Chapter 491: A Pack of Wolves Swallows an Elephant, Breaking Through to Obtain Truth (6000)

"Dismiss Lu Wenzheng from the position of president of the Chamber of Commerce!"

This proposal could be described as earth-shattering.

Lu Wenzheng, as the Lu family head, being proposed for dismissal from the position of Chamber of Commerce president at a shareholders' meeting without being notified to attend, actually already explained many problems.

"I disagree!"

Immediately, a shareholder from the family head's line stood up and strongly opposed, "Without the family head's permission, what authority do you have to convene a shareholders' meeting? What authority do you have to dismiss the president?!"

The old man who proposed the agenda looked coldly at this person:

"The rules of my Lu Chamber of Commerce are that as long as more than half of the shareholders agree, a shareholders' meeting can be convened. As long as more than two-thirds of the shareholders agree, the president can be dismissed!"

"Today's shareholders' meeting has already had half of the shareholders agree to convene it. As for dismissing the president, I have now proposed the motion; next, we can vote according to the procedure."

"You..."

The person who opposed had nothing to say.

This was indeed in accordance with the rules of the Chamber of Commerce; it was just that such rules had never been used in the past few decades.

"Start voting; those who agree to dismiss Lu Wenzheng from the position of president of the Chamber of Commerce, please raise your hands."

The old man said, then took the lead in raising his hand.

Afterward, people raised their hands one after another.

There were a total of twenty-seven shareholders present; the total number of shareholders of the Lu Chamber of Commerce was thirty.

That is to say, more than twenty shareholders had to agree to dismiss Lu Wenzheng from the position of president of the Chamber of Commerce.

Normally, this was an impossible thing to happen, because the number of shareholders controlled by the family head's line occupied almost half.

But as more and more people raised their hands, several shareholders who had firmly stood on Lu Wenzheng's side realized that the situation was not good.

Several shareholders from the family head's line actually raised their hands and cast affirmative votes!

"You..."

"Zou Ze! You are an outsider; without the family head's support, what qualifications do you have to be a shareholder of my Lu Chamber of Commerce? You actually dare to betray the family head? You wolf-hearted thing!"

The person who first stood out to oppose pointed at the nose of a man and cursed angrily.

The man named Zou Ze was the Lu family's son-in-law; he spread his hands:

"I reached where I am today relying on my own talent! How much money have I earned for Lu Wenzheng over these years? Calling me wolf-hearted? The merits I've established, the money I've earned for him, isn't that enough to repay his kindness?"

"Besides, the Lu family isn't Lu Wenzheng's alone. As long as I continue to work well in the Chamber of Commerce and earn money for the Chamber of Commerce, have I betrayed the Lu family?"

Many people looked coldly at this scene.

Those who understand the times are outstanding.

In the current situation, smart people know that Lu Wenzheng's momentum is gone, but the Lu family must continue to survive, so naturally, they won't accompany Lu Wenzheng to continue making mistakes.

If one has to blame someone, one can only blame Lu Wenzheng for not choosing to win over Li Fei instead of supporting Xu Jing when making decisions back then.

"If Lu Wenzheng had chosen to win over Li Fei instead of supporting Xu Jing back then, how different would the Lu family's situation be now?"

Many Lu family members would have such thoughts in their hearts now.

But in reality, back then, Li Fei was just entering the Dao Foundation stage, without power or influence. And Xu Jing was already a young Grandmaster, with hopes of becoming the principal of a new university.

No matter who it was, it was impossible to give up Xu Jing and choose Li Fei at that time.

It was just that although the principle was that principle, it didn't delay the current Lu family members' resentment toward Lu Wenzheng in the slightest.

"A total of twenty-one votes, exceeding two-thirds!"

The old man wearing glasses looked around at everyone present, his gaze dignified:

"Now I announce, formally dismiss Lu Wenzheng from the position of president of the Chamber of Commerce!"

March 5th, the Lu Chamber of Commerce dismissed Lu Wenzheng from the position of president of the Chamber of Commerce.

This matter was like a fuse, triggering the "crusade" against the family head's line within the Lu family!

March 9th, a vice factory manager of the Feng Province branch of the Lan Chao Military Factory was dismissed.

The Lan Chao Military Factory was one of the three military factories built by the imperial court after the Mingxin Reform, mainly used for producing various rifles and bullets.

This counts as a "state-owned enterprise" and belongs to the country's lifeline-type industry!

Behind these three military factories, there were the shadows of the "Ten Gatekeeper Families."

The Lu family mainly invested in the Lan Chao Military Factory back then, providing money, people, and venues...

The branch located in Feng Province was half decided by the imperial court and half decided by the Lu family!

Now that the power within had changed, a vice factory manager supported by Lu Wenzheng lost power, and Lu Wenyao supported a new vice factory manager to take the position.

March 12th, at the Wulong Exotic Beast Breeding Farm, a total of five imperial court officials and two sitting officials were imprisoned because they were reported.

The Wulong Exotic Beast Breeding Farm also belonged to a "state-owned enterprise" and was one of the seven largest exotic beast breeding farms in Great Lan.

These officials who were reported and imprisoned were all people from Lu Wenzheng's family head line.

March 27th, several officials were also imprisoned at the Changsheng Exotic Soldier Manufacturing Factory.

The nature of the Changsheng Exotic Soldier Manufacturing Factory was the same as the Wulong Exotic Beast Breeding Farm, just one breeding exotic beasts and one manufacturing exotic soldiers.

April 5th...

From military industry, exotic beast breeding, to exotic soldier manufacturing, exotic beast food planting, alchemy, implant manufacturing...

This series of industries were "national lifeline-type industries," and the Lu family participated in all of them!

The reason the "Ten Gatekeeper Families" were praised as "prospering with the country" was because these families had deeply participated in the various constructions of this country since the founding of the country.

If one views Great Lan as a towering giant tree that has grown for over five hundred years, then the "Ten Gatekeeper Families" are equivalent to the symbiotic plants of this towering giant tree.

These ten families had been attached to Great Lan, absorbing the "nutrients" for over five hundred years!

Their "roots" had long since been deeply intertwined with the "roots" of Great Lan!

If one wanted to pull any one of them up by the roots, it would inevitably make Great Lan "suffer muscle and bone damage"!

If it were more serious, it would even affect the national fortune!

National fortune never just looks at how many strong people there are, but involves factors such as population, economy, and people's hearts.

This was why at the beginning, the Emperor did not want Li Fei to strike at the Lu family.

On the surface, the Lu family only had one Martial Arts Master retainer, and there was also Lu Wenyao who was a Martial Arts Master.

Even if Xu Jing was regarded as the Lu family's ally, in terms of military force, the Lu family was still "not worth mentioning," completely unable to confront the imperial court.

If the imperial court wanted to, it could kill everyone on the Lu family's surface!

But if the imperial court was the first not to follow the rules and chose to kill indiscriminately, then in the long run, the biggest loser would still be the imperial court itself.

Because when rules are wantonly destroyed, the biggest loser is always the rule-maker.

Back then, the Third Prince thought Li Fei needed at least ten years to bring down Lu Wenzheng through influence, which was actually not an exaggeration.

It was just that he didn't expect Li Fei to establish huge military merits, and the Emperor to let the Crown Prince act as regent so quickly.

Now Li Fei, relying on Lu Wenyao, let the Lu family fight among themselves, a move of borrowing force to strike force, saving himself too much effort.

He only needed to "borrow" his supervisory power as a Blue Patrol Special Envoy, and there would be people providing him with various criminal evidence one after another, thereby bringing down the people of the Lu family head's line!

The family head's line represented by Lu Wenzheng possessed the strongest power in the Lu family.

If one views the family head's line as a giant elephant, then the other branches represented by Lu Wenyao are wolves.

Now, a pack of wolves swallows an elephant!

After Lu Wenyao "fired the first shot," everyone scrambled to join this "gluttonous feast."

And it was not just within the Lu family; the other major gatekeeper families, noble families, and forces in all places also participated in this feast.

Everyone couldn't wait to tear a piece of meat from the "giant elephant" and swallow it into their own belly, thereby strengthening themselves.

Everyone was afraid that if they were a step slow, the benefits would be snatched away by others.

From the beginning of March to May, in just over two months, all the major important industries involved in the Lu family head's line were affected!

Either officials were directly imprisoned, or they were forced to concede power and benefits.

Of course, Lu Wenzheng was not sitting still and waiting for death, and also launched counterattacks.

But under the tilt of the momentum, his counterattacks appeared somewhat powerless.

Now the Lu family was determined to abandon him and re-establish friendship with Li Fei, so as to be able to embrace the thigh of the future monarch.

In this situation, Lu Wenzheng, this family head, was actually already dead in name only.

Feng Province, Provincial Capital, Lu Fu.

Lu Wenzheng was making a phone call in the study.

Looking at it, he was still calm and composed, without the slightest embarrassment of "losing soldiers and generals" and being stepped on step by step.

"Correct, I only want cash!"

"Sell them all! I said all of them!"

"I only give you three days."

Lu Wenzheng was issuing orders over the phone.

"Family head, but if this happens, as long as there is a slight 'run' outside, we will have to declare bankruptcy!"

An anxious voice came from the other end of the phone.

"You only need to execute the order."

Lu Wenzheng said expressionlessly.

"... Yes!"

Hanging up the phone, Lu Wenzheng leaned back in his chair and lit a cigarette.

In over two months, his power in all places had basically been beaten to pieces!

Now he only had this "basic base" of Feng Province left.

After all, he had been the Inspector General of Feng Province for over a decade, combined with the Lu family's foundation, Feng Province as his "basic base" was not so easy to be broken.

However, he knew very well that this was just a matter of time.

"Wenzheng, you must remember, the best way to kill a powerful opponent is—first destroy their 'name,' then destroy their 'reality'."

Lu Wenzheng still remembered when he was twelve years old, reading that "Debate on Name and Reality," his father had taught him this way.

The best way to kill a person with power and influence is to first sever their social relationships!

When all of a person's social relationships are severed, it also means that this person's life or death is already irrelevant to this society.

More than two months ago, if Lu Wenzheng had suddenly died, his death would have been like a stone creating a thousand waves for the entire Great Lan!

The impact and turmoil brought about would have been immeasurable.

Not to mention anything else, just relying on the Lu family to eat, there were over a hundred thousand people who obtained jobs. Once the Lu family had serious turmoil, perhaps over a hundred thousand families would be affected!

Not to mention the chain reaction caused by all walks of life, economic losses, etc.

And now that the Lu family is fighting internally, although it will also cause social turmoil, at least the degree is within a controllable range.

With the continuous "nibbling" from the outside, Lu Wenzheng's influence was constantly shrinking, and various social relationships were also severed one after another.

Wait until this last "basic base" of Feng Province is broken, wait until this official uniform on him is stripped off by Li Fei.

Then even if he suddenly died in his bed one night, there wouldn't be any impact!

Inside the study, Lu Wenzheng silently and forcefully extinguished the cigarette butt, then picked up the phone and continued to issue orders.

May 23rd.

The Wenxing Silver Bank was "run on" in five provinces at the same time, and only lasted for two days before declaring bankruptcy!

The Wenxing Silver Bank was a silver bank established after Lu Wenzheng became the family head, equivalent to his personal "money bag."

The Wenxing Silver Bank declaring bankruptcy, in the eyes of the outside world, meant that Lu Wenzheng was not far from "name destroyed and reality dead"!

May 26th.

The day after the Wenxing Silver Bank declared bankruptcy.

Li Fei had been staying on the small mountain where Shi Caiming lived for almost five months.

During this period, he almost never went down the mountain, but in the eyes of the outside world, this Jing'an Marquis was "active" all over the country.

Because everywhere there were inspection officials receiving his orders, going to arrest suspects.

In a few months, Li Fei spent most of his time every day cultivating, incorporating sorcery-type implants, and constantly strengthening his Flying Sword Body.

Today, he finally completed the refining of the last type of implant needed for the 【Eternally Settled】 supernatural ability!

Inside his Flying Sword Body, the first "Twelve Sha" was constructed.

Six types of implants, only used over five months; this speed could be described as shocking the world!

After completing the refining of the twelve types of implants, Li Fei could finally start refining supernatural abilities.

"The refining of supernatural abilities, whether martial arts or sorcery, everyone's first supernatural ability is to combine their own life essence with the implant, thereby completing sublimation.

Reaching this step, theoretically, one has already reached the limit of life. But the sages, after countless difficulties, still created the path that follows—incorporating higher-grade mid-three-grade implants, relying on the first supernatural ability to guide it to produce qualitative change, connecting with the life essence, and finally completing sublimation."

In Li Fei's consciousness world, True Person Qingding was explaining to him.

In terms of realm, Shi Caiming was of course higher.

But in terms of understanding of sorcery, naturally, True Person Qingding was stronger.

After all, there is a specialty in the art.

After listening to True Person Qingding's explanation, Li Fei also unraveled some doubts in his heart.

For example, on the sorcery side, perhaps seven or eight types of lower-three-grade implants could refine a Profound-grade magic treasure and generate a supernatural ability.

But after becoming a True Person, it might need twelve types of mid-three-grade implants to refine into a supernatural ability.

From the perspective of energy, this is obviously unbalanced.

But in reality, everyone's first supernatural ability not only fused the energy of the implant but also contained their own life essence.

And the subsequent second supernatural ability, third supernatural ability... more relied on the energy of the implant itself.

The individual's life essence in it only played the role of a "primer," or a "catalyst" in chemistry.

This principle also explains why when martial artists build a Dao Foundation and refine the first supernatural ability, their lifespan will increase.

But refining more supernatural abilities afterward can only strengthen the physique, but cannot continue to increase lifespan.

Because only when refining the first supernatural ability does the life essence get sublimated.

Li Fei's second martial arts-type supernatural ability was a supernatural ability seed obtained directly, and did not experience the normal refining process.

So this time refining 【Eternally Settled】 was the first time he truly attempted to "break through the realm."

In the consciousness world, True Person Qingding continued to say:

"Refining a new sorcery supernatural ability requires walking three steps: set the formation point, lead the true soul, gather the true form."

"From Profound-grade natal magic treasure to Earth-grade natal magic treasure, the most important thing is to construct an Earth Sha formation in the natal magic treasure. One of the keys to forming the formation lies in the points. You are refining a high-grade Earth-grade magic treasure; twelve Sha make one supernatural ability, so twelve formation points make one group.

You need to first 'mark' the twelve types of implants you refined on your Flying Sword Body, thereby forming formation points."

"There are many methods to mark formation points. The high-grade flying sword refining method given to you by Yun Shu records the 'Nine-Lead Formation Setting Method,' which is a superior method from my Daoist school.

My Daluo Sect also has a 'Falling Star Soul-Suppressing Method,' praised as 'Number One in Setting Formations'; I will pass it to you now."

Saying this, True Person Qingding passed the "Falling Star Soul-Suppressing Method" to Li Fei in his consciousness.

The value of this "old grandfather" was once again reflected at this moment!

In terms of sorcery cultivation, in the whole world, except for Pudu Temple, there is probably no other place that can be more authoritative and have more foundation than the Daluo Sect.

With True Person Qingding's teaching and guidance, Li Fei soon learned this "Falling Star Soul-Suppressing Method."

And he possessed the sorcery of the Nightmare Sect, so he could first use sorcery to construct an illusion, practice in the illusion to increase proficiency, and then operate in reality.

Using a few hours, Li Fei became proficient in the "Falling Star Soul-Suppressing Method" in the illusion.

Thus, he began to operate in reality.

"This step has a lot of difficulty; you don't be anxious, be steady in mind and intent, and it doesn't matter if the speed is slower."

True Person Qingding finally reminded him.

Li Fei's true soul in his body sat quietly in the center of the heart lake, then began to contemplate stars...

As a "star" was pulled down from the distant firmament by his true soul and landed on a certain place of the Flying Sword Body, one type of sorcery-type implant he had refined before began to change, gradually forming a formation point.

"Such fast speed!"

True Person Qingding, who had been watching from the side, couldn't help but feel amazed.

Although he had seen too many miracles created by Li Fei, every time he saw him break other people's cultivation common sense and records like eating and drinking water, True Person Qingding was still amazed.

From completing the refining of twelve types of implants to refining a new supernatural ability, the difficulty of the three steps of "set the formation point, lead the true soul, gather the true form" in between is actually very great.

Many True Persons have sufficient resources and have also spent enough time, completing the refining of all implants bit by bit, but still cannot refine a new supernatural ability, just because they were stuck on these three steps.

But Li Fei...

He didn't seem to have encountered any bottlenecks!

Because he cultivates both martial arts and sorcery, he can convert mind power into true power, so his true power is far stronger than True Persons of the same realm, and his true soul is also the same.

And because he himself is his own natal magic treasure, the connection between his true soul and natal magic treasure is unparalleled in the world.

So "subtle sensing of implants, precise positioning, precise control"—these difficulties for others are as simple as using his right hand to pick up a pen and draw a circle on the back of his left hand for Li Fei.

What he needs to do next is to draw eleven more circles...

Using less than three days, Li Fei completed the marking of twelve formation points!

Li Fei: "Senior, it feels like it's not that difficult?"

Qingding: "..."

The next day, Li Fei, who had recovered his true power, continued to listen to Qingding's explanation:

"The second step, 'lead the true soul,' sequentially 'leads' your true soul into these twelve formation points, establishing a deeper connection with the corresponding implants.

The difficulty of this step lies in 'soul settled as one, while intent scattered in four directions,' which is somewhat similar to multi-tasking, but in essence, it is different. This step is also very difficult, requiring the connection with the natal magic treasure must be... um, for you, anyway, I'll pass you the method of my Daluo Sect first."

Having had the "lesson" from last time, this time True Person Qingding didn't say anything about the difficulty to Li Fei.

Like yesterday, first learn the method, then practice in the illusion, and finally operate in reality.

Compared with "set the formation point," "lead the true soul" is more "abstract," requiring some comprehension and opportunity.

Even if Li Fei has unparalleled natal sensing, the time he used this time was longer than "set the formation point."

Um, he used... eleven days, completing "lead the true soul."

Having completed this step, Li Fei understood somewhat why the more supernatural abilities there are, the harder it is to refine.

It's like multi-tasking; every time one more supernatural ability is refined, the true soul needs to divide one more share of mind power.

So the further one goes, the greater the difficulty.

The martial arts side has the same principle; he could clearly feel that after having an extra 【Refining Matter】 supernatural ability, his life essence and mind both had one more "entanglement."

"The last step, 'gather the true form,' is also the most critical step. The formation points are set, the true soul is led; next, one needs to excite this small 'formation,' thereby completing the final sublimation, sublimating the implant's power into a supernatural ability."

"This step requires using everyone's life essence, making it a 'primer,' while establishing a connection, to excite the formation and complete the final sublimation."

True Person Qingding also passed a "gather the true form" method of the Daluo Sect to Li Fei.

Reaching this step, the strength of true power and true soul, and the strength of natal sensing, are no longer decisive factors.

What decides whether this step can succeed, besides comprehension, also requires a sufficiently strong life essence.

Thus, Li Fei discovered that he still had a unique advantage!

Because he has a sufficiently strong life force!

Although life force is not completely equivalent to life essence, the stronger the life force, the life essence will certainly rise with the tide.

In this situation, others are all "small fire slow boiling," attempting to slowly "boil" the formation, successfully exciting it.

And Li Fei is directly "big fire chaotic stewing"!

Even if his comprehension in this aspect cannot be counted as first-class, he can't stand his life force being strong to an exaggerated degree; there is simply no True Person who can compare with him.

Thus, using only nineteen days, Li Fei successfully excited the "formation"!

Hongguang Year 49, June 28th.

Martial University, on the small mountain where Shi Caiming lived, suddenly a golden sword light soared into the sky.

This sword light did not give people the momentum of being sharp and peerless, unparalleled in the world; instead, it made everyone who saw this sword light somewhat dazed, as if this sword light broke through falsehood, letting people see the "truth" of heaven and earth.

Inside the room, a smile appeared on Li Fei's face.

He successfully refined the 【Eternally Settled】 supernatural ability!

At the moment of breaking through the realm, with the help of the realization of breaking through the realm, his state of mind was incomparably peaceful, having a kind of enlightenment as if heaven and man were one.

Thus, he subconsciously cast the 【Eternally Settled】 supernatural ability, fixing the current state of mind.

Breaking through the realm to obtain "truth," 【Eternally Settled】 keeps the truth!

Hongguang Year 49, June 30th.

The last day of June, the sun was bright, everything as usual.

Feng Province, Provincial Capital, Lu Fu.

Lu Wenzheng picked up the phone and dialed a number.

After the call was connected and the identity on the other end of the phone was confirmed, he said calmly four words:

"Everything is ready."

Ask for monthly tickets

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 492 =====