My skills have mutated again!

Chapter 458 I'll Perform a Magic Trick for You
If the eldest son doesn't compete, the second son becomes the leader of the meeting.

Wang Yanhai was efficient and decisive, speaking frankly.

"Hong Kingdom is vast and rich, and all seven of us brothers want to take it over. But I think none of us want to fight each other, so let's settle this here today with our own abilities. Does anyone have any objections?"

The other six brothers nodded in unison, having no objections.

Since fighting is out of the question, we have to resort to other methods.

"What about relying on one's own abilities?"

As Lao Liu petted the cat, he chuckled, saying that he was more like a straight man than a participant.

After Wang Laoliu finished speaking, Wang Laoer simply waved his hand, and two energy light screens appeared on the Taiji Platform and the square in front of the hall, respectively.

On the platform leading to the heavens, the seven sons of the Wang family looked at the light screen and saw that the entire court of Hongguo was also looking at them through the light screen in the square in front of the palace.

Wang Lao Er's voice slowly rose, like a signal.

"The military commander is at the top of the pyramid, while the civil and military officials and frontier officials are the second level. This is the principle behind the so-called 'acting as a shepherd on behalf of the emperor.'"

"The civil and military officials guarded their respective regions, maintained order, and developed the local economy. They themselves were the nodes of the people's hearts and the dragon's aura in their jurisdictions."

"Persuading them to agree to annex the country is tantamount to swallowing up part of Hong's territory."

After giving a brief explanation, Wang Lao Er smiled and pointed to the screen.

“In the past few months, the brothers have used various methods and met with many people, and today is the day to settle things.”

"Six pillars bear witness to the division of lands and kingdoms."

"The cake is right here; how much you eat is entirely up to you."

Xia Lin thought to herself, "This is simple..."

To put it bluntly, it means making a public statement on this occasion, offering conditions and benefits, and making the civil and military officials of Hongguo more inclined to side with oneself.

They've agreed to surrender, so the territory they represent is now yours.

Theoretically, if someone offers an extremely high price, it's not impossible for them to acquire the entire most valuable region of Hong Kingdom.

The phrase "Six pillars bear witness, lands are divided and kingdoms are established" means that this matter was approved by the King of Kings. Everyone is fair and just, and how much you can eat is up to you. If you are not satisfied afterward and resort to underhanded tricks, then you have broken the rules.

"Let's begin, who wants to go first?"

After Wang Yanhai finished speaking, the others remained motionless.

This round is similar to a negotiation; whoever makes the first move will reveal their weaknesses, which will be detrimental to the rest of the game.

Seeing that things were getting awkward right at the first step, Wang Laoliu, Wang Yanqi, made his move.

"Since none of the brothers want to come, then I'll come instead."

He handed the cat to the maid behind him, smiled, and stood up to look at the screen.

"Those who join my Qi Kingdom will not receive any increase in welfare or benefits. My military power is not as strong as that of the former Eighth Prince or my other brothers now."

"I can't offer you treasures or beauties. In short, if you want money or profit, don't get involved with me."

"The only thing I can offer is security... My Qi Kingdom will remain absolutely neutral for all eternity. If anyone dares to touch my Qi Kingdom, I will definitely go to my parents immediately and ask them to uphold justice for me."

"Alright, I'm done talking."

Xia Lin: "???"

You, Wang Yanqi... are you perhaps a divine being as well?!
But the other members of the Wang family were used to what the sixth son had done.

After watching Wang Yanqi return to his seat and pick up the cat again, everyone looked at the central screen and noticed some commotion and discussion among the civil and military officials below, but their interest was not high.

—You can look for your parents, but others can look for their parents too.

With everything else remaining the same, Wang Yanqi's offer is clearly not competitive at all.

Wang Yanqi didn't even glance at it.

Because Wang Yanhong's territory held absolutely no appeal for him... His so-called speech was merely a means to break the deadlock—as Wang Yanqi had always done.

As Wang Yan finished speaking, he also stirred up the emotions of the others.

Wang Laosi, Wang Yanxing, stood up and spoke slowly.

"Those who enter my Star Kingdom can choose their own foundational treasures and items, and their own foundational skills! For those who are sincere enough and of high status, I, Wang Yanxing, will not be stingy with six pillar-level treasures!"

It seems to be very sincere, but in reality it is quite ordinary and doesn't really impress anyone.

After Wang Laosi finished speaking, the ministers discussed and debated again. Wang Laosan then stepped forward, but the conditions he offered were all conventional.

After Wang Laosan finished speaking, Wang Laoqi went up next. Although the price was not much different from Wang Laosan's, this kid reasoned with him and appealed to his emotions, using his past relationship with Lao Ba as the main selling point, and played the victim to try to move Wang Lao Ba's die-hard fans—and this had some effect.

After Wang Laosan finished speaking, Wang Laoda, Wang Laoer, and Wang Laowu took turns on stage.

However, none of them said anything particularly significant; they all offered rather conventional conditions.

So this round was just a standard move, a trial run to test the waters.

After Wang Lao Er finished speaking, he waved his hand again.

As a result, the square in front of the palace below was automatically divided into seven areas, each corresponding to one of the seven princes of the royal family.

Wang Lao Er addressed the screen again, saying loudly, "We have stated all our conditions. You may now make your initial choices. If there are any changes later, you may change them at any time, so don't worry."

……

That's about all the standard prices the princes of the royal family can offer.

Apart from Wang Laoliu, who didn't compete or fight for anything, the initial offers from all parties were roughly the same.

What truly determines victory or defeat is not today, but rather the busy journey and numerous private exchanges of the past few months.

Just as a person needs a leader, a group also needs a leader.

This applies to both broad and narrow perspectives.

When Wang Lao Er said that he could make a choice, most of the ministers below did not move, and their eyes were focused on the three people standing at the head of the group.

The man, nearing fifty and thin, is the current prime minister of Hongguo. He is Huang Zhenzhong, a level eleven professional.

The Huang family is a prominent family in Hongguo. The current empress is a daughter of the Huang family, and they have great political influence. Huang Zhenzhong is also the head of the civil officials.

A tall, imposing figure, clad in imposing armor, stood before him. This man was Deng Yufei, the current military god of Hong Kingdom, commander of the entire Hong Kingdom army. He was a level twelve general.

The last figure was ethereal and indistinct, his form and face obscured. This person was the leader of the Hongguo Divine Vanguard Division, commanding all the guest retainers of Hongguo. A level twelve professional, Mick.

There should have been a Ji Xian, representing the people inside the palace and the Hongguo intelligence department faction, but he has already been killed by Xia Lin.

In short, Huang Zhenzhong, Deng Yufei, and Mike are currently the leaders of the civil and military officials, and their choices can greatly influence the choices of others.

Soon, Huang Zhenzhong took the lead in making a move.

He bowed to Wang Yanxing, the seventh prince, in mid-air and said slowly, "Prince Xing has the best relationship with His Majesty. He is loyal and wise, truly the first sage king among all kings! Today, I wish to pledge my allegiance to Prince Xing. I beg you to accept my loyalty."

As he spoke, he walked to the area representing Wang Laoqi.

As soon as Huang Zhenzhong made his move, the civil officials of his faction all followed suit.

The initial chaos quickly subsided, and a quick observation revealed that nearly one-fifth of the people had chosen to follow Huang Zhenzhong and join Wang Yanxing's Star Kingdom.

This was clearly something that had been planned in advance.

Wang Yanxing laughed heartily, his sour face disappearing. Instead, he looked at his other brothers with a hint of smugness before rising to his feet and saying respectfully, "Since Prime Minister Huang trusts me so much, I will certainly not let you down!"

The other members of the Wang family had different expressions; some remained calm, while others felt regret and disappointment.

Huang Zhenzhong represents the civil service faction, which governs various regions and represents the most prosperous areas of Hongguo.

By winning over Huang Zhenzhong, Wang Yanxing essentially reaped the greatest reward from this grand feast!

Soon, Deng Yufei, who was in charge of the military, also made a move.

He bowed to Wang Lao Er (Wang Yanhai) from a distance.

"The Second Prince has a strong and powerful army, and he is enterprising. Following him means endless battles and countless merits! I am willing to serve the Second Prince!"

Wang Lao Er was the most powerful among the eight sons of the Wang family, and he must have made some promises to Deng Yufei in private.

As Deng Yufei walked to the area representing Wang Lao Er, most of the military officers below also had a choice to make.

Soon, about one-fifth of the people chose to join Wang Lao Er's camp.

These represent the former frontier strongholds and the strongest armed forces of the once mighty nation!
It's hard to say whether Wang Lao Er or Wang Lao Qi ate more.

Wang Lao Er didn't get carried away with his pride. He simply stood up, bowed to Deng Yufei to express his gratitude, and then sat back down in his original seat.

The other members of the Wang family looked even more displeased.

If you have more, I will have less; it's that simple.

But there's nothing we can do. We've all had private contact with Huang Zhenzhong, Deng Yufei, and others. If you can't do it, it's because your methods aren't good enough, and you can't blame anyone else.

The brothers didn't say anything else, but all looked at the last of the three giants: Mick.

Mick, on the other hand, hesitated.

As the head of the guest ministers, he himself was also a freelance guest minister.

Previously, everyone except Wang Laoliu had come to him, and the prices they offered were roughly the same—the kind that made him itch to buy, but not quite tempted.

Considering that the Wang family members hadn't said anything meaningful in their public statements, Mick was now facing a dilemma.

Mick didn't make a choice right away, but everyone else did.

Besides these three giants, the vast Hong Kingdom also has various smaller factions.

The leaders of these minor factions had already reached a private agreement with the Wang family members, and now they all made their choices and quickly arrived at their destinations.

The second and seventh sons took the lion's share, nearly two-thirds of Hongguo's wealth, while the others took a smaller share.

After hesitating for a long time, Mick sighed softly and bowed to Wang Lao Er.

"I choose the Second Prince..."

An unsurprising choice.

Wang Lao Er is the strongest among the eight sons of the Wang family. Who wouldn't want to rely on the strong?

Wang Lao Er's lips curled up; this time, he was finally happy and smug.

But before Mike could take a step, Wang Yanshan suddenly spoke.

"Mr. Mick, please wait a moment."

After he finished speaking, he stood up, walked to the screen, and said slowly with a confident smile on his face, "I think I can offer Mr. Mick and other guest retainers a better price."

After finishing his sentence, he looked around at everyone below who had made their choices and said, "Including you all, you can also listen to what I have to say next."

In an instant, all eyes turned to Wang Yanshan.

With a flick of his wrist, a cosmic bug appeared in Wang Yanshan's hand.

Flip it again... the second one, the third one... until the tenth one!

The ten cosmic bugs, like ten golden gems, shone brightly and instantly became the focus of the entire audience.

Then Wang Yanshan continued, "I have a secret project in hand, which is how to mass-produce cosmic bugs in order to mass-produce level 12 professionals."

"And right now, this project has already yielded results... I may not have an endless supply of cosmic bugs that everyone can share, but I certainly have a stable source, at least a hundred a year."

After saying that, he circled around like a tiger, and said with a smile, "Those who join me, I will give you the possibility of reaching level twelve."

The whole place was in an uproar!

……

Normal people don't covet the position of the Six Pillars, so level twelve is the upper limit that ordinary people can reach.

Even this has a very high threshold – because only the six pillars can create a bug in the universe, and the rest are too difficult and full of luck.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the eight sons of the Wang family are not lacking in cosmic bugs or even the power of six pillars; that's only because they really have a father who is at the level of a six pillar.

In contrast, their subordinates did not receive this treatment.

The amount of cosmic bugs and the power of the six pillars that flowed out from the King of Kings was limited, and even less was distributed to the individual princes. These princes then diverted a portion of what they received for other uses and reserves.

This resulted in the fact that the number of officials in Hongguo who could achieve the rank of 12 every hundred years was extremely limited—only about five per hundred years.

"Oh, right."

Wang Yanshan added insult to injury: "If you had chosen my other brothers, the chances of reaching level twelve would have been even lower... After all, you would have had to compete with their old subordinates for this spot, so it's unlikely that it would have been your turn."

Some people choose Wang Laoliu because they are pursuing level twelve. There are fewer people on Wang Laoliu's side, so the competition is not intense. Moreover, the number of cosmic bugs and six pillars of power that each prince can receive every hundred years is limited and does not change due to the size of the power or the strength of the force.

Everyone fell silent as they looked at the cosmic bug that Wang Yanshan was holding in his hand.

Soon, someone lifted their leg and walked towards Wang Yanshan's area.

This person was Mick's subordinate... However, under the temptation of being a Level 12, this person didn't care what Mick was thinking—I'll follow you when we have common interests, but you, Mick, are a Level 12, you don't need the cosmic bug, I do.

This idea represents more than just this one person's thoughts.

The eleventh level in each region has begun to move.

Under the allure of level twelve, the original factional relationships became utterly insignificant.

Among the civil and military personnel present, only a minority were at level twelve; the majority were at level eleven and aspired to advance to level twelve.

Soon, more than half of those who had chosen the other few people were drawn over by Boss Wang!
Huang Zhenzhong, Deng Yufei, and Mike were powerless to dissuade him, let alone do so.

There's no reason to stop subordinates from seeking better opportunities.

A moment later, Mick also sighed softly, bowed apologetically to Wang Lao Er, and took the initiative to walk towards Wang Lao Da's camp—the leader leads his subordinates to make choices, but in turn, the subordinates can also influence their choices.

This is a win-win situation, which aligns with the ways of officialdom.

The situation changed drastically for those below the stage, leaving those on stage dumbfounded.

"Where did you get so many cosmic bugs? Where did you get all these secret projects?!"

Wang Laoqi thought victory was assured, but Wang Laoda turned the tables with just a few words, and he couldn't hold back any longer.

He slammed his hand on the armrest of the chair, stood up and angrily rebuked Wang Laoda, but Wang Laoqi was completely ignored.

Instead, Wang Lao Er looked at Wang Lao Da with a deep gaze and said softly, "Brother, don't do anything foolish. Don't do something like using your family's wealth to exchange for immediate benefits. If you can't keep your promise and ruin your reputation, the backlash will be much greater than the current benefits to Hongguo."

A promise made by an emperor carries immense weight; failure to keep one's word has far-reaching consequences.

Boss Wang chuckled and replied, "You don't need to worry about that."

During the dialogue, the situation below finally stabilized.

With Wang Yanshan pulling out his trump card, half of Hongguo's officials had already submitted to his command.

Thinking of these people, who represented half of the feast, Wang Yanshan nodded with satisfaction—he didn't covet the entire Hong Kingdom; the current harvest was already enough.

Returning to his seat with a leisurely air, Wang Yanshan spoke slowly and calmly: "Everyone, if you have cards, hurry up and take them out. If you don't have any cards, then this round is over."

The others gritted their teeth, but they simply couldn't offer any incentives that matched the level 12 opportunity.

Just as Wang Yanshan was about to take over the leadership role from Wang Yanhai and announce that the meeting could be adjourned, Wang Yanlin suddenly spoke up.

"Wait, I also have something to say."

He stood up.

Amidst the roaring dragon energy, endless light surged forth and split.

At this very moment, Wang Yanlin used the dragon's aura as a channel and his subordinates, who had been secretly stationed in the eight princes' respective kingdoms, as a point of contact, to instantly complete the real-time broadcast of the eight kingdoms of the eight princes.

This scene truly stunned everyone present, leaving them bewildered as to what Wang Yanlin was trying to do.

"Actually, it's not that I want to say or do anything... It's that my brother, Xia Lin, also has a new project and wants to take this opportunity to have a brief chat with everyone here and even those who aren't here."

As he spoke, Wang Yanlin took a step back, while Xia Lin stepped forward to the center of the platform.

Looking around at the eight sons of the Wang family, Xia Lin grinned, revealing a wicked and chilling smile.

He then waved his hand, and Barclay immediately appeared beside Xia Lin.

Xia Lin's voice slowly rang out, spreading throughout the myriad realms with the help of Wang Laowu's power: "Before I get to the important matter, I'd like to perform a magic trick for everyone."

He pointed to Barclay: "This is my follower, Barclay, the former king of the Dark Realm, level twelve."

"But as everyone knows, the level twelve in the Black Domain is different from those outside... They are weak and have low potential, and are generally considered to be pseudo-level twelve."

The people on the stage remained expressionless; what Xia Lin said was nothing special.

The officials and the audience from the myriad world nodes below the stage were discussing it animatedly, with most people asking where the Black Domain was.

Xia Lin then said slowly, "My servant has helped me immensely and is utterly loyal. And I, Xia Lin, will never mistreat my own people."

"Right now, the first trick I'm going to perform is to force Barclay to relegate!"

Before anyone could react, Xia Lin had already pointed out with his finger.

A black beam of skill light shot out instantly and entered Barkley's body.

Barclay let out a scream as his limbs shrank back in agony.

Xia Lin: "Pain is a normal phenomenon."

[Inferior Degeneration (Six Pillar Level): Active Skill. Unleashes a beam of degeneration, with a high probability of weakening all of the target's attributes and a small probability of causing the target's skills and life essence to degenerate. This skill consumes 1 Spirit Points and has a 30-day cooldown.]

The rule of twin shadow pillars has been broken.

Degradation can permanently lower the target's level!

One skill, one breakthrough, consumed 88 points of Xia Lin's maximum mental energy, almost to nothing.

Soon, Barclay's screams weakened, and the pain in his body had completely subsided.

And its undisguised aura also demonstrated Xia Lin's achievement - Barclay really did regress from level twelve to level eleven!
Those who didn't understand laughed and said things like, "What's the point of this?" "Reduced in rank? Then all those 12 ranks were for nothing!" "What a waste! Who would be an idiot to do this?" "Being your Servant is really bad luck."

Those in the know remained silent, their expressions turning grim.

Xia Lin's ability to reduce Bakley's level means that Xia Lin can reduce the level of any level twelve professional!

It's unclear how long the cooldown is or how powerful this skill is, but it's certainly quite threatening.

"So, you've come here to provoke us guys?"

The fourth brother, Wang Yanxing, sneered, his tone unfriendly.

Xia Lin ignored him completely.

He just smiled and said it again.

"And the second magic is to help me, this Servant, return to level twelve and rebuild my foundation at level twelve!"

This time, those who didn't know the facts were stunned, wondering how much truth was in Xia Lin's words.

Those in the know laughed.

Returning to level twelve requires a cosmic bug, and rebuilding the foundation of level twelve requires the power of the six pillars.

Xia Lin, where did you get all this stuff?

Wang Yanshan laughed and was about to say, "You're trying to copy me, aren't you? Your imitation is terrible; you're just here to mess around."

But before he could speak, Xia Lin clapped his hands together.

The power of the six pillars?

My spiritual power can replace the power of the six pillars!

This was already a fact that was made clear during the promotion!
Space bug?

It's not that difficult!

The Twin Shadow Pillars can break through all rules, including creating conflicts in the rules of the universe and giving birth to cosmic bugs!

Xia Lin didn't know what the process was for Wang Yanshan to create a cosmic bug, but for him, all he needed to pay was a huge amount of four-dimensional attributes—after farming the companion shadow for so long, Xia Lin could easily handle that cost!
And the manufacturing time...

One minute is enough.

Black and white energies mingled together, and a miniature black hole slowly emerged from between Xia Lin's hands.

The rules of life and death under the effect of the twin shadow pillars change drastically, generating contradictions and conflicts, and growing rapidly.

However, before the conflict over these rules could spread, Xia Lin had already nipped it in the bud.

The "error" that was enough to destroy a large area was never born; it was eliminated by Xia Lin. Instead, a glittering cosmic bug was born from it and fell into Xia Lin's hands.

He smiled as he weighed the cosmic bug in his hand, then looked at Wang Laoqi and the others who were already dumbfounded.

“I performed the process, and I also presented the result.”

"So don't question me, questioning me will only make you lose your composure!"

(End of this chapter)