank's pirate ship attacked and plundered the ferry. The manuscript fell into Lank's hands. Whether Lank realized its significance or discarded it as trash remained unknown. Few people from Silent City could operate outside its confines, so out of desperation, the Prophet directly sought help from the Fire Cult Practitioner. The Prophet's Messenger stated that if the Fire Cult helped retrieve this item, not only would Liu Meier's matter remain confidential, but they would also receive the Evil Holy Grail as a reward.
The Evil Holy Grail, originally known as the Holy Grail, was a treasure from when the Prophet was still part of the alliance. After turning to dark magic, it transformed into the Evil Holy Grail. Once the Prophet comprehended Void Power, the Evil Holy Grail became useless to him; thus he was willing to pass on this treasure.
(To be continued.)
Comment 0 Comment Count