Chapter 218 : If Only You Were as Powerful as the Venerable Dragon God Then
After Hong Yunjiao left, Ren Ruofeng cradled his head in his hands as he sat in the office alone. He spent half a day deep in his thoughts; night had long since fallen as the sky twinkled with the shine of the moon and the stars.
A single slip brings eternal regret, and looking back, your whole life has passed.
He couldn’t bring himself to have energy to work anymore. No longer having the heart to work overtime, he started packing to leave.
Right after he had kept a few books, he stopped suddenly and proceeded to heave a heavy sigh.
He stretched his right hand outwards and watched as a small jade white piglet sculpture appear steadily from within his palm. It was charmingly naïve, extremely adorable, and incredibly lifelike to boot; any girl would definitely fall in love with it in a heartbeat. It was now sleeping soundly in his palm.
However, as Ren Ruofeng watched it, his expression alternated between worry and fear.
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This was definitely a treasure from the heavens; the fact that he could become the Think Tank Group’s leader had half to do with this thing, it had also witnessed his dark history firsthand… He would never bring this out unless something big was about to happen.
He watched as the jade white piglet sculpture started to glow red.
Ren Ruofeng subconsciously checked his surroundings before he shook his head; it was almost midnight, and this was a restricted area, so nobody would come here.
A strand of spiritual sense manifested from Ren Ruofeng, which he connected to the piglet sculpture.
“Senior Ren, it is I.”
Ren Ruofeng could identify the owner of the voice immediately.
It was Darkling One, who was currently involved in an important plan.
“Any updates on the situation?”
“‘Bai Shixin’, no, a Greater Rat has assassinated the chief of the clan and has sworn a Heavenly Oath to me. As long as he is coronated as the Greater Rat King, he will have the entire clan swear a Heavenly Oath where they will promise to move as one with China and maintain the same standpoint.”
Ren Ruofeng was incredibly happy upon hearing the news; all past matters were forgotten as various thoughts emerged.
That fellow was no easy opponent, since he was just slightly less intelligent and resourceful than him. If this were a Romance of the Three Kingdoms game, (TN: Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a 14th-century historical novel set in the years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history. Read more on it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms. Many games based on the novel are widely popular in China.) his intellect would be able to reach 99, but the other party’s intellect would only reach 96.
The various strategies that had been implemented before were all not only seen through by the other party immediately; it was also in turn used to manipulate the Truth Department by using their idea of reining in the Greater Rat Clan to push forward the completion of the magmatic geothermal power station using the other party’s own resources.
However, because of his high skills as well as the perfect opportunities presented to him, he was able to cause the other party to admit defeat.
Now, the Greater Rat Clan that had already started to prosper would be conquered by him completely. From now onwards, China’s aerial and underground space would be completely fortified; any more invaders from the outside would only be met with utter defeat.
This was a distinctive feature of the new era; the ruler of a clan not only possessed longevity, they could also use various mysterious magic to control the entire clan directly. Wrangling the leader was equivalent to wrangling the entire clan.
The Heavenly Oath was the basis of all schemes. Once the other party could not complete their promise, they would be punished by the heavens without mercy.
This would have never been possible before; no matter how serious or holy a promise or pact was, as long as there was a large enough leverage, breaking it easily was no uncommon sight.
There was only one place left, the sea…
(I wonder if there is a clan I can manipulate in the ocean?)
Ren Ruofeng stopped at this and pulled himself back into reality continue his conversation with Darkling One.
“Hmm, order him not to make any rash or sudden decisions and to act business as usual. He can only contact me through you, and he isn’t allowed to find anyone else.”
Darkling One answered, “Understood, Senior.”
Ren Ruofeng continued, “Very well. You must now bide your time well before acting, a recent event is starting to show its tail so the chance to help him gain the respect of the Greater Rat Clan will soon arrive. Tell him that once his prestige outgrows that of the Bai family’s Elder Ancestor and that he is able to control the entire Greater Rat Clan, we will set forth to coronate him as king.
“The Bai family’s Elder Ancestor is merely of Pond-level; if it weren’t because of the countless Greater Rats supporting him, we would have destroyed him ages ago. Even if Bai Shixin has some sort of breakthrough, he would probably grow to Lake-level at best. We’ll still be able to kill him.”
Darkling One answered, “Senior Ren’s plan is flawless, this junior expresses their admiration.”
When Ren Ruofeng heard those words previously, he would feel elated despite not showing it on the outside.
Today, however, he was in a terrible mood.
Old Hag Hong was went too far; causing him to remember a memory from a long time ago that he had painstakingly buried.
He immediately said, “Is there anything else? If not, return to your duties so you’re not discovered by anyone.”
Darkling One hesitated slightly before they said, “Have you heard the news about Ruocang yet? His soul has eloped with Cang Gongzi (TN: ‘Gongzi is an honorific title giving to sons of nobles in feudal China.) and Bai Shixin has lost all his magic. He is on information occlusion and the Bai family’s Elder Ancestor only tells him what he needs to know; he isn’t allowed to know anything else.”
Ren Ruofeng heaved a sigh. It wasn’t proper for them to find out about something so personal using a confidential channel, yet it was only human nature.
He pondered for a bit before he said, “You don’t need to worry about this. We’ve found out from our people of Qi City’s Special Affairs Department that he and Cang Gongzi are currently residing within a hamster. They’ve always been in Qi City, and they seem to be relying on the Venerable Dragon God a lot recently. The Bai family’s Elder Ancestor wouldn’t dare make a move; the True Dragon is powerful, I’m sure there’s a way for him to relinquish his demon form and turn into a human…”
(If that were to happen, I’ll be in deep sh*t…)
(You lot can just keep being demons, there won’t be much discrimination. It isn’t the stone age now, the ability of the modern people to accept abnormalities is really strong. Even when their pets started talking, it only took them a little over half a year to accept it and treat their pets as parrots.)
(Don’t only think about becoming a human. It was no wonder Zijiang hated demons so much.)
Darkling One then said, “Thank you for telling me, senior. This junior will go through hell and high water to finish this great task that was bestowed upon me.”
After they finished speaking, Ren Ruofeng held the jade white piglet sculpture in his hand as he looked up towards the sky. He wore an expression of perplexity as he mumbled to himself.
“Oh little piglet, how am I to explain myself to that old hag. She just doesn’t want to believe that I really did cultivate in isolation alone and keeps insisting that I had a cultivation partner. It’s all the Chairman’s fault, he just had to spout lies, ruining the relationship of me and my wife…”
Suddenly, the jade white piglet sculpture in his hand turned its body over as if it were a real piglet. It then spoke, “I say, Old Man Ren, what are you mumbling about? Then can’t you just spin your own tale?
“Just tell her that the year you entered the Azure Mountain, you met a Celestial Swine that had transformed into a gorgeous woman. Because of your gentlemanly ways, she fell in love at first sight with you and you were captured back to her cave dwelling. You were strong-willed, unwilling to be lured in by beauty, yet she kept insisting that she would only marry you so that you both could cultivate the Evergreen Supreme Technique and enjoy longevity together. We weren’t able to defeat her, and I could only channel everything I had into bluffing her using Divine Law. Even if she were to become pregnant, it would be similar to the situation of Fuxi in ancient Chinese legends. (TN: Fuxi is a culture hero in Chinese legend and mythology. Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuxi) Your body is still pure, and you’ve never done anything against human virtue. Ask that Xie Dong to verify your words and prove that all you’re saying is true.
Hearing this, Ren Ruofeng was shocked. He glanced around before he hastily kept the jade white piglet sculpture away.
(If I were to tell the truth, I would have to carry this unjust for the rest of my life. I can only hope for that celestial guardian to remain on the mountain. It would be best if I was forgotten completely…)
He spat, “Do you think us humans are as simple-minded as you swine spirits? If I were to tell the truth, do you know how heavy a crime will be on my shoulders? There’s no point in Xie Dong acting as a witness as other people would just question if there’s something wrong with his ability or if he was threatened by my status, nobody would believe him. If it went online, things would be worse. I’m 18 now, so I’m always online keeping up with the latest trends, and I know some people call me Ren Beifeng…” (TN: This is wordplay, Beifeng or 悲風literally means sad wind, so it’s just wordplay on people calling him a sad existence because his name is Ren Ruofeng or 任若風.)
The jade white piglet sculpture impatiently added, “Why do you humans always think so much of things? Forget it, things are getting more dangerous now. Lake-level holders are wandering around as they please so I have to sleep enough and practice cultivation enough, just in case you get caught by another demon for paired cultivation again. If I don’t have enough magic to use Divine Law, then you’ll really be ‘Beifeng’.”
Ren Ruofeng was speechless, “…”
The jade white piglet sculpture relentlessly continued, “You shouldn’t keep doing calculations every day too, spend some more time practicing. That accident could only be blamed on the fact that you love skincare too much; you’re so handsome despite being so old. The thing is, you don’t have much potential; previously, you said that you were temporarily like the Venerable Dragon God because of the little difference in both your appearance, but your power is weaker than him by too much. If you were as powerful as he was during that year, couldn’t we have just run away?”
Ren Ruofeng remained speechless, “…”
…
The next day, Fang Ning got a message from Ren Ruofeng saying that he wanted to buy Face Rejuvenating Pills again…
Fang Ning replied saying that he would send it through express delivery.
Ren Ruofeng continued by saying that it has been a while since he’s seen the Venerable Dragon God and that he really missed him. He wanted to meet up to discuss some serious matters as well as explain the distribution of reward money.
Fang Ning proceeded to notify a certain Samaritan, “Sir, Ren Ruofeng wishes to meet with us.”
The System answered, “No time.”
Fang Ning continued, “He wants to talk about our reward money… You’re always farming monsters daily, so the reward money has accumulated quite a lot. Your commendations from around the land are piling up, even Butler Zheng’s reports said that it is too much for him to handle and that the granting of the reward money is quite a problem to deal with.”
The System then said, “Oh. Where and when will we be meeting?”
Three minutes later, Ren Ruofeng met up with Vigilante A atop a hill near the headquarters.
They greeted each other before briefly before they entered the main topic.
Ren Ruofeng explained, “Most people only serve justice once or twice in their lives, so the granting of reward money has always been fast. However, Venerable One is very diligent and has done a bit too much, so I wanted to explain things properly. We will urge them for you so that they’ll come up with a new plan for this.”
Vigilante A answered, “Hmm, you better do so. If they reward money is distributed too slowly, remember to add interest on my behalf as well.”
Ren Ruofeng nodded his head, it was no surprise. He continued, “Venerable One helped us capture Qi Mei the last time. If you managed to obtain core information of Azure Mountain from her, the Truth Department is willing to buy the information at a high price.”
“How much are we talking?”
Ren Ruofeng’s heart tugged with joy. It was just as he expected.
Azure Mountain was much too mysterious, so any official information they have wasn’t a lot to begin with. It was mostly things on the surface; the things he had told Vigilante A the last time was more than half of it. He had mostly skipped over minor details.
He passed over a cheque.
Vigilante A glanced at it; the cheque had 100 million Yuan written on it.
The System asked, “Do we still want to negotiate the price?”
Fang Ning impatiently spat, “He told us a lot of information the last time too, don’t be too greedy. We still have to rely on them in the future.”
A moment later, Ren Ruofeng had a stack of freshly-printed papers in his hands. The papers had Qi Mei’s confession printed. Eh? There seems to be a confession from one more person?
Vigilante A then said, “Count the extra as bonus. Look at it as thanks for the information from last time.”
Ren Ruofeng’s gaze swept over the words briefly. He connected the dots and realized that the Venerable Dragon God really was in close connection with the Association of Spirit Kings. Chen Tianxiao had died in an arcane realm belonging to the Association of Spirit Kings, yet his spirit was now in the Draconic Penitentiary. It was obvious that the Bodhisattva Spirit King had asked for Vigilante A to suppress Chen Tianxiao.
Vigilante A must have answered in a heartbeat. He didn’t need to fear Azure Mountain, so it was obvious both parties were very close.
He immediately thought of a plan, and started engaging Vigilante A in small talk once again.