Chapter 123: Three-Minute Speedrun of the Prince Fu Rebellion

That night, Chu Danqing was waiting for the Imperial Yulin Guards to confirm the intelligence on Li Wanwu's location.

Once confirmed, he would strike directly.

However, before the intelligence on Li Wanwu arrived, he received news that the Taichang Emperor was critically ill.

When Chu Danqing saw the Taichang Emperor, he found him physically weak and filled with remorse.

Upon seeing Chu Danqing, the Taichang Emperor spoke immediately: "I regret not listening to your words, my dear official; that so-called Immortality Pill is nothing but poison."

Chu Danqing felt a wave of disbelief; he had thought that taking away the Red Pill would have ended the matter.

He had been careless; Li Wanwu could easily have used another red pill of similar color and scent to impersonate the original, without needing to use the real one.

He was still too young and naive.

Chu Danqing wanted to save him, but he had no detoxifying consumables on hand, and restoring the Taichang Emperor's HP would be of no use.

His constitution attribute simply could not save him.

"The entire Gu family has been sentenced to execution; I have already sent men to handle it, so you may rest easy," the Taichang Emperor said. After speaking, he beckoned, and a youth of sixteen or seventeen walked over.

"The Crown Prince is young and incapable of handling great affairs; I hope the two of you will assist him with all your might."

It was not just Chu Danqing who was there; Li Wanwu was present as well.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, I will certainly maintain the situation," Chu Danqing said calmly.

He did not care who inherited the throne; he only cared whether the Emperor was acting like a human being.

"However, I am curious, Li Wanwu, why have you tried to kill him time and time again?" Chu Danqing asked, bringing it out into the open.

"First, you used a soul-bewitching art to control Zhang Cai, and then you bribed Gu Pin. Are you not afraid that your act of regicide will be exposed?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present froze.

"Commander Chu, do not spout nonsense. My loyalty to His Majesty is as clear as the sun and moon," Li Wanwu said with a sinister smile, having no intention of admitting anything.

"I think it is you, Commander Chu, who wants to seize absolute power."

Li Wanwu countered.

Chu Danqing had no intention of arguing with Li Wanwu and immediately thought of taking action.

However, a clamor came from outside the door.

An Imperial Yulin Guard rushed in with hurried steps.

"It's bad! Prince Fu has rebelled and has reached the palace gates." The man announced the bad news as soon as he arrived.

In the Taichang Emperor's eyes appeared disbelief: "This is impossible! Where did he get the troops?!!!"

With this shock, he stared wide-eyed and breathed his last.

Chu Danqing's gaze fell upon Li Wanwu: "This must be your doing."

Li Wanwu, however, smiled without saying a word, his expression one of extreme satisfaction and relief.

【Hidden Task: Suppress the Prince Fu Rebellion within one hour】

【Trial Difficulty: A-Rank (Heroic)】

【Trial Reward: 10,000 Paradise Points, +4 Attribute Points】

【Trial Failure: -20,000 Paradise Points, -1 Random Attribute】

The next moment, the Paradise's hidden task appeared.

The trial task had already ended, so no more side quests would appear.

Chu Danqing accepted it immediately: "Wait until I deal with Prince Fu, then I will come to settle accounts with you."

After speaking, he immediately went out to mobilize the Imperial Yulin Guards to prepare for resistance.

As for the Crown Prince? He was unimportant; he was not a native of this trial world, and concepts like righteousness and legitimacy were irrelevant.

As long as the situation could be stabilized, it didn't matter who was Emperor.

Even deposing or establishing a new one didn't matter; what was important was the 'humanity' factor, not bloodlines or titles.

"Damn, more than half of the Imperial Yulin Guards have rebelled? They even opened the gates, and now they've already killed their way in?" As soon as Chu Danqing came out, he received this bad news.

The Taichang Emperor's reign had been too short, and Chu Danqing had not had enough time to control the Imperial Yulin Guards. With Prince Fu and Li Wanwu colluding, it was not impossible for them to incite a mutiny among the guards.

Li Wanwu had clearly come prepared.

Currently, the only ones he could mobilize were the original young faction.

"You go to the Yangqi Hall; I will handle the rest." Seeing this, Chu Danqing knew he couldn't win by relying on the natives.

He could only let Guo Ming come; he hoped that the foundation of swordsmanship was truly as powerful as Guo Ming had claimed, enough to make him undergo a rebirth, otherwise, he really wouldn't be able to hold on this time.

【You have summoned a Covenant Object; the Covenant Object's rank exceeds the Covenant limit.】

【This summoning requires 5,000 Paradise Points, and will consume 1,000 Paradise Points every hour.】

【Do you wish to summon?】

【Covenant Object has responded.】

【Covenant Object summoning cognition rationalization modification complete.】

Chu Danqing felt relieved and, without hesitation, spent the money.

"As long as it doesn't exceed Rank 1 when signing, even if the Covenant Object's rank exceeds the Rank 1 limit after signing, it can still be summoned and maintained by spending additional Paradise Points."

"Sure enough, there is nothing that cannot be changed by spending money."

Guo Ming walked out, and Chu Danqing summarized the situation in brief words.

"Suppress the rebellion? Leave it to me." Guo Ming, who now had a new flying sword in addition to the Zishi Shenhou Sword, named the Chou-Hour Great Fortune Sword, said: "It just so happens I have had a breakthrough; now I shall test my sword."

After speaking, Guo Ming carried the Shadow of the Cold Spring and left by flying sword.

Chu Danqing followed to provide buffs and simultaneously opened Guo Ming's attribute panel.

【Blood Oath Covenant · No. 1 (Rank 2)】

【Attributes】

【HP: 100%】

【Mana: 9,780】

【Strength: 33】

【Agility: 33】

【Constitution: 33】

【Spirit: 33】

【Perception: 33】

【Talents】

【Innate Yuanchen Dao Foundation】

【Zishi Shenhou Sword】

【Chou-Hour Great Fortune Sword】

【Skills】

【Twelve Yuanchen Sword Scripture (Inherited) LV. 5】

【Sword Art Foundation LV. MAX】

【Earth Fiend Body Tempering (Passive) LV. MAX】

【Heavenly Gang Spirit Refining (Passive) LV. MAX】

【Sword Heart Clarity (Passive) LV. MAX】

【Hunyuan Nourishing Qi (Passive) LV. 9】

【Equipment】

【Shadow of the Cold Spring (???)】

After reading, Chu Danqing exclaimed that it was terrifyingly powerful.

In Guo Ming's hands, the two flying swords cooperated, and with the strength of one person, they forcibly scattered all the rebel troops.

As the number of deaths increased, their morale collapsed.

"Drop your weapons, hold your heads and squat down! Those who surrender will not be killed!" Seeing that the killing was almost done, Guo Ming said immediately.

With the infusion of mana, his voice reached the ears of all the rebels.

During this time, Guo Ming did not stop, but kept killing those who prevented the soldiers from surrendering.

"It seems the promotion assessment is secure." Chu Danqing couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.

A Rank 2 character who could also be buffed by summoning foundations was basically equivalent to a massacre.

As for being banned for being too overpowered? Chu Danqing didn't have a taunt aura; why would the Paradise target him?

Banning everything would be even more ridiculous; otherwise, what was the point of the Paradise creating equipment, skills, and related systems?

Weakening the apostles under one's command for no reason—was the Paradise an idiot?

To make the assessment more realistic? Apostles weren't without their weak periods; what needed to be tested had already been tested.

Banning them after they became strong to test them again, calling it 'tempering the heart in the mortal world'—did that mean you had no experience during your growth process, just standing in place and upgrading with one click?

Since you've grown, why go back and walk the path you've already traveled?

About three minutes later, Prince Fu was dragged out by Guo Ming.

"This kind of great power... this kind of great power, can martial arts really reach this level?" Prince Fu was still in a state of disbelief, muttering to himself in great unwillingness.

If he had been defeated by Chu Danqing mobilizing a large army with strategy, Prince Fu would have been convinced.

But now, a person who appeared from nowhere, controlling two flying swords and an unknown weapon, had easily crushed his army.

How could Prince Fu accept this?

"We can talk about this later. Can you tell me where your troops came from?" Chu Danqing asked.

Prince Fu came back to his senses and sneered: "My royal brother, he is dead, isn't he?"

"He is dead; he just breathed his last not long ago," Chu Danqing replied.

"That's good, that's good." Prince Fu revealed a satisfied smile: "It was Li Wanwu who helped me connect in the middle; even the Imperial Yulin Guards were incited by him to rebel for me."

"I was coerced."

Regarding this statement, Chu Danqing believed half of it, but he didn't believe the last part about being coerced at all.

"You want to kill me?" Prince Fu's smile slowly faded; he sensed something ominous.

"I am a vassal king. The Founding Emperor has a law that even if one commits a heinous crime, one is only demoted to a commoner and supported by the royal family."

Seeing Chu Danqing's attitude, Prince Fu immediately began to explain.

He was afraid that Chu Danqing would act regardless of the consequences.

Asking if the Taichang Emperor was dead earlier was also a setup for this.

If the Taichang Emperor hadn't died, he would have needed a different excuse.

But since he was dead, he had to let the Crown Prince come out to make a decision, but he hadn't expected Chu Danqing to ignore it entirely.

"I know, but if you don't die, you will threaten the new Emperor." Chu Danqing found a reason, and then Dabao moved to kill him.

An A-rank task ended just like that, without any difficulty or twists and turns.

【Task complete, you have obtained: 10,000 Paradise Points, +4 Attribute Points】

If a Rank 2 Guo Ming couldn't crush an A-rank task in the reserve stage, then his attributes, talents, and skills were just for show.

On Prince Fu's body, an excellent-tier treasure chest appeared.

It did not have shimmering patterns.

If Chu Danqing had let Guo Ming kill all the rebels, what might have dropped would have been a fine-tier treasure chest with shimmering patterns.

The ones who died were the soldiers, but the one who achieved fame was Prince Fu.

If anyone was truly coerced, it wasn't Prince Fu, but these soldiers; most of them were ordinary people.

If one had to kill, one should kill the ringleaders, the managers.

To actually kill thousands of soldiers would be truly horrifying.

As long as they didn't threaten him, Chu Danqing was unwilling to commit more slaughter.

Moreover, he could show grace to these people, letting the surrendered soldiers become his help, serving as manpower for subsequent bandit suppression.

Chu Danqing firmly believed that "monks are foolish but can be taught, while demons are ghosts and must become disasters."

This saying could never be wrong.

The Imperial Yulin Guards took Chu Danqing's written order and quickly mobilized the Beijing Camp to begin taking over the situation.

With Prince Fu dead, the rest were no longer a threat.

"The matter is not over yet; Li Wanwu is still alive." Chu Danqing asked: "Where is he?"

An Imperial Yulin Guard immediately reported Li Wanwu's location, and Chu Danqing, without hesitation, took Guo Ming directly there.

Previously, summoning Guo Ming once cost at most 1,100 Paradise Points; now it started at 6,000.

He had to hurry; an A-rank task only gave 10,000 points in total, and after deducting costs, the profit was only 4,000.

He definitely had to solve it all at once.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 124 =====