Stepping on the demon door, the witch becomes the strongest

Chapter 788 Return to Jinling
The fight between Zhao Yuanzhen and Zhou Hongyu finally subsided as members of the original team came to break it up—the matter seemed to have passed just like that.

That's not necessarily true.

The Privy Council had long anticipated the strength of Golden Core cultivators, with various theoretical calculations providing clear assessments. However, this incident in the Southern Territory once again vividly demonstrated the destructive power of Golden Core cultivators.

For the upper echelons of the Lu Kingdom, the shock and apprehension they felt in the face of Li Zhaojiang's rebellion in their previous life were beginning to surface again under this threat. A thorny issue confronted the cabinet: if a Golden Core cultivator were to actually rebel, how should it be suppressed?

You can't exactly ask the other team members to break up the fight.

From a purely strength-based perspective, the best approach would undoubtedly be to have Yan Yu handle it. This Lu Kingdom general doesn't favor large-scale Taoist techniques or wide-ranging magical artifacts; he excels at surgical precision strikes, which would undoubtedly minimize the scope of the battle.

Moreover, the Lu Kingdom's general is surrounded by beauties... no, he should be said to be surrounded by powerful figures. Even if rebellions break out one after another, making him unable to attend to everything, he only needs to tell his family, and any powerful figure can be easily summoned to suppress them.

If a powerful figure rebels, it's easy to send Yan Yu to suppress it.

The above is the answer based solely on strength. However, if security is considered, an unavoidable problem arises:

What if Yan Yu himself rebels?
With divine generals leading the way and powerful figures following suit, they would sweep across the world with unstoppable momentum. The mere thought of this possibility was terrifying and insurmountable, making it all the more urgent and imperative to sever the ties between Yan Yu and the numerous powerful figures.

So who will be responsible for cutting it off?
No one is willing to do something that is destined to result in huge casualties and is not even guaranteed to succeed. Even if we were to sacrifice myself to benefit others, and even if success were guaranteed, who would be willing to make such a selfless sacrifice?
This led to a rather paradoxical situation: everyone knew it was a lie, yet they all unanimously expressed that they personally had absolute trust in General Yan Yu's loyalty to the Lu Kingdom. "If you doubt someone, don't use them; if you use someone, don't doubt them," they said, adding that they would have no suspicion of him whatsoever.

Yan Yu is undoubtedly loyal, and can only be loyal. Whoever thinks he's not loyal enough should be responsible for resolving that issue!

Under these circumstances, people began to show goodwill towards Chen Tianming and even get closer to him.

Yan Yu was, after all, a cultivator, and did not belong to the same social class as mortals, but Chen Tianming was different. First, he was one of the bureaucratic elites; second, he was Yan Yu's father-in-law. With this relationship, being on good terms with Chen Tianming was equivalent to being on good terms with Yan Yu.

Despite what others thought, Chen Tianming himself showed no arrogance whatsoever. He was perfectly clear-headed that, for a harem king who could seduce so many women, he was merely "the father of one of those women."

Just as ancient emperors could have many women, not all of their relatives could be considered maternal relatives—it depended on the strength and status of their maternal families and the emperor's favor towards the women.

As for whether Yan Yu relied on Chen Tianming's strength and status, and whether he doted on Chen Lingyun... there's no need to say more.

Chen Tianming decided to increase his bet.

The bargaining chips were readily available. Originally, they turned a blind eye to Yan Yu's harem, hoping he would win over those powerful female cultivators and bring them into their own camp or faction.

Now all that's needed is to continue pushing this forward. Yan Yu has already submitted the application documents; the next step is for official approval and encouragement for these Golden Core cultivators to become a family-run interest group.

As long as Chen Lingyun is willing to act as a link in this family and help Yan Yu maintain his relationships with everyone, then her position within it will be crucial and indispensable. Chen Tianming can then use this father-daughter relationship to solidify his own position...

Of course, using one's daughter doesn't mean one doesn't love her. In the old man's spiritual world, morality and self-interest can be flexibly switched at any time.

As the number of Core Formation cultivators increased, more and more Golden Core cultivators stopped staying at the Wudang Mountain base and began to take on tasks assigned by the Privy Council, traveling all over the country and even overseas to carry out tasks that Foundation Establishment cultivators could not handle.

After completing a task, one can get a rest period of half a day to several days (not counting holidays) before another task is assigned. Since the tasks are usually located in different places, or even far apart, most Golden Core cultivators are too lazy to go home after completing a task. They simply stay where they are to rest and cultivate, waiting for orders, so as not to have to make another trip.

If two Golden Core cultivators were to meet and discuss things, they would find that their working hours, rest times, and corresponding locations are all completely staggered and do not overlap—this is actually to minimize their time together, so as to prevent their interpersonal relationships from becoming too close to break up.

Yan Yu was the only exception. He and the "superior-grade Golden Core female cultivators" around him were not assigned such frequent missions. Therefore, apart from Lin Ning, Ye Yun, and Li Minghu, who were preparing for their tribulations, everyone else stayed at the luxurious villa outside Jinling City, which was the original base of the Zhenhai Battle Team, and awaited orders.

"Old Yan!" That morning, Li Zhaojiang made another harassing phone call. "You're so free! This is so unfair! Is the Privy Council there? Are they listening in on our calls? I'm telling you, are you discriminating against us?"

After his brother-in-law successfully completed his tribulation and formed his core, he carried out two missions in a row. When he looked back, he found that Yan Yu was on a long-term vacation. His already impure mind was further distorted by ugly jealousy, to the point that he made a special phone call to accuse Yan Yu of receiving preferential treatment.

"What's unfair about that?" Yan Yu chuckled. "You're a Golden Core cultivator, undertaking missions of Golden Core difficulty; we're High-Grade Golden Core cultivators, undertaking missions of High-Grade Golden Core difficulty. The latter is much rarer, happening only once or twice a month at most. Is that hard to understand?" "You cheated!" Li Zhaojiang retorted. "None of us have High-Grade Golden Cores, so how come you and your wives all happened to achieve it? Did you use some kind of cheating method?"

"Are you out of your mind?" Yan Yu said calmly. "Isn't Lord Jing also a top-grade Golden Core cultivator?"

"Wow, is Master Jing also part of your harem?" Li Zhaojiang's imagination ran wild. "Goodness, I originally thought you were just a lewd slut, but I didn't expect you to be the best of the best, not even sparing men!"

"Then why don't you just add all those who will form a high-grade Golden Core to my harem?" Yan Yu said. "You're just trying to frame me."

"No, Lao Yan, let me tell you," Li Zhaojiang began to list his evidence. "Although not all of the top-grade Golden Core cultivators are in your harem, at least everyone in your harem is a top-grade Golden Core cultivator. Am I right? Are you going to say that's just a coincidence?"

“It’s not a coincidence,” Yan Yu said. “In my social circle, I associate with the most powerful cultivators, so it’s normal that they have the highest probability of forming a high-grade Golden Core, right?”

“Normal my ass,” Li Zhaojiang said. “I think the most likely scenario is that you used some cheating methods to make yourself and your wives all high-grade Golden Core cultivators. Master Jing became successful independently; it has nothing to do with you. His aptitude was already quite impressive. What about Yang Linhui? His cultivation aptitude far surpassed Chen Lingyun's, but he only managed to form a mid-grade Golden Core.”

"If I really had this cheating method, I would marry hundreds of young and beautiful female cultivators and help them all form high-grade Golden Cores," Yan Yu said. "Wouldn't it be better to just unify the Earth?"

“Unifying the Earth is possible, but unifying the Earth while still alive is unlikely,” Li Minghu said incisively. “It’s more likely that you will turn into a dried-up corpse, your wives will fall apart, fight among themselves, and make a mess of the Earth.”

"So you have to admit, it's just a coincidence," Yan Yu laughed, "because it's simply impossible for me to do it."

Li Zhaojiang couldn't refute it, because he genuinely couldn't figure out the key to it either. Based on his understanding of Yan Yu, he subconsciously concluded that it was definitely Yan Yu's conspiracy.

After all, this lecherous man had been laying the groundwork since their very first meeting, gradually winning over his sister's heart. Li Zhaojiang hadn't noticed anything at first, but now, recalling all the details, he was filled with regret and exclaimed how treacherous Yan Yu was.

“I knew you wouldn’t admit it honestly,” Li Zhaojiang continued to complain. “You said you were all on high-difficulty missions, so you weren’t on duty very often, which I could barely accept. But you guys just moved in together and have music parties in the villa all day long, while I’m always on duty all over the country and don’t even have time to be intimate with my girlfriend!”

"If you apply for permission to reproduce, the higher-ups will definitely grant you leave," Yan Yu laughed. "Do you dare?"

Li Zhaojiang immediately froze. He was still young and hadn't had enough fun yet, how could he possibly have a baby? Without even thinking about it, if his girlfriend got pregnant, his traditionalist parents and his sister with extremely high moral standards would definitely force him to marry her because of the pregnancy.

"Let's not talk about that," Yan Yu said. "Ajiang, tell me, when will your sister be able to overcome her tribulation?"

"I don't know. As long as her physical condition isn't resolved, she won't be able to overcome the tribulation," Li Zhaojiang said casually. "Why are you asking me this?"

What he actually meant was "You can just ask my sister," but Yan Yu clearly interpreted it as "What do you need to ask that for?" and replied:

“My house here is quite big, there’s plenty of room for your sister to move in.”

"Get out! Get out! Get out!"

Li Zhaojiang angrily hung up the phone, only to see a message from his assistant saying that a strange and ferocious monster had appeared in Lingyou, and his superiors hoped he could take some time to go and kill it.

Damn it, I'm made to do all these tedious chores all day long. Sometimes I just want to rebel!
Of course, Li Zhaojiang only dared to think about it. Apart from some minor complaints about the work schedule, he was quite satisfied with the current situation.

It's rest time now. After talking to Yan Yutong on the phone, Li Zhaojiang sent a message to Liu Longtao:
"Master Jing, are you there?"

Liu Longtao did not reply. Li Zhaojiang looked at the previous chat history and realized that he seemed to have lost contact with him for some time.

It's strange that they're on some special mission this time.

(End of this chapter)