Chapter 124: Expensive Summoning Bill

"I have been waiting for a long time, Commander Chu." Li Wanwu was leisurely brewing tea in the courtyard, with a plump middle-aged woman sitting beside him.

Judging by her posture, she was also a martial artist.

Chu Danqing recognized the other party; the woman was known as Lady Fengsheng, Li Wanwu's companion.

She was also the wet nurse of the current second-generation Crown Prince.

"Commander Chu, do you think you have won?" Lady Fengsheng chuckled: "The Emperor is dead, and Prince Fu is dead."

"The Crown Prince is young..."

Chu Danqing directly interrupted her: "Send these two on their way."

Guo Ming didn't say a word; the Zishi Shenhou Sword and the Chou-Hour Great Fortune Sword directly pierced their heads.

The attitude and tone of these two made Guo Ming very annoyed.

Clearly, everything was caused by them, and they had lost miserably, yet they still maintained a condescending, victorious posture.

The two corpses collapsed with a boom, but no treasure chest appeared; instead, they began to squirm and merge, gradually forming a brand-new individual.

【Hidden Task: Kill the Sect Master of the Investigation Bureau and Lady Fengsheng within one hour】

【Trial Difficulty: B-Rank (Warrior)】

【Trial Reward: 5,000 Paradise Points, +3 Attribute Points】

"Where do you think the former Emperor's Heavenly Book came from?" Li Wanwu's voice came: "It was obtained by me, and then I presented it to him."

"A book of evil; that fool treated it like a treasure and even promoted me all the way up."

Li Wanwu's ability to gain the trust of the previous Taichang Emperor through martial arts was due to this.

However, before presenting it as a stepping stone, he had also studied and used it, but at that time, the Flesh Scholar's spellbook was only at the excellent tier.

Therefore, what he obtained was not as much as the previous Taichang Emperor.

Li Wanwu, whose yin and yang were indistinguishable, revealed a ferocious grin, and then his smile stiffened.

The Zishi Shenhou Sword instantly severed his head; he only felt his vision fly up, dying on the spot, and a treasure chest appeared.

In Li Wanwu's view, Chu Danqing had merely used a decapitation strike to kill Prince Fu and stabilize the situation; otherwise, how could he have arrived to kill him in just half a quarter of an hour?

He was completely unable to imagine that Guo Ming had crushed the rebel army head-on.

This was simply not something human power could achieve; it had already exceeded his scope of understanding.

If he had truly known, he would never have had the guts to go against Chu Danqing.

【Task complete, you have obtained: 5,000 Paradise Points, +3 Attribute Points】

Chu Danqing's eye twitched; where did this guy get his confidence?

He spoke very villainous threats, but the problem was that times had changed, and Chu Danqing, a summoning-type apostle who had spent money, was terrifyingly strong.

As long as one was willing to pay enough Paradise Points, Rank 1 trial tasks could be massacred.

"Relying on evil arts to escape my sword, he thought he was invincible in the world." Guo Ming was also speechless.

This strength wasn't even as good as the previous Taichang Emperor's.

"Brother Chu, last time you were beaten up in the Ghost Market, and this time you directly encountered a palace rebellion."

"Following you, my life has become much richer." Guo Ming teased, then took out two skill books: "These are Spirit Patterns and Spirit Talismans, two secret arts."

"The secret art for the Small Five Elements Spirit Summoning Dao Foundation will only arrive tomorrow."

"But it's fine; you must first complete the condensation of these Spirit Patterns and Spirit Talismans before you can prepare for the Dao Foundation secret art."

"If you want to truly cultivate it to completion, you still need to perfect the Five Elements Spirit Beast Scripture, using the Small Five Elements Spirit Array as the foundation."

"Therefore, there is no rush; it won't be too late to hand them to you, Brother Chu, when you summon me next time."

Guo Ming naturally knew that summoning him once was expensive.

Chu Danqing accepted the skills and expressed his approval: "It's mainly because it's expensive; the price of summoning you now could awaken an upgrade quality entry for a True Spirit piece of equipment."

The reason was still that the quality of the Blood Oath Covenant was too low.

He was thinking about whether to take a basic skill to exchange for something that could improve skill quality, provided such a thing existed.

After Guo Ming showed enough potential, Chu Danqing could fully develop the Blood Oath Covenant as a core skill.

"There's no way around it; the buff brought by Sword Art Foundation is too strong, and I'm about to break through to Sword Art Mastery."

"My strength will progress even faster later, so you should find others to sign some contracts to save some money." Guo Ming also had no choice.

With talent, resources, famous teachers, and basic skills as a guide for the path, he couldn't help but be fast.

Every day when he opened his eyes, even before he started cultivating, he was given a boost in mana.

Where could he go to reason about such a thing?

He also knew that because the strength of both sides was too high, Chu Danqing couldn't afford the cost, but there was no way around it.

"I have thought about Zhao Mingqian, but he is even weaker than Dabao."

"If I let him follow us, his growth speed will be too slow to keep up with the team, and he will die." Chu Danqing was also helpless.

Besides him, only Xiong Zhigang was at the same level of favorability.

As for people like Yuan Chong and Zhuo Bufan, he really wasn't familiar with them.

"Then Xiong Zhigang is not bad; he is good at arranging troops and formations. In the future, when you have more summoned objects, he can do it for you."

"This is much more convenient than letting Dabao and the others fight on their own."

"Don't worry about growth; the three of us can communicate with each other." Guo Ming pointed out a bright path for Chu Danqing.

"This is a plan given to you by your family, right?" Chu Danqing chuckled; Guo Ming did nothing but cultivate every day, so where would he have the heart to ponder these things?

"That's right. Although my family doesn't know the truth, they just think I've joined some powerful hidden force. When I told them about your situation, Brother Chu, they came up with strategies for me." Guo Ming admitted directly.

Chu Danqing thought about it, and it seemed there was indeed no problem.

When he went back, he would definitely have to take out some Paradise Points to awaken the True Spirit of the Nine-Child Ghost Mother Diagram.

He would have to awaken it at least twice, and by then, having someone to command the forty-nine Ghost Grievance Infants would definitely be far superior to them fighting on their own.

But in doing so, he would have to bear the cultivation cost of Xiong Zhigang.

The upper limit of this trial world was not as high as the trial world Guo Ming was in.

Growth was quite limited, so if he wanted Xiong Zhigang to keep up, Chu Danqing could only let Guo Ming do the collecting, and he would pay the money as a handling fee.

Normally, the commander should be the apostle himself, but if there was a professional, Chu Danqing could not only save time and effort but also be more focused on summoning.

"Good, after I handle the matters at hand, I will go find Xiong Zhigang." Chu Danqing actually had no bottom line in his heart.

Xiong Zhigang might not be willing, and later he might have to let Guo Ming help deal with the threat of the Sushen people before the other party could possibly spare the energy to help him wholeheartedly.

"Before I go, I have to suppress the banditry." Chu Danqing said.

He didn't have much time, so he used a high-pressure sweep to clear out the greenwood bandits in the Taichang Dynasty as quickly as possible.

"Don't force it; there will be other opportunities in the future." Guo Ming just mentioned it; he wasn't the only one good at arranging troops and formations: "I see the time is almost up; it's time to go back."

"Otherwise, if I stay any longer, I'll have to deduct another thousand from you, Brother Chu." Guo Ming said with a smile.

Seeing this, Chu Danqing knew the one-hour limit was approaching, and it wouldn't be too late to chat next time.

【Detected un-notarized skill book; provided by Covenant Object, you can choose regular notarization or abandon notarization】

【1. Notarization, excellent-tier consumes 2,000 Paradise Points】

——

【You have sent back the Covenant Object, repatriation cognition rationalization modification complete, this duration: 1 hour, consumption: 1,000 Paradise Points】

Chu Danqing looked at the consumption; he felt that the Paradise Point consumption of a normal reserve-level apostle definitely wasn't as high as his.

He learned the two derived skill books that were notarized directly, and would wait until he had time to condense them to full level.

With the previous Spirit Seals, Spirit Beads, and Spirit Flags, the difficulty of condensing the remaining Spirit Patterns and Spirit Talismans was not high; instead, he should raise the level of the Five Elements Spirit Beast Scripture first, and then raise the level of the Five Elements Magic Orbs.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have extra Five Elements Magic Orbs as a condensation foundation.

He didn't have time for now; he had to handle the chaotic situation in the palace.

He arranged for people to search Li Wanwu's residence and then rushed to the palace.

A group of ministers had already arrived; the Taichang Emperor's corpse was laid out, and the second-generation Crown Prince was listening to the ministers discuss what to do with a blank look.

There were two problems: one was the enthronement, and the other was where the Taichang Emperor should be buried.

The Taichang Emperor had only ascended the throne not long ago, and the Imperial Mausoleum had just begun construction.

Seeing the arrival of Chu Danqing and Dabao, everyone present quieted down.

"Commander Chu, you have finally come." The second-generation Crown Prince's eyes gradually regained their luster; previously, the Taichang Emperor had told Chu Danqing to assist him well.

This meant that Chu Danqing was a minister of the deathbed, holding military power while also having fame and prestige.

On the contrary, Li Wanwu had disappeared after the Taichang Emperor died, and no one knew where he had gone.

"Don't panic, solve one thing at a time." Chu Danqing sat down and said: "Ministry of Rites, the enthronement ceremony will proceed on time tomorrow."

"Ministry of Works, the Imperial Mausoleum..."

Chu Danqing arranged things in an orderly manner, occasionally asking for the opinions of the ministers present.

He could see clearly what these people wanted to do; the second-generation Crown Prince was not as good as the first-generation Crown Prince, so they all wanted to fish in troubled waters.

This second-generation Crown Prince looked like the type with a weak character and soft ears.

He was human, but perhaps too dependent on the environment.

If you arranged a Zhuge Liang for him, he might become Liu Shan.

If you changed it to Zhao Gao, he would become Hu Hai.

No wonder Lady Fengsheng, Li Wanwu's companion, felt that the matter was not over.

It turned out she wanted to attack Chu Danqing by influencing the second-generation Crown Prince.

Unfortunately, she didn't expect Chu Danqing not to play any political games with them, but to kill them directly.

With Chu Danqing sitting in command and coordinating, two executable plans were freshly released and then distributed for execution.

"You go to sleep first; I'll call you when it's time tomorrow." Chu Danqing glanced at the second-generation Crown Prince, who had started to yawn, and said casually.

Upon hearing this, the other party's face showed joy: "Then I will leave this to Commander Chu; I... cough, I am a bit tired."

At first glance, it seemed he didn't have much decorum, and then he left immediately.

After Chu Danqing handled all the affairs at hand, Dabao said: "Just now, he, lied, not sleepy."

"It should be social anxiety from not being used to the environment." Chu Danqing didn't care much.

"No, he, is disguising." Dabao continued: "Afraid, of Little Chu."

Hearing this, Chu Danqing was stunned, then smiled: "I understand what you mean."

"Enduring and disguising, he is treating me as Dong Zhuo."

The other party was wary of his prestige, troops, and martial power.

After Chu Danqing completed the bandit suppression plan, he intended to leave the court and go find Xiong Zhigang to discuss the Blood Oath Covenant.

The trial value of the court was already running low; if he continued, he would probably have to usurp the throne.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 125 =====