Chapter 2279: Preparing for the Next Adventure

He Lingchuan raised an eyebrow, waiting for Dong Rui's answer.

Dong Rui said resentfully: "Still the same old talk as before. To ensure quality and quantity, the Heavenly Palace can only use the divine descent bodies mass-produced by the Hidden God Lord as ordinary goods. The truly powerful ones allocated to gods and above, to capable demons, still need to be stronger demon puppet individuals."

To bring more demons down to the mortal realm, the Heavenly Palace must meet two major requirements using the divine descent bodies created by the Hidden God Lord: maximizing quantity and stabilizing quality.

Dong Rui had already said earlier that the avatars the Hidden God Lord can manifest are limited. But bringing as many demons down to the mortal realm as possible is also a hard task assigned by the Lingxu Holy Venerable; otherwise, he cannot answer to the Lingxu assembly.

To pursue the limit of quantity, one can only give up producing high-quality individuals—originally it was also difficult to produce them, and no one has heard of immortal bodies being mass-produced. Therefore, bodies capable of bearing powerful demons must still be either human immortals or demon puppets.

Dong Rui looked full of confidence: "Then my research will come in handy."

He Lingchuan glanced at him, deeming him passed.

"What's most important now is to investigate how far the demon puppet experiments have progressed." He pondered, "We need detailed firsthand data."

Upon hearing this, Dong Rui clenched his fists and rubbed his palms: "We're going on another long-distance assignment, right?"

The last time we went to the Thousand-Eyed Cave, it was him and Zhu Xiuer together.

"This matter is of great importance. Besides, the Heavenly Palace's experimental sites have been damaged by the Ling Mountain several times in recent years. For any demon puppet experiments, vigilance has been unprecedentedly strengthened. With just the two of you, your speed of success is too slow." He Lingchuan pointed his thumb at himself, "I'll go with you."

"You're also going?" Dong Rui's eyebrows lit up with joy, he rubbed his hands, "Then can the travel budget standard for this trip be raised?"

He Lingchuan couldn't be bothered with him: "All go back and arrange your current work. We'll set out in three days."

"Good!" Zhu Xiuer readily agreed, but couldn't help asking, "Can you get away?"

Dong Rui scratched his chin: "He usually cultivates; once he enters seclusion, it's three or four months, and we've never seen any trouble."

He Lingchuan said displeased: "I spent years building this team, not just to have it run autonomously to save me some time governing?"

Just like when he managed the Yangshan Merchant Guild, Cangyan's administrative system emphasizes self-operation. A mature system should be able to run as precisely as a machine, without excessive interference from superiors.

These years, Cangyan State has generally been favorable with timely winds and rains, people's livelihood stable, national strength growing rapidly, and He Lingchuan can also slack off—

As long as no major upheaval occurs domestically, he usually cultivates in seclusion for three or four months.

He Lingchuan is very clear-headed; as a "Reincarnated Dragon God," he should become the strongest martial force and greatest reliance of this new empire, so his cultivation progress cannot fall behind even a day.

The neighboring Bekka Demon Emperor and Wuhuan Great Emperor have also been intensifying their cultivation these years with the revival of spiritual energy, constantly seen as dragons whose heads appear but tails do not.

Zhu Xiuer was about to stand up when she suddenly remembered something and asked him again: "By the way, you said last time that the Yun Cloud Envoy is about to fail? Then predict who will succeed him?"

He Lingchuan gave a faint smile: "What's the use of predicting this?"

Dong Rui also urged him: "Just guess one, any guess."

He Lingchuan looked at Dong Rui, then at Zhu Xiuer, and understood clearly: "You two made a bet?"

Zhu Xiuer couldn't help but lift her paw to rub her belly, trying to fool this brat is really hard.

"This question has already been asked of me by many. The Heavenly Palace and the Bekka Royal Court also want to know the answer." In fact, as early as half a year ago, Mei Wu Niang asked him in a letter which candidate could take over the Heavenly Palace.

He Lingchuan's reply to her was: don't predict, don't bet, especially don't get involved in this muddy water, don't have any contact with interested parties, otherwise you'll surely be smashed to pieces!

"No matter who takes over, the Heavenly Palace's actions will become more radical."

Dong Rui also became curious: "Why?"

"Whether it's Hou Tianyu or Lu Yongyan, their key to competing for the Yun Cloud Envoy position is to win the Heavenly God's favor. If the Heavenly God is dissatisfied, they cannot become the envoy." He Lingchuan countered them, "If you were them, how would you make the Heavenly God satisfied?"

Dong Rui: "Carry out the Heavenly God's assigned tasks well?"

"Otherwise, how could you say you two aren't qualified subjects? They must think what the Heavenly God thinks, worry what the Heavenly God worries." He Lingchuan smiled, "The most important thing for a subject is that whatever the superior thinks of, you must think of too; whatever the superior hasn't thought of, you must also think of and be able to implement. That's what 'being capable' means. What does the Heavenly God most want?"

"Nightmare energy."

"These years, although Bekka has also been causing trouble everywhere, the frequency and scale have actually been smaller than before. Do you think the current Yun Cloud Envoy isn't working hard enough?"

Zhu Xiuer interjected: "Isn't he about to die?"

"Whether you say the Yun Cloud Envoy is powerless despite willingness, or say the Demon Emperor's tactics are superb, the fact remains that spiritual energy overall flows toward the human realm. Demons have long been dissatisfied with this situation, so why not hurry to replace the Yun Cloud Envoy?"

Zhu Xiuer thought for a while and actually said a sentence, surprisingly incisive beyond He Lingchuan's expectation:

"Because Bai Ziqi is already dead?"

He Lingchuan was slightly startled, snapped his fingers: "That's also correct. The demons haven't found a satisfactory successor. Or put another way, in their eyes, those two candidates are not much better than the current old envoy, so it's better to use the familiar than the unfamiliar."

As the struggle with demons has deepened these years, He Lingchuan has also become clearer: demons originally favored Bai Ziqi as the next Yun Cloud Envoy.

This person is ruthless and heartless, single-minded, uses all his shrewdness in business, looks down on anyone else and doesn't bother managing interpersonal relationships.

He is not smooth like the old envoy, but he can certainly carry out the missions entrusted by the demons well.

After Bai Ziqi was slain by He Lingchuan, the Heavenly Palace has never found a more suitable successor for the envoy. After all, in this current complex environment, to govern the institution with the greatest power in the world is a difficult operation.

"In the end, whoever is selected as the next envoy must, to prove his ability, be more executive and more aggressive than the old envoy, and also more radical, to secure that position." He Lingchuan's face had a hint of heaviness, "Whether for us or for the Bekka Demon Emperor, this is not good news."

Zhu Xiuer stood up, not knowing what to say, and after a while said: "I'll go back and pack my things first!"

After these two left, the night had already grown deep.

He Lingchuan handled a few more official duties, then put down his pen and paper, closed the doors and windows, and began sitting in meditation to regulate his breath.

As soon as he closed his eyes, the entire Chixiao Golden Hall fell into silence.

Thanks to the reward from Cuoshi Taiyi xueshoe.