The Fairy: From the Traveling Merchant

Chapter 712 League
In the Western-style three-story detached building, Johnson, the steward of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was talking with the long-legged girl about Zhao Chen.

"Sir, I have already sent the information to Master Zhao Chen, but I feel he should have discovered me..." The woman, who had changed into a tight black dress to facilitate movement and highlight her tall and slender figure to the fullest, said hesitantly.

"Oh? Miss Zhuge, although what you practiced is not the Zhuge family's unique martial art, the "Book of Dunjia", but it is also derived from it, the "Secret Record of Hidden Form and Transformation", right?

"I heard that the supernatural powers cultivated with this technique are best at hiding one's tracks. Although Young Master Zhao Chen is of noble status, he is only at the Gangsha realm. How could he have discovered your whereabouts?" Johnson, who was sitting on the sofa in a loose robe, asked puzzledly.

The long-legged woman, or Miss Zhuge as Johnson called her, was actually very puzzled by this and said hesitantly, "Maybe it's because he has a secret treasure? Or maybe he has practiced some high-level pupil technique...

“I’m not really sure.

"Also, although my last name is Zhuge, my relationship with the Zhuge family is actually very distant. Even the Secret Record of Hidden Form Transformation has not been fully learned, so it is not difficult to understand why I was discovered."

Hearing this, Johnson revealed a strange smile and shook his head, saying, "Miss Zhuge is really too modest... Others may not know your abilities, but don't I know them?

"In the 'Seven Springs Cave Heaven' incident a week ago, even the Sima family thought that the person who stole their family's 'Lingguang Baojian' magic weapon was the 'excellent planner' Zhuge Zheng, but who would have thought that it was you, young lady, pretending to be him?"

"That's because the Sima family didn't investigate seriously." Miss Zhuge waved her hand, obviously not wanting to talk about it. She said, "I failed this time, but I still owe you two favors."

However, Johnson smiled and shook his head, saying, "It doesn't matter if Young Master Zhao finds out. It's no loss to me, and he may even overestimate my strength because of it.

“When our relationship gets better in the future, I will clarify this to you, sir.

"It might drag you into this vortex."

Sensing the sincerity in Johnson's words, Miss Zhuge stammered a few times, and finally asked the doubts in her heart: "Since you want to curry favor with... no, want to make friends with Zhao Chen, why don't you send the information out in person, but use this sneaky way?
"Mr. Zhao Chen may not even know that this is your work."

Johnson smiled and replied, "Mr. Zhao is a smart man, he must have guessed that the information came from me... As for why he didn't deliver it in person?
"Because then, the origin of the information cannot be hidden from the divine power of deduction, so it is not worth it to completely offend King Liang... Although I want to burn the stove of this Mr. Zhao, I have to protect myself as much as possible, right?

"And the one I'm trying to curry favor with now is not Mr. Zhao, but Lady Duan Mingxue."

Miss Zhuge was speechless for a long time after hearing this, and finally uttered one sentence: "You are caught in two dilemmas."

Jensen laughed and shook his head again, "I can't be considered as two-faced. After all, I have Western blood, so I am naturally on the side of Concubine Ning. Whether it is Ming Xueqi, the second son of the Prince of Xiang, who is favored by the Empress, or Ming Xuechan, the third son of the Prince of Wei, who is favored by the Imperial Concubine, neither of them can continue to use me after they ascend to the throne.

“As for the ‘Prince of Liang’… he is actually the least likely to ascend to the throne. Even if Your Majesty is forced to adopt an heir, he will never give up the throne to this biological brother.

"But King Liang is extremely extreme. If he gets angry with me, my life won't be as comfortable as it is now, so I have to be on guard."

As he spoke, Johnson stood up and walked to the window, looking at the silver moon hanging high in the sky, and silently said to himself: "Your Majesty has wanted to eliminate King Liang for a long time, but there has never been a good opportunity or excuse.

“This Young Master Zhao, in my opinion, doesn’t look like a prince, but more like a knife… But since His Majesty has spread the word and I happened to know about it, I have to treat him as a common prince… But I can’t really get involved too deeply.

“So, we have to strike a good balance!
"Fortunately, we still have Fairy Duan Mingxue as an excuse."

…On the other side, in the hotel bedroom.

After seeing Zhong Ying off, Zhao Chen also looked at the silver moon through the window and thought to himself:
"The sun avoids the Jade Toad and summons ghosts...

"The master of Liang Wang Ming Hongyi is called 'Yuchan Zhenren', and he is also eyeing Ningpin... Could the 'Yuchan' in the poem deduced by the two Zhenren Qin and Chu refer to this 'Yuchan Zhenren'?

"Because of the current move, it may be difficult to avoid him, so we have to take the initiative to attack and create some troubles for the Liang Wang family that are not easy to solve.

"'Summoning ghosts', turns out to be a way to 'avoid' them!
"It would be a bit troublesome for me to rely on myself, but fortunately, I have Zhong Ying's secret help and His Majesty's tacit cooperation... The possibility of success is still quite high.

"Your Majesty, have you thought about the price you will pay for using me like this?"

Zhao Chen is not the kind of person who would keep silent after suffering a loss. He has kept this account in mind and will settle it with him sooner or later. At most, he will give him a discount for Ning Meng's sake.

……

The next day, after getting up early and doing morning exercises, Zhao Chen went out shopping again with a few friends to experience the prosperity of the big city in the Central Plains.

It is worth mentioning that the attack on the commercial street yesterday did not have much impact on Wuguan City, and it did not even make the headlines of local newspapers.

Today's headlines are about the team competition final between the "Changshe Club" from Xuzhou and the "Wuguan Club" from Yuzhou.

"Is this... a martial arts competition league?" Zhao Chen was holding the newspaper and felt that there were more and more strange things in this world.

They had been strolling around the streets for the whole morning and were now resting in a teahouse.

"To be precise, it is the 'Jiuzhou Cultivator Class A League', which is also the highest-level cultivator competition. Almost all the cultivators participating in the competition are in the Divine Power Realm." Ming Xueling has information on this, so he briefly introduced it, "The B-level is the second, and most of them are teams with one or two Divine Powers and a relatively strong Gangsha Realm.

“As for the C-level, it is very difficult to see cultivators with magical powers. Even if there are any, they are only low-level magical powers of the eighth or ninth grade.”

Yan Hongxia on the side also added: "In fact, our Northwest's model of using arena competitions to compete for trade routes is also imitating the league mechanism of the Central Plains...

"In addition to entertaining the public, these competitions also represent a clash between major forces."

The rules of the Central Plains and Kyushu are strict, so using this kind of competition to decide the distribution of various benefits is a good idea, but it is only effective in Kyushu.

The rest of the states and counties are basically dominated by the aristocratic families and the prominent clans. Even if they promote this kind of league, they will still have the advantage...

Fortunately, the major sects and families in Da Xia did not seem to want to do anything extreme. In addition, although the power of the imperial court was relatively weak outside Jiuzhou, it also served as a balancing force. Therefore, independent cultivators and small sects could still be allocated a small amount of resources and retain a certain opportunity for advancement.

The fact that Da Xia's cultivation world has remained vibrant is actually due to this... after all, fish can only be raised in running water.

(End of this chapter)