Chapter 229  : Zhuge (Liang) May Be Smart, But Destiny is a Far More Complicated Matter

“Sky Eagle, Sky Eagle. This is Dragon God. Please respond if you read me…”

“Dragon God, Dragon God. This is Sky Eagle.”

…

“Chong Daqing, Chong Daqing, I am Dragon God…”

“Great Azure Dragon, are you going to treat me to another meal again?”

“When you’ve done your work.”

𝔫𝙤ѵ𝑒𝙡.com

…

“Master Cang…”

“What orders do you have for me?”

‘Hmm, I like him. He was the follower, and would bring his own supplies.’

…

“Bodhisattva?”

“What do you need, Brother Dragon? Fortunately, the cultivation of the spell for the Rebirth of the insect Spirit has just been paused, and so I can take a rest.”

Hmmm, this one is pretty smart too…

Ren Ruofeng and Hong Yunjiao stared as they watched Vigilante A call on his partners.

Soon, the empty wilderness was inhabited by a Lake-level Yellow Dog Xue Ba, the Lake-level pretender Chong Daqing, the Top Pond-level Master Sky Eagle, the Bodhisattva, the Venerable Dragon God, the mid-Pond-level Master Ren Ruifeng, Hong Yunjiao, the first-stage Pond-level Master Cang and the Black Dog Brett.

The nine great masters gathered in the field. Of course, both Ren and Hong had official positions and usually did not show their faces. They were just as surprised as Fang Ning was. Ren Ruofeng obviously wanted to use the Attack the Heavenly Mountain with Seven Swords tactic.

Ren Ruofeng’s voice was filled with admiration. “Now I’ve gotten help from such accomplished people, I will not cheat the ancients.”

The Bodhisattva of Spirit Kings gave a soft sigh. “It would’ve been better if we had 3 S-level masters. If anything happens, I can use my Bodhi flower formation, and we don’t have to fear any of the masters there.”

Ren Ruofeng felt puzzled, not understanding. He knew the Bodhisattva was a being of the Upper Realm and would not do anything without a definite goal.

Vigilante A froze, then pulled out a golden pill while saying seriously, “Not to worry, Bodhisattva. I have a Dragon-clan secretly-made magic pill which can stimulate one’s bloodline-force and make one breakthrough to Lake Level much earlier. While it would use up some of the body’s potential, I would always place chivalry first. Such a case cannot be ignored.”

Not waiting for the Bodhisattva to stop him, he swallowed the pill.

Vigilante A’s body shook, and his body emitted a yellowish aura. At that moment, sounds of dragons singing sounded.

Any resulting movement was not so violent, much unlike when Xue Ba rose in level and his entire base — all 160,000 square kilometers of land — could feel the quaking simultaneously.

“Th…this is… Lake Level?” Ren Ruofeng felt amazed and touched.

Truly, the Dragon clan of the Upper Realm has very deep connotations; but the other’s use of this sort of cheating pill was obviously a sacrifice. This sort of debt was a lot harder to pay back…

Vigilante A was apparently that absolutely sincere sort of person who would never cheat others. One must be honest while meeting him.

Chong Daqing, for an insect, must have had some brains, for it was not surprised by this. “He is the Great Azure Dragon after all, and did not drag me behind. He could achieve all three levels of Lake Level this way; Insect Father, when would you also break through to Lake Level?”

The Bodhisattva smiled. “When the clan of Worm Spirits is formed.”

Ren Ruofeng felt curious. This Chong Daqing, according to his inference, was not Lake Level, but hearing this tone from the Bodhisattva, the other probably had restored to true Lake Level.

Those Upper Realm clans cannot be looked down upon. Give them time, and they would find a way to return to their former strength.

At least those before him were all on the side of the Light. However, when one from the Dark Side came along, what should they do?

Those Dark ones were probably festering somewhere in the corners of the earth, awaiting their chance to cause havoc.

Ren Ruofeng stopped his distracted thoughts and made a fist salute. “Sir Venerable’s sacrifice is a favor that I am unable to carry. When you need assistance, I shall give you any help that is within my means.”

The System said, “Host, why the pretense? I just need to remove my spell and he’s tricked. Good, this person has power and position which will be useful in our dealings with the Truth Department. Our Safety level has risen to another level.”

Fang Ning looked gleeful. “You don’t know this now, do you? No matter how good our strategies are, we still need information. He does not know of your power, and as such the information flow always goes one way, rarely transparent. How hard is it to trick him? Since Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing won’t work again, we can use it to trick him. However, you’d better disguise yourself while flying around farming monsters or you’ll scare your prey.”

The System shot back, “No need for your reminder.”

The gathered fighters followed Ren Ruofeng’s lead, flying in the sky to an unknown mountain in Southeast China.

“This is the mountain entrance of Azure Mountain. Like I said before, their strong power is basically because the concentration of Vitality here is 100 times stronger than the rest of China, and so cultivation, alchemy and herb-gardening here is extraordinary. This did not come from nothing, however, but requires nodes leading from the outside world to gather the world’s Vitality.”

“According to my 8 years of research, I have found the 7 key nodes. When we block these 7 nodes, as well as 3 nodes of the Stars and 4 of the Ley Lines, their Vitality concentration will decrease.”

Ren Ruofeng, wisdom at hand, spoke without stuttering. When he came to an exciting part, he took out his fan with the words “The Eight Winds Cannot Move Me”. He would have passed for Zhuge Liang analyzing the political situation, save for the shadows under his eyes spoiling the image.

Everyone nodded repeatedly as they listened, and after a while heard him tell Hong Yunjiao, “Deputy Leader Hong, the method to seal those seven nodes are better explained by you.”

Fang Ning’s eyes widened when he heard this. He gave a thumbs-up in the System Space. ‘Clever, taking your wife to save your mistress!’

Zheng Dao had already gathered information on Ren Ruofeng. Fang Ning knew that they were married but lived separately. Now he knew the reason, and could let Zheng Dao update the info…

Nothing abnormal was detectable on her face as she nodded.

…

Azure Mountain, the cave home of Tian Zhu.

Hou Feicheng, maintaining the Three Greats formation, for some reason suddenly said, “Brother and Sister, this Formation can be maintained no longer.”

Qi Hui was surprised. “Why, younger brother?”

Hou Feicheng said mildly, “Master has sent word. Ren Ruofeng has already found our secret link and gathered seven great masters to surround the mountain. The reason is obvious; let the Guardian Goddess go…”

Shang Ruoyu sighed, his expression slightly helpless. “I thought so. My brother has reached the ranks of the Heavenly Axiom, and even I, his younger brother by blood…”

He did not continue, but looked towards his wife.

Qi Hui may be gentle in temperament, but she had cultivated to Lake Level and was not an idiot. She knew nothing could be changed. Between a younger sister and the safety of Azure Mountain, it was obvious which was the priority.

She pondered for a long while. She pleaded with Tian Zhu, who was still trapped in the formation. “Sister Zhu, I have no other ideas. If you release Mei’s soul, we shall free you.”

“Hmmph.” Tian Zhu had wanted to lose her temper, but she remembered her baby and so calmed down, allowing the anger to dissipate. She waved her hand silently towards her belly. Her magic power entered her womb, and a ball floated out — the spirit of Qi Mei.

And then, she threw the ball towards the three of them, not even looking back as she marched out of the cave.

Hou Feicheng was silent as he followed her out. Qi Hui was still puzzled. She looked towards her husband, awaiting his explanation.

Shang Ruoyu gave another long sigh before saying, “When my eldest brother was still very close to me, he had mentioned how he would escape the restrictions of the Truth Department as well as the Heavenly Oath he made to their head. He wanted to move the entrance of Azure Mountain outside China, but the key entry nodes for Vitality were hard to find.

“The Divining Power has shown that they need a very intelligent person to do that. The person he chose must have been Ren Ruofeng. I didn’t realize that it was so accurate and complicated, linked all together. It does merit its reputation.”

Qi Hui backed up a few steps in disbelief, pointing at her husband. “Shang Qingshan is that scary? Has arranged this 10 years ago?! ”

Shang Ruoyu nodded. “It seems to be so. Unfortunately, Ren Ruofeng, intelligent as Zhuge (Liang), didn’t anticipate this. Zhuge (Liang) may be smart, but destiny is far more complicated, and everything has been divined by my eldest brother.”

Qi Hui’s eyes lit up. “We can go ask him to find Mei a better incarnation. What do you think?”

Shang Ruoyu furrowed his brows. “Don’t think about that for now. I am afraid in these coming years, with all that talk of moving of Azure Mountain, he would never waste his energy on this.”

…

“As I thought. That Shang Qingshan will never endanger his arcane realm just for Tian Zhu.” Ren Ruofeng had received the latest information, and he waved his folding fan like Zhuge Liang. Pretending to be wise, yet only so.

At that moment, Vigilante A and the others had returned from the nodes they had sealed. All of them were admiring him.

Just by making a minor move, the other had managed to force the mighty Shang Qingshan into making his retreat. No wonder the power of the Truth Department was getting stronger by the day, red hot enough to make outside countries fearful. The only thing was whether this dragon would become a fire-breathing one that would set fire everywhere and repeat history.

Fang Ning felt suspicious, though. How? It seemed much too easy, that was the problem.

However, he was too lazy to think about that. If such an intelligent and wise person as Ren Ruofeng had not said anything, then he did not need to worry. It was easier to keep on playing his games.

At least there was no loss this time. The Spiritually-controlled Mech project was led by Ren Ruofeng, and he could proudly allow the tournament to become more exciting and stimulating. This was on par with the other’s interest: the audience would be happy, the market would be happy, the bosses might feel the pain at first but would be in the long run… Everyone would be happy.

Hmm, maybe he could set up a Draconic Penitentiary management company, with Anderson as the head manager.

Fang Ning thought this idea was great. It was based on money-making; all he had to do was replicate the methods of those footballing agents without changing anything…

“Great Azure Dragon, you promised to treat me to a large meal.” Chong Daqing said, her eyes shining with a green light. “Don’t you forget it.”

Fang Ning was about to reply when Ren Ruofeng generously offered, “Let me arrange this. The Venerable Sir has been working hard. How can we let you spend money?”

Fang Ning nodded. ‘Gracious. I like you. So unlike a certain System…’, he thought.

At that, from the thick woods outside the nameless mountain, emerged a breathtaking beauty with a swollen belly.

Fang Ning stared. ‘This old man Ren’s so lucky!’

He immediately looked away, with not even a side glance because he was a pure innocent.

The System, though, “Eh, Sir Host, have you sensed anything? Is that why you looked away?”

Fang Ning was puzzled. “What can I sense? I am a very righteous person, and we do not play with others’ lovers or wives. I am not Zhu Bajie 1 . I shall not stare at pretty women without blinking.”

“Oh, I thought you’ve cultivated your Draconization Ability to a higher level and thus could feel the demon aura emanating from it, then discern its true identity, ” said the System. Fang Ning said curiously, “What is its true identity then?”

System Notification: [The System has used 10 Aggro Bars and 10 Morality Bars to activate the ability True Vision – Ultra, lasting for three hours.]

…

When Fang Ning finished reading, he was speechless. He thought to himself, ‘Old Man Ren, I don’t admire you anymore. You are even better than President Zhao. At least he wasn’t afraid because he didn’t know his wife’s identity; with your intelligence you would probably have guessed her real form.

‘You could even make her pregnant. Even better than Xu Xian 2 .’

Vigilante À coughed once, then made a fist salute. “Since everything is done here, I am grateful that all of you had come without hesitation to help in this formation. I thank all of you, and if you need help in the future, please do contact me. We shall not interfere with the reunion of our three friends.”

Speaking thus, he leapt onto his Flying Sword and left.

‘No way really. It’s too blinding.’

The Bodhisattva of Spirit Kings smiled slightly, shook his head then took Chong Daqing with him. Clouds and mist surrounded them, then they were gone.

The Yellow Dog Xue Ba sniffed the air, let out an inquiring sound and widened its eyes. Then, it lifted its front leg, paw in Ren Ruofeng’s direction, before scampering off.

The Black Dog was slightly slower, but probably knew something, for he followed his companion.

The Sky Eagle was much more direct; it said thoughtfully, “Well, it seems that inter-racial love is possible. Jin Sui and I are nothing to this.”

With that, it flew away.

Ren Ruofeng stood in the wind, his thoughts scattered. ‘Hey, hey, people, I said it was a friend. Why are all of you connecting it to me?’

“So, this is Zhu-zhu then.” Hong Yunjiao said quietly next to him.

“Haha, it’s a long story. Let me explain.”

“Go on, construct your story,” she said softly.