Chapter 103: The Capital, Donggong

Seeing Xiong Zhigang selling a mystery, Chu Danqing didn't ask too much, just followed him down the mountain all the way.

At the foot of the mountain, they soon saw a middle-aged man with an eagle on his arm.

"Grand Coordinator, I have been waiting here for a long time." As soon as the other party saw Xiong Zhigang, he bowed and saluted.

"It really is you, Wu Hong," Xiong Zhigang's expression relaxed: "Did you come alone?"

"It's not just me, it's just that I thought Grand Coordinator would pass through here, so I waited here specially." Wu Hong said.

"His Highness the Crown Prince knew that the Qiutan Party and the Secret Service Factory wanted to take action against you, Grand Coordinator, but unfortunately, he was entangled by Prince Fu and really couldn't spare the energy to rescue you."

"Manpower is limited and cannot be spread out; fortunately, we finally found you, Grand Coordinator." Wu Hong said, leading the way in front.

Chu Danqing listened to the communication between the two and roughly knew some things.

Xiong Zhigang was a member of the Crown Prince faction, which was also the reason for his dismissal and reinstatement.

The Emperor was wary of the Crown Prince, fearing his power was too great.

From Wu Hong's words, it seemed there was an idea of abolishing the eldest and establishing the youngest.

That was Prince Fu.

The Qiutan Party shouted about seniority, but they supported Prince Fu.

One reason was that Prince Fu and his mother, Noble Consort Zheng, were favored, and Emperor Taichang indeed had this idea.

The second reason was even simpler: Prince Fu's maternal family power was not strong, and the Qiutan Party could control him well.

Upon learning the intention of the Qiutan Party and the Secret Service Factory to want Xiong Zhigang dead, the Crown Prince also arranged manpower at the first opportunity to rescue this important general under his command.

As long as Xiong Zhigang successfully returned, holding military power meant the Crown Prince had military power in his hands.

Whether there were troops or not was very important.

Otherwise, so many people wouldn't want Xiong Zhigang dead.

Xiong Zhigang was not irreplaceable, but he represented whether the Crown Prince faction could occupy benefits.

After many twists and turns, they left the mountain road and arrived at a temporary stronghold.

Manpower and carriages had already been prepared here.

It was just that this time they didn't take the land route, but switched to the water route.

And on the way, they also flew the flag of the Donggong.

It only took five days to reach the Capital.

During this period, Chu Danqing had been practicing and ignoring worldly affairs.

In this process, not only did he cultivate the two common-tier derivative skills, Five Elements Solid Foundation Art and Five Elements Nourishment Art, to the full level, but he even condensed the Five Elements Spirit Orbs.

Mainly because his Solid Foundation and Nourishment secret arts belonged to a set that complemented each other, and practicing them together could significantly increase the cultivation progress of both.

Plus, the quality was low and they belonged to derivatives, so how could the progress be slow?

【Five Elements Solid Foundation Art (Derivative) LV. MAX: HP +10, Mana +10, Dao foundation quality increases by 10% when building foundation with Five Elements Spirit Beast Command Art】

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【Five Elements Nourishment Art (Derivative) LV. MAX: HP +10, Mana +10, difficulty decreases by 10% when building foundation with Five Elements Spirit Beast Command Art】

——

【Five Elements Spirit Pearl (Derivative) LV. MAX: Each Five Elements Spirit Pearl can store 200 points of mana, current mana storage: 1000】

(Note: Five Elements Spirit Pearl effects cannot be stacked)

(Note: Five Elements Spirit Pearl can hold a maximum of one set)

The Five Elements Spirit Pearl and the Five Elements Spirit Seal were linked to the Five Elements magic orbs, and the level only represented the number of Spirit Pearls condensed from the magic orbs.

Condensing the five Spirit Pearls of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth was the full level.

The effect was very practical, giving Chu Danqing extra mana reserves.

The mana reserves in the Five Elements Spirit Pearls were in a full state, making cultivation more efficient.

He had experimented that every Spirit Pearl with full mana could increase cultivation efficiency by 10%.

If all five were full, that would be 100% efficiency.

The extra 50% came from the benefits brought by the Five Elements mutual generation, similar to a set effect.

He also discovered that there was a slight connection between the two sets of surrounding objects, the Spirit Seal and the Spirit Pearl.

If he wanted to connect them completely, he was afraid he would need the remaining three sets.

However, even if Chu Danqing got them now, he had no way to condense them.

After all, his Five Elements Spirit Beast Command Art was only at LV2, and there were only two sets of Five Elements magic orbs stationed, which had already been converted into Spirit Seals and Spirit Pearls by him.

The time to condense the Spirit Pearls was about the same as the Spirit Seals, and it was done in one day.

The rapid progress of the two derivative skills, Solid Foundation and Nourishment, could not be separated from the help of the Spirit Pearls.

【Mission completed, you obtained: Paradise Points × 2000, Attribute Points +2】

【Mission completed, you obtained: Paradise Points × 2000, Attribute Points +2】

——

【Trial Mission: Raise Capital reputation to "Widely Known" level within three months】

【Trial Difficulty: C-level (Adventure)】

【Trial Reward: Paradise Points × 2000, Attribute Points +2】

【Trial Failure: Paradise Points -4000, forced return】

【This is a real-time mission, subsequent missions will form different trial missions based on completion degree and completed events】

The Paradise prompt followed, which meant he had arrived at the Capital.

At the same time, a brand-new temporary data appeared, similar to the faction contribution in the previous Trial World.

【Reputation: Unknown (99/100)】

After Chu Danqing took a look, he didn't care about this trial mission.

For others, it might be difficult, but for Chu Danqing, it could be said to be easy, too easy.

Xiong Zhigang arriving at the Capital alive caused a political storm, and even just the aftermath was enough for Chu Danqing's reputation to take a rocket.

"Mr. Chu, the Capital has arrived." Xiong Zhigang knocked on the door outside and then said: "I will go to see the Emperor first, Mr. Chu, please go to the Donggong with Wu Hong to rest for a while."

Chu Danqing opened the door and understood what Xiong Zhigang meant; he wanted to tie him to the Crown Prince faction.

He didn't mind joining the faction; anyway, it was temporary, and he would leave when the mission was completed.

As for saying there might be restrictions? Rights and obligations were bound.

With Chu Danqing's strength, he couldn't achieve enjoying rights without fulfilling obligations.

Without invincible strength, you have to talk about background and influence when you come out to mix.

The principle of leaning against a big tree to enjoy the shade would never go out of style.

Would his move offend the Qiutan Party, the Secret Service Factory, or even Emperor Taichang?

No matter which side you join, you will offend other forces; the premise of playing both sides is that there is no conflict of interest.

Otherwise, even if you are willing, others in the force are not.

Being a neutral free person is certainly fine, but if you don't have enough strength, you either can't reach a high level, or you are a rootless duckweed.

"Good, then I'll trouble you." After Chu Danqing agreed, he asked: "What about Little Brother Zhao and Miss Yuan?"

"The two of them have old friends in the Capital, so they won't go to the Donggong," Xiong Zhigang said: "And they won't stay in the Capital for long, they will return in a few days."

Meaning he had invited them before, but they both refused.

"Good, I understand." Chu Danqing didn't ask too much and went ashore together.

He saw Zhao Mingqian and Yuan Shanhu on the shore, and the two were getting along quite well.

Zhao Mingqian had a faint sense of resignation, and Chu Danqing couldn't say anything, so he could only say, "Come find me if you encounter any difficulties."

The two would still be in the Capital for a while, but they didn't say where they were going, but they both implied that they had a place to go, so Chu Danqing didn't need to worry.

They even reminded Chu Danqing to be careful; the Donggong was not a kind place.

This current Crown Prince was not kind.

Chu Danqing took it to heart and got into the carriage and left.

After staying in the carriage for another two hours, he finally arrived at the Donggong.

How could the Capital be small, no matter what?

After arriving, a eunuch led the way and took Chu Danqing to meet the Crown Prince.

Since he was recommended by Xiong Zhigang, the Crown Prince wouldn't neglect him.

Chu Danqing took a look; the Crown Prince was also middle-aged, and if he continued to endure, he might be outlived by the old Emperor.

"Mr. Chu, you have traveled a long way, please sit." The Crown Prince stood up to welcome him and then said: "I heard that Mr. Chu killed a tiger and eliminated evil in Nanshan, and also cleverly pacified a county of bandits."

"You are truly the pillar of our Taichang." As he spoke, he poured tea for Chu Danqing himself.

In these two sentences, he carried Chu Danqing's background identity continued from the previous Trial World.

Without this background resume, the Crown Prince wouldn't neglect him but wouldn't pay much attention to him either, at most seeing him once and then sending him to Xiong Zhigang.

As the words fell, a palace maid came out holding a treasure box.

"I heard that Mr. Chu is good at the way of the Five Elements; this object is just right." The Crown Prince said, and the palace maid opened the treasure box.

Inside the box was a five-colored flower carved from a five-colored precious jade presented by the Feiluo Kingdom.

"This is a five-colored precious jade presented by the Feiluo Kingdom. I asked a famous artist to carve it and named it 'Empty Valley Konggu Youlan' to be elegant." The Crown Prince took off this five-colored jade flower and handed it to Chu Danqing himself.

Chu Danqing reached out to catch it, and the corresponding information popped up.

【Empty Valley Konggu Youlan】

【Type: Cultivation-type item】

【Quality: Excellent】

【Durability: 100/100】

【Effect: Can gather 10 points of Five Elements Qi daily, limit 100 points, current Five Elements Qi capacity: 100】

When Chu Danqing saw this thing, he had a ghostly thought in his heart.

As expected of the imperial family, they could find anything.

"Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince, I am willing to work for you!" Chu Danqing accepted it immediately, looking like a good employee as long as the boss paid enough.

Working for someone, who isn't working for someone? As long as it's not harmful or wicked and doesn't owe wages, Chu Danqing didn't mind taking another part-time job in the Donggong.

Just from this attitude, it could be seen that the Crown Prince's situation was not very good; otherwise, it would be impossible to spend a fortune to win him over at the first meeting.

Even if he had accumulated enough advantages from Xiong Zhigang, he wouldn't be so polite to the wise.

A look of joy appeared on the Crown Prince's face; his goal had finally been achieved.

With Chu Danqing's statement, the remaining communication was much smoother.

The Crown Prince didn't change to a high-and-mighty attitude because Chu Danqing stated he would work for him, but remained the same.

While chatting, a noisy sound came from outside, making the Crown Prince frown.

"Go and see what the noise is outside." The Crown Prince asked the attendant to investigate.

He was chatting happily with Chu Danqing, only feeling that Chu Danqing was knowledgeable and had extraordinary conversation.

The time policy strategies he spoke of also had insights that made Chu Danqing suddenly enlightened.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 104 =====