Chapter 515: Mighty, No Need for Words

Ji Ming is a practical person, and he very frankly told Eleanor about his use of— uh, Holy Light purification, suppressing the Dragon disease from the soul perspective.

But since even people on Earth use medication both internally and externally, a two‑pronged approach, then…

"Holy Light purification is powerful, but to minimize the Dragon disease's impact on your mind, I think it's best to supplement it with oral medication for treatment."

Eleanor thought for a moment.

"You mean… the Rejuvenation Fourth Generation?"

"Yes, and with your ability, getting the Rejuvenation Fourth Generation to use as a drink shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Uh… maybe? I do have some channels that can procure large quantities."

Ji Ming suddenly recalled how he was chased and beaten by players during the closed and open beta…

Damn, why are you so popular!

Nevertheless, Ji Ming, being a good person to the end, finally took out a huge box of SpiritGathering Liquid from his storage ring.

"How about this: we go with a double insurance—drink this in emergencies. It's potent and can suppress many curses."

Eleanor, hidden behind the large wooden crate, replied: "Hmm!"

Since the Dragon disease has been completely suppressed, the next tasks are straightforward.

However, Black Water Territory has many things to rebuild, and the affairs are indeed numerous; the two kept busy until sunset before finally finishing today's mission.

Eleanor stretched lazily with pleasure and let out a sigh.

"Having help is great; usually finishing work gets us to midnight, but I didn't expect it to be this early today!"

"Yeah, yeah, that's really wonderful…"

But clearly, Ji Ming, who is on summer vacation, is actually in jail today; how could he dare linger here? He quickly got up to leave.

"Wait a moment."

As a result, before even stepping out, he was called back by Eleanor.

"Ji Ming, I forgot to ask, how many days do you plan to stay in Black Water Territory?"

How many days?

"Oh, impressive, so you were actually planning to make me work a long‑term job, huh?"

Ji Ming was genuinely scared this time and quickly shook his head.

"Sorry, my study tour hasn't ended yet; there are many places I haven't visited, so I probably can't stay here."

Eleanor didn't expect that answer, froze for a moment, and sighed.

"Then… it's getting late, how about you spend the night here and leave tomorrow?"

Ji Ming: "Uh—uh."

If it were before, he could have begged for a free meal and worn out the word 'good,' but after what just happened…

Ha, forget it.

"It's hard to say. Since I'm already here, I actually intended to see the Archbishop, maybe… I won't have time to return?"

Eleanor opened her mouth as if to say something, but ultimately swallowed the words back.

She only made a muted sound.

"Fine."

Seeing this, Ji Ming, no matter how thick‑skinned, couldn't help scratching his head.

"Darn, next time then. Next time I'll definitely stay longer! Ah, there's plenty of time ahead, I'm off!"

He sketched a quick plan, then sped out of Count's Castle, under Lao Nv Shi's glare, letting her escort him to the church construction site.

There was no problem with the Archbishop here; the old man has lived long and seen much, so he has some experience in everything, and handling construction is naturally orderly.

Old Succubus hitting ash. jpg

After seeing Ji Ming, she was also surprised, pulled him aside and asked for a while about Mount Luoshen, then emphasized again the principle "When parents are alive, do not travel far; if you must travel, do it properly."

Tennis rambling for half a day finally stopped, then told Ji Ming something that surprised him greatly.

—In order to earn fame for Eleanor, she plans to re‑enter the world, using Black Water Territory as a base, to become the next Archbishop of the Eastern Realm.

Logically, this violates protocol, since anyone with eyes can see that the Archbishop wants to use his ecclesiastical authority

to endorse the princess's royal authority and protect the students.

However, considering Tennis, a succubus, is already elderly, perhaps this is her final tenure in her lifetime.

Therefore, whether it's the high clergy or the nobles, everyone who has been cared for by her chose silence in unison.

So when she suggested that Ji Ming could serve as the honorary bishop of the Black Water Territory diocese, Ji Ming truly couldn't find any excuse to decline.

The old lady has already thrown herself into it; as the savior, what reason do I have not to appear and join?

After agreeing to Tennis's request, Ji Ming, fearing further trouble, did not linger and left Black Water Territory overnight.

In the following days, he toured several noble territories that were busy arguing with recruitment officers and cobbling together armies.

The journey was actually fairly smooth, but just as he was about to leave the Eastern Realm and was eating at a small restaurant, he encountered an acquaintance again.

One can only say they are all clever people; everything is left unsaid. Ji Ming and the person exchanged a smile and raised their glasses.

Prince Philip smiled slightly, sitting opposite him.

Prince Philip gave a slight smile and sat opposite him.

Although Ji Ming had kept a low profile along the way, he still deliberately left some traces occasionally.

Although Ji Ming's journey had been relatively low‑key, he occasionally deliberately left some traces.

Sometimes it was a Pegasus streaking across the sky, sometimes an Oriental face, sometimes his specially made small vial.

Passersby fools certainly wouldn't care about these trivialities, and those without power couldn't collect these scattered clues.

Only those with enough wit and influence that can cover large areas can deduce Ji Ming's movement trail and intercept him.

But he didn't expect that after all that hustle, the big fish that took the bait turned out to be only one, and it was a fish already caught and examined long ago.

【61】 …Never mind, it doesn't matter, as long as there's no air force.

Just caught, not big, over a hundred catties. jpg

And it's not that there's no good news, for example, this big fish is indeed sincere, and actually brought an extra small one for Ji Ming.

That's right, Philip probably already sensed his existence earlier, and this time he even brought Fiya along.

Besides, the prince is a decent fellow; after downing three cups of wine, he started thanking Ji Ming again for the help he gave Fiya during her tribulation.

Ji Ming tried to be polite twice, but he was cut off by a raised hand.

"I know you're mostly trying to help Princess Elinor, but my sister Fiya's biggest rival this year is her."

"So by helping her secure a recommendation and adding an extra slot, isn't that practically giving Fiya the promotion opportunity?"

"Besides, you clearly passed through both of our territories earlier, but because you kept such a low profile, we just didn't run into you either time."

"Now that we finally know you're here, we siblings have come in person to see you—no doubt about it!"

Look at that, speaking and acting so proper!

Moreover, the Huoguang family's firm grip on the kingdom's financial authority isn't without reason—at least in education they've really gone all out.

So Fiya is also smart; after her brother finished his pleasantries, as the person concerned, she also verbally expressed her thanks.

You don't strike a smiling face, and besides they came all this way to connect with him, so Ji Ming couldn't very well refuse and struck up a conversation with them.

But we're not children; what else could we talk about? Naturally, a few words turned to the issue of governing Fiya's fief.

Actually, given Philip's sister complex, he'd surely love to have all of his sister's territory connected to his own.

But even the most impoverished noble wouldn't give up his fief, so where exactly a noble will be enfeoffed is something even the king can't decide.

So even though Philip has done his utmost to vie for it, Fiya's fief still remains several plots away from his.

Thus the prince surely worries: what if Fiya can't manage her fief, gets bullied, even runs into trouble, or gets impeached—what should be done?

After thinking it over, he simply drew a few officials from his own entourage to form a small leadership team and went with Fiya to her fief.

Ji Ming felt numb hearing this, thinking, "Wow, a partner, this can even be handled all-in-one!?"

Now it's come to this: rather than saying Philip helped Fiya vie for a princess position, it's more like he forced himself to create a branch office for himself.

Sounds not bad, right? But no matter how you say it, the fief is nominally "Princess Fiya's," not "Prince Philip's."

Moreover, for historical reasons, no matter the method, nobles trying to control other nobles' fiefs is an absolute taboo.

Therefore, to avoid suspicion and to keep other royal family members from slapping a "plotting rebellion" label on him, he ends up gaining nothing, actually losing money!

So although Philip has no objection to his own act of spending billions to subsidize his sister, his subordinates can't stomach it.

No way around it—he willingly spends money for his sister, but everyone still expects their lord to someday become king!

You haven't even attained the Dao yourself, yet you're bleeding yourself dry—how will everyone else ever ascend with their chickens and dogs?

However, but the situation wasn't actually that bad after all, since Fiya has a contemporary named Elinor.

Although everyone is a princess and received their fiefs at the same time, Fiya has her brother's and grandfather's connections, and her fief's location and tax revenue are also quite good.

And Elinor? Her land is a wreck, and she has to face domestic and foreign hostile forces encircling her; without the archbishop's protection, who knows what would happen.

So if we really can't do better, we'll just compare who's worse—look at that kid next door, they're not as good as me!

However, anyone who's played a certain map-coloring game knows that the amount of debuff a player starts with determines how strong they can be after the restrictions are lifted.

Especially this Elinor is a child good at learning; she successfully drew from Ji Ming the great wisdom of "if it's really no good, then I'm a barbarian"—a laid-back brilliance.

Therefore.

"Hey, you're not letting me sit at the table, right? Then I'll just start a pot at home!"

Now it's come to this: after openly gathering the remnants of the Iron Clad Army, she directly teamed up with the Pioneers and rushed into the industrial age.

After a while, the Blackwater Fief unexpectedly became livelier than Fiya's Distant Mountain Fief, with money flowing through so fast it can't be spent, simply can't be spent!

Philip: "Ah this."

So during this period Philip really bore a huge amount of pressure, to the point that for a while he didn't even know what to do.

Moreover, he really couldn't bring himself to lower his face; as a prince it's indeed not proper to go seek advice from Princess Elinor, so he had to come find Ji Ming, who had just left the Blackwater Fief.

"Ji Ming, Chosen One, you are a rare kindness, and also a friend I sincerely want to befriend; can I get from you some advice to break the impasse?"

Ji Ming pondered for a moment, then finally relaxed his mouth.

"Since you envy what others have and don't know what to do, just use the stupidest method—combine your own situation and feel your way across the river like Blackwater."

"Cross... cross the river?"

Unfortunately, this side of Yangyue has no such allusion; no matter how smart Philip is, he can't achieve even a bit of tacit understanding.

No choice, Ji Ming had to break the sentence apart.

"My meaning is, you should analyze and study how the Blackwater Fief does things, then think about what you would do if it were you."

……

"Hey, this way, since I do indeed like you guys, let me give you a clearer suggestion—bring the map!"

Philip hastily pulled out a map of the Hui Guang Kingdom; perhaps he often stares at it worriedly, and there's a big circle on Fiya's Distant Mountain Fief.

"Look, this is Elinor's Blackwater Fief; do you know why the Pioneers are going crazy moving here and investing?"

He intentionally wanted to gauge Fiya's level, so he turned his gaze to her; seeing this, Philip also shut his mouth, yielding the floor to her.

Fiya:???

Perhaps she truly was spoiled by Philip; Fiya didn't expect that she herself would have to join the discussion about her own matter, she froze a moment then spoke softly.

"Because... because this place is located in the southeast corner, near the sea, so we can do business with both us and the Lingxi people?"

It wasn't Ji Ming's place to correct; Philip himself immediately shook his head.

"Not only that, but the bigger reason—or rather the simplest—is that the nobles of the eastern and northern borders refuse to accept them."

"Exactly, that's the root of it!"

Ji Ming nodded, then immediately said.

"As everyone knows, even the strongest person walking on one leg is absolutely unstable; no one wants their career to take a nasty fall, so……"

He moved his finger away from above Blackwater Territory and placed it in the circle drawn in the northeast of the map.

Now everyone could understand, but neither Philip nor Fiya dared to speak.

After three breaths, however, it was Fiya who spoke first.

She lightly clenched her teeth, as if she had made a great determination, and spoke quickly.

"Okay, then let's do that!"

"No way!"

But before her words even fell, Philip outright rejected her.

Probably feeling he had been somewhat rude, he paused embarrassedly before continuing.

"Ji Shenxuan, although I and Fiya are considered Royal Capital nobles, Remote Mountain Territory lies in the northeastern heartland, and the Pioneers are shunned by the nobles of both realms; if we choose to accept them, we are likely to also be ostracized by everyone."

"Moreover, I acknowledge the Pioneers' strength and wisdom, but they are ultimately outsiders, and they are quite hostile toward the nobility; we... no matter what, we are part of the noble collective—can we really choose to trust them?"